Thomas Rutherford Bacon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rutherford_Bacon

Thomas Rutherford Bacon (New Haven, Connecticut, June 26, 1850 - Berkeley, California, March 26, 1913) was an American Congregational clergyman, and a professor of history at the University of California.

Biography

Thomas Rutherford Bacon came from a family of preachers: he was the son of Leonard Bacon and the brother of Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Edward Woolsey Bacon (of New London, Connecticut), and George B. Bacon, all Congregational preachers.

Bacon graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1877. He was a minister for three years at the Dwight Place Church in New Haven, Connecticut, and on July 4, 1884, delivered an oration on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the town. In that same year, he resigned unexpectedly, after some gossiping members of his congregations ("without standing or influence") had apparently complained about him; the congregation was, according to the papers, moved to tears when Bacon, who was described as "young, talented, eloquent, and popular," read his resignation letter. There were hints of an investigation, and the possible "disciplining [of] certain folks whose too freely wagging tongues have brought about the trouble." The New York Times later reported that political intrigue related to the presidential candidacy of James G. Blaine was behind the gossip; the paper praised Bacon for his integrity and "manliness," and called him "the original mugwump of Connecticut."

After his church career in New Haven was ended, he devoted himself to literary pursuits, publishing in the New Englander and serving as that magazine's associate editor from 1886 to 1887; he also edited the New Haven Morning News, from 1885 to 1887.

In June 1887, his brother Edward died in Santa Clara County, California, and in that same year (until 1890) Thomas took up the ministry of the First Congregational Church in Berkeley, where Edward has also, briefly, been a minister. In 1888, he became an instructor in the history department at the University of California, and from 1890 to 1895 was a professor in European history. In 1895, he was promoted to full professor in Modern European History, a position he held--in worsening health--until his death in 1913.