The 1857 Hamilton, Ontario Revival

Hundreds of people were converted, leading to significant church growth, in an 1857 revival led by Phoebe Palmer in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada that contributed to the beginning of the Second Great Awakening. This book explores the 1857 setting in the world and in Hamilton, including the key churches and people involved in the revival. What happened was not typical for revival meetings led by the Palmers, as this account shows. The book continues with a summary of the impact of the Hamilton revival around the globe, linking it to other revivals and the Second Great Awakening as a whole. The account ends with what subsequently unfolded in the Hamilton area and the churches involved. Many of the primary sources are in the Appendix, and the book includes numerous pictures and maps. Scholars, ministers, and lay people alike will appreciate this exploration of a chapter in Canada's spiritual history.

""King here uncovers and analyzes a key episode in the great 1857 Revival--the Canadian connection--that's been forgotten, minimized, or hidden in footnotes. Her accessible work both answers some questions and raises others, pointing the way for further research. This story will interest laypeople; pastors; theologians; local, church, and social historians; and students of Holiness Movements.""
--Paul Fayter, Historian of Victorian Science and Theology

""Through an examination of important primary sources, especially the writings of Phoebe Palmer, King provides a helpful study of a little-known event in southern Ontario religious and social history. Those interested in transnational evangelical revivalism will especially be interested in Hamilton's possible role in the birth and spread of mid-nineteenth century evangelical revivals.""
--Gordon L. Heath, Associate Professor of Christian History, Director, Canadian Baptist Archives, McMaster Divinity College


Sandra L. King is a freelance writer who has grown up and lives in the Greater Hamilton area of Ontario, Canada. One of her passions is researching, speaking, and writing about the Hamilton Revival of 1857.