USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Delaware > Fifty years of history of the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio : 1844-1894 > Part 10
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UNIVERSITY HALL AND GRAY CHAPEL.
The completion of this noble structure is a fitting monu- ment to our first half-century. The chapel, the gift of Hon. D. S. Gray, of Columbus, President of the Board of Trustees, was erected in memory of his father. At our request, the following sketch has been prepared for this volume:
REV. DAVID GRAY.
By REV. JOSEPH EDWARD STUBBS, PH. D., Class of '73, President of the University of Nevada, Reno, Nev.
The Gray Chapel of the Ohio Wesleyan University is the tribute of a grateful son to the memory of a noble and honored father.
The life of David Gray, from its beginning to its close, amid the vicissitudes of pioneer life and the active labors of a minister of Jesus Christ, bore the stamp of a manly and beautiful Christian character.
David Gray was born in Sussex County, Delaware, March 28th, 1800, the eldest son of Frazer and Elizabeth Lockwood Gray. He was of English descent, the heir to an unstained name, to pure blood, and a fine capacity. His parents were poor; common schools were then unknown, and his early education was limited. He started to school when seven years of age, and attended a high school for a short time in 1817. Yet, with this mneagre school equipment, he became a man of sound learning and a preacher of great acceptability. He was a careful student of a few books throughout his life- time. The Englishı Bible, Clarke's and Benson's Com- mentaries, and Watson's Theological Institutes and Biblical
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Dictionary made up his working library. He was accus- tomed to say: "I derived my literary education for the pulpit from these books, but my spiritual qualifications, which I deem most essential of all, I received from the Holy Spirit." When he entered the ministry, in 1835, besides his other studies, he commenced reading the Bible by course, making it a rule to read the Old Testament through once every year and the New Testament twice a year. This he continued until 1882, when he left off reading the Old Testament. Some time previous to his death, he had read the Old Testament through forty-seven times, and the New one hundred and fifteen times.
At the age of fourteen years, he went to sea with his half- brother, James, and continued the sailor's life for three years. When about seventeen years old, he commenced the blacksmith trade with his half-brother, John, at Milton, Delaware. Here he was converted, and joined the Method- ist Episcopal Church in February, 1819. He was licensed to exhort in the beginning of the year 1827, at Broad-Kiln- Neck, Delaware.
David Gray was married at Broad-Kiln-Hundred, Septem- ber 14th, 1820, to Naomi Lofland, eldest daughter of Luke and Elizabeth Morris Lofland. To this wise and happy union, David Gray was largely indebted for his usefulness and success as a pioneer preacher. She administered the household with economy and taste, and through all the hard- ships incident to the life of an itinerant Methodist preacher, she filled his home with the atmosphere of love and of devo- tion to duty. She was as full of courage as of faith, and eight out of her eleven children still live to do honor to her memory. In 1829, David Gray moved with his family to Ohio, making his home a short time at Zanesville, then at Dresden, and a year afterward at West Carlisle. Here, in
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1831, he was licensed as a local preacher. In 1832, he moved to East Union, and went into partnership with John Buxton at blacksmithing. During this period of sixteen years, from the time of his conversion until he joined the Ohio Conference, in 1835, he had been a highly useful Christian man. He was ordained Deacon at Springfield, Ohio, on the 23d day of August, 1835, by Bishop James O. Andrew, and he was ordained Elder on the 10th day of Sep- tember, 1837, at Detroit, Michigan, by Bishop Roberts. He was admitted into the Ohio Conference in 1835, and his active ministerial life lies between the years 1835 and 1865. Most of the appointments in the earlier days were circuits, and inost of his circuit appointments were among the best. In 1854, he was appointed Presiding Elder of the Maumee District. At the close of his term as Presiding Elder, in 1859, he located his family in a pleasant home at Findlay, and sub- sequently filled appointments upon circuits adjoining Findlay until the Conference of 1864, when he took a supernumerary relation. In 1870, he took a superannuated relation. In this relation to the Conference he continued until his death.
On April 3d, 1876, there came to the quiet Christian home in Findlay, Ohio, a great sorrow. On that date, Naomi L. Gray, who for fifty-six years had shared the trials and labors of her husband, and had met her responsibilities as a Christian wife and mother, passed to her eternal reward. After the death of his wife, he continued to live with his unmarried daughter, Eleanor, in the family home, until October 24, 1887, when the saintly old man joined the beloved wife of his youth and of his old age. He lacked about five months of being eighty-eight years old.
