Ministers
The ministers of First Parish in Cambridge have long held an important place in the Cambridge community and as voices within Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism. With our direct connection to Harvard College we have called ministers of great scholarly as well as oratory skill. Our ministers have also been activists and creative thinkers who have, in their ways challenged the status quo always seeking a more equitable world. Over time, First Parish in Cambridge has also enjoyed a close relationship with Harvard Divinity School that has allowed us to often bring in one or two interns from this institution as part of their formation. The result is that the influence of First Parish in Cambridge is felt in many different ministries across the country. We continue to cultivate ministers and ministries of integrity based in Unitarian Universalist values today.
Thomas Hooker | 1633 – 1636 |
Samuel Stone | 1633 – 1636 |
Thomas Shepard | 1636 – 1649 |
Jonathan Mitchel | 1650 – 1668 |
Urian Oakes | 1671 – 1681 |
Nathaniel Gookin | 1682 – 1692 |
William Brattle | 1696 – 1717 |
Nathaniel Appleton | 1717 – 1784 |
Timothy Hilliard | 1783 – 1790 |
Abiel Holmes | 1792 – 1829 |
William Newell | 1830 – 1868 |
Francis G. Peabody | 1874 – 1879 |
Edward H. Hall | 1882 – 1893 |
Samuel M. Crothers | 1894 – 1927 |
Ralph E. Bailey | 1928 – 1934 |
Leslie T. Pennington | 1935 – 1944 |
Wilburn B. Miller | 1945 – 1958 |
Ralph N. Helverson | 1959 – 1977 |
Edwin A. Lane | 1978 – 1987 |
Thomas J. S. Mikelson | 1989 – 2006, then Minister Emeritus |
Jory Agate | 1997 – 2007 |
Frederick Emerson Small | 2008 – 2015 |
Lilia Cuervo | 2010 – 2014 |
Adam Lawrence Dyer | 2017 – 2022 |
Robert M. Hardies | 2022 – |