Ohio History Journal

CATHERINE M. ROKICKY

Lydia Finney and Evangelical

Womanhood

 

 

 

In May of 1835, Lydia Andrews Finney bade farewell to her husband as he

headed for his first look at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Mrs. Finney

and their three children would stay in Cleveland with her parents until the

Reverend Charles Grandison Finney settled himself as the professor of theol-

ogy in Oberlin.¹ Separation between the couple was far from a new experi-

ence because of the position of the Reverend Finney as the head of Protestant

evangelicalism. Since their marriage in 1824, Lydia Finney supported her

husband in his ministry and took her place at the heart of evangelicalism for

women by fulfilling her roles as the wife of a very prominent minister and by

becoming a respected reformer in her own right.

The world in which Lydia and Charles lived centered on the great religious

revival that fired the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans in the first

half of the nineteenth century, altering the religious and political climate of

the young nation. In the social realm, the Second Great Awakening heated

both men and women into storms of reform activity. After undergoing a

soul-wrenching conversion experience, the new evangelicals had to show their

thirst for salvation by participating in reforms that endeavored to change the

sinful actions of their fellow men and women. These reformers acted on the

philosophy of disinterested benevolence, the idea that women and men should

not be concerned with the rewards they could gain by doing good for others

but should act compassionately for the greater glory of God. The reformers

became the trustees of other men's souls, especially the souls of the sinners

whom they wanted to lead to salvation.²

Although reformers pervaded society, women, such as Lydia Finney, par-

ticularly took an active role in evangelicalism and reform. As reformers,

women found an acceptable avenue from which to move out of the domestic

 

 

Catherine M. Rokicky is a Ph.D. candidate in history at Kent State University. She would

like to thank Professor Frank L. Byre for his invaluable criticisms of this paper.

 

1. Garth M. Rosell and Richard A.G. Dupuis, eds., The Memoirs of Charles G. Finney: The

Complete Restored Text (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1989), 396 (hereafter Finney Memoirs).

2. Alice Felt Tyler, Freedom's Ferment: Phases of American Social History from the

Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Civil War (New York, 1944), 35; Clifford S. Griffin,

Their Brothers' Keepers: Moral Stewardship in the United States, 1800-1865 (New Brunswick,

N.J., 1960), xii, 6.

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Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                             171

 

sphere, confined to house and children, and into a public arena to do good.

Since women possessed the distinction of being morally superior to men,

they had a special duty to instill virtue into the lives of others through re-

forms and benevolent organizations. Through contact in reform movements,

women formed bonds amongst themselves at the local, state, and national

levels and gained experience in organizational, political, and social tech-

niques.³

The charged drama of the revival experience often proved the key factor in

exciting women and men into conversion and subsequent reform activity.

The responsibility for creating such an atmosphere, by no means an easy

task, fell upon the evangelical minister, the preacher leading the people.

Cultivating revival techniques to an art form, the powerful and charismatic

Charles Finney successfully converted thousands and soon became the recog-

nized head of evangelicalism. As his wife, Lydia Andrews Finney became a

role model for evangelical women as wife, mother, and reformer.

Lydia's background prepared her well for the religious path which her life

would take. On March 8, 1804, in New Britain, Connecticut, Lydia Root

Andrews was born unto Nathaniel and Jerusha Sage Andrews, the eighth of

what would be ten children. As did many New England families, the Andrews

family moved to the western frontier in New York on a farm in Whitesboro,

Oneida County. The people of Oneida County, as in other counties of west-

ern New York, had a strong New England background and developed keen re-

ligious sensitivity and moral strength. This region of New York became so

affected by religious revivalism that it was called the "burned-over district".⁴

Amidst this charged religious atmosphere, young Lydia grew. As a member

of the First Presbyterian Society in the religious center of the township,

Lydia noticed the prominent role women played in the church, as they made

up the majority of church members. Lydia also experienced first-hand the de-

velopment of benevolent organizations as a natural outgrowth of evangelical-

ism such as the Female Missionary Society, which was founded by wives of

lawyers, and the Oneida Bible Society.⁵ These activities gave Lydia the

model for her later works in evangelicalism and reforms but more immedi-

ately moved her toward her own conversion.

 

 

3. Sara M. Evans, Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America (New York, 1989),

73, 76; Keith E. Melder, Beginnings of Sisterhood: The American Woman's Rights Movement,

1800-1850 (New York, 1977), 8, 39.

4. Julia Finney Monroe, "Some Statistics Concerning the Finney Family," Charles G. Finney

Papers, 1792-1875, microfilm, roll 8, Kent State University Library, Kent, Ohio (hereafter

Finney Papers); Whitney R. Cross, The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual

History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (Ithaca, 1950), 4. The original

manuscript collection of the Finney Papers is located at the Oberlin College Archives, Oberlin,

Ohio.

5. Mary P. Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class: The Family in Oneida County, New York,

1790-1865 (New York, 1981), 53, 60; Cross, Burned-over, 177.

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172                                                       OHIO HISTORY

 

For women, conversion often defined their lives and was an intense and

emotional experience with God. In 1815 at the age of eleven, Lydia under-

went her conversion experience which led her to seek actively the conversion

of others. When Lydia met Charles Finney, she recognized that this lawyer,

although a choir director, was not converted, and she prayed for the salvation

of his soul. Months after first having met Lydia in Adams, New York,

Finney underwent a trying conversion experience and afterward learned that

she had, for a long time, struggled greatly in prayer for his soul.⁶ Although

Lydia undoubtedly had prayed for Finney's conversion, she utilized her prayer

as an appropriate way to capture the attention of the tall, handsome Finney

who had piercing blue eyes. Her evangelical husband-hunting method proved

so effective that Finney never fully recognized Lydia's other agenda in praying

for him. With the knowledge of Lydia's prayer, Finney took a greater interest

in Lydia, and eventually asked her to marry him.

Charles and Lydia were married at Whitesboro on October 5, 1824, and

Lydia had to learn quickly what it meant to be the wife of a devoted minister.

On the same day of his marriage, Finney attended a Synod of Albany meet-

ing, leaving his new bride with her parents. A day or two after the wedding,

Finney ventured to Evans Mills, New York, where he was serving as a part-

time pastor. Planning on calling for his wife in less than a week, Finney

was not reunited with her for over six months. These separations did not

reflect a lack of feeling between the couple, but rather showed the intense

devotion of Finney to his ministry.⁷

This devotion paid off rather quickly. In 1827, Finney became the recog-

nized head of Protestant evangelicalism, and Mrs. Finney shared the acclama-

tion with him. Since Finney supported women's roles in the church, evan-

gelical women supported him and looked naturally to Mrs. Finney as a model

because she played many roles in her husband's ministry. The Finneys to-

gether revolutionized the role of the minister's wife into a career in which the

woman gained personal satisfaction and growth rather than languishing in the

role of the sacrificer and sufferer.⁸

 

 

 

6. Anne M. Boylan, "Evangelical Womanhood in the Nineteenth Century: The Role of

Women in Sunday Schools," Feminist Studies, 4(October, 1978), 67; Barbara Leslie Epstein,

The Politics of Domesticity: Women, Evangelism, and Temperance in Nineteenth-Century

America (Middletown, Conn., 1981), 55; Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class, 60; Charles G.

