Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Part 10

Author: Reynolds, Elon G. (Elon Galusha), 1841-
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, [Ill.] : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 554

USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 10

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HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

gan, and the first, except a few at Oberlin, to re- ceive such a degree, so far as we are able to learn, from any college in the country.

The committee appointed to procure a charter pushed its efforts to that end, but the policy of the state had been not to give any institution in the state, except the University, power to confer collegiate degrees, and, in pursuance of this policy, the legislature of 1845 refused to give the new college a charter, but did, in an act approved 011 March 19, 1845, give it a legal organization by making it a body corporate, naming nine trus- tees, and giving power to hold $30,000 worth of property.

During that year two new framed buildings were erected, the land given by C. Reynolds (the largest gift made to Michigan Central College by any individual), having been exchanged for lum- ber. These buildings were two stories high, 35×60 feet in size, and stood on high stone walls which were built by Daniel Dunakin, a stone mason, who laid the corner stone of the first of said buildings. Rev. L. B. Potter, with a cold- chisel and a hammer, hewed out the corner stone from a sandstone boulder procured in that vi- cinity, and with his own hands tended the mason while laying the foundation.

The number of students kept increasing until a third building became necessary, and the lack of teachers made the need of more endowment very imperative. In 1847, the General Conference of the denomination had voted $500 for apparatus, and several hundred books had been donated for a library, the president of Harvard College, Ed- ward Everett, and Amos Lawrence, of Boston, giving more than half of them. In 1848, Rev. E. B. Fairfield was elected president in place of D. M. Graham, and additional members of the faculty were elected as follows: In 1851, Rev. Charles H. Churchill ; in January, 1852, Rev. Ransom Dunn, and in January, 1853, Rev. Henry E. Whipple.

The college had continued its efforts to get a charter, 'and, by an act of the Legislature ap- proved on March 20, 1850, the authority to confer degrees was given, and this act also granted power to hold property worth $100,000. This

was not only the first college charter granted by the Legislature of Michigan, but it was also the first college in the Free Will Baptist denomina- tion. The power to confer degrees was given only upon condition "that the course of study in said college shall be in all respects as compre- hensive as that required in the University of Michigan," and it has been believed by many that the Legislature supposed that Michigan Central College could not comply with that condi- tion, or this power would not have been granted.

For a quarter of a century before the Univer- sity admitted ladies as students, however, this little college had established co-education, and boldly announced its advantages open to all. "ir- respective of nationality, creed, color or sex," and some students were well advanced in their courses when this "new departure" in the educational policy of the state was taken. In 1851, Miss Elizabeth D. Camp, of Palmyra, N. Y., complet- ed the scientific course and received the degree of Bachelor of Science-the first lady to receive a degree from a Michigan college. The next year, (1852,) Miss Livonia E. Benedict completed the classical course and was the first lady to receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Michigan. In 1851, 1852 and in 1853, thirteen students were graduated in all-nine from the scientific course and four from the classical-five gentlemen and eight ladies.

The growth of the school was unprecedented and remarkable. The trustees and faculty ap- pealed to the people of Spring Arbor and vicinity for funds with which to erect additional build- ings, intending to raise the endowment by can- vassing the denomination at large .. The number of students had increased to 300, and something had to be done. The matter was presented by President Fairfield and Professor Dunn at a public meeting of citizens, called by the faculty, but there was no response to their appeal. It was at this meeting that the first public hint was giv- en that, unless help should come locally, the school must remove, but the people seemed to think the institution had become a fixture, and they need not give it further support. The trustees, how- ever, saw in the situation only a dwarfed life,

HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

and began to agitate the question of removal. Another motive which influenced some was a de- sire to secure a location with better railroad fa- cilities. At the first it was deemed an advantage to be located away from the temptations and al- lurements of the city, and the most of this was made by the college in advertising, but the eight years of experience with the inconvenience of going and coming eight miles to or from the near- est railroad station had convinced them of their mistake, and the idea of isolation being a benefit was practically outgrown.

The initial step towards locating the college elsewhere was taken on January 5, 1853, when the board of trustees passed the following :

"Resolved, That we will consider the ex- pediency of removing Michigan Central College to some point more suitable for its location as soon as conveniences can be procured."

A committee of five trustees, viz, E. B. Fair- field, R. Dunn, H. S, Limbocker, J. E. Beebe and G. L. Foster, was appointed to visit Jackson, Marshall, Adrian, Coldwater, and other places, and learn what inducements they would severally offer for the location of the college. Fairfield and Dunn went to Coldwater, were well received and favorably impressed. While the former remained at Coldwater, Professor Dunn drove to Hillsdale. This was on the 14th day of January, 1853. He soon met Dr. Alonzo Cressy, who was the first man to whom he revealed the object of his mis- sion. The doctor called in several other citizens who determined to call a public meeting at the courthouse that evening. The meeting was well attended, and was addressed very enthusiastically by Professor Dunn, who was then thirty-four years of age, and a magnetic public speaker.

The meeting voted to try to get the location of the college in Hillsdale, and appointed a commit- tee to have the matter in charge. The next day Professor Dunn with some of the citizens looked at several locations, but the one on the eminence north of the St. Joe river, now called "College hill," seemed most fitting. This was on January 15, 1853, and the trustees at Spring Arbor had adjourned to January 19, so President Fair- field and Professor Dunn met at Jonesville and

returned home. The former had received a liber- al offer at Coldwater and seemed to favor its ac- ceptance. The latter had received no definite of- fer, but liked the spirit shown at Hillsdale, and so they decided to let Coldwater and Hillsdale enter into competition for the college. Hillsdale had appointed a committee consisting of D. L. Pratt, G. W. Underwood, C. J. Dickerson, and Daniel Beebe, who were not known at Spring Arbor, and they attended the adjourned meet- ing of the trustees there, Professor Dunn being in the secret, and therefore purposely treating them as strangers. They saw the school in operation and deemed it a prize worth securing.

The trustees voted to continue the school at Spring Arbor until the end of that year, and, af- ter the committee in regard to a new location had reported, appointed a committee of five trustees, viz : Ransom Dunn, Daniel Dunakin, Charles H. Churchill, George L. Foster and Eli T. Chase, to locate the college at Jackson, Adrian, Hillsdale, Coldwater or Marshall, provided, that the local- ity chosen should raise $15,000 for building pur- poses. Jackson knew something of the college at Spring Arbor, distant only eight miles south- west, but because the sentiment of the college people was strongly anti-slavery, and the pro- slavery element dominated Jackson, no interest could be aroused in favor of the removal to that point. Adrian and Marshall seemed indifferent, and as both Coldwater and Hillsdale were on the line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, where no institution of learning had yet been located, and as both wanted the college, the efforts of the committee on location were con- centrated upon these two points. Coldwater of- fered $10,000 and thought she would get it.

William Waldron has not been very generally credited with large educational aspirations, or very great interest in the college, but, while the college committee was laboring with the Coldwa- ter people, he shrewdly planned to have a Toledo young man at Coldwater, ostensibly to settle there and make investments. He knew what was going on and kept his chief posted.

When the committee arrived in Hillsdale no bids were made, and at first the committee was

HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

nonplusscd, but finally the citizen's committee asked them what amount they would take to locate the college in Hillsdale and consider no other of- fers. After consultation the location committee replied that it would accept $15,000, which should be used for building purposes. The citizen's com- mittee met them with the offer to raise that amount in the township of Hillsdale, provided that the college would raisc an equal additional amount for the same purpose, so as to secure bet- ter buildings. This proposition was accepted on condition that they be allowed to raise the sec- ond $15,000 in Hillsdale county, which was grantcd, and the location of the college was then and there determined, except the ratification by the board of trustees at Spring Arbor, which was secured on the 16th of February, 1853. Thc board made provision to raise the money required for buildings, and Trustees E. B. Fairfield, Daniel Dunakin, H. S. Limbocker, H. E. Whipple and C. H. Churchill were appointed a prudential com- mittcc, and C. W. Ferris was clected treasurer.

Hon. Esbon Blackmar, of Newark, N. Y., had a large tract of land bordering the village of Hills- dale, and Daniel Beebe acted as his agent. He was sent to interview Mr. Blackmar, who gen- crously gave a decd of twenty-five acres for the campus, which was called worth $500, and also subscribed $500 to be paid in money. .

MIcssrs. C. W. Ferris, C. T. Mitchell, G. W. Underwood, Henry Waldron and William Wal- diron each subscribed $1,000, and later John P. Cook also $1,000. Mcssrs. J. B. Baldy, Daniel Bcebe, C. J. Dickerson, N. M. Folsom, Allen Hammond, H. L. Hewitt, I. H. McCollum, H. S. Mead, D. L. Pratt, C. H. Russell, C. W. Westfall and E. H. C. Wilson subscribed an aggregate of $4,000. Other citizens of the village and town- ship increased the amount to over $15,000. Some of the faculty at Spring Arbor canvassed the county outside of the township of Hillsdale, but President Fairfield secured most of the subscrip- tions, and on May 25, 1853, considerably more than the $30,000 required for buildings in the agreement made four months earlier was reported to the trustees as subscribed, and the board then determined to raise an endowment of $100,000,

and elected Henry J. King as secretary of the cor- poration.

The trustces had so far proceeded upon the theory that they could remove the belongings of the college, charter and all, to some other locality, and with this in view they planned to continue the school so as not to forfeit its charter, as they would by a year's cessation from teaching. Part- ly for this purpose Prof. Churchill remained and taught a sclect school for the academic year of 1853 and 1854. Practically, however, Michigan Central College ceased to exist with the exercises of commencement day, July 6, 1853. two days after the cornerstone of the first college building at Hillsdale had been laid with imposing ccre- monies. The trustces mct at Spring Arbor and cmpowered Prof. Dunn to disposc of the prop- erty there to pay the debts of the institution. Thc buildings were not worth moving, and the per- sonal property was not very valuable. The citi- zens up to this time had thought the talk of re- moval was a merc "bluff," but they now began to realize that they were to be without a school, and resorted to legal measures to prevent its removal. August 27, 1853, a bill was filed in chancery in Jackson county against the college and fifteen named trustees, among whom were C. H. Church- ill, Ransom Dunn, L. B. Potter, L. J. Thompson, Elijah Cook, Daniel Dunakin, Chauncey Rcy- nolds, Eli T. Chase, H. S. Limbocker, E. B. Fair- field, H. E. Whipple and John Thomas-all con- nected later with Hillsdale College.

This bill prayed for an injunction to restrain the trustees from selling or removing the college property at Spring Arbor, and from collecting money or building a college at Hillsdale. A prc- liminary injunction was granted, and this, of course, tied things up pretty thoroughly for the time being, and kept matters in suspense at Hills- dale. The trustees were uneasy, because the char- ter at Spring Arbor provided that "the trustces shall be jointly and severally liable for all judg- ments obtained against the corporation," and the above named twelve men were the aggressive pro- moters of the new college at Hillsdale. A decision adverse to them meant financial loss and possible ruin. On November 8. 1853, the college entercd

HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

its demurrer to the bill, and on January 19, 1854, Elijah Cook alone answered, disclaiming intent. They then awaited the court's decision.

At Spring Arbor excitement ran high, and the friends of removal hardly felt themselves safe from personal violence. The citizens were in a rage and actually threatened Professor Churchill with a coat of tar and feathers. The last night of his stay there Trustee Potter and others barricad- ed the doors of his home, and were prepared with shotguns to defend him from bodily harm, and it said that some of the faculty went armed.

The secretary's book of records was in the hands of the removal party, and the other faction very much wanted it. They took out a search warrant and tried to obtain it from the secretary, L. J. Thompson, but he had secretly put it into the possession of Trustee Potter. The officer "smelled a mice" and followed the two out of town and actually looked over into a wagon-box where the book lay covered with straw without see- ing it. After dark that night Trustee Potter car- ried it "across lots" through standing grain and grass to Jackson, successfully concealed it and afterwards delivered it to the Hillsdale party.

At Hillsdale these were felt to be, as they must ever be regarded, as the "dark days" of Hillsdale College. Little was done in the way of building, Mr. Perkins working alone for months laying brick, and, when the walls were up one story high they were covered with boards and the work sus- pended.

The attempt to utilize the charter of Michigan Central College was abandoned and the effort turned toward securing legislative action. The times seemed propitious for this. The Republican party, which had been organized at Jackson in July of that year, had triumphed in the state elec- tion that fall, and the Free Will Baptist voters all over the state had allied themselves with it. Hillsdale county elected Dr. Alonzo Cressy to the State Senate, and Daniel Dunakin was elected to the House of Representatives from Calhoun county.

The state constitution adopted in 1850 prohib- ited special charters for colleges, and educational institutions must be incorporated, if at all, under

general laws. The trustees, on December 19, 1854, had resolved, if possible, to procure the passage of such a law, and they held their last meeting on January 3, 1855. At this meeting it was announced that the suit at Jackson had been argued, and the circuit judge had dismissed the bill and dissolved the injunction.

The present college law was introduced in the legislature especially on behalf of Hillsdale Col- lege, but it was general in its nature and was sup- ported by the friends of other denominational schools, and vigorously opposed by the friends of the University. Messrs. Cressy and Dunakin worked together, and rallied the friends of the other schools throughout the state that were as- piring to be colleges. The law was passed and approved by the governor, with immediate effect, on February 19, 1855.

The friends of the college project at Hillsdale now took new courage and published a call for a meeting to organize under the new law. This meeting was held in the Presbyterian church .on the 22nd of March, 1855, and articles of associa- tion adopted, and the next day were elected thirty- five trustees. The preamble of the constitution recited that "$60,000 have been subscribed and $20,000 have been paid in."

The third article of the constitution sets forth the object as follows: "The object of this insti- tution is to furnish to all persons who wish, irre- spective of nationality, color or sex, a literary and scientific education, as comprehensive and thor- ough as is usually pursued in the colleges of this country, and to combine with this, such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of the pupils."

A majority of the trustees originally elected were residents of Hillsdale county, and this pro- portion has ever since been maintained, and the college has thus availed itself of the best business and educational talent of the county. After this first election of trustees, all energies were bent to the completion of the building, the faculty mean- while continuing their canvass for endowment. Other agents were also employed. The plan for raising funds at the start, both for buildings and endowment, was by the sale of scholarships, grant-

HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

ing perpetual tuition, for one student at a time, for $100, and for shorter specified periods of time, for smaller sums. All holding these scholar- ships, or orders for their use, (which now cost, as a rule, only fifty cents per term cach), have their instruction free, their only expense (except matriculation fee of three dollars paid at first en- trance as a student, and never afterwards), being the cost of fuel, janitor, use of library, gymna- sium, and other such incidental expenses, for this payment no fund has ever been established.

In 1842 a seminary was opened at Chester Cross Roads, Geauga county, Ohio, which came to be known as "Geauga Seminary." Among its founders were Hon. S. B. Philbrick, Rev. David Marks, Rev. R. Dunn, Rev. A. K. Moulton and Rev. S. D. Bates. Rev. Daniel Branch became its principal in 1845, Rev. George H. Ball in 1849, and Rev. George T. Day in 1851. All these, except David Marks, afterward became connected with Hillsdale College as teachers or trustees. To Doctor Ball and Professor Dunn, James A. Gar- field, afterward general in the army and president of the United States, recited as a student. In 1843 a charter was granted to the seminary, but, as it prohibited colored persons from attending the school, it was not accepted until modified so as to admit them. Beginning in 1862 its effects were sold, and the avails, amounting to over $2 .- 000, and some of its apparatus and library, were transferred to Hillsdale College, when even that was quite a help. Thus were the two institutions which started in Ohio and Michigan in 1842 and 1844 respectively merged into one.

CHAPTER IX.

HILLSDALE COLLEGE-CONTINUED.

HILLSDALE COLLEGE was opened to students on the 7th of November, 1855, although the build- ing was not entirely finished and furnished. For a time, in part of the rooms, nail kegs had to do duty for chairs, floors serve as bedsteads, etc., yet there was little complaint. Expenses were at a minimum. Most students had scholarships, and gentlemen paid seventy-five cents, for incidentals, per term; ladies, fifty cents. This is all it cost

students who did not board or room in the build- ing. Board in the college dining-hall was $1.50 per week, twenty-five cents extra for tea and cof- fee, but not many indulged in these luxuries. Room rent in the college building varied accord- ing to the story in which the room was located : Second story, gentlemen, $2.50 cach per term ; ladies, $2.00 ; third story, gentlemen, $2.00 ; ladies, $1.75; fourth story, gentlemen, $1.75. The ina- triculation fee was not charged till the fall term of 1864. The terms were ten weeks in length originally and were called "quarters." The pay- roll of the teachers the first year was as follows : President Fairfield, (taught first quarter) $250 ; Professor Whipple and Professor Churchill cach, $525 ; Mrs. V. G. Ramsey, lady principal, $212.50 ; Miss Sarah Mahoney, assistant principal, $187.50 ; students who taught classes, $67.95. Total paid for teaching first year, $1.767.95.

