Beals, Charles E. (1869-1931)

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Item Relations

Mentioned in (4)
Written by (1)
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Jenkin Lloyd Jones to Jane Addams, November 9, 1908

Jane Addams to Oscar Solomon Straus, February 18, 1909

Jane Addams to Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, March 11, 1912

Unity, October 4, 1923

Charles E. Beals to Jane Addams, October 2, 1912

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Birth Date

1869

Death Date

1931

Biographical Text

Charles E. Beals was involved in the peace movement, was a participant in the National Peace Congress, and served as secretary of the Chicago Peace Society. He was a popular speaker, lending his oratorical skills to churches, colleges, and conventions. When he retired as secretary of the Chicago Peace Society in 1914, the organization hailed his efforts, calling him "lovable and sweet of heart, persuasive and diligent" and "courageous."

Sometime before April 1917, Beals took a pastorate in the Unitarian Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, where on April 29 he resigned in protest when parishoners raised an American flag over the choir loft. His commited pacificism could not abide by such a blatant symbol of nationalism raised in his church even as the United States had entered the war in Europe earlier that month.

He passed away in 1931.

Rights

Public domain

Gender

Male

First appears

1908

Bibliography and Links

"Chicago Churches Will Observe 'Peace Sunday,'" The Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), 13 May 1912, 9:5.

"Dean Sumner, Charles E. Beals and Others Talk at Commencement Exercises—Many Programs Are Given During Day," The Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), 21 Jun 1912, 10:4.

"Ultimatum Was a Failure," The Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 30 April 1917, 2:7-8.

Report of the Chicago Peace Society (Chicago: Chicago Peace Society, 1914), 37.

SNAC

Citation

“Beals, Charles E. (1869-1931),” Jane Addams Digital Edition, accessed August 3, 2025, https://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/2198.