Oren B. Cheney

Oren Burbank O. B. Cheney was an American politician, Free Will Baptist clergyman, and academic. He initially gained fame and influence in the 1850s through his religious leadership and academic endeavors. Cheney was a leader in the New England antislavery movement and played an active role in the empowerment of African Americans and women in the American Civil War and decades beyond. He served as a congressman in the Maine House of Representatives in 1851, through the Free Soil, Whig and Independent voter party in Augusta, Maine. He was also vocal about the antislavery movement in the Maine State Legislature and the United States Congress. He was an editor for the Morning Star, a Free Will Baptist magazine that was prominent in the abolitionist movement in New England. His contributions to the political and religious landscape of Maine and Massachusetts proved to be influential and changed the notions of equality in the United States.

Oren Burbank Cheney was born in Holderness, New Hampshire, on December 10, 1816. He was born to Abigail and Moses Cheney, who were prominent abolitionists. His father was a paper manufacturer and also a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Moses Cheney held important positions in the church and served many times in the state legislature. Cheneys mother had a significant impact on his religious views, he was often quoted as saying, my mother used this bible to worship all that is holy, I shall cease when I arise to the heavenly skies that welcome me, later in his life as president of Bates College. His household was deeply religious and he credited his Godly upbringing with forming his philosophical ideologies and personal convictions. Early in his life he was known as a humble, patient, and softspoken boy. When he was eight years old, he was enrolled in Sunday School in Holderness, and his parents were criticized for sending him to a newly founded school, as it was started by a cashi

Source: Wikipedia