Storrs, John, 1735-1799

Richard Salter Storrs (1821-1900) was born in Braintree, MA into a family of clergymen. His great-grandfather, John Storrs (1735-1799), was a pastor in Southold, Long Island from 1763 to 1776, and again from 1782 to 1787. The eldest son of John Storrs, Richard Salter Storrs (1763-1819), was a pastor in Longmeadow, MA. His eldest son, also named Richard Salter Storrs (1787-1873), preached in Braintree, MA.

As a fourth generation minister, Richard Salter Storrs (1821-1900) received training at Amherst College, graduating in 1839, and Andover Theological Seminary, graduating in 1845. He served as pastor at the Harvard Congregational Church in Brookline, MA in 1845, and at the Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, N.Y. from 1846 until his death. He married Mary Elwell Jenk (b. 1824) in 1845. In addition to his work in the church, Storrs was a writer and historian. He was an editor of the New York Independent from 1848 to 1861, and served as President of the Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society) from 1873 to 1900.