Alamo, Susan (25 April 1925–08 April 1982), independent Pentecostal minister and television and radio evangelist, was born Edith Opal Horn in Dyer, Arkansas, the daughter of Edward Horn and Geneva McAlster. Edith Horn converted from Judaism to evangelical Protestantism as a child. After some high school and a brief early marriage (to Tom Brown), she moved to Hollywood to try to make a career as an actress. There she met and, around 1940, married Solomon Lipowitz, with whom she had one daughter, known as Christhaon Susan. This marriage officially ended in 1966, though the couple had separated sometime before. As Susan Lipowitz she worked sporadically as an actress but mostly traveled around the country with her daughter as an evangelical minister and tent missionary. In 1965, while working as a street evangelist in Hollywood, she met Tony Alamo (born Bernie Lazar Hoffman in 1934), a talent promoter in the music business. She soon converted Alamo, who also was born Jewish, to her strand of Protestantism, and they were married in 1966, once in Tijuana and twice in Las Vegas, to be “triple sure.” It was the third marriage for both....
Article
Alamo, Susan (1925-1982), independent Pentecostal minister and television and radio evangelist
Amanda Carson Banks
Article
Bell, Eudorus Neander (27 June 1866–15 June 1923), first chairman (a position now designated "general superintendent") of the Assemblies of God
Edith L. Blumhofer
Bell, Eudorus Neander (27 June 1866–15 June 1923), first chairman (a position now designated "general superintendent") of the Assemblies of God, first chairman (a position now designated “general superintendent” ) of the Assemblies of God, was born in Lake Butler, Florida, one of twin sons born to George Bell and his wife (name unknown). Bell’s father died in 1868, and scant references to his childhood indicate that the family was not financially secure. He worked his way through Stetson University in De Land, Florida, where he received his B.A. in 1900. After attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, during the academic year 1900–1901, Bell enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he was awarded the bachelor of divinity degree in 1903. Given his later involvement with Pentecostals who questioned the doctrine of the Trinity, the topic of his thesis merits notice: “The Significance of the Term ‘Son of God’ in Romans and Galatians.” While at the University of Chicago, Bell preached twice each week at the Baptist church in the small town of Chenoa, about 100 miles south of Chicago....
Article
Brainerd, David (1718-1747), Puritan missionary to the Indians
James P. Walsh
Brainerd, David (20 April 1718–09 October 1747), Puritan missionary to the Indians, was born in Haddam, Connecticut, the son of Hezekiah Brainerd, a prosperous and prominent social and political figure, and Dorothy Hobart Mason, the daughter of a Congregationalist minister and the widow of Daniel Mason. To a large degree, the life of Brainerd as it is generally known was invented by Brainerd in the last months before his death in collaboration with ...
Article
Brewster, William (1567-1644), a leader of the Pilgrims and of the Plymouth Colony
Francis J. Bremer
Brewster, William (1567–10 April 1644), a leader of the Pilgrims and of the Plymouth Colony, was born in England, the son of William Brewster and Prudence (maiden name unknown). His specific place of birth has not been determined. The first mention of a William Brewster is in the Scrooby parish records for 1571. At about that time his parents had moved to the Nottinghamshire village, where in 1575 William’s father became bailiff and receiver of Scrooby Manor, a property held by the archbishop of York. Archbishop Edmund Grindal appointed the elder Brewster to the posts, and Archbishop Edwin Sandys continued him in office. In 1588 the elder Brewster also assumed the position of postmaster when the town was made a postal stop on the London to York road and, as required, operated a tavern for use of the post riders and other travelers. These positions made him one of the more affluent members of the small community and gave him the opportunity to provide a quality education for his son....
Article
Bulkeley, Peter (1583-1659), Puritan clergyman
William K. B. Stoever
Bulkeley, Peter (31 January 1583–09 March 1659), Puritan clergyman, was born in Odell, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Edward Bulkeley, the rector of Odell, and Olyff Irby, of Lincolnshire. At about age sixteen he entered the Puritan-inclined St. John’s College, Cambridge, becoming fellow in 1605 and receiving his M.A. in 1608. In the same year he was ordained at Ely and in 1610 became university preacher. On the death of his father in 1620 he succeeded to the rectory of Odell and to his father’s sizable estate. A Nonconformist like his father, he was overlooked by John Williams, the bishop of Lincoln, until after the accession of Archbishop Laud (1633). His first wife, Jane Allen (marriage date unknown), of Goldington, Bedfordshire, with whom he had eleven children, died in 1626. In 1634 he married Grace Chetwode, of Odell, who had four children. Complained against in 1635 for his nonconformity, he was silenced by Laud’s vicar-general, Nathaniel Brent....
Article
Chauncy, Charles (1592-1672), Puritan minister and president of Harvard College
Mark A. Peterson
Chauncy, Charles (1592–19 February 1672), Puritan minister and president of Harvard College, was born in Yardley-Bury, Hertfordshire, England, the son of George Chauncy, a member of the lesser gentry, and Agnes Welch Humberstone. In 1605 Chauncy was sent to the Westminster School, which narrowly escaped the notorious Gunpowder Plot of that year. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1610, received the B.A. in 1614, a master’s degree in 1617, and in 1624 was awarded a second bachelor’s degree in divinity. After taking his first degree, Chauncy became a fellow of the college and eventually served as lecturer in Hebrew and Greek....
