Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Morgan, Forrest, 1852- ed; Hart, Samuel, 1845-1917. joint ed. cn; Trumbull, Jonathan, 1844-1919, joint ed; Holmes, Frank R., joint ed; Bartlett, Ellen Strong, joint ed
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Hartford, The Publishing Society of Connecticut
Number of Pages: 600


USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume I > Part 26


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31


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CHAPTER XXIV EDUCATION AND YALE COLLEGE


T HE settlers of New England were not peasants, but for the most part intelligent middle-class people, and often university graduates ; hence they could not contemplate having their chil- dren in this country sink into uneducated rus- tics, and they knew that it would not always be possible to send them to England for higher education. Furthermore, their system being founded on understanding of the Bible, they must educate men who could understand and expound it. The foundation of Harvard College stimulated New Haven in its infancy to attempt a like institution. Mr. Da- venport was deputized to ascertain the amount of money that would be necessary for the foundation of a "free school," and to draw up rules to govern the institution. This was five years after the organization of Harvard. The restraining hand of the Bay Colony was in opposition to this laudable enterprise ; her people remonstrated, claiming that the whole population of New England was scarcely sufficient to sup- port one college, and that the institution of a second would sacrifice them both. The weaker bowed to the mightier power, and for a decade no action was taken; at the end of this period the matter was again agitated, but at a General Court held at Guilford, June 28, 1652, it was decided that New Haven Colony would not establish a college unless Con- necticut would bear its just proportion of the expense. There had been, previous to this, lands donated by the New Haven Colony as the site of a college, which were called "College Lands."


Two years rolled away, and through the indefatigable exer- tions of Mr. Davenport the matter was again brought be- fore the General Court. The following year New Haven donated £300 and Milford £100 to promote the undertak-


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ing. From England also came a bequest; Governor Hop- kins' death occurring in his native land, he left his estate in New England to be divided equally between the towns of New Haven and Hartford for grammar-school purposes, thereby becoming the first public benefactor of the educa- tional system of Connecticut. The General Court of New Haven, in accepting the donation, ordered that a grammar- school and college should be established at New Haven, and appropriated £40 annually as a salary for the preceptor or rector in charge of the college, and £100 towards the com- mencement of a library. The college was for the teaching of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and literature, to fit youths for public service in the Church and Commonwealth. The first rector was Mr. Davenport, who after serving several years was suc- ceeded by Mr. Peck. The union of the two colonies, the want of proper support, and the removal of Mr. Daven- port to Boston, led to the abandonment of the college; the public school, now known as the Hopkins Grammar School, became heir to the endowment and the "College Lands."


Nor was the colony of Connecticut backward in the mat- ter of free education. The General Court in 1644 estab- lished a school system; a prominent reason for so doing was that "one chief project of that old deluder Satan was to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures." The selectmen as well as the parents and masters were cau- tioned that as a fundamental principle of education, children should be taught weekly "some short orthodox catechism." Every town in Connecticut of fifty families was obliged by law to maintain a school in which reading and writing should be taught, and in every county town a grammar school was instituted; in 1678 the law was modified to read thirty in- stead of fifty families. A complete revision of the laws per-


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taining to public education was made at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The time of holding school, which had been reduced to six months, was increased to eleven months, and a tax of forty shillings on every £1,000 assessment was levied for their maintenance; this was re- duced in 1754 to ten shillings, but after being raised to twenty shillings, was reduced to the original amount in 1767. Pre- vious to 1712 the towns established, provided, and regulated schools, but in that year it was enacted that every parish should maintain a school; in 1750 the parishes were recog- nized as subdivisions or school districts, and after that date until 1798 they were practically equal with the towns in the conduct of school affairs. In the early days the popular way of maintaining schools was by tuition fees, collected of the parents or guardians of the scholars. There were exceptions to this : in New Haven the school was supported wholly by taxation; in Hartford the salary of the master was guar- anteed by the town ; but this was amended in 1677 so that all the towns provided for the support of the teacher. While there were school committees previous to 1750, it was not until that year that a law was enacted providing for their election.


