Thomas Rutherford Bacon
{{Infobox person
| name = Thomas Rutherford Bacon
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Thomas Rutherford Bacon
| birth_date = {{birth date|1850|6|26}}
| birth_place = New Haven, Connecticut, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1913|3|26|1850|6|26}}
| death_place = Berkeley, California, United States
| death_cause =
|resting_place = Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Alameda County California, United States
| other_names =
| known_for = Mugwump
United States presidential election of 1884
| education = Yale University
| employer = Congregationalist Church
University of California (1888-1913)
| occupation = Minister, Professor
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party = Democrat
| boards =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| parents = Leonard Bacon
| relatives = Leonard Woolsey Bacon
Edward Woolsey Bacon
George B. Bacon
| signature =
| honors =
| website =
| footnotes =
| nationality = American
}}
Thomas Rutherford Bacon (June 26, 1850 in New Haven, Connecticut – March 26, 1913 in Berkeley, California) was an American Congregational clergyman and leading Mugwump.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C06E2D91139E533A25754C0A96F9C94649FD7CF|title=Some Hit and Miss Chat; Stray Bits of Gossip from an Observer's Note Book. A Dream's Strange Sequel--one of Leonard Bacon's Sons--Clevelands of the Last Century|date=7 September 1885|newspaper=The New York Times|pages=2|access-date=2 March 2010}} In the wake of the presidential election of 1884, he relocated to the West Coast, where he became a professor of history at the University of California.
Biography
=Early Background=
Thomas Rutherford Bacon came from a family of preachers: he was the son of Leonard Bacon{{Cite journal
| title = American Congregational Union
| journal = The Congregational Quarterly
| volume = 10
| issue =
| pages = 299–309
| date = July 1868
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=s-nNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA299
| issn =
| doi =
| id =
| access-date = 2009-12-05| last1 = Clark
| first1 = Joseph Sylvester
| last2 = Dexter
| first2 = Henry Martyn
| last3 = Quint
| first3 = Alonzo Hall
| last4 = Langworthy
| first4 = Isaac Pendleton
| last5 = Cushing
| first5 = Christopher
| last6 = Burnham
| first6 = Samuel
}} and the brother of Leonard Woolsey Bacon,{{cite book|last=General Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States, Executive Committee|title=The Year book of the Congregational Christian churches of the United States of America|year=1908|pages=12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GhlKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA12|access-date=2 March 2010}} Edward Woolsey Bacon (of New London, Connecticut{{cite book|last=National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States. Publishing Committee|title=The Congregational year-book|publisher=Congregational Pub. Society|year=1880|volume=2|pages=62|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AERAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA62|access-date=2 March 2010}}), and George B. Bacon,{{Cite journal
| title = Rev. of Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Church Papers
| journal = New Englander and Yale Review
| volume = 37
| issue = 142
| pages = 133–35
| date = January 1878
| url = http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nwng;cc=nwng;rgn=full%20text;idno=nwng0037-1;didno=nwng0037-1;view=image;seq=149;node=nwng0037-1%3A1;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset;
| access-date = 2009-12-04}}{{Cite book
| title = Memorial biographies of New England historic genealogical society, 1853–1855, Volume 8
| publisher = New England Historic Genealogical Society
| year = 1907
| page = 83
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pJl4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA83}} all Congregational preachers.
Bacon graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1877.{{cite journal|last=Henderson|first=Victor H.|year=1913|title=University Record|journal=University of California Chronicle|publisher=University of California|volume=15|pages=285|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DgXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA285|access-date=2 March 2010}} At Yale, he was the editor of the Yale Banner and contributed to The Yale Record."Thomas Rutherford Bacon". The tenth general catalogue of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. Bethlehem, PA: The Comenius Press. March, 1888. p. 220. At the time, The Yale Record was edited by Walker Blaine, son of Republican James G. Blaine."Editors Yale Record". The Yale Banner. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers. 1874. p. 78.
="Original Mugwump" and the Election of 1884=
File:Bernard Gilliam - Phryne before the Chicago Tribunal.jpg cartoon mocking Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine in an 1884 issue of Puck]]
He was a minister for three years at the Dwight Place Church in New Haven, Connecticut. On July 4, 1884, he delivered an oration on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the town.{{cite book|last=Bacon|first=Thomas Rutherford|title=The hundredth anniversary of the city of New Haven: with the oration by Thomas Rutherford Bacon, July 4, 1884|editor=N. G. Osborn and B. Mansfield|publisher=General committee on the centennial celebration|location=New Haven|year=1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYANAQAAIAAJ|access-date=2 March 2010}}
The New York Times praised Bacon for his integrity and "manliness," and called him "the original mugwump of Connecticut.""Some Hit and Miss Chat; Stray Bits of Gossip from an Observer's Note Book. A Dream's Strange Sequel--one of Leonard Bacon's Sons--Clevelands of the Last Century". The New York Times. September 7, 1885. The "Mugwumps" were Republican political activists who left the United States Republican Party to support Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. During the Third Party System, party loyalty was held in high regard and independents were rare.
In 1884, he resigned unexpectedly, after some gossiping members of his congregations ("without standing or influence") had apparently complained about him. The New York Times later reported that Blaine's campaign was behind the gossip. The congregation was, according to the papers, moved to tears when Bacon, who was described as "young, talented, eloquent, and popular," read his resignation letter. There were hints of an investigation, and the possible "disciplining [of] certain folks whose too freely wagging tongues have brought about the trouble."{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A03E4DA1238E033A25757C2A9659C94659FD7CF|title=Bacon's Unexpected Resignation.a New-haven Congregational Church Losing its Pastor on Account of the Dissatisfaction of a Few Members|date=24 March 1884|newspaper=The New York Times|pages=1|access-date=2 March 2010}}
=After [[James G. Blaine|Blaine]]'s Defeat=
After his church career in New Haven was ended, he devoted himself to literary pursuits, publishing in the New Englander{{cite journal|last=Bacon|first=Thomas Rutherford|date=January 1890|title=An English Man of Letters - The Friend of Men of Letters - Edward Fitzgerald|journal=New Englander|volume=52|issue=238|pages=24–32|url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nwng;cc=nwng;rgn=full%20text;idno=nwng0052-1;didno=nwng0052-1;view=image;seq=00034;node=nwng0052-1%3A1|access-date=2 March 2010}}{{cite journal|last=Bacon|first=Thomas Rutherford|date=October 1891|title=Prayer in a Universe of Law|journal=New Englander|volume=55|issue=258|pages=362–67|url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nwng&cc=nwng&idno=nwng0055-4&node=nwng0055-4%3A1&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=372|access-date=2 March 2010}} and serving as that magazine's associate editor from 1886 to 1887; he also edited the New Haven Morning News, from 1884 to 1887.
In June 1887, his brother Edward died in Santa Clara County, California,{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/06/12/100918069.pdf|title=Death of Edward Woolsey Bacon|date=12 June 1887|newspaper=The New York Times|pages=4|access-date=2 March 2010 }} and in that same year (until 1890) Thomas took up the ministry of the First Congregational Church in Berkeley, where Edward had also, briefly, been a minister. In 1888, he became an instructor in the history department at the University of California, and from 1890 to 1895 was a professor in European history. In 1895, he was promoted to full professor in Modern European History, a position he held—in worsening health—until his death in 1913.
References
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Category:American Christian religious leaders
Category:19th-century American Congregationalist ministers
Category:Yale Divinity School alumni
Category:Congregationalist writers
Category:University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty