History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 34

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men > Part 34

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" Feb'y 24, 1774."

" Ata meeting the 21st April 1774,

" Voted That the hours the members meet to begin at 8 o'clock P. M. & to brake up at 10 during the summer.

" At the above meeting

" Voted That any person proposed by his friend for admittance, shall be proposed one night and stand over to the next night for a ballot for admission.

"Voted That this Society shall have liberty to animadvert on the be- havior or conduct of any member of it, which may indicate or manifest any contempt or neglect of the same whether by neglecting or refusing to attend at the meetings of this Society, or for any other cause, or by any conduct which may evince that he is influenced by motives and principles inimical to this Society, and repugnant to its interests and that this Society shall have power and authority to suspend, admonish and expel any member of the same, as the demerits of his case may de- mand and require.

"June 16 1774."

1774, June 16 Nathaniel Shaler elected President.

Return Jonath'n Meigs " Vice-President.

July 7 Charles Whiting elected Secretary.

"The above officers retained during the tinie of the records now extant.

Dec. 29 Voted That the Society meet once a fortnight on Wed-

nesday evening at the usual hour and the usual place.

" The last record dated Feb'y 23, 1775.

" MEMBERS.

" Samuel Willis jr., admitted Feb'y 24, 1774.

" Arthur Magill, ..

" Nathaniel Shaler,

" Charles Whiting, ..

" Willard Wright, =

" Samuel Bull,

"John Scott, :

March 3, 1774.

" Jabez Hamlin Jr.,

"Wm. Henderson,

"George Phillips Jr.,

"John Osborn

" Giles Sage,

24, "

"Jeremiah Wadsworth,"

April 7, "

" Return J. Meigs, May 12,

" Amos Bull. " 19,

"Samuel B. Webb,

" 26, "

" Joseph King,

June 23, "

" Wm. Bull,

" 30, "

" Elisha Clark,

July 7, “

" Isaac Williams,

Aug't 11, "

"George Starr,

Dec'r 15, "

"Joseph Smith, 06 Feb'y 8, 1775."

LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.

Middletown has always exhibited a liberal spirit in of- fering encouragement to such enterprises as were likely, directly or indirectly, to advance the prosperity of the town, and to such institutions as would tend to elevate society, morally, or intellectually.

In 1824 efforts were made to secure the location of Washington College in this city, and the following rec- ord shows the action of the town in the matter:

" At a town meeting held on the 21st of April 1824, it was Voted, That upon Washington College being located in this town, this town will at the request of the Trustees of sd College, take the proper and legal steps to obtain a partition and division of the interest of said town from the interest of the town of Chatham in the Quarries, lying in the sd Towns, so that each of said towns may hold & use their Interest in said Quarries in severalty & that the Selectmen for the time being, be, & they are hereby appointed and empowered by this Town as a Com'ee to procure & obtain sd Partition & division in such manner as they shall judge best & proper & that any controversy that now exists or hereafter may exist regarding the right of this town in said Quarries may be car- ried on and maintained in the name & at the expense of this Town.

" Whereas by a Vote of this Town passed on the 30th March last, the use of the Town's interest in the Two Quarries belonging to it was granted to Washington College if located & continued in this place, untill said usc shall nett the sum of $20,000 (twenty thousand dollars) therefore Voted That the Town in case it should be preferred by the Trustees of Washington College to the terms of the former vote, will pay over annually to said College, the nett profits & rents of its interest in the two Quarries belonging to said Town, untill the nett profits & rents of said Quarries shall amount to $20,000 on Condition that said Col- lege be located and continued in said Town."

This institution (now Trinity College) was finally lo- cated at Hartford. In the same year arrangements were made for the removal of Captain Partridge's American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, which was es- tablished at Norwich, Vt., in 1820, to this city. To ac- complish this desired result the following action was taken:

"At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the town of Middletown held on the 2d day of August, 1824, by special warning from the Selectmen of said town for the purpose of considering whether it will proffer any aid in procuring Capt. Partridge's School to be removed and established in this Town & making such grant from the Quarry or otherwise as the inhabitants may deem proper. Nehemiah Hubbard being chosen Moderator it was

" Voted, That in the opinion of this meeting it is an object of great importance to the interests of this town to procure the removal of Capt. Partridge's Scientific and Military Academy to this place.

March 10, 1774.

17, "

119

MIDDLETOWN-SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.

