Ministry and public life
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1823, Eddy studied at New Hampton Theological Institution and graduated in 1845. He accepted a call to the First Baptist Church in Lowell and was ordained early the following year. He married Elizabeth Stone in 1846; they had four children. Ten years in Lowell gave him an established congregation as well as the beginnings of a career in print.
Eddy entered Massachusetts politics through the Know-Nothing, or American, party, winning election to the legislature in 1854 and serving as Speaker in 1855. He later returned chiefly to ministry and authorship, although he stood unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on the Prohibition ticket in 1876. His subsequent pastorates included churches in Boston and Philadelphia, and his final years were spent in Brooklyn, where he died in 1896.
Writing for families and mourners
His books addressed readers at different stages of life. The Young Man’s Friend and The Young Woman’s Friend offered religious and practical guidance, while Daughters of the Cross presented the lives of women missionaries as examples of Christian commitment. Travel writing and books for younger readers extended his audience. These subjects shared a concern with shaping character through stories, instruction and the experience of others.
In Angel Whispers, Eddy turned specifically to bereavement. The library’s Boston edition of 1859 names him as pastor of the Harvard Street Church. His preface explains that he gathered funeral addresses, removed their pulpit form and adapted them for readers grieving particular losses. Separate chapters consider a brother, sister, parent or child, making the book’s consolation personal rather than merely a general argument about death.
