USA > Georgia > Bibb County > Macon > Georgia Baptists: historical and biographical > Part 13
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Mercer University.
"SEC. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia may, at its next meeting, or at any subsequent meeting, elect a Board of Trustees for the said University, consisting of not less than fifteen nor more than thirty-one in number, who shall, or their successors in office, be a body politic and corporate, by the name of the Trustees of Mercer University, and as such they shall be capable of and liable in law to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, and shall be authorized to use a common seal, to hold all manner of property, both real and personal, for the purpose of making a permanent endowment of said institution, and to raise funds for the support of the same, and for the erec- tion of buildings, or to confer literary degrees, and to exercise such other power, not inconsistent with the laws of this State or of the United States, as the aforesaid Convention shall see fit to vest in their hands.
"SEC. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the aforesaid Convention shall be authorized to determine the manner in which said Board of Trustees shall be perpetua- ted, and the character of the individuals from whom they may be chosen.
"SEC. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, upon the premises now owned by the Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia, in Greene county, or that may here- after come into their possession, no person shall, by himself, servant or agent, keep, have, use or maintain a gaming house, or room of any description, or permit, with his knowledge, any house or room occupied or owned by him to be used by any person whatever as a place of gaming, nor shall any person upon the premises aforesaid, by himself, servant or agent, keep, employ or allow, with his knowledge, to be kept or employed on the premises he may occupy, any faro table, billiard table, E O table, A B C table, or any other table of like character, nor shall any person, by himself, servant or agent, upon the premises now owned by the said Convention in Greene county, or that may hereafter come into their possession, to be allowed to sell ardent spirits, wine, cordials, or any other intoxicating drinks whatever, nor permit the same to be done with his or her knowledge or approbation, on the premises which he or
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she may occupy : Provided, however, that the Trustees of the Mercer University may have power to authorize any individual to sell ardent spirits, wines, etc., upon their premises for medi- cal and sacramental purposes. Any person violating the pro- hibitions contained in this section shall be liable to be indicted for a misdemeanor before the Superior Court, and, on convic- tion, shall be fined in a sum not less than one thousand dollars for each and every offense.
"SEC. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the executive committee of the aforesaid Convention, in exe- cuting titles for lots which they may sell from time to time, shall have power to insert such condition as may tend further to defend the premises aforesaid from the nuisances specified in the foregoing sections of this act.
" JOSEPH DAY, "Speaker of the House of Representatives. " ROBERT M. ECHOLS, " President of the Senate.
"Assented to, 22d December, 1837.
" GEORGE R. GILMER, Governor."
As the statement is sometimes made that the University was chartered in 1838, I call attention to the fact that the charter was obtained in 1837, and not in 1838. Under this charter, the " Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia," at its session in 1838, elected the following gentlemen as the
FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF MERCER UNIVERSITY.
Jesse Mercer, C. D. Mallary, V. R. Thornton, Jonathan Davis, John E. Dawson, Malcom Johnson, W. D. Cowdrey, J. H. T. Kilpatrick, J. H. Campbell, S. G. Hillyer, Absalom Janes, R. Q. Dickinson, William Richards, Thomas Stocks, T. G. Janes, J. M. Porter, Lemuel Greene, James Davant, F. W. Cheney, E. H. Macon, William Lumpkin, J. G. Polhill, Lott Warren, M. A. Cooper, J. B. Walker, I. T. Irwin, W. H. Pope.
To this Board all the funds of the University, and its entire management for the future, were soon thereafter turned over, and it has been the custom of the Convention ever since to elect a new Board every three years. [The name of the insti-
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Mercer University.
tution had been changed by the executive committee from the " Mercer Institute " to that of the " Mercer University." in Sep- tember, 1837.] In July, 1838, the newly elected trustees met at Penfield, organized for business, and received the important trust thenceforth committed to their care. This was not done with- out fevent prayer to God for wisdom and grace. Being one of that " original panel," the author speaks advisedly when he de- clares that the sessions of the Board are always opened and closed with prayer, and that he cannot recall an instance when any important action has been taken without first imploring the divine direction and aid. When it is remembered that Mercer, Stocks, Mallary, Thornton, etc., were leading spirits among us, it is not to be wondered at that such a custom was inaugurated. Perhaps no body of men ever labored together more harmoniously during so long a period in the management of a public institution ; and though their management may not in all cases have met the views of interested or disinterested parties, it may with safety be recorded that it has generally been such as to promote the usefulness and success of the insti- tution.
