Francis Bellamy
| Francis Bellamy | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Francis Julius Bellamy May 18, 1855 Mount Morris, New York, United States |
| Died | August 28, 1931 (aged 76) |
| Education | University of Rochester |
| Occupation | Author, editor, and minister |
| Era | Second Great Awakening |
| Known for | Creating the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| Movement | Christian socialist |
Francis Julius Bellamy (May 18, 1855 – August 28, 1931) was a Christian socialist minister and author, best known for writing the original version of the American Pledge of Allegiance.
Francis Julius Bellamy was born in Mount Morris, New York. His family was deeply involved in the Baptist church and they moved to Rome, New York when Bellamy was only 5. Here, Bellamy became an active member of the First Baptist Church; which his father was minister of until his death in 1864. He attended college at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, New York and studied theology and was part of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity.
As a young man, he became a Baptist minister and, influenced by the vestiges of the Second Great Awakening, began to travel to promote his faith and help his community. Bellamy's travels brought him to Massachusetts. It was there that he penned the "Pledge of Allegiance" for a campaign by the "Youth's Companion;" a patriotic circular of the day. Bellamy "believed in the absolute separation of church and state" and did not include the phrase "one nation under God" within his original pledge.
Bellamy married Harriet Benton in Newark, New York in 1881. They had two sons: John, who lived in California, and David, who lived in Rochester, New York. His first wife died in 1918, and he later married Marie Morin (1920).
Bellamy ran for Governor of New York, but lost. His daughter-in-law Rachael (David's wife) lived in Rochester until Feb/Mar of 1989 when she died at the age of 93. David and Rachael had two children, David Jr. and Peter. His son, John Benton Bellamy, married Ruth "Polly" nee Edwards. They had three children, Harriet (1911–1999), Barbara (1913–2005) and John Benton Bellamy, Jr. (1921–2015).
Francis Bellamy spent most of the last years of his life living and working in Tampa, Florida. He died there on August 28, 1931 at the age of 76. His cremated remains were brought back to New York where they were buried in a family plot in a cemetery in Rome.
...
Wikipedia