4/4/2021 Leonard Woolsey Bacon - Wikipedia

Leonard Woolsey Bacon

Leonard Woolsey Bacon (January 1, 1830 – May 12,
Leonard Woolsey Bacon
1907[1][2]) was an American clergyman, born in New Haven,
Connecticut. He was a social commentator and a prolific author
on religious, social, and historical matters. In social, political, and
religious issues of his times, he often broke with the traditions of
his countrymen, sometimes causing "great sensation."[3]

Contents
Biography
Controversial statements
Bacon's writing
An Inside View of the Vatican Council
Church Papers
Bibliography
Born January 1, 1830
References New Haven,
External links Connecticut
Died May 12, 1907
(aged 77)
Biography Assonet,
Massachusetts
Leonard Woolsey Bacon was a son of the Congregationalist
preacher Leonard Bacon, a brother of George B. Bacon of Orange, Resting Grove Street
New Jersey,[4] and Edward Woolsey Bacon,[5] and a half-brother place Cemetery
of Thomas Rutherford Bacon of New Haven, Connecticut,[6][7] all Education Yale University
Congregational preachers. He graduated from Yale University in
1850, and in 1856 was ordained in Litchfield. He was also pastor Occupation Clergyman, writer
of the First Church in Stamford, Connecticut (1862–65), and of
the New England Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York (1865–70).[8]

Subsequently, he spent several years in Europe, chiefly in Geneva, as a student, preacher, and writer;
in Geneva he spent part of his time preaching to "Americans sojourning there."[4] From 1878 to 1882
he was pastor of the Park Congregational Church in Norwich, Connecticut, and later of other
Congregational and Presbyterian churches. In 1887, he was the pastor of the Independent
Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia.[9] In 1898, he was pastor of the First Church in Litchfield,
Connecticut.[10] He was pastor of the North Church in Assonet, Massachusetts beginning in 1901, and
authored a history of the churches of Freetown, Massachusetts in 1902.[11] He died at Assonet, May
12, 1907, and was buried in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut.

Controversial statements
Bacon evidently enjoyed getting involved in contemporary issues, such as divorce, temperance,
Sunday rest, and the public conduct of officers of the United States armed forces. In many of these
matters, however, he displayed a reluctance to impose religious views. When, in 1880, he wrote an
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open letter to The New York Times complaining about a steamboat company that evaded
Connecticut's blue laws, he made it clear that laws mandating Sunday as a mandatory day of rest were
not to be construed as endorsing any particular religion or discriminating "in favor of church-
going."[12]

Bacon appeared to have had a habit of causing controversy. In 1884, for instance, he felt compelled,
in another letter to the Times, to state that contrary to reports he was not in favor of "a uniform,
universal divorce law throughout the States."[13] In 1887, when he was the pastor of the Independent
Presbyterian Church in Savannah, he caused a stir by publicly declaring that he favored mixed (black
and white) schools and that he would not mind his daughter being seen walking with an African
American or even marrying one.[3]

In 1898, as pastor in Litchfield, Connecticut, he wrote a letter published in The New York Times
chastising Captain Robley Dunglison Evans (known as "Fighting Bob"), later admiral in the United
States Navy, for boasting and profanity.[10] Evidently this was part of a feud of sorts; the Chicago
Daily Tribune reported on the news saying that Bacon "again fell foul" of "Fighting Bob" with his
"sarcastic letter."[14]

Bacon's writing
Bacon edited Luther's Deutsche geistliche Lieder ("German Hymns") (New York, 1883), and wrote a
number of historical and other books.

An Inside View of the Vatican Council

Bacon republished, with commentary, the speech of Peter Richard Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis,
given in 1871 at the First Vatican Council; Kenrick spoke out against the dogma of papal infallibility.
The booklet contains Kenrick's speech and other historical documents, as well as Bacon's own "acute
and valuable remarks."[15]

Church Papers

His Church Papers: Sundry Essays on Subjects Relating to the Church and Christian Society (1877),
written while Bacon was in Geneva, was praised in the New Englander and Yale Review as a "juicy
little volume"; the reviewer hailed the merit and attractiveness of the essays, which are "the product
of sound reflection, and of a familiarity not only with books, but with men and things."[4] He
discusses such matters as the drawbacks of Congregationalism, which may allow for fallacious
decisions by a random majority, and the Temperance movement, and the principles and methods of
its zealous advocates.[4]

Bibliography
An Inside View of the Vatican Council, in the Speech of the Most Reverend Archbishop Kenrick,
of St. Louis. American Tract Society. 1872.
Church Papers: Sundry Essays on Subjects Relating to the Church and Christian Society. New
York: Putnam. 1877.
Memorials of Emily Bliss Gould, of Rome: A Life Worth Living. New York: Anson D.F. Randolph.
1878.[16]
Irenics and Polemics, with Sundry Essays in Church History (1898)
A History of American Christianity (1898)
Young People's Societies (with C. A. Northrup, 1900)
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The Congregationalists (1904)