The number of students the first quarter was 161-85 gentlemen, 76 ladies. The second quar- ter it was 195-114 gentlemen, 81 ladies. For the third quarter, which closed the year, it was 167- 104 gentlemen, 63 ladies. Many of the students were from farmers' families, and their help was needed at home in the spring. The attendance has almost always been the smallest in spring terms.

The total number of different students the first year was 273, of which 161, or fifty-nine per cont .. were gentlemen, and 112, or forty-one per cent., were ladies. These are about the average percentages, as to sex, for the whole time since the college opened. Of the 273 in attendance the first year, 126, forty-six per cent., resided in Hillsdale county, and 147, fifty-four per cent., out- side the county. Of the 126 county residents, six- ty are now known to be living, fifty-four to be ciead, and the whereabouts of twelve are unknown. The total number of different students which the college has had since the beginning cannot now be told, or even guessed, with any accuracy. The music, art, elocution and commercial departments have not always reported their attendance by terms, and one year, while the faculty settled with the students, their names were not entered in the books. These slips defeat accuracy of statement

HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

for all time. The number, however, for the year referred to, is known, and the average for the 144 terms the college has been running, not including music, art, elocution or commercial students has been 251, and the number of terms work as of one student has been 36,166.

The total number of graduates (not including the commercial department, for the reason that their number is not known), is 1,019, of which 593, fifty-eight per cent., have been gentlemen, and 426, forty-two per cent., have been ladies. This percentage of lady graduates is about the same as of lady students. The college has grad- uated one Japanese and six colored people-three from the classical course. One blind person has been graduated and another is now in the Sopho- more class. Forty-three persons have each grad- uated from two courses, and two others from three courses each. Classified as to departments, the graduates have been as follows: From the academic, 843; theological, 105; music, 73; art, 17 ; elocution, 26. Ninety-six have received state teachers' certificates. The number of academic, as will be seen is eight times the number of theo- logical, which shows the principal field of college work. Of the 1,019 graduates, 175, or more than one-sixth, were born in Hillsdale county.

The first ladies to graduate were Clariet Ca- pron and Eliza A. Scott, who had studied else- where, the latter at Spring Arbor, and completed the ladies' course in 1856. The latter, now Mrs. Potter, is living at Grinnell, Iowa. The oldest graduate, Philip C. Tolford, is also now living. The first lady to graduate from the classical course and receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts was Mrs. Mary A. Seaman, in 1861. Fran- cis Cadwell, who graduated in 1860 at the age of eighteen and is now circuit judge at Le Sueur, Minn., was the youngest person ever to graduate from the classical course.

The first experience particularly out of the or- dinary run of events in common student life vas at the outbreak of the Civil War in the spring of 1861, when, as was common that year among in- telligent, patriotic collections of young men, the students went to war by the score, the catalogue of October, 1861, having sixty-one names starred

as being "in the army." Excitement ran high, two or three companies were formed among the students, who were furnished with old army mus- kets with bayonets, and learned to go through 'all the infantry movements, Professor Whipple doing the honors of colonel commanding.

The latest histories of the Amphictyon and Alpha Kappa Phi societies show 104 and seventy- ty-seven of their members, respectively, to have been in the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Jacob H. Stark, of North Adams, was the first student to enlist, for he became so impatient at what to him seemed slowness in getting up a company here that he went to York state and enlisted in the Fifth New York Infantry, later was in Dur- yea's Zouaves, and still later in Co. K of the new Fourth Michigan Infantry, from which he was mustered out on March 16, 1865.

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Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Part 10

Author: Reynolds, Elon G. (Elon Galusha), 1841- Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago, [Ill.] : A.W. Bowen Number of Pages: 554

Author: Reynolds, Elon G. (Elon Galusha), 1841-
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, [Ill.] : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 554