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Locke, Samuel

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Locke, William E.

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D.D., a noted American divine and educator, was born at Woburn, Mass., Nov. 23, 1732, and was educated at Harvard University (class of 1755). He was ordained minister of the Gospel at Sherburne, Massachusetts, November 7, 1759, and remained in the ministry until 1769, when he was called to preside over his alma mater, and was inducted to the office March 21, 1770. Three years later he was honored by the college authorities with the doctorate of divinity, but some troubles must have arisen shortly after, for in December of this self-same year Locke resigned his position at Harvard, and spent the remainder of his life in retirement. He died at Sherburne, Massachusetts, January 15, 1788. An estimate of the man we find in two letters written by Dr. Andrew Eliot, of Boston, to Mr. Hollis, of London, the distinguished benefactor of the college, about the time of Locke's election to the presidency of Harvard University, in which he is represented as "a clergyman of a small parish about twenty miles from Cambridge; of fine talents — a close thinker, having when at college the character of a first-rate scholar — of an excellent spirit, and generous, catholic sentiments — a friend to liberty — his greatest defect a want of knowledge of the world, having lived in retirement, and perhaps not a general acquaintance with books." The only production of Dr. Locke's that exists in print is the Convention Sermon preached in 1772. "His manner in the pulpit is said to have been marked by great dignity and impressiveness." See The N.Y. Observer, March 1865.