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GENEALOGY 974.602 M588AL
REYNOLDS FIFTORMAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01755 9706
GENEALC 974.602 M588AL
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/alumnirecordofwe00wesl_0
GENEİ 974.6 M5881
ALUMNI RECORD
OF
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
MIDDLETOWN, CONN.
ORIGINALLY COMPILED BY
ORANGE JUDD, 1 869.
REVISED BY
C. T. WINCHESTER, WM. NORTH RICE, AND G. BROWN GOODE,
1873.
2
1873
929.11 W514a Ed. 2 18.73 C BOSTON: PRESS OF RAND, AVERY, & COMPANY. 1873.
73 dele 27
Caleb J. Winches
1
1891467
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1869
V
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1873
viii
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY xi
TRUSTEES OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
XV
FACULTY OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
. xviii
RECORD OF MEMBERS OF FACULTY, NOT ALUMNI OF WESLEYAN UNI-
VERSITY
. XX
STATISTICAL SUMMARY .
. . xxvii
ALUMNI RECORD OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY I
LIST OF THOSE NOT ALUMNI WHO HAVE RECEIVED HONORARY DEGREES 277
NUMERICAL INDEX 287 ALPHABETICAL INDEX AND POST-OFFICE DIRECTORY . 295
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1869.
I. NINETEEN years ago, the writer was present at the Semi-Centennial of old Yale, when the graduates of the earlier years of the present cen- tury came up from various parts of the country : and though "grave and reverend " ministers, judges, professors, governors, senators, etc., at home, while there, they were literally "boys" again. It was intensely interesting to mingle with them on the Campus, and hear them recount the old " times," and talk over their successes and reverses in life's con- test. Every now and then, two old men would recognize and rush toward each other, and, with a hearty hand-shaking, begin to inquire after each other's welfare : " Why, I have hardly heard of you in forty years. I have been quietly at work in my parishes, and had lost track of you."
" Where have you been ?" . " What have you been doing ?"
" Whom did you marry ?" . ' What children have you ?" . . . " Where's Brown ?" ... "How does he get on ?" . . . "Whom did he marry ? " . " What children has he ?" And so on, hour after hour, in dozens of groups, the inquiries - mainly the above four - were repeated with little variation. And so it is always at every Alumni gathering.
Incited by what was then witnessed and heard, the writer determined to gather and preserve answers to the four prominent questions, respect- ing the several members of his own class, and from time to time send a printed record to each; so that those too distant, or too hard driven, to come up to Commencement, might, at least, have the pleasure of learning at second-hand some of the things they would like to know concerning their old comrades.
The printed slips issued a few years later, embodying briefly the where and what of the class, were so eagerly sought after by others, and the wish was so often expressed that "our class " might have like reports, that the writer determined to try to meet the general want by preparing a condensed Record of all the Alumni of our College in one volume. Unexpected difficulties occurred. Few class histories were actively kept up. The earlier Alumni had gone to distant fields ; and the address of but few was accurately known. A large number in the itinerant ministry were frequently changing their habitations. The Minutes of the Confer- ences gave circuits and stations, but seldom named the real P. O. address. Outside of the ministry, the work was still more troublesome. Large numbers of the letters and circulars sent out never brought out any re-
vi
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1869.
sponse. Many Alumni were laboring in the South ; and the war coming on changed their locations, or shut them out from access. Several cases have occurred, within three weeks past, where two or three persons have each given a different "positive " location to an Alumnus ; and all entirely different from his own account of himself. These and other difficulties have been met all along. They are merely mentioned in excuse for delay and some omissions, and a few errors that may be found. The Index and P. O. Directory at the end of the volume, prepared from comparing about eight thousand reports received since July I, it is believed will give, with a few exceptions, the present location of all the Alumni of our insti- tution now living.
By greatly abbreviating and condensing the items, and omitting much unimportant matter sent in, the present volume gives about three times as many items as the preliminary one issued in 1868, though less than double its size. There is an immense number of dates, requiring over fifty thousand figures ; and it will be strange indeed, if, with all the care and labor bestowed, there be not some errors : but there are very few, not enough to vitiate the general reliability of the Record. It is hoped that the condensed notes accompanying the several names will gratify the Alumni generally, by answering the common queries concerning A or B or C, &c. : " Where is he now ? and where has he been laboring ?" " What has he been doing ?" "What of his family ?" &c. (The Edi- tor desires to acknowledge the constant encouragement and valuable aid he has received from President CUMMINGS in preparing this work.)
II. Aside from its interest as gratifying curiosity, and from its being a means of making the Alumni better acquainted with each other, and cementing them more strongly as a body, it is hoped that this work will serve a useful purpose in showing the vast amount of work already accomplished by our Alma Mater, although but a little over a third of a century old. For illustration, a single line tells that " B- was stationed at M-" for two or three years. This means that a man with the mental and moral power and influence which a thorough college training always gives has preached a hundred or a hundred and fifty sabbaths to a con- course of people ; that he has labored among them as many weeks, moulding their opinions, habits of thought and life, and political action. A single well-educated and trained mind is a power in a whole town or city or state, and really exerts more influence than a hundred uneducated intellects. The writings and teachings and preachings of the graduates of the Wesleyan University have exerted a wide influence in the largest Protestant church, and indirectly upon the masses, during the trying times that have agitated our country during the present decade. The Alumni outside of the ministry have not been less influential in their sev- eral fields of labor. Let one glance over the many thousands of lines in this volume, and sum up the immense amount of labor performed in the aggregate, and he can but feel that the hand of God directed the founding and carrying-on of the Wesleyan University.
vii
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1869.
III. But, while the Alumni may be pleased, the FACULTY, the TRUS- TEES, and the DONORS to the Institution, must experience the highest satisfaction in looking over what has been accomplished. Have the Trustees found any other like amount of work to produce so great re- turns ? Have the Donors, large and small, found other investments that have paid so large a percentage ? Would the Faculty wish any of their labors recalled ? Could they have gone into any other field where their planting and sowing and watering and pruning would have yielded a larger harvest ? . . . During the progress of this work, the writer's mind has often turned with gratitude toward those whose earnest labors, watch- ful care, and generous gifts, have built up and supported an institution which has given so many of us the mental discipline and literary advan- tages there enjoyed. Another thought has also often come up in the same connection. Suppose we gather from these Records a summary of what has so far been done by the Alumni who have already gone forth from Middletown, and add thereto what may be reasonably expected from them in the future. Suppose we next reckon the entire expense paid by donations, including only the annual interest on endowments and build- ings which are to continue perpetually productive. A rough estimate will show that every ten dollars actually contributed and expended has fur- nished to the country a whole year's labor and influence of an educated mind. Is not such an investment a PAYING ONE ?
IV. But the period of infancy and of severe trial has passed by, and, though the institution has already accomplished so much, it is merely upon the threshold of its usefulness. With its army of well-trained Alumni already in the field, one here and another there, each as a teacher and guide of public opinion, and with the annual additions to be made, how much more will be accomplished in the next thirty-six years !
ORANGE JUDD.
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1873.
THE origin and design of this Record are sufficiently explained in the Preface of its original compiler. To Orange Judd alone belongs the credit of projecting and preparing a record of the Alumni of his Alma Mater more complete than any similar work previously issued by an American college. The task was one of whose magnitude those who have never attempted any thing of the kind can form no conception ; and the Record which resulted was not the least of Mr. Judd's noble gifts to the University, in whose welfare he has always taken such a generous interest.
At the annual meeting of the Alumni Association, July 17, 1872, the un- dersigned were appointed a committee to prepare a new and revised edition of this Record. It has been the duty of this committee to correct, as far as possible, the few errors of the former work, to supply its deficiencies, and to add the information necessary to make the present edition com- plete up to the date of its issue.
