USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 44
USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 44
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" The said trustees have therefore thought proper to inform the pub- lic, that they design to open the said college the next spring, and to notify to any person or persons who are qualified by preparatory learn- ing, for admission, that some time in May next, at latest, they may be admitted to an Academic Educatiou."
It is manifest by reference to the petitioners as well as the corporators that they were Presbyterians, and that they designed to make this a Presbyterian insti- tution, though a liberal one, in which they could se- cure at home a thorough education for their sons, especially those who were seeking the ministry. The great schism in that denomination had oceurred in 1741, and it sprang out of the controversy about the excesses in religious revivals, and the requisite de- gree of ministerial education in those who sought to be ordained as preachers of the gospel. The Log College on the Neshaminy did not seem to satisfy those who wanted this college, and the friends of that school, soon after this college was chartered and organized, gave it their support and joined in making it a success. There being some question as to the validity of this first charter, a second one was granted by Governor Beleher, Sept. 14, 1748.
The institution had been organized, however, under the first charter, and the trustees elected the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, of Elizabethtown, president of the college.
FIRST PRESIDENT, REV. JONATHAN DICKINSON, 1746-47 .- The college was opened at Elizabethtown in May, 1747, by the president in his own house. He had been pastor of the Presbyterian Church at that place from 1709. He was the most influential minister among the Presbyterian elergy of New Jersey; had been accustomed to teach young men preparing for the liberal professions, and at the same time was a praetieing physician of considerable reputation in the medical profession, and was an author of some dis- tinction. He was assisted in giving instruction to the first class in college by Caleb Smith, who acted as tutor.
The members of the first class were Enos Ayres, Benjamin Chestnut, Hugh Henry, Israel Reed, Rich-
ard Stockton, and Daniel Thane. All but Richard Stockton became elergymen, and he became the dis- tinguished civilian of Princeton, who signed the Dec- laration of Independence in 1776. These were the first fruits of the college, who headed the roll of the alumni.
But, alas! in the midst of these bright anticipations and faithful services President Dickinson's career was suddenly terminated. He died of pleurisy Oct. 7, 1747, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was buried at Elizabethtown with great lamentation ; his name was honored throughout the county as "a star of superior brightness and influence in the orb of the church." President Edwards called him "the late learned and very excellent Mr. Jonathan Dickinson." The Rev. Dr. Belamy ealled him "the great Mr. Diekinson." The Rev. Dr. John Erskine, of Ediu- burgh, said " the British Isles have produced no such writers on divinity in the eighteenth century as Diek- inson and Edwards." Governor Belcher spoke of him as "that eminent servant of God, the learned and pious Diekinson." The Rev. Dr. Sprague said "it may be doubted whether, with the single exception of the elder Edwards, Calvinism has ever found an abler or more efficient champion than Dickinson."
President Dickinson was born in Hatfield, Mass., April 22, 1688. He was graduated at Yale College in 1706. His wife was Joanna Melyne. His youngest daughter Martha was married to Rev. Caleb Sinith, who had been a tutor under him in college. His daughter Abigail was the second wife of Jonathan Sergeant, who, as treasurer of the college, removed with it to Princeton. President Dickinson was the author of a large number of published sermons, tracts, treatises, pamphlets, and papers on the doctrines of the church. He was a very handsome mau.
SECOND PRESIDENT, REV. AARON BURR. 1747-57. -Upon the death of President Dickinson, the students of the college were placed under the eare aud instruc- tion of the Rev. Aaron Burr, at Newark, who was : pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and a teacher of a elassieal school at that place. A new charter was obtained Sept. 14, 1748, from Governor Belcher, who had just become Governor of the province of New Jersey, and who was a warm friend of the college. The trustees accepted the new charter,. and then :elected, in November, 1748, Mr. Burr president of the college. The first commencement took place under , the new charter at Newark. The unity of the college under the two charters is proved by the bestowal of degrees upon the class taught under the first, without examination under the second.
