Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford and The Osgood House is an historic Unitarian Universalist church building at 141 and 147 High Street in Medford, Massachusetts

Medford, Massachusetts

Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173...

.

History

The congregation was founded in 1690 as a Puritan

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

 parish church that was an official branch of the Massachusetts state church

State church

State churches are organizational bodies within a Christian denomination which are given official status or operated by a state.State churches are not necessarily national churches in the ethnic sense of the term, but the two concepts may overlap in the case of a nation state where the state...

. In 1696 the first meeting house

Meeting house

A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations....

 was constructed. In the early 1820s the congregation split and was restructured with the 'orthodox' Trinitarian

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

 members leaving to form a separate congregation. The current and fifth building of the congregation was constructed in 1894 and added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1975.

The Rev. William Ellery Channing

William Ellery Channing

Dr. William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton, one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker...

 gave his first sermon at 1st Parish Medford on August 8th, 1802 "Silver and gold have I none, but such I give to you." The Rev. Thomas Starr King

Thomas Starr King

Thomas Starr King was an American Unitarian and Universalist minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War. Starr King spoke zealously in favor of the Union and was credited by Abraham Lincoln with preventing California from becoming a separate republic...

 did his student ministry under Hosea Ballou

Hosea Ballou

Hosea Ballou was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.-Biography:Hosea Ballou was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, to a family of Huguenot origin...

 II at 1st Universalist before Ballou moved to become the first president of Tufts College in 1852.

The First Universalist Church and the Hillside Universalist consolidated with the First Parish Church (Unitarian) in 1961 to form The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford (or UU Medford) a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and has been a Welcoming Congregation

Welcoming Congregation

A welcoming congregation can be* A Unitarian Universalist community affiliated with the Welcoming Congregation program* Any of several LGBT-welcoming church programs...

 since 1996.

As of 2010, its minister is the Rev. Hank Peirce. The Director of Religious Education is Kimberly Wootan. Thom Lissey is Director of Music.

Famous Members

• George Luther Stearns
  George Luther Stearns
  George Luther Stearns was an American industrialist and merchant, as well as a noted recruiter of blacks for the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
  
  ,
• Lydia Maria Child,
• Fannie Farmer
  Fannie Farmer
  Fannie Merritt Farmer was an American culinary expert whose Boston Cooking-School Cook Book became a widely used culinary text.-Biography:...
  
  ,
• Rev. John Pierpont
  John Pierpont
  John Pierpont was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His most famous poem is The Airs of Palestine.-Overview:...
  
  ,
• James Pierpont
  James Pierpont (musician)
  James Lord Pierpont was an American songwriter, arranger, organist, and composer, best known for writing and composing Jingle Bells in 1857, originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh". He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Winter Haven, Florida...
  
  ,
• Robert D. Richardson
  Robert D. Richardson
  Robert D. Richardson is an American historian, and biographer.-Life:He was brought up in Medford, Massachusetts and Concord, Massachusetts.He graduated from Exeter, in 1952,and from Harvard University, with a PhD....
  
  ,
• Gen. Samuel Crocker Lawrence,
• Gov. John Brooks
  John Brooks
  John Brooks was the 11th Governor of Massachusetts from 1816 to 1823; he was the last significant Federalist elected official in office in the United States....
  
  ,
• Rev. Hosea Ballou II
  Hosea Ballou II
  Hosea Ballou II was an American Universalist minister and the first president of Tufts University from 1853 to 1861. He promoted the establishment of seminaries for religious training, something which was at that time opposed by a number of influential Universalists including his uncle Hosea...
  
  ,
• Rev. Clarence Skinner
  Clarence Skinner (minister)
  Clarence Russell Skinner was a Universalist Minister, Teacher, and Dean of the Crane School of Theology at Tufts University. Born in Lexington, Massachusetts. He wrote several books that had a substantial influence on Universalism in America in the twentieth century: The Social Implication of...
  