In November, 1872, the Post Office Directory contained in the first edition was corrected so far as the information then in the possession of the committee would allow. This was then printed, and a copy sent, in December, to each Alumnus whose P. O. Address was then known, with the request that he would at once return it with whatever corrections he was able to make. By sending this Directory in envelopes bearing the usual request to return, if not delivered, it was thought that any mistakes in the list of P. O. Addresses would be detected. Near the close of December, the committee mailed to each Alumnus whose address had been up to that time obtained, the pages of the former edition containing the record of his own class and of those next preceding and following, with the request that he would carefully revise his own record, bring it down to date, give any information in his power relative to that of others, and return as soon as possible.
Early in 1873, circulars of particular inquiry with reference to living graduates whose address was yet unknown, or to deceased graduates of whose history we had little knowledge, were sent to those persons sup- posed to be most likely to give the desired information. Important facts concerning an Alumnus were sometimes obtained by mailing this circular to other Alumni of the same name, sometimes by addressing it to any friend or acquaintance now living in the town where an Alumnus had
ix
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1873.
resided while in college, or to any other Alumni known to reside in or near such town. Finally, about May I, a last circular, requesting imme- , diate reply, was sent to those Alumni of whose whereabouts the com- mittee had certain or probable knowledge, but from whom nothing had hitherto been heard ; and at the same time a list of the few whose his- tory and location remained unknown was published in the "Christian Advocate," " Zion's Herald," and " College Argus," and was mailed to a number of persons having extensive general acquaintance with the Alumni.
In one way or another, the committee have succeeded in obtaining some record of all but a very few of our graduates. It is believed that above four-fifths of those of whom nothing whatever was known at the issue of the edition of 1869 have in this new edition received a more or less complete history.
It soon became evident that the changes to be made in the former edition were so numerous, and the amount of additional information so large, as to necessitate re-writing the whole work throughout. But, while this has been done, the committee have only ventured upon such slight changes in the original plan as might tend to greater conciseness and uni- formity of statement. All violations of strict alphabetical arrangement have been corrected. All eulogistic, facetious, and other purely irrele- vant remarks have been eliminated, to make room for more important matter. No mention has been made of official positions offered to Alumni but not accepted by them. Only such dates have been given as were furnished by documentary evidence or by the personal knowledge of the members of the committee ; even in cases where others might have been inferred with almost entire certainty, it was deemed best to avoid the possibility of mistake by leaving such inference to the reader. When the dates of the commencement and the close of any period of labor or of residence have both been known, they have been given inclusively. An exception to this rule, however, has been made in the case of minis- ters regularly stationed by the various conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church. As these conference appointments are always made for one year only, instead of the date of the commencement and close of each pastor's various terms of residence, the dates of his several appoint- ments have been uniformly given. Whenever the birthplace of an Alumnus has been unknown, the place of his residence while an under- graduate has been inserted. The committee have aimed at entire impar- tiality ; but it is quite probable that some positions have received men- tion in the history of one Alumnus which were not deemed worthy of record in that of another. The difficulty of attaining entire uniformity in this particular, as well as in others, has been greatly increased by the necessity of dividing the work of compilation among several persons.
The committee desire to make a hearty acknowledgment of the valua- ble aid they have received from Mr. C. W. Smiley, of the Junior class in the University, upon whom much of the labor of correspondence has fallen, and to whose ingenuity, patience, and precision this record
x
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1873.
will, in great measure, be indebted for whatever fullness and accuracy it may be found to possess. Mr. Darius Baker, B. A., Tutor of Latin, has also afforded material assistance, The task of preparing this edition, though not to be compared with that of the original compiler, has been by no means a slight one. The additional information embodied in it has been drawn from about fourteen hundred letters received since Jan. I ; and over sixteen hundred hours' labor have been spent in preparing this material for the press. Those who have ever undertaken any work of this kind know that it is necessary to aim at entire accuracy, but folly to expect to attain it. The committee cannot hope that in a work offering so many opportunities for error, and undertaken by them in addition to their regular college duties, - the past year unusually onerous, - no mistakes will be found ; they trust, however, that these mistakes are few in number, and not such as to seriously impair the value of the Record. They will feel themselves amply repaid for their labors if this Revised Edition shall prove satisfactory to the large family of Alumni whose honorable career it records, and shall serve to unite them more closely to each other and to our common Alma Mater.
