Charles Edward Grinnell

Charles Edward Grinnell (May 7, 1841 – February 1, 1916) was an American clergyman, lawyer, and writer.

Charles Edward Grinnell
BornMay 7, 1841
DiedFebruary 1, 1916 (1916-03) (aged 74)
Burial placeNemasket Hill Cemetery
Education
Occupation(s)Clergyman, lawyer, and writer
4th Pastor of the Harvard Unitarian Church, Charlestown, Massachusetts
In office
November 10, 1869 – November 9, 1873
Preceded byGeorge Edward Ellis
Succeeded byPitt Dillingham
Signature

Biography

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Grinnell was born May 7, 1841, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of Charles Andrew Grinnell and Anna Almy Cobb. He entered the University of Maryland school of letters and sciences in 1854, then entered the boarding school of John Prentiss. He entered Harvard College in 1858 and graduated in 1862. At Harvard, Grinnell was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Alpha Delta Phi, and the A.D. Club. He then studied for three years at the Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, graduating in 1865. He then spent a year at the University of Göttingen studying theology.[1][2][3]

Grinnell joined the Associate Reformed Church at the age of 17, but became a Unitarian minister. He was invited to become pastor at the First Unitarian Church in Lowell, Massachusetts where he was ordained February 19, 1867.[4] On November 10, 1867, Grinnell became pastor at the Harvard Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts.[2]

On January 4, 1871, he preached the election sermon before the governor and newly elected officers of the Commonwealth at the Old South Church in Boston.[5] Grinnell was chaplain for the Fifth regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from June 21, 1870, to May 8, 1872. He resigned from the Harvard Church in 1873, and retired from ministry altogether the following August.[3]

Grinnell then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts and entered the Harvard Law School and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1876. Following graduation, he joined the office of Chandler, Ware, and Hudson. He was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in November 1876 and opened his own office in Boston shortly after, where he practiced until 1910. Grinnell moved to Boston in July 1878 with his family. He was editor of the American Law Review from 1880 until December 1882, and again from 1906 to 1909.[1]

Grinnell was elected a member of the Century Association April 3, 1915. Proposed by Ehrman Syme Nadal and Arthur G. Sedgwick.[6] He was also a member of the St. Botolph Club.[7]

 
Grinnnell's residence at 18 Fairfield St., Boston. Designed by Peabody & Stearns

Family and death

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On July 11, 1865, Grinnell married Elizabeth Tucker Washburn. They had two sons, Charles Ewald Grinnell and Frank W. Grinnell. In 1909, Grinnell traveled with his wife to Paris and Italy, where she died in Naples. Following her death, he spent three years living in Paris and London while traveling in Germany, Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, France, and Spain. He returned to Boston in 1913 where he lived with his son Charles. Grinnell died February 1, 1916, at his son's home in Boston and was buried at Nemasket Hill Cemetery in Middleborough, Massachusetts.[1]

Works

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Eliot, Samuel Atkins, ed. (1918). "Charles Edward Grinnell". Biographical History of Massachusetts: Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State. Vol. IX. Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Biographical Society.
  2. ^ a b "The Rev. Charles Edward Grinnell". History of the Harvard Church in Charlestown, 1815–1879. 1879. p. 239 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ a b Ware, Charles Pickard, ed. (1912). "Biographies—Charles Edward Grinnell". Class Report—Class of 'Sixty-Two, Harvard University, Fiftieth Anniversary. Norwood, Mass.: The Plimpton Press. pp. 34–35.
  4. ^ "Intelligence—Mr. Charles E. Grinnell". The Monthly Journal. VIII (2). American Unitarian Association: 95 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Grinnell, Charles E. (1871). Fanatacism. Wright & Potter – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ "Earliest Members of the Century Association—Charles E. Grinnell". Century Association Biographical Archive. Century Association.
  7. ^ "Noted Lawyer and Author.—Funeral of Charles E. Grinnell Will Be Held in the Arlington Street Church Tomorrow". The Boston Globe. Vol. LXXXIX, no. 33. February 2, 1916. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.