Portrait of Henry Ward Beecher,1813-1887. Beecher was a prominent, theologically liberal American Congregationalist clergyman and social reformer, and famous speaker who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the son of famous evangelist Lyman Beecher and brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Another well-known sister was Isabella Beecher Hooker, a suffragist. He also had a brother, Charles Beecher, who was a renowned Congregationalist minister. Henry Ward Beecher and his congregation in the East contributed Sharp's carbines and Bibles to the Beecher Bible Rifle Colony in Wabaunsee, Kan.