References
1. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, 1906-7, New Haven, pp. 687-9.
2. "Died" (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/05/15/104985076.pdf) (PDF). New
York Times. May 15, 1907. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
3. "The Rev. L.W. Bacon Questioned" (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/11/13/
103150854.pdf) (PDF). New York Times. November 13, 1887. p. 12. Retrieved December 4,
2009.
4. "Rev. of Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Church Papers" (http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pagev
iewer-idx?c=nwng;cc=nwng;rgn=full%20text;idno=nwng0037-1;didno=nwng0037-1;view=image;s
eq=149;node=nwng0037-1%3A1;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset;). New Englander and Yale
Review. 37 (142): 133–35. January 1878. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
5. Memorial biographies of New England historic genealogical society, 1853–1855, Volume 8 (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=pJl4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA83). New England Historic Genealogical
Society. 1907. p. 83.
6. "Bacon's Unexpected Resignation.a New-haven Congregational Church Losing its Pastor on
Account of the Dissatisfaction of a Few Members" (https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?re
s=9A03E4DA1238E033A25757C2A9659C94659FD7CF). The New York Times. March 24, 1884.
p. 1. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
7. "Some Hit and Miss Chat; Stray Bits of Gossip from an Observer's Note Book. A Dream's Strange
Sequel--one of Leonard Bacon's Sons--Clevelands of the Last Century" (https://query.nytimes.co
m/gst/abstract.html?res=9C06E2D91139E533A25754C0A96F9C94649FD7CF). The New York
Times. September 7, 1885. p. 2. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
8. General Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States, Executive
Committee (1908). The Year book of the Congregational Christian churches of the United States
of America (https://books.google.com/books?id=GhlKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA12). p. 12. Retrieved
March 2, 2010.
9. "Dr. Bacon's Pulpit Wanted" (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/11/08/106186
218.pdf) (PDF). The New York Times. Charleston, S.C. November 7, 1887. Retrieved March 2,
2010.
10. Bacon, Leonard Woolsey (August 11, 1898). "Pastor Rebukes Capt. Evans; Dr. L. Woolsey
Bacon, in Open Letter, Accuses Him of Boasting and Objects to His Profanity" (https://timesmachi
ne.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/08/11/102089599.pdf) (PDF). New York Times. p. 2.
Retrieved December 4, 2009.
11. Bacon, Rev. Leonard Woolsey, D.D. (1902). "Church History" (https://archive.org/stream/historyoft
ownoff00free#page/28/mode/2up). A History of the Town of Freetown, Massachusetts. pp. 29–49.
Retrieved April 20, 2012.
12. Bacon, Leonard Woolsey (August 25, 1880). "Reforming Sunday Laws; The Rev. L.W. Bacon on
the Norwich Conflict" (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/08/25/98550432.pd
f) (PDF). New York Times. p. 5. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
13. Bacon, Leonard Woolsey (November 13, 1887). "The Divorce Laws" (https://timesmachine.nytime
s.com/timesmachine/1884/02/14/106142408.pdf) (PDF). New York Times. p. 12. Retrieved
December 4, 2009.
14. "Dr. Woolsey Bacon Again Falls Foul of 'Fighting Bob': Publishes a Sarcastic Open Letter to the
Captain of the Iowa in Which He Belittles His Claim to Bravery and Generosity" (https://pqasb.pqa
rchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/422893091.html?dids=422893091:422893091&FMT=ABS&F
MTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+11%2C+1898&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=D
R.+WOOLSEY+BACON+AGAIN+FALLS+FOUL+OF+%22FIGHTING+BOB.%22&pqatl=google).
Chicago Daily Tribune. August 11, 1898. p. 7. Retrieved December 4, 2009.

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15. "Notices of New Books: The Vatican Council by Leonard Woolsey Bacon" (http://digital.library.cor
nell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nwng;cc=nwng;rgn=full%20text;idno=nwng0031-2;didno=nw
ng0031-2;view=image;seq=00389;node=nwng0031-2%3A1). New Englander and Yale Review.
31 (199): 133–35. April 1872. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
16. "Notices of New Books: Memorials of Mrs. Gould of Rome by Leonard Woolsey Bacon" (http://digi
tal.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nwng;cc=nwng;rgn=full%20text;idno=nwng0038
-5;didno=nwng0038-5;view=image;seq=00737;node=nwng0038-5%3A1). New Englander and
Yale Review. 38 (152): 723–724. September 1879. Retrieved December 4, 2009.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H.
T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links
Works by Leonard Woolsey Bacon (https://www.gutenberg.org/author/Bacon,+Leonard+Woolsey)
at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Leonard Woolsey Bacon (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subje
ct%3A%22Bacon%2C%20Leonard%20Woolsey%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Bacon%2C%20
Leonard%20W%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Bacon%2C%20L%2E%20W%2E%22%20O
R%20subject%3A%22Leonard%20Woolsey%20Bacon%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Leonar
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R%20creator%3A%22Leonard%20Woolsey%20Bacon%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Leonar
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Bacon%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Leonard%20W%2E%20Bacon%22%20OR%20title%3A%22
L%2E%20W%2E%20Bacon%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Leonard%20Woolsey%20Baco
n%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Leonard%20W%2E%20Bacon%22%20OR%20descriptio
n%3A%22L%2E%20W%2E%20Bacon%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Bacon%2C%20Leon
ard%20Woolsey%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Bacon%2C%20Leonard%20W%2E%22%2
9%20OR%20%28%221830-1907%22%20AND%20Bacon%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:
software%29) at Internet Archive
Works by Leonard Woolsey Bacon (https://librivox.org/author/6059) at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
Leonard Woolsey Bacon (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20998332) at Find a Grave

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