History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 29

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"By order of the trustees of the Geneva academy.

[Signed] " JAMES REES, Chairman and Acting Clerk, [L.s.] " By order of the rector, church-wardens, and vestrymen of Trinity church, Geneva.

[Signed] " DAVID HUDSON, Clerk of Vestry, [L.B.]

[Signed] "ORIN CLARK, [L.8.]

[Signed] " DANIEL MODONALD, [L.8.]

[Signed]

" SAMUEL COLT, [L.B.]

[Signed] " W. S. DE ZING. [L.8.]

Sealed and delivered in presence of

"D. S. HALL.

[Signed] [Signed]

" C. SHEKELL."

. Journal of the General Convention, 1828, p. 53.

t Proceedings of the Trustees of the General Theological Seminary, July, 1824, pp. 7-9.

Prior to the execution of this release, the first of a series of compromise mes- sures by which the college has surrendered from time to time prospective advan- tages or actual rights for the purpose of meeting a pressing present want,-the charter had been secured, though by no means without difficulty. We transcribe from the original manuscript in the college archives the statement of these funds, as it was presented to the regents of the university.

The funds of the college now consist :

1. Of the old academy fund of $1800, of which the sum of $1500 is secured by bonds and mortgages yielding an annual interest of 7 per cent. ; and $300 is secured by contracts given on the sales- of the old seademy lot, also yielding an annual interest of 7 per cent .. . $1,800.00

2. The donation made by the society in New York for the promotion of religion and learning, which now yields a semi-annual interest of 6 per cent. 20,500.00

3. A donation from Bishop Hobart out of the Startin legacy, so called, which is secured by bonds and mortgages bearing a semi-annual interest of 7 per cent. . 5,000.00

4. Amount collected from various subscriptions and donations, and seoured by bonds and mortgages, about $25,000 of which is subject to a semi-annual inter- est of 7 per cent., and the remainder annual interest at 7 per cent. .

33,800.00

$61,100.00

RECAPITULATION.

1. Academy fund of $1800, at 7 per cent., producing $126.00

2. New York donation of $20,500, at 6 per cent. 1,230.00

3. Startin legacy $5000, at 7 per cent. 350.00

4 Amount collected from various sources, and producing 7 per cent., $33,800. 2,366.00

Amount of annual income $4,072.00

In addition to the funds which have been invested and secured, subject to in- terest as above, there is a considerable amount of notes and subscriptions, includ- ing several subscriptions for land. It has heretofore been estimated by the com- mittee under whose agency and direction the college funds were obtained, that about ten thousand dollars would be realised from this source. But it is impossible to estimate at this time with any precision the value of these subscriptions, as many of them are bad.t

Thus the charter was obtained, and the work, whose small beginning we have so minutely traced, brought to that point whence a rapid progress was compara- tively sure.

On the 24th of May, 1825, the organization of the college under its charter was effected, a meeting for that purpose having been called at the academy build- ing. On motion of the Hon. John C. Spencer, L.L.D.,§ the proper officers were appointed, James Rees, Esq., the senior trustee, being elected chairman, and the Hon. Bowen Whiting, the secretary of the board of trustees. Thus the new col- lege was fairly launched before the world.

One feature in its proposed educational work demands our especial notice. In a circular issued in anticipation of the full organization of the college classes under date of March 1, 1824, the following outlines of an "English course" are sketched, at a time, we believe, when this feature of collegiate education was else- where untried, if not unthought of:

" That the blessings of civil liberty-real blessings only when shared equally among all ranks of people-may be extended as far as possible, and continued as long as possible, a general diffusion of useful knowledge seems indispensably neces- sary. This is so universally acknowledged by all enlightened politicians, and is so universally received in these United States, both theoretically and practically, that it needs no enforcement from any single institution of learning. But there is another light in which the diffusion of knowledge may be viewed as of the highest import- ance to the community at large. It is where practical information is communicated to citizens in all stations of life, enabling them to add pleasure to business, and ex- tend their exertions for the means of domestic comfort into fields of research hitherto confined to the philosopher.

"The present extensive application of the discoveries in chemistry to improve- ments in agriculture and the various manufactures, convenient or necessary to human life, demonstrate in the fullest manner the utility of diffusing a practical knowledge of the arts and sciences among all ranks of citizens, rather than confine that knowledge to the closet of the philosopher.

