USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A centennial history, 1837-1937, Colby Academy, Colby Junior College > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
The old academy at New London had been planned on the theory that philosophy and science and litera- ture should become familiar to the young women of that time and they continued to be included in the curriculum when high schools offered less. The direc- tors of academic policy more than once planned collegi- ate curricula in the hope that Colby might become a full-fledged college. The new departure of 1928 was therefore in harmony with the thought trend of trus- tees and faculty over many years. The new arrange- ment provided better for young women than ever be-
262
TRANSITION TIME. 1922-1928
fore at Colby. It was the young men who found them- selves dispossessed. This was not serious because some schools, like Tilton Seminary, were changing from co- education to the education of boys alone. There had been only twenty-five dormitory and twenty town boys in Colby Academy during the year before the change. To make the transition easier town boys were admitted for a time at least to such courses as they were quali- fied to take.
The change of policy required careful study and a consideration of plans from various angles. It needed time to make the necessary adjustments. It called for wide publicity if the advantages of the school were to be made known. The trustees therefore selected eight members to confer and make whatever changes were needed. Two thousand dollars were set aside for ad- vertising and other expenses. A suitable curriculum was adopted with provision for courses in a prepara- tory school, continuing the old college preparatory course, and providing secretarial and music courses, and courses in the junior college, with divisions of liberal arts, secretarial science and journalism. The rate for tuition and board was raised to eight hundred dollars. By adding a year at a time to the previous curriculum and making the elimination of the lower grades a year at a time, the transition was easier for both students and faculty. The trustees had in mind also the probability of small college classes for a time, which would make possible more personal attention from the teacher.
263
XII
THE ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
W HILE Colby Academy is adjusting itself to the new role of a junior college, it is a good time to call the roll of some who were promi- nent among students and teachers. It is as idle to argue over the relative importance of these two groups as to determine whether the hen or the egg belongs first in the process of creation. If the faculty was essential, surely the students were equally so, since without them the faculty would be functioning in a vacuum. An Anglican clergyman may be contented to repeat the Sunday service to the sexton and himself, but it is in- conceivable that any member of the Colby faculty would feel easy talking to an echo.
It is the teachers who have moulded the intelligence and character of the boys and girls through the hun- dred years of the school's existence. Buildings and equipment have added to comfort and convenience and as conditions they have aided or hindered personal de- velopment, but it is the personal contacts that counted most. Williams College is famous for its beautiful stone chapel, where dignified and inspiring men impress the students who listen to addresses and where choice music lifts the soul, but such buildings have given Williams no greater reputation than it had when all that was necessary for an education was that President Mark Hopkins should be at one end of a log and a student at the other end. It may well be that Colby was as well off in the decades when students were crowded into the small classrooms of the old Academy building either in
264
ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
1840 or 1910, as now in the midst of far more comfort- able and better equipped quarters. That depends on the quality of the teacher and the attitude of the student.
A school like an apple tree is known best by its fruit. Very many of Colby's children dropped out of school without completing the regular course of study, as apples fall before they are matured. It was not always because they were unfit. Many went home with a heart- ache, knowing that they were needed there or that the family budget could not afford the expense of their schooling. Others there were who were so eager to plunge into the world of affairs that they could not wait to complete a course of study. Those who graduated from a four-years course were in the minority, but they are the full-fledged alumni.
In the seventy-five years between the reorganization of the academy and the end of co-education more than one thousand boys and girls received the diploma of the institution. More than one hundred of them became teachers, impressing upon their pupils the lessons they had learned and passing on the torch of learning to those who should carry on the culture of ancient and modern civilization. More than seventy graduates of Colby be- came ministers or missionaries, believing that the great- est contribution they could make was to persuade people of the reality and value of the spiritual in a world obsessed with the material. In that world more than thirty have chosen the law for their profession, and even more have served the sick as physicians, besides many women who have become nurses. Journalism has claimed a few and some have found a comfortable berth in government positions, but the rank and file of stu- dents have found their niches in business and the home. A third of those who became ministers got acquainted with their wives at Colby. Not a few of the girls who entered teaching concluded that they would rather
265
THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
bring up their own children than be foster mothers to the offspring of other people. In short, Colby alumni have been just ordinary human folks. .
