Joshua Young

Joshua Young (September 23, 1823 – February 7, 1904) was an abolitionist Congregational Unitarian minister who crossed paths with many famous people of the mid-19th century. He received national publicity and lost his pulpit for presiding in 1859 over the funeral of John Brown, the first person executed for treason by a U.S. state. Contrary to his friends' expectations, his resignation under pressure in Burlington did not ruin his career; the church in Burlington later apologized and invited him back to speak, "an honored guest", There is a memorial tablet in the church.

Young was also deaf. Abraham Willard Jackson, a contemporary Unitarian Preacher and deaf man said about young, "In a Massachusetts village there toils a minister, and for more than a quarter of a century has toiled, though his deafness is so extreme that speech with him is scarcely possible, who once told me that in all these years no unpleasant reminder of his infirmity, either by act or word, had ever come to him from his people... I cannot think I need hesitate to say that my reference here is to Rev. Joshua Young, of Groton. With this testimony before them, all deaf people should pray for the prosperity of his church." Provided by Wikipedia