Thomas Stocks was the first president of the board of trus- tees, and has been continued in that position until quite re- cently, when his declining health has disqualified him for it. Four agents, Posey, Conner, Davis and Mallary, were employed in getting the subscriptions to the Washington project trans- ferred and in obtaining new subscriptions. From the sources of information at hand, it is believed that by the end of the first year of its existence the University had been endowed to the amount of about $120,000 00. This includes the legacies of Rev. Jesse Mercer. Among those who contributed large amounts, $1,000 00 and upwards, towards this endowment, were the fol- lowing : Cullen Battle, R. Q. Dickinson, Jesse Mercer, W. H. Pope, James Boykin, T. G. Janes, Absalom Janes, W. Peek, Solomon Graves and John B. Walker. Many others were equally liberal, considering their ability. But those men were both able and willing, and so the work of endowment went on successfully.
The institution lost heavily by the late war, but the report of the trustees to the Georgia Baptist Convention, at Macon,
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April, 1866, shows the University to be worth in good stocks and securities, $144,793 47.
The following gentlemen have been officers of the University :
Presidents-B. M. Sanders, Otis Smith, J. L. Dagg, N. M. Crawford, H. H. Tucker.
Professors and Assistant Professors-I. C. McDaniel, J. W. At- taway, W. J. Hard, S. P. Sanford, Albert Williams, Robert Tolefree, B. O. Pearce, P. H. Mell, W. R. Posey, B. T. Moseley, S. B. Miller, T. D. Martin, S. G. Hillyer, J. E. Willet, U. W. Wise, H. H. Tucker, W. G. Woodfin.
Professors in Theological Department-Adiel Sherwood, J. L. Dagg, J. L. Reynolds, William Williams, S. G. Hillyer.
The " manual labor " feature of Mercer Institute was con- tinued in Mercer University for several years, though it was regarded by many as being not only unprofitable but positively injurious ; and, after eleven years' experience, it was " indefi- nitely suspended." At a meeting of the Board at Penfield, Decem- ber 18, 1844, the following report was adopted : "The com- mittee on manual labor made the following report : Whereas, the manual labor department of Mercer University has been sustained at a very heavy expense-an expense which the present state of the funds will not justify, and has in our judg- ment materially retarded the growth of our institution, after as favorable an experiment as we have been able to make of the scheme ; and whereas, the contributors to the University fund, so far as they have been called upon, express themselves with almost entire unanimity ready to concur in any measure in reference to the system which the Board of Trustees may deem essential to the prosperity of the institution ; and whereas, the Board of Trustees have found themselves, under all the circum- stances, unable to accomplish, to any desirable extent, the im- portant and benevolent designs for which it was originally or- ganized-be it therefore Resolved, That this department be and is hereby indefinitely suspended."
The brother who furnishes me the foregoing item adds : " Private .- Being a student at the time, I was one of the pall- bearers at the funeral of manual labor, and a more joyful fu- , neral, perhaps, was never held; albeit the old system did my health and constitution good. Requiescat in pace." So the stu-
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Mercer University.
dents seem to have held a "joyful funeral" over the old ex- ploded manual labor system. The wonder now is, that it was ever inaugurated.
The institution continued to grow in public favor and use- fulness until the late war threw its shadow across its path. As nearly all our male colleges were suspending operations, the trustees of Mercer University met in Atlanta at an early period of the war, and resolved not to suspend. This was deemed the more necessary in order to afford educational facilities to any young men who might have it in their power to prosecute their studies. At a later period of the war, a resolution was adopted granting tuition gratis to all sick and wounded soldiers. Many of this class have availed themselves of this offer. The institu- tion continued its operations throughout the war.
