| Notes |
- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH XXV.
RICHARD WOODHULL, (Rev.), sixth generation from Richard Wodhull I., Patentee of Brookhaven, Long Island, was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, January 15, 1802.
He was the youngest child of Abraham Cooper Woodhull and Eunice Sturges. His father, a sea captain, lost his life in an accident in Boston Harbor when his son was but seventeen months old; so from this early age he came under the entire charge of his mother, who in this sad loss, was also left in straitened circumstances; she was however a woman of strong character, sincere piety, and of great industry and energy; this early influence formed her son's character for after years.
During these early years, her judicious instruction, and the reading of choice books in the evenings, gave him his love of books, and under the pastoral care and teachings of Dr. Humphrey, afterwards President of Amherst College, his mind and heart were so deeply impressed, that the influence of his ministry was never effaced.
At the age of eighteen he was brought to dedicate himself to God, and he gave at once his life of active usefulness in the Cause of Christ, and soon had a desire to become a minister.
Being without the necessary means for his studies, he applied to the Education Society of Maine for assistance, and this application being accepted he was enabled to finish his preparatory and Collegiate course. It is worthy of mention here, that the money paid to him from the Education Society was paid back to that Society, both principal and interest.
Richard Woodhull entered Bowdoin College in 1823, and assisted himself peeuniarily by teaching in the town during most of his senior year, and graduated in 1827 with high rank in his class.
After leaving College he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, but at the close of the first year, through the advice of President Allen, of Bowdoin, he took charge of the Classical Department of Bangor Theological Seminary, which position he filled with great acceptance until he entered the ministry.
On August 13, 1829, he was married to Sarah, daughter of William Forbes, Esq., of Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Bangor, Maine.
Their life together, of forty-four years, was one of mutual sympathy and happiness, ten children being born to them.
In 1830 Mr. Woodhull accepted a call to the Congregational Church in Thomaston, Maine, and was ordained their pastor July 7, President Allen, of Bowdoin College, preaching the sermon.
This pastorate was held with fidelity for twenty-four years and eight months, and he loved his people. This period was filled with study and labor, with sympathy and comfort to those under affliction, with instruction in every duty in life and in education; he was a great help to this town of sea-faring men, having taught some hundred, or more, ship masters their navigation.
Besides the merely religious, many an interest, private and public, felt his influence. But the field was hard, there had been in it elements impossible to harmonize, and the meagre salary was often short in payment, making it difficult to meet the common necessities of life; this Mr. Woodhull supplemented by teaching a young ladies' select school, and also in his writings for publication.
During his ministry there were three considerable revivals, in the years 1834-37 and '42, when forty-nine persons were received into the church by profession.
At the close of the Rev. Richard Woodhull's ministry at Thomaston, he accepted the Agency of the American Bible Society, which he held with great fidelity until 1862, when he was chosen Treasurer and General Agent of the Bangor Theological Seminary; and this office he held until his death.
During his period of office the funds of the Seminary increased by $163,000. As one of the Board of Trustees remarked, "Undoubtedly due to the marked financial ability, sound judgment, untiring zeal, and strict integrity of Mr. Woodhull."
Rev. Richard Woodhull was one of the oldest members of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College, a member, and for some years President of the Board of Trustees of the State Hospital for the Insane at Augusta, and a Trustee of the Maine Charitable Society, besides holding various minor positions of trust and usefulness.
Next to his integrity, his remarkably sound judgment made his services exceedingly valuable in all the important trusts which he filled.
His wisdom in counsel was marked by all, his judgment was wonderfully correct on all committees and boards of trust, and especially in cases of church difficulties and questions of policy and expediency.
His opinion, when asked and given, always carried great weight with it. He was a thorough student in Latin and Mathematics and possessed much musical talent.
He had a logical mind and could sustain his position in an argument, and his generous sympathies and warmth of heart made him a most useful Christian minister and a model parishioner in his later years.
It has been said of him as a minister of Christ, "that voice of his and conscientious face, as he stood and delivered his Master's message, an audience, once hearing and seeing, would not soon forget."
Rev. Richard Woodhull died at Bangor, Maine, November 12, 1873, aged 71 years and 10 months. During his long year of suffering all the beautiful traits of his lifelong piety shone forth most brilliantly, his obedience, his submission, his faith in God, his singular conscientiousness, his love of prayer--these were never clouded, and made the pathway of this noble and true man "shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day."
He was survived by his wife and six children.
(See Genealogy, No. 178.)
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1802 - 1873 (71 years)
d. 21 Feb 1836, Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States 