Charles Beecher

Charles Beecher (October 1, 1815 – April 21, 1900) was an American minister, composer of religious hymns and a prolific author.

Early life Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the fifth child of Lyman Beecher, an abolitionist Congregationalist preacher from Boston and Roxana Foote Beecher. He also had another prominent and activist sister, Catharine Beecher.

He attended Boston Latin School and Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834, and then attended Lane Theological Seminary in Ohio.

Career In 1851, he moved east and ministered to the First Free Presbyterian Church in Newark, New Jersey. The church, known as a stronghold of abolitionism, was expelled from the Presbyterian Synod in 1853, and re-organized as a Congregationalist church. Beecher left in 1857 for a pastorate in Georgetown, Massachusetts.

Following the Civil War, he moved to Florida to help his sister Harriet and her husband minister to newly freed slaves. He eventually was state Superintendent of Public Instruction in Florida from 1871 to 1873. He finished his ministry as acting pastor in Wysox, Pennsylvania, from 1885 to 1893.

Musical interests He also published two music texts and was one of the music editors for his brother Henry's 1855 Plymouth Collection. He published several antislavery tracts, including A Sermon on the Nebraska Bill (1854) and The God of the Bible Against Slavery (1855).

Personal life

In 1840, Beecher married Sarah Leland Coffin (1815–1897), a daughter of Nathaniel Coffin and Mary King ( Porter) Coffin. Her maternal grandfather was William King, the first governor of Maine and a half-brother of U.S. Senator and Minister to the United Kingdom Rufus King. Together, they had six children, including:

Frederick Henry Beecher (1841–1868), died at the Battle of Beecher Island during the Comanche War. The island was posthumously named after him. Esther "Essie" Lyman Beecher (1852–1867), who died young.

Published works Beecher's major publications include: The Incarnation, or, Pictures of the Virgin and her Son (1849) The Duty of Disobedience to Wicked Laws (1851) David and his Throne (1855) Pen Pictures of the Bible (1855) The Life of David King of Israel (1861) Autobiography, Correspondence, etc. of Lyman Beecher (1863) Redeemer and Redeemed (1864) Spiritual Manifestations (1879) The Eden Tableau, or, Object Bible-Teaching (1880) Patmos; or, the Unveiling (1896)