A glance at the trustees will show that they were the most solid and influential men in the country ; that the elerieal members were leading Presbyterians, and the lay members were also most honorable and emi- nent men : Governor Belcher, who was er-officio presi- dent of the board, was a graduate of Harvard, and was a devoted friend of the college, and spoke of it as his
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adopted danghter. Jonathan Dickinson and Aaron Burr, two of the trustees, became honored presidents of the college. The Rev. John Pierson was a grad- uate of Yale, aud pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, N. J. The Rev. John Pemberton, D.D., was a graduate of Harvard, and Presbyteriau pastor in New York. The Rev. Joseph Lamb was a graduate of Yale, and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Basking Ridge, N. J. The Rev. Gilbert and William Tennent, Jr., were educated under their father at the Log College. Both were eminent min- isters, the one at Philadelphia and the other at Free- hold, N. J. The Rev. Richard Treat was a graduate of Yale, and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Abington, Pa. The Rev. Samuel Blair studied at the Log College, and was pastor at Shrewsbury, N. J., . and afterwards at Fogg's Manor, Pa. The Rev. David Cowell was gradnated at Harvard, and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Trenton, N. J. The Rev. Timothy Johnes was a graduate of Yale, and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at New Brunswick, N. J. The Rev. Jacob Greeu was a graduate of Harvard, and Presbyterian pastor at Hanover, N. J. He was the father of Rev. Ashbel Green, and a patriotic member of the Provincial Congress, and aided in forming the first Coustitutiou of New Jersey.
The lay members were hardly less distinguished for their intelligence and position: Hon. James Hnde was from Scotland, but resided in New Bruns- wick, of which he was mayor, and was a member of Governor Belcher's Council, and a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church. Hon. John Reading, of Hun- terdon County, also senior member of Council, and became acting Governor of the province npon the death of Governor Belcher. Hon. Andrew Johns- ton, of Amboy, was also member of Council, and an Episcopalian. Hon. Thomas Leonard, of Princeton, member of Conncil and a prominent public man. Hon. John Kinsey was an able lawyer in New Jersey, and afterwards chief justice of Pennsylvania. He was a Quaker. Hon. Edward Shippen was a mer- chant of influence in Philadelphia. Hon. Willian Smith was an eminent lawyer of New York City and judge of the Supreme Court. Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Esq., an eminent merchant of New York, and brother of Governor Livingston. William Pear- tree Smith, Esq., a graduate of Yale, a lawyer by pro- fession. His daughter became the wife of Elisha Bon- dinot, and he lived at Elizabethtown after her mar- riage ; and Sainel Hazard, Esq., of New York, whose son Ebenezer became Postmaster-General of the United States.
Such were the founders of this college, who guided it in its infancy and stamped upon its history the character it now maintains. They raised funds to erect a college building and fixed its
college there, prorided the inhabitants of that place would secure to it one thousand pounds, ten acres of land contiguous to the college, and two hundred acres of woodland within three miles from the town. These terms not being accepted, the men of Princeton hastened to comply with the offer, and Richard Stock- ton, Thomas Leonard, John Hornor, and Nathaniel Fitz Randolph furnished the requisite laud and bonds, and thereupon the college was located at Princeton. It had been the desire of Governor Belcher and others from the time of the charter to locate the institution in the central position of Princeton, and the prompt liberality of Princeton snatched the prize from the hesitating action of New Brunswick. Thomas Leon- ard, of Princeton, was chairman of the building com- mittee. The work was commenced in 1754, and was ready in the autumn of 1756 for the use of the insti- tution, and President Burr, with about seventy stn- dents, removed from Newark to Princeton in the fall 1 of 1756, taking the library with him.
The college building originally was one hundred and seventy-six feet in length, fifty-four in width, with projections in the middle, front and rear. A cupola surmounted the centre of the roof. There were three stories with a basement. There were forty-nine rooms, designed for one hundred and forty-seven students. There were other rooms for library, recitations, refectory, dining-room. The whole number of rooms, besides the chapel, was sixty. The chapel was nearly forty feet square, with a gallery, rostrum, and organ. This was used for preaching and public meetings; Congress occupied it in 1783.
This building was named by Governor Belcher "Nassau Hall," as already stated, and it still stands as North College, though it has been twice burned, except its walls, which have been renovated in re- building in 1802 and 1855. This was regarded as the grandest building of the kind in this country when ! first erccted. The president's honse was built at the same time near it. Both of these buildings are still standing and in use by the college.