" For these reasons it is proposed, should the plan receive the approbation of the honorable the regents of the university, to institute in the Geneva College, besides the regular course of study pursued in similar institutions, a totally distinct course, in direct reference to the practical businees of life, by which the agriculturist, the merchant, and the mechanic may receive a practical knowledge of what genius and experience have discovered, without passing through a tedious course of classical studies.

"Students of certain qualifications and age shall be admitted members of the college, with all the privileges of it, to pursue a full course of the following studies under the appointed instructors:

# College M8. fles.

¿ Subsequently Secretary of the Navy, . life-long friend of the church and of the college of which he was trustee, 1836-1840.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

"1. Under the English professor they shall study the Philosophy of English Grammar, Geography, Rhetoric, History, English Composition, Moral Philosophy, Logic, Metaphysics, Evidences of Christianity, and shall practice public speaking. "2. Under the professor of mathematics they shall study Geometry, Trigonome try, Land Surveying, theoretical and practical; Mensuration, generally ; Navigation Leveling, with reference to canals and aqueducts; Hydraulics, as applied to machinery driven by water power; Steam Power, Natural Philosophy, and As_ tronomy, with the use of Mathematical Instruments, the principles of Architec- tural proportions and Bridge Building, Drawing of Plans, etc.

"3. Under the professor of chemistry shall be studied Chemistry; the principles of Dyeing, Bleaching, etc. ; the nature and use of different Earths and Soils; the fertilizing qualities and effects of different substances; Mineralogy and Botany.

"4. This course of study shall consume at least two years, and the students shall be classed by years, as in the classical departments of the college.

."5. Students pursuing this course shall be subject to the same number of public examinations in every year as are the classical students, and shall equally conform to all the by-laws of the college.

" 6. Upon the expiration of the prescribed term of study, such students in this minor course as shall appear, upon public examination, to merit it, shall receive from the president on commencement day, if the president be so authorized by the honorable the regents of the university, an English diploma, signed by the presi- dent and professors of the college, and which shall be considered an honorary tes- timony of application to practical studies, as the other diploma of the college is of classical and theoretical studies."

Thus broadly did the founders of Geneva College lay the foundations of their educational course, perceiving at the outset the wisdom of furnishing that parallel course of scientific instruction which, up to the date of this circular, *- in the wording and theories of which we cannot fail to recognize the style and mental grasp of the accomplished McDonald,-no other institution of collegiate learning had introduced.

The following year the Rev. Jasper Adams, D.D., at that time president of the college in Charleston, South Carolina, was chosen to the presidency of Geneva College. Prior to this choice, efforts had been made in vain to secure the services of the present Bishop of New York, the Right Rev. Horatio Potter, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L. Ozon., at that time a professor in Washington (now Trinity) Col- lege, Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Potter visited Geneva, and it was only on per- sonal and family grounds that he quite reluctantly declined the invitation. The venerable Rev. Dr. John Reed, of Poughkeepsie, New York, was also elected to this post, which, after deliberation, he refused, on the ground of a lack of special adaptation to collegiate work.

Prior to the entrance of Dr. Adams upon his work, the first class had been graduated at the commencement, 1826, consisting of the following gentlemen, all of whom became clergymen, and of whom one only, the Rev. Orsamus H. Smith, residing at Paterson, New Jersey, is at present (1876), after the lapse of a half- century, living and engaged in his life-work of the sacred ministry :

Henry Gregory, B.A., subsequently M.A. and S.T.D., and a tutor and trustee of the college.

Ulysses M. Wheeler, B.A. and M.A. William W. Bostwick, B.A. and M.A. Burton H. Hickox, B.A. Richard Salmon, B.A. and M.A.

Orsamus H. Smith, B.A.

