Critical Dates

Prior to October 28, 1860

Asylum Hill residents began to skip church services, and their children did not attend Sunday school regularly. David Hawley reported that in the year ending October 28, 1860, he had “visited 328 families who seldom attended church.”

October 28, 1860

Maria Metcalf attended the annual meeting of the City Missionary Society, and she heard David Hawley request that a Sunday school be formed in the Asylum Hill area.
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October 29, 1860

Maria Metcalf began a survey of her neighbors to determine their interest in a new Sunday school on Asylum Hill.
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November 4, 1860

A meeting was held to discuss establishing a Sunday school.
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November 11, 1860

First business meeting of the Sunday school.
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July 13, 1861

Earliest published contemporary reference to the Sunday school, here called the Sabbath school. This article demonstrates that Maria Metcalf had been inspired by David Hawley's call to action at the 1860 annual meeting of the City Missionary Society, which had taken place nine months earlier than this article, as opposed to the 1861 annual meeting, which would occur for another three months.
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