As a minister of the gospel, he was not merely a serinon- izer ; he was a good pastor and administrator, methodical as well as pious. He looked after the material, as well as the
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spiritual welfare of the church, always encouraging love, faith, and an open purse. When he entered the pulpit, he preached the gospel of Christ, and not vapid discourses on secular topics. Throughout the whole period of his connec- tion with the Conference, his maximum salary was five hun- dred dollars per year and a parsonage to live in. His minimum was one hundred and ten dollars per year, out of which he paid his house rent, and yet his fields of labor embraced, with few exceptions, the best circuits. He was well adapted, both in character and habit, for the position to which he had been called. His judgment was good ; he was economical, and yet not stingy. The beggar was never turned wantonly from his door. He was frugal by habit, and knew by necessity and experience the value of every penny. Though undemonstrative, his emotional nature was strong and deep. It may be said that David Gray's most promi- nent characteristics were a tenacity of purpose and ambition to do well whatever he attempted. They may be noted when, as a youth, he bravely accepted duty and encountered priva- tions for the gospel's sake, and when, in a long and varied ex- perience, there came bereavement and sorrow and darkness. His victories, too, were many. Some of his richest triumphs were in the evening of his life, in gentleness of spirit, in the sweetness of a strong growth, in a decided character, and in that abundant grace of God which enabled him in his last days to enjoy delightful visions of the better land.
May the beautiful and spacious and holy Chapel which commemorates the life and character of this father of the Church be the abiding place of the Holy Spirit, and the place of consecration for young men and young women for service in home, in Church, in State, to the honor and glory of the divine Son of God, to whom David Gray consecrated a long and useful ministry.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
The Ohio Wesleyan University completed its first half century in 1894. The Trustees, Faculty, Alumni, and hosts of friends united in making the annual Commencement week a "Jubilee."
The following programme was carried out :
THURSDAY, JUNE 14 .- Examination of Classes begins.
FRIDAY, JUNE 15 .- Examinations continued.
Exhibition of Students' Work in Art, in the afternoon and evening.
SATURDAY, JUNE 16 .- Examinations continued.
Exhibition of Students' Work in Art.
7:30 P. M .- Joint Annual of the Gentlemen's Literary Societies, in the City Opera House.
SUNDAY, JUNE 17 .- 10:30 A. M .- Baccalaureate Sermon, by President J. W. Bashford, B. D., Ph. D., D. D., in Gray Chapel.
2:30 P. M .- Semi-Centennial Love-Feast. Leader, Rev. Bishop J. M. Walden, D. D., LL. D., of Cincinnati, O. In the Lecture Room1.
7:30 P. M .- Sermon before the Christian Associations, by Bishop R. S. Foster, D. D., LL. D., of Boston, Mass., in Gray Chapel.
MONDAY, JUNE 18 .- Examinations concluded.
1:30 P. M .- Annual Meeting of the Trustees.
2:00 P. M .- Historical Celebration by the Faculty and Friends of the University. Mayor H. L. Baker, of Delaware, in the chair.
Prayer-Rev. F. L. Wharton, D. D., of Delaware.
Words of Welcome-Hon. J. D. VanDeman, Class of '51, Delaware.
Historical Sketch of the College-Prof. W. G. Williams, LL. D., of Delaware.
The Oldest Adopted Son of the College-W. T. McClintick, A. M., of Chillicothe, O.
The Business Man and the College-Mr. Z. L. White, of Columbus.
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Reminiscences of Half a Century-Prof. L. D. McCabe, D. D., LL. D. Ohio Wesleyan Female College-Mrs. A. S. Clason, Class of '57, Delaware. Our Friends in Other Churches-Rev. A. D. Hawn, D. D., Delaware.
7:30 P. M .- Students' Semi-Centennial Celebration. President M. P. Shawkey, '94, in the chair.
Music-Ladies' Mandolin Club, and the Glee Club.
Address in Behalf of the Present Students-J. F. McConnell, '94.
Address in Behalf of the Former Students-Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, A. M., Class of '72, Indianapolis, Ind.
TUESDAY, JUNE 19 .- 8:00 A. M .- Meeting of the Trustees.
8:30 A. M. - Athletic Exercises, on Athletic Grounds.
I:30 P. M .- Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association.
2:00 P. M .- Commencement Exercises of Conservatory of Music.
7:30 P. M .- Grand Organ Concert, under the auspices of Alumnæ Asso- ciation, by George E. Whiting, of Boston, Mass., in Gray Chapel.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 .- 8:00 A. M .- Meeting of the Trustees.