// C. T. WINCHESTER. WM. NORTH RICE. C. BROWN GOODE.
MIDDLETOWN, CONN., June 6, 1873.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
IT was not until about the close of the first quarter of the present cen- tury that the Methodist Episcopal Church began to give any very earnest and hearty patronage to the cause of higher education. Between the years 1824 and 1826, the flourishing seminaries at Wilbraham, Kent's Hill, and Cazenovia were opened under the auspices of the denomination, and imme- diately secured a large attendance. While the seminaries served to foster and encourage the newly-awakened interest in education, the leading minds of the Church became convinced of the need of some institution of collegiate rank, located in New England or New York, which should provide facilities for the highest intellectual culture.
At this juncture, a seeming accident turned their attention to Middle- town, Conn., and secured the immediate establishment of the projected institution at this place. In 1825 Capt. Alden Partridge, first Superin- tendent of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, opened in Mid- dletown the "American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy." Through the liberality of the citizens of Middletown, two substantial stone buildings had been erected for the school ; and it was for a short time very prosperous, drawing cadets from almost every State in the Union. Its prosperity, however, soon waned ; and, failing to obtain a charter from the Legislature, it was removed, early in 1829, to Norwich, Vt., leaving vacant the buildings it had occupied. Rev. Laban Clark, D.D., then Presiding Elder on the New Haven District, happened shortly after to be in Middletown ; and being informed that one of the trustees of these buildings had casually suggested selling them to the Method- ists, for the sum of five thousand dollars, he at once notified them that he would be one of ten to purchase the property, and would promptly secure the other nine. This led to the serious consideration of the matter ; and at the ensuing session of the New York Conference, May, 1829, Dr. Clark presented from the trustees proposals for the transfer of the prop- erty in due form, and urged their acceptance upon the conference. A committee, consisting of James Emory, Samuel Lucky, and Heman Bangs, was appointed to consider these proposals. The New-England Conference, being invited to unite in the project, appointed Timothy Mer- ritt, S. Martindale, and Willbur Fisk to act in conjunction with the New York Committee.
xii
HISTORICAL.
The first act of this joint committee was to issue proposals inviting the several towns within a specified region to compete for the location of the college by the offer of subscriptions. Liberal offers came from Troy, N. Y., Bridgeport, Conn., and Wilbraham, Mass ; but those from Middle- town were now so modified that the committee had no hesitation in pre- ferring them. The trustees of the Academy, with the consent of the stockholders, offered the entire property, valued at about thirty thousand dollars, to the conferences, on the two conditions, that it should be per- petually used for a college or university, and that a fund of forty thou- sand dollars should first be raised for the endowment of the college. About eighteen thousand dollars of this fund were promptly subscribed by citizens of Middletown. The report of the committee recommending the acceptance of this offer was adopted at the session of conference in May, 1830. The forty thousand dollars was soon raised, trustees were at once chosen, and the college organized under the name, "The Wesleyan ? University."
At the first meeting of the joint Board of Trustees and Visitors, Aug. 24. 1830, Rev. Willbur Fisk, D. D., then Principal of Wesleyan Academy, was elected first President of the Wesleyan University. In October of the same year. a preparatory school was opened in the buildings, under the superintendence of Rev. W. C. Larabee. In May, 1831, a charter was granted the University ; and on the 21st of the following September its halls were opened to students. The Faculty consisted of President Fisk, Professors Augustus W. Smith and John Mott Smith, and Tutor W. Magoun. At first, in accordance with the peculiar views of President Fisk, which were afterwards entertained by Presidents Wayland of Brown, and Marsh of the University of Vermont, the proficiency of the student was made the only basis of classification ; and any student able to pass the requisite examination received a diploma, without regard to the time he had spent in college. This plan, however, was soon abandoned, and the usual system of classification adopted in its stead. It is worthy of note, that the Wesleyan University anticipated another of the most important features of the new education, by establishing, very early in its history, a scientific course, to meet the wants of those who wished to obtain advanced literary and scientific training, but whose tastes or cir- cumstances forbade the ordinary classical course. In its early days of poverty and of struggle, the institution had many faithful and earnest friends, among whom Dr. Laban Clark and Dr. Heman Bangs are worthy of especial mention ; but to no one was it so deeply indebted as to its President, Willbur Fisk. His pure and lofty piety and his gentle and winning manner endeared him to all who knew him ; while his tact and prudence, his high administrative ability, his thorough culture and exten- sive reputation, and his untiring efforts in behalf of the University, soon assured its success, and secured for it general recognition.
