Lorenzo Brino

Mary decides not to go to college since she lost her scholarship, but work instead. She cannot hold down a job, being fired everywhere, from The Pool Hall to Pete’s Pizza. While working at Pete’s, she meets Frankie and Johnny, a young, drug-addicted married couple who have a baby girl named Mercy. Eric and Annie learn that Mary has been caught drinking while babysitting her cousin, Erica, pulled over by a cop, and given a warning, and that she has numerous debts to credit card companies, insurance companies, and to her family. Not wanting Mary to hit rock bottom, Eric and Annie decide it is best that she go to Buffalo because they can't give her the attention she needs. She lives with her grandparents, works at a homeless shelter in the fall, and starts college in the winter. Her departure causes some people in the church community to think that Mary had an unplanned pregnancy, but Eric quickly refutes the rumor. She leaves home angry at her entire family, whom she sees as betraying her, and refuses to speak to her father. In time, she calms down and plans to return home for the summer, as she and Robbie start dating again.

While in New York, she discovers that Wilson is also living there. Instead of staying in Glenoak for the summer like she originally planned, she breaks up with Robbie and moves back to New York and starts dating Wilson. After getting advice from the Colonel, she decides to get a job in public service. When she can’t become a police officer because she is not old enough, she applies for a position as a firefighter, and, after the Colonel pulls some strings, she gets into the firefighter program. When she starts training, she meets Ben Kinkirk, who is also in training. He comes over to her place and they kiss, which Wilson walks in on. The two break up and she returns home to California for a time, but on a trip to New York with Lucy, she reveals that she is moving back to New York to train to be a flight attendant. She begins dating a pilot, Jack, who is the same age as her father, though this does not last. She moves to Florida for a time to get away from her family. While in Florida, Mary runs into Carlos Rivera, a man she had met while volunteering at a homeless shelter years earlier, and who the Camdens took in during the holiday season. Carlos and Mary get married shortly after Lucy, and they reveal her pregnancy and the marriage to her family at that time. Her parents visit at the birth of her son, Charles Miguel "Charlie", named in honor of her and Carlos' late grandfathers. They eventually divorce and Carlos takes Charlie back to Puerto Rico when Mary gives her parental rights up. It is announced by Carlos when he attends Simon's wedding that the two are back together and that Mary is expecting twin girls. Though Mary is not at Simon's wedding, she is able to still see her family the next day, as she finally graduates from college the same day as Matt and Sarah. During the following summer, Mary gives birth to twin daughters.

While in Glenoak, she gets a job as a teacher and falls in love with Hank Hastings, the doctor who almost killed Matt during delivery. The two elope in Eric’s church. Julie becomes pregnant and wants to leave Hank because she feels that he was cheating on her with one of his female patients, which is not true. Julie goes into labor at the Camdens’ house and Hank delivers the child in Eric and Annie’s bedroom. She gives birth to a girl, whom she and Hank name Erica, after Eric and Annie. When Julie and Hank need a babysitter, they take the risk of allowing Mary, who had been quite irresponsible, to babysit. Later, when they cannot get a hold of Mary, they rush back and discover that their place is a mess, the phone is off the hook, a liquor bottle is on the table, and Mary's friends' baby, Mercy, was left with Mary while she was supposed to be babysitting Erica. Julie later wants to leave Hank again when she discovers that he had left his job at the hospital to be the head of a Women’s Clinic without discussing it with her first. Eric locks them in a room at the clinic and tells them that they could not come out until they had worked out their problems. They reconcile and Hank learns that Julie is pregnant again. She gives birth to a baby boy. Both she and Hank attend Lucy’s wedding.

Erica Hastings is Julie's daughter. She is born at the Camdens’ home, in Eric and Annie's bed, which was given to her parents because of that. Feeling that they want to thank Eric and Annie they name her after them: "Eric", and the "A" after Annie.

