Joseph Tracy - Later Life and Work

Later Life and Work

However, he gave up the law for the ministry, studying under Dr Asa Burton of Thetford, Vermont and was admitted to the ministry of the Congregational Churches on June 26, 1821. From 1821 to 1828 he held the pastorates of two churches in villages near Thetford, but by the latter year it became apparent that his true work lay in a different branch of church activities. He was appointed in the autumn of 1828 to take the editorship of the "Vermont Chronicle", an organ of the Vermont Congregational Churches, which had been founded in 1826 by his younger brother, Ebenezer Carter Tracy. In 1834, he again exchanged positions with his brother, becoming editor of the Boston Recorder. He also served for a short time in 1837 as editor of the "New York Observer." During and after this time he published several books, including: The Three Last Things, 1839, an essay on resurrection, judgment and final retribution; The Great Awakening, 1842, a history of the religious revival in America in the mid to late 18th century (some scholars attribute the well-known name of that movement to Rev. Tracy's work); and The History of the Missions of the American Board, 1842.

Tracy had eight children with his first wife, Eleanor, who died in 1836. He remarried in 1842 to Sarah Prince. In his later years, he was cared for by his wife and two unmarried daughters. He died in his home in Beverly, Massachusetts on March 24, 1874 after a short illness.