USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Uniontown > A history of Uniontown : the county seat of Fayette County, Pennsylvania > Part 46
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The great object we ought to endeavor to attain is the general diffusion of knowledge among the masses of the people. This object, it is confidently asserted, and firmly believed, can be best promoted, not by patronizing one or two splendid, un- wielding, mammoth universities and pampering them with ex- clusive munificence, but by increasing the number of schools and colleges and moderately endowing them all. Would such establishments as Oxford or Cambridge in England compute with the republican principles of Pennsylvania? These uni- versities have sent forth many great and good men, but not- withstanding, they are the nurseries of splendid aristocracy they are peculiarly adapted to England but would be very unsuited to our republic.
Again, five seminaries in Western Pennsylvania will edu- cate ten times the number of young men that any one of them would, however great its revenues might be. Local prejudices, personal predilections, additional facilities, a thousand different circumstances, would induce students to flock to one seminary
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who could not be persuaded to go to another, whereby the cause of education is certainly greatly promoted.
Another reply as to the number of colleges-The western part of Pennsylvania, from its position, is peculiarly calculated for the establishment and prosperity of seminaries of learning.
Madison college does not resemble any other in Pennsyl- vania, or probably in the United States. The distinguish- ing feature is the agricultural department. Agriculture, al- though a science-the most useful of all sciences-although the most ancient, the most honorable employment of man, has been totally neglected in, