List of Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists

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See also History of Unitarianism

A number of notable people have considered themselves Unitarians, Universalists, and following the merger of these denominations in the United States and Canada in 1961, Unitarian Universalists. Additionally, there are persons who, because of their writings or reputation, are considered to have held Unitarian or Universalist beliefs. Individuals who held unitarian (nontrinitarian) beliefs but were not affiliated with Unitarian organizations are often referred to as "small 'uTemplate:'" unitarians. The same principle can be applied to those who believed in universal salvation but were not members of Universalist organizations. This article, therefore, makes the distinction between capitalized "Unitarians" and "Universalists" and lowercase "unitarians" and "universalists".

The Unitarians and Universalists are groups that existed long before the creation of Unitarian Universalism.

Early Unitarians did not hold Universalist beliefs, and early Universalists did not hold Unitarian beliefs. But beginning in the nineteenth century the theologies of the two groups started becoming more similar.

Additionally, their eventual merger as the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) did not eliminate divergent Unitarian and Universalist congregations, especially outside the US. Even within the US, some congregations still keep only one of the two names, "Unitarian" or "Universalist". However, with only a few exceptions, all belong to the UUA—even those that maintain dual affiliation (e.g., Unitarian and Quaker). Transcendentalism was a movement that diverged from contemporary American Unitarianism but has been embraced by later Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists.

In Northern Ireland, Unitarian churches are officially called "Non-Subscribing Presbyterian", but are informally known as "Unitarian" and are affiliated with the Unitarian churches of the rest of the world.

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A

  • Francis Ellingwood Abbot (1836–1903) – Unitarian minister who led a group that attempted to liberalize the Unitarian constitution and preamble. He later helped found the Free Religious Association.<ref>Biographical Information for Abbot, Francis Ellingwood. Family Papers, 1815–1940, in the collections of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School. Retrieved August 28, 2007.</ref>
  • Abigail Adams (1744–1818) – women's rights advocate and first Second Lady and the second First Lady of the United States<ref>Abigail Adams Template:Webarchive</ref>
  • James Luther Adams (1901–1994) – Unitarian theologian.<ref name="notable_american_unitarians">Notable American Unitarians, 1936–1961, a project of the First Parish and the First Church in Cambridge (Unitarian Universalist), hosted at the website of Harvard Square Library. Project advisors: Gloria Korsman, Andover-Harvard Theological Library; Conrad Edick Wright, Massachusetts Historical Society; and Conrad Wright, Harvard Divinity School. (Archived July 3, 2007)</ref>
  • John Adams (1735–1826)<ref name="famous_unitarians">"Some famous Unitarians include presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Paul Revere, President William Howard Taft, and Frank Lloyd Wright... Important figures from this period in Unitarian history include John Biddle, Francis David, Michael Servetus, King John Sigismund and Faustus Socinus... The influential Unitarians from this era included William Ellery Channing, Theodore Parker, Joseph Priestly [sic], and Thomas Starr King, who was also a Universalist." [1] Template:Webarchive, uduuf.org. Retrieved August 1, 2011.</ref> – second President of the United States.
  • John Quincy Adams (1767–1848)<ref name="famous_unitarians"/> – sixth President of the United States. Co-founder, All Souls Church, Unitarian (Washington, D.C.)
  • Sarah Fuller Adams (1805–1848) – English poet and hymn writer
  • Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) – poet<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888)<ref name="famous_unitarians"/> – author of Little Women.
  • Horatio Alger Sr. (1806–1881)<ref name="famous_unitarians"/> – Unitarian Minister father of Horatio Alger.
  • Ethan Allen (1738–1789) – author of Reason the Only Oracle of Man, and the chief source of Hosea Ballou's universalist ideas<ref name="recent_scholarship">Recent Scholarship in American Universalism: A Bibliographical Essay, Alan Seaburg, Church History, Vol. 41, No. 4. (Dec., 1972), pp. 513–523. . Retrieved August 28, 2007.</ref>
  • Joseph Henry Allen (1820–1898) – American Unitarian scholar and minister
  • Arthur J. Altmeyer (1891–1972) – father of Social Security<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Oliver Ames Jr. (1807–1877) – Massachusetts businessman and industrialist who commissioned the building of the Unity Church of North Easton<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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B

  • Samuel Bache (1804–1876) – English Unitarian minister
  • E. Burdette Backus (1888–1955) – Unitarian Humanist minister (originally a Universalist)<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Blanche Pentecost Bagley (1858–1928) – British-born American Unitarian minister
  • Bill Baird (born 1932) – abortion rights pioneer, Unitarian.<ref name="s102">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="s129">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Sara Josephine Baker (1873–1945) – physician and public health worker.<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Emily Greene Balch (1867–1961) – Nobel Peace Laureate<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Roger Nash Baldwin (1884–1981) – founder of American Civil Liberties Union<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Adin Ballou (1803–1890) – abolitionist and former Baptist who became a Universalist minister, then a Unitarian minister.<ref name="recent_scholarship"/>
  • Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) – American Universalist leader. (Universalist minister and a unitarian in theology)<ref name="recent_scholarship"/><ref>"Ballou, the son of a poor Calvinist Baptist preacher, was converted to Universalism and began preaching the new "heresy" on a Calvinistic basis in 1791… His first sermon on a Unitarian and Arian base was preached in 1795. Within ten years, through the power of his argumentation, and against the opposition of the prominent Universalist John Murray, Ballou had converted the Universalist ministry to Unitarianism."Hosea Ballou, Preacher of Universal Salvation, Ernest Cassara, Church History, Vol. 26, No. 4. (Dec., 1957), p. 382. . Retrieved August 25, 2007.</ref><ref name="famous_universalists">"Some famous Universalists include Clara Barton, Olympia Brown, Thomas Starr King, Horace Greeley, George Pullman, Mary Livermore, and Benjamin Rush. ...Universalist beliefs have been proclaimed for thousands of years, starting with Origen in 200 CE and continuing through to James Relly in the sixteen hundreds... Universalists including Hosea Ballou, John Murray, and Benjamin Rush helped to spread and develop their faith's teachings throughout the denomination's early years." Universalism, UUA.org, August 1, 2007. . Retrieved August 27, 2007. Template:Webarchive</ref>
  • Aaron Bancroft (1755–1839) – Congregationalist Unitarian minister
  • John Bardeen (1908–1991) – physicist, Nobel Laureate 1956 (inventing the transistor) and in 1972 (superconductivity)<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810–1891) – American showman and Circus Owner<ref>Seaburg, Alan. P. T. Barnum Template:Webarchive. Unitarian Universalist Historical Society. Retrieved February 20, 2008.</ref>
  • Ysaye Maria Barnwell (born 1946) – member of Sweet Honey in the Rock, founded the Jubilee Singers, a choir at All Souls Church in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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C

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  • Lee Carter (born 1987) — delegate for Virginia's 50th House of Delegates district (according to his campaign website, he and his family attend their local Unitarian Universalist Church)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) – Manufacturer, Unitarian, founder of local government in Britain.
  • Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) – Unitarian, then an agnostic and, British Prime Minister.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • George Leonard Chaney (1836-1922) - A Boston Unitarian minister who served the city’s Hollis Street Church for 15 years. Later moved to Atlanta to organize the first Unitarian church in that city.
  • Augusta Jane Chapin (1836–1905) – American Universalist minister, educator and activist for women's rights<ref name="Lindley1996"/><ref name=Isaacson/>
  • William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) – Unitarian minister, whose 1819 sermon "Unitarian Christianity" laid the foundations for American Unitarianism.<ref name="famous_unitarians"/>
  • Charles Chauncy (1592–1672) – Unitarian Congregationalist minister.<ref>Chauncy, Charles. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 29, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online</ref>
  • Jesse Chickering (1797–1855) – Unitarian minister and economist
  • Brock Chisholm (1896–1971) – director, World Health Organization<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Parley P. Christensen (1869–1954) – Utah and California politician, Esperantist
  • Judy Chu (born 1953) – Congressperson representing California's 27th Congressional District. First Chinese-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress
  • Annie Clark (born 1982) – musician and singer-songwriter, better known by her stage name, St. Vincent (musician).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Robert Collyer (1823-1912) -- Unitarian clergyman of Chicago and New York, notable for his earnest, direct sermons and vocal support of abolition and women's suffrage.
  • Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) – American historian and biographer of Theodore Parker<ref name="notable_american_unitarians" />
  • Kent Conrad (born 1948) – U.S. Senator from North Dakota (1992–2013)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Maria Cook (1779–1835) – first woman to be recognized as a Universalist preacher.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Norman Cousins (1915–1990) – editor and writer, Unitarian friend<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) – poet and painter<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • William Cushing (1732–1810) – one of the original US Supreme Court Justices, appointed by Geo. Washington and longest serving of the original justices (1789–1810).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

D

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  • Dorothea Dix (1802–1887) – prison reformer in New England.<ref>"Dorothea Dix: Unitarian Reform". Teach US History. Retrieved 2021.11.03</ref>
  • John H. Dietrich (1878–1957)<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/> – Unitarian minister
  • James Drummond Dole (1877–1958) – entrepreneur<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Emily Taft Douglas (1899–1994) – U.S. Representative, Illinois<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Paul Douglas (1892–1976) – U.S. Senator, also a Quaker<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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E

F

  • Sophia Lyon Fahs (1876–1978) – liberal religious educator<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Millard Fillmore (1800–1874) – thirteenth President of the United States<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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G

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H

  • Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909) – American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman
  • George Ernest Hale (1884–1966), Unitarian minister in South Australia
  • Ellen L. Hamilton (1921–1996) – artist, author, advocate for homeless teens, and member of UUA Board of Trustees (1973–1977).<ref>UUA Directory 1973. Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.</ref>
  • Phebe Ann Coffin Hannaford (1829–1921) – first lesbian minister, biographer
  • Frances Harper (1825–1911) – abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer; one of the first African-American women to be published in the United States. Unitarian.
  • Donald S. Harrington (1914–2005)<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) – theologian, who developed Process Theology<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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J

  • Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) – third president of the U.S., unitarian but not affiliated with any sect<ref>"More than one Republican apologist fairly pointed out that the unitarian Jefferson was no greater an infidel than the unitarian Adams... Although [Jefferson] was elected to an Anglican parish vestry, no record exists of his having served in that capacity. He was famous for not attending church and did so semiregularly only during his presidency and near the end of his life. To friends, he referred to himself variously as a 'Theist,' 'Deist,' 'Unitarian,' 'Rational Christian,' and 'Epicurean'; 'I am a sect unto myself, as far as I know,' he wrote." America's Founding Faiths, by Forrest Church, UU World magazine, Vol. XXI, Nol 4, Winter 2007.</ref>
  • Joseph Johnson (1738–1809) – English publisher
  • Jenkin Lloyd Jones (1843–1918) – Unitarian missionary and minister in the United States<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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I

K

  • György Kepes (1906–2001) – visual artist<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Naomi King (born 1970) – Unitarian minister, daughter of author Stephen King<ref>Stephen King#Personal life</ref>
  • Thomas Starr King (1824–1864) – minister who during his career served both in Universalist and in Unitarian churches.<ref name="famous_unitarians"/><ref name="famous_universalists"/> Namesake of Starr King School.
  • James R. Killian (1904–1988) – president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • W.M. Kiplinger (1891–1967) – publisher of the Kiplinger Letters<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Webster Kitchell (1931–2009) – theologian
  • Abner Kneeland (1774–1844) – Universalist minister and denominational leader who, after leaving the denomination to become a leader in the freethought movement, was convicted and jailed for blasphemy.<ref name="recent_scholarship"/>
  • Richard Knight (1768–1844) – friend, colleague and follower of Joseph Priestley, developed the first method to make platinum malleable. Stored Priestley's library during his escape to America.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Penney Kome (born 1948) – Canadian author and journalist<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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L

M

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  • Théodore Monod (1902–2000) – French activist. Founding president of the Francophone Unitarian Association
  • Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) – anthropologist and social biologist<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Slim Moon (born 1967) – American music producer<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Arthur E. Morgan (1878–1975) – human engineer and college president<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • John Murray (1741–1815) – Universalist minister and leader<ref name="recent_scholarship"/><ref name="famous_universalists"/>
  • Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820) – American writer, held a local Universalist preacher's license in the 1790s, an advocate of Universalism and women's rights<ref name=Isaacson>Template:CitationTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref name="Lindley1996">Template:Cite book</ref>

N

  • Isaac Newton (1642–1726) – English physicist and mathematician<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
  • Maurine Neuberger (1907–2000) – U.S. Senator<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Paul Newman (1925–2008) – actor, film director<ref name="famous_UUs"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Andrews Norton (1786–1853) – Once known as the “Unitarian Pope”
  • Joseph Nye (born 1937) Rhodes Scholar and former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

O

  • Keith Olbermann (born 1959) – news anchor, political commentator, and sports journalist
  • Mary White Ovington (1865–1951) – NAACP founder<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>

