BEECHER, HENRY WARD (1813-1887), U.S. Lecturer and Pastor

Though not as famous as his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Beecher became known in the nineteenth century for his eloquent and unconventional sermons. His favorite sermons, in the 1840s, dealt with the earthly vices, and his realistic descriptions of such vices often brought crowds of three thousand people to his Brooklyn, N.Y. church. When the Civil War broke out, Beecher put his oratorical skills to work in the cause of emancipation, and after the war he sought to reconcile Christianity and the theory of evolution, thus inviting attack from fellow theologians. Beecher was married, but he described the marriage as "hell on earth." His happiest relationship, he revealed to a biographer in his old age, took place as a student in Amherst. He had fallen in love with Constantine Fondolaik, a Greek student, and the two had drawn up a contract promising eternal devotion to one another. Constantine returned to Greece in 1842, where he died shortly thereafter. Beecher named one of his sons after the friend who had brought him the greatest happiness.