Destiny rules the world, and it seemed to be a decree of foreordination that a college should be established at New Haven ; it was not, however, until the end of the seventeenth century that another attempt was inaugurated. The general synod of churches held in 1698 devised a plan to establish a college; "they were to nominate the first president and in- spectors, and to exercise an influence over all elections as far as should be necessary to preserve orthodoxy in the gover- nors." The college was to be called "The School of the Church," and to be supported by the churches. This plan was


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not successful, but in the following year ten of the most prominent ministers of the colony were nominated, with the consent of the clergy and laity, to formulate a plan and be- come trustees of a college to be located in the colony of Con- necticut. The persons named were James Noyes of Stoning- ton, Israel Chauncey of Stratford, Thomas Buckingham of Saybrook, Abraham Pierson of Killingworth, Samuel Math- er of Windsor, Samuel Andrews of Milford, Timothy Woodbridge of Hartford, James Pierpont of New Haven, Noadiah Russell of Middletown, and Joseph Webb of Fair- field. These gentlemen were all graduates of Harvard ex- cepting Mr. Buckingham; Pierpont, Andrew, and Russell were the most active in formulating the work, and it was due to their indefatigable labors that the plan was finally brought to a successful termination.


The first meeting of the trustees was held in New Haven during the year 1700, and a society was formed, consisting of eleven members, for the foundation of a college. At a subse- quent meeting held in the same year at Branford it is said that each of the trustees brought a number of books, and with the words, "I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony," presented them to the association. The con- tribution amounted to forty folio volumes pertaining to the- ology, and not a single volume of classical literature or the sciences; they were estimated to be worth thirty pounds sterling. In the following year Sir John Davie of Groton, while on a visit to England, sent to the college one hundred and sixty or seventy volumes, most of which were collected among the nonconformist ministers in Devonshire. The Rev. Noadiah Russell was appointed librarian, and the volumes remained three years in his possession. The act of depositing the books has been considered the beginning of


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the college; but as a matter of fact it did not have a corpo- rate existence until a year from that time. The trustees, de- siring to make the institution legal, in order that it might encourage public donations and become a real-estate owner, applied to the General Assembly for a charter. At their so- licitation, Judge Samuel Sewall and Isaac Addington of Bos- ton had prepared the draft of a charter; and at the session of the colonial legislature held at New Haven in October 1701, a petition signed by a number of the clergy and laity was presented to that body.


The first private donor to the seminary, other than the original organizers was Hon. James Fitch of Norwich, who gave 637 acres of land in Killingly, and the necessary glass and nails to erect a college and hall. Mr. Fitch had been a member of the council of the colony for several years. While the value of the donation is not known, there is no doubt but that the glass and nails constituted the most desira- ble part of the gift; the land was afterwards exchanged for the same quantity in Salisbury. This benefaction had an in- fluence on the action of the Assembly ; a charter was granted Oct. 9, 1701, varying but slightly from the original draft, and the legislature voted sixty pounds sterling annually to- wards the support of the institution. In the charter the sem- inary was not designated as a college, but as a collegiate school, with no fixed place of habitation; the trustees being empowered to hold school at any convenient place or places they might select, and for the encouragement of the students to grant degrees or licenses.


On receipt of the charter the trustees met at Saybrook on Nov. 11, 1701, and after the refusal of Rev. Isaac Chaun- cey of Stratford, Rev. Abraham Pierson of Killingworth was elected to the office of rector. Rev. Samuel Russell was


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chosen trustee to complete the number, and Saybrook was de- termined upon as the place to establish the seminary. The newly elected rector was asked to remove to Saybrook; but to this proposition his congregation objected, and permission was granted for the students to be instructed at Killingworth.