The College buildings consist of the President's house and office, chapel, a large building occupied by the family of one of the professors and by students, library and apparatus building, building for recitations, and two society halls-all spacious, and most of them of brick. They are situated in a beautiful campus of about four acres, which is well shaded by venerable oaks.
The College and society libraries contain about ten thousand volumes of well selected and standard literature.
The apparatus has cost about $3,000 00, and is ample for all purposes of illustration.
The grand purpose of the founders of Mercer University was the promotion of theological education-the improvement of the rising ministry of the State and of the South. But the theo- logical department has been overshadowed by the literary. Very few have graduated in the theological department ; yet God has accomplished the object for which the institution was organized in another way-one hundred and nineteen of its pupils having engaged in the sacred calling, as the list of names ap- pended to this sketch shows. No doubt many other sons of the University have become ministers of the gospel, whose names the author has not been able to procure. Why God has thus measurably diverted the University from the work it was originally designed to accomplish, is a question the present writer is willing to leave for the future historian. It is matter of profound gratitude to God that he has permitted the institu-
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tion to be raised up, and that he has vouchsafed to it thus far so much prosperity and usefulness. It may be his will that it shall now start on a fresh career of glory. Or, as all the insti- tutions of our country seem to be tottering to their base, it may be his will that Mercer University shall go down in the general wreck, and that her history shall close here.
The foregoing was written several years ago, and as some important things in the history of Mercer University have transpired of late, it is thought best they should be recorded. The denomination in the State have never been fully united as to the location of the University at Penfield. The consequence has been that the question of removal has been agitated in the papers and in the State Convention from time to time for years past. The advocates of removal gradually increased, until the session of the Convention in Newnan, April, 1870, on motion of Rev. C. M. Irwin, it was resolved, by a vote of seventy-one to sixteen, to remove the University from Penfield to such other location as might afterwards be selected. A committee was appointed to co-operate with the Trustees in selecting such lo- cation. A meeting of said committee and the Trustees jointly was held in Atlanta, (date not known,) and fixed upon Macon as the future home of the University. The citizens of Penfield instituted legal proceedings to prevent removal. The trustees suspended the exercises of the University, and the Faculty opened an institution in Macon, on their own account and at their own risk, which was styled Mercer College. The Trus- tees applied to Judge Cole of the Superior Court of Bibb coun- ty, for such an amendment of their charter as would authorize the removal, which was resisted by the citizens of Penfield. The application was granted, whereupon the citizens of Pen- field appealed to the Supreme Court of the State.
Thus matters stood when the Convention met at Cartersville, in April, 1871. The report of the Trustees was referred to a special committee, which committee, in turn, reported, indors- ing the action of the Trustees in deciding upon Macon as the future home of the University, and recommending, as a compro- mise with the people of Penfield, the establishment of a High School at that place by the Trustees of the University, on con-
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Mercer University.
dition that they withdraw their opposition to removal and cease the litigation of the question in the Courts.
The Convention adjourned, sine die, at about ten o'clock at night, April 24th, after which a consultation was held between the Trustees of the University and the agents of the citizens of Penfield. After full and free discussion, the following pre- amble and resolution were offered by Dr. W. T. Brantly, sec- onded by Rev. M. J. Wellborn, and adopted :
" WHEREAS, The Georgia Baptist Convention directed the Board of Trustees of Mercer University to establish an insti- tution at Penfield, to be known as Mercer High School :
"Resolved, That such an institution be opened on the first Tuesday in February next, and that two teachers shall be em- ployed at a salary of six hundred dollars a year each, and all the tuition money : Provided, the condition on which such school was to be established shall then exist."
The foregoing resolution was indorsed as follows : "The within resolution having been passed by the Board of Trustees, the undersigned, on behalf of the citizens of Penfield, hereby pledge themselves to withdraw all litigation in reference to the remo- val of Mercer University, thus leaving no obstacle to the open- ing of said school at the specified time.
(Signed).
"R. L. MCWHORTER, " THOMAS P. JANES, " JAMES R. SANDERS, " Committee."
At this consummation, a motion was made that Dr. Brantly lead in a prayer of thanksgiving. The motion was adopted, and all present knelt in devout prayer. The citizens of Pen- field, in due time, ratified this compact in a public meeting; and, in July following, the Supreme Court announced the with- drawal of the case and the dismission thereof from its docket. Thus was the question of removal settled.
Mercer University, as such, was opened in Macon, in John- ston's building, in October, 1871. The present Faculty consists of the following gentlemen :
A. J. BATTLE, D. D., President, and Professor of Moral Phi- losophy.
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Georgia Baptists-Historical.
BETHEL FEMALE COLLEGE-CUTHBERT.
In the spring of 1851, the author, then residing at Lumpkin, Stewart county, was invited to'a meeting of the executive com- mittee of the Bethel Baptist Association, which was held at the residence of Rev. Thomas Muse, for the purpose of holding a consultation on the subject of establishing a female college somewhere within the bounds of said Association. There were in attendance on that meeting, if he remembers rightly, besides himself, only three others-W. L. Crawford, B. Graves and Thomas Muse. The result of that meeting was reported by that committee to the Association at Benevolence church, Ran- dolph county, the ensuing fall, in the following language :
" The committee have taken under consideration, since your last session, the important subject of erecting a female colleg or high school, to be the property of, and under the control o the Association ; and, finding the denomination and the people generally desired such an institution built up at some eligibl point, the committee called a Convention of the churches, t lay before them the expediency of taking immediate action i making efforts to raise funds to accomplish the design. Th Convention met in Lumpkin on Friday before the fifth Sabbat in August last, and highly approved of the project. The passed resolutions commending it to the patronage of the d nomination and the public generally ; and also recommendir conditional subscriptions, payable in four annual installment commencing at January next, be taken for those places desirir its location ; and should the Association approve of the ente prise, to locate the same at its present session. Your committ have made extensive inquiry, and have reason to believe th such an institution is greatly needed in this section of the Sta and, therefore, recommend the subject to your most prayer consideration."
Whereupon, the following preamble and resolutions, offer by Rev. F. F. Seig, were adopted :
" Having had under consideration so much of the report the executive committee as relates to the establishment of female college within the bounds of this Association, heart approving of the action of that committee, fully satisfied of
Elroa Beerta pumpk te b r the Under Asso The Bar lect a Sege ind ploy an ntion. F. Seig. kson, IF The Tr. purch in of
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Bethel Female College.
great importance of the subject, and that the time has come for action ; therefore,
" 1. Resolved, That this Association do look upon the cause of female education as inferior to none other.
" 2. Resolved, That we approve of the action of the commit- tee upon this subject.
"3. Resolved, That we agree to adopt this enterprise, and to prosecute it with all the means within our power; and we hereby heartily commend it to the prayers, liberality and pat- ronage of the friends of education generally, and of the denom- ination in particular.
" The amounts of the subscription for the school at the sev- eral places desiring the location were announced. The subject of its location was then taken up, and, after much discussion, Cuthbert, Randolph county, was unanimously selected as its location."
It might be inferred from the foregoing record that Cuthbert had the largest subscription, but that was not so. The largest subscription announced was for Lumpkin. The writer, who then resided at Lumpkin, was in favor of that place, as the railroad then extended no further than Oglethorpe, and it was uncertain, when extended, whether it would go by Cuthbert or Lumpkin. But " God seeth not as man seeth," and he has long since been convinced that Cuthbert is the most favorable site for the institution.
Under resolutions offered by Mr. James Clark, of Lumpkin, the Association proceeded to name the contemplated institution "The Baptist Female College of Southwestern Georgia." Agreed to elect a Board of Trustees. Directed said Board to have the college incorporated, and requested the executive committee to employ an agent for the building up and endowment of the in- stitution. The Board elected were J. H. Campbell, Jas. Clark, F. F. Seig, William Janes, E. W. Warren, R. Q. Dickinson, J. W. Wilson, William H. Wade, Joel W. Perry.