During President Burr's administration of ten years the number of graduates was one hundred and font- teen ; more than half became preachers of the gos- pel, and about forty were men of note, and some em- ineut. He was the only professor, but there were two tutors. In the midst of these high hopes of future success Governor Belcher died, Aug. 31, 1757, and President Burr, who preached his funeral sermon with a high fever on him, died on the 24th of Sep- tember following, and was buried in Princeton. Pres- ident Burr was born in Fairfield, Conn., in 1715, and was graduated at Yale with distinction in the lan- guages and sciences. He was universally beloved and esteemed, an excellent preacher, a great scholar, I jamin Franklin concerning him. His wife was Es-
LOCATION AT PRINCETON,-The city of New Bruns- : and a very great man. Such was the opinion of Ben- wick 'had been more prominently mentioned than Princeton, and the trustees liad resolved to locate the ther, daughter of Jonathan Edwards. They left two
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children,-Sarah, wife of Tapping Reeve, chief jus- tice of Connecticut, and Aaron Burr, who was Vice- President of the United States for four years from 1801, and one of the most notable public men of this country.
THIRD PRESIDENT, REV. JONATHAN EDWARDS, 1757-58 .- This eminent man was called from Stock- bridge, Mass., to fill the vacaney eaused by the death of his son-in-law, President Burr. He had been pas- tor of the church at Northampton, Mass., for twenty years before he went to Stockbridge. He was born at East Windsor, Conn., Oet. 5, 1703. He was a gradu. ate of Yale, and greatly distinguished from his youth for his vigorous mind and his philosophical investi- gation of profound subjects. His religious character was self-denying and rigid. Though he held the office of president for less than a year, his election, accep- tance, and inauguration conferred high honor upon the college. He was elected Sept. 29, 1757, and died Feb. 23, 1758. The smallpox prevailed in Princeton when he came here, and he was inoculated by Dr. Shippen, of Philadelphia. The treatment of the disease seemed successful, and the ordinary period of danger had passed, when a secondary fever super- vened, and the great number of pustules in his throat so obstructed it that the necessary medicines and die- tetic preparations could not be administered. He left ten children. His life and works have been pub- lished in ten volumes. Prominent among them are his " Freedom of the Will," "Redemption," "True Virtue," " Religious Affections," and "God's Last End in Creation."
FOURTH PRESIDENT, REV. SAMUEL DAVIES, 1759- 61 .- President Davies, of Virginia, took the oath of office Sept. 26, 1759, the day of commencement, and he presided over the exercises. Eighteen students were admitted to the degree of A.B. He devoted himself with energy to his work, and introduced the practice of English composition and eloquence with much success. He also undertook to train a elass of students for the ministry. He had efficient tutors to assist him in college, viz., Halsey, Treat, and Ker. He and Gilbert Tennent went to Great Britain before he was elected president to raise funds for the col- lege, and they preachedl there with great aceeptanee, and were invited by Whitefield to be his guests, which they declined.
President Davies was a pulpit orator with no supc- rior in this country. Three volumes of his sermons have been published, and they rank high for merit. He maintained his reputation while at the head of the college, and he brought the number of students : higher than it had ever been before, reaching one hundred. He died of fever, Feb. 4, 1761, in the thirty-eiglith year of his age, and was buried in the cemetery by the side of President Edwards.
FIFTH PRESIDENT, REV. SAMUEL FINLEY, 1761- 66 .- President Finley, of Maryland, was inducted into the office Sept. 30, 1761, the day of commencement,
;Forty students were admitted to the first degree. The annual commencement of 1762 was quite a memora- ble one. The programme of exercises was more im- ;posing and pretentious than those of the present day. Governor Hardy was present on behalf of the trustees. Richard Stockton greeted him with an address, in which he said,-
" As the college of this provinee has been favored with the patronage of cach of our Governors since its institution, your Excellency will be pleased to take it under your protection. We can assure you that we adopt the general principle of preparing youth tor public service in Church and State, and making them useful members of society, without concerning our- selves about their particular religious denomination."
The Governor responded, pledging every assistance in his power in promoting the prosperity of this useful seminary of learning.
