History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 81

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 81

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In 1818, the Presbytery of Portage was erected, and also formed itself into an education society in the same manner. These societies held their annual meetings, and took annual collections. The urgent need for more minis- ters to supply the destitute churches, and do missionary work, led these two Presbyteries,

in 1822, to appoint committees to confer together for the purpose of devising " ways and means for establishing on the Connecticut Western Reserve, a Literary and Theological Institution." The committee of Grand River Presbytery were Rev. Giles H. Cowles. Rev. Harvey Coe and George Swift ; that of Portage Presbytery were Rev. John Seward, Rev. Joseph Treat and

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Elizur Wright. These committees met at War- ren on the 16th of April, 1822." The afternoon of the day preceding was, by recommendation of the Presbyteries, observed as a concert of prayer by the churches, that the blessing of God might attend the deliberations of the com- mittees, and lead to a happy result. "On the 13th of April, the two Presbyteries held a joint meeting at Warren," to hear and consider the reports of their committees. The report, which was adopted, recommends the Presbyteries to establish a theological institution, on the foun- dation of the Erie Literary Society, located at Burton, Geauga County, provided the Trustees accede to the following conditions, to wit :

1. That the Trustees enact laws binding themselves.

(a.) To appropriate to the education of pious, indigent young men for the Gospel min- istry all moneys that may be intrusted to them for this purpose.

(l.) To allow no person to hold the office of President in the institution who is not a mem- ber of some Christian church.

(c.) To allow no person to hold the office of Professor in the Theological Department, un- less he shall subscribe to the confession of faith, which every Professor supported on the Asso- ciate foundation in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., is required to subscribe.

(d.) To permit, while this connection con- tinues, the managers of the education fund an- nually to examine into the progress of the insti- tution, the state of said fund, and the manner in which it is applied.

2. That the Trustees give bonds to re-convey to the managers of the education fund, within one year after demanded by them, all such un- expended property, personal and real, as they shall have received from them.

The conditions were unanimously accepted by the Trustees. The Presbyteries, having been certified of the fact, proceeded to appoint a Board of Managers of the Education Fund. The Presbytery of Grand River appointed for this purpose Zalmon Fitch, George Swift, Rev. Ephraim T. Woodruff and Rev. Amasa Loomis. The Presbytery of Portage appointed Elizur Wright, Joshua B. Sherwood, Rev. Caleb Pit- kin and Rev. Benjamin Fenn. This Board of Managers was to have perpetual succession, and to fill their own vacancies. They were to receive and convey to the Erie Literary Society,

agreeably to the conditions named, all property intrusted to them for the education of pious and indigent young men for the sacred minis- try, annually to visit the institution to exam- ine into its state and progress and the applica- tion of the education fund, and to attend to such other business as shall by them be deemed necessary to promote the great objects of edu- cating young men for the Gospel ministry. They were also to make a report annually to each Presbytery.

At this joint meeting at Warren, the Portage Presbytery appointed a committee to prepare and publish an address on the subject of edu- cation. This committee consisted of Rev. Messrs. Pitkin, Seward, Curtis and Stone, Mr. Benjamin Whedon and Mr. George Swift. They issued an urgent and spirited appeal " to the patrons of literature and religion, on the subject of establishing a literary and theologi- cal institution in the Connecticut Western Re- serve." They say that, "as considerable de- lays must be occasioned and expense incurred by the formalities of obtaining a separate act of incorporation, and as ample powers and privileges were already given in the charter of the Erie Literary Society, it was judged expe- dient both to save time and money, and to pre- serve unity of design and harmony of feeling, to erect a theological department on the foun- dation of that charter.

