Benjamin Fay Mills was born at Rahway, New Jersey, June 4, 1857.
His father was a clergyman. Educated in the public schools and at
Phillips academy, Andover, he graduated from Lake Forest university,
Illinois, in 1879. In the same year he married Mary Russell, and in
the year following he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church
at Rutland, Vermont. From 1886 to 1897 he acted in an evangelistic
capacity and conducted meetings throughout the country. In 1897 he
withdrew from the orthodox church and inaugurated independent religious
movements in the Boston music hall and Hollis street theatre. Since
1889 he has been the pastor of the First Unitarian church, Oakland,
California. He is eloquent, magnetic and convincing and has the gift
of playing on the emotions of an audience in a manner possessed by few
speakers within or without the church.