Rev. William Emerson

How are you related to Rev. William Emerson?

Connect to the World Family Tree to find out

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

Rev. Willam Emerson, Jr.

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Death: May 12, 1811 (42)
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
Place of Burial: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of Rev. William Emerson and Phebe Ripley
Husband of Ruth Emerson
Father of Phebe Ripley Emerson; John Clark Emerson; William Emerson; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Edward Bliss Emerson and 3 others
Brother of Mary Moody Emerson; Hannah Bliss Farnham; Rebecca Haskins and Phebe Bliss Emerson
Half brother of Daniel Bliss Ripley and Samuel Bradford Ripley

Occupation: Minister, Boston's 1st Church minister
Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:

About Rev. William Emerson

Sixth-generation descendant of Mayflower voyagers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley through their daughter Hope; as this was an exclusively matriarchal lineage, Emerson carried Tilley's mitochondrial DNA.[20]



The Rev. William Emerson (May 6, 1769 - May 12, 1811) was one of Boston's leading citizens, a liberal-minded Unitarian minister, pastor to Boston's First Church and founder of its Philosophical Society, Anthology Club, and Boston Athenaeum, and father to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the fifth born and only son of William and Phoebe (Bliss) Emerson. His father was a minister who built and inhabited The Old Manse at Concord, chaplain to the Provincial Congress when it met at Concord in October 1774, and when war had begun a chaplain to the Continental Army, dying of camp fever while on campaign in 1776 when Emerson was but 7 years old. Emerson married Ruth Haskins on October 25, 1796 in Boston, and with her had 8 children: Phebe Ripley Emerson, John Clark Emerson, William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Bliss Emerson, Robert Bulkeley Emerson, Charles Chauncy Emerson, and Mary Caroline Emerson.

After being ordained, Emerson became first the minister in Harvard, Massachusetts at a yearly salary of less than $600, but then in 1799, minister of Boston's First Church for a bonus of a thousand dollars. After this initial bang, his sermons appear to have roused no great enthusiasm, as George Ticknor noted in the Christian Examiner, September, 1849: "Mr. Emerson, transplanted to the First Church in Boston six years before Mr. Buckminster's settlement, possessed, on the contrary, a graceful and dignified style of speaking, which was by no means without its attraction, but he lacked the fervor that could rouse the masses, and the original resources that could command the few."

In 1804, Emerson founded the Anthology Club, a Boston literary society, and wrote articles for the club's The Monthly Anthology. This publication was the forerunner of the North American Review, America's leading literary journal, and the Club's reading room led to the founding in 1807 of the Boston Athenaeum.

He is buried in the First Church, in Boston.


The Rev. William Emerson (May 6, 1769 - May 12, 1811) was one of Boston's leading citizens, a liberal-minded Unitarian minister, pastor to Boston's First Church and founder of its Philosophical Society, Anthology Club, and Boston Athenaeum, and father to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the first-born and only son of William and Phoebe (Bliss) Emerson. His father was a minister who built and inhabited The Old Manse at Concord, chaplain to the Provincial Congress when it met at Concord in October 1774, and when war had begun a chaplain to the Continental Army, dying of camp fever while on campaign in 1776 when Emerson was but 7 years old. Emerson married Ruth Haskins on October 25, 1796 in Boston, and with her had 8 children: Phebe Ripley Emerson, John Clark Emerson, William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Bliss Emerson, Robert Bulkeley Emerson, Charles Chauncy Emerson, and Mary Caroline Emerson.

After being ordained, Emerson became first the minister in Harvard, Massachusetts at a yearly salary of less than $600, but then in 1799, minister of Boston's First Church for a bonus of a thousand dollars. After this initial bang, his sermons appear to have roused no great enthusiasm, as George Ticknor noted in the Christian Examiner, September, 1849: "Mr. Emerson, transplanted to the First Church in Boston six years before Mr. Buckminster's settlement, possessed, on the contrary, a graceful and dignified style of speaking, which was by no means without its attraction, but he lacked the fervor that could rouse the masses, and the original resources that could command the few."

In 1804, Emerson founded the Anthology Club, a Boston literary society, and wrote articles for the club's The Monthly Anthology. This publication was the forerunner of the North American Review, America's leading literary journal, and the Club's reading room led to the founding in 1807 of the Boston Athenaeum.

He is buried in the First Church, in Boston.


