Ezra Stiles Gannett

Ezra Stiles Gannett (May 4, 1801–August 26, 1871) was an American Unitarian minister and a founder of the American Unitarian Association.

In the Unitarian Church's doctrinal debates of the 19th century, Gannett consistently sided with his mentor Channing. They represented Unitarian orthodoxy against the challenge of Theodore Parker and the Transcendentalists.

In 1825, Gannett participated in the discussions that led to the founding of the American Unitarian Association (AUA). He wrote the AUA's constitution and was chosen its first Secretary. He was elected AUA President in 1844 and served in that role for five years. For the remainder of his life, he required a pair of canes to walk. His son William later wrote, "They [the canes] became a part of him, the signal to eye and ear, by which every one knew 'Dr. Gannett' in Boston streets." In one of the only times away from his ministry, Gannett spent many months in 1865–66 traveling with William on a Grand Tour of Europe.

On August 26, 1871, Ezra Stiles Gannett was killed in a train wreck a few miles north of Boston. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Personal life and legacy In 1835, Gannett married Anna Linzee Tilden, a teacher and a member of the Federal Street Church. Before dying in childbirth in 1846, she and Gannett had three children. Their eldest, Catherine Boott Gannett, became a well-known member of the anti-suffragist movement. Their son William Channing Gannett was a noted Unitarian minister of the late 19th century. He helped secure his father's legacy by writing an 1875 biography, Ezra Stiles Gannett: Unitarian Minister in Boston, 1824-1871, which was reprinted in multiple editions over the next two decades.

Ezra Gannett's great-granddaughter was the children's author Ruth Stiles Gannett.