There was no plan of studies adopted by the trustees, and the probability is that the same course of instruction was pursued as at Harvard. The first student was Jacob Hem- ingway, a youth of eighteen, who begun his studies in March 1702 and continued alone till the following Septem- ber; he journeyed several miles to reach the parsonage of Rev. Abraham Pierson at Killingworth (now Clinton) . The studies were more on the principle of tutorship than a collegiate course. The school was not founded merely as a theological seminary, but rather for the necessary instruction in arts and sciences, to fit the student for public employment both in Church and State; yet in those days the laity were sup- posed to need a solid grounding in divinity. The first com- mencement was held privately at Saybrook, Sept. 13, 1702, and* honorary degrees were conferred on four Harvard graduates, however. The following year a general contri- bution to build a college house was solicited throughout the colony; the students had been increased to eight, and Rev. Daniel Hooker was chosen tutor; the course till 1710 was three years, and the classes were named Senior Sophisters, Sophomores, and Freshmen.


The death of the Rev. Mr. Pierson in 1707 retarded the


*Some authorities claim that there was no proper gradu- ating class until 1703; when the Triennial Catalogue makes the following record :


1703 Johannes Hart, A. M. Tutor, 1731.


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progress of the college; the Senior class was at Milford un- der the care of Mr. Andrew, the rector pro tempore, and the other classes at Saybrook under the charge of two tutors. There had been dissatisfaction ever since the inauguration of the college, in regard to a site for a permanent home. This disagreement caused a division of opinion among the trustees, and the scholars became disorderly and discontented; some of the students went to Wethersfield and placed them- selves under the tuition of Rev. Elisha Williams. A large contribution of books, amounting to eight hundred volumes and valued at £260 sterling, was received in 1714 from friends in England, through the efforts of Jeremiah Dummer of Boston, who was located at that time in London. When the trustees met at the commencement in 1716, it was found that divided instructions and government, aided by the strug- gles of towns to obtain the final location of the college, had so crippled the institution that there was danger of its ex- tinction.


Several towns had subscribed different amounts towards the erection of a permanent building; New Haven had do- nated £700, Saybrook £400, and considerable sums had been pledged by Hartford and Wethersfield. On Oct. 17, 1716, the trustees voted to establish the college at New Haven, and continued Mr. Andrew as rector pro tempore. The location of the college became an important feature in colonial politics, but in 1717 the General Assembly endorsed the removal to New Haven, and voted a grant to aid in the erection of the buildings.


The inhabitants of Saybrook forcibly resisted the removal of the library to New Haven; and it was judged necessary for the governor and council to be present, when the sheriff executed the orders of the General Assembly. The Saybrook


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people destroyed the carts furnished for the transportation of the books, the bridges between the town and New Haven were broken down, and many valuable papers and books were lost. At the next gubernatorial election, Governor Salton- stall barely escaped defeat, a political intrigue having been formed to supersede him by those opposed to the selection of New Haven as a permanent location for the college.


The first commencement held at New Haven was in 1717; the number of students was thirty-one, and four were ad- mitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Part of the stu- dents continued at Wethersfield, the northern part of the col- ony being still opposed to New Haven as a permanent site for the college. The commencement held Sept. 12, 1718, at New Haven, was the first one to which the public were in- vited; it was attended by the principal laymen and clergymen of the colony. An edifice of wood 170 feet long, 22 feet wide, and three stories in height, containing about fifty rooms for students, besides a hall, library, and kitchen, was completed in that year at a cost of about £1000; it was torn down in the fall of 1782.


The institution had received several donations from indi- vidual residents of the colony and country; Jahaliel Brenton of Newport, Rhode Island, and Governor Saltonstall, each had subscribed fifty pounds. The largest benefactor was Elihu Yale, a native of New Haven, who at the age of ten years was taken to England, and on attaining manhood went to the East Indies; eventually returning to London, he be- came Governor of the East India Company. He was a man of generous disposition, and having amassed a large fortune, his attention had been drawn to the struggling college in his native town; he was one of the principal donors of the books collected by Dummer in England for the institution;


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From the original painting in the Gallery of Yale College.


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and in the years 1718-21 Governor Yale donated goods valued at £400 sterling, and books estimated to be worth £100, to the college. As an acknowledgment of these deeds of beneficence, at the commencement held in 1718 the new building, which at that time constituted the college, was named Yale.


