Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Harrington, Timothy

HARRINGTON, Timothy, clergyman, b. in Waltham, Mass., in 1715; d. in Lancaster, Worcester co., Mass., 18 Dec., 1795. He was graduated at Harvard in 1737, studied theology, and settled in 1741 as pastor of a Congregational church in Lower Ashuelot, now Swanzey, N. H., whence he was driven by the Indians in 1747. The following year he was called to the church at Lancaster, where he remained until his death. It is related of him that having been in the habit, before the Revolutionary war, of praying in his pulpit for the health of “our excellent King George,” he so far forgot himself on one occasion, after the Declaration of Independence, as to lapse into the old form, but immediately added, “O Lord! I mean George Washington.” He was one of the most pure and gentle-hearted among New England pastors, a scholar of remarkable attainments, and possessed of warm affections. He was accused of being a loyalist, and was undoubtedly opposed to the Whigs', being of opinion that separation would ruin the colonies. In 1777 a list of proscribed persons was posted up in town-meeting, to which his name had been added on motion of some one who disliked him. He thereupon arose, “his hairs touched with silver, and his benignant features kindling into a glow of honest indignation,” and, baring his bosom before his people, exclaimed, “Strike, strike here with your daggers! I am a true friend to my country.”