USA > Indiana > Johnson County > Franklin > Franklin College, Franklin, Ind. : first half century jubilee exercises, June 5 to 12, 1884 : addresses, historical, biographical and statistical matter, poem, hymn, general catalogue, etc > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02616 1288
Gc 977.202 F86F Franklin College (Franklin, Ind.). Jubilee. (1884) Franklin College, Franklin, Ind.
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North Edifico. Ed. 1844.
South Edifice, ZEa. 1854.'
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HALF CENTURY
884
FIRST HALF
. COF_
FRANKLIN, INL
. EXERCISES. ..
1834
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JUNE 5 to 12, 1884.
Addresses, Historical, Biographical and Statistical Matter, Poem, Hymn, General Catalogue, Etc.
CINCINNATI: JOURNAL AND MESSENGER, 178 ELM STREET.
1SS4.
+ FRANKLIN CORREGE *
*** JUBILEE.EX
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Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street
PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
DEDICATION. ¿ +
To the teachers, pupils, and friends of the College, past and present. this memorial volume 's gratefully inscribed by
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
1674663 +3 CONTENTS. > +
PAGE.
I. INTRODUCTORY.
II. SPECIAL PAPERS.
THE FOUNDERS OF FRANKLIN COLLEGE,
1 REV. W. N. WYETH, D. D.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, W. C. THOMPSON, EsQ.
THE TEACHERS.
PROF. J. S. HOUGHAAN, LL. D.
THE AALUMNI, 86
B. WALLACE, M. D.
III. POEM.
PENELOPE'S WEB, 114 MRS. VIOLA P. EDWARDS, A. M.
IV. JUBILEE HYMN. 123
REV. G. H. ELGIN, A. M.
V. GENERAL CATALOGUE, . 124
WITH INFORMATION CONCERNING THOSE NAMED.
PRES. W. T. STOTT, D. D.
Ædificium Primum. Æd. 1836.
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Franklin College.
Crescit Vivendo.
HE first half century of Franklin College terminated June 5, 1884. By a favorable coincidence, its fiftieth natal day fell within commencement week, and it had been deter- mined to make the entire week a jubilee occasion. The following programme of general and special exercises was prepared and widely published :
JUBILEE COMMENCEMENT. FRANKLIN COLLEGE, IND.
June 4th, 5th and 6th (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) : Oral Examinations.
June 5th (Thursday). 7 : 30 p. M. : Founders' Day- Histor- ical paper by the Rev. W. N. Wyeth, D. D., Cincinnati, O.
June 6th (Friday), 7:30 p. M. : Literary Entertainment - Webster Society.
June 7th (Saturday ), 7:30 p. M .: Literary Entertainment - Periclesian Society.
June Sth (Sunday), 10:30 A. M. : Sermon by the Rev. A. C. Davidson, Aurora. 3 P. M .: Jubilee Prayer Meeting. 7:30 P. M. : Baccalaureate Sermon by the President.
June 9th (Monday ), 10 A. M. : Periclesian Society Reunion - Principal Address by the Hon. G. M. Lambertson, Lincoln, Neb. 2:30 p. M. : Reunion of the Board of Directors- His- torical Paper by Mayor W. C. Thompson, Franklin. 7:30 P. M. : Address before . Literary Societies by the Rev. J. A. Broadus, D. D., of Louisville, Ky.
June 10th (Tuesday), 10 A. M .: Reunion of Webster So- ciety-Principal Address by Judge D. W. Howe, Indianapolis. 1 P. M .: Meeting of Board. 3 P. M .: Reunion of College Instructors-Historical Paper by Prof. J. S. Hougham, LL. D.,
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Manhattan, Kan. 7:30 p. M .: History of Alumni by B. Wallace, M. D., Franklin.
June 11th (Wednesday ), 9 A. M. : Stockholders' Meeting. 2 P.M. : Meeting of Alumni Association. 7:30 P. M .: Alumni Address by the Hon. G. W. Grubbs, LL. D., Martinsville, and Poem by Mrs. Viola P. Edwards, Bedford.
June 12th (Thursday ), 10 A. M. : Commencement, followed by the Alumni Dinner, and in the evening by the President's Levee.
