George Washington Bethune (March 18, 1805 – April 28, 1862) was a preacher-pastor in the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

Life and career

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

descent, his father was Divie Bethune, a highly successful merchant in New York. Originally a student at

Columbia College of Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest Undergraduate education#United States system, undergraduate college of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the ...

, Bethune graduated in 1822 from

Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census ...

and went on to study theology at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He married Mary Williams in November, 1825. In 1827, he was appointed Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, Rhinebeck, New York. In 1830, he moved to

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

; in 1834 to

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; and in 1850 to Brooklyn Heights, NY. He was offered the chaplaincy of the U.S. Military Academy, the Chancellorship of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and the Provostship of

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, all of which he declined. In 1839, Bethune was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He was an outspoken Democrat in politics, opposed to slavery but unsympathetic to

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

. Due to his

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

ideas about the unsuitability of such a hobby for a clergyman, Bethune, an avid fisherman, worked anonymously on five of the US editions of Izaak Walton's ''

The Compleat Angler ''The Compleat Angler'' (the spelling is sometimes modernised to ''The Complete Angler'', though this spelling also occurs in first editions) is a book by Izaak Walton, first published in 1653 by John and Richard Marriot, Richard Marriot in Lon ...

'' under the pseudonym ''The American Editor''. He also wrote many hymns, some of which are still used today. One popular hymn he wrote is "There is no Name so Sweet on Earth." The hymn "When Time Seems Short and Death is Near" was found in his portfolio and was written on April 27, 1862, the day before his death. While visiting

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy for his health, he fell ill after preaching and died of a stroke on April 27, 1862. His ''Life and Letters'' were edited by A. R. Van Nest, 1867.

Published works

* ''The Fruits of the Spirit'' (1839) * ''Sermons'' (1847) * ''Lays of Love and Faith'' (1847) * ''The Complete Angler'' (

Isaac Walton Izaak Walton (baptised 21 September 1593 – 15 December 1683) was an English writer. Best known as the author of ''The Compleat Angler'' (1653), he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been ...

), first American edition (1847) * ''The British Female Poets'' (1848) * ''Orations and Discourses'' (1850) * ''Expository Lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism'' (1864) 2 vols.

References

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Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bethune, George Washington, Preacher 1805 births 1862 deaths Calvinist and Reformed hymnwriters American Protestant hymnwriters American Calvinist and Reformed ministers American members of the Dutch Reformed Church Columbia College (New York) alumni Dickinson College alumni Princeton University alumni 19th-century American non-fiction writers 19th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers American religious writers 19th-century American clergy