Moncure Daniel Conway was an American abolitionist, Unitarian, clergyman and author. This first volume of his autobiography covers roughly the years of his birth through the end of the US Civil War. (Summary by JoeD)
Chapters
1 00 - Dedication and Preface 6 min 2 01 - Chapter 1 - The Browns and Stones of Maryland, Thomas Stone, signer of the Declaration, Moncures, Daniels, and Conways of Virginia, Peytons and Washingtons, Liberal principles 21 min 3 02 - Chapter 2 - Our homestead 'Inglewood', School, Conway House, Falmonth, The mulatto hero, Falmouth and its millionaire, Party contests, Family legends, Conway grandparents, 'Erleslie', Methodism 29 min 4 03 - Chapter 3: Servants, The Preacher's Room, Folklore, The Falmouth witch, Watch Night, Methodist regime, Camp meetings, Immersion of the blacks, Treatment of slaves, Reading the Bible, The serpent 39 min 5 04 - Chapter 4 - Fredericksburg Academy, Charles Dickens in Virginia, The law courts, Judge Moncure, Falmouth church, John Minor, The Methodist Conventicle, St. George's, First religious emotions 32 min 6 05 - Chapter 5 - Dickinson College, The Faculty in 1847, Professor McClintock and the slave-hunters, Student life, 'conversion', Northern and Southern Methodism 29 min 7 06 - Chapter 6 - Politics in Virginia, Roszel, Roy Wilson, John Moncure Daniel, editor of the 'Examiner', First appearance in print 19 min 8 07 - Chapter 7 part 1 - College life, President Peck, A winter adventure, 'The Collegian', First love, Orations at graduation, Secretary of a Southern Rights Society, Law student and deputy clerk, Writing for the press 31 min 9 08 - Chapter 7 part 2 - Crisis wrought by Emerson, Visiting Washington, Listening to the great senators, First pamphlet, 'Free Schools in Virginia', A camp meeting, A banquet at Warrenton to senators 25 min 10 09 - Chapter 8 - Education and slavery, A mob murder, The Agassiz theory of races, Essay on the Negro race, Real conversion, Transcendental Methodism, the Methodist ministry, The Shadrach, First sermons 22 min 11 10 - Chapter 9 - Early ministry and sermons, Probation, Webster, The Supreme Court, The Gaines case, Newman, Samuel Janney, Quaker meeting, Roger Brooke, Fairhill School, Emerson, widows of Adams and Hamilton, Death of Peyton 40 min 12 11 - Chapter 10 - Apostle of slavery, Home and garden, Black Becky, Sermon on Peace, Samuel Tyler, Mental sufferings, Sermons and essays, New creed, Unitarians and Quakers, Sylvester Judd, Leaving Methodism 27 min 13 12 - Chapter 11 - Parting from Methodism, Pains of new birth, John Minor, Influence of Hawthorne, Last sermon, Thackeray, Dr. Crooks, A visit to Concord, Hawthorne, First meeting with Emerson 35 min 14 13 - Chapter 12 - Concord, Thoreau, Oriental books, Persian Desatir, The 'Rose Garden' of Saadi, The Hoars, Mrs. Ripley, Goethe, William Emerson, A spiritist adventure, Agassiz at Harvard College, Emerson in symposium 32 min 15 14 - Chapter 13 part 1 - Concerts and theatres, Mr. and Mrs. Jared Sparks, The Longfellows, J. R. Lowell, Dr. Palfrey, Rev. Dr. Andrews Norton,The Plymouth Rook myth, Theodore Parker 26 min 16 15 - Chapter 13 part 2 - Professor Convers Francis, Professor G. R. Noyes, The Unitarian clergy, Emerson at Divinity Hall, His influence on students 26 min 17 16 - Chapter 14 - Divinity School, Fugitive slave, Sylvester Judd, Preaching, Miss Upham's boarders, Experience as proctor, A curious theft, Antislavery gathering, Sojourner Truth, Thoreau's speech, Garrison burns the Constitution 33 min 18 17 - Chapter 15 part 1 - First sermons at Washington, Settlement at Washington, Preaching at Richmond and Charlottesville, Expelled from Falmouth for abolitionism, Letters from Rev. Dr. Burnap 24 min 19 18 - Chapter 15 part 2 - Installation at Washington, Polemic about a Fast Day, Antecedents of the Washington church, Its eminent members, Chief Justice Cranch, Helen Hunt, President Pierce 20 min 20 19 - Chapter 16 part 1 - Ante-bellum Washington, Incongruities, The McGuires, Benoni, Lewis Cass, Jefferson Davis, Seward, John P. Hale, Charles Sumner, General Winfield Scott, Science and literature, Salmon P. Chase 19 min 21 20 - Chapter 16 part 2 - Dr. Bailey, Longfellow's 'Hiawatha', Ministerial experiences, Walt Whitman, The world burden, Gerald Fitzgerald 27 min 22 21 - Chapter 17 part 1 - The slavery issue in Washington, Proslavery lecture, Petition to the Virginia Legislature, Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Fugitive Slave Law - Distress in the church caused by preaching 43 min 23 22 - Chapter 17 part 2 - Assault on Sumner, The Fremont campaign, Presentiment of civil war, Fatal sermon, Letters from Emerson and Channing, Letters of approval, Farewell sermon 50 min 24 23 - Chapter 18 part 1 - Settlement in Cincinnati, The Dred Scott decision, Chief Justice Taney, Stanley Matthews, Alphonzo Taft, Literary Club, Theatres, Visit of the Prince, Fanny Kemble, Relics of the Visionaries 30 min 25 24 - Chapter 18 part 2 - Memnona, The village 'Modern Times', Germans in Cincinnati, August Willich, Judge Stallo, First book, Ministry, Sacrament, Emerson in Cincinnati, Archbishop Purcell, Lane Seminary 30 min 26 25 - Chapter 19 part 1 - Unitarians and slavery, Rabbi Wise, The Abbe Miel, Free lances of the pulpit, Literary studies, Evolution, Darwin's work, Emerson in Cincinnati 27 min 27 26 - Chapter 19 part 2 - Edward Everett, Marriage, Robert Collyer, The woman movement, Chess, Paul Morphy 15 min 28 27 - Chapter 20 part 1 - A spiritualist apostle, Theodore Parker, Unitarian alumni, The raid of John Brown, The 'infidels', Investigating 'Tom Paine', Sermon on Paine, Secession from my church, The monthly 'Dial' 44 min 29 28 - Chapter 20 part 2 - The monthly 'Dial', W. D. Howells, Tale of Excalibur, Frothingham's articles, Letter of Emerson and his contributions, Notable papers, The welcome to Hawthorne 26 min 30 29 - Chapter 21 part 1 - Abraham Lincoln in Cincinnati, Antislavery men, Emerson, Sermon against war, Outbreak of war 22 min 31 30 - Chapter 21 part 2 - Delusions about Fort Sumter, Liberty in peril, Sumner and Furness, Wendell Phillips, The Bull Run rout, Emerson and the Saturday Club, Horace Greeley, Frothingham and Beecher, Lectures in Ohio 34 min 32 31 - Chapter 22 part 1 - The Rejected Stone, General Fremont, Letter from Channing, Lecture in Washington, Talk with President Lincoln, Emerson, Lowell, Seward, Senator Sumner, An arraignment of war 33 min 33 32 - Chapter 22 part 2 - Wendell Phillips mobbed in Cincinnati, Unitarian Conference, Leaving Cincinnati, Our home in Virginia, Carrying our slaves to Ohio, Troubles in Baltimore, Laura Bridgman, A poem by Julia Ward Howe 32 min 34 33 - Chapter 23 part 1 - The 'Commonwealth', Hymn for a new Advent, Watch Night in the African church, Lecture tour in New York, The President's Proclamation, Deputation to the President, My sermon before the Senate 31 min 35 34 - Chapter 23 part 2 - Interview with Lincoln, Disheartened leaders, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Nathaniel Hawthorne in Concord, 1862-63 22 min 36 35 - Chapter 24 - Foreign complications, The Voyage to England, Mill on Liberty, Welcome in London, Sojourn at Aubrey House, Miss Cobbe, W. M. Evarts, Cambridge University, Henry Fawcett and Leslie Stephen 15 min 37 36 - Chapter 25 - First interviews with the Carlyles, Carlyle's ridicule of ballot-boxing, His appearance, Introducing Americans to Carlyle, Samuel Longfellow, Carlyle's progress, Ideas of religion 28 min 38 37 - Chapter 26 part 1 - English authors and the American war, Ruskin on war, English republicans, John M. Forbes in London, The Confederate propagandists, The Confederate envoy Mason, Communication of Lincoln to Bright 32 min 39 38 - Chapter 26 part 2 - Speeches in London, John Bright, A mob in Manchester, Letter to the London 'Times', Misleading reports in America, Criticism by Wendell Phillips, Cranch in Paris, The charms of Venice, Austrian rule 35 min 40 39 - Chapter 27 part 1 - Interview with Minister Adams, Sermons at South Place chapel, Beecher in London, Rev Maurice, Maurice's novel, 'Eustace Conway', Madox Brown, America in the pantomimes, Professor Newman and his Catholic brother 27 min 41 40 - Chapter 27 part 2 - Letters and talks of Professor Newman, Dr. Newman in his oratory, Elizabeth Garrett studying medicine, Mrs. Fawcett, Legal disabilities of women 18 min