Reverend Morgan Hamilton (Dorian Harewood) is a minister at Trinity Church and a close friend of Eric's. He first appears in "No Funerals and a Wedding" where he attends Jenny Jackson's funeral. In "The Color of God", his church building is burnt to the ground by racists, and he and his family are invited to stay at the Camdens’. He speaks at Eric's church, where his entire congregation attends the week after the church was burnt. He is sad and angry, but is relieved when the Glenoak Community Church gives him funding to rebuild. He later appears in "America's Most Wanted", where he rounds up all of the athletes who had stole items from the Varsity Cafe and brings them to the courthouse. This causes the manager of the restaurant to drop the charges. He later appears in "Happy's Valentine", where he goes camping with his wife, Eric and Annie. He and Eric secretly call Sgt. Michaels to check the house and make sure everything is okay.

Keesha Hamilton (Gabrielle Union) is the second oldest Hamilton child. She first appears in "The Color of God" where she stays in Lucy and Mary's room after her family’s church is burnt down. She later appears in "America's Most Wanted", where she is an eye-witness of Mary stealing a glass from a restaurant as part of a team ritual. She appears in "Happy's Valentine", where she attends a party that she is partially responsible for. She is a friend of Mary and Lucy's in a few episodes.

Nigel Hamilton (David Netter) is the third Hamilton child. He is a friend of Simon’s, and first appears in "The Color of God." Someone makes a racist comment to him, in which Simon responds with violence, resulting in a suspension. He appears in "What Will People Say?", where he witnesses Simon's embarrassing moment, where his "love letter" was intercepted by a bully. He appears in "Happy's Valentine", where he goes to a movie with Simon, Ruthie, Lynn, Lucy, and Jimmy. He and Simon get in trouble for throwing popcorn.

Chandler Hampton (Jeremy London) is the minister who fills in during Eric Camden’s heart bypass surgery and subsequent recovery. He is later asked to stay on as an associate to assist Eric with his busy schedule. Eric meets Chandler's twin brother in one episode and mistakes him for Chandler. In season 7, Chandler starts dating Roxanne Richardson (Rachel Blanchard) and they become engaged for a brief time. They break up in the beginning of season 8, but remain friends. He later takes in a young boy, and eventually moves to Pennsylvania with his newly-adopted son and new girlfriend.

Robbie comes back a few months later with Cheryl, asking if Eric would marry the two of them because she was pregnant, which is not true, and the two are living together in Cheryl’s apartment. Eric later finds Robbie living on the streets, and Robbie tells him that the only reason he was going to marry Cheryl was because she was pregnant, and when he found out she wasn’t, he left, but had nowhere to go. Eric invites Robbie to stay in the Camden house, which does not go over very well with the rest of the family. But in time, everyone came to treat Robbie like a member of the family. He and Mary started dating again and she planned to come home from New York for the summer to be with him. However, her old boyfriend, Wilson West, comes to beg Mary to stay in New York with him. She chooses to be with Wilson, and leaves Robbie heartbroken.

Lucy Camden-Kinkirk (played by Beverley Mitchell) is the third Camden child, and second daughter. Lucy is known (in the earlier seasons) for the many boyfriends she has, as well as being overly dramatic. Until season 4, she is often seen as "less than" her sister Mary and her emotions often get her into trouble. By the time she reaches her junior year in high school, however, Lucy becomes much more settled and switches positions with Mary, becoming the good kid. Her first boyfriend is Jimmy Moon. She has one "normal" relationship with him, but they break up. In the beginning of season two, she is crying all summer and says that Jimmy is dating Ashley. At one point, she gets arrested for being in the area where Jimmy is dealing drugs. Later, Jimmy is shown when he had some problems with drugs, and the last time is when Lucy had a case as juror (though nobody told her what it was about; because she knew the defendant personally, she was dismissed). In school, she has lots of friends and is popular—including being nominated for homecoming queen in her senior year. She has a very good relationship with her friend Mike, who is placed in a mental hospital and is otherwise ostracized. Although Mike likes Lucy, it never quite works out. Later Lucy becomes engaged to Mike's friend, Jeremy, but they eventually break it off.