It will be seen that it was designed to bring forward the past and make the present resonant with its voice, and to cause the historic spirit to pervade every hour and every service. Circumstances conspired to give success to the dif- ferent efforts. The Baptists being involved in a building enterprise, and without suitable seating accommodations, the Presbyterian Church very cordially placed its commodious and beautiful house of worship at the service of the College ; hospitalities were cheerful and abundant on the part of the citizens ; the attendance from abroad represented all sections of the state, and was composed in part of persons who had not seen the College before, and some of its earliest students who had not for many years visited their Alma Mater; and those chosen to perform special parts were well prepared to meet the high expectation reposed in them. Also, the colle- giate year had been one of prosperity, both in class-room work and in the department of finance, and the outlook was cheering.
To the " old students," returning to look upon the place where they had studied, and struggled with poverty that they might secure an education, the old buildings, anon trying to renew their youth, and the umbrageous campus, the trees of which were so familiar, and many of which had been open studios or trysting-places in the happy years gone by, brought peculiar memories, revived youthful ardor, and rendered the week one of hilarity and joyous reunion.
The first exercises were held on the evening of June 5th. which was styled " Founders' Day." They were anticipated with much pleasure by old citizens of Franklin, some of whom were now living remotely from the town, and the attendance of such was quite noticeable. 1
Founders of Franklin College.
A Historical Paper by Rev. W. N. Wyeth, D. D., Cincinnati, 0.
A MONG the diversified gifts of men is the talent for pro-
jecting. It is found in unlettered men, as well as in others, but not apart from normal and large cerebral devel- opment. A great thought is always traceable to a great mind, and, although crudeness may characterize its first presenta- tion, yet the true observer will accord to it its proper origin, and others will assent to his decision, as time shall test its merits. Fewer men would be ignored if there were more good observers.
To project a good thing-something that must, from its na- ture, tend to promote the moral welfare of mankind-requires positive moral elements in the projector. No base man con- ceives a plan for the good of his race. And so the talent for projecting that which is beneficial to man's higher nature is due to large moral development.
It is not claimed, however, that he who enjoys the honor of originating a good thing has the sole credit of that which it accomplishes. His idea is usually larger and grander than he supposes it to be. While the shallow mind is fraught with flattering schemes, his vagary comes to naught for want of essential virtue ; but, on the contrary, the capable mind is likely to present ideas that are substantial, beyond the ready acceptance of the public, and which they reach only by much thought and time. He, himself, does not see the end from the beginning, and, in some cases does not arrive at the result of it in his lifetime; and the knowledge of what he actually originated is had only by subsequent generations. And as it is left for the latter to see, so it devolves upon them to realize
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upon and from the thing seen, to have credit for appreciating and bringing to a high stage of utility that which has been projected before their vision, or to suffer the discredit of allowing it to fall as an idle thought and its author to go unhonored. As a matter of fact, when God inspires one man with an important idea, he supplies others with sufficient in- terest to cherish it and bring it to large realization. Both have honor, but it is comparative honor-the honor of parent- age being supreme. God is back of all, and when we look with a true eye upon any great and good thing, we are com- pelled to exclaim : "What hath God wrought !"
We are assembled to-night in this literary retreat with a view to naming the projectors of Franklin College and ob- taining a vision of them. All have passed away but one, and yet by the weird power of memory and of words we may bring them back and see them as they were. Fifty years are as nothing when past, though the men, the events and the crea- tions of men that have crowded into them are wonderful as to number and importance. We overstep the intervening years, and call before us a cluster of godly men, who, all dust as they are, have a reality that is clearly signified by the institution that arose at their bidding, and stands as a benign result and clear vindication of their wisdom.
HENRY BRADLEY,
the first in alphabetical order, was prominent among the founders, and a fit representative of the sterling qualities of all. He was of Baptist parentage, and was born in Franklin County, Ky., July 7, 1795; was married in 1818; moved to Indianapolis in 1821, and resided there until 1846, when he removed to Johnson County, and here passed the remainder of his life. His death occurred February 8, 1859, and he was buried in the cemetery at Edinburg. Age, sixty-three years and eight months.
Deacon Bradley became a Christian and a Baptist while living in Kentucky. On moving to Indianapolis he became a constituent member of the First Baptist Church of that city, and maintained his membership thereof until his removal from the place, a period of twenty-five years. During that
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time active, earnest Baptists were easily numbered, readily distinguished and greatly needed, and we doubt not that he. with the broad sympathies that characterized him, and the capacious "Baptist tavern," of which he was proprietor, was recognized far and near as a pillar in Zion. And when to the moral features we add the physical-look upon the man, standing six feet in his shoes, angular and athletic-we have one who gives to us the impress of a man.
His relation to the college as one of its founders and as a member of the Board was vital to its good. From its origin to the time of his death, a period of twenty-five years, he did not cease to work for it and give to it. He was one of its early financial agents ; and while all of them labored much to obtain a little, and none received liberal wages, he repeat- edly donated his salary to the general fund. Meantime he co-operated in the mission work of the State, placing his name on the record of every good work, and, dying, bequeathed to the Board of the institution, in the person of his son, James L. Bradley, the most practical, business-like and competent President it has ever had.
REUBEN COFFEY
was born in North Carolina, in 1790. In early life he learned the blacksmith trade. Soon after his majority he began to preach. In 1830 he moved to Owen County, Ind., and after living there for a short time he removed to Monroe County. and, having resided in the latter ten or twelve years, he returned to Owen County and abode there until his death, which occurred in 1854.
Brother Coffey was pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church for a long series of years; also pastor of Macedonia Church for a long time. He never received pay for his ministerial ser- vices, except from missionary funds, which gives evidence that he was in full sympathy with missions. He was noted for soundness in doctrine and earnestness in his work. It is said that he was the first real " missionary " Baptist preacher in his section, and that he was looked upon with suspicion on account of his advocacy of missions and the right of those who preach "to live of the Gospel." In education he was per-
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sonally deficient, while he saw its importance and did all he could by argument and the bestowal of means to promote it. in the denomination by means of educational institutions. He was father of a family of ten children, and a very large number of Baptists in the State bear his name; and, as a family, they are strongly in favor of the college he aided in establishing, and several of them have been members of its classes.
EZRA FISHER
was a native of Wendell, Mass .; born in 1800. In early life he taught school, and gave himself a competent education, graduating at Amherst College. Teaching and studying were somewhat alternated, inasmuch as he was compelled to "work his way," at least in part. At about twenty-five years of age he was converted and baptized. Entering the ministry, he was a pastor for several years in Vermont, and then came West. His wife, whom he married in Wendell, was a woman of noble parentage, and herself a most worthy and devoted Christian, the idol of her father and the honored stay of her husband. The parents of both were estimable members of the Wendell Baptist Church. Brother Fisher was irreproacha- ble, and a good preacher of the expository type. Like Heze- kiah Johnson and George C. Chandler, his associates in pioneer work in Oregon, he labored there under great disadvantages. Self-support was unavoidable. His pastorates were in Oregon City and Dalles City. At the latter place he died in 1874, after living and working in the State for nearly thirty years. Age, seventy-four.
To indicate the leading of Providence, permit me to refer to the early spiritual home of this good man. Wendell Church (Mass.) came into existence under necessary obedience to conscience and in the exercise of soul liberty. It was obliged to go into the woods, into a vale, a mile from the center of town, to avoid being trod upon by the "Standing Order." There it maintained peace and purity, being under the ministry of one good man for a third of a century ; and God blessed it in giving birth to several ministers of the Gospel, two of whom literally went to the ends of the earth, as chosen vessels
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to bear his name to the Gentiles. Both were qualified men ; one a graduate of Amherst, the other (a son of the pastor) a graduate of Brown and Newton; one tall and handsome, a born gentleman, the other exceedingly small in stature. Reared in families of kindred spirit and under the same ministry, they learned that there is nothing more needful or better in itself than to be a missionary. And that His name might be known from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the Lord led one to the East and the other to the West. The little man, of the very keenest intellect and the highest scholarship, he led to far-off China, where he trans- lated the Scriptures, saved souls and left to his successors an example of the way to do work that will stay ; the other, a Saul among the prophets, was led westward -to Indiana, becoming pastor in Indianapolis, aiding in giving the cause of God in the state a start, and then going on to the very West. As the one sought to convert the hardened philosophers of the oldest empire, so the other endeavored to prevent false philosophy by planting the Gospel in the newest empire. The one faced the false gods, fought the good fight, and, having never turned his face toward home, rests from his labors amid the crumbling shrines of idolatry ; the other, a frontiersman for Christ, not consulting his ease or financial good, traveled on horseback up and down the Willamette Valley, sowing the seeds of truth, and, beloved and lamented. passed to his rest with the Pacific's wave to moan his requiem. Thus the little church in the woods gave gifts to the Orient and the Occident -Josiah Goddard and Ezra Fisher : the latter halting on his way to leave this state a benediction.
SAMUEL HARDING.
The mention of this name revives pleasant memories in the minds of a few aged persons who still live in Franklin and vicinity. He was born in Kentucky, December 24, 1787 ; was reared and educated there, his education being well up to the opportunities at the time furnished in his native state. In 1825 he emigrated to this state and settled on lands he pur- chased, located about seven miles southeast of Franklin,
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where he lived for nearly twelve years, and from which locality, February 14, 1836, he was called to the home of the blest.
Brother Harding was converted early, and he entered the Baptist ministry when quite young. During the period of his residence here, he engaged very actively in the work of preaching, organizing and promoting churches. Among the first churches he established was the Old Blue River, located near his own home, a few miles east of Amity ; he also assisted in organizing Second Mt. Pleasant and Franklin Churches. He wrote the Articles of Faith of Franklin Church, and thereby evinced his knowledge of Baptist belief and practice. He was active in State Convention work. and was Moderator of the first meeting.of that body. With his missionary sen- timents were naturally joined strong, advanced views in favor of temperance, and he was foremost in denouncing the whisky traffic wherever he labored or went.
With such a man, the cause of education could not be over- looked. It engaged his attention as a great public interest. With the other noble men of his times, he undertook the establishment of a Baptist college, and was mainly instru- mental in locating it at Franklin, a result that never ceased to delight his heart. Having a family to educate, and with interests of supreme importance to the denomination enlisting his ardent sympathies, he thought he saw in this institution the very thing that was needed. He loved the Franklin Church, also, and was loved by it ; his last public act was that of preaching a funeral sermon in memory of one of its beloved members.
In person he was sociable, " a man whom everybody loved." He was characterized by extraordinary energy, and pushed what he undertook. He was an ardent, a good speaker, and the memory of some retains his appearance as he stood upon a rude table in the old court-house, earnestly preaching to the infant church then organized. He died as he lived, triumph- ant in Christ. Age, forty-eight.
JOHN HOBART,
another of the fourteen, was born in Abington, Mass., in 1792. His father, a representative man of his day, in New England,
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reared his family at Leicester, where this son was educated to the extent of the advantages afforded in New England villages. The son grew up under the strong, even dominant, Congrega- tional Church, but when converted became a Baptist by reading the New Testament, and went several miles from home to obtain baptism and find a church home. In 1821 he came to Indiana, settled near Indianapolis, and was a constituent member of the First Church in that city. He was an earnest Christian, respected and influential, and aided every move that promised advance in Christian culture. "He entertained the Puritan idea that the planting of a Christian college meant a fountain which should beautify and bless the world ; that our colleges are the sources from which our pulpits, our schools and our mission fields. are to be supplied with men and women." At times his religious ardor glowed and took the form . of poetry, and he became the author of a hymn- book. In a circular letter to the Indianapolis Association (1835) he arose to such an inspiring view as to call for a sequel in verse, which was ordered to be appended to the printed letter. The closing lines are these :
" Gird thy sword, O ride and conquer ! Let the earth thy name revere, Take thy bow, thy crown and scepter, And, all-conquering King, appear.
" Kingdoms, empires, tongues and nations, Hear the Gospel tidings roll ; While the ensigns of salvation Are unfurled, from pole to pole."
Brother Hobart reared a family of nine children, one of whom he gave to be the wife of an alumnus of this College- Mrs. Charlotte H Vawter, a woman of strength, culture and teaching power, who has occupied important positions at Ladoga and elsewhere. In 1846 he removed to Hamilton County, O., and in 1866 died, as he had lived, in the hope of a glorious resurrection.
MOSES JEFFRIES.
Of him nothing can be learned.
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JOHN MASON.
This brother, supposed to have come from North Carolina,. was an early pastor of Elkhorn Church, Wayne County, and lived on a little farm near to the church. He died about five years after the establishment of the College, and thus, as an exception to the other members of the formative meeting, he was not permitted to enter largely into the work of its up- building.
