Samuel McChord Crothers

Born in Oswego, Illinois, in 1857, Samuel McChord Crothers was an American minister and essayist whose writing earned a wide readership. He studied at Wittenberg College and Princeton, then continued theological training at Union Theological Seminary and later Harvard Divinity School.

Crothers began his career in the Presbyterian ministry, serving churches in the American West before joining the Unitarian church. In 1894 he became minister of First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a role with which he is especially associated.

Alongside his church work, he built a strong reputation as an essayist. Readers remembered him for essays that were humane, intelligent, and lightly humorous, bringing philosophy and daily life together in a way that still feels approachable.