Bacon family papers

Leonard Bacon (1801-1881) was a clergyman, educator, and writer. Leonard Bacon was active in many theological associations and church organizations. He was pastor of the First Church of New Haven from 1825 until his death in 1881. Reverend Bacon was an ardent abolitionist and a member of the Underground Railway prior to the Civil War. He was first married to Lucy Johnson (1800-1847) and then to Catherine Terry (1813-1882).

Benjamin Wisner Bacon (1860-1932), B.A. 1881. Born January 15, 1860, in Litchfield, Connecticut. Died February 1, 1932, in New Haven, Connecticut.

Father, Reverend Leonard Woolsey Bacon (B.A. 1850, M.D. 1856, D.D. 1879) son of Reverend Leonard Bacon (B.A. 1820; D.D. Hamilton 1843; LL.D. Harvard 1870) and Lucy (Johnson) Bacon, of New Haven and Boston. Mother, Susan (Bacon) Bacon; daughter of Nathaniel Almoran and Almira (Selden) Bacon, of Lyme, Conn. Yale relatives include: Benjamin W. Bacon, ’47 (uncle), and his sons, Leonard B. Smith, ’94, and Winthrop D. Smith, ’96; Rev. Edward W. Bacon, ’69 D., and Rev. Thomas R. Bacon, ’72 (uncles); Alfred T. Bacon, ’73 (uncle), his sons, Roger T. Bacon, ex-’11 S., and Alfred H.T. Bacon, ’14, and his daughter Agnes W. Bacon, ’24 Art; and Leonard Bacon, ’09, Wallace G. Corwin, ’17, Leonard W. Bacon, ex-’17, and Selden D. Bacon, ’31 (nephews).

Hopkins Grammar School, Coburg Gymnasium, Germany and College de Genève, Switzerland. First Berkeley Premium in Latin composition Freshman year; first dispute appointment Junior and Senior years; second Winthrop Prize Junior year and Townsend Senior years; member Freshman Football Team; substitute on University Football Team Junior year and member Senior year; member Yale Orchestra; graduate member Elihu Club (elected 1916).

B.D. 1884 (on University Football Team while in Divinity School); ordained to Congregational ministry 1884 and pastor at Lyme, Conn., until 1889; pastor in Oswego, N.Y., 1889-1896; instructor in New Testament Greek at Yale 1896-97; Buckingham professor of New Testament criticism and interpretation 1897-1928 and professor emeritus since 1928; internationally recognized scholar of New Testament criticism; M.A. Yale 1892; D.D. Western Reserve 1893, University of Breslau 1911, Harvard 1914, and Yale 1929; Litt.D. University of Syracuse 1895 and Oxford 1920; LL.D. Illinois College 1904; delivered first Kent Shaffer Memorial Lectures at Yale 1930; also gave Earl Lectures at University of California 1911 and 1924, Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College, Oxford, 1920, and Lowell Lectures 1921; president of Society of Biblical Literature an Exegesis 1902-03 and managing editor of its journal 1907-08; resident director of American School of Oriental Study and Research at Jerusalem 1905-06; in 1928 through his negotiations, Yale received concession from the British Government to excavate a portion of ancient city of Jerash (Gerasa) in Palestine, in cooperation with British School of Archaeology; representative of the department of New Testament science at World’s Congress of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis Exposition 1904; author: The Genesis of Genesis (1891), The Triple Tradition of the Exodus (1894), Introduction to the New Testament (1900), The Sermon on the Mount (1902), The Story of St. Paul (1904), Modern Religious Problems (1909), The Beginnings of Gospel Story (1909), The Bible for Home and School (1909), The Fourth Gospel in Research and Debate (1909), The Founding of the Church (1909), Commentary on Galatians (1909), Jesus, the Son of God (1911), The Making of the New Testament (1912), Theodore Thornton Munger, New England Minister (1913), Christianity Old and New (1914), Is Mark a Roman Gospel (1919), Jesus and Paul (1920), The Teaching Ministry for Tomorrow (1923), He Opened to Us the Scriptures: A Study of Christ’s Better Way in the Use of Scripture (1923), The Apostolic Message (1925), The Gospel of Mark (1926), The Story of Jesus (1927), Studies in Early Christianity (1928), Studies in Matthew (1930), and Kent Shaffer Memorial Lectures (1930); his manuscript on the Gospel of John, entitled The Gospel of the Hellenists, has been prepared for publication early in 1933 by his literary executor, Professor Carl. H. Kraeling, of the Yale Faculty; author also of numerous pamphlets; had contributed to Journal of Biblical Literature, Anglican Theological Review, Biblical World, Yale Review, Harvard Theological Review, Journal of Religion, American Journal of Theology, Expositor, New World Magazine, New Republic, Yale Scientific Magazine, The Independent, and New York Sunday Times; on American editorial board of Hibbert Journal 1908-1918; managing editor of Annual of American Schools of Oriental Research 1922-23 and 1924-25; editor of Leonard Bacon, a Statesman in the Church by Rev. Theodore D. Bacon, ’83 S. (1931); honorary member Oxford Society of Historical Theology; member New York Reform Club, Good Government Club, Law and Order League, Civil Service Reform Club, National Council for Social Service in Connecticut, Victoria Institute of London, League of Nations Non-Partisan Association, and the Church of Christ in Yale University (acting pastor 1908-1916); secretary and treasurer of Yale Divinity School Alumni Association 1920-29 and of Connecticut Branch, Divinity School Alumni Association, 1916-1922; secretary of Class of 1884 D. since 1923.

Married May 27, 1884, in Norwich, Conn., Eliza Buckingham, daughter of William Appleton and Eliza Coit (Buckingham) Aiken, and sister of Alfred L. Aiken, ’91. Children: Dorothy Buckingham, ex-’09 Art the wife of Heathcote M. Woolsey, ’07; and Benjamin Selden (B.A. 1911, LL.B. 1916).

Death due to coronary thrombosis. Buried in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven. Survived by wife, daughter, son, four grandchildren, four sisters, Margaret W. Corwin, the wife of Professor Robert N. Corwin, ’87, S. Almira Bacon (Ph.D. 1911), Mabel G. Ripley, the wife of Philip F. Ripley, and Elizabeth R. Greene, the wife of Prescott M. Greene, ’03 S., two brothers, Selden Bacon, ex-’83, and Leonard W. Bacon, ’88 and ’92 M., and a half brother David L. Bacon, ’16 S. His oldest brother, Nathaniel T. Bacon, ’79 S., died in 1926, and another brother, Rev. Theodore D. Bacon, ’83 S., in 1930.

The Benjamin Wisner Bacon biography is taken from Yale University Obituary Record, 1931-1934, pages 53-55.