THOMAS JEFFERSON SAWYER was born at Reading, Windsor County, Vermont, January 9, 1804.

His education began in the district school, which he attended six months in the year until he was eighteen years of age, when he began to teach, using the first money so earned to pay for tuition at a private school kept at Reading by a Universalist minister named Loveland. At nineteen he went to Chester Academy, and thence, in 1825, to Middlebury College, a portion of his time while at each of these institutions being devoted to teaching school.

Meanwhile, he had determined to enter the Universalist ministry, and upon graduation from college in 1829, he at once entered upon the study of theology with the Rev. W. S. Balch, at Winchester, New Hampshire. The fact that within a fortnight he received a Letter of Fellowship, and within a month was ordained by the General Convention of New England, indicates that his preparation was already considerable.

He remained at Winchester during the winter, preaching some and studying much, and in April, 1830, went to New York City and took charge of a small congregation worshipping in a chapel on Grand Street. In September of the following year he was married to Miss Caroline M. Fisher, of Newton, Massachusetts, whose writings have made her known and beloved throughout the denomination. Mrs. Sawyer died in 1894. Of seven children, two sons and a daughter are now living.

In 1831 Mr. Sawyer became editor of the "Christian Messenger." In 1832 he hired for two years a church which had

During this first pastorate in New York, Mr. Sawyer had contributed mightily and in many ways to the strengthening, spreading, and popularizing of Universalism, not only in the metropolis but throughout the country. Theological combats were the order in those days, and the Orchard Street pulpit became famed for the strength, clearness, and reasonableness of its arguments for the larger faith. In discussion and debate, in pamphlet and newspaper, as well as in sermon and lecture, the aggressive, clear-headed, scholarly young preacher labored incessantly and to good purpose. During the cholera epidemic of 1832 he stood at his post, kept his church open, and in many ways ministered to the afflicted.

In 1834 he was instrumental in organizing the Universalist Historical Society of which he has ever since been Secretary and Librarian, collecting during this time over three thousand volumes. In 1844 he prepared a plan of polity which is substantially that by which the church has since been governed. With all the rest, the busy pastor found time for personal culture, beginning the study of German and Hebrew, in both of which he became proficient.

In taking charge of the Institute at Clinton, Mr. Sawyer also assumed the pastorate of the local church, and in addition to these duties, in view of the lack of a Universalist

Two or three hours a day were given to this work, and thirty-seven men, among them some of the best known in the denomination, here received their theological training. It was while at Clinton that Mr. Sawyer, keenly alive to the educational needs of the denomination, issued the call for the convention held in New York in 1847, the outcome of which was the founding of Tufts College, Canton Theological School, and St. Lawrence University. Mr. Sawyer was president of the first board of Trustees of each of these institutions.

In 1852 he returned to New York City, preaching one year for the Fourth Society, and then resuming his first pastorate, where he remained until the beginning of the war in 1861.

Then, after two years of work at his old Clinton home, reading, writing, and preaching, he went again to New York in 1863, as editor of the " Christian Ambassador," which position he held for three years. After this he spent three years on a farm at Cateret, New Jersey, still preaching occasionally.

With the opening of Tufts Divinity School in 1869, Dr. Sawyer was called to assume charge of it, with the title of Packard Professor of Theology, and in 1882 he was formally made Dean. In 1884 his impaired eyesight compelled him to retire from active work as an instructor, and in 1892 he was made Emeritus.

The degree of S. T. D. had been conferred upon him by Harvard University, in 1850, and Tufts added that of LL. D., in 1895. Twice he has been elected President of Tufts College, once of Canton Theological School, and once of Lombard University, but all these offices he has declined. He is an honorary member of the chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Tufts.

The Rev. Richard Eddy, D. D., dedicates the second volume of his history of Universalism in America to Dr. Sawyer, saying, "his influence in shaping the thought of the

Dr. Sawyer at present resides with his daughter Alice, and her husband, Professor Knight. He retains in his extreme old age a remarkable degree of good health and vigor. His intellect has lost none of its clearness, and his bearing is still erect and full of dignity. Such an old age is beautiful to look upon, as the ripened harvest of seed well sown.