Christian History Timeline: Charles Grandison Finney
Charles Finney
1792: Born: Warren, CT, Aug. 29, 1792
1808–1812: Schoolteacher in Henderson, New York
1812–1814: Works on his uncle’s farm in Warren, Connecticut
1814–1815: Schoolteacher in New Jersey
1818–1821: Works in the law office of B. Wright in Adams, NY
1821: Converted to Christ
1824: Ordained
1824: Marries Lydia Root
1824–1825: Beginning of revivals in small New York towns
1826–1827: Revivals in NY “Burned-over District”; New Measures arouse controversy
1827: April: New Lebanon Conference
1828: Helen Finney born
1830–1831: Great Rochester revival, national recognition, high point as a revivalist
1830: Charles Finney Jr. born
1832: Frederic Finney born
1832–1836 Pastor, Chatham Street Chapel, NYC
1834: Julia Finney born
1836–37: Becomes pastor of Broadway Tabernacle, and professor of theology at Oberlin College
1837: Resigns Broadway Tabernacle pastorate
1840–1848: Preaching tours: Boston, New York City, etc; perfectionist message, growing criticism of Oberlin
1843: Delia Finney born
1843–44 Winter: Finds second blessing in Boston
1846–47: Publishes vols. 2 and 3 of Systematic Theology
1847: Lydia Finney dies
1848: Marries Elizabeth Atkinson
1849–1851:The Finneys travel to England for revivals
1851: Elected president of Oberlin College
1851–1857: Tours Boston, NY City, Hartford, Rochester
1859–60: Second trip of three to ENGLAND; work in SCOTLAND
1860–75: Teaching and preaching at Oberlin
1863: Elizabeth Finney dies
1865: Marries Rebecca Allen Rayl
1866: Resigns as Oberlin president; continues to teach theology
16 August 1875: Dies at Oberlin at 82 years
The United States
1787: Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
1788: Constitution ratified
1789: First Federal Congress
1790: Benjamin Franklin dies
1794: US Navy established
1794: Thomas Paine writes The Age of Reason
1796: Tennessee becomes a state
1799: George Washington dies
1800: US capitol moves from Philadelphia to Washington DC
1801—1805: Triopolitan War: War with Tripoli
1803:Louisiana Purchase by Jefferson ends French rule in N America
1804: Alexander Hamilton killed by Aaron Burr in a duel
1805:US and British relations broken over trade with West Indies
1807: US Embargo Act against England and France
1808: US prohibition against importation of slaves from Africa
1811: Wm. Henry Harrison defeats Chief Tecumsah at Tippecanoe, IN
1812: Louisiana statehood
1812—1814:War of 1812 with England
1814: British burn Washington DC
1815: War of 1812 ends with Treaty of Ghent
1815: Battle of New Orleans won by Andrew Jackson: “Old Hickory”
1816: American Bible Society founded
1816: Indiana statehood
1817: Mississippi statehood
1818: Illinois statehood
1817–1818: Seminole Wars
1819: First steamship crossing of the Atlantic
1819: Alabama statehood
1820: Missouri Compromise:
1820: Maine statehood—free state
1821: Missouri statehood—slave state
1822: Boston gets gas lights
1823: The Monroe Doctrine ends colonial settlement in US
1825: Erie Canal opens
1828: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad begun
1828: Noah Webster’s Dictionary
1830: Joseph Smith founds Mormon Church
1831: Virginia slave revolt—55 whites massacred
1832: New England Antislavery Society founded
1833–1837: Financial panic
1834: McCormick Reaper
1835: Colt revolver
1836 Samuel Morse’s telegraph
1836: Battle of the Alamo
1836: Arkansas statehood
1837: Michigan statehood
1838: Underground Railroad starts
1845:Texas and Florida statehood
1846–1848: Mexican-American War
1846: Iowa statehood
1848: California gold rush
1848: Wisconsin statehood
1850: The “Great Compromise” over issue of slavery in new states
1850:California statehood
1851–1863: US Capitol built
1851: Melville’s Moby Dick
1852: Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1853: New York-Chicago rail link
1854: Gadsden Purchase: S. New Mexico and Arizona
1854: “War for bleeding Kansas” over state slavery rights
1856: John Brown massacres pro-slavery supporters in Kansas
1858: Minnesota statehood
1858: The Lincoln-Douglas debates
1858: Nationwide prayer meetingrevivals
1859: Oregon statehood
1861: Kansas statehood
1861–1865: The Civil War
1863: W. Virginia statehood
1863: Emancipation Proclamation
1864: Nevada statehood
1865: Lincoln assassinated
1866: Transatlantic telegraph
1867: Nebraska statehood
American Presidency
1789–1796: George Washington
1796–1800: John Adams
1800–1809: (2 terms) Thomas Jefferson
1809–1817: (2 terms) James Madison
1817–1825: (2 terms) James Monroe
1825–1829: John Quincy Adams
1829–1837: (2terms) Andrew Jackson
1837–1841: Martin Van Buren
1841: William Henry Harrison Harrison dies in office
1841–1845: John Tyler
1845–1849: James K. Polk
1849—1853: Zachary Taylor
1851–1853: Millard Fillmore
1853–1857: Franklin Pierce
1857–1861: James Buchanan
1861–1865: Abraham Lincoln
1865–1869: Andrew Johnson
1869—1877: (2 terms) US Grant
World Events
1794: Slavery ended in French colonies
1796: Spain declares war on Britian
1796: English smallpox vaccination
1797: Admiral Nelson defeats Spanish fleet
1798: French capture Rome
1798: Nelson defeats French fleet
1799: Discovery of Rosetta stone
1800: Volta invents electric battery
1800: Napoleon conquers Italy
1802: Peace of Amiens between England and France
1804: Napoleon crowned emperor
1805: Battle of Trafalgar
1807: English abolish slave trade
1809: Composer Franz J. Haydn dies
1810: Napoleon’s zenith of power
1812: French invade Russia
1814: First Anglican bishop in India
1815: Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
1815: Brazilian independence
1816: Argentinian independence
1821: Napoleon dies
1821: Champollion deciphers hieroglyphics using the Rosetta stone
1824: Bolivar becomes emperor, Peru
1825: First English passenger railroad
1825: Nicholas I—Russian czar
1827: Ludwig Beethoven dies
1829: Slavery abolished in Mexico
1830: Polish uprising against Russia
1830: Revolution in Paris
1831: Belgian independence
1831: Darwin sails on expedition
1831: Faraday demonstrates electromagnetism
1833: Slavery abolished in Britain
1837–1901: Queen Victoria reigns
1841: Hypnosis discovered
1841–1842: The Opium War between England and China
1844: Wood-pulp paper invented
1848: Revolutions in France, Germany, Italy
1848: Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto
1851: Victoria, Australia, proclaimed a separate colony
1851: Cuba declares independence
1853–1856: Missionary David Livingston crosses Africa
1856: Anglo-Chinese War begins
1857: English Navy destroys Chinese fleet
1858: Ottawa becomes Canadian capitol
1860: Lenoir’s internal-combustion engine
1861: Dickens’ Great Expectations
1862: Bismarck becomes Prussian prime minister
1863: French capture Mexico City
1867: Russia sells Alaska to US
1869: Opening of Suez Canal
By the Editors
[Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue #20 in 1988]
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