Under the administration of President Finley the college rose in importance and in the number of students. The number of graduates in 1762 was twenty-one, and among them Dr. Absalom Bainbridge, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, Ebenezer Hazard, and Jacob Manning. In the year 1763 the names of Wil- liam Paterson and Tapping Reeve appear among the graduates. In the year 1765 the graduating class numbered thirty-one members, and that of the next year the same number, including Oliver Ellsworth. Nathaniel Niles, Luther Martin, David Howell, and Jonathan Edwards, the son of President Edwards.
Dr. Finley was assisted by tutors, Jeremiah Halsey, Samuel Blair, James Thompson, and Joseph Periam, and the course of instruction in college introduced by the president is said to have been similar to that in European colleges. There were four classes, as now, and the number of students rose as high as one hun- dred and twenty in 1764. Of the students under President Finley fifty-nine became ministers of the gospel.
The president preaelied to the students and the families of the town in the chapel. He took a lead- ing part in the building of the church, and is be- lieved to have preached in it before he died. He was greatly beloved by the congregation and citizens of the towu. He received the rare honor of a degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Glasgow. Dr. Finley was a native of Ireland, born in 1715, eame to this country in 1734, and settled in West Jersey ; studied theology at the Log College. He preached and taught a classical school at Nottingham, and was called thence to Princeton. His health failed and he went to Philadelphia for medical assist- : ance, but died there July 12, 1766, aged fifty-one : years. His death was so triumphant and exultant that it was contrasted with Hume's in a sermon by Dr. Mason.
SIXTH PRESIDENT, REV. JOHN WITHERSPOON, 1768-94 .-- Dr. Witherspoon having been twice elected, accepted, and was inaugurated president Aug. 17,
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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
1768, and delivered his inaugural address in Latin, ; large page in the history of our country, both before on the " Union of Picty and Science." He was born and after he became a signer of the Declaration. in Yester, Scotland, Feb. 5, 1723, the son of the Rev. When Lord Cornwallis approached Princeton with James Witherspoon, an able minister, his mother a ; his Hessian troops, Dr. Witherspoon disbanded the pious descendant of John Knox, the reformer, edu- students of the college, and suspended indefinitely cated at the University of Edinburgh, with stroug intellectual vigor and thorough training. He was forty-two years old when he came to Princeton, and seventy-two years old when he died. He eutered upon his duties here with high repute for talents and learning.
Dr. Witherspoon began by improving the system of education, and adopting the policy, which was new in this country, of teaching by lectures, and he deliv- ered lectures on four subjects, viz. : Belles-lettres moral philosophy, chronology and history, and divinity. These were popular and gave reputation to the college. He introduced the study of the He- brew and French languages, and increased the library and philosophical apparatus. He brought with him and presented to the library three kundred volumes, and he was instrumental in procuring for the college the first orrery constructed by Rittenhouse, which was much injured by the soldiers of the Revolution. Dr. Witherspoon was a general scholar, could teach Hebrew and French, as well as Latin aud Greek. William Churchill Houston was tutor under President Witherspoon until 1771, when he was appointed Pro- fessor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
Dr. Witherspoon rendered important service by efforts to increase the funds of the college. These, which had greatly run down, were now greatly im- proved, so that the institution became out of debt, with a surplus. He preached in the church to the congregation and students, and acted as pastor during the year he was president of the college.
When the Revolutionary war commenced, Dr. Witherspoon had been president of the college for eight years, and had greatly built it up. Among those who had graduated during these years were many young men who soon became eminent. We might name Charles Beatty, John Henry, William Channing, Samuel Stanhope Smith, Frederick Fre- linghuysen, James Witherspoon, John Taylor, Hugh H. Brackenridge, Philip Frenau, James Madison, Aaron Burr, William Bradford, Andrew Hunter, Hugh Hodge, Henry Lee, Morgan Lewis, Aaron Ogden, John Witherspoon, Samuel Leake, Henry Brockholst Livingston, Jonathan Mason, William Stevens Smith, David Witherspoon, Andrew Kirk- patrick, Charles Lee, James Reed, John A. Scud- der, Jonathan Dayton, John Rutherford, and many others.
