Henry Clay Trumbull (1830-1903) was born in Stonington, Connecticut, and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a clergyman who became a world-famous editor, author, and pioneer of the Sunday school movement. While working as a railroad clerk, Trumbull joined the Congregationalist church in 1852 and became the superintendent of a mission Sunday school under the Connecticut State Sunday School Association. He married Alice C. Gallaudet in 1854 and became the state Sunday school missionary for Connecticut in 1858. Trumbull was ordained a Congregational minister in 1862 and shortly after, served as chaplain of the 10th Connecticut Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Afterwards, he became New England secretary for the American Sunday-school Union. In 1875, he and his family moved to Philadelphia where he became editor of The Sunday School Times until his death. He was known for his commitment to "personal evangelism," which entailed telling friends and acquaintances about spiritual salvation through Christ's vicarious atonement. Trumbull was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society and was the Lyman Beecher Lecturer at Yale Divinity School in 1888. He authored 38 books and was awarded honorary degrees from Yale, Lafayette College, and New York University.

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