In season seven, she marries Kevin Kinkirk and has a daughter named Savannah (season 9). They live in the apartment above the garage at the Camdens' house up until Savannah is a few months old. She also becomes pregnant with twin boys, which she loses in a miscarriage that deeply upsets her emotional state—though she eventually recovers. At the end of the summer, she tells Kevin that she doesn't want to have any more children. She is a working mother (working as an associate pastor), while her husband Kevin is a stay-at-home dad. However, Kevin is offered a job as a police sheriff in "Crossroads". Later on, Lucy helps a young woman named Sandy with her pregnancy, and they soon become friends. Helping Sandy drives her to reconsider the fact that she doesn't want more children. In the series finale, she and Kevin announce to the family they are expecting twin boys. Lucy continues her life as : daughter, wife, mother and church minister. She is offered another position in a different town as a minister, and announces that she is pregnant once again with twin boys in the series finale.

Ruthie is the only one to briefly attend a private school, but she leaves it in protest that her friend Yasmine is being denied admission because she is a Muslim. During her freshman year she develops feelings for Camden houseguest Martin Brewer and even tells him she loves him—but quickly covers by adding "as a brother." In her sophomore year of high school she begins to wear makeup and dates older boys in the hope that this would lead to a relationship with Martin. In season ten's "Love and Obsession", she dreams everything from Martin telling her that a paternity test had proved that Simon, not Martin, is Aaron's father; to there being no Aaron at all because Martin had never met Sandy. When her former boyfriend and first love Peter returns during this time, she realizes that she had moved on from him. After ignoring Sandy for most of her pregnancy, Martin is present for Aaron's birth, as are both of Aaron's grandfathers-to-be. Upon Aaron's birth Martin leaves Glenoak for college; he now lives near his son. This leaves Ruthie heartbroken, but by the time Martin finally admits to her that he loves her, she is in love with new Camden houseguest T-Bone. Ruthie and T-Bone love each other very much and even get tattoos, with Ruthie getting a tattoo of T-Bone's name, and T-Bone getting Ruthie's initials. After an argument they break up. Ruthie starts seeing Martin briefly. Martin says he wants to work things out with her but Ruthie chooses T-Bone and then Ruthie and T-Bone get back together. Ruthie decides to graduate from high school early and that she and T-Bone want to travel the world together. After her graduation, Ruthie with T-Bone join the whole family, and the other current Camden house guests, for an RV road trip that includes a stop at Simon's college graduation and that after that Ruthie and T-Bone plan to go travel the world together.

In 2009, she was included in Yahoo!'s Top 10 TV Moms from Six Decades of Television for the decade 1996–2007.

By 2006, Simon and Rose change plans to marry in May, something they both wanted to be ready for, but still held insecurities and doubts. Annie, however, decides that they could not marry, and when an ex-boyfriend of Rose's surfaces in March, she sees an opportunity. Though most had come to accept Simon dating Rose, no one knew her at all, and it was this boyfriend who convinces Rose that she is not being a good person. In the episode Invitation to Disaster, she has a sit-down confession with Annie, explaining that she has been unaware of how she was acting and that her relationship with her parents and never really being disciplined or close to them at all is part of the reason. This provokes Annie to see her in a different light, and while she and Annie take on a mother/daughter relationship, no one else is crazy about them marrying. It is her ex-boyfriend Humberto who makes her realize that she is not ready to marry and that he still has feelings for her. So although they had gotten to the wedding day, they end up parting ways amicably. It is unknown whether they still keep in touch.

Sandy Jameson (2005–2007) (Haylie Duff) was introduced in the season 10 premiere as Simon's fiancée Rose's best friend, to whom Martin lost his virginity the previous summer. In the season opener, Sandy reveals she might be pregnant. This is later confirmed, and she gives birth to a baby boy named Aaron (after Martin's grandfather). In the season 10 finale, she had to speak with Simon, possibly about the baby's paternity. In season 11, she meets Jonathan, a doctor, and he proposes. Together, they decide to get married, but having gone on the RV vacation, it is unknown whether or not they get married and stay together.