Finney, "Last Sickness and Death of Mrs. Finney," Oberlin Evangelist, 5 January 1848, 3;

Keith J. Hardman, Charles Grandison Finney, 1792-1875: Revivalist and Reformer (Syracuse,

N.Y., 1987), 64.

7. Finney Memoirs, 109-14; G. Frederick Wright, Charles Grandison Finney (Boston and

New York, 1891), 38. Rumors circulated that Finney had married another woman and had a

child by another woman before he became a Christian. See Finney Memoirs, 109; Stephen

Hull to William Lapham, 2 October 1827, Finney Papers, roll 1.

8. Howard Alexander Morrison, "The Finney Takeover of the Second Great Awakening

During the Oneida Revivals of 1825-1827," New York History, 59(January, 1978), 27-28;

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Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                            173

 

Mrs. Finney aided her husband's ministry in the very important task of or-

ganizing female prayer meetings. Wherever revivals were held, Finney be-

lieved, on account of his own personal experience, that prayer played a major

role in conversion. The female prayer meetings that Mrs. Finney organized

gave women a lively place to attend and expand their utility outside of their

homes. At the meetings, Mrs. Finney led the women in song and prayers.

Once Mrs. Finney left one revival for another with her husband, the continu-

ance of prayer meetings varied. Many prayer meetings waned after Mrs.

Finney left, indicating the necessity of her presence owing to her appealing

and successful qualities as a spiritual leader. Often, women wrote Mrs.

Finney to encourage their spiritual guide to return so that the meetings would

hold more interest.⁹ Obviously, the women held Mrs. Finney in high esteem

and valued her presence.

Prayer meetings at towns were, at first, segregated according to sex because

of social propriety. Gradually, however, men and women joined together in

prayer. Finney recognized the importance of women in religion and thus did

not find fault with women praying in mixed audiences. Rather, he encouraged

women's public speaking and praying for the pragmatic purpose of advancing

his ministry. Finney's support for this new measure revival technique

brought much criticism from other ministers such as the Reverend Lyman

Beecher, who believed that women praying in mixed assemblies was a viola-

tion of their femininity and would make them vulgar. This issue was at the

center of the disagreement between the ministers at the New Lebanon

Convention in July 1827 and was not resolved. However, Finney left the

meeting as the recognized head of evangelicalism with the intention to con-

tinue his support of female participation in public prayer.10

As part of her husband's ministry, Mrs. Finney also advocated female

prayer in mixed assemblies, but whether or not she actually prayed in such

settings herself remains unclear. Lydia M. Gilbert of Wilmington, Delaware,

whose husband was also a minister, criticized Mrs. Finney for not engaging

in public prayer in mixed audiences: "The Lord has given you prudence, but

you must also have zeal." Perhaps Mrs. Finney's reserved nature and her own

struggle for prayer with God inhibited her from the bold action of praying in

mixed assemblies.¹¹

 

 

 

 

Leonard I. Sweet, The Minister's Wife: Her Role in Nineteenth-Century American

Evangelicalism (Philadelphia, 1983), 76.

9. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 102; A.A. Flint to Mrs. Finney, 26 December 1826; M.

Sackett to Mrs. Finney, 28 February 1828; Henrietta Platt to Mrs. Finney, 26 December 1827, 5

January 1829, Finney Papers, rolls 1 and 2.

10. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 85, 103, 127, 138, 146.

11. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 85; Lydia M. Gilbert to Mrs. Finney, February 1828,

Finney Papers, roll 1; Sweet, Minister's Wife, 126-27.

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174                                                        OHIO HISTORY

 

Mrs. Finney performed another service for her husband's ministry by dis-

tributing tracts and visiting homes during revivals to bolster attendance and

gain converts, a technique which she labored at extensively during the revival

at Rochester, New York, in 1830-1831.12 This model of visitation brought

women out of the domestic sphere and into public contact.

Additionally, Mrs. Finney helped to determine the success of the ministry

by asking her female friends about the general religious state of the towns

since she and her husband left, which helped to ascertain its long-term impact.

As an active participant in the revivals, Mrs. Finney also held special interest

in the fruits of her labors as well. Women responded to specific questions

Mrs. Finney asked, and in many cases, Mrs. Finney probably left certain

women in charge of informing her about events in the town.¹³ These women

obviously felt themselves a special part of revivalism and a special friend of

Mrs. Finney.

Some women wrote Mrs. Finney using her as a channel to her husband,

possibly because they stood a better chance of receiving a reply from her since

her husband was always so engrossed in his revival work. Some found it

more respectable to write to Finney through his wife. Many of the corre-

spondents also had other matters to discuss with Mrs. Finney whom they held

in high esteem as a spiritual guide. Not only did the women look to her as a

leader but envied Mrs. Finney's position as she was "actively engaged in

winning souls to Christ."¹⁴

Mrs. Finney was not alone in her role as she corresponded with ministers'

wives such as Emily S. Bartlett, Rhoda Churchill, and C.C. Copeland.

These women confided in Mrs. Finney about the challenges they faced in their

labors and looked to her for advice and prayers. Amelia Ann (Flint) Norton

enjoyed a special friendship with Mrs. Finney and discussed her challenges as

the wife of an evangelical minister, Herman G. Norton. They discussed long

distances travelled, persistence in their work, and the difficulty in dealing with

criticisms of revivals.¹⁵

The Reverend Finney certainly recognized the important role his wife

played in his ministry.. Finney said: "My dear wife... accompanied me in

 

 

12. Sweet, Minister's Wife, 127.

13. See, for example, Mary S. Wright to Mrs. Finney, 29 March 1827; Juliet Pardee to Mrs.

Finney, 17 January 1828; Henrietta Platt to Mrs. Finney, 22 January 1831; Ellen Brayton to

Mrs. Finney, 28 December 1831, Finney Papers, rolls 1-3.

14. Mary S. Wright to Mrs. Finney, 29 March 1827; Helen Platt to Mrs. Finney, 17

December 1827; Maria J. Cushman to Mrs. Finney, 25 October 1827; Charlotte Mosley to

Mrs. Finney, May 1827; Sarah Seward to Mrs. Finney, 3 May 1828; Fanny M. Danton to Mrs.