Article
Cotton, John (1584-1652), clergyman
Sargent Bush
Cotton, John (04 December 1584–23 December 1652), clergyman, was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, the son of Roland Cotton, a lawyer, and Mary Hurlbert. A serious and talented student, he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of thirteen. He received his B.A. in 1603 and his M.A. in 1606, the year he became a fellow at Emmanuel College. He remained there until 1612, serving as lecturer, catechist, dean, and tutor while acquiring a reputation as both an able disputant and a remarkable preacher. At first his preaching was in the learned and ornate style, but after being spiritually affected in 1609 by the preaching of Richard Sibbes, he adopted the plain Puritan style. Although this change was received with dismay by many of his admirers in Cambridge, it was responsible for the conversion of John Preston, later master of Emmanuel and an eminent Puritan divine. Cotton was ordained in 1610, and in 1613 he received the B.D. His first call was as vicar of St. Botolph’s Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he served from 1612 until shortly before his departure for New England in 1633. In 1613 Cotton married Elizabeth Horrocks, sister of a Lancashire minister. During his Lincolnshire ministry, Cotton ran an informal seminary for recent Cambridge graduates. Young Dutch and German exiles from the war on the Continent also lived with the Cottons, so that, as his contemporary ...
Image
Cotton, John (1584-1652)
In
Article
Davenport, John (1597-1670), Congregational Puritan clergyman
Francis J. Bremer
Davenport, John ( April 1597–15 March 1670), Congregational Puritan clergyman, was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, the son of Henry Davenport, a merchant in that town, and Winifred Barneby. He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, in 1613, having shortly before that time experienced a religious conversion. After two years he transferred to Magdalen, Oxford, but left the university before obtaining his degree in order to accept a chaplaincy at Hilton Castle, Durham. In 1619 he became curate at St. Lawrence Jewry in the city of London, where he became acquainted with the tenets of Puritanism. He earned a reputation as an inspiring preacher and was elected vicar of the London parish of St. Stephen’s, Coleman Street, in 1624. The influence of prominent Puritan nobility was needed to persuade the bishop of London to approve the choice of Davenport, which was obtained because at this point he conformed to the liturgical practices of the church, believing that differences over such matters must be subordinated to the need for a united Calvinist front against Catholicism and Arminianism. In 1625 he was awarded both the B.D. and M.A. degrees by Magdalen, Oxford. In that same year he garnered favorable notice for his efforts to minister to his congregation during a severe outbreak of the plague....
Article
du Plessis, David Johannes (1905-1987), ecumenical Pentecostal minister
C. Douglas Weaver
du Plessis, David Johannes (07 February 1905–02 February 1987), ecumenical Pentecostal minister, was born in Twenty-four Rivers (near Cape Town), South Africa, the son of David J. du Plessis, a carpenter and lay preacher, and Anna Cornelia (maiden name unknown). One of twelve siblings, du Plessis was raised in the Pentecostal movement, the Christian movement that claimed to receive the “gifts of the Spirit”—including speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miraculous healings—that had been granted to the first-century church on the day of Pentecost. He had a religious conversion at the age of eleven but, according to his testimony, did not receive the distinctive Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit until two years later because he had failed to confess a lie that he had told his parents. He became a boy preacher at the age of fifteen for the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM), the largest Pentecostal group in South Africa....
Article
Edwards, Sarah Pierpont (1710-1758), devout Puritan and wife of Jonathan Edwards, the theologian and religious revivalist
Kyle P. Farley
Edwards, Sarah Pierpont (09 January 1710–02 October 1758), devout Puritan and wife of Jonathan Edwards, the theologian and religious revivalist, devout Puritan and wife of Jonathan Edwards, the theologian and religious revivalist, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of James Pierpont, a minister, and Mary Hooker. Her father died when she was four. Her family relations are noteworthy. Her mother, Mary Hooker, was the granddaughter of ...
Article
Eliot, John (1604-1690), Puritan clergyman and missionary to the Indians
Mary Rhinelander McCarl
Eliot, John (1604–21 May 1690), Puritan clergyman and missionary to the Indians, was the son of Bennett Eliot, a prosperous yeoman, and Lettice Aggar. He was baptized at Widford, Hertfordshire, England, on 5 August 1604, but the main residence of his father was at Nazeing, Essex. Eliot’s father owned considerable property, mostly in Essex. Eliot was scholarly—he particularly enjoyed the classics and Hebrew. He matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge University, in 1619 and received the degree of B.A. in 1622. He was ordained in the Church of England but very soon began to be uncomfortable with its rules. Rather than look for a parish, after his graduation he taught at the grammar school at Little Baddow in Essex, where ...