The Rev. Dr. Adams delivered his inaugural in Trinity church, Geneva, at the commencement, August, 1826. A copy of this discourse was published, t and gives abundant proof of the wide reading and thorough scholarship of the accom- plished author. At this time, as appears from the " Catalogue of the Trustees, Faculty; and Students of Geneva College, December 28, 1826,"; the first of a long series of catalogues which have been issued, with an occasional exception, annually, from 1837 to the present time, the faculty consisted of the President, Rev. Dr. Adams; the Rev. Daniel McDonald, S.T.D., Professor of Languages; Mr. Horace Webster, A.M., subsequently LL.D., and President of the College of the City of New York, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy; Mr. Joseph N. Faribault, Professor of the French Language, and Mr. Henry Gregory, A.B., Tutor. The latter gentleman had succeeded the Rev. John S. Stone, A.B., subsequently D.D., and lately the head of the theological school of the Protest-

ant Episcopal church at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the father of a president of Hobart in later years. In the senior class there were five, of which two were students of the English course. In the junior class there were two, both English students. The sophomore class numbered fourteen, eight being English students; and the freshman class, wholly classical, numbered eight.

In April, 1828, Dr. Adams, who had amply proved his ability as the head of the college, and had won golden opinions from the students, accepted an invitation to resume his position at the south, being; influenced, to some extent, in this de- cision by the fact that his health was not sufficient to endure the rigors of our northern climate. The presidency was then offered to the Rev. John Churchill Rudd, D.D., of Auburn, a name inseparably connected with the history of the church in western New York; but Dr. Rudd declined the post. Efforts made to secure the place for the Rev. Dr. McDonald, to whom the college owed more, doubtless, than to any other man, failed, if we may believe the MS. letter of the time,§ in consequence of his uncompromising churchmanship; and finally the choice fell upon the Rev. Richard S. Mason, D.D., an eminent scholar and a most conscientious and devoted clergyman. His term of office covered five eventful years, during a portion of which he fulfilled the duties of rector of Trinity church, Geneva, the mother-church with which the college had from the first sustained the closest relations. Almost coincident upon the inauguration of Dr. Mason was the death of the gifted and energetic McDonald, a loss well-nigh irreparable. In the same year, all too soon for the interests of the college he had founded and nursed. with infinite care and pains, the venerable Bishop of New York entered into rest, and Geneva College, in the loss of the wise counsels and constant sup- port of Hobart, seemed indeed cast down and well-nigh destroyed. Toward the close of Dr. Mason's term of office a medical school was established in connection with the college, which subsequently attained an honorable position among the medical institutions of the land, and was finally transferred to the Syracuse Uni- versity, a few years since, only in view of the attraction of students to the great centres, where they could naturally secure greater opportunities for improving in their specialty. In 1835, the needs of the college had become so pressing that the trustees sought relief in their extremity at the hands of the Society for the Promotion of Religion and Learning. At a meeting of the trustees of this so- ciety, in July, 1836, further aid was granted to the college, accompanied by the declaration, "That the intent of the grant about to be made to Geneva College is to advance and secure the fundamental object for which this society was estab- lished and endowed, viz. : the promotion of religion and learning in the State of New York, in connection with the interests of the Protestant Episcopal church ; and that the trustees of this society rely on the honor and good faith of the trus- tees of Geneva College and their successors, that in all future time this intent will be scrupulously observed."

. Further stipulations were annexed to this grant. It was required that the presi- dent should always be a communicant of the church, as he had always been, in fact, not only a communicant but also a clergyman of the church. There seems in this provision an evident purpose to prepare the way for a possible necessity of intrusting the headship of the college to lay hands, as had been so successfully tried at Columbia College. Other requirements with reference to free scholarships were added; and on these terms the society became again the benefactor of the sorely-straitened college. At the same time, on the entrance upon the presi- dency of the Rev. Benjamin Hale, D.D., in 1836, on the resignation of the amiable Mason, a new epoch in the history of Geneva College was begun.

For twenty-three years this venerated man-whose name will ever live, in view of the patient toil, the abundant sacrifices, and the ceaseless devotion, rendered so freely, and at the cost of health and strength-gave himself to the arduous duties of his charge. Order was established ; harmony secured; the narrow means nursed and augmented, often by personal gifts and the results of most generous self-denial on the part of him who, in giving himself to the college, gave all that he was and all he had. A life more noble than that of Benjamin Hale cannot be con- ceived. Not for himself, but for others, he labored; and when spent with the untiring exertions of laborious years, and rejoicing at last in beholding the fruits of his labors, he retired from the post he had filled with singular devotion and success, throughout the length and breadth of the land, in the sacred ministry and in every walk of life, there were intellectual sons of his who could and did rise up to call him-their beloved instructor-blessed.