"Whereas by virtue of sundry aneient grants of the proprietors of the Common and Undivided lands in Middletown and Chatham, and the uniform and uninterrupted usage in pursuance thereof, confirmed and regulated by recent votes & conveyances, and a resolve of the General Assembly in relation thereto, as appears of record, said town of Middle- town has a legal and unqualified right to getstone for the general use of said town and for the particular use of its inhabitants in either of the Town Quarries in Chatham & Middletown, and whereas, the removal of Capt. Partridge's School to, and its establishment in Middletown will be manifestly advantageous to said town, and its inhabitants, and said Town are desirous of promoting the establishment of the same, which eannot be obtained without the aid of the Town by furnishing stoneto be taken from said quarries .- Therefore it is Resolved, and the Town in consideration of the premises, and of our interest in the land to be purehased, and the buildings to be ereeted for the pur-

pose aforesaid, in proportion to the net value of this grant, the evidence of which is to be furnished to the Town by persons hereinafter named who have been appointed to purehase said land, & erect said buildings, in like manner as to the subscribers for said land and buildings, do hereby grant to said persons hereinafter named, tull right & authority for & in the name & behalf of this Town to enter upon said Quarries, or either of them, personally or by their agents, and to raise, dig & remove therefrom stone in such manner and quantities, from time to time within five years from the 1st day of January next, as they may deem necessary to be used in the crection of said buildings & to defray the expense of raising & transporting the stone, not exceeding in value at the eash price Ten thousand dollars elear of the expenses of raising and transporting the same, and should the quantity of stone so to be raised within said term, exeeed the quan- tity used in erecting said buildings & appurtenances the excess shall be, by the said persons sold, applied & expended in completing the afore- said buildings, & the town doth hereby appoint, authorize, empower and direet Nehemiah Hubbard, Joshua Stow & Alexander Woleott, or either of them, for & in behalf of said town, to inake, exeeute & deliver to Thomas Mather, John Hinsdale, George W. Stanley, Elijah Hubbard, John L. Lewis, John Alsop and Samuel D. Hubbard, the Committee herein before referred to, or to such person or persons as they or a ma- jority of them shall name or request, a lease or leases for the aforesaid term of Five years from said Ist day of January next, in pursuance of the foregoing Vote, which lease shall vest in the Lessee or Lessees, all the right of said town to enter into & upon s'd Quarries, and to dig. raise & remove therefrom stone, & to do any lawful act for & in behalf of said town in relation thereto during the term & for the purposes aforesaid.

"Test. WM. H. FISK, Town Clerk Protempore."

A site for the building was secured, and the corner stone of a large and substantial edifice was laid "accord- ing to the forms of the masonic order, by the fraternity." This building and the chapel were so nearly completed that the institution was opened in 1825, and its fifth an- niversary was celebrated in September of that year. At that celebration more than two hundred cadets, from nineteen States and the District of Columbia, were present.

The institution was designed to meet the wants of the American republic at that time. Its course of instruc- tion was literary and scientific, as well as military, and in its organization and discipline it was strictly inilitary; the students were called cadets, and were dressed in uni- form. It was the aim of the conductors of this institu- tion to gratify different tastes, talents, and attainments, by permitting students to advance according to their ability, instead of being detained by those less able or industrious, regard being had alone to thoroughness in their acquirements.

Captain Partridge retained exclusive control of the discipline of the institution, and instruction was given by himself and the teachers whom he employed till 1828, when a board of trustees was appointed and the faculty was increased. At one time the cadets numbered 243. Many of the students were from the Southern States, and the standard of scholarship in all was very creditable.

Of those who were students in this academy, many

have acquired distinction as statesmen, authors, engi- neers, or military officers.

The institution ceased here, and in 1829 the buildings reverted to the original proprietors.

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY .*

Of the various public institutions that adorn the city of Middletown, no one occu' ies a more beautiful situation than Wesleyan University. Its line of imposing buildings crowning the summit of the hill on the side of which the city lies is the first object to catch the eye of the visitor who aproaches Middletown over that most pleasant road, the river. If, on landing, he take the middle one of the five streets that climb this hill, it will lead him straight to the college gate. A nearer view of the college and its surroundings only discloses more clearly the charm of its situation. No other New England college can boast a more beautiful. A large and admirably kept campus, planted with noble elms and maples; a line of five handsome brown stone buildings, three of them comparatively new; glimpses of other buildings behind them and of smooth green lawns and playgrounds stretching off in the rear to meet the slopes of the higher Indian Hill-this is what the visitor may see when he reaches the college gate. And if he will take the trouble to climb the tower of Judd Hall and look off on the green and rolling landscape that surrounds the pleasant city of Middletown he will see the finest view to be had in the Connecticut Valley south of Mt. Holyoke. It would be difficult, indeed, to to find a place, in most respects, better fitted to be the site of an institution of learning than Middletown, within easy distance of the large cities and itself combining most of the conveniences of city with all the healthful- ness and rural charm of the country.

