Ohio History Journal

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ADAM HURDUS AND THE SWEDENBORGIANS IN

ADAM HURDUS AND THE SWEDENBORGIANS IN

EARLY CINCINNATI

 

By Ophia D. Smith

 

Many volumes have been written about the hardships and

accomplishments of pioneer preachers in the Western Country.

Most of these, however, deal with men of orthodox faith. The

Swedenborgians, equally self-sacrificing but unorthodox and mis-

understood, have received little attention, because they were few

in number. Yet they were people of influence--they were readers

and thinkers and doers. In early Cincinnati, as in other places,

the Swedenborgians were bitterly assailed as a religious society,

but as citizens they were highly respected.

The first disciple of Emanuel Swedenborg to settle in Cincin-

nati was Adam Hurdus, a Manchester merchant. He met with a

warm welcome in Cincinnati, because he was a man of some

means and considerable business ability. At that time, in the

spring of 1806, Hurdus had no thought of becoming a minister.

He loved the truths of Swedenborg and he wanted to find religious

companionship, but, primarily, he was intent upon earning a com-

fortable living for his family. The life-story of this man is a

peculiarly interesting one. In strange ways, Providence seemed

to lead him toward his destiny--to become "the Father of Sweden-

borgianism in the Old Northwest."

Adam Hurdus was born of a Catholic father and Protestant

mother in the village of Copple, near Manchester, England, on

April 16, 1760. According to the general custom, the boys of the

family were reared in the father's church, the girls in the mother's.

After the father's death, however, the boys were confirmed in the

Episcopalian faith of their mother and sisters.

At an early age, Adam was apprenticed to a weaver in the

village of Wigan. The weaver, a brutish drunkard, treated the lad

so cruelly, he eventually ran away to seek other employment.

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