Frothingham, Octavius Brooks

Frothingham, Octavius Brooks (frŏth`ĭnghəm), 1822–95, American clergyman and writer, b. Boston. While a Unitarian minister in Salem (1847–55) he came under the influence of Theodore Parker. In 1859 he organized the Third Unitarian Church of New York City and soon achieved wide renown. In 1865 his followers, wishing to increase the sphere of his influence, organized the Independent Liberal Church, which was made up of people from all faiths. Frothingham was president of the Free Religious Association in Boston from 1867 until his health broke down in 1878. In addition to writing sermons and such religious books as The Religion of Humanity (1872), he was the author of Transcendentalism in New England (1876), Boston Unitarianism, 1820–1850 (1890), and biographies of his friends—Theodore Parker (1874), Gerrit Smith (1877), and George Ripley (1882).

Bibliography

See his Recollections and Impressions, 1822–1890 (1891).

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Frothingham, Octavius Brooks (1822–95) religious leader, author; born in Boston, Mass. He graduated from Harvard in 1843, studied divinity there and was pastor of North Church, Salem, Mass., for eight years before leaving in a dispute over his antislavery activities. In 1859 he became pastor of the Third Congregational Unitarian Society in New York City. A theological liberal, he founded the Boston Free Religious Association in 1867 and headed it for 11 years. He published a biography of Theodore Parker, a study of New England transcendentalism, and a summary of his own religious thought, The Religion of Humanity (1876). He retired from the ministry in 1879 and was in poor health for the rest of his life.