Salem Women's
History and
Business Community
History and
Business Community
Universalist Society
Corner of Ash and Bridge Streets — Open to the public
Universalism began taking hold in Salem in the late 1700s when Nathaniel Frothingham hosted gatherings in his home to welcome John Murray, the first Universalist preacher to visit America. A basic tenet of Universalism was the idea that men and women are equal in the eyes of God — not unlike views expressed by other liberal religious faiths such as Quakerism.
John Murray's wife, Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820), who had many ties to Salem, had embraced Universalism as a young girl and, as an adult, championed women's rights in her published writing. Her landmark essay "On the Equality of the Sexes" was published in the prestigious Massachusetts Magazine in 1790.
Judith would have known and visited Salem's Universalists, and probably attended services when the Salem church building was dedicated in 1809.
Universalism began taking hold in Salem in the late 1700s when Nathaniel Frothingham hosted gatherings in his home to welcome John Murray, the first Universalist preacher to visit America. A basic tenet of Universalism was the idea that men and women are equal in the eyes of God — not unlike views expressed by other liberal religious faiths such as Quakerism.
John Murray's wife, Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820), who had many ties to Salem, had embraced Universalism as a young girl and, as an adult, championed women's rights in her published writing. Her landmark essay "On the Equality of the Sexes" was published in the prestigious Massachusetts Magazine in 1790.
Judith would have known and visited Salem's Universalists, and probably attended services when the Salem church building was dedicated in 1809.
