[2][3] However, he was greatly influenced by a Unitarian minister named Ichabod Nichols who he described as "the spiritual guide of my youth.

[5] Bartol preached at West Church in Boston for over fifty years, half of which was spent as assistant and co-pastor to the Rev.

[9][10] However, he was described as remaining "staunchly independent of sectarian creed and label" and although he was involved with Unitarian, Transcendentalist, and free religious movements, he was "never totally of [them.

]"[11] Other clergyman, authors, and philosophers such as Henry W. Bellows, Frederic H. Hedge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Collyer, Margaret Fuller, and George Ripley frequented his home.

[6] His funeral was well attended by friends and former members of his congregation, including Julia Ward Howe and Booker T. Washington.