Nelson, Stephen Smith

Nelson, Stephen Smith an American Baptist minister, was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, October 5, 1772, graduated at Brown University in 1794, and was licensed to preach in 1796. After supplying the Church at Hartford for two years, he was ordained pastor there in 1798, occasionally preaching in the neighborhood, particularly at Middletown. While in Hartford he took an active part in preparing "the Baptist Petition," an address to the Legislature on the subject of the grievances of" Dissenters" from the "Standing Order," which finally severed, in Connecticut at least, the union between Church and State in 1818. He was also appointed to prepare and forward a congratulatory address to Mr. Jefferson on his election as president of the United States. In 1801 he resigned his charge in Hartford, and became principal of a large academy at Sing Sing (then Mount Pleasant), but in consequence of the war with Great Britain he removed in 1815 to Attleborough, Massachusetts, where his labors were very successful, and he afterwards had for a while charge successively of the churches in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Canton, Connecticut. In 1825 he removed to Amherst, Massachusetts, where he continued preaching occasionally until his death, December 8, 1853 See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 6:366.