Henry Hamilton Hadley (July 19, 1826 – August 1, 1864) was an American theologian.

Early years and education

Hadley was born in

Fairfield, New York Fairfield is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 1,627 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Fairfield, Connecticut. The town is north of the village of Herkime ...

, on July 19, 1826. He was the youngest son of Prof. James Hadley, of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, and the brother of philologist James Hadley. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1847.

Career

After graduation, he pursued for one year a general course of study at Yale, and then entered the Theological Department of the college. In Sept. 1850 he went to

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambrid ...

, where he completed his studies in preparation for the ministry in 1851. In May of that year, he became Tutor in Yale College, and continued in this office until Dec. 1852. At the beginning of the year 1853, owing to doubts in regard to his fitness for the pastoral work, he turned his attention to the study of law, and removed to the city of New York. His scholastic tendencies, however, were too strong to be resisted, and in 1854 he returned to New Haven, where he devoted himself for four years to the careful study of the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

and the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

Scriptures. For part of this period he was also employed as an instructor in Greek and Latin at the New Haven Collegiate and Commercial Institute. In 1858 he was appointed instructor in Hebrew, in

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

in New York, and in 1862 he became assistant professor of Hebrew in that institution. He continued in that position till the time of his death. In 1861, after the death of Prof. Gibbs, he was elected to the Professorship of the Hebrew language and literature in this college, but he held this office only for a single year, and during that time discharged its duties in connection with the duties of his place in New York. He had already become one of the most successful and promising scholars in the country in his department, and in his death the cause of theological learning sustained a loss which is not easily measured. His devotion to the cause of the country in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

was manifested from the very outset. He was with great difficulty, and only by the urgent advice of his friends, prevented from enlisting as a soldier in the Union Army; and, when at length he gave up going himself, he provided successively two substitutes to serve in his place. Not content with this, after the close of the Seminary year in June 1865, he engaged in the work of the

United States Sanitary Commission The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private Aid agency, relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the Ameri ...

, and served in one of the Hospitals at

City Point, Virginia City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia, Prince George County, Virginia, United States, that was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell, Virginia, Hopewell in 1923. It served as headquarters of the Union Army during the sieg ...

. Here he was prostrated by sickness, and, after lingering for a while, was compelled to return homeward. He had pursued his journey only as far as Washington DC, when his death occurred, Aug, 1, 1864.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadley, Henry Hamilton 1826 births 1864 deaths American theologians People from Fairfield, New York Yale Divinity School alumni Andover Newton Theological School alumni Union Theological Seminary alumni United States Sanitary Commission people Yale College alumni