History of South Worthington, (Hampshire County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Russell Herrman Conwell, clergyman, was born in South Worthington, Mass., Feb. 15, 1843; son of Martin and Miranda (Wickham) Conwell; grandson of Martin Conwell of Salem, Md., and a descendant of the Baltimore branch of the Conwell family which came to Maryland with Lord Baltimore. He was brought up on a farm near "The Eagle's Nest," South Worthington, Mass., studied at the Wilbraham academy; taught school, and spent two years at Yale in the law department, leaving college in 1862 to enter the army as captain in the 46th Massachusetts infantry in the civil war. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel, serving for a time on the staff of General McPherson. While in the army he was correspondent of the Boston Traveler. He was graduated at the Albany law school in 1865 and established a law office in Minneapolis, Minn. He was appointed by Governor Marshall emigration agent to Germany and was abroad, 1866-67. He made a tour of the world as correspondent of the Boston Traveler and New York Tribune, 1870-72, lecturing in India and in England. He was a travelling companion of Bayard Taylor. He practised law in Boston, Mass., 1872-79, and in 1879 entered the Baptist ministry, taking a neglected and decaying church in Lexington, Mass., and rejuvenating both church edifice and people by his personal physical, as well as mental effort. He left a prosperous society in November, 1882, to accept the pastorate of The Baptist Temple, Philadelphia, Pa., which society was made up of ninety-seven church members, and which he built up in ten years to one of the largest and most prosperous in the city, with a Temple having a seating capacity of four thousand. He founded in 1887 The Temple college, which enrolled in 1899 over five thousand students. In 1890 he founded the Samaritan hospital of Philadelphia. He lectured extensively and gained renown as a pulpit and platform orator. The subjects of his popular lectures included "Silver Crown, or Born a King," "Acres of Diamonds," "Lessons of Travel," and "Heroism of a Private Life." He published Why and How the Chinese Emigrate (1870); Life of Bayard Taylor (1876); Life of Charles H. Spurgeon (1890); and Lives of Presidents Hayes, Garfield, Grant and Cleveland.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of South Worthington, (Hampshire County) Massachusetts

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