William Rounseville Alger

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William Rounseville Alger
William Alger
Alger in 1876
Born(1822-12-28)December 28, 1822
Freetown, Massachusetts, US
DiedFebruary 7, 1905(1905-02-07) (aged 82)
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Occupation(s)Minister and author
Children7, incl. Philip Rounseville Alger,
Abby Langdon Alger
RelativesHoratio Alger (cousin)

William Rounseville Alger (December 28, 1822 – February 7, 1905) was an American Unitarian minister, author, poet, hymnist, editor, and abolitionist. He also served as Chaplain of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Early life and education[edit]

William Rounseville Alger was born in Freetown, Massachusetts, on December 28, 1822 to Nahum and Catherine Sampson Alger, née Rounseville.[1][2] He attended the academy at Pembroke, New Hampshire, working part-time at a cotton mill.[1][2] Alger graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1847 and was ordained as a Unitarian minister in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he preached until 1855.[3]

Career[edit]

After 1855, Alger went to the Bulfinch Street Church in Boston, and preached around the country including in New York, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Louisiana, and Rhode Island.[3] He became well known in Boston for filling Tremont Temple.[4]

Alger was an active abolitionist and Free Mason, and a contributor to various periodicals including the Christian Examiner, which he co-edited in the 1860s.[3] In 1857, he gave the annual Boston Fourth of July celebration day speech, in which he addressed the issue of slavery.[5] His remarks were controversial and the city refused the usual publication of the speech. However, seven years later, the city government unanimously reversed their decision, publishing the speech and publicly thanking him for it.[1]

Alger was also the first regular pastor of the first Episcopalian church in Biddeford, Maine, which was built in 1869,[6] as well as the All Souls Unitarian Church in Roxbury (also called the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church).[7] He also served in The Church of the Messiah, an important Unitarian church in New York.[8] He served as Chaplain of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.[9] Harvey Jewell, the speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives was impressed by Alger's prayers and asked for his words to be taken down by the stenographer and published.[1]

Death and legacy[edit]

Alger died on February 7, 1905.

Some of his notebooks are stored at the Harvard Divinity School library,[3] and the New York Public Library.[10] Many of his published works have gone through numerous editions,[1] and a number of his hymns have been published in various hymnals and songbooks.[11]

Family[edit]

William Alger married Anne Langdon in 1847. They had seven children, including Philip Rounseville Alger, an American naval officer,[2] and translator Abby Langdon Alger.[12]

Alger's cousin was the noted author Horatio Alger, who had also served as a Unitarian pastor for a short time.[7] Though he was less widely known than Horatio, Gary Scharnhorst called William the "more talented" cousin in his 1990 biography of William Alger.[13]

Selected works[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Scharnhorst, Gary (1990). A Literary Biography of William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905), a Neglected Member of the Concord Circle. Lewiston: Mellen.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Rand, John C. (1890). One Of a Thousand : A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident In The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888–'89. Boston: First National Pub. Co. p. 11. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
  2. ^ a b c "Biography of Alger, William Rounseville". Access Genealogy. August 4, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "Alger, William Rounseville. Notebooks, 1822–1905". Harvard Divinity School Library. Harvard University. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  4. ^ Lieblich, Amia, ed. (1994). Exploring Identity and Gender : The Narrative Study of Lives. SAGE Publishing. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-8039-5568-4. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
  5. ^ Alger, William (1857). "The Genius and Posture of America: An Oration Delivered Before the Citizens of Boston". Cornell University Library Digital Collections.
  6. ^ Tatterson, Estelle M. (1916). Three Centuries of Biddeford : An Historical Sketch. p. 31. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
  7. ^ a b Richardson, Peter T. (2003). The Boston Religion : Unitarianism in Its Capital City. Rockland: Red Barn Publishing. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-9741152-0-7. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
  8. ^ "Church if The Messiah – Rev. Willima R. Alger's Confregation". The New York Times. March 15, 1875. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  9. ^ Alger, William R. (1868). Prayers Offered In the Massachusetts House of Representatives During the Session of 1868. Roberts Brothers. p. iii. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
  10. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "Alger, William Rounseville (1822–1905)". New York Public Library. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  11. ^ "William Rounseville Alger". Hymnary.org. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  12. ^ "Recent Deaths: Miss Abby L. Alger". Boston Evening Transcript. May 26, 1905. p. 4. Retrieved February 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Academic Book: Literary Biography of William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905). A Neglected Member of the Concord Circle". edwinmellen.com. Retrieved December 4, 2021.

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to William R. Alger.
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