9:30 A. M .- Alumni Semi-Centennial Celebration, in Gray Chapel. Pres- ident, Hon. J. D. VanDeman, A. M., Class of '51, Delaware.
Striking Statistics --- Prof. E. T. Nelson, Ph. D., Class of '66.
The First Graduate of the College-Pres. W. D. Godman, D. D., Class of '46, Winsted, La.
Poem-Edward J. Wheeler, A. M., Class of '79, editor of The Voice, New York City.
The Graduate in Public Life-Hon. John W. Hoyt, M. D., LL. D., Class of '49, Ex-Governor of Wyoming.
The Graduate as an Educator-Pres. J. E. Stubbs, Ph. D., LL. D., Class of '73, Reno, Nev.
12:30 P. M .- University Banquet, in Thomson Hall. Toastmaster, J. M. DeCamp, A. M., Class of '67, Cincinnati.
The Graduate in Business-W. M. Day, A. M., Class of '71, Cleveland.
The Graduate in Science-Prof. A. E. Dolbear, Ph. D., Class of '66, Tufts College, Mass.
The Graduate in Law-Henry C. Hedges, Class of '50, Mansfield.
The Graduate in Journalism-Rev. Arthur Edwards, D. D., Class of '58, editor of Northwestern Christian Advocate, Chicago.
The Graduate in Literature-Miss Kate Kauffman, Class of '72, Spring- field, O.
The Graduate in Medicine-Spencer M. Free, A. M., M. D., Class of '77, DuBois, Pa.
The Graduate in Ministry-Rev. O. A. Brown, D. D., Class of '66, Wash- ington, D. C.
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The Graduate in the College-Rev. W. F. King, D. D., LL. D., Class of '57, President of Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
6:30 P. M .- Receptions by all the Literary Societies to their former Members, in their several Halls.
7:30 P. M .- Grand Concert, "Stabat Mater," rendered by the University Chorus, Professor S. H. Blakeslee, Director.
THURSDAY, JUNE 21 .- 8:00 A. M .- Commencement Exercises.
2:00 P. M .- Semi-Centennial Jubilee, Hon. D. S. Gray in the chair.
2:00 P. M .- Greetings from Other Colleges.
3:00 P. M .- Addresses by Governor Wm. Mckinley, Ex-President Chas. H. Payne, D. D., LL. D., New York City, Secretary Board of Education of M. E. Church; Hon. Chas. Foster, Ex-Secretary of the Treasury ; Hon. J. G. Woolley, A. M., Class of '71, and others.
8:00 P. M .- University Reception, at University Hall.
On the afternoon of Monday, June 18, 1894, an audience filling Gray Chapel gathered to celebrate the "Jubilee." The Mayor of the City of Delaware, Hon. H. L. Baker, was in the chair. After prayer by the Rev. F. L. Wharton, D. D., pastor of William Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Delaware, Hon. John D. VanDeman, of the Class of '51, delivered the following address of welcome :
ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
On behalf of the Trustees and Faculty of the O. W. U., I bid you welcome to this festival of the jubilee. I do not know why I was selected to give you this welcome, unless it be from my superior age and advantages. I am the only surviving graduate, save one, who has resided continuously under the shadow of the University since its foundation. I saw the seed planted by the venerable Dr. Elliott. I have seen it spring up and grow into a mighty tree, the branches whereof fill the whole world. From the branches in China, Japan, and the isles of the sea, from those in every village and city of our land, and on the far-off shores of the Old World, in the sunny South and frozen North, rich fruit has
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been plucked or is now growing from the topmost branches, in the bright sunlight of Heaven.
We could not have given you so royal a welcome a half- century ago. We had then but one solitary building. Our chapel was in a dining room, our society hall in a cellar, and our study room in the garret. We began with a President and two and a half professors, and tutors were unknown. We were undisturbed by railroads, or telegraphs, or tele- phones, or electricity, or gas, but we laid up our stores of knowledge by the light of the good old ancestral candle. The bottomless roads of Ohio had been made immortal by the pen of Charles Dickens. We began with a small body of students-thirty, less one, I believe-who took a pride in the new University and loved their teachers, and we had devoted teachers who loved us-two of whom, in the per- sons of Drs. Williams and McCabe, their eyesight undimmed and natural force unabated, are still here. Late may they return to Heaven. Who shall measure or estimate the influ- ence of their instruction ?
