Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Collyer, Robert
COLLYER, Robert, born at Keighly, Yorkshire, Dec. 8, 1823. His early years were passed at a factory and at a forge, but he spent all his spare time in study. In 1847 he went to the United States, and became a Methodist preacher, working at the same time at his trade of blacksmith, at Shoemakerstown, Pennsylvania. His views changing towards Unitarianism, he was brought up for heresy and refused a license to preach. Entering the Unitarian Church he was settled over the Unity Church, Chicago, from 1859 to 1879, and since then he has had charge of the Church of the Messiah at New York. Mr. Collyer is a most successful lecturer, as well as an eloquent preacher and effective worker. He is the author of "Nature and Life," 1867; "A Man in Earnest: Life of A. H. Conant," 1868; "The Life that Now is," 1871; and "The Simple Truth," 1878.