Leonard’s fa­ther was Da­vid Ba­con, mis­sion­ary to the In­di­ans. In his child­hood years in Tall­madge, Ohio, Leo­nard was a class­mate to John Brown, who lat­er be­came a not­ed ab­o­li­tion­ist.

Bacon ma­tric­u­lat­ed at Yale Un­i­ver­si­ty in au­tumn 1817. Af­ter grad­u­a­tion, he en­tered An­do­ver The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­i­nary. He was or­dained as an evan­gel­ist by the Hart­ford North Con­so­ci­a­tion, as­sembled at Wind­sor, Con­nec­ti­cut, Sep­tem­ber 28, 1824. In 1825, he be­came pas­tor of the First Church in New Ha­ven, Con­nec­ti­cut.

Bacon’s works in­clude:

• Hymns and Sac­red Songs for the Monthly Concert, 1823
• Select Practical Writings of Richard Baxter, 1831
• A Manual for Young Church Members, 1833
• Thirteen Historical Discourses
• The Goodly Heritage of Con­nec­ti­cut, 1840
• Early Constitutional History of Con­nec­ti­cut, 1843
• Commemorative Discourse, 1858
• Historical Discourse, 1859
• Civil Government in New Haven Colony, 1862
• The Genesis of the New Eng­land Churches, 1874
• The Rela­tions of the Congrega­tional Churches of Con­nec­ti­cut to Civil Government, and to Popular Educa­tion and Social Reforms, 1876

Sources

Hymns

1. God of Our Fathers, to Thy Throne
2. Hail, Tranquil Hour of Closing Day
3. Here, Lord of Life and Light, to Thee
4. How Sweet, Through Long Remem­bered Years
5. Land Where the Bones of Our Fathers Are
6. O God, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand
7. O God of Abraham, Ever Sure
8. O Thou Who Hast Died to Redeem Us from Hell
9. Though Now the Na­tions Sit Beneath
10. Wake the Song of Jubilee
11. Weep Not for the Saint That Ascends