Never was so prominent a distinction given to an unknown cognomen, or a more perpetual monument to one's memory created, for so insignificant an expenditure.


In 1718 a commencement was held on the same day at Wethersfield, for the dissatisfied students who had pur- sued their studies in that town. The differences between the factions were finally healed by moderate and conciliatory acts of the legislature, and the appointment of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge as rector pro tempore; the members of the class of 1718, absent from the commencement services at New Haven, received their diplomas.


The college being now fixed permanently at New Haven, it was deemed advisable to have a resident rector; the trus- tees, after considering the points of the different can- didates, decided in March 1719 to appoint Rev. Timothy Cutler of Stratford to the office. Mr. Cutler was a graduate of Harvard, and was ordained in 1710 over the church in Stratford, in accordance with the constitution of the churches in Connecticut. He was an excellent linguist, a great Hebrew, Oriental, and Arabic scholar, also a good logician, geogra- pher, and rhetorician; master of philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics; his pronunciation of Latin was accounted per- fect, and he spoke the language with fluency and dignity. He was extensive reader in academic sciences, divinity, and ecclesiastical history. In personal appearance he was of com- manding presence, of lofty and imperious mien, and made an


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imposing figure at the head of the college. In 1722 a house was built for the rector, and continued to be used till the summer of 1834, when it was demolished.


The college was now enjoying the most flourishing con- dition in its history; the students' dormitory was well filled, the number of instructors was increased, and valuable addi- tions had been made to the library, principally by dona- tions from England. At the commencement held in 1722, a paper was presented by seven ministers of the col- ony to the assembled "fathers and brothers," which disclosed the astonishing fact that they had become imbued with the doctrine of Episcopacy. At this time there was not an Epis- copal Church or clergyman in Connecticut, although there were a few adherents of that doctrine residing at Stratford, the former home of Rev. Mr. Cutler. The position taken was like a firebrand to the people of Connecticut; they feared that with the introduction of the Episcopal form of worship, the home government would exercise a dangerous influence in their affairs, and that it would lead to an abridgment of their religious and civil liberty, which were the great objects of their settlement of New England.


At a meeting held in the college library on the day after the Commencement, at which Gov. Saltonstall presided, the sub- ject was warmly debated; Rector Cutler and Rev. Samuel Johnson were the chief speakers on the invalidity of Presby- terian ordinances. At the close of the debate, the trustees voted to excuse both Rector Cutler and Tutor Brown, the only two officers of instruction in the college, from all further services. The following resolutions were also passed : "That all such persons as shall hereafter be elected to the office of rector or tutor in this college shall, before they are accepted therein, before the trustees, declare their assent to the confes-


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sion of faith owned and consented to by the elders and mes- sengers of the churches in the colony of Connecticut, assem- bled by delegation at Saybrook Sept. 9, 1708, and confirmed by the acts of the General Assembly; and shall particularly give satisfaction to them of the soundness of their faith, in opposition to Arminian and prelatical corruptions, or any other dangerous consequences to the purity and peace of the churches."


On the retirement of Rector Cutler from the college, Mr. Andrew of Milford was again appointed rector pro tempore; the position of rector was refused by several gentlemen, as it was considered a station of peculiar difficulty, after the agi- tations arising from the late declaration for Episcopacy. In 1726 the Rev. Elisha Williams was chosen rector, and ac- cepted the position ; his government of the college was more from personal influence than in accordance with any estab- lished laws.


The General Assembly of Connecticut in 1732 granted the college three hundred acres in each of the new towns of Norfolk, Canaan, Goshen, Cornwall, and Kent. The same year they were the recipient of a donation from Dr. George Berkeley, then Dean of Derry in Ireland, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne. This amiable divine had visited America intending to found a college, and had purchased a country seat of nearly one hundred acres at Newport, Rhode Island; relinquishing his design of establishing a college, Berkeley returned to England. During his residence in America he became acquainted with several trustees of Yale College, and deeded his real estate in Newport to the infant university. This donation, at the suggestion of the Dean, was made into a fund, the proceeds of which were to maintain at college for three years after graduation the three best scholars in Latin


