Henry Aiken Worcester
Henry Aiken Worcester (Sept. 25, 1802 – May 21, 1841) was a Yale University alumnus, a vegetarian, and a Swedenborgian minister who worked in Maine and Massachusetts. His "Sermons on the Lord's Prayer"[1] was published posthumously in 1850 .[2]
Biography[edit]
He was born in Hollis, New Hampshire to the large Worcester family. His siblings included Congressman Samuel T. Worcester and David Worcester, who was principal of Bangor High School.[3] He graduated Yale University, class of 1828. He studied at Yale Divinity School from 1829-1830.
He married Olive Gay of Gardiner on August 26, 1838, and they had two children, Henry Parker Worcester and Mary Olivia Worcester, who was born after her father died.[4] He died in Portland in 1841 and is buried in the Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine.[4] His obituary said: "Mr. Worcester's amiable, frank and social qualities gained him many warm friends, and his character and acquirements were such as to ensure to him universal esteem."[5]
Ministry[edit]
He was licensed to preach April 12, 1833.[6] Worcester held ministerial positions at Swedenborgian churches in Abington, Massachusetts, Bath, Maine, Gardiner, Maine and Portland. Maine. He moved to Portland in 1833.[6] He published The Sabbath in 1841.
Vegetarian diet[edit]
In 1834 health reformer Sylvester Graham lectured in Portland, Maine on "The Science of Human Life." Rev. Worcester attended and then wrote to his siblings in Hardwick, Vermont about the lectures.[2][3] In his letter housed in the Ernest Bell Memorial Library, he wrote about Graham's recommendations for a vegetarian diet that was mostly vegan, and he wrote:
I confess myself a convert to his mode of life in theory and now in practice.[3]
Also in the letter Worcester wrote:
But I tell you that the physicians, all but one quack, of Portland, a very scientific class of men, have attended the course, and I believe all, to a man, acknowledge the correctness of Graham’s principles. The change that it is making in this city you can hardly conceive of – for a very large portion of the inhabitants have adopted his mode of diet and manner of living.[3]
Food columnist Avery Yale Kamila wrote in the Portland Press Herald that his report was different from "the assessment in [history book] “Vegetarian America” that most doctors of the day ignored Graham’s dietary advice."[2]
Selected publications[edit]
- Sermons on the Lord's Prayer, 1850, Philadelphia[7]
- The Sabbath, 1841, London[8]
- Sermons, 1837[9]
References[edit]
- ^ "Sermons on the Lord's prayer : Worcester, Henry Aiken, 1802-1841. [from old catalog] : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
- ^ a b c Kamila, Avery Yale (2020-03-29). "A meat-free diet in Maine is nothing new: In the first half of the 19th-century, some Mainers promoted a vegetarian diet". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ a b c d John, Edmundson (2016-02-19). "1834 Vegan Enthusiasm In Portland Maine". Ernest Bell Library. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ a b "Rev. Henry Aiken Worcester (1802-1841) - Find A Grave". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ "The Worcester Family - Seventh Generation". www.worcesterfamily.com. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
- ^ a b Carter, Nathan Franklin (1906). The Native Ministry of New Hampshire ... Rumford printing Company. ISBN 9781404706910.
- ^ "Index:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer (Henry Worcester).djvu - Wikisource, the free online library". en.m.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
- ^ WORCESTER, Henry Aiken (1841). The Sabbath. J. S. Hodson.
- ^ Zboray, Ronald J. (2013). Literary Dollars and Social Sense A People's History of the Mass Market Book. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-72953-9. OCLC 962413201.
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