The connection thus formed between this Board of Managers and the Erie Literary Soci- ety "continued a little more than two years, until June 3, 1824. In the course of the year 1823, the Managers became convinced that an institution equal to their desires and expecta- tions and to the necessities of the public could not be built up at Burton. They, therefore, re- quested the Trustees of the Erie Literary So- ciety to remove their establishment to a more eligible situation. The request was, at several meetings of the Trustees, fully discussed and ultimately rejected." The ground of this dis- couragement at Burton and effort to remove the institution, according to the testimony of many persons, was the supposed unhealthiness of the place. It is probable, also, that there was a desire to place the college nearer the center of the Reserve. During those years, Burton had been visited with very severe and fatal sickness, so as even to break up the school for a time. The effort of the Managers to in-

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duce the Trustees to remove the institution to a more eligible situation, and "preserve the unity of design and harmony of feeling," fully proves that there was no discord between the boards on any other subject, and that they were willing to continue their co-operation. The unwillingness of the Trustees to accede to the request of the Managers is adequately ac- counted for by the fact that the Board held lands which must revert to the donors or their successors if the college should ever be removed from Burton. Those of the Trustees who were especially interested in that part of the Reserve doubtless believed also that the unhealthiness was merely temporary, which, indeed, proved to be the case. The academy at Burton was popular and useful for some years, after the withdrawal of the Managers, when the sickness which proved to be incident to the newness of the country had passed away.

" The managers applied to the Presbyteries to appoint four commissioners, two ministers and two laymen, from each, to meet at Aurora on June 2, 1824, for the purpose of consulting and advising as to the course which the Board of Managers shall pursue under existing cir- cumstances." The Presbyteries complied with the request. The Presbytery of Grand River appointed Rev. Giles H. Cowles, Rev. Joseph W. Curtis and Mr. Titus Brockway ; the Pres- bytery of Portage appointed Rev. John Sew- ard, Rev. Joseph Treat, Mr. David Hudson and Mr. Lucretius Bissell ; the Presbytery of Huron, which had been formed by dividing that of Portage, since the Board of Managers had been constituted, appointed Rev. Simeon Woodruff, Rev. Israel Shailer and Mr. Harmon Kingsbury. The Board of Managers met with these commissioners. At this meeting it was determined to discontinue the connection with the Erie Literary Society, and try to establish a separate institution. It was also resolved that it was expedient to request the Presbytery of Huron "to appoint four persons-two minis- ters and two laymen-who, together with the Board of Managers, should constitute the Board of Trustees for the contemplated insti- tution." It was resolved to recommend the Presbyteries to appoint four commissioners each, to locate the institution, who should meet at Hudson on September 22, "and come to a decision as soon as practicable."

The Presbyteries approved of this action, and

appointed their commissioners, from Grand River, Revs. Giles H. Cowles and Harvey Coe, Mr. Abraham Griswold and Mr. Eliphalet Aus- tin, Jr .; from Portage, Revs. John Seward and Joseph Treat, Col. Lemuel Porter and Mr. John H. Whittlesey ; from Huron, Revs. Al- fred H. Betts and Lot. B. Sullivan, Mr. Samuel Cowles and Mr. David Gibbs. These commis- sioners were directed in making their decision " to take into view all circumstances of situa- tion, moral character, facility of communica- tion, donations, health, etc." The principal places which competed to secure the location were Burton, Aurora, Euclid, Cleveland and Hudson. After several meetings at different places, the commissioners, in January, 1825, decided in favor of Hudson. The amount of the subscription at Hudson to secure the col- lege was $7,150, of which $2,142 was contrib- uted by Mr. David Hudson. In the competi- tion between different locations within the town, Mr. Hudson gave 160 acres of land to secure it for the place it now occupies, rather than have it put half a mile south of the center of the town. The Presbytery of Huron now added to the Board of Managers, as they had been invited to do, the names of Rev. Simeon Woodruff, Rev. Stephen I. Bradstreet, Hon. Henry Brown and Mr. Harmon Kingsbury.

This Board of Managers, now called Trustees, held their first meeting at Hudson on February 15, 1825. They approved of the report of the Commissioners for locating the institution, made arrangements for erecting a college edifice, ap- pointed Benjamin Whedon Treasurer, and Da- vid Hudson, Owen Brown and Heman Oviatt a Committee of Agency, to superintend the work of building. They also adopted a confession of their religions faith, and elected Rev. John Seward and Mr. Samuel Cowles members of the board. They began their efforts to procure funds, prepared a draft of a charter to be pre- sented to the Legislature, and of a petition in favor of the charter, to be circulated for sub- scription on the Reserve; appointed Hon. Henry Brown "to procure the granting of the charter by the Legislature " at its next session, adjusted the lines of the college plat, procured deeds of the ground, drew up a detailed plan of the first building, and decided upon the mode of laying out the campus. Their plan was to erect the buildings in a line from north to south, on the height of ground where they

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now stand, but facing toward the east ; in front of the buildings, a street sixty feet wide was to be laid out, and on the east side of it, facing westward, were to be erected the houses for the President and Professors. Middle College was accordingly built facing eastward. The plan was changed for a west front in 1828, and the present location for Professors' houses was se- Îected.

It is said that the effort to secure a charter encountered severe opposition in the Legisla- ture, especially on account of the religious character which the institution was likely to bear. The names of the corporators contained in the petition were those of seven clergymen and seven laymen. There were men in the Leg- islature of infidel sentiments, who were unwill- ing that edneation should be so much under the influence of the clergy. These men so modified the draft of the charter asked for as to exclude all religious instruction from the college. It appears, also, that they made determined oppo- sition to two names among the corporators, so that these had to be dropped. This is said to have been on account of personal hostility. Rev. E. T. Woodruff and Rev. Amasa Loomis had been appointed Managers of the Education Fund by the Presbytery of Grand River, and their names must therefore have been in the list of corporators in the petition, but they are not found in the charter. By some means, also, the name of Samnel Cowles was replaced by that of David Hudson. The corporators were thus seven laymen and five clergymen.

A copy of the charter thus amended was sent to Mr. Hudson, who laid it before Mr. Pitkin. Mr. Pitkin immediately started on horseback, in midwinter, for Brownhelm, and rode from there with Judge Brown to Columbus, to pre- vent the passage of this charter and secure an acceptable one. After laboring carnestly to- gether for some time with the opponents, Judge Brown, seeing the situation, said to Mr. Pitkin : " You had better go home and leave me to man- age this matter. This is a thing which sinners can manage best." Mr. Pitkin returned home, and Judge Brown secured, if not the charter asked for, at least an acceptable one-we trust not by sinful methods. The charter bears date of February 7, 1826. This was the fifth col- lege chartered in the State. not counting the Erie Literary Society.

In accordance with the charter, the Trustees

met at Hudson on the 1st of March, 1826, and organized by electing Rev. Caleb Pitkin, Presi- dent ; Rev. John Seward, Vice President ; Rev. William Hanford, Secretary ; and Benjamin Whedon, Treasurer. They went immediately forward in their work with the greatest energy and harmony. They closed contracts for the building, fixed the proper forms for their busi- ness transactions, appointed agents to solicit funds, adopted a common seal, elected a pruden- tial committee and determined their duties, appointed a committee to prepare by-laws, and " a committee to prepare a condensed history of the origin " of the college, and attended to their duties as managers of the education fund of the Presbyteries. Preparation of materials had been made during the previous winter for the new building, and under the superintend- ence of Mr. Heman Oviatt, the foundation was ready in April. On the 26th of April, the cor- ner-stone was laid with great ceremony in the presence of a large assembly. It was a warm June like day. A procession was formed at Mr. Hudson's house, and moved to the meeting house, where there was prayer and singing. The procession then moved to the college campus, where an address was delivered in Latin by Mr. Pitkin, and the stone laid with Masonic ceremonies. The procession then returned to the meeting house, where Mr. Brad- street delivered an address on the principles which actuated the Trustees in the work they had undertaken.

Owing to innumerable hindrances and em- barrassments, the building was not completed until August, 1827. But the work was thor- oughly and substantially done, as is proved by the fact that, with very slight repairs, old Mid- dle College did service until the summer of 1875, when it was thoroughly repaired within and without.

