Harry Toulmin (Unitarian minister)

His Unitarian views, however, offended many of the orthodox Presbyterian members of Transylvania's board of regents, and Toulmin resigned after two years.

Shortly after his resignation, Toulmin was appointed Secretary of State of Kentucky by Governor James Garrard.

After the expiration of his term as Secretary of State in 1804, Thomas Jefferson appointed him Superior Court Judge for the Tombigbee District of the Mississippi Territory.

[1] He received little formal education, but frequently read books in his mother's bookstore and benefited from listening to conversations between his father and other noted ministers such as Joseph Priestley and Theophilus Lindsey.

[2][3] After attending Hoxton Academy and studying under Thomas Barnes and William Hawes, he followed his father into the ministry in 1786.

[1] A group of these partisans once took advantage of Toulmin's absence to threaten his house, necessitating his swift return to protect his family.

[1] The following year, his congregants raised enough money to send him to the United States to explore the possibility of relocating there.

[1] Dr. Priestly gave him letters of introduction to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to present on his arrival.

[5] As a result of Garrard's relationship with Toulmin, he began to accept some tenets of Unitarianism, specifically the doctrines of Socinianism.

[9] The Elkhorn Baptist Association condemned Garrard and Eastin's beliefs as heretical and tried to persuade the two men to abandon them.

[2] The results of their work – a three-volume tome entitled Review of the Criminal Law of Kentucky – was published in 1806.

[6] Near the end of Governor Garrard's term, he appointed Toulmin registrar of the state land office.

Toulmin was the first of six candidates that the state senate rejected in a bitter showdown between Garrard and the legislature.

[2] Following his victory, Jefferson appointed Toulmin to succeed Ephraim Kirby as Superior Court Judge for the Tombigbee District of the Mississippi Territory in 1804.

[13] Toulmin and his family relocated to Fort Stoddert, just north of the border between the United States and the Spanish territory of West Florida.

[12] The residents of Tombigbee District objected to Spanish control of Mobile Bay, which prevented them from accessing the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans.

[12][13] In 1944, a Liberty ship, the SS Harry Toulmin, was named for him, built under Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 2453), laid down on 10 January 1944 by the Delta Shipbuilding Co., Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana; however, it was subsequently launched as the USS Segnius.

[13] A plaque honoring Toulmin was placed in front of the Baldwin County, Alabama, courthouse in December 2009.