Stoddard, Solomon, 1643-1729

Stoddard graduated from Harvard in 1662 and served as Fellow, tutor and librarian at Harvard.

Solomon Stoddard (1643-1728/29) was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard College in 1662. He was the first librarian of Harvard and, after preaching in Barbados for two years, became minister at Northampton, Mass., where he remained until his death.

Stoddard accepted the Half-Way Covenant and introduced into his church the practice called "Stoddardeanism" which allowed Christians to take communion and other privileges even when they were unsure if they were in a state of grace. This view was widely accepted by churches of Western Massachusetts for close to a century, until Stoddard's grandson, Jonathan Edwards, argued against it.