Fiske, Nathan, 1733-1799

Nathan Fiske (1733-1799), son of Nathan and Anne Warren Fiske, was born in Weston, Mass. He graduated from Harvard College in 1754 and then kept school in the towns of Harvard, Mass., and Weston. After turning his attention to the study of theology, he preached his first sermon at Hanover, Mass., in 1756, and was ordained a Congregational minister at Brookfield, Mass., in 1758. He served as minister of the Third Parish of Brookfield from the time of his ordination until his death. He married Sarah Hill ( -1774), of Cambridge, Mass., in1758, then Elizabeth Breck Treat ( -1786), of Northampton, Mass., in 1777, and lastly Hannah Wells Reynolds (1736-1825), of Enfield, Conn., in 1789.

Fiske, a liberal Calvinist, was known for his excellent sermons, which were widely printed and reprinted, and for his essays, which were published in the Worcester Spy. One hundred and fifty-one of his essays on diverse subjects appear in a two-volume set called Moral Monitor, published in 1801. Harvard College awarded Fiske the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1792 and in 1796 asked him to preach the Ducleian Lecture on revealed religion. He died in his sixty-seven year in Brookfield.