Article
Hale, John (03 June 1636–15 May 1700)
Tricia R. Peone
Hale, John (03 June 1636–15 May 1700), Congregational minister, author, and participant in the Salem witch trials, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to Robert Hale and Joanna Cutter. Robert Hale emigrated from England and became a selectman and a deacon in the church at Charlestown. Little is known of John Hale’s early life. He attended Harvard, graduating in 1657. Hale was called to the ministry in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1667, having served as a teacher in the church there for a few years before the town formally separated from Salem in 1668. As minister, Hale received a house, land, firewood, and a salary of seventy pounds per year....
Article
Harvard, John (1607-1638), Puritan minister and benefactor of Harvard College
Mark A. Peterson
Harvard, John ( November 1607–14 September 1638), Puritan minister and benefactor of Harvard College, was born in St. Saviour’s Parish, Southwark, England, the son of Robert Harvard, a butcher, and Katherine Rogers, the daughter of a cattle dealer and alderman in Stratford-upon-Avon. Few details of John Harvard’s early life are known. His father and four of his siblings died in the plague of 1625, leaving John the eldest surviving son. His mother remarried, but her second husband, a prosperous cooper named John Elletson, died within five months, and his estate further enhanced the family’s resources....
Article
Heinemann, Barbara (1795-1883), a spiritual leader of the Community of True Inspiration (Amana Society)
David B. Eller
Heinemann, Barbara (11 January 1795–21 May 1883), a spiritual leader of the Community of True Inspiration (Amana Society), a spiritual leader of the Community of True Inspiration (Amana Society), was born in Leitersweiler, Alsace, the daughter of Peter Heinemann (Heynemann) and Anna (maiden name unknown), peasants. She received no formal education, and her early life was marked with hard work and poverty. At age eight she began factory work as a wool spinner and later became a household servant....
Article
Hiacoomes (?–1690), member of the Pokanauket band of the Narragansetts
Fred S. Standley
Hiacoomes (?–1690), member of the Pokanauket band of the Narragansetts, who became a Calvinist minister, lived near Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Little is known about his early life, but he had one son who also became a minister.
In 1641 Thomas Mayhew, Sr....
Article
Higginson, Francis (1586-1630), Puritan writer and clergyman
Richard P. Gildrie
Higginson, Francis (1586–06 August 1630), Puritan writer and clergyman, was born in Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England, the son of Rev. John Higginson and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown). Baptized on 6 August 1586, he earned a B.A. from Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1610 and his M.A. in 1613. He was ordained a deacon on 26 September 1614 and then a priest of the Church of England on 8 December by the archbishop of York. Conferred the rector of Barton-in-Fabis, Nottinghamshire, he was instituted 20 April 1615 but apparently never formally inducted. Instead, he settled in Claybrooke, probably as curate to his father. He married Anna Herbert at St. Peter’s, Nottingham, on 8 January 1616. The couple had nine children, all of whom survived infancy....
Article
Higginson, John (1616-1708), clergyman
William Pencak
Higginson, John (06 August 1616–09 December 1708), clergyman, was born at Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England, the son of the Reverend Francis Higginson and Anna Herbert. He emigrated to Massachusetts with his parents in 1629. His father, the teacher of the church at Salem (a post akin to assistant pastor), died the next year. Although Higginson was apprenticed to a surgeon, Governor ...
Article
Hoar, Leonard (1630?–28 November 1675), Puritan minister and president of Harvard College
Mark A. Peterson
Hoar, Leonard (1630?–28 November 1675), Puritan minister and president of Harvard College, was born in Gloucestershire, England, the son of Charles Hoare, a brewer, and Joanna Hinksman. Charles Hoare was wealthy enough to provide in his will for Leonard to be sent to Oxford University, but after his father’s death in 1638, Leonard’s mother moved the family across the Atlantic to New England, where they settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. Instead of Oxford, Leonard Hoar enrolled at Harvard College, where he received an A.B. in 1650 and an A.M. in 1653....
Article
Hooker, Thomas (1586-1647), Puritan minister, an architect of the New England Way, and a founder of Hartford, Connecticut
Frank Shuffelton
Hooker, Thomas (07 July 1586–07 July 1647), Puritan minister, an architect of the New England Way, and a founder of Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Marfield, a village in Leicestershire, England, the son of Thomas Hooker, a steward for the Digby family, and his wife, whose name is unknown. He probably attended the grammar school that had been endowed by Sir Wolstan Dixie in nearby Market Bosworth, since at Cambridge he held a Dixie Fellowship, restricted to relatives of Sir Wolstan or graduates of his school. Before going to Cambridge, he may have taught school briefly in Birstall, Leicestershire. He matriculated at Queens College, Cambridge, in 1604, although he soon transferred to Emmanuel College, which had already acquired a reputation for the Puritan sympathies of its members. He received his B.A. in 1608 and his M.A. in 1611. He subsequently served as lecturer and catechist at Emmanuel College until 1618. As a fellow at Emmanuel he experienced a spiritual rebirth that validated his career as a Puritan minister and provided the substance for many of his popular sermons that were collected and published during his lifetime. He apparently preached at Emmanuel a series of sermons on the nature of the conversion experience....