As a most valued and honored coadjutor to the devoted Hale, there was added to the staff of professors, at his incoming, David Prentice, LL.D., succeeding the Rev. Dr. McDonald in the chair of languages, and for eleven years, and till failing health required a relaxation of labor, maintaining a most brilliant reputation for high scholarship, singular devotion to his work, and unusual success in imparting the stores of a most richly-furnished and cultivated mind. For an even longer

. The same ideas are brought out more fully, but evidently from the same pen, in one of the earliest printed pamphlets relating to Hobart College, vis. : " Observations upon the Project of Establishing Geneva College." 8vo, New York, 1824, p. 8.

t An Inaugural Discourse, delivered in Trinity Church, Geneva, N. Y., August 1, 1827, by Bev. J. Adams, President of Geneva College. Geneva: Printed by James Bogert, September, 1827. 8vo, pp. 56.

# Printed by James Bogert, 1827. 8vo, pp. 8.

¿ Preserved among the Hobart MSS.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

period, from 1831 to 1845, the college enjoyed the efficient and valued services of General Joseph G. Swift, LL.D., as Professor of Statistics and Civil Engineering. General Swift, who will be remembered in military annals as the post-graduate of the West Point Military Academy, in giving his labor to the college, could not fail to inspire the students with admiration of a character at once so noble and so attractive as his own, while the zeal with which he engaged in the work of his department made him a beloved and worthy fellow-worker of Hale and his other compeers.

Our brief allusions to the staff of professors during these early days of Geneva College would be sadly incomplete without full recognition of the able and long- continued services of the late president, Horace Webster, LL.D., whose term of office equaled in years, though it was not coterminous in point of time, the incumbency of Dr. Hale. In the darkest days of Geneva College the seal and interest of Dr. Webster knew no possibility of failure; and it was a touching tribute to the love he bore to the college he had so faithfully and acceptably served, and the village where he had spent so many useful, laborious, and happy years, that after attaining the highest honors in his walk in life in the metropolis of the State, he returned to Geneva to close within the sound of the college and church bells his mortal career. To these noted names should be added that of David Bates Douglas, LL.D., ex-president of Kenyon College, and for a year professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Geneva College. Rarely have higher hopes been excited than by his coming to Geneva. Rarely has there been a greater disappointment than at his sudden decease. The name of Theo- dore Irving, LL.D., for ten years (1837-47) professor of Modern Languages, History, and Belles Lettres, will recall his charming contributions to the romantic history of his country in his " Conquest of Florida," while the devotional reader will not readily forget "The Fountain of Living Waters," in which, with trans- parent style and deep fervor of piety, he has given to our religious literature a work that should not be forgotten. The name of Dr. Edward Cutbush, as pro- fessor of Chemistry, Agriculture, and the Mechanic Arts, and that of a distin- guished foreigner, General Henry L. DuCoudray Holstein, as professor of Modern Languages, should be added to the galaxy of gifted men whose names have honored, as their services have adorned, the institution to which they gave much of their valued lives.

In 1836 the middle college building was erected for the use of the medical department. In 1837 the new college building was erected, now known as Trinity Hall. In 1838 the State granted the college an annuity of $6000 per annum, which was continued until 1846, when the grant was held to be inoperative by the amendment to the constitution made in that year. In 1841 the medical col- lege building, to the erection of which the State had granted the sum of $15,000, was added to the number of college edifices, and the middle college building was appropriated to the use of the academic department. In 1848 the small building then used for lectures, and now known as the Philosophical Room, was fitted up as a chapel. In 1849, the sum of $15,000 having been raised for that purpose, chiefly in the diocese of Western New York, the " Hobart Professorship" was established and assigned to the department of the Classical Languages; and on the completion of their foundation, the society for the " Promotion of Religion and Learning" gave the college, in 1851, the interest of a similar sum for the endowment of a professorship .*

Ou the 12th of May, 1848, the following minute and resolutions were adopted by the corporation of Trinity church :

"The vestry then considered the resolution heretofore submitted by the com- mittee, to whom was referred the application of Geneva College, together with their report and the accompanying statement of the Bishop of Western New York; and the same having been discussed it was, therefore,

" Resolved, That, for the purpose of promoting religious education in conneo- tion with the church in this State, it is expedient to endow the college at Geneva, in the diocese of Western New York, with an annuity of $6000, to commence_ on the 1st of May, 1866; such sum to be thereafter annually expended in the support of professors and tutors, and upon terms, conditions, and provisos, and with checks to be hereafter settled, so as to insure its application to the uses intended, provided the college shall raise, by subscription or other grants, a sufficient sum to insure the continuance of the institution in its late efficiency, until the endowment of this church shall be available.

