Prominent theologian Henry Ware was born on an April Fools' Day when a total eclipse of the sun occurred. He graduated from Harvard in 1785 as Valedictorian. A pronounced Unitarian, Ware was instrumental in the formation of Harvard Divinity School and established a foothold there for Unitarianism. He was elected Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard in 1805, where he engaged in a theological dispute with Dr Leonard Woods, a Calvinist, which became known as the "Wood'n'Ware Controversy". The fact that Hollis (the London merchant who supported the professorship) was himself a Calvinist, led to complaints that Harvard should have looked into Ware's beliefs before awarding him the chair. A leading complainant was Jedidiah Morse, father of the inventor of "Morse code". Letters between Wood and Ware continued into the 1820's. Three portraits of Henry Ware have been donated to Harvard: by George Fuller, donated by Charles E Ware in 1879; by James Frothingham, donated by John F Langmaid in 1997; and by Charles Osgood, donated by Stephen H Phillips in 1883.

Henry Ware fathered nineteen children by two of his three wives. In August, 1835 fifty of his family including all his then-living children and grandchildren met for a family reunion dinner.

Henry Ware's first and third wives (Mary Clarke and Elizabeth Bowes) were first cousins, and both were great-granddaughters of Rev John Hancock, first minister of Lexington (his grandson John Hancock signed the Decl. of Independence)

Henry Ware's second wife Mary Otis was the widow of Benjamin Lincoln. She died just eight days after marrying Henry. Her first husband was the son of Rev War Gen. Benjamin Lincoln (F-A-G #4852, and her father James Otis was another famous Revolutionary figure (F-A-G #1501).