  ,
• Ione Vargus,
• William Cushing Wait
• Jane Turell
• Rev. Carl Seaburg

First Parish (Unitarian)

• Rev. Aaron Porter 1713-22,
• Rev. Ebenezer Turell 1724-78,
• Rev David Osgood 1747-1822,
• http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe05/rbpe053/05301900/rbpe05301900.db&recNum=0&itemLink=S?ammem/rbpebib:@OR%28@field%28TITLE+@od1%28Order+to+exercises,+at+the+installation+of+the+Rev++Andrew+Bigelow+over+the+church+and+congregation+in+Medford,+on+Wednesday,+July+9,+1823++Boston+Printed+by+Russell+and+Gardner+%5B1823+++%29%29+@field%28ALTTITLE+@od1%28Order+to+exercises,+at+the+installation+of+the+Rev++Andrew+Bigelow+over+the+church+and+congregation+in+Medford,+on+Wednesday,+July+9,+1823++Boston+Printed+by+Russell+and+Gardner+%5B1823+++%29%29%29&linkText=0Rev. Andrew Bigelow] 1823-27,
• Rev. Caleb Stetson 1827-48,
• Rev. John Pierpont
  John Pierpont
  John Pierpont was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His most famous poem is The Airs of Palestine.-Overview:...
  
   1849-56,
• Rev. Theo Tibbettes 1857-60,
• Rev. Edward Towne 1861-67,
• Rev. Henry DeLong 1869-1914,
• Rev. Louis Dethlefs 1914-36,
• Rev. Robert Richardson 1936-51,
• Rev. Charles Engvall 1951-61,

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First Universalist Church

• Rev Winslow Wright 1833-35,
• Rev. Joseph Banfield 1835-38,
• Rev. Hosea Ballou
  Hosea Ballou
  Hosea Ballou was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.-Biography:Hosea Ballou was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, to a family of Huguenot origin...
  
   2nd 1838-53,
• Rev Gustavas Maxham 1854-58,
• Rev. Cyrus Lomnard 1859-61,
• Rev. Benjamin Davis 1861-67,
• Rev. Russell Ambler 1869-73,
• Rev. J. H. Farnsworth 1874-75,
• Rev. William. Haskell 1876-78,
• Rev. Richard Eddy* 1878-79,
• Rev. Daniel Libby 1880-82,
• Rev. Russell Ambler 1882-86,
• Rev. John Reardon 1886-88,
• Rev. Charles Leonard* 1888-89,
• Rev. W. Woodbridge 1889-94,
• Rev William Dearborn 1894-98,
• Rev. Clarence Eaton 99-1910,
• Rev. Edward Barney 1911-20,
• Rev. Hendirk Vossema 1921-30,
• Rev. Robert A. Nunn 1930-32,
• Rev. Fred Miller 1931-36,
• Rev. William Abbe 1936-41,
• Rev. Roger F. Etz 1941-50,
• Rev. Eugene Ashton 1950-52,
• Rev. John Ratcliff 1950-52,
• Rev. Grant Haskell 1952-58,
• Rev. Eugene Adams 1958-61,

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Hillside Universalist

• Prof. George Harmon 1896-97,
• Rev. B.F. Eaton 1897-98,
• Rev. Theo. Fischer 1899-1906,
• Rev. Charles. Temple 1906-09,
• Rev. Pliny Allen 1909-11,
• Dr. I.P. Coddington 1911-12,
• Rev. Arthur Wilson 1913-14,
• Rev. Otis Alvord 1915-17,
• Rev Clarence Skinner
  Clarence Skinner (minister)
  Clarence Russell Skinner was a Universalist Minister, Teacher, and Dean of the Crane School of Theology at Tufts University. Born in Lexington, Massachusetts. He wrote several books that had a substantial influence on Universalism in America in the twentieth century: The Social Implication of...
  
  1917-20,
• Rev. T.W. Horsfield 1920-22,
• Rev. Charles Clark 1922-26,
• Rev. John Paige 1927-30,
• Rev. Phillip Mayer 1930-32,
• Rev. Emily Mayer 1932-33,
• Rev. Donald Lester 1933-35,
• Rev. Andrew Torsleff 1935-50,
• Rev. Alexander Meek 1950-52,
• Fr. William Wrenn 1952-53,
• Rev. James Hunt 1952-53,
• Rev. John Dahlquist 1953-56,
• Rev. Bruno Visco 1956-58,
• Mr. Leo Dantana 1958-61,

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The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford

• Rev. Frank Ricker 1962-67,
• Rev. Paul Osborn 1967-69,
• Rev. Dean Starr (interim),
• Rev. Eugene Adams 1970-87,
• Rev. Scott Jones 1987-92,
• Rev. Dorothy Emerson 1992-98,
• Rev. Doris Hunter 1998-99 (interim),
• Rev. Deborah Mero 1999-2000 (interim),
• Rev. Henry I. Peirce 2000-

|}

External links

• UU Medford Congregation Website
• Parson Turell's Legacy
• Turell's sugarbowl