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Charles Oliver Brown at Dubuque: A Study in the Ideals of Midwestern Congregationalists in the Late Nineteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Dewey D. Wallace Jr
Dewey D. Wallace Jr
Affiliation:
Professor of religion in George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
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Extract

Most of the standard books on the social gospel mention Charles Oliver Brown's Talks on the Labor Troubles, published in 1886, the year of the Haymarket riot, as one of the early clerical statements on the problem of labor in America. Several of them also allude to Brown's controversy in San Francisco with George D. Herron in 1895. But these writers on the social gospel were unaware of Brown's importance, even though Henry F. May noted that a whole issue of The Kingdom, a paper issued by Herron's supporters, was devoted to the refutation of Brown's charges against Herron.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 1984 , pp. 46 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1984

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References

1. May, Henry F., Protestant Churches and Industrial America (New York, 1949), pp. 100,255–256;Google ScholarHopkins, C. Howard, The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism,1865–1915 (New Haven, 1940), pp. 71, 90–91;Google ScholarDombrowski, James, The Early Days of Christian Socialism in America (New York, 1936), pp. 110, 178–181;Google ScholarFrederick, Peter J., Knights of the Golden Rule: The Intellectual as Christian Social Reformer in the 1890's(Lexington, Ky., 1976), p. 168.Google Scholar May misplaces Brown as a pastor at Oakland, confusing him with Charles R. Brown, the later dean of Yale Divinity School.

2. Manuscript materials formerly belonging to Brown's second wife came into my possession in1980, including a six-page “Brief Sketch of His Life” written by him in 1935, a 655-page manuscript memoir of his early life and Civil War adventures written in 1878, a number of letters, and miscellaneous memorabilia. Unless otherwise noted, all Brown manuscripts cited are in my possession. I am preparing a biography of Brown.

3. See, for example, Littell, Franklin H., From State Church to Pluralism: A Protestant Interpretation of Religion in American History (Garden City, N.Y., 1962), pp. 61, 71.Google Scholar

4. C. O. Brown, “Memoir of Early Life.” The first two hundred pages include an account of these events.

5. Ibid., pp. 429–431.

6. Brown, C. O., Life and Character of Mrs. C. C. Wheat, of Oberlin, Ohio (n.p., n.d.), pp. 7–8, 10.Google Scholar

7. Brown, C. O., “Brief Sketch of His Life,” p. 3;Google ScholarBrown, C. O., “History of the Congregational Church, Rochester, Michigan, 1827–1877,” mimeograph of typescript provided by Carol J. Kohl, historian, First Congregational Church, Rochester, Michigan, [p. 3]Google ScholarCatalogue of the Officers and Students of Olivet College for the Year 1875–76.

8. Minutes of the First Congregational Church, Rochester, Michigan, 7 September 1876, 31 December 1879, 18 January 1880; Clerk's Records of the First Congregational Church, Galesburg, Michigan, 2 January 1880, 30 January 1881; Minutes of the First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 7 December 1885; untitled typescript history of the First Congregational Church of Tacoma, Washington, pp. 8–10.

9. The details were reported in the San Francisco newspapers; Minutes of the Bay Conference for 14 April 1896; “Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Green Street Church,” pamphlet (1938), Chicago Theological Seminary Library, Chicago, Illinois.

10. Brown, Charles O., “Abraham Lincoln,” pamphlet, privately printed (1931);Google ScholarChicago Daily News, 30 May 1934; untitled broadsheet on Brown's GAR record, printed by Ulysses S. Grant Post, Chicago.

11. Sweet, William Warren, Religion on the American Frontier, 1783–1850, vol. 3, The Congregationalists: A Collection of Source Materials (Chicago, 1939), PP. 39–42;Google ScholarBrown, C. O., ed., Semi-Centennial Celebration of the First Congregational Church of Dubuque, Iowa, May 12th and 13th, 1889 (n.p., n.d.), pp. 61–65, 70, 72, 73, 121.Google Scholar

12. Brown, , “Memoir of Early Life,” p. 432.Google Scholar

13. Brown, , “History of the Congregational Church, Rochester, Michigan,” [p. 7]Google Scholar Minutes of the First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 7 December 1885; Brown, , Life of Mrs. Wheat, pp. 25–26;Google Scholar for Whittle, see McLoughlin, William G., Modern Revivalism: Charles Grandison Finney to Billy Graham (New York, 1959), p. 286;Google ScholarBrown, , Semi-Centennial Celebration, p. 73.Google Scholar

14. Brown, C. O., “The Problem of Satanic Influence Considered,” broadsheet, (n.p., n.d.), pp. 7–12.Google Scholar

15. For a discussion of Finney's outlook and approach, see McLoughlin, , Modern Revivalism, pp. 3–121.Google Scholar

16. Brown, Charles Oliver, Short Talks to Young Christians on the Evidences (Chicago, 1885), pp. 31, 42, 122–135, 140–147.Google Scholar

17. Brown, , “History of the Congregational Church, Rochester, Michigan,” [p. 4];Google ScholarBrown, , Life of Mrs. Wheat, pp. 21–22, 24–25.Google Scholar

18. Brown, C. O., Battlefields Revisited (n.p., 1886).Google Scholar

19. Brown, Charles O., “Military Preparedness and the Word of God,” pamphlet, privately printed, 1915.Google Scholar

20. Brown, C. O., Talks on the Labor Troubles (Chicago, 1886), preface, pp. 7, 10, 13, 19, 28–30, 69.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., pp. 26–28, 42, 44, 47, 71, 85, 90.

22. Ibid., pp. 106, 23.

23. Ibid., p. 81.

24. Brown, C. O., “Professor Herron's Teachings Reviewed,” pp. [1], [4].Google Scholar The story of the encounter between Brown and Herron has been told by Dombrowski, pp. 179–180.

25. Brown, C. O., Brown vs. Ingersoll: Did the Great Infidel Petition for Repeal of the Laws Against Obscenity? (broadsheet, 1888), p. 1;Google Scholar for Ingersoll's role in this petition, see Larson, Orvin, American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll (New York, 1962), pp. 144, 146, 149, 153.Google Scholar

26. Brown, , Brown vs. Ingersoll, pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

27. Ibid., p. 8.

28. Moorhead, James H., American Apocalypse: Yankee Protestants and the Civil War, 1860–1869 (New Haven, 1978), pp. 219–220,Google Scholar notes that after the Civil War many ministers turned from the dangers of Richmond to those of Rome.

29. Brown, C. O., The Public Schools and Their Foes (Dubuque, 1890), p. [2].Google Scholar

30. Ibid., p. 5.

31. Ibid., pp. 7, 8, 15.

32. Ibid., p. 10.

33. For these developments, see especially Pearson, Samuel C. Jr, “From Church to Denomination: American Congregationalism in the Nineteenth Century,” Church History 38 (1969): 67–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34. Douglass, Truman O., The Pilgrims of Iowa (Boston, 1911).Google Scholar

35. Brown, , “History of the Congregational Church, Rochester, Michigan,” [p. 2];Google Scholar Minutes of the First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 6 June 1885; Brown, , SemiCentennial Celebration of the First Congregational Church of Dubuque, pp. 3–5.Google Scholar

36. Brown, , Semi-Centennial Celebration, pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

37. Ibid., pp. 9, 28–34, 34–56, 78–97, 62, 74, 134–135.

38. Ibid., pp. 137–139.

39. Santayana, George, Character and Opinion in the United States (New York, 1956), p.3.Google Scholar

40. Typescript history of First Congregational Church of Tacoma, pp. 8–9; “C. O. Brown's Lectures,” printed brochure; “Dedication of Illinois Monument in the Memphis National Cemetery, October 15, 1929: ‘The Monument with a Soul,’” pamphlet, privately printed, 1929.

41. “C. O. Brown's Lectures.”

42. A typescript containing many of his poems is in the author's possession.