The patriotic and eminent services which Dr. Witherspoon rendered to his adopted country had no little influence upon those young men who had been educated under him and had graduated at Nas- sau Hall, and history illustrates their names. The history of Dr. Witherspoon in the Revolution fills a
: the exercises. Soldiers occupied the places of the students in the college buildings. The college lost nothing in reputation by the conduct of its president, professor, and graduates during the war; and when the removal of hostilities allowed the reopening of college, President Witherspoon and Professor Hous- ton re-entered their places, and it was not long be- fore three other professors were added to the faculty, viz., Rev. S. Stanhope Smith, Ashbel Green, and Walter Minto, LL.D. There were as many as twenty-five different tutors employed while Dr. With- erspoon was president. His administration extended through twenty-six years, and during that period there were four hundred and sixty-nine graduates, of whom one hundred and fourteen became ministers of the gospel. Six of these graduates were members of the Continental Congress, twenty were members of the United States Senate, and twenty-three of the House of Representatives. Que became Presideut of the United States and one Vice-President.
Dr. Witherspoon was a -voluminous author. His several essays, speeches, sermons, and lectures were published in four volumes. His influence and repu- tation as a theologian, preacher, statesman, educator, and scholar were extensive in church, in state, and in letters, in this country and in Europe; aud he added much to the fame and strength of the college. He had ten children, but five of them died before he left Scotland. He died at Tusculum, his country- seat, a little way out of town, the 15th day of Novem- ber, 1794, and was buried in the cemetery with the other presidents there buried.
SEVENTH PRESIDENT, REV. SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH, 1795-1812 .- The successor to President With- erspoon was his son-in-law, the Rev. S. Stanhope Smith, who was elected May 6, 1795. He had been a professor in the college since 1779. He was born in Lancaster County, Pa., March 16, 1750, graduated at this college in 1769, and studied theology with Dr. Witherspoon. He was a popular and eloquent preacher, and was president of Hampden-Sidney Col- lege for a few years. He was thien elected Professor of Moral Philosophy in his Alma Mater at Princeton, being the second professor, besides the president, at that time. In 1786 he was chosen vice-president of the college, and resided in the president's house, the president residing at Tusculum. He became an ele- gant scholar and gentleman, and was frequently in- vited to deliver public addresses and lectures. He became president of the college in 1795. His admin- istration was carly distinguished by the appointment of a Professor of Chemistry, a step in advance of other American colleges. He labored to increase the funds of the college, and appealed to the State of
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New Jersey for aid, founded upon the claims and services of the college, and the State granted four thousand eight hundred dollars, to be paid within three years. This, Dr. Maclean says, is the only pecuniary aid it ever received from the State treasury.
President Smith was administering the affairs of college well when, on the 6th of March, 1802, Nassau Hall was consumed by fire, except its walls, with most of the library and apparatus. It was suspected of having been set on fire. A general appeal for
Dr. Smith was the first president of the college who did not die in the office. He continued his resi- dence iu the town till Aug. 21, 1819. when he died. and was buried by the side of President Witherspoon assistance was made throughout the country, and ; in the cemetery. He left one son and six daughters, especially throughout the Presbyterian Church. The "all married but one, to survive him. They were prominent in society in their day. president collected in the Middle and Southern States one hundred thousand dollars. The hall was rebuilt upon the old walls. In addition to this the trustees erected two or more dwelling-houses for professors, and other buildings for lecture-rooms and for stew- ard's room and refectory. A cabinet of natural history was procured by the trustees, chiefly through the efforts of Elias Boudinot, in the year 1805, at the cost of three thousand dollars. In 1806 fifty-four students were admitted to the first degree, a greater number than at any previous year. There were four professors, one teacher of French, and two or three tutors. But there were disorders in the college, and it became necessary to expel as many as one hundred and twenty-five students.
In 1810 the trustees appointed a committee to confer with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church on the subject of establishing a theological seminary in Princeton. This was accomplished, and ., He was a sou of the Rev. Jacob Green, pastor of the
the teaching of theology in college was discontinued and transferred to the seminary.
After a connection with the college for thirty-three years, President Smith, on account of ill health, re- signed the presidency in 1812. During his adminis- tration there were five hundred and thirty one grad- uates, of whom twenty-two became, presidents or professors in colleges, one a Vice-President of the United States, and a large number became distin- guished in Congress and Cabinet and other high places in Church and State.
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