The Trustees reported to the Association, in 1852, that they had purchased forty-one acres of land, within three-fourths of mile of Cuthbert, on which there was a large house erected or a school building, and other improvements, for which they lad paid $1,875 00; that they had engaged Rev. Thomas Muse
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The school was in a highly prosperous condition (still under Mr. King,) in 1848, with sixty students in attendance. $5,412 00, in part of the Hearn legacy of twelve thousand five hundred dol- lars, had been paid. The year following, the school was still in a flourishing condition, though the principal teacher, owing to some unhappy difficulties in the community, had resigned. (There were some restless spirits thereabouts in those days.) About seven thousand dollars, besides its landed interests, etc., were in hand.
In 1850, some of the members of the executive committee of the Convention visited Cave Spring "to aid in healing the dis- sensions that have, for so long a time, existed amongst breth- ren " there. What success, if any, attended their errand of love, does not appear. Mr. J. S. Ingraham had been secured as the principal, and the school was " in a highly prosperous state."
For a series of years the institution continued in a prosper- ous condition under Mr. Ingraham, generally varying from fifty to sixty pupils, notwithstanding the persistent opposition ar- rayed against it by the "restless spirits " already alluded to. Its income more than met all its expenses, and its Trustees were enabled to take an interest, for the accommodation of its pupils, in a brick meeting-house, built by the Baptist church, and also to provide a comfortable residence, lot, etc., for the use of its excellent principal and his family.
In 1855, the school was still under Mr. Ingraham, and was doing well in all respects. Sixty-six pupils had been received during the year, among whom were two young preachers, ben- eficiaries of the Convention. It was clear of debt, and its in- come exceeded its expenses, enabling its managers to add, by purchase, another lot of ground, so that, in all, the school owned about forty-five acres. The buildings and premises were in good repair. The report of the following year is but a repetition of the foregoing.
Mr. Ingraham continued at the head of the school until the close of 1857, when Mr. A. J. King, its former principal, was again called to the charge of it, under whom prosperity still attended it, both in its patronage and finances. The number of pupils admitted was eighty-four, its endowment had increased,
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Hearn School.
and "various additions and improvements in apparatus and school furniture had been made."
Mr. King resigned again at the close of his second year, and Mr. James Courtney Brown, a young man of unusual ability, and a graduate of Mercer University, was called to the charge of the institution in the beginning of 1860. His administration gave entire satisfaction ; but, in the spring of 1862, he and most of his older pupils having joined the army of the Confederate States, the exercises of the school were suspended, and the re- maining pupils turned over to the Cave Spring Female School.
In 1863, the Hearn School and the female school at Cave Spring were united temporarily, under Rev. S. G. Hillyer, D. D. There were thirty-five pupils in the male department, and the smiles of providence, as heretofore, seemed to rest upon the en- terprise. That fall, however, it became necessary again to sus- pend the exercises, in consequence of the proximity of the con- tending armies. How long this suspension continued, the writer is not informed. It is supposed, however, to have lasted until the close of the war. The buildings were much injured and the library and apparatus destroyed by the enemy. The funds of the school in the hands of the Trustees were invested in Confederate securities, and are thus lost. The amount lost was about four thousand dollars. The school, however, still has $12,000 00 of the Hearn legacy in charge of the Georgia Bap- tist Convention, and its landed estate, amounting to forty or fifty acres. Like all other institutions in our oppressed section, it is under a cloud now. But it has already accomplished much good, and it is hoped that the prayers and benefactions of the sainted Hearn, which are held in sweet remembrance on high, may be the means of restoring to it the sunshine of prosperity which it enjoyed for so many years.
The history of this school should prompt men of wealth to ›equeath a portion of their estates, at least, in such manner as nay be productive of good after they are gone, and as may per- etuate their memory in the earth.
This school was, in 1873, under the care of Mr. P. J. King, as rincipal, and was in a prosperous condition. Its financial con- ition is also good.
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CHEROKEE BAPTIST COLLEGE.
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