1823–1911

Introduction

portrait

Born: De­cem­ber 22, 1823, Cam­bridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Died: May 9, 1911, Cam­bridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Buried: Cam­bridge Ce­me­te­ry, Cam­bridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

portrait

Biography

Thomas was the son of Step­hen Hig­gin­son and Ma­ry Pot­ter Tha­cher.

A Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty gra­du­ate, He served Uni­ta­ri­an pas­tor­ates in New­bu­ry­port (1847–50) and Wor­ces­ter (1852–58), Mas­sa­chu­setts. In 1858, he re­tired from the min­is­try and de­vot­ed him­self to li­te­ra­ture.

He was one of the Sec­ret Six who helped fund abo­li­tion­ist John Brown’s 1859 raid on Har­per’s Fer­ry, West Vir­gin­ia. Dur­ing the Am­eri­can civil war, he was a co­lo­nel in the first Af­ri­can-Am­eri­can re­gi­ment raised in South Ca­ro­li­na.

He was a lead­ing con­tri­but­or to the At­lan­tic Month­ly, and al­so pub­lished:

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Easy Thing, O Pow­er Di­vine, An
  2. From Street and Square, from Hill and Glen
  3. Land Our Fa­thers Left to Us, The
  4. Mid the Flow­er Wreathed Tombs I Stand
  5. Mute Com­pan­ion at My Side, A
  6. No Hu­man Eyes Thy Face May See
  7. O Ga­ther, Ga­ther, Stand
  8. Past Is Dark with Sin and Shame, The
  9. Safe Neath the Vio­lets
  10. To Thine Eter­nal Arms, O God
  11. To Veil Thy Truth by Dark­en­ing or by Hid­ing
  12. When First I Mark up­on My Child’s Clear Brow