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and Greek languages; if there was any surplus it was to be expended in Greek and Latin books, to be distributed as premiums to undergraduates who made the best compositions or declamations in the Latin language. The first examina- tion for the Dean's bounty was held in May 1733; and the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, who afterwards became the first president of Dartmouth College, and Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebroen became the first scholars so honored. In the next half-century, many students who afterwards became prom- inently identified with the educational and political affairs of the country were the recipients of the Dean's generosity; among whom may be mentioned Aaron Burr, William Samuel Johnson, Naphtali Daggett, Nehemiah Strong, James A. Hillhouse, Silas Deane, Stephen M. Mitchell, John Trum- bull, John Davenport, Samuel W. Dana, Abraham Baldwin, and many others.


While a resident of Newport, Dean Berkeley presented his books to the college library, and on his return to the Old World he made an additional donation of nearly one thou- sand volumes, which were estimated to have cost over £400 sterling; these books were Greek and Latin classics, a nearly complete set of the Christian Fathers, and the most approved works in theology, history, the sciences, and general litera- ture. Rector Williams, owing to ill health, was obliged to resign his position in 1739, having filled the chair with great usefulness and honor; he was a good classical scholar, spoke Latin freely, and was well versed in logic, metaphysics, ethics, rhetoric, and oratory. On the day that his resignation was accepted, Rev. Thomas Clap was elected to fill his vacancy.


The new rector was a graduate of Harvard, and for four- teen years had been connected with the church at Windham; he possessed the talent of acquiring great knowledge with lit-


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tle time spent in reading, owing to a quick comprehension and retentive memory. While he was not eminent as a classical scholar, he had complete knowledge of three learned languages; he was an authority on mathematics and natural philosophy, and conversant with English common law; he was a practical business man, and instituted a number of re- forms in the college of great benefit to its organization. Rec- tor Clap was inaugurated April 2, 1740, and at the sugges- tion of the trustees began to compile a new set of laws for the university; they were founded on the old laws and statutes of the college, the laws of Harvard College and the University of Oxford, and on completion contained several new additions. These laws were adopted by the board of trustees in 1745, translated into Latin and published in 1748; being the first book printed in New Haven. This code of laws punished various transgressions of the students with fines; but the practice fell into disuse at the close of the eighteenth century. At the time of compiling the new code, Rector Clap prepared a large volume which was called the customs of the college; this book was never printed, but was read publicly and explained to the students. There is no copy of the book extant, but it contained minute laws respect- ing the subordination of classes, and the deportment of the students towards each other and the government of the college, and limited corporal punishments to the Freshman class. These consisted in the rector's boxing the culprit's ears; the last of these customs, so far as they had the force of laws, was abolished in 1804.


The social distinctions of the times were illustrated in the college catalogues, which until 1767 were arranged not al- phabetically but in order of rank; first appeared the sons of the executive officers of the colony, then of clergymen, law-


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yers, artisans, and tradesmen. The students were called by their surnames unless they were the sons of a nobleman or a knight's eldest son. Laborious etiquette prevailed between the faculty and students, and conversations between under- graduates were carried on in Latin. The rector also rear- ranged in more convenient form the books in the library, enu- merated and numbered each volume, and in 1743 printed a catalogue for the use of the students. The library consisted of about 2,600 volumes; this was increased in 1766 to about 4,000, but in 1791 there were only 2,700. This was occa- sioned by losses during the American Revolution, when the library was shipped to different points of the Commonwealth for the convenience of the students, who were scattered, or to save it from being captured by the incursions of the enemy.


The college having outgrown its original charter, Rector Clap prepared a draft for a new one; and after its revision by Hon. Thomas Fitch, it received the approval of the board of trustees, and was sanctioned by the General Assembly in May 1745. The incorporated name was "The President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven"; but the body in common language is called "the corporation". The charter was most liberal in its provisions, and granted every import- ant power and privilege which the college needed, or will need in the future; the government was invested, the same as formerly, in ten clergymen. The Assembly voted for the use of the college £100 of silver money, to be paid semi-annually.




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