Benjamin Franklin Trueblood
Benjamin Franklin Trueblood (1847–1916) was an American Quaker, professor, and dedicated peace advocate. Born November 25, 1847, in Salem, Indiana, he remained a lifelong member of the Society of Friends (Quakers).
He studied at Earlham College, earning a BA in 1869 and an MA in 1875. He received two honorary L.L.D. degrees, including one from the University of Iowa. In his personal life, he married Sarah Terrell in 1872, and they had three children: Irvin Cyler (who died in infancy), Lyra Dale, and Florence Esther.
Trueblood’s career in education included teaching at Raisin Valley Seminary in Michigan, serving as a professor of English at Earlham College, and teaching Latin and Greek at Penn College in Iowa. He became president of Wilmington College in Ohio (1874–1879) and then president of Penn College (Ohio) from 1879 to 1890.
His most lasting impact was in the peace movement. In 1892 he became general secretary of the American Peace Society, a role he held until 1915, and he was the editor of the Society’s journal, The Advocate of Peace. He helped grow the Society’s membership and participated in international peace efforts. He was also an early member of the American Society of International Law, elected to its executive council in 1905, and he spoke at the Universal Peace Congress in 1905. Trueblood translated Kant’s Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch and wrote several books, including Federation of the World. He attended the 1899 Hague Peace Conference.
In 1913 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Klas Pontus Arnoldson. Trueblood died on October 26, 1916, at his home in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, at age 68. He is buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery in Wilmington, Ohio.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:47 (CET).