This image of the Reverend Samuel Willard (1776-1859) is a photograph of a charcoal portrait drawn by the artist Caroline Negus Hildreth in about 1830. The original portrait hangs in the First Church of Deerfield.

Reverend Willard became the minister of the First Church of Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1807. A Unitarian, Willard rejected the doctrines of the total depravity of humanity and the divinity of Jesus. A dismayed minority left the Deerfield Church and orthodox congregational ministers from surrounding towns refused to ordain Willard. A musician as well as a minister, Willard emphasized throughout his career the role and power of sacred music in religious services and meditation. The many hymns he composed reflected the optimistic spirit of the age that humankind could perfect the world with the help of a loving and compassionate God. Reverend Willard gradually lost his sight and was totally blind by 1824. He retired from his Deerfield ministry in 1829, when he felt he could no longer perform his pastoral obligations.