On October 1, 1815, Albin Kendall Putnam was born in Cavendish, Vt., the eldest child of Silas and Dorothy (Abbott) Putnam. He was enrolled at Dartmouth College for about one year, beginning in the fall, 1834, during which time he was baptized an Episcopalian and felt called to the priesthood. Leaving Dartmouth for lack of funds, he taught school for several months before entering the University of Vermont, apparently with the assistance of John Henry Hopkins (1792-1868), Episcopal Bishop of Vermont. Putnam lived in the Hopkins home in Burlington, at least temporarily.
Ordained a deacon by Bishop Hopkins in October, 1838, Putnam held the pastorate at Vergennes, Vt., through the end of that year. From 1839 to 1844 he preached at Potsdam, N.Y., where he met and married his wife, Fanny. The couple had three children: Mary (b. 1841), Edith (1843-1848), and Charles (b. ca.1845). In 1842, Putnam earned a master's degree from Hobart College, whose president Benjamin Hale (1797-1863) had been one of Putnam's professors at Dartmouth.
In 1844, Albin Putnam returned to Vermont to accept the pastorate of Emmanuel Church in Bellows Falls, and soon developed a serious illness. As a result, he was forced into early retirement during the summer of 1847, and undertook a trip to New York City to consult physicians. Upon receiving the bad news that he had contracted tuberculosis, Putnam sent his wife and children to live with his parents' in Cavendish. He died in Bellows Falls, November 6, 1847, at the age of thirty-two and was buried in the Emmanuel churchyard.
From the guide to the Albin Kendall Putnam papers, Putnam, Albin Kendall, 1821-1850, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