P

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  • Theodore Parker (1810–1860) – Unitarian minister and transcendentalist<ref name="famous_unitarians"/><ref name="recent_scholarship"/><ref>"On February 24, 1860, the Boston Unitarian minister and transcendentalist, Theodore Parker, wrote Professor Desor from Rome..." Darwin and the Transcendentalists, John B. Wilson, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Apr. – June, 1965), p. 286. . Retrieved August 25, 2007.</ref>
  • Linus Pauling (1901–1994) – Nobel Laureate for Peace and for Chemistry<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Randy Pausch (1960–2008) – computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Author of The Last Lecture<ref>"Randy Pausch, Computer Science Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, died on July 25 after a two-year struggle with pancreatic cancer. A Unitarian Universalist who first came to this faith as a member of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Pausch was 47 years old. Celebrated in his field for co-founding the pioneering Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center and for creating the innovative educational software tool known as "Alice", Pausch earned his greatest worldwide fame for his The Last Lecture, which was subsequently published by Hyperion Books.In Memoriam: Randy Pausch Template:Webarchive, UUA.org</ref>
  • Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979) – astronomer and astrophysicist.<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Richard Peacock (1820–1889) – British locomotive engineer and philanthropist
  • Laura Pedersen (born 1965) – American author, journalist, playwright and humorist. Books and plays with humanist themes. Lifelong UU, Interfaith minister.
  • Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins (1824–1905) – American Universalist minister, social reformer, lecturer, editor, author
  • Melissa Harris-Perry (born 1973) – professor, author, and political commentator on MSNBC hosting the Melissa Harris-Perry TV program.<ref>"Unitarian Universalist Melissa Harris-Perry is a distinguished academic and a commentator on MSNBC. She has written the book, Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, and delivered the Ware Lecture at the 2009 General Assembly of the UUA." October 31, 2012 {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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R

S

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  • Waitstill Sharp (1902–1983) – a Unitarian minister who along with his wife Martha were named by Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Jedediah Strutt (1726–1797) – pioneer cotton spinner and philanthropic employer.
  • Margaret Sutton (1903–2001) – author of the Judy Bolton series and other children's books<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Frances C. Swift (1834-1908) - A native-born Southerner and influential female lay leader in the early days of the spread of Unitarianism in the South. President of the Atlanta Equal Suffrage Association.
  • Jude Sylvan (b. 1982) American poet, author, performer, producer, and performing artist and UU minister.

T

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  • Clyde Tombaugh (1906–1997) – American astronomer who discovered Pluto<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Amos G. Throop (1811–1894) – Founder of Throop University, which later became the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he was also the city's third mayor. Throop Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, a Unitarian Universalist congregation founded in 1923, was named after him.

V

  • William Vidler (1758–1816) – English Universalist and Unitarian minister
  • Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) – writer<ref name="famous_UUs"/><ref>Vonnegut said "I am an atheist (or at best a Unitarian who winds up in churches quite a lot)."Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"Unitarians don't believe in anything. I am a Unitarian."Template:Cite book</ref>

W

  • George Wald (1906–1997) – Nobel Laureate in Medicine 1967
  • Zach Wahls (born 1991) – LGBT activist, Iowa State Senator
  • Caroline Farrar Ware (1899–1990) – historian and social activist<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • William D. Washburn (1831–1912) – Universalist American politician and businessman<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Daniel Webster (1782–1852) – lawyer and statesman<ref name="vision_and_values"/>
  • Dawud Wharnsby (born 1972) – poet, singer and songwriter (Unitarian Universalist and Muslim)<ref>"I am a Muslim and I worship in mosques when I am in Pakistan. I also worship in Unitarian Churches when I'm in the US..." * Global Citizen, by Dawud Wharnsby, Scout UK magazine, June/July 2010.</ref>
  • Alfred Tredway White (1846–1921) – housing reformer and philanthropist<ref>"uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/alfredwhite.html White, a lifelong member of the church [The First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn]"</ref>
  • Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) – philosopher (Unitarian Friend)<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Willis Rodney Whitney (1868–1958) – the "Father of Basic Research in Industry"<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Thomas Whittemore (1800–1861) – Universalist Minister, author and publisher
  • David Rhys Williams<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/> (1890–1970) – American Unitarian minister
  • Edward Williams (bardic name Iolo Morganwg) (1747–1826) – Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, forger
  • William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) – physician and author<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Samuel Williston (1861–1963) – dean of America's legal profession.<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Edwin H. Wilson (1898–1993) – Unitarian Humanist leader<ref name="notable_american_unitarians"/>
  • Ross Winans (1796–1877) – inventor and railroad pioneer
  • John Crawford Woods (1824–1906), Unitarian minister of Adelaide, South Australia
  • Joanne Woodward (born 1930) – actress, wife of Paul Newman<ref>"Some famous modern-day Unitarian Universalists include Tim Berners-Lee, Melissa Harris-Perry, Christopher Reeve, May Sarton, Randy Pausch, Pete Seeger, Joanne Woodward, and Kurt Vonnegut." October 2012 {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }} Accessed August 11, 2013</ref>

Y

Z

See also

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Footnotes, citations and references

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