Rufus Phineas Stebbins (3 March 1810 in South
Wilbraham, Massachusetts – 13 August 1885 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
) was a
and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
clergyman.
Biography
After graduating from
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
in the class of 1834, he studied theology at the
Harvard Divinity School. He was ordained as pastor of a
Unitarian church at
Leominster, Massachusetts
Leominster ( ) is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the second-largest city in Worcester County, with a population of 43,782 at the 2020 census. Leominster is located north of Worcester and northwest of Boston. Both ...
, 20 September 1837, where he remained until 1844. He held a pastorate at
Meadville, Pennsylvania
Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...
from 1844–1849, and was president of the theological seminary there from 1844–1856. He then held various pastorates, and at the First Unitarian Church of
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
, from 1877 until his death.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
gave him the degree of
D.D.
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...
[ ]
Works
He was the author of a history of
Wilbraham, Massachusetts (Boston, 1864), ''Study of the Pentateuch'' (1881), ''Common-Sense View of the Books of the Old Testament'' (1885) and numerous addresses.
References
External links
*
1810 births
1885 deaths
American clergy
Harvard Divinity School alumni
Amherst College alumni
People from Wilbraham, Massachusetts
19th-century American clergy
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