Finney, 6 October 1826; Mary Hamilton and Emily Curtis to Mrs. Finney, 21 February 1828;

quote, Almira Selden to Mrs. Finney, 5 June 1826, Finney Papers, rolls 1 and 2.

15. Finney Memoirs, 290; Sweet, Minister's Wife, 113; A.A. Norton to Mrs. Finney, 24

May 1827, 8 March 1829, 4 July 1829, and 23 March 1829, Finney Papers, rolls 1 and 2.

Amelia was Mrs. Finney's closest friend. See Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 470, note 37.

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Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                    175

my labors as an evangelist. She participated in my labors, and trials, my re- joicings and sorrows through many of the most searching and powerful re- vivals of religion." Finney also gave his wife credit for influencing his spiri- tual life: "My dear wife used to look up to me as her spiritual guide and teacher under God, but in justice to her I would say that she taught me my most valuable lessons. She showed me in many ways how to live".16 Mrs. Finney performed a decisive role in her husband's ministry, and it was a role which did not come easily for her. By nature, Mrs. Finney was "taciturn and reserved" and throughout the early revivals, "mild, unobtrusive and calm." Although she underwent the conversion experience at a young age, she lacked confidence in her salvation, and during revivals, she found her- self "deeply searched" and her heart broken up.17 Each revival conceivably held for her a challenge to her faith. Thus, it was of credit to her that she en- dured such self-sacrificing for her husband and his ministry. In addition to her spiritual self-sacrifice, Mrs. Finney had to take much of the responsibility for the couple's three children and then try to balance the family life with the ministry. This was not an easy task since the couple had     16. Finney, "Last Sickness," 3-4. 17. Ibid.

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176                                                            OHIO HISTORY

 

no real place to call home before they moved to Oberlin in 1835. The

Finneys relied on accommodations provided by people in revival towns.

Also, Mrs. Finney had the help of hired servants to aid her with the chil-

dren.18

During the time Mrs. Finney was pregnant with her first child, she took an

avid interest in both sabbath schools and infant schools. One main purpose

of the sabbath schools was to help the children along to a conversion experi-

ence. Infant schools were a type of benevolent association as they provided

an education for children under the age of eight whose parents otherwise could

not afford it. Mrs. Finney's interest in the infant and sabbath school move-

ment involved her founding infant schools in towns where she conducted re-

vival work with her husband. She also sent her children to infant schools.19

Infant and sabbath schools kept evangelical women fixed in the domestic

sphere, as they remained absorbed with affairs of the home; yet they also al-

lowed women to move into the public sphere by learning and utilizing orga-

nizational techniques.

Mrs. Finney had to make the transition for her family when Finney shifted

his ministry from rural towns to large cities. With the children, Mrs. Finney

had more difficulty accompanying her husband on all his labors. When

Arthur and Lewis Tappan offered Finney the pastorate at the Second Free

Church (Chatham Street Chapel) in New York City, Finney took the oppor-

tunity to expand greatly his ministry and obtain some family stability.²⁰

The area of New York City in which the Finneys set up their household

was an undesirable place. Residing near the Chatham Street Chapel, the fam-

ily was surrounded by slums and in close proximity to the notorious Five

 

18. Sweet, Minister's Wife, 87; Charles Finney to Mrs. Finney, 10 November 1834, Robert

S. Fletcher Papers, Oberlin College Archives (hereafter Fletcher Papers). The Finney children

were Helen Clarissa Finney, born 1828; Charles Beman Finney, born 1830; and Frederic

Norton Finney, born 1832. Mrs. Finney especially needed the help of servants when she was

very ill at Oberlin. See S.R. Ingraham to Mrs. Finney, 16 January 1847; E.H. Lowe to Mrs.

Finney, 7 April 1845; L.L. Webb to Mrs. Finney, 5 February 1846, Finney Papers, roll 4. Mrs.

Finney also had to deal with the arrest of her brother Philip on charges of counterfeiting in

Canada. He was eventually cleared of the charges. See C.J. Andrews and N. Andrews to Mr.

and Mrs. Finney, 6 August 1827; Mary Ann Beebe and N. Andrews to Mr. and Mrs. Finney, 21

August 1827, Finney Papers, roll 1.

19. Keith Melder, "Ladies Bountiful: Organized Women's Benevolence in Early

Nineteenth Century America," New York History, 48(July, 1967), 237; Linda F. Geary,

Balanced in the Wind: A Biography of Betsey Mix Cowles (Lewisburg, Pa., 1989), 23-24;

Sweet, Minister's Wife, 160. See also Nancy O'Brien to Mrs. Finney, 1 November 1829; E.B.

Woodbury to Mrs. Finney, 9 January 1830; A.A. Norton to Mrs. Finney, 2 November 1830;

S.W. Selden to Mrs. Finney, 11 June 1834, Finney Papers, rolls 2 and 3.

20. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 250-51; Arthur Tappan (1786-1865) and Lewis Tappan

(1788-1873) were wealthy New York merchants who were involved in reform movements and

monetarily supported them and other evangelical projects.See Lewis Tappan, The Life of Arthur

Tappan (New York, 1970, reprint of New York, 1870) and Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Lewis

Tappan and the Evangelical War Against Slavery (New York, 1971, reprint of Cleveland,

1969).

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Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                               177

 

Points, a slum area characterized by high crime and mortality rates, numerous

brothels, and poor sanitation. When the cholera epidemic hit New York City

in early summer 1832, the Finneys' neighborhood was hit especially hard be-

cause of the slum conditions and poverty.²¹

Despite these problems with New York City, Mrs. Finney was excited to

establish a family household for the first time. She described fondly their

first nights in their residence:  "It is 2 weeks since we commenced

[housekeeping] and I now write you for the first time in "our own hired house

... a few of the first nights . . . we slept on the floor without a blanket or

bed quilt to cover us, but as the weather was warm we got along quite

well."²²

The home in New York City helped Mrs. Finney deal with the sale of her

family farm, the place of her childhood memories and the place she and her

husband had considered home since they had not had a place of their own.

She wrote, "when I reflect that I can no longer call it home, my tears flow,

and I cannot refrain from weeping bitterly."²³ Mrs. Finney obviously was a

very emotional and sentimental woman.

The cholera epidemic in New York City took its toll on the Finney resi-

dence and forced them to retreat to the country until the epidemic subsided.

Upon return to New York, Finney was installed officially as pastor of the

Chatham Street Chapel. However, this happy occasion was soon tempered

with the bleak realization that Finney had contracted cholera. Since he had

not fully recovered at the beginning of 1834, Finney decided to take a

Mediterranean voyage, reasoning that the sea air might help him recuperate.