In the summer of 1826, a cabinet and a library were begun, the first books and minerals having been presented by Rev. Judah Ely. On the 22d of September, Mr. David L. Coe, a graduate of Williams College and an excellent scholar, "was appointed Tutor pro tempore, and authorized, if application should be made, to examine and admit those whom he should find qualified into a Freshman class, and to take the class under his particular care and instruction. Mr. Coe had been Principal of the Burton Academy from 1820 to 1824, and was now

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teaching in the Academy at Tallmadge. He was not required to remove to Hudson because the building was not yet complete, and he could perform his office as Tutor while teaching the Academy. In December, he admitted to the Freshman class in college, Ellery Bascom, Charles M. Preston and Oren C. Thompson, and took charge of their studies during the year.

Thus the college was established, and was actually carrying forward in 1826 the work of building and the work of instruction. In the autumn of 1827, the first building was completed here and filled with students. In the catalogue of that year are found Sopho- more and Freshmen classes, a preparatory class and students in a partial course, under the instruction of Mr. Ephraim T. Sturtevant, a graduate of Yale College.

It is astonishing with what energy the Trust- ees took hold of their work so soon as they secured their charter. The Trustees of the Erie Literary Society had made very little ef- fort to establish and carry forward the college. Mr. William Law had made a donation of 1,130 acres of land for the college at Burton, but it does not appear that any effort was made for further endowment until after the managers of the education fund had united with them. The supposed unfavorableness of Burton as a loca- tion for the college and the consequent attempt to secure its removal, doubtless restrained the managers from any great exertion to in- crease the endowment while it remained there. They did, however, secure some donations of land and of money. But so soon as the college was located at Hudson, its Trustees and friends most earnestly and systematically began to canvass the Reserve and sent agents to the East to raise the means requisite to build and support instructors. Mr. Pitkin, Mr. Kings- bury and Mr. Coe, of the Trustees, labored es- pecially in this work. A good deal of this kind of service was also performed by Rev. Daniel W. Lathrop and Rev. George Sheldon. A number of others, both clergymen and lay- men, as much interested in the success of the college as its Trustees, engaged in agencies for short periods as special services were needed. Mr. Pitkin, who was President of the Board, seems to have been employed almost exclusive- ly in some form of agency from January, 1826, until August, 1843. His devotion to the col- lege, and that of all those carly Trustees, was

most hearty and self-sacrificing. They never spared time, labor or expense when the inter- est of the college required their services. They would attend meetings of the Trustees or Pru- dential Committee four or five times a year, coming some of them fifty or sixty miles, through the horrible roads of a new country, with their own conveyances, and remaining from two to six days together in earnest council and action.

This unreserved devotion and indefatigable energy could not but secure them all the suc- cess which the nature of the case permitted. The country was yet very new and though population was increasing rapidly, there was yet very little acquired wealth ; money was extremely scarce, access to markets difficult and the people still mostly engaged in the rough work of the pioneers. The contributions, therefore, were made chiefly in land which bore a very low price, or in cattle or in some form of merchandise which required much care, en- ergy and prudence, to work them over into col- lege buildings and professors' salaries. This kind of donations, from the nature of the case, lasted a long time, and was a great source of perplexity and embarrassment down to the close of President Pierce's administration. This is not to be thought of as a discredit to the donors in any respect. On the contrary, it was greatly to their credit that with so little of ready means, the people had such a sense of the importance of higher education, that they would give, though their gift might be small and of a kind not easily convertible. Thus, the college received donations of land and sold it for stone, lumber or labor. Mr. Pitkin re- ceived two-thirds of the compensation for his services in kind. Tutor Sturtevant received a part of his salary in board and washing. Mr. Daniel Metcalf, in 1827, gave the college $450 in goods. In looking over the list of donations, many are found to have come in very queer forms. This " store pay," and what was worse, no pay, the Trustees and Faculty knew a great deal about for many years. These difficulties which met the Trustees at the beginning were inevitable. They foresaw them, of course, and being all hardy pioneers and pioneer mission- aries they were never daunted by them.

