interesting info on unitarian history, women's history, and TX history

[bobbieinok]

found this info while doing some genealogy and thought some here at DU might be interested.......I had never heard of either Horace or Mary Austin Holley before

http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/maryaustinholley.html

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From 1805-08 Horace served the Congregational Church in Greenfield Hill, Connecticut. At first Mary wondered how her kind and sensitive husband could believe the grim messages he preached. Yet her love and admiration for him did not allow her to question him. Nor did he pressure her to convert to his religion. Gradually, however, Mary began to notice a change in him. Long walks, marveling at God's creation, tutoring young children and exposure to Mary's exuberant and tolerant spirit contributed to the evolution of his faith. He embraced a more liberal theology and began to preach a more loving God. In Mary's words he learned to "trust to his own powers, look with his own eyes, and think his own thoughts." By 1808, when he accepted a call from the Hollis Street Congregational Church in Boston, he was a Unitarian. (Horace's brother, Myron Holley (1779-1841), a builder of the Erie Canal and a founder of the Liberty Party, also became a Unitarian.

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In 1818 Horace was offered the presidency of the small and struggling Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He had attracted the notice of politicians and university board members who wished to make Lexington into the "Athens of the West," though some of the more religiously conservative trustees opposed him. Horace was fascinated with the challenge of Transylvania. On a visit to Lexington he was well received by the committees and Whig leader Henry Clay, who gave him a tour of the town. Holley's personality and oratory won over even his conservative opponents. He returned to Bostona to fetch Mary, Harriette and their infant son, Horace.

Transylvania University thrived under Horace Holley's leadership. He re-organized the university and enrollment grew. A law school, a medical school, a gymnasium and an art gallery were built and a substantial library developed. By 1825 enrollment had quadrupled and the school had graduated more than 650 young men. The medical school was ranked second in the country. According to Larry McGehee of Wofford College, "In his nine years in Boone's bluegrass wilderness, Horace Holley planted seeds of knowledge that would set the educational standard and the pace for the whole South and Midwest. He was a peerless pioneer who left a big footprint where he trod."

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...Her brother, Henry Austin and his family had gone to Texas to join their cousin Stephen F. Austin, often since referred to as "The Father of Texas." Mary and Stephen became friends and correspondents who wrote each other long letters while they were apart. His untimely death in 1836 was a great grief for her.

During her visits to Texas Holley kept diaries and made intricate sketches. Her descriptions of early Texas are considered priceless history. She published Texas: Observations, Historical, Geographical, and Descriptive, 1833, revised and expanded as Texas, 1836. The first edition is credited with attracting new settlers to Texas. Because some pioneers were reluctant to settle in a territory lacking churches, in the second edition Holley argues that religion can and should be carried in a person's heart and that one didn't require a formal place of worship to be with God. She promoted the independence of Texas from Mexico and Texas statehood. Women met in her home in Kentucky to sew for the soldiers serving "the cause" in Texas. Her poem, "The Plea of Texas," 1844, was published in many newspapers.


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