His studies in divinity school were sporadic and lacked distinction. In September 1829 Emerson married Ellen Louisa Tucker, who died without children in February 1832. In September 1835 Emerson married Lydia Jackson. They had four children.
Emerson taught school during his summers at Harvard and turned to the teaching profession as a career upon his graduation. It was during his five years as a Boston teacher that Emerson attended divinity school at Harvard. It was his connections and perhaps his ancestry rather than his academic prowess that led in 1826 to his being approved as a preacher by the Middlesex association of ministers. However, he was unable to take a post because poor health forced him to spend some months in South Carolina and Florida. When he returned to New England in 1827, he turned to preaching and began actively to seek a church. During the next two years Emerson preached at various places in New England. It was not until January 1829 that he received an invitation to join the Second Church in Boston. The church's pastor was in ill health, and within eighteen months Emerson had taken his place.
Emerson appears to have been an effective and eloquent preacher, if somewhat stern in his bearing.
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