Mrs. Finney had to stay behind to care for the children, all of whom were un-

der age five. In July 1834, Finney returned although in no better health than

when he had left. Later that year, the couple was separated again, but the sep-

arations seemed to bring them closer. In one emotional moment, Finney

wrote: "I want to see you unspeakably."²⁴

Although Mrs. Finney spent much of her time caring for the children, she

made time to continue her work in her husband's ministry. From his pulpit

at the Chatham Street Chapel, Finney encouraged his followers to participate

 

 

21. Carroll Smith Rosenberg, Religion and the Rise of the American City: The New York City

Mission Movement, 1812-1870 (Ithaca, 1971), 34-37; Lydia Finney to Nathaniel and Jerusha

Andrews, 15 July 1832, Finney Papers, roll 3.

22. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 256; Lydia Finney to Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Andrews,

15 July 1832, Fletcher Papers.

23. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 256; Nathaniel Andrews to Mr. and Mrs. Finney, 7 July

1832; quote, Charles and Lydia Finney to Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Andrews, 15 July 1832,

Fletcher Papers.

24. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 258, 266-68; Finney Memoirs, 357, footnote 10, 366, 372;

Sarah Beebe to Mrs. Finney, 20 December 1833; George and Lydia Finney to Mrs. Finney, 31

January 1834, Finney Papers, roll 3; quote, Charles Finney to Mrs. Finney, 10 November 1834;

and see 24 November 1834, Fletcher Papers.

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178                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

in reform movements, and many of the leaders of reform in New York City

were his converts. Mrs. Finney labored extensively in the moral reform

movement in New York City and remained involved in the movement

throughout her life.

Moral reform in New York City began with the support of the Tappan

brothers who wanted to discourage their young male employees, many of

whom came from small rural New York towns, from falling prey to the

temptations of prostitution in the city. Additionally, they sympathized with

the impoverished women who were exploited by these immoral men. Arthur

Tappan thus founded the New York Magdalen Society in 1831 and elected the

Reverend John R. McDowall as the chaplain of the society. Since McDowall

offended the city's wealthiest and most powerful men by implicating them

publicly in the sins of prostitution, the society was forced out of existence.

McDowall, however, continued his work by encouraging the formation of

moral reform societies at the church level throughout New York City. In

May 1834, the women of New York, many followers of Finney, formed the

New York Female Moral Reform Society, and Mrs. Finney was named as the

First Directress.²⁵

In that position, Mrs. Finney led the women to act in ways which society

at the time did not deem proper for women. Violating sexual taboos, women

had to discuss and face head-on the evils of prostitution. More defiantly ig-

noring societal constraints, the women, in the presence of godly men, visited

brothels early on Sunday mornings, leading the prostitutes and their clients in

prayer.²⁶ Whether or not Mrs. Finney actually participated in these visits is

unclear. Because of her reserved nature, she may have shied away from this

activity, much as she hesitated to pray publicly in mixed assemblies.

However, she did head the organization that championed these measures, and

her husband encouraged the women to employ such methods from his pulpit.

Some methods which the society used clearly came from their leader, Mrs.

Finney. Always an advocate of the power of prayer, Mrs. Finney influenced

the society's emphasis on the use of prayer during visits to the brothels and at

weekly prayer meetings. Furthermore, Mrs. Finney probably swayed the soci-

ety's decision to circulate Bibles and tracts, techniques which she had perfected

in labors for her husband's ministry. The ultimate goal of the society, to

convert the spiritual state of the sinners, also originated from the Finneys' be-

liefs about reform. To meet this goal, the Society established a House of

Reception which would provide a place of refuge for the penitent and teach

them new trades.²⁷

 

 

25. Tappan, Arthur Tappan, 111-14; Rosenberg, Religion and the Rise, 100-03; Advocate of

Moral Reform, II, no. 6 (June, 1834), 44-45, Fletcher Papers.

26. Rosenberg, Religion and the Rise, 107, 109-10.

27. Ibid., 109-12. The House of Reception always had a small number of inmates, and, in

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Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                               179

 

As head of the New York Female Moral Reform Society, Mrs. Finney

guided some of the most radical evangelical women of the day. In an organi-

zation run entirely by females, the women were radical because of the stance

they took against men and the double standard. They reversed the stereotype

of licentiousness and blamed wicked men for debauching the inherently pious

female. In essence, they found a somewhat acceptable manner in which to re-

prove men in a male-dominated society. While the women were radical in

their rhetoric, they were simultaneously conservative as they remained within

the family unit, which was male dominated, to deliver such hostile dis-

course.²⁸ Also, they expressed traditional values as they hoped to eliminate

prostitution so that their children could grow up in a pure society. Mrs.

Finney, although humble, probably felt satisfaction in being a pious female

in a world filled with ungodly men.

While Mrs. Finney took guidance from her husband concerning the type of

work she performed in his ministry, Finney also looked to his devoted wife

for direction. She served him as his confidant. He looked to her for advice

concerning his ministry in New York, since abolitionism had captured the

people's attention over evangelicalism, and because he was weakened by

cholera. With uncertainty surrounding his ministry in New York, Finney

was open to the offer of becoming professor of theology at the Oberlin

Collegiate Institute in the Western Reserve of Ohio. This offer came as a re-

sult of abolitionist activity led by a student, Theodore Dwight Weld, at Lane

Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Students rebelled at restrictions placed on their

abolitionist activity and left Lane Seminary. They agreed to come to Oberlin

if certain conditions were met, and one was for Finney to become the profes-

sor of theology there. The Tappan brothers encouraged Finney to accept this

post because they wanted the Institute to be a place where missionaries would

be trained. They promised Finney their financial support for the endeavor.

With the agreement that Finney would spend his winters in New York preach-

ing and his summers in Oberlin, Finney accepted the post as professor of the-

ology.²⁹

When Finney arrived with his family in Cleveland, Ohio, in May 1835, he

left his wife and children there with her parents and proceeded to Oberlin

 

 

March 1835, housed only fourteen women. In the Summer 1836, the house closed down after

an incident when the inmates seized control of it.

28. Rosenberg, Religion and the Rise, 118-19.

29. Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 262-65, 273; Lewis Tappan to Mrs. Finney, 18 July 1834,

Finney Papers, roll 3; Charles Finney to Lydia Finney, 10 November 1834, 24 November 1834,

Fletcher Papers; Finney Memoirs, 382. Theodore Dwight Weld (1803-1895) was a reluctant

convert at a Finney revival who became prominent in temperance and abolitionism. See

Robert H. Abzug, Passionate Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld and the Dilemma of Reform

(New York, 1980). For a complete account of the Lane Rebellion see Lawrence T. Lesick,

The Lane Rebels (Metuchen, N.J., 1980). The other conditions of the Lane Rebels were free-

dom of speech and the admission of blacks.

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180                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

alone, planning to send for his family when he was settled. The Oberlin

Collegiate Institute Finney set out for was founded in 1833 as a manual labor

school, which combined the principles of study and physical labor. The labor

served not only as a method of payment for the education, but also as a way

to build character. The Institute developed anomalistically as it was the first

school to practice coeducation and admit blacks. The education of women

was deemed important because women were responsible for the moral growth

of children and thus had an important impact on future generations. The

Institute was not founded on any basis of feminism but allowed the education

of women as a way to social perfection. Blacks were admitted out of eco-

nomic necessity. At the time of the Lane rebellion, the Institute was in dire

financial straits and needed money that the Lane rebels would bring with

them.³⁰ During its early years, it was an institution of radical practices based

on rather pragmatic reasoning, but the pragmatism would soon change as

more radical ideas would prevail at Oberlin.

The new living conditions for the Finney family at Oberlin differed greatly

from those they had experienced in New York City. Oberlin was a town built

on swampy land in Russia Township, Lorain County, Ohio. The land was

considered so worthless by its owners that they agreed to donate the land in

1833 for the purpose of a manual labor school. By the time the Finneys ar-

rived in 1835, conditions were somewhat better as trees had been cut down on

the square, and some houses and one college building had been constructed.

Nevertheless, the town remained carved out of the wilderness. At first, the

Finneys lived in the available buildings. With Arthur Tappan's money, a

Finney household was built which was considered quite pleasing and spa-

cious. The Finney house was a two-story brick structure which some resi-

dents of Oberlin judged as too elegant for the community.³¹ Clearly, it was

much nicer than the residence the Finneys had lived in at New York.

At Oberlin, Mrs. Finney continued to devote her time to the important task

of child-rearing and still found time to partake in much reform activity. Her

labors for the Oberlin Maternal Association coincided well with her work as a

mother.

A group of eight mothers founded the Oberlin Maternal Association in

1835, and by 1847, membership grew to 106 mothers and 370 children. The

society formed to develop techniques and other measures best suited to raise

children under the Lord's influence. The women resolved to meet every week

 

 

30. Finney Memoirs, 396; Robert Samuel Fletcher, A History of Oberlin College: From Its

Foundation through the Civil War (Oberlin, 1943), 34, 117, 168, 353-75; Lori D. Ginzberg,

"Women in an Evangelical Community: Oberlin 1835-1850," Ohio History, 89(Winter, 1980),

84. It was not called Oberlin College until after 1850.

31. Fletcher, Oberlin College, 71-72, 91, 94, 187; Hardman, Charles G. Finney, 304. The

Finney household was located on the present site of what is now Finney Chapel on Tappan

Square.

• 11
 

Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                          181

 

and open and close meetings with prayer. At the meetings, they planned to

read works relating to their established cause. At every quarterly meeting,

female children between three and sixteen years of age and male children be-

tween three and fourteen years of age were invited to attend the meetings to

receive instruction for their minds and exercises of the Holy Spirit. All

members of the association had the duty to pray for their children, and if pos-

sible with them, as well as read scriptures. They also had to impress upon

their children the necessity of repentance. Mothers also suggested to mem-

bers successful methods for Christian motherhood. Members declared that

their children belonged to God, not to them, thus showing their sincere devo-

tion to their religion.³² Through such measures, women hoped to continue

their own personal evangelical activity and spread it to their children as well.

They also sought to gain support as Christian mothers working together in

the difficult task of child rearing. The association also performed a social

function, giving women a chance to meet with and make friends.

Mrs. Finney experienced much success and satisfaction in her work with

the maternal association. In addition to holding the highest office at Oberlin

as First Directress, she also served as secretary. Mrs. Finney was a recog-

nized leader at the meetings. She often opened the meetings with prayer, a

natural responsibility for her as she had led women in prayer at the New York

Female Moral Reform Society and also at prayer meetings in conjunction

with her husband's ministry. Mrs. Finney served on special committees to

revise the society's constitution and to speak with a local teacher concerning

the mothers' dissatisfaction with the morals propagated in the school. Mrs.

Finney read articles to the women on subjects such as the duty of mothers,

and she suggested topics for discussion such as the regulation of social inter-

course for children.³³

On issues which touched her deeply, Mrs. Finney spoke extensively to the

mothers. In one dramatic account, she shared with the women her temptation

in dealing with doubts about parents' covenant to the Lord. The "Minutes of

the Maternal Association" record this account: "Mrs. C.G. Finney gave some

account of the dealings of the Lord with her the past winter. Satan had sev-

eral times tempted her to doubt the reality of the Covenant to Parents. She

had been sorely tried, and her mind in great darkness respecting it, but from

all these temptations the Lord had delivered her. They had even strengthened

her faith, and she now could so implicitly trust the faithfulness of God, that

she would hardly be more confirmed in her assurance if He should speak in a

 

 

32. "Minutes of the Maternal Association," Oberlin College Archives, Annual Report

1847(hereafter Mat.Assoc.); Fletcher,Oberlin College, 585; "Constitution of the Maternal

Association," Fletcher Papers.

33. Mat. Assoc., 2 March 1842, 8 March 1837, Annual Report 1848, 7 April 1841, 4 June

1845, 7 May 1845, 2 December 1840.

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182                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

voice from heaven, and say "I will be a God to thee and thy seed."³⁴ After a

trying experience, she had renewed faith in God. This coincided with the reli-

gious struggles Mrs. Finney had undergone. She was a woman of great in-

tensity, emotion, and seriousness regarding the Lord, and this characteristic

manifested itself in many aspects of her life.

Mrs. Finney warned the women of undue labor interfering with the great

task of training the immortal souls of children, which might well result in

the injury of the mothers' health. With this statement, most likely, Mrs.

Finney was conveying her personal experiences with guilt and regret. She

had labored extensively to aid her husband's ministry and in reform and

benevolent organizations. She always had experienced problems with her

health, and here she blamed her poor health on her labors and regretted the ne-

glect her children experienced such as separation from one or both parents.³⁵

Another topic which Mrs.Finney took seriously was the subduing of chil-

dren's wills. She believed once a mother broke a child's will, she had to keep

it suppressed. For Mrs. Finney, this was the most important point for a

young mother to learn. The "Minutes of the Maternal Association" records:

"Mrs. Finney said her own mind had been much interested of late and was

constantly becoming more and more so in the importance of rightly subduing

the wills of our children-thought there had been much wrong teaching on

this point-we were wont to suppose that when work had once conquered the

will of a child the work was done, whereas the most difficult part remained to

be secured, vis, keeping it subdued. Mrs. F thought that after all that could

be said this was the great thing in the training of children and very important

that young mothers especially should understand it."³⁶ Mrs. Finney probably

reasoned that through subjugation of the will, the child would also submit to

God and undergo a conversion experience, which she emphasized.

A unique approach Mrs. Finney added to the Maternal Association was

gathering support for a Paternal Association to do for the father what the

Maternal Association did for the mother. It was a method to get the father

more actively involved in his children's growth. This was a very clever way

for Mrs. Finney to get her husband involved with their children's develop-

ment, a responsibility he had left almost entirely up to her. During the

Paternal Association's relatively short existence, it met in conjunction with

the Maternal Association. Topics discussed included the unnecessarily harsh

methods fathers used on their children. Such tyrannical and arbitrary power

served only as destructive to the children's love and self-confidence. The ten-

derheartedness of women more appropriately mixed firmness and love.

Women obviously took the opportunity to criticize their husbands in front of

 

34. Ibid., 2 March 1842.

35. Ibid., April 1842.

36. Ibid., Nov. 1846.

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Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                          183

 

other men which would have been awkward in a setting outside the associa-

tions' meeting. Also, the women expressed their feelings of superiority in

child rearing during the discussion.³⁷

The Paternal Association failed where the Maternal Association thrived be-

cause fathers preferred to leave the responsibility for children to the mothers

and probably did not appreciate the criticism the women gave them.³⁸ In ad-

dition, the Maternal Association offered women the chance to professionalize

their special roles as mothers which was considered part of their domestic

sphere at the time. Although the women worked outside the home and in the

maternal association, they were still entrenched in the domestic sphere be-

cause their labors dealt with children. While the maternal association widened

these women's roles outside of the home, it did not offer them radical change

because they were still confined to their roles as mothers. Evangelical wom-

anhood expanded women's sphere outside of the home, but not always in a

revolutionary manner.

Because of her recognized position as the leading figure in the Maternal

Association, women from across the country and across the ocean wrote to

Mrs. Finney for advice. Anna Hill of London, England, asked Mrs. Finney

about her beliefs regarding parents' obligation to their child's salvation. Mrs.

Finney thought parents had the power to bring about their children's salva-

tion, and Anna wanted to know how culpable parents were when children ex-

perienced only darkness. Anna also explained that England lagged behind

America in regards to maternal associations. Other women asked Mrs.

Finney to send publications for mothers, opinions on raising children, and

health during pregnancy.³⁹ Serving as a guide and figurehead for women cer-

tainly did not present a new challenge for Mrs. Finney because she had grown

accustomed to it with her previous evangelical labors.

In addition to her labors in the Maternal Association, Mrs. Finney contin-

ued her work in moral reform as a prominent member of the Oberlin chapter

of the American Female Moral Reform Society. She served as the Oberlin

Moral Reform Society's secretary and as the vice-president of the American

Female Moral Reform Society delegation from Ohio. Women of the Moral

Reform Society at Oberlin proclaimed their major purpose in accordance with

the national society: to rid the country of the sin of licentiousness. They

proposed to do this by themselves refraining from licentious conversation,

promoting purity in themselves, their friends, and their acquaintances, and to

reform those who had lost their virtue. They proclaimed that men more so

 

37. Ibid., 2 May 1842, 10 May 1842, Annual Reports, 1842 and 1843.

38. Robert S. Fletcher explains that perhaps the Paternal Association did not thrive because

men were active in agricultural and horticultural societies. See Fletcher, Oberlin College, 590.

39. Anna Hill to Mrs. Finney, 24 August 1840, Fletcher Papers; Susan Farnum to Mrs.

Finney, 8 April 1840; Adaline Chapin to Mrs. Finney, 4 January 1844; C.G. Ingersoll to Mrs.

Finney, 10 February 1845, Finney Papers, roll 4.

• 14
 

184                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

than women had to take the blame for the sin of licentiousness. Thus, they

pledged to discourage women from any prolonged visits with men.

Moreover, they supported marriage as a way to prevent licentiousness.⁴⁰

At the Society's quarterly meetings, Mrs. Finney played a major role. She

often opened the meetings with prayer because women looked upon her as a

spiritual guide. Also she moved to amend articles of the Society's constitu-

tion. Her most valuable contributions came when she shared with the mem-

bers of the society her views on moral reform. Indicative of her spiritual na-

ture, Mrs. Finney believed that reform of any kind meant nothing unless the

person engaging in reform had herself reformed her own heart. For the mem-

bers of the Society, Mrs. Finney read passages from the scriptures discussing

fornication and adultery, and told of the importance of education in securing

moral purity. As a woman who traveled much, Mrs. Finney could accurately

tell the women of the potential dangers they faced in steamboats and hotels on

account of immorality which thrived in such places. Mrs. Finney became a

lifetime member of the American Female Moral Reform Society for her ef-

forts in the cause.⁴¹

The anti-slavery movement, having such an outpouring of support at

Oberlin, also received the time and efforts of Mrs. Finney. She joined the

Ohio Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, which pursued its cause in various man-

ners. At the convention in May 1839 held in Putnam, Ohio, at which Mrs.

Finney was called to the chair, the Society resolved to use petitions to end

slavery in the District of Columbia and to help in the education of colored

people so that they might improve their status in society. The following

year at the convention, the women described their visits to colored settlements

and the steps taken to help their people. In its efforts for education, the

Society employed twenty-nine teachers for colored schools who not only

wanted to teach the people in the settlements but also to develop in them a

moral purity of heart.⁴² While Mrs. Finney's personal activities in the work

of the Society remain unclear, her support for the Society's work as a mem-

ber was definite.

Mrs. Finney supported her husband's activities in the Ohio Anti-Slavery

Society in which he served as chairman and also vice-president. She often ac-

companied him to the conventions. Mrs. Finney's presence with her husband

at the meetings showed her support for his ideas concerning abolitionism.

Also, the Reverend and Mrs. Finney seemed to have one heart concerning re-

 

 

40. Fletcher, Oberlin College, 302; "Minutes of the Oberlin Female Moral Reform Society,"

Constitution, Oberlin College Archives (hereafter OFMRS). The New York Female Moral

Reform Society changed its name to the American Female Moral Reform Society in 1837 and

accepted chapters from across the country. See Rosenberg, Religion and the Rise, 203.

41. OFMRS, June 1840, 29 October 1844, 19 December 1843, 28 September 1842, 12

October 1844.

42. Fletcher, Oberlin College, 245.

• 15
 

Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                          185

 

form, and on anti-slavery, they probably did not differ. Finney urged disobe-

dience to the law if it contradicted higher law; thus, he was for disobeying

fugitive slave laws. Finney felt deeply for the cause of anti-slavery but he re-

jected the beliefs of those who placed abolitionism ahead of evangelicalism,

hence indicating the primacy of religion in his ministry. To counteract those

who placed anti-slavery over evangelicalism, Finney had to focus his congre-

gation on the duties they had to the slave. The Oberlin Maternal Association

and the Female Anti-Slavery Society took Finney's advice and helped care for

fugitive slaves.⁴³

Besides her reform activities, Mrs. Finney took part in the education of fe-

males at Oberlin which was modeled after leading women's seminaries in the

East. However, it had the distinguishing characteristic of allowing women to

take their advanced classes with men, which often made the Institute subject

to harsh criticism. Women studied algebra, Greek, anatomy, and other sub-

jects with male students. When certain parts of a class were considered too

delicate for females to handle, such as studying a corpse in physiology,

women sometimes excused themselves from class, or the faculty tried to

make compromises. Although women attended classes with the men, they

received a certificate rather than a degree upon completion of the ladies'

course.⁴⁴

Mrs. Finney received criticism because of Oberlin's peculiar stance on fe-

male education. Her good friend Mrs. Norton found coeducation at Oberlin

"revolting" and exclaimed she could never approve of it. In fact, she con-

demned it. However, she pronounced herself a firm advocate of female educa-

tion if the education was exclusively for females. Despite her adamant feel-

ings against Oberlin, she and Mrs. Finney remained friends.⁴⁵

Mrs. Finney served the Female Department at Oberlin as a member of the

Ladies' Board of Managers, a group consisting of the wives of faculty mem-

bers. Along with the principal of the department, the Board saw that the fe-

male students' social and academic life ran smoothly. The Ladies' Board dis-

cussed cases of improper conduct and provided board for students.

Mrs. Finney used her influence on the Board to see that the Female

Department ran as she saw fit. In one case, she led the effort to dismiss Mary

Ann Adams as principal because she disagreed with Adams' views on female

education. Miss Adams supported the position of Antoinette Brown who was

studying theology at Oberlin. While Miss Adams agreed to let Miss Brown

teach to support her studies, the members of the Ladies' Board would not let

 

43. Robert Price, "The Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention of 1836," Ohio State Archeological

and Historical Quarterly, 45 (April, 1936), 182; Essig, "Lord's Free Man," 30-31; Fletcher,

Oberlin College, 397.

44. Geary, Balanced, 38; Marlene D.Merrill,"Daughters of America Rejoice: The Oberlin

Experiment," Timeline, 4(October-November, 1987), 13, 16.

45. A.A. Norton to Mrs. Finney, 5 January 1836 and 11 March 1839, Finney Papers, roll 3.

• 16
 

186                                                     OHIO HISTORY

 

her teach at all, and led by Mrs. Finney, the Board sought the removal of

Miss Adams as principal. Mrs. Finney supported women in their role as

ministers' wives, but she did not agree that they should become ministers

themselves. The faculty at Oberlin agreed with this position. While Mrs.

Finney professionalized the role of the minister's wife through her work on

the Ladies' Board, she did not revolutionize the role of the female in the

church. As a member of the faculty, her husband defended this position.

However, he supported the undaunted Miss Brown in his rhetoric class as he

called on her to speak often. Apparently, neither he nor Mrs. Finney con-

fused support for women in public speaking with support for women as min-

isters.⁴⁶

As a member of the Ladies' Board, Mrs. Finney accepted much responsibil-

ity. Because she was concerned with the professionalization of minister's

wives, she and her husband served as matchmakers for ministers and their

mates. Also, Mrs Finney helped female students at Oberlin as a spiritual

counselor. Women who desired the females they knew to attend Oberlin con-

tacted Mrs. Finney for help. One mother expressed desperation to have her

daughter attend Oberlin because she was involved in an undesirable relation-

ship with a man, and the mother hoped a distance between them would end

the relationship. Mrs. Finney took a special interest in the student as she

tried to discourage such unseemly relationships in her moral reform efforts,

and kept the mother informed of her daughter's state at Oberlin.⁴⁷

In addition to the demands of reform activity and the Female Department,

Mrs. Finney had to care for her family, which underwent more growth at

Oberlin. On May 16, 1837, Mrs. Finney gave birth to a girl, Julia Rice

Finney. On May 16, 1841, Sarah Sage Finney was born, and on March 16,

1844, the last of the Finney children was born, Delia Andrews Finney.⁴⁸

Mrs. Finney took her role as a mother very seriously as would be expected

by her reform activities. She encouraged her children to keep up their studies

by using some techniques which teachers in infant schools might have used.

For example, she described to Norton the countryside and then asked him to

use his knowledge of geology and decide if the land was primary or secondary.

She told Julia a story to emphasize the necessity of devotion and love to the

Lord. Clearly, the presence of God in her children's life was foremost in her

mind, and she tried to fulfill her role as a mother to make her children's souls

 

 

46. Merrill,"Daughters," 14; Fletcher, Oberlin College, 683; Sweet, Minister's Wife, 94,

125; Emily S. Bartlett to Mrs. Finney, 27 April 1846; Alice Welch Cowles to Henry Cowles, 2

January 1838, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, "Reminiscences" notes taken by Alice Stone

Blackwell,19 August 1903, Fletcher Papers;Finney,"Last Sickness," 3.

47. Sweet, Minister's Wife, 92-93; S.H. Dalleber to Mrs. Finney, 2 July 1836, 9 August 1836,

10 September 1836; Roxana Crosby to Mrs. Finney, 12 September 1835, Finney Papers, roll 3.

48. Monroe, "Some Statistics," Finney Papers, roll 8. Sarah died in 1843, not yet two years

old. Delia died in 1852 at the age of eight.

• 17
 

Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                          187

 

conducive to conversion. She told her children that nothing compared to

God's presence, and they should seek Him out at all times. Mrs. Finney be-

lieved that children's wills had to succumb so that they could experience

Christ. She exclaimed, "O that my little children would live wholly for the

Lord, give up your wills entirely." Her moral reform activities guided efforts

to instill in her children a sense of purity. She expressed the desire that they

all be "pure holy children." Also she specifically addressed her sons regarding

purity, telling Norton to "be a pure minded boy, then you will have a pure

mind when you get to be a man." Besides the spiritual well-being of her

children, Mrs. Finney saw to it that they received good physical care and ate

properly.⁴⁹

Although Mrs. Finney had previously felt anxious about the salvation of

her own soul, she gained much in her religious self-confidence at Oberlin.

She opened up to her husband as she never had before regarding her spiritual

life. After she left her husband a letter explaining the state of her soul,

Finney noticed that his wife entered a new spiritual world full of light and

grace. From this moment on, Mrs. Finney never again doubted her own reli-

gious strength.⁵⁰

This confidence could have unfolded for several reasons. For the first time

since they married, the Finneys had a home of their own for themselves and

the children which provided stability and security for the family. During the

years at Oberlin the revivals did not have the same intensity of earlier work,

and the revivals had been the sources of Mrs. Finney's intensive searching and

self-doubt. Mrs. Finney also traveled less during her years at Oberlin, which

relieved some pressures. At Oberlin, Mrs. Finney established herself in the

Maternal Association, the Moral Reform Society, and the Female

Department. This certainly increased her self-confidence and earned her friends

who were constants in her daily life, rather than just correspondents. Perhaps,

too, Mrs. Finney matured, and this increased her spiritual faith.

Whatever the explanation for her newly found spirituality, Mrs. Finney

needed it to fulfill all of her duties as mother, wife, and reformer. Mrs.

Finney also needed strength to help her through some family troubles. In

1845, problems seemed to abound in the Finney household. In September,

Mrs. Finney received word that her father had died. Then in May, the

Finneys' eldest child, Helen, married, at the age of seventeen, a young

Oberlin professor. Mr. and Mrs. Finney despaired over Helen's impulsive-

ness because they had plans for her in the missionary field. In August 1847,

Helen's husband died, leaving her expecting their first child.⁵¹

 

 

49. Mrs. Finney to Helen and Charles Finney, 19 July 1842, Finney Papers, roll 4.

50. Finney, "Last Sickness," 3.

51. Sarah M. Chase to Mrs. Finney, 3 September 1845, Finney Papers, roll 4; Finney

Memoirs, 402; Sweet, Minister's Wife, 91. Helen married William Cochran.

• 18
 

188                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

Family trials aside, Mrs. Finney had to deal with her own failing health.

In the Fall of 1844, the couple realized the seriousness of her illness. After

Finney had finished preparations for a trip to New York, Mrs. Finney began

coughing up blood so profusely that she almost choked to death. Her hus-

band reacted quickly to the desperate situation: "I took her in my arms, held

her head over the foot-tub, and soothed her as much as I could without giving

any alarm to any of the members of the family." Mrs. Finney showed no fear

throughout the incident. She came from a consumptive family, and she was

not shocked by the events. Finney, however, thought surely the Lord was tak-

ing his wife. After he washed the blood from her mouth, he laid her in bed

and stayed with her, checking her breathing and pulse constantly. Mrs.

Finney recovered from this incident and never bled again at the lungs; how-

ever, she still remained afflicted with pulmonary consumption.⁵²

In August 1847, just before commencement at Oberlin, Finney and his two

sons caught typhoid fever. For three weeks, Mrs. Finney maintained her

health and took care of her husband and children. However, she also soon

caught the fever which caused her pulmonary consumption problems to in-

crease. Mrs. Finney took to her bed, never to recover.

Knowing the state of her health, Mrs. Finney struggled with the thought of

leaving her husband and children. When she overcame this inner trial, she

showed remarkable peace and acceptance regarding her impending death. Three

weeks before she died, she called her children to her bedside and gave them her

last advice. Mrs. Finney proclaimed her duty with them was complete, and

she waited peacefully for her death. She showed no signs of failing trust in

God, as she had experienced earlier in her life, but only confident strength.

Mrs. Finney departed serenely on December 18, 1847, with her husband at her

bedside.⁵³

Finney, quite understandably, did not deal well with his wife's death. He

was left with four children to care for by himself, a duty he was not accus-

tomed to handling alone. Finney struggled deeply to give up his wife to God.

It took him days before he recovered from the numbness he felt from the

shock of his wife's death. Finney explained his feelings: "For a few days af-

ter my wife died, my sorrows seemed to increase upon me, until it seemed to

me that I should go deranged. I had no refuge, and could get no relief only in

flying to God as my helper." At her funeral, Finney appeared torn apart and

pathetic. He wept aloud in his sorrow and explained that he felt as if a part of

him had been torn from his body. Of his wife Finney wrote, "She showed

me in many ways how to live, and now she has shown me how to die."⁵⁴

 

 

 

52. Finney Memoirs, 468; Finney, "Last Sickness," 3.

53. Finney, "Last Sickness," 3.

54. Oberlin Evangelist, 6 June 1849, 90 Oberlin College Special Collections; Finney

• 19
 

Lydia Finney and Evangelical Womanhood                        189

 

As the wife of the premier evangelist of the day, Mrs. Finney fulfilled her

role faithfully and wholeheartedly. She had prayed for the conversion of

Finney, the event which transformed his life and made his life's mission a

ministry. She helped Finney in his ministry by leading female prayer meet-

ings, distributing tracts and visiting houses, keeping abreast of the state of re-

ligion where he had conducted revivals, and partaking in reform activities

which were a necessary outgrowth of the evangelicalism her husband

preached. But Mrs. Finney did much more than assist her husband in his

ministerial labors. She was the backbone of the family as she cared for the

children and took control of their spiritual growth, thus freeing her husband

from concern with family worries so that he could concentrate on his labors.

In addition, Mrs. Finney always made herself available for her husband, ready

to travel with him, and she constantly served as a trusted confidant.

The reforms Mrs. Finney participated in reflected her own personal values

and not merely the desire to help her husband's ministry. Mrs. Finney had

been exposed to reform and benevolent organizations as a young girl in

Oneida County, and she recognized their value in society. Finney's preaching

of reform work as a natural outgrowth of evangelicalism was not difficult for

her to accept. The reforms Mrs. Finney thrived in, maternal associations and

moral reform, helped her to fulfill her role as a mother, a mission she took

very seriously. While her model as an evangelical reformer expanded wom-

en's roles outside of the home, she did not represent a radical reformer because

her work tended to professionalize women's roles rather than drastically alter

society's conception of women.

Lydia Andrews Finney's life uniquely illustrates the coalescence of two im-

portant forces in the first half of the nineteenth century which had a tremen-

dous impact on the role of women: evangelicalism and reform. As the wife

of the great evangelicalist, she was at the helm of the Second Great

Awakening with her husband and provided many women with a model for

spiritual development and reform activity, which drew women out of the do-

mestic sphere and into new, active, visible roles in society. Through work in

evangelicalism, women learned organizational, political, and social skills

which some used to revolutionize the role of women as at the Seneca Falls

Convention in 1848. While Mrs. Finney was not alive to witness this event,

she probably would not have actively participated herself because her work in

evangelicalism revolved around professionalization of women's roles as op-

posed to changing them radically. However, her life's work gave women a

model of ministerial and reform activity from which to use for achievement of

their own goals.

 

 

 

Memoirs, 468; Finney, "Last Sickness," 3. Finney subsequently married Elizabeth Ford

Atkinson (1799-1863) and Rebecca Allen Rayl (1824-1907).

• 20