Sylvester Judd was an American novelist.

Biography

Sylvester Judd III was born on July 23, 1813, in Westhampton, Massachusetts

Westhampton, Massachusetts

Westhampton is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,607 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

 to Sylvester Judd II and Apphia Hall. He studied at Hopkins Academy in Hadley, Massachusetts

Hadley, Massachusetts

Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Mall along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding...

, graduated from Yale College

Yale College

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

 in 1836, and from Harvard Divinity School

Harvard Divinity School

Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...

 in 1840. While a student, on April 4, 1838, Judd traveled to Concord, Massachusetts

Concord, Massachusetts

Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...

 to meet Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

 after reading his essay "Epic Poetry". Emerson was pleased by Judd's interest in seeking a mystical identification with Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

.

Judd was ordained a Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 minister on October 1, 1840, becoming pastor of a church in Augusta, Maine

Augusta, Maine

Augusta is the capital of the US state of Maine, county seat of Kennebec County, and center of population for Maine. The city's population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital after Montpelier, Vermont and Pierre, South Dakota...

. Early in 1841, Judd met Jane Elizabeth Williams, the daughter of United States Senator Reuel Williams

Reuel Williams

Reuel Williams was a U.S. Senator from Maine.Born in Hallowell, Maine to Seth Williams and Zelphia Ingraham, he attended Hallowell Academy, and went on to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1804, commencing practice in Augusta, Maine.He was a member of the Maine Legislature from 1812 to 1829...

. The couple married on August 31, 1841; they had three children.

Criticism

American critic and poet James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets...

 called Judd's novel Margaret "the most emphatically American book ever written". He mentioned the novel in his long satire A Fable for Critics

A Fable for Critics

A Fable for Critics is a book-length poem by American writer James Russell Lowell, first published anonymously in 1848. The poem made fun of well-known poets and critics of the time and brought notoriety to its author.-Overview:...

(1848) as "the first Yankee book / With the soul of Down East in 't, and things farther East". In a 39-page review, however, a critic named William Bourne Oliver Peabody called the work unfinished and its characters and style inconsistent. After publishing his novel Philo, Judd sent a copy to Edward Everett Hale

Edward Everett Hale

Edward Everett Hale was an American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman. He was a child prodigy who exhibited extraordinary literary skills and at age thirteen was enrolled at Harvard University where he graduated second in his class...

, who responded, "I think Philo glorious."

Works

• 1838: A Young Man's Account of his Conversion from Calvinism
• 1845: Margaret: A Tale of the Real and the Ideal, Blight and Bloom; Including Sketches of a Place Not Before Described, Called Mons Christi, a Transcendentalist novel (revised 1851)
• 1850: Philo: An Evangeliad, a religious poem
• 1850: Richard Edney and the Governor's Family: A Rus-Urban Tale
• 1854: The Church, in a Series of Discourses
• The White Hills (a novel unpublished during his lifetime)

He also produced a large number of sermons and religious addresses.

Further reading

• Eliot, Samuel A. Heralds of a Liberal Faith. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1910. (pp. 301-307) googlebooks Retrieved May 4, 2008
• Sylvester Judd (the present subject's father), Thomas Judd and His Descendants, J. &. L. Metcalf, Northampton, 1856.
• Arethusa Hall, Life and Character of Sylvester Judd, Boston, 1854.