At the death of Dr. Fisk, in 1839, Dr. Stephen Olin, then in Europe, was elected President. On his return from Europe, the following year, Dr. Olin found himself too feeble to assume the duties of the Presidency,
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and consequently resigned it early in .1841. In February of that year, Dr. Nathan Bangs was elected to the vacant post. Dr. Bangs, then in the midst of a long and honorable career, felt that the sphere of his greatest usefulness lay elsewhere : he accepted the position with reluc- tange, and in July, 1842, willingly resigned it to Dr. Olin, whose health had now so improved as to justify his acceptance.
Dr. Olin's fame as a pulpit orator, and his previous success in a similar situation, caused him to be greeted with an enthusiastic welcome. His health was so feeble as never to allow him to devote himself as he wished to the work of instruction. He was, however, very successful in improv- ing the financial condition of the University, and extending its reputation ; and his noble and commanding character was itself an inspiration to all the students under his charge. He received very efficient aid in the general administration of the college from Prof. Augustus W. Smith, LL.D., who for several years filled the office of Vice-President.
Dr. Olin died in 1851. After an interval of a year, Dr. Smith, who had been connected with the University from its foundation, and had won high reputation as Professor of Mathematics, was elected to the chair of President. During the administration of President Smith, the permanent existence and prosperity of the institution was insured by the raising of an endowment fund, which, for the first time, placed the University upon a solid financial basis. About one hundred thousand dollars were sub- scribed to this fund ; and although, as is usual in such cases, the full amount subscribed was never realized, yet by the persevering labors of Presi- dent Smith, ably aided by Professor H. B. Lane, more than eighty thou- sand dollars was at this time invested for the endowment of professor- ships. Isaac Rich of Boston, the fame of whose benevolence now fills the Church, was the chief donor to this fund, making at this time the first of his princely donations to the University.
Upon the resignation of President Smith, in 1857, Rev. Joseph Cum- mings, D.D., LL.D., President of Genesee College, was elected to the vacant post, and has filled it to this time with an ability that needs no mention here. Within the last decade, the material interests of the University have greatly advanced. During the years 1864-5, a Library Fund amounting to twenty-seven thousand six hundred dollars was raised by the Alumni. The library is steadily increasing from the proceeds of this fund, and now numlers about twenty-five thou- sand volumes. During the Commencenient week of 1868, a new and tasteful library-building, capable of containing one hundred thou- sand volumes, was dedicated. This building was erected by the late Isaac Rich, at a cost of forty thousand dollars. During the same week, the contributions of Daniel Drew and Isaac Rich to the Endow- ment Fund were increased to one hundred thousand dollars each. In the fall of 1868, the old " Boarding Hall " was remodeled and transformed into " Observatory Hall." by the addition of a handsome tower, in which was placed one of Alvan Clark's finest refracting telescopes. The Com- mencement season of 1871 was rendered memorable by the dedication of
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HISTORICAL.
two new and beautiful buildings. The one, the Memorial Chapel, was erected at a cost of about sixty thousand dollars, in memory of those alumni and students who fell in the war for the Union. The funds for the erection of this Chapel were mostly raised by general subscription during the centenary year, 1866. The other building was the Orange Judd Hall of Natural Science, erected during the years 1869-71, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, and believed to be one of the most complete and elegant structures of its kind in the country. For this building, as well as for the gift of thirty thousand dollars to endow the chair of Geology and Natural History, the University is indebted to the munificence of Orange Judd, Esq., of New York, who will ever be re- membered as one of the most faithful and generous friends of his Alma Mater.
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