Thomas Harwood was born in 1829 in Maryland. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1841 in Delaware, and was licensed to preach in 1855 in Michigan. Thomas Harwood and Emily J. Duncan were married in 1863. In the spring of 1864, the 25th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers was ordered to return to Vicksburg, causing the newlyweds to part. While on campaign, Harwood received the promotion from preacher to chaplain of the regiment. After Harwood was discharged, he was admitted on trial to the West Wisconsin Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and appointed to serve at Tomah, Wisconsin. He joined the conference in full connection in 1868.
After ministering in Tomah from 1865 to 1867, Reverend Harwood served in Leon, Wisconsin from 1867 to 1869. In 1869 Bishop Edward R. Ames appointed Harwood to New Mexico, where he and his wife served together for nearly thirty-three years, until Emily’s death in 1902. In a community that was predominately Roman Catholic, the Harwoods successfully established several Methodist schools. In particular, a school for girls was opened in the early 1870s. By 1886, the Harwoods had founded six elementary schools and two academies.
In 1879 Harwood founded a devotional periodical, El Abogado Cristiano, with articles in both English and Spanish. Additionally, Harwood published Spanish-language Sunday school lessons and religious tracts. After Emily’s death, Dr. Harwood assisted in writing the biography of his late wife, Life of Mrs. Emily J. Harwood, and wrote the two-volume History of New Mexico Spanish and English Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1850 to 1910. Both works were published by his own El Abogado Press.
In 1910 Harwood was elected chaplain-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. Widower Thomas Harwood married Mary Emma Clark in 1911. Dr. Harwood died in 1916. Mary Emma Harwood died two decades later in 1936.
Sources:
- Harmon, Nolan B. “Harwood, Thomas.” Encyclopedia of World Methodism, vol. 1. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1974.
- Kellogg, Harriet S, and Thomas Harwood. Life of Mrs. Emily J. Harwood. Albuquerque, N.M: El Abogado Press, 1903.
- Náñez, Alfredo. History of the Rio Grande Conference of the United Methodist Church. Dallas: Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, 1980.