He is described as a man small of stature and slender. He was a good preacher and drew large congregations. It being alleged that his sermons were too lengthy, an arrangement was entered into by which one of the deacons should sit behind him in the pulpit, and remind him of the proper time to close by a vigorous jerk of his coat. The deacon, failing in his part of the contract at his first posing, and being reprimanded by the church for his failure, pleaded that the sermon was none too long for him. He was somewhat in advance of many ministers of his day ; was benevolent and progressive, giving all above his living for benevolent causes. A high opinion is expressed of his; character as a good and exemplary man. The Hon. A. H. Dunlevy, in his History of the Miami Associa- tion, attributes to him great influence in advancing Baptist affairs in connection with that body. Little of his history can be learned, as he so long'since departed this life. Died in 1835.
JOHN M'COY.
M'Coy is a royal name to this assembly, and one that suggests nothing but good as respects the Baptist denomi- nation in Indiana. We trace it back a little more than a century, to the birth of John, which occurred near Uniontown, Pa., February 10, 1782. While he was a small boy, his father,, the Rev. Wm. M'Coy, emigrated to Kentucky, in which state John grew to manhood and was married. His father, being led of the Spirit to preach in Southern Indiana, made many and hazardous journeys in crossing the Ohio River and penetrating the forests of Clark County. A bold, brave man, he proclaimed the Gospel beneath the great trees to the sparse settlers, with his gun at his side. The Silver Creek Church
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and the association of the same name were formed in the locality of this preaching, and he became pastor of the church and served it until his death (1813). His spirit was inherited by his children, three of whom were Baptist ministers in this state, including the justly famed Isaac M'Coy, missionary to the Indians. A fourth, the subject of this sketch, was called to minister in carnal things ; and his life seems to have been as productive of great results as that of either of his brothers, excepting, perhaps, that of Isaac. In 1804 he settled in Clark County, where he bought a large tract of forest, felled it, and wrought the ground beneath it into a farm, In 1824 he united with the Silver Creek Baptist Church, near which he lived, and was a zealous promoter of all the causes we now labor to advance. Being ahead of his time, he, with a few others, was compelled to fight a good fight ; and he fell, but fell to conquer. In the same year of his expulsion from the Silver Creek Church. for the sin of believing in Christianity and culture, he aided in establishing Franklin College. And this institution he loved with all the ardor of a fond parent. He was a member of its Board for the most of the time from its beginning to the day of his death, say, twenty-five years ; and constantly and cheerfully did he travel the new roads, by buggy or on horseback, a distance of one hundred miles or more, to Franklin or Indianapolis, to attend the Board meetings. His heart was with the College, and to the end of his days he prayed for it and gave to it.
In person he was tall, slender and comely ; kindly in coun- tenance and flexible in action-just the man to love those who excluded him, for their soul's sake, and to hew them down for their heresy. Learning to worship in God's first temples, he naturally became a Saul in spiritual stature, in sympathy with the tall trees that waved their salute to him in the morning sun. He was happy in God's gift of a family of ten children. all of whom reached maturity and became members of the Baptist Church; one, Eliza, a missionary to the Indians for nine years, and another, whom we fondly call " Uncle Billy," is with us to this day, pioneering the glad tidings with his faithful feet and trusted horse over the mountains of Southern Indiana.
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Deacon M'Coy served his country in the war of 1812, with the rank of major. He learned the uses of loyalty, and brought his disciplined [soul into the church, there to stand for the right against every form of anti-Christ, to swerve, no never. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, immediate ; with his Scotch he withstood and with his Irish he outwitted the ene- mies of truth, and dying, left this unfinished but formidable fort, with a valorous posterity to help hold it, facing the fast- decaying ranks of the foe. He died in 1856, aged seventy- seven years.
LEWIS MORGAN,
one whose name is as familiar as that of any other, was a prominent factor in the early work of the college. He was born near Greenville, Tenn., in 1788; was four times married, and the father of nineteen children, six of whom are still liv- ing. In 1816 he settled in the forests of Shelby County, among the Indians, the nearest white neighbor being twelve miles away. He must have come into relation to and sympathy with the Baptists at an early day, inasmuch as he was ready with experience and confirmed zeal to participate in organiz- ing the college, and likewise the State Convention two years earlier. He appears prominently in the movements of both. sharing in their trials and successes. In common with sev- eral others who will be spoken of to-night, he was one of the earliest and best agents of the institution. Having been early on the field and being a good preacher, he was eminently fitted to present the importance of a school of learning of a high and religious character to the people of his time. He had received but three months of schooling, in a log school-house in Kentucky, and his soul must have been stirred as he saw the necessity of an education and looked upon the immortal ones with whom God had blessed his home.
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