Henry F. Colby

Colby, Henry Francis. (Roxbury, Massachusetts, November 25, 1842--May 8, 1915). Baptist. Son of the philanthropist Gardner Colby. Brown University, A.B. 1862, A.M. 1865; Newton Theological Institution [Seminary], 1867; Brown University, Honorary D.D., 1882. President, American Baptist Missionary Union, 1865-1868. Pastorate at Dayton, Ohio, 1868-1903. President, Board of Trustees, Denison University. President Ohio Baptist Convention, 1883-1886. Author of Restricted Communion, also a memoir of his father Gardner Colby (1879), a memoir of Ebenezer Thresher LL.D. (1886), and a sketch of Caleb Parker. His hymn "Waiting on the eve of labor, Knowing not he coming day," was sung at the graduation of his class at Newton Theological Institution, June 26, 1867. His hymn "My sin is great, my strength is weak" appeared as No. 299 in Gospel Hymns Consolidated. See In Memory of Henry Francis Colby (for private distribution, Dayton, Ohio: Otterbein Press, 1916).

--Scotty Wayne Gray, DNAH Archives