Lyman Abbott

Lyman Abbott (December 18, 1835 – October 22, 1922) was an American Congregationalist theologian, editor, and author.

Biography

Early years

Lyman Abbott was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts on December 18, 1835, the son of the prolific author, educator and historian Jacob Abbott. Lyman Abbott grew up in Farmington, Maine and later in New York City. Abbott's ancestors were from England, and came to America roughly twenty years after Plymouth Rock.

He graduated from the New York University in 1853, where he was a member of the Eucleian Society, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. Abbott soon abandoned the legal profession, however, and after studying theology with his uncle, John Stevens Cabot Abbott, was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church in 1860.

Career

He was pastor of the Congregational Church in Terre Haute, Indiana from 1860 to 1865 and of the New England Church in New York City in 1865–1869. From 1865 to 1868 he was secretary of the American Union Commission (later called the American Freedmen's Bureau). In 1869 he resigned his pastorate to devote himself to literature.