Eckley, Joseph, Dd

Eckley, Joseph, D.D.

a Congregational minister, was born in London, England, October 11 (O.S.), 1750. When about seventeen years of age his father moved with his family to America, and settled in Morristown, N.J. Soon after his arrival Joseph was sent to the College of New Jersey, from which he graduated in 1772; and, in order to prosecute his theological studies, he remained at Princeton, May 7, 1776, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New York. The Old South Church, Boston, having been reorganized, after the dispersion occasioned by the Revolution, chose him for their pastor in 1778; and he was ordained October 27, 1779. In 1808 he was provided with a colleague, Reverend Joshua Huntington. He died in Boston, April 30, 1811. In temperament Dr. Eckley was ardent. Although frequently called upon to preach on important occasions, he was not remarkable as a speaker, being inclined to abstraction and possessed of an unmusical voice. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 2:137.