Birth of Benjamin T. Roberts. Converted at age 20, he graduated four years later from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and was admitted to the Genesee Methodist conference. He married Miss Ellen Stowe, had seven children, and pastored churches in New York state. But in 1857 he wrote an article criticizing the Methodists for departing from truths on which their denomination was founded. He was expelled from the denomination. Two years later he founded the Free Methodists and began to publish The Earnest Christian. He founded a college and wrote a number of books. In 1910, seventeen years after Roberts' death, the Methodists acknowledged they had wronged him.
Francis Harold Rowley was born in Hilton, NY He received his education at the Rochester University and Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1878. He served Baptist churches in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Illinois. He was president of the Massachusetts society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for over 35 years. The school of humanities at Oglethorpe University was named for him. Rowley is widely remembered for his hymn, "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story." He died on Valentine's Day, 1952 in Boston.