About the time when Captain Partridge's school was closed, the Methodist Episcopal church began to give earnest and general attention to the cause of higher edu- cation. One or two attempts at college building, at the close of the previous century, had failed somewhat dis- astrously; and in 1795, when the buildings of Cokes- bury College, Baltimore, were burned to the ground, Bishop Asbury wrote to a friend, with an evident sense of relief, "Its friends need not mourn: the Lord called not the Methodists to build colleges." But during the years between 1815 and 1825, academies and schools of similar grade, under the direction of this denominatior, had been established in good numbers throughout most of the Eastern States, Some of these, like those at Kents Hill, Maine, and Wilbraham, Massachusetts, achieved an immediate and lasting popularity. The success of these schools revived the interest in collegiate education, and determined the leaders of the church to found some in- stitution in which the education begun in these second- ary schools could be carried on and completed. Propo- sitions of this sort chanced to come to the ears of some of the trustees of Captain Partridge's defunct American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy, At a meet- ing, held early in 1829, one of them casually remarked

"BY PROF. C. T. WINCHESTER.

I 20

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

that if the Methodists were thinking of founding a col- lege, it might be possible to dispose of their empty build- ings to them, and that for such a purpose they might well sell the property for $4,000. Rev. Laban Clark D. D., then presiding elder of the New Haven district, hap- pened shortly after to be in Middletown; and being in- formed of this remark, 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 pre- sented from the trustees proposals for the transfer of the property in due form, and urged their acceptance upon the conference. A committee, consisting of James En- ory, Samuel Lucky, and Heman Bangs, was appointed to consider these proposals. The New England Conference, being invited to unite in the project, appointed Timothy Merritt, S. Martindale, and Wilbur Fisk to act in conjunc- tion with the New York committee. 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 subscrip- tions. Liberal offers came from Troy, New York, Bridge- port, Connecticut, and Wilbraham, Massachusetts; but those from Middletown were now so modified that the committee had no hesitation in preferring them. The trustees of the academy, with the consent of the stock- holders, offered the entire property, valued at about thirty thousand dollars, to the conferences, on the two conditions, that it should be perpetually used for a col- lege or university, and that a fund of forty thousand 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 accept- ance of this offer was adopted at the session of confer- ence in May, 1830, and the forty thousand dollars en- dowment was soon raised. A board of trustees was elected, one third by each of the two conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church-the New England and the New York East-that had intrusted themselves in found- ing the college, and the other third by the trustees of the Military Academy; and application was at once made to the legislature for a charter for " The Wesleyan Univer- sity." This first charter provided that the power to elect a faculty, arrange courses of instruction, and determine all matters of administration should be vested jointly in the trustees and in an equal number of " visitors " to be elected annually by the two above-named conferences, and,by such other of the conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church as might afterward be admitted to such representation. This awkward division of governing powers continued until 1870, when, by an amendment to the charter, the board of visitors was abolished. At present the trustees are elected, a part by the board itself, a part by the conferences of the Methodist Church, and a part of the alumni.

At the first meeting of the joint Board of Trustees and Visitors, August 24th 1830, Rev. Willbur Fisk, D.D., then

principal of Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, was elected first president of the Wesleyan University. In October of the same year, a preparatory school was opened in the build- ings, under the superintendence of Rev. W. C. Larabee. In May, 1831, the 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. The catalogue for 1831 registers forty-eight students; the first class graduated in 1833 numbered six; and in 1836 one hundred and twenty names were on the college rolls.

Those early years were, however, a time of constant struggle. The $40,000 was but a very slender founda- tion for a college, and additional contributions were, as President Fisk said, "as meagre as the leakage of a mis- er's purse." The new college was in want of libraries, museum, apparatus-in short, of all education appliances whatever. But by untiring exertions the endowment was slowly increased, a few books were got together to begin a library, and President Fisk went to Europe to purchase apparatus. In its early days of poverty and struggle the institution had many faithful and helpful friends, among whom Rev. Heman Bangs, D. D., and Rev. Laban Clark, D. D., deserve especial mention. It was Dr. Clark who first determined that the college should be planted in Middletown, and in all its early difficulties it had no more earnest and prudent helper. A Methodist preacher in those days, when to be a Methodist preacher meant to ride a circuit of a hundred miles, he was a man of tireless energy and indomitable persistence. Although he enjoyed in his youth only the most slender educa- tional advantages, he had not only trained his naturally shrewd and penetrating intellect in the hard school of experience, but broadened and ripened it by wide and careful reading. His enthusiasm, tact, and prudence were of great value in the early counsels of the college, and he has been not inaptly called the father of Wes- leyan University. His knapsack, saddle-bags, and home- spun suit deposited in a chest made from the wood of the first Methodist church in America, are religiously preserved in the college library.