The idea of a college which these men en- tertained, was of such an institution as they had been acquainted with and had enjoyed the

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advantages of in New England. The Western Reserve was a second New England in all her interests and aspirations, especially as per- tained to education and Christianity. All the elerical members of the board were college graduates-four from Yale, two from Williams and one from Dartmouth ; of the lay members Mr. Elizur Wright was a graduate of Yale, and Judge Brown had been a student at Harvard ; the rest were Connecticut men familiar with the organization, spirit and noble record of Yale College. The other ministers who so earnestly aided and encouraged the work of founding the college, from Father Badger's first petition for a charter in 1801, were almost all graduates of New England colleges. The peo- ple of the Reserve were mostly Connecticut people. They honored and loved those institu- tions, and believed that a college, which was to do the same work for the sons of New England, transplanted to a new soil, ought by all means to be of the same type, and should aim to be of the same rank. This explains how they came to speak of their college as the Yale of the West. The Reserve was very commonly called New Connecticut, both here and in New En- gland ; it was like in manner and for the same purpose to have its college, and it was both natural and probably wise, to pattern after that old college they had known and revered so well.

The instruction for the year 1827-28 seems to have been given entirely by Mr. Sturtevant. Mr. Hanford, then Pastor of the church in the village, and Secretary of the Trustees, was ap- pointed to superintend the students, but it does not appear that he gave any instruction. In March, 1828, Rev. Charles Backus Storrs, then pastor of the church in Ravenna, was elected Professor of Sacred Theology. He accepted the appointment and entered upon his office in December, 1828. It does not appear that theol- ogy, beyond what forms a part of the course now, was taught at that day in the college, nor that there were special theological students here until 1831. But this chair was filled first on account of the prominence of the idea that the college was planted in order to raise up ministers for the destitute churches. Mr. Storrs probably instructed in mental and moral science, and the evidences of Christianity. Rev. Rufus Nutting, a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege, was engaged in August, 1828, to give in- struction for the fall term, and finally engaged for

the entire ycar. In March following, he was ap- pointed Professor of Languages, and Mr. Elizur Wright, a graduate of Yale College, was ap- pointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. In August, 1830, Rev. Beriah Green, a graduate of Middlebury College, was appointed Professor of Sacred Literature, and the theological department was established.

After many efforts to secure a President, Prof. Storrs was finally persuaded to accept that office in August, 1830. He was in all re- spects admirably qualified for it, except in the matter. of bodily strength. He was born at Long Meadow, Mass., in 1794, descending from a long line of able and scholarly ministers. He had not graduated at any college, but had nearly completed the junior year at Princeton with the highest rank as a scholar, and distin- guished alike for talents and diligence, when ill health compelled him to abandon his stud- ies. After a time devoted to the restoration of his health, he studied theology in private, was licensed, and preached a year, when he was again compelled by feeble health to abandon labor. In 1817, he entered the theological seminary at Andover, and passed through the regular course of study there, after which he went South and labored as a missionary in South Carolina and Georgia. Again inter- rupted by poor health, he traveled northward through Ohio in 1822, and accepted a call to the church at Ravenna, where he labored with great success until he came to the college. He was very retiring, unselfish. unambitious, with a very deep and earnest religious devotion, in- flexible in his adherence to principle, solid, acute and comprehensive in thought, greatly loved and revered by all the students, of won- derful eloquence as a preacher. As a theologian, he was of the school of President Dwight. His ill health had doubtless tended to make him more a man of reflection, and to heighten those qualities which excited the love and rey- erence of all who knew him. He was a quiet, unassuming man of power, suited to make deep and lasting impressions upon all who came under his instruction.

Mr. Sturtevant left the township in May, 1829. Mr. Charles M. Preston, of the Class of 1830, was tutor in 1831-32, and Mr. Ralph M. Walker, of the Class of 1832, did excellent service as tutor from 1832 to 1835. The first Faculty was at length organized, with two pro-

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fessors and a tutor in the academic depart- ment, and two professors of theology. The institution was thus fully under way, but des- tined to encounter severe trials speedily. The few years which succeeded 1830 were years of great excitement upon most weighty questions respecting the internal management of the col- lege, which arose here as they did almost everywhere else. The first was, whether so large a use of heathen authors, as they were called, in the course of study, was necessary or right ; the second was respecting the manual labor system.

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 81

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104