Early Life and Family
Toulmin was born April 7, 1766, in Taunton, Somersetshire, England. His parents were Joshua Toulmin, a noted Dissenting minister, and his wife Jane (Smith) Toulmin. He received little formal education, but frequently read books in his mother's bookstore and benefited from listening to conversations between his father and other noted ministers such as Joseph Priestley and Theophilus Lindsey. After attending Hoxton Academy and studying under Thomas Barnes and William Hawes, he followed his father into the ministry in 1786.
During his ministry in England, Toulmin served two Dissenting congregations in Lancashire. From 1786 to 1788, he was pastor of a church in Monton, and from 1787 to 1793, he served another congregation at Chowbent Chapel in Atherton. He soon had nearly 1,000 followers, Many of his followers supported the French Revolution, attracting the attention of anti-dissenting partisans in England. A group of these partisans once took advantage of Toulmin's absence to threaten his house, necessitating his swift return to protect his family. Upon arriving, he was able to break up the mob via diplomacy alone.
About 1787, Toulmin married Ann Tremlett. The couple had nine children, five of whom survived infancy. In 1808, one of these children, Lucinda Jane, married Colonel Daniel Garrard, the son of James Garrard, the second governor of Kentucky. After the death of Toulmin's first wife, he married Martha Johnson in 1812. They had one child together.
Read more about this topic: Harry Toulmin (Unitarian Minister)
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