" And it was referred to the same committee to consider and report the proper terms, conditions, provisos, and checks aforesaid."

The cessation of the State grant, however, created an immediate and pressing need, and application was made to Trinity church, New York, for relief. How that venerable corporation responded may be best inferred by the following ex- tract from ita minutes :

. Historical notices prefized to the "Triennial" catalogue of 1856.

"NOVEMBER 14, 1851.

" Resolved, That the promised endowment to Geneva College made by this vestry on the 12th of May, 1848, of $6000 per annum, to commence on the 1st of May, 1866, be so modified as to allow instead thereof $3000 per annum in perpetuity, payable quarterly, to commence from the first day of the pres- ent college term, provided that the trustees of Geneva College assent to such modification."

This grant was qualified by certain conditions, which were accepted and ful- filled : and among them was one, that the college should assume the name of the revered Hobart, a fitting tribute to distinguished zeal and service in the work and welfare of the college; and another, to the effect that any necessitous young man should receive his education and lodging in the college without any charge, thus making this institution of the church free to all.

This arrangement, concluded under the beloved and wise Bishop De Lancey, was the salvation of the college. Trinity church and Bishop Hobart must be gratefully regarded as its founders; and the college has had abundant proof that the parent has never forgotten, and will not forget, her offspring. But the en- dowment of $100,000, which would otherwise have been received in 1866, is by the terms of this compromise now only $50,000, at 6 per cent., and the values of money are so changed that, practically, even this sum is greatly diminished. It may be hoped, if not confidently anticipated, that " Trinity" will from its abun- dance eventually make good its original purpose.

The retirement of Dr. Hale, full of years and honors, was succeeded, in 1858, by the inauguration of the Rev. Abner Jackson, D.D., LL.D., at that time Pro- fessor in Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.

During these nine years of abundant and successful work, there were associated with President Jackson men of like spirit, and hardly less renown as scholars, as those who shared the work and honors of the excellent Dr. Hale. Foremost among these alas! that he has passed away from earth-should be mentioned the late Kendric Metcalf, S.T.D., who, for nearly a quarter of a century, as professor in more than one department, as senior professor, and from time to time acting president, and, finally, when worn out in the work, as deservedly emeritus pro- fessor, gave to the college a life's devotion and all the varied powers of a singu- larly gifted mind. Nor should the name of Edward Bourns, LL.D., subsequently President of Norwich University, in Vermont, who was long a successful professor of languages here, be forgotten. The Rev. William Dexter Wilson, D.D., LL.D., LH.D., now of Cornell University, and Professor John Towler, M.A., M.D., the honored and beloved senior professor of the present faculty, are still happily living. Their worth and praise every graduate or friend of " Hobart" will attest.

In 1860-61, the efforts of President Jackson to increase the endowment of the college added about sixty-seven thousand dollars to the general funds of the institution. The beautiful chapel, built after designs by the Messrs. Upjohn and Son, at the sole charge of Mr. William B. Douglas, of Geneva, was consecrated on the 29th of October, 1863, by the Right Rev. Bishop De Lancey, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L. Oxon., the life-long friend and supporter of the college. The sermon on this interesting occasion was preached by the Rev. Morgan Dix, S.T.D., rector of Trinity church, New York. The Rev. Henry A. Neely, D.D., now Bishop of Maine, was the first incumbent of the chaplaincy. He was succeeded by the Rev. Pelham Williams, D.D., now rector of the Church of the Messiah, Boston, Massa- chusetts, and, after a lengthened interval, he in turn was succeeded by the present incumbent, the Rev. Walter Ayrault, D.D., an alumnus of the college over whose religious interest he is called to preside.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 29

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391