But the institution and its faculty and students were not a collection of mossbacks or fossils, though we lived so long ago. We were full abreast of or in advance of the times on all great questions, moral and educational; a little heterodox sometimes in politics, may be. This was the first institution on the continent, save one, to adopt, or at least practice, the co-education of the sexes. I well remember, in November, 1844, in the class-room of Prof. Williams, there was formed a class in Greek, of two pupils-a girl and a boy. The girl be- came that princess among women who had the American inde- pendence, as the first woman of the land, to declare and hold fast her convictions of right. My great modesty prevents me from telling you who that boy was. I can say for him, he was always next to the head, and never fell below a good second.
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Fifty Years of History.
We welcome to this festival those who went out, forty and more years ago, as well as those who took their degree but a twelvemonth since. The ranks of the early boys are thin- ning fast ; many of them are grandsires now.
"When we remember all the friends so closely linked together, We have seen around us fall like leaves in wintry weather, We feel like one who stands alone, some banquet hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead, and all but he departed."
We welcome all the old boys who are left; we welcome those who have had their collegiate birth since, that they may take up the broken thread of memory, revisit the old scenes and walks which were once so sacred, and that they may rejoice with us in the magnificent growth of our Alma Mater, the evidences of which are seen all around you. We welcome to this festival that distinguished citizen and jurist who became ours by adoption, and whom you will be delighted to hear this afternoon.
We welcome to this festival the able divine of a sister church, for you must know that our worthy President, when he goes gunning for success, chains to his chariot wheel all dissimilar, if not discordant, theologies.
We welcome to this festival those who seek to throw around their boys and girls the restraining, Christianizing influences of an institution founded upon, and in which has ever been taught, that perfection of jurisprudence given by God to Moses on the Mount, the first and crowning com- inand of which is: "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have 110 other God but me."
We welcome to this festival the patrons and friends of the University, who, in its darkest as well as its sunniest days, have stood by it with unfaltering faith. We will ever con- tinue to welcome the countless numbers of young men and maidens who may come to these halls seeking a broader
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education and a clearer knowledge of their duties as citizens in the days to come.
The patriot, Kossuth, when here, taking a cup of water from our spring, said : " I will tell my people that out of the Delaware spring of your sympathy I drink a health to the success of my country." So may you all, from the same spring of your sympathy, drink a health to the success and prosperity of the Ohio Wesleyan University.
By action of the Trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University, the alumni of Augusta College have been adopted as alumni of this University.
Hon. Wm. T. McClintick, class '42, Augusta, and now an honored Trustee of the Ohio Wesleyan University, deliv- ered the following historical address :
"OLD AUGUSTA."
When one has reached the reminiscent period of life, the memory takes its revenge, and finds its compensation for its lack of retentiveness as to recent events by recalling, with increased interest and pleasure, the scenes of childhood, youth, and early manhood.
The evening of life is apt to bring with it a mellow glow, which tints remote events with a tone and color as enchant- ing and beautiful as that which attends the evening of an autumn day-that bewitching period,
" When all the past like shadows flit, Like spirits move, before the eye ; The friends we liked, the one we loved, And the whole heart, is memory."
You may imagine, then, how pleasant a duty it must be, though tinged with sadness to "the oldest adopted son of the college," to tell who his mother was and how he became an orphan, and to express on this auspicious occasion his ap-
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preciation of the kindness of those who gave him shelter and kindred and many friends. This story carries him back to the happiest years of his youth passed at the Augusta College, and associated in memory with the names of Presi- dent Tomlinson, Professors McCown, Trimble, and Bascom, all of whom were remarkable men; and with the student life of Francis Asbury Morris and Joseph A. Soule, sons of two of the venerated bishops of the Church, now both fathers and sons passed to their eternal rest; and John Miley and Randolph S. Foster, and others who yet live to occupy dis- tinguished positions in the Church, and whose lives have been marked by devotion to study; to high, honorable, and pious aims, resulting in lasting usefulness to mankind.
There was a time when the demands of a new country and the necessities of the Methodist Church could only be supplied by calling into service mnen lacking, indeed, in the education of the schools, but impelled by a high and irre- sistible sense of duty, and filled with zeal for saving the souls of their fellow-men. The remarkable success, under Divine guidance, had led many of them, and many of the laity also, to believe that learning was unfriendly to religion, and that Providence, in a literal sense, always chose " weak things to confound the mighty." There were, however, both among preachers and people, some who saw that intelligence was essential as a safeguard both to religion and liberty; that you could no more make the highest type of Christian, or a freeman, than you could a shoemaker, without education and training. Such men's voices and labors were given earnest- ly and constantly to the establishment of high schools and colleges, in the belief that they might be made, to quote the language of Dr. Durbin, "not only the nurseries of learning, but also of morals and religion, and this without teaching religion to the students, otherwise than as other mnen are
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taught ; namely, by preaching to them the gospel of Christ, and setting before them living examples of constant piety and uprightness." Under the influence of such men, Au- gusta College came into being.
