Upham, Edward, 1709-1797.

Edward Upham (1709-1797), Baptist minister and a found of Brown University, was a son of James Upham (1687- ) and Dorothy Wigglesworth Upham (1686/87- ) of Malden, Mass. Although his parents were Baptists, Upham attended Harvard and was graduated in 1734. He then studied under Elisha Callender (1692-1738), a Baptist minister, and received an M.A. from Harvard in 1737. Ordained in 1740, Upham served at a small Baptist parish in West Springfield, Mass. His tenure as minister was marred by strife involving the excommunication of one of the church members, Joseph Ball ( - ). Although the congregation supported Upham, he resigned in 1748 to serve at the First Baptist Church in Newport, R.I. While in Newport, he aided in the founding of Brown University, but when he voted to move the school from Newport to Providence, R.I., he lost the support of the congregation. Upham then returned to his farm in West Springfield where he reestablished his old Baptist parish and continued preaching until failing health forced his retirement in 1790.