BURIAL: First Church,King's Chapel,Boston,Massachusetts


Emerson was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the fifth born and only son of William and Phoebe (Bliss) Emerson. His father was a minister who built and inhabited The Old Manse at Concord, chaplain to the Provincial Congress when it met at Concord in October 1774, and when war had begun a chaplain to the Continental Army, dying of camp fever while on campaign in 1776 when Emerson was but 7 years old. Emerson married Ruth Haskins on October 25, 1796 in Boston, and with her had 8 children: Phebe Ripley Emerson, John Clark Emerson, William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Bliss Emerson, Robert Bulkeley Emerson, Charles Chauncy Emerson, and Mary Caroline Emerson.

The Rev. William Emerson (May 6, 1769 - May 12, 1811) was one of Boston's leading citizens, a liberal-minded Unitarian minister, pastor to Boston's First Church and founder of its Philosophical Society, Anthology Club, and Boston Athenaeum, and father to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the fifth born and only son of William and Phoebe (Bliss) Emerson. His father was a minister who built and inhabited The Old Manse at Concord, chaplain to the Provincial Congress when it met at Concord in October 1774, and when war had begun a chaplain to the Continental Army, dying of camp fever while on campaign in 1776 when Emerson was but 7 years old. Emerson married Ruth Haskins on October 25, 1796 in Boston, and with her had 8 children: Phebe Ripley Emerson, John Clark Emerson, William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Bliss Emerson, Robert Bulkeley Emerson, Charles Chauncy Emerson, and Mary Caroline Emerson.

After being ordained, Emerson became first the minister in Harvard, Massachusetts at a yearly salary of less than $600, but then in 1799, minister of Boston's First Church for a bonus of a thousand dollars. After this initial bang, his sermons appear to have roused no great enthusiasm, as George Ticknor noted in the Christian Examiner, September, 1849: "Mr. Emerson, transplanted to the First Church in Boston six years before Mr. Buckminster's settlement, possessed, on the contrary, a graceful and dignified style of speaking, which was by no means without its attraction, but he lacked the fervor that could rouse the masses, and the original resources that could command the few."

In 1804, Emerson founded the Anthology Club, a Boston literary society, and wrote articles for the club's The Monthly Anthology. This publication was the forerunner of the North American Review, America's leading literary journal, and the Club's reading room led to the founding in 1807 of the Boston Athenaeum.

He is buried in the First Church, in Boston.


The Rev. William Emerson (May 6, 1769 - May 12, 1811) was one of Boston's leading citizens, a liberal-minded Unitarian minister, pastor to Boston's First Church and founder of its Philosophical Society, Anthology Club, and Boston Athenaeum, and father to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the first-born and only son of William and Phoebe (Bliss) Emerson. His father was a minister who built and inhabited The Old Manse at Concord, chaplain to the Provincial Congress when it met at Concord in October 1774, and when war had begun a chaplain to the Continental Army, dying of camp fever while on campaign in 1776 when Emerson was but 7 years old. Emerson married Ruth Haskins on October 25, 1796 in Boston, and with her had 8 children: Phebe Ripley Emerson, John Clark Emerson, William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Bliss Emerson, Robert Bulkeley Emerson, Charles Chauncy Emerson, and Mary Caroline Emerson.

After being ordained, Emerson became first the minister in Harvard, Massachusetts at a yearly salary of less than $600, but then in 1799, minister of Boston's First Church for a bonus of a thousand dollars. After this initial bang, his sermons appear to have roused no great enthusiasm, as George Ticknor noted in the Christian Examiner, September, 1849: "Mr. Emerson, transplanted to the First Church in Boston six years before Mr. Buckminster's settlement, possessed, on the contrary, a graceful and dignified style of speaking, which was by no means without its attraction, but he lacked the fervor that could rouse the masses, and the original resources that could command the few."

In 1804, Emerson founded the Anthology Club, a Boston literary society, and wrote articles for the club's The Monthly Anthology. This publication was the forerunner of the North American Review, America's leading literary journal, and the Club's reading room led to the founding in 1807 of the Boston Athenaeum.

He is buried in the First Church, in Boston.


BURIAL: First Church,King's Chapel,Boston,Massachusetts

view all 12

Rev. William Emerson's Timeline

1769
May 6, 1769
Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
1798
February 9, 1798
Boston, Suffolk, MA
1799
November 28, 1799
1801
July 31, 1801
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA
1803
May 25, 1803
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States
1805
April 17, 1805
Boston, Suffolk, MA
1807
April 11, 1807
Boston, Suffolk, MA
1808
November 17, 1808
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA
1811
February 26, 1811
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA