Parker Pillsbury

Parker Pillsbury (September 22, 1809 – July 7, 1898) was an American minister and advocate for abolition and women's rights.

Pillsbury was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts. He moved to Henniker, New Hampshire where he later farmed and worked as a wagoner.

With the encouragement of his local Congregational church, Pillsbury entered Gilmanton Theological Seminary in 1835, graduating in 1839. He studied an additional year at Andover, and there came under the influence of social reformer John A. Collins, before accepting a church in Loudon, New Hampshire. His work in the ministry suffered after he made a number of sharp attacks on the churches' complicity with slavery. His Congregational license to preach was revoked in 1840. However Pillsbury became active in the ecumenical Free Religious Association and preached to its societies in New York, Ohio, and Michigan.

Pillsbury's dislike of slavery led him into active writing and lecturing for the abolitionist movement and other progressive social reform issues. He became a lecturing agent for the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and American antislavery societies, and held these posts for over two decades. He edited the Concord (N.H.) Herald of Freedom in 1840, and again in 1845 and 1846. In 1854, he served as an emissary from the American Anti-Slavery Society to Great Britain. He stayed with the surgeon John Estlin and his abolitionist daughter Mary Estlin. Both John and Mary became involved in Pillsbury's problematic correspondence with the British activist Louis Chamerovzow.

Pillsbury lectured widely on abolition and social reform, often in the company of fellow abolitionist Stephen Symonds Foster. He earned a reputation for successfully dealing with hostile crowds through non-resistance tactics. His support for non-resistance led to service on the executive committee of the New Hampshire Non-Resistance Society. Consequently, Pillsbury was not an active supporter of the Union war effort. However, he did applaud Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and defended the actions of John Brown after the raid on Harpers Ferry.

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