It was, in point of time, the first institution of learning under Methodist control that not only bore the name of " college," with legal power to confer degrees, but also did the work of a college, and conferred its degrees honestly and worthily.
The movement for its establishment began with the Ohio Conference in 1821, when two commissioners, Rev. John Collins and Rev. Martin Ruter, were appointed to visit the Kentucky Conference, to propose a union of the two Con- ferences in the establishment of an institution of learning of a high order.
The fact that the State of Kentucky, as early as 1798, had made a grant of 6,000 acres of land to aid in establishing an academy at the village of Augusta, the county seat of Brack- en County, Ky., on the south bank of the Ohio River, and that this land (or the proceeds) was still held by trustees for that purpose, invited attention to that place, and the com- missioners representing the two Conferences met there in December, 1821, to confer with the Trustees of the Bracken Academy Fund. An agreement was then reached making that fund available to the proposed college, on terms con- sistent with the purpose of its creation.
A preparatory classical school was begun in 1822, under the patronage and control of the two Conferences, of which Rev. John P. Finley was made the principal. He was a Methodist, the son of a Presbyterian minister, and a brother of Rev. James B. Finley, whose name and influence were so largely known and felt in the early history of Methodism in the West.
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Before the close of that year (1822), the Legislature of Kentucky incorporated "The Augusta College," with au- thority to confer the usual degrees, this being then, as is authoritatively stated, "the only Methodist college in the world having such authority."
Among the laity, who deserve prominent notice in this connection, must not be forgotten Captain James Armstrong, a resident of Augusta, a trustee of the Bracken Academy, and a member of the Methodist Church. He was the most active man in securing the establishment of the college. He it was who, with a few friends, undertook the erection of the college edifice upon a lot of his own, and having com- pleted it, made a conveyance of the grounds and building to the trustees of the college, in October, 1823. He saw the building occupied by the preparatory school; but both he and Finley, the head of the school, died, the one in August, 1824, and the other in May, 1825, before the collegiate de- partment was put in operation. This occurred in 1825.
In September of that year, the Rev. Joseph S. Tomlinson, just graduated from Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky, was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and became the temporary head of the institution, and afterwards, by a regulation of the trustees, as Professor of Mathematics, ex officio Vice-President.
A month later (October, 1825), Rev. John P. Durbin was elected to the chair of Latin and Greek, and he, with Tom- linson, organized the college classes. In 1827, Martin Ruter was elected President of the college, and Professor of Ori- ental Languages and Belles-Lettres, Frederick A. M. Davis, M. D., Professor of Chemistry and Botany, and Arnold Trues- dale, Preceptor in the Academy, with Thomas H. Lynch as assistant.
The course of study adopted at that time embraced all
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the branches of learning required by the American colleges of that day, and was regarded as full and complete.
In 1831, Dr. Durbin, without his solicitation or knowledge, was elected chaplain to the Senate of the United States; and, at the end of that year, he tendered his resignation as Professor in the college. He was succeeded by Rev. Burr H. McCown, A. M., as Professor of Languages. At this time, also, Henry B. Bascoin was elected Professor of Moral Science.
In 1832, Dr. Ruter resigned the Presidency, and Dr. Tom- linson gave up the chair of Mathematics, was transferred to that of Natural Science and Belles-Lettres, and again made responsible for the duties of President.
Rev. J. H. Fielding, A. M., former President and Profess- or in Madison College, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, suc- ceeded Tomlinson as Professor of Mathematics, which place he retained until the Spring of 1835, when he resigned.
It was my fortune to be transferred as a student from the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, to the college at Augusta, shortly after the resignation of Professor Fielding, in the Spring of 1835. Dr. Trimble, in the Fall of that year, took Professor Fielding's place ; and the college, fully equipped with professors and teachers, entered upon a career of pros- perity and popular favor. Dr. Tomlinson, the President, was a inan of extensive and varied learning and of great elo- quence in speech ; Dr. Bascom was exceedingly attractive in appearance, always faultlessly clad; he stood erect, broad- shouldered and tapering from shoulders to feet, with massive head and face of classic mold; eyes dark, yet radiant with intelligence, even blazing in moments of enthusiasm, the personification of manly beauty. At that time he had no equal in America as a pulpit orator. His fame attracted students from distant States, the sons of wealthy and am-
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