Rosanna "Rose" Taylor (2005–2006) (Sarah Thompson) was introduced (in the season nine finale "Mi Familia Part 1") as Simon's current girlfriend for season 9-10. The two are not necessarily serious but she seems eager to engage and marry, pressuring Simon into proposing. When at first he refuses, she takes it as disinterest in her and backs away, provoking him to commit to marrying her. By season ten they are engaged, and she makes wedding plans. The initial plan was for the two to engage at the end of their current school year and wed at the end of the following year, but she pressures him into moving the engagement date forward. During Rose's time on the show, she becomes a very disliked person by all except for Sandy Jameson, who was her one friend there. Rose is known for being selfish, rude, inconsiderate, and thoughtless, rubbing Eric and Annie the wrong way more than anyone.

Meredith Davies (2004–2005) (Megan Henning) is Martin's ex-girlfriend, who ends their relationship after he told her about Sandy and the baby. Meredith and her siblings were taken in by Cecilia's parents, but were never legally adopted by them due to the meddling of their birth mother. After she and Martin breakup, Meredith's younger sister tells everyone at school that Martin got Ruthie pregnant. After discovering this, Meredith quickly denies the rumor, explaining to her sister that Martin got Sandy pregnant.

Martin Brewer (2003–2007) (Tyler Hoechlin) is the only son of the Marine, Bill Brewer. His mother died when he was young and, until he was 16, he lived with his Aunt Betsy, when his dad was deployed. During his sophomore year in high school, the Brewers moved to Glenoak.

Peter Petrowski (2002–2006) (Scotty Leavenworth) is a neighbor to the Camdens; the son of Vic and Paris. Peter is Ruthie's boyfriend in middle school. His father, Vic, was an alcoholic who left his mother when he was young. In the episode "Smoking" it is revealed that Peter smokes. He decides to stop smoking later in the episode because he knows Ruthie doesn't like that he smokes. His father returns sober in the episode "The Prodigal Father" and both Peter and his mother forgive him. When Peter is caught drinking, Vic is very upset with him and gives him a lecture on how he doesn't want Peter to make the same mistakes that he himself made. Eventually Peter's mother and father get back together, despite the fact that Peter had previously hoped that his mother would marry Chandler, who she had been dating before the return of her ex-husband. It is revealed (in the season nine premiere) that Peter moves away with his parents the summer before Ruthie starts high school. Ruthie isn't greatly upset about it as she was more upset with Martin for not driving her to school on her first day. He is not seen again until the episode "Leaps of Faith" when Peter's parents, who are having another baby, ask Reverend Camden to marry them. He appears one last time in the episode "Highway to Cell", when Reverend Camden gives Ruthie's cell number to Vic and Vic convinces Peter to call Ruthie. They communicate for a short while through cellphone and even planned to study in Scotland together, but Peter failed a class so his parents didn't allow him to. They once again drift apart.

Roxanne Richardson (2002–2004) (Rachel Blanchard) is Kevin's work partner at the local police station, the object of much of Lucy's jealousy but later become close friends with Lucy and they set up girls nights out where Lucy tells Roxanne what's going on in her life with her husband. She was an old crush of Robbie, and Chandler's girlfriend. Later, Roxanne reveals that she has enlisted in the Army and will be deploying to Iraq.

Cecilia Smith (2002–2004) (Ashlee Simpson) is Simon's girlfriend, who then dates Martin. She later dumps Martin, who loved her but she was not sure she felt the same. Another reason (which is not very clearly shown) might be that she thought Simon was returning—whereas he only came for vacations—and they might get back together (because it would no longer be a long-distance relationship). When Simon comes home (at the end of season eight), it was vaguely revealed that their relationship did not work out, because over the summer Cecilia went away to college, and it was only when Simon begins dating and having sex with Georgia (in season nine) that it is revealed that they had broken up.