A minority of the alumni have ventured far enough into the limelight to win the fickle praise of their con- temporaries or to invite the shafts of criticism from those who would like to debunk all reputations. The his- torian should be neither eulogist nor critic. His aim should be to tell the truth, let the chips of his craft fall where they may. Since he is only incidentally a biographer he merely turns his camera for a moment upon one and another who have pushed head and shoulders above the crowd and passes on.
Theology was once the queen of the sciences and the clergy constituted the highest of the professions. Now they are jostled by a variety of professions, but their call- ing is still the highest to which a man may aspire. To measure the good that Colby men have done in all parts of the world is impossible in words, but many thousands of persons have found the world a better place to live in because of these who counted not their lives their own.
High on the roll of honor among those whom Colby Academy would not forget is the name of Adoniram Judson Gordon. A New Hampton boy with the stamp of the country upon him, he found his way to Colby after the reorganization of the academy. He benefited from the voluntary discipline of the Euphemian Asso- ciation as well as the classroom and fitted for college with the class of '56. Bearing a name honored in mis- sionary history, he turned to the theological seminary after graduation from Brown University, and completed his course at the Newton Theological Institution with the class of '63. A pastorate of six years followed in the flourishing suburb of Jamaica Plain, and then Boston called him into the city where he served as minister of
266
ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
the Clarendon Street Baptist Church for twenty-six years. His preaching and pastoral service endeared him to the people of a large parish, his books of a devotional character made him widely known and beloved, and the Bible and Missionary Training School, which he organized at the church in 1889 for the training of reli- gious workers, perpetuated his influence. He was closely identified with missionary, evangelistic and temperance enterprises, was president of the executive board of the American Baptist Missionary Union, and editor of the Watchword. He founded the Industrial Home for needy men in Boston. His own college conferred on him the degree of doctor of divinity.
Samuel W. Duncan was a member of the same class of '56, which included at least four men of note. His family had the advantage of social position, since his father was a lawyer and member of Congress, but the boy found his level in the academy, went on to Brown and Newton with Gordon, interrupted by a year of European travel, and planned a ministerial career. The Civil War drew him into the field, and he raised a com- pany in his native town of which he was captain. He completed his theological course at Rochester Theologi- cal Seminary after the war was over. His ability gave him preferment. He served large churches in Cleve- land and Cincinnati for seventeen years, and then re- turned to Rochester as pastor of the Second Baptist Church for five years. During that time he was offered the presidency of Vassar College, but his health did not seem to justify acceptance of the proposal. The confidence of his denomination in him made him the choice for the foreign secretaryship of the American Baptist Missionary Union, a position that he filled for seven years, and he was president of the National Edu- cation Society. He was looked upon as one of the trusted leaders of the churches, and naturally was elected as one
267
THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
of the trustees of Colby Academy, serving for a critical time as president of the Board. He received the doctor of divinity degree from the University of Chicago.
Frank W. Towle was both minister and educator. Graduating from Colby Academy in the class of '58, he went to Colgate University and Seminary. For a term of nine years he was principal of Colgate Acad- emy, and he received the degree of doctor of philosophy. Later in life he served Baptist churches in Claremont, N. H. and Attleboro, Mass. While in Claremont he was made a Colby trustee and at one time was elected princi- pal of the academy but declined. Frank R. Morse was a member of the same class at the academy, but went to Dartmouth without stopping to graduate at New Lon- don. From Hanover he went to Newton and graduated from the seminary in 1865. He was pastor of popular churches in Lowell, Fall River and Albany, and then became assistant pastor to Dr. MacArthur in the Calvary Baptist Church, New York City. For a few years he edited the Watch Tower. Central University, Iowa, gave him the doctorate in divinity.
The class of '61 had two members whose relation to New London was particularly intimate. George W. Gile was born just over the line in Massachusetts, and most of his ministry was spent in Massachusetts cities, Law- rence, Pittsfield and Fall River, but at one time or an- other he was student, trustee, teacher, and president of the academy, and his last years were spent in New Hampshire as pastor at Portsmouth, where he died in 1908. Mr. Gile had gifts as a public speaker, and he rendered no more acceptable service to Colby students than in his vesper talks on Sunday afternoons in the chapel of the old Academy building. His other record belongs elsewhere in the story.
Dura P. Morgan was a New London boy. After grad- uating from Colby he went to Brown for his college
268
ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
training, as many Colby boys did in those days, but the Civil War demanded his services from 1862 to 1866, and he did not graduate from college until 1869. Three years at Newton followed, and then he went to Jamaica Plain as a successor to Dr. A. J. Gordon. After three years there he went to a most successful pastorate in the First Baptist Church, Beverly, where he remained for thirteen delightful years. He might have been prin- cipal of Colby but he declined; when his health broke he returned to his mother's home in New London to recuperate. The roof that sheltered him now covers the Tracy Memorial Building, and there at the Four Corners he was within sound of the academy bell and almost within sight of the buildings. Mrs. Mary H. Morgan, his devoted wife, yielded to the request that she teach in the academy, which she did acceptably for several years.
Austin V. Tilton of the same class trod the same path through Colby Academy, Brown and Newton, and was for five years minister at Keene and Augusta, Maine. His final pastorate was one of five years at Campton. John R. Gow was a small boy in the academy for a short time when his father was principal of the academy. After Brown and Newton he ministered to churches in Bridgeport, Chicago, Somerville, Brattleboro and Min- neapolis. Colby College honored him with the degree of doctor of divinity. Other graduates of Colby before the Civil War settled in Massachusetts, J. Parker Chapin '55, Charles F. Nicholson '59, and Edward T. Lyford and Harvey Woodward '60. Jonathan B. Childs '60 and Harrison W. Stearns '63 went outside New Eng- land.
During the next decade Colby graduated no minis- ters who attained to great distinction, but there were men in almost every class who filled acceptably the pul- pits of influential churches, and whose various gifts
269
THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
enabled them to occupy places of great usefulness as officials or advisory members.
Newell T. Dutton '66 served three years in the Civil War before he could get his education. Then he went through the usual course at Brown and Newton, and found his field of opportunity first for ten years at Warren, Maine, and then for a similar term at Houlton. After three more years at Fairfield he became financial secretary of Colby College. Such a record gave him standing in Baptist circles of the Pine Tree State. Irving W. Coombs was a classmate of Dutton. He got his theological training at Rochester. He interrupted many years of pastoral service by accepting the presidency of New Hampton Institution in its location at Fairfax, Vermont.
The next class at the academy included Colby and Hoyt. Nathaniel L. Colby was one of those unusual ministers of the last generation who remained in one church for a long pastorate. He climbed the educational ladder up which his predecessors had gone from Colby to Brown and Newton, served an apprenticeship of seven years at North Billerica, Massachusetts, and then settled down in the Merrimac Street Church, Manches- ter, for thirty-two years as full pastor and then for three years more with the lighter duties of associate pastor. Such a man was needed on the board of the New Hampshire Baptist Convention and on the Colby trus- tees. So well did he meet his obligations that he was promoted to the presidency of both. His service to the academy lasted for many years. Daniel W. Hoyt served in the Fourth Massachusetts Artillery during the Civil War. He was trained at Brown and Newton, was pastor of churches in Central Massachusetts, and in later years resided in Worcester until his death at a ripe age in November, 1936.
Two young men graduated at Colby whose career
270
E. E. CUMMINGS
S. J. DUNCAN
W. H. EATON
N. L. COLBY
Underwood & Underwood WILLIAM A. HILL Present Chairman
CHARLES L. PAGE
CLARENCE E. CLOUGH
SOME PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD AND THE PRESENT CHAIRMAN
ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
includes teaching in theological schools as well as the active ministry. John H. Mason completed his acad- emy course with the class of '68. Four years at Brown were followed by five years of newspaper work on the New York Tribune. Then, deciding on the ministry, he made his way to Rochester and was graduated from the seminary there in '77. The high lights in his life were his marriage to Caroline Atwater, well known for her literary work, his term of twenty years in the chair of the English Bible in Rochester Theological Seminary, and his activity of thirty years in the Prohibition Party. He had the degree of doctor of divinity from both Brown and Rochester universities. It was an interesting coincidence that he preached his last sermon in New London while spending a vacation at the Rest House.
The other youth was James P. Abbott. At Colby he was in the class of '70. Seven years later he had com- pleted his preparation for the ministry at Brown and Newton. His record includes a long term of service as pastor at Medford, Massachusetts. During his twenty- one years there he was selected as one of the trustees of the academy and was faithful in his attendance at the meetings of the Board. His interest in the school led him to send two daughters to the academy. From Med- ford he went to Wisconsin where he devoted seven years to the Baptists of Oshkosh and then went to Rockford, Illinois. He completed his term of usefulness with nine years of instruction in the Northern Baptist Theologi- cal Seminary at Chicago. Temple University, Phila- delphia, conferred upon him the doctorate in divinity.
The effect of the war was felt on Colby students for fifteen years. James K. Ewer '71, was a trooper in the Third Massachusetts Cavalry before he attended the academy. The experiences of field and camp made him a man almost before he was a boy, but he followed his academy course with three years at Newton, and then
271
THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
had three creditably long pastorates. The first was at Reading, Massachusetts, the second was at the capital city of New Hampshire with the Pleasant Street Church for nine years. Then Providence called him to the Union Baptist Church where he remained eight years. Maplewood Church near Boston claimed him finally. Mr. Ewer was a welcome speaker in New London and he served on Colby's board of trustees.
In the same class at Colby were Robert F. Tolman and Horace F. Brown. Both went through Brown and Newton. Then Tolman spent two terms of seven years each at Melrose and South Gardner, Massachusetts. Brown served country churches in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Other men of the period were George E. Leeson and Otis O. Ordway of the class of '70. Both went to Brown and Newton. Lee- son served as pastor at Framingham for four years before his early death. Ordway had a number of pas- torates in New England and the Middle States. Robert Alexander and Charles P. Bennett, class of '74, both died in the Far West after Bennett had served churches in Maine. Charles C. Spear and George C. Trow, both of the class of '77, and Edward R. Perkins '79, were pas- tors of country churches in New Hampshire.
Three names belong in the record of the next four classes. Millard F. Johnson, class of '72, after Brown and Newton spent forty-four years in the active minis- try, including ten years at Foxboro, eight at Nashua, and nineteen at Middleboro. While at Nashua he was a member of the Colby trustees, and he gave the his- torical address at the Jubilee celebration in 1903. Al- bert N. Dary '73, followed Brown and Newton with two years at Everett, Massachusetts, and then he found his field of service in Maine. George Merriam '75, was original enough to follow Colby Academy with Colby College and Newton, and then after following Horace
272
ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
Greeley's advice to go West and staying nine years in Kansas, he returned to Maine where he had his longest pastorate at Skowhegan. For many years he was the Maine correspondent of the Watchman, of which his brother, Edmund F. Merriam, was editor for some years.
Charles L. Page '80, found long and useful service in Boston. As assistant pastor of the Dudley Street Baptist Church he organized a large men's class which still bears the name of the Page Class. On the staff of Tre- mont Temple and as secretary of the Massachusetts Charitable Society, he deals sympathetically and capably with human need. He has been long on the Board at Colby and an active leader in its changing life.
The class of '86 launched Herman W. Wätjen upon his useful ministerial career. He took the usual course of going to Brown and Newton, and then commenced a pastorate of forty years at Warren, Rhode Island. Though born in Prussia and finding it necessary to ad- just himself to American life, he fitted so well into his American environment that he had rare success as preacher and pastor. Robert H. Carey was a class- mate who found his field in Maine. Charles V. French was in the next class in the academy; his ministry was to churches in Northern New England. Ernest M. Bart- lett and William F. Rowley graduated at New London in the class of 1890, deciding to make the ministry their life work. Hazen A. Calhoun, class of '94, followed their example, serving churches in several New England states.
Albert D. Spaulding, class of '82, Clarence E. Clough '91, and Charles E. Lewis '93, are among the number of those who changed from the ministry to business. Hor- ace R. Hubbard, class of '93, found greatest satisfaction in the Unitarian ministry. Albert E. Hylan '88, and Fred A. Robinson '91, followed the well-beaten highway
273
THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
to Brown and Newton. Hylan had two pastorates of seven years each in Massachusetts, and followed these with two more that were almost as long before he retired from active service. Robinson married Anna Hale of Colby '95, and found his places of service in four of the New England states.
The later 'nineties supplied their quota to the Chris- tian ministry. Times were changing, but the spiritual needs of the people were no less. Colby students still found their way to Providence and then to the seminary at Newton. Oren N. Bean was a member of the class of '94 at the academy, graduated in course at Brown in '98, and completed the three years in theology in 1901. He served rural and village churches in Vermont and New Hampshire, sent a son to Colby to follow in his footsteps, and Samuel N. Bean '22, is honoring his father in a similar ministry. Henry C. Speed was with Bean at the academy, graduating a year later, then after one year at Brown he too went to Newton and completed the regular course in 1899. His pastorates were limited to New England, where with his wife, Estelle Wallace, a Colby classmate, he endeared himself to his people by a conscientious ministry. Mrs. Speed is an active leader in the women's missionary organization of New Hampshire Baptists.
Frederick E. Webb, class of '96, went West for his field of labor, making a large place for himself there. William A. Hill and William Reid came from the same Boston suburb to become prominent leaders in class, gymnasium and literary society. Both graduated in the class of '98. After his college course at Amherst Reid married Mabel W. Gile, was settled in the pastorate for a number of years, was in Y. M. C. A. service during the World War, and finally entered upon his long and re- sponsible leadership of Rhode Island Baptists as secre- tary of their State Convention. Since 1928 he has been
274
ALUMNI - MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
a trustee of Colby Junior College, and for a number of years has also been a trustee of Newton. After Brown University, Hill combined Harvard Divinity School and Newton in his theological education, graduating from Newton in the class of 1904. He had pastorates in Ar- lington and Medford in Massachusetts and in St. Paul, Minnesota. For many years he has been the Secretary of Missionary Education of the Board of Education of the Northern Baptist Convention, responsible for all the missionary literature that goes out to the churches. He was made one of the Colby Academy trustees in 1915 and now as president of the Board he bears the weight of responsibility in guiding the policies of the new Colby in hearty co-operation with the president of the college. For a long term of years he has been a member of the Newton Board. Brown University gave him the degree of doctor of divinity.
Since 1900 Colby has not maintained its ministerial record of former days. Eugene C. Carder, D.D., class of 1903, is a marked exception. He received his training at Brown University and Rochester Theological Semi- nary. As associate minister of the Park Avenue Baptist Church, now the Riverside Church of New York City, he has acquitted himself efficiently in metropolitan affairs, both ecclesiastical and social, and has made Colby proud of his success. Warren C. Goodwin, class of 1905, followed the trail to Colby Academy, Colby College and Newton, and served Vermont and New Hampshire churches. Willoe J. Hall of the same class went to Ohio. Charles W. Findlay '07, took his college course at Har- vard, and made a reputation in the ministry. He was much beloved in Albany, where he built St. Andrews Church and remained fifteen years. George S. Camp- bell '10, was prevented by ill health from completing his course at either Colby or Newton, but in church
275
THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
and business activity has not forgotten his Christian calling.
J. Bernard Root, class of 1911, became a Congrega- tional minister and was pastor of the First Church, Lynn. Five years later at Colby was James F. Kelsey, and five years later still George A. Cole, who did not graduate at Colby but was subsequently a pastor in Cleveland. John A. Frazee '23, became associate minis- ter to the historic Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, made famous by Henry Ward Beecher. Still more recent among Colby boys is Everett Sherwood '26, who went by way of Brown and Newton to a first pastorate at Damariscotta, Maine.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.