Parker Pillsbury (1809-1898)
Not for Ourselves Alone Website
After losing his license to preach for accusing the association of Congregational ministers guilty of the "sin of conniving at American slavery," Pillsbury became a lecturing agent for the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and American antislavery societies. He and Stephen S. Foster would often dramatically interrupt church services and admonish the worshipers to "come out" from under their proslavery ministers.
In the 1840s Pillsbury served as editor for the Concord (N.H.) Herald of Freedom and in 1866, The National Anti-Slavery Standard.
Pillsbury traveled to Michigan with Abby and Stephen Foster in August 1853.
Pillsbury supported Universal Suffrage over black male suffrage and joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton in editing The Revolution in 1868 and 1869.
A reformer to the end, Pillsbury wrote a letter to the National American Woman Suffrage Association at age 88.
- Born September 22, 1809 in Hamilton, MA; son of Oliver Pillsbury and Anna Smith
- Died July 7, 1898 in Concord, NH
- Education: Educated in district schools until he attended Gilmanton Theological Seminary to graduate in 1838. After a year at Andover Theological Seminary, he became a minister at the Congregational church at Loudon, NH.
- Married Sarah H. Sargent of Concord, NH on January 1, 1840
- Children: Helen
- Active in the ecumenical Free Religious Association and preached to its societies in New York, Ohio, and Michigan.
Sources
- Malone, Dumas, Ed. Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles ScribnerÕs Sons, 1964.
- Not for Ourselves Alone. Public Broadcasting System.