But to no one was the college so much indebted in those early days as to its first president, Willbur Fisk. A sound scholar, a thinker and writer of acknowledged reputation both within and without his own denomina- tion, he was almost the only one of the founders of the college who had any very clear ideas of what a college ought to be or to do. The course of instruction, the plan of administration, the methods of discipline, all were largely of his deciding. Upon him, too, devolved most of the labor of enlarging the slender endowment. From the day of his arrival in Middletown, in the December before the opening of the college, to the day of his death, his time and his care were all given to the Wesleyan Uni- versity. He endeavored by extensive correspondence to increase the general interest in the institution; he travelled through the Northern and Eastern States to collect moneys for it; though always in feeble health, he attend-

EFFI

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, MIDDLETOWN, CONN.

MORGAN SCHOOL

CLINTON, CONN.

I2I

MIDDLETOWN-SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.

ed personally to most of the minute details of its ad- ministration; and, almost with his last words he com- mended "this poor university " to .the friends of educa- tion.

It was a pet notion of Dr. Fisk that the rigid plan of a four years' course of study and the corresponding di- vision of students into four classes fostered traditional college jealousies and impeded the progress of the abler students. In accordance with these peculiar views-which were afterwards entertained by Presidents Wayland of Brown, and Marsh of the University of Vermont-the proficiency of the student was, at first, made the only basis of classification; and any student, able to pass the requisite examination, received a diploma, without re- gard to the time he had spent in college. The plan, however, soon fell into disuse; diplomas were, in fact, given only at the close of the college year, and students naturally arranged themselves in classes from the start. In the catalogue of 1836 we find the ordinary distinctions of Seniors, Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen. It is worthy of note, also, that, at the suggestion of President Fisk, the Wesleyan University anticipated some of the most important features of the new education, by giving much more attention to the modern languages than they commonly received at that time, and 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 circumstances forbade the ordinary classical course. But perhaps Presi- dent Fisk is remembered most of all for the rare beauty of his character and his personal influence over his stu- dents. To them he was like a father; while his pure and lofty piety, his gentle and saintly temper endeared him to all who knew him. He died in 1839. His widow survived him forty-five years, living in pathetic seclusion alone, in a house* on one corner of the college campus.

At the death of Dr. Fisk, 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, and con- sequently 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 reluctance, 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 snccess in a similar situation, caused him to be greeted with an enthusiastic welcome. He was thoroughly pre- pared for his work. He had filled the chair of belles lettres for seven years in Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, and for four years had been president of Ran- dolph Macon College. He was a thorough and enthu- siastic classical scholar, and inclined to be rather more conservative than President Fisk in his views of a college education; it was during his administration that the mod-

ern languages disappeared altogether, for a time, from the curriculum. He was a finished and graceful writer; but it was only in the pulpit that his greatest power was seen. Here he was supreme. In his power of sustained and commanding eloquence he was unapproached by any other preacher in his own denomination, unsurpassed by any. While he was president, 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 success- ful in improving the financial condition of the univer- sity, and extending its reputation; and his noble and commanding character was itself an inspiration to all the students under his charge. He received very effi- cient aid in the general administration of the college from Professor 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 perma- nent existence and prosperity of the institution was in- sured 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 President Smith, ably aided by Professor H. B. Lane, more than eighty thou- sand dollars was at this time invested for the endowment of professorships. Isaac Rich, of Boston, 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 Cummings, D.D., LL.D., President of Genesee College, was elected to the vacant post. The personal force and energy of President Cummings, his tireless industry, his hearty devotion to the welfare of the college, together with his skill and popularity as an instructor, combined to make his administration, in many respects, a very successful one. It was particularly marked by the growth of the material interests of the institution, in which President Cummings always took especial concern. To his labors the college is princi- pally indebted for the line of noble buildings that now crown the hill.

During the Commencement week of 1868, a new and tasteful library building, capable of containing one hun- dred thousand volumes, was dedicated. This building was erected by the late Isaac Rich, at a cost of forty thousand dollars. During the same week, the contribu- tions of Mr. Rich to the Endowment Fund were in- creased to one hundred thousand dollars. 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 In 1866, the cen- tennial anniversary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, an appeal had been made to the friends of the college to

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History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 34

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818