------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced, and have been numbered sequentially. Illustrations have been moved to fall on paragraph breaks. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. BIOGRAPHY OF REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. [Illustration: Henry Ward Beecher] A BIOGRAPHY OF REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. BY WM. C. BEECHER AND REV. SAMUEL SCOVILLE, ASSISTED BY MRS. HENRY WARD BEECHER. -------------- NEW YORK: CHARLES L. WEBSTER & COMPANY. --- 1888. COPYRIGHTED BY CHARLES L. WEBSTER & COMPANY, 1888 (_All rights reserved._) JENKINS & McCOWAN, PRINTERS, 224, 226 and 228 Centre St, N. Y. =To Our Mother=, WHOSE FAITHFUL LOVE AND PATIENT SELF-DEVOTION COMFORTED AND STRENGTHENED OUR BELOVED FATHER DURING TROUBLES, BLESSED AND ENCOURAGED HIM IN PROSPERITY, A TRUE COMPANION AND DEVOTED HELPMEET, WE DEDICATE THIS STORY OF HIS LIFE. CONTENTS. ------- CHAPTER I. PAGE Ancestry—Beecher—Ward—Foote—The Anvil—The 17-29 Oak—Courtship and Marriage of Lyman Beecher and Roxana Foote—Home at East Hampton, Long Island—Removal to Litchfield, Connecticut CHAPTER II. Litchfield—Situation—Natural Features—Early 30-45 Settlers—Social and Moral Advantages—Patriotism—North Street described—The Beecher Home—Birth of Henry Ward—The Times at Home and Abroad—His Birth-Mark CHAPTER III.