[1] In 1823, the senior Chaney briefly partnered with Stephen Haradan in a mercantile enterprise that sold goods to the general public and sailing vessels.

In his senior year, Chaney competed for a Boylston Elocution prize for delivering a five-minute memorized talk in English, Greek, or Latin, placing second in his category.

Rev Stebbins described the Association's missionary work to the U.S. Federal army, which consisted of distributing thousands of religious tracts and visits by Unitarian ministers.

[13] Two months later, in December 1863, under the auspices of the United States Sanitary Commission, Chaney served as a minister in an army hospital following the Battle of Fredericksburg.

[14] The Sanitary Commission, created at the start of the war to care for sick and wounded Federal soldiers, was led by a fellow Harvard graduate and Unitarian minister, Rev.

The Hollis Street Church proprietors, known today as the Board of Trustees, recognized the growing influence of the young minister they had called to the pulpit three years earlier.

In May 1866, the First Parish Unitarian Church in Providence, Rhode Island, extended an offer to Chaney to fill the pulpit recently vacated by the late Rev.

The Boston Evening Transcript reported “that he cannot be spared from the position of great usefulness which he now so acceptably fills.”[22] Chaney's decision to decline the First Parish call may have been related to his planned trip to Europe the following month.

[27] In February 1874, Chaney was among those who advocated that the Unitarian Suffolk Conference of Churches adopt a collective charitable giving program called Hospital Sunday.

He considered industrial education essential for the “development of body, mind, and soul.”[35] For Chaney, charity's focus was not only on providing immediate sustenance but also offering the means for individuals to support themselves.

He wroteAnd it is not enough to justify and glorify all that has been done for them [by Christian missionaries] that in half a century they have risen from superstition, war, and ignorance to the condition of peace among themselves and with all mankind, freedom from idolatry and human sacrifice, general comfort and the nearest approach to universal education known among any people?

The proprietors thanked Chaney for his 15 years of service, expressed their “admiration of his Christian character,” and their regret for the circumstances that “could not be controlled” that compelled his departure.

[52] The Unitarian societies in Augusta and Savannah, Georgia, were founded through Gilman's missionary work and understandably considered Charleston as the locus of their denominational activity.

The article noted the “distinguishing characteristics” of the denomination included freedom from creeds, its belief in progressive religious life, and devotion to philanthropic endeavors.

His advertisement in the local paper encouraged Atlantans to hear him preach on “Unitarian Christianity.”[64] Like Powell, Chaney was offered the senate chamber in the city's capitol building.

Two years earlier, in August 1880, a Boston economist and Unitarian, Edward Atkinson, published a letter in the New York Herald discussing the inefficiencies in Southern cotton production.

In early February 1882, an article in the Atlanta paper emphasized Chaney's background in industrial education, his interest in schools for whites and freedmen, and his relationship with Atkinson.

[69] Having made his introduction to the Atlanta community through his advocacy of industrial education, Chaney then turned his attention to his mission, which was to raise a Unitarian church in the city.

The mission of the church was To maintain the worship of God, to cultivate in ourselves and in one another virtuous affections and habits, and to endeavor to pass our lives in harmony with the Spirit and Life of Jesus Christ.

[81] Unlike Chaney's Whittling School, the Artisans’ Institute had a multi-discipline curriculum, including metal working, mechanical drawing, and woodworking.

Chaney noted opportunities in Pensacola, Tampa, and Jacksonville awaited “a Unitarian ministry.” Cheney traveled throughout his Southern region to help cultivate new societies.

He insisted that the superintendency system “has not failed” but conceded that financial assistance to dependent churches would be “gradually and judiciously discontinued” due to the lack of funds.

The Conference president, John Y. Dixon, wrote in the January 1893 inaugural edition that this monthly journal was not “strictly speaking” a business adventure but was primarily dedicated to uniting the widely scattered Southern churches.

On December 31, 1893, after Sunday service, a business meeting was held where Chaney called upon interested individuals to step forward and sign the membership book.

At the school's second anniversary, Chaney delivered the dedication address for Porter Hall, a multi-purpose building housing a chapel, recitation rooms, a library, and a men's dormitory.

[105] In an 1882 interview with The Atlanta Constitution, where Chaney emphasized his industrial training expertise, he mentioned Ware and the work of the University to educate the South's freedmen.

To our fathers, Unitarianism meant no innovation against genuine Christianity, but the endeavor to break the bondage of church tyranny and middle-aged dogmas, and with reverent freedom and faith to restore and publish anew the original gospel in its pure simplicity.

Chaney observed that the concept of Adam's fall and its consequential generational sin rested upon the unquestioned acceptance of a few lines of scriptural texts.

Chaney observed But if endless torment for transient wrongdoing, punishment that has no care for reformation, consequences that divine love cannot redeem and overrule for good.

The legislation did not, however, establish the location of the new technology school, sparking petitions from Macon, Columbus, Athens, Milledgeville, Atlanta, and other cities to be selected.