Timothy Dwight, a distinguished Congregational minister and educator, was born in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1752. His mother was a daughter of Jonathan Edwards. He entered Yale College at the age of 13 and, graduating four years later, became a tutor; which position he resigned in 1777 to become chaplain in the Revolutionary army.
Philip Doddridge, one of the most distinguished Dissenting ministers of the eighteenth century, was the youngest of 20 children. He was born in 1702 and entered the ministry at the age of 19. In 1729 he moved to Northampton where he became pastor of the Dissenting Church and also organized and conducted a theological school for young preachers.
George Washington Doane, a bishop in the Episcopal Church, was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1799. He graduated from Union College in 1818 and entered the ministry in 1821. He served various churches until he was elected, in 1832, to the bishopric of New Jersey.
Fanny Crosby was the most prolific and perhaps the most popular writer of Sunday school hymns that America has ever produced. She was born in Putnam County, New York in 1820. When only six weeks old she lost her eyesight. Her first poem was written when she was eight.