Papers of the Gilman and Bowen families

Samuel Gilman, Unitarian minister and author of “Fair Harvard,” was born on February 16, 1791, to Frederick and Abigail (Somes) Gilman in Gloucester, Massachusetts. At the time of his birth, the Gilman family was living in the house previously owned by Judith Sargent Murray and her second husband, John Murray. Gilman entered Harvard College in 1807, at the age of 16, and received his AB in 1811. While an undergraduate student, he met his future wife, Caroline Howard, who was born in Boston on October 1, 1794 to Samuel and Anna (Lillie) Howard. Samuel and Caroline married in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 25, 1819; they had seven children, three of whom died in infancy. Among their children was Annie Margaret Gilman. After the birth and death of her sixth child in 1831, Caroline Howard Gilman returned to an early love of writing, becoming one of the most popular women writers of the first half of the 19th century.

From 1817-1819, Gilman worked at Harvard as a tutor, while also studying theology in the area. Following their marriage, the Gilmans moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where Samuel had accepted a position as pastor of the Second Independent Church (which became the Unitarian Church in Charleston in 1839). He served the church until his death on February 9, 1858. Although he spent the majority of his career in the South, Gilman frequently returned to his New England roots, including his alma mater. In 1815, he was privileged to deliver the Phi Beta Kappa poem. In 1836, he composed the poem, “Fair Harvard,” in honor of Harvard’s bicentennial. The following year, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity by the College, and in 1848, he delivered the Dudleian lecture. The Federal Census of 1830 shows that Gilman enslaved four people; the Slave Schedules of the of the Federal Census of 1850 show that Gilman enslaved five adults and six children.

Following Samuel’s death in 1858, Caroline remained in the South through the Civil War. She died in Washington, D.C. on September 15, 1888.

Charles James Bowen, Unitarian minister, was born on May 20, 1827, in Providence, Rhode Island to Henry and Harriet Amanda (Munro) Bowen. He received his AB from Brown University in 1847 and completed the course of study at the Harvard Divinity School in 1850. On November 4 of that year, he married Annie Margaret Gilman, daughter of Samuel and Caroline Howard Gilman. Together they had two children: Lillian and Samuel Gilman Bowen. In his career as a Unitarian minister, Bowen held pastorates in Newburyport, Massachusetts (1850-1853), Kingston, Massachusetts (1855-1858), Baltimore, Maryland (1858-1862), and Roxbury, Massachusetts (1865-1870). During the Civil War, he worked as a hospital chaplain. Bowen died on April 11, 1870.

Joseph Priestly (1733-1804), was an English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, and natural philosopher. An advocate for toleration and equal rights for religious Dissenters (Christians separated from the Church of England), he was a founder of Unitarianism in England. In 1780, Priestly moved to Birmingham and was appointed minister of the New Meeting Society. In July 1791, he became the target of the Birmingham Riots (also known as the Priestly Riots). During the riots, which were sparked by a growing division between the Dissenters and the Anglicans due to the Dissenters' efforst to repeal the Test and Corporation Act, which restricted their civil rights, and their support of the French Revolution, Priestly's home and church were burned. Priestly was forced to flee with his family to London. In 1793, he and his wife emigrated to the United States.