Bacon, Leonard Woolsey, 1830-1907
Biographical Statement
Leonard Woolsey Bacon was born in New Haven, Connecticut on January 1st, 1830 to Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon and Lucy Johnson Bacon. Bacon was graduated from Yale in 1850 and then attended the Andover Theological Seminary for two years; he then attended Yale’s Divinity School graduating in 1854. On October 16th, 1854 Bacon was ordained to the ministry of the First Congregational Church in Litchfield, Connecticut. Three years later in 1857 Bacon married Susan Almoran Bacon; they had thirteen children together. In 1879 he received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Harvard in 1879. Bacon was the pastor at various churches in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and even Geneva; he held posts in: Litchfield, Connecticut (1856-1861), First Church in Stamford, Connecticut (1862-1865), New England Congregation Church in Brooklyn, New York (1865-1870), Baltimore, Maryland, 1870-1872, American Church in Geneva, Switzerland (1872-1877), Norwich, Connecticut (1878-1882),Woodland Presbyterian Church Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1883-1886), Savannah, Georgia (1886-1887), Park Congregational Church Norwich, Connecticut (1887-1902), Assonet, Massachusetts (1902-1906). He married a second time to Letitia Wilson Jordan Bacon in May 26, 1890; they had one son together. Leonard Bacon passed away on May 12th, 1907 in Assonent, Massachusetts. Bacon has been known for “controversial statements” mainly regarding pro-segregation sentiments. He also has published several works including: A Life Worth Living: Life of Emily Gould (1878), History of American Christianity (1898), The Congregationalists (1904), and he edited Martin Luther’s Deutche gesitliche Lieder (1883).