Robbie Palmer (1999–2002) (Adam LaVorgna) is Mary's, and then later Lucy's, boyfriend. He had been with some friends who were drinking underage and they were all arrested. Being a first time offender, he is able to avoid serious punishment by doing community service. While doing community service, he meets Mary. The two have dates at the Camden house under Eric and Annie’s supervision, because they feel they cannot trust Robbie. After a while, Robbie convinces Eric and Annie to let him take Mary to the coffee shop, where his parents met, for Valentine’s Day. The coffee shop turns out to be a motel. Mary punches him and leaves. He comes back a few months later to try to win back Mary. The two get back together, get engaged, and plan to move in together. However, Robbie’s ex-girlfriend, Cheryl, sees him and Mary together and realizes that he had been two-timing her. She tells Mary and Mary breaks up with him because she needs to figure out her life.

Shana Sullivan (1998–2002) (Maureen Flannigan) is one of Matt's major girlfriends, who eventually decides to go to New York University. The resulting long-distance relationship between Matt and Shana fails. Shana and Matt eventually break up because Shana meets somebody else named Brett and Matt admits that he is in love with Heather.

This is a list of characters from The WB/The CW (1996–2007) family drama, 7th Heaven.

John Hamilton (1996–2001) (Chaz Lamar Shepherd) is the oldest of the Hamilton children. He first appears in "The Color of God." When his father's church is burned down, he stays in Matt's room. At first, the two are not very fond of each other, but this later changes. He later appears in the episode "America's Most Wanted" where he is an eyewitness to Mary stealing a glass from a restaurant as part of a team ritual. He appears in "Happy's Valentine", where he brings a date to the Camdens' while his parents and Eric and Annie are out of town, joining the wild party that Mary and Keesha's friends are throwing. He later becomes Matt's roommate. He later married to a woman named Priscilla Carter at the end of season five, his last appearance on the show.

Rev. Eric Camden (played by Stephen Collins) was raised in Binghamton, New York by his parents, Colonel John Camden and Ruth Lynch. Based on the episode "Halloween" (season 1), it appears that Eric was born in 1954 (which would make him 42 years old at the time). According to the episode "One Hundred" (season 5), his birthday is in January. Eric attended college for five years and graduated from Cobell Seminary. Shortly thereafter, he married and began a family with Annie Jackson. He has one sister, Julie Camden-Hastings, who ends up marrying the doctor that delivered Eric and Annie's oldest (Matt), as well as the youngest (Sam and David) children. After his heart-bypass operation, he decides to leave the ministry and even stop attending church. He renews his faith and returns to church in time to marry Kevin and Lucy (near the end of season 7). He had three heart problems from season 4, 7 and 11 and survived.

John "The Colonel" Camden (Peter Graves) is Eric, Julie, and George's father, who used to be in the Marines. Whenever he visits his son's home to visit the grandchildren, he expects military discipline, order and organization, even from his son. He was a Colonel in the Korean War and was evacuated for an unknown reason in 1953. He met Ruth the same year and they were expecting Eric and had to get married. He first appears in "Seven Is Enough", when he and Ruth go on their annual visit to the Camdens, where they always bring candy that their grandkids dislike. During their visit, they go to a hardware store with Annie, Mary, and Lucy. The cashier, Emma, has rings that are a replica of Annie's stolen ones. She suspects this, but then excuses this thought. The Colonel visits Eric at the church and is forced to put a cigar away because of a church rule. He suspects someone is in the room, and sure enough, a homeless orphan named George was hiding there. The Colonel and Ruth adopt him after Eric lets them. He later appears in "It's About George", where George's biological father Will Grayson is found to be alive and wants his son back. He does not want this to happen, so he is willing to sue. Eric informs his father that he would lose and that Will legally has every right to take George with him, but George refuses to move in with Will and runs away. Eric later creates a compromise and he reluctantly accepts. He also meets Jimmy Moon in this episode, where he and Ruth scare him, but later apologize. He thought that Julie hated him and that he lost all of his children. Julie later confronts him and tells him that she loves him. He and Ruth buy Eric an RV the final episode, though he is not shown.