Brooks, Elbridge Gerry, Dd

Brooks, Elbridge Gerry, D.D.

a Universalist minister, was born in Dover, N.H., July 29, 1816. He spent his boyhood in Portsmouth; acquired a good education, and began preaching at the age of nineteen. His fields of labor were Exeter. N.H.; Amesbury, Massachusetts, where he was ordained in 1837; East Cambridge in 1838; Lowell, for one year; Bath, Maine, in 1846; Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1850; Sixth Universalist Church, New York, in 1859, where he remained until chosen, in 1867, general secretary of the United States Convention. In that office he travelled extensively, carrying life, energy, and courage wherever he went. In 1869 he accepted an invitation to the Church of the Messiah in Philadelphia, where he continued until his decease, April 8, 1878. Dr. Brooks was a strong man physically, mentally, and morally. He was energetic, careful, able, majestic in his bearing, and powerful in his appeals. By nature he was an ardent reformer, an uncompromising advocate of the Gospel and of freedom. He was a strong and vigorous writer, contributed frequently to his denominational periodicals, and published two works of great denominational value: Universalism in Life and Doctrine, and Our New Departure. See Universalist Register, 1879, page 88.