Images of the Month for August 2005

Adoniram Judson ("A.J.") Patterson was born April 3, 1827, in Spring, Crawford County, Pa. He was settled in Girard, Pa., from 1853 to 1855 and was ordained at Harbor Creek, Pa., in June 1854. He served the Universalist Church in Portsmouth, N.H., from 1855 to 1866 and the First Universalist Society in Roxbury, Mass., from 1866 to 1888. During the Civil War, he was sent as the New Hampshire State Agent for three months to minister to soldiers in the battlefields and hospitals of Virginia. He served as president of the Massachusetts State Convention of Universalists from 1874 to 1879. After his retirement from active ministry, he worked to increase scholarship aid at Tufts College. He died November 3, 1909, in Roxbury.

Jane Lippitt Patterson was born June 4, 1829, in Otsego, N.Y. She married A.J. Patterson on August 26, 1851. She was editor of the Home Department of the Christian Leader for twenty years beginning in 1879. A leader in the women's missionary work in the Universalist church, she served as vice president (1886-91) and president (1892-95) of the Women's Universalist Missionary Society of Massachusetts. She was the author of four books (Victory, 1866; Out of Sight, 1883; The Romance of the New Bethesda, 1889; and Buena Vista Windows, 1899) and many poems. She died November 20, 1919, in Roxbury.

The Pattersons were well known for their encouragement and support of the education of young men and women, especially those attending Tufts College. Tufts conferred honorary degrees on A.J. Patterson (doctor of divinity) and Jane Patterson (doctor of letters) at its semi-centennial in 1905:

"Adoniram Judson Patterson, steadfast friend of Tufts College for many years, veteran preacher."

"Jane Lippitt Patterson, many years a contributor to Universalist literature, writer of wholesome tales and graceful verse."

For more information, see: The Universalist Leader, v. 8, no. 26 (July 1, 1905), p. 814-815; v. 11, no. 47 (Nov. 20, 1909), p. 1490; v. 22, no. 48 (Nov. 29, 1919), p. 1170. [Photos: bMS 900/35 (15)].

For information on obtaining a copy of this image or using it for publication, see the library's Digital Reproduction Policy.

To see past images of the month, visit the images of people and images of congregations pages.

These images, often buried deep in our collections, are selected by Clifford Wunderlich; please address corrections to him.