John White Chadwick (October 19, 1840 â December 11, 1904) was an American writer and clergyman of the Unitarian Church.
Chadwick was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1840. He left school at age 13 and was apprenticed to a shoemaker for several years. In 1857 he opted to further his academic learning, and entered the State Normal School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. After graduating in 1859, he attended Phillips Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. By then he had chosen to become a minister, and enrolled in Harvard Divinity School. He graduated in July 1864. In December of that year, he was ordained and installed as minister of the Second Unitarian Church in Brooklyn, New York.
Chadwick's sermons attracted attention, and he developed a reputation as a radical preacher of Unitarian doctrines. His beliefs were in part shaped by his long friendship and correspondence with the radical Unitarian minister William Channing Gannett.
In 1876, Chadwick published his first book of poems and would continue to write poetry over subsequent decades. In 1885 he was elected Phi Beta Kappa poet at Harvard. For the occasion, he read his poem "A Legend of Good Poets". The following year he preached the alumni sermon at Harvard Divinity School. In 1888 he was awarded an honorary A.M. degree from Harvard.
He remained at the Second Unitarian Church until his death in Brooklyn on December 11, 1904.
In addition to contributing articles to Unitarian journals, Chadwick was a prolific author of books, producing over 30 in his lifetime. They consisted of his sermons and other theological writings (which were published in a series), historical and biographical monographs, and volumes of poetry. His best-known collection was titled A Book of Poems. First published in 1876, its tenth edition was released posthumously in 1905 by Little, Brown and Company.
His list of books include: