page_title: Lorenza Haynes
section_title: Universalist minister
hierarchical_section_title: Lorenza Haynes / Career / Universalist minister
context_page_description: Lorenza Haynes was an American librarian, minister, school founder, suffragist, and writer.
  Hayne began her early career as a teacher, working at schools in Lonsdale, Rhode Island, as well as Leicester and Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1854, she opened a private school in Rochester, New York, and from 1856 through 1860, was the principal of a young women's seminary there. Ill health forced a temporary retirement of four years, after which she served six years as the first librarian of the Waltham, Massachusetts Public Library. During this period, she became intimate with the Rev. Olympia Brown and Mary A. Livermore. In 1872, after retiring from the library, she entered St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, and before completing the course there, was called to the pastorate of the Universalist Church in Hallowell, Maine. She delivered her first sermon as pastor on July 26, 1874. While occupying this place, she officiated as chaplain in the House of Representatives and also in the Senate, in Augusta, Maine; this was the first instance of a woman acting in that capacity in that State. She also served as chaplain of the Soldier's Home at Togus.
context_section_description: A year before leaving the library, she read and studied under the direction of Rev. Olympia Brown, who wished her at once to take charge of a parish which was open to her; however, Haynes was not willing to take the work as she was less equipped theologically than young men graduates. In her day, she was the oldest woman who ever studied in Canton Theological School.
  Two months before her course of study was finished in Canton, she received a call from the Universalist Church in Hallowell, Maine, to become its pastor when she left Canton. Though she had never preached before the society, she accepted the call, and was ordained there on February 10, 1875. She officiated as chaplain in the Maine House of Representatives and also in that state's Senate, in Augusta, Maine. This was the first instance of a woman acting in that capacity in that State. She was chaplain for two terms in the National Soldiers' Home near Augusta, the first woman who had filled that place, and had an invitation for a third term, when she resigned her pastorate in Hallowell for one in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
  While preaching in the latter place, she was invited by Post 43, Grand Army of the Republic, to make some remarks in the exercises of Memorial Day, 1876. The following year, she was unanimously invited to deliver the oration of the day. It was the first time a woman in Massachusetts had filled that position. Haynes provided services over parishes in Fairfield, Maine, Rockport, Massachusetts, and Skowhegan, Maine. She often found her labors exceedingly arduous, especially during Maine winters, preaching sometimes in two or three places the same day. She rode 10–12 miles (16–19 km) in an open sleigh, with the mercury below 0 °F, to officiate at a funeral. She left her parish in Fairfield, in 1883, for a European tour. She was from its organization a member and first vice-president of the Woman's Ministerial Conference. 
  Haynes worked in various reformatory societies. She was always a woman suffragist. She often spoke upon platforms and before legislative committees in the State Houses of Massachusetts and Maine. For many years, she wrote for various periodicals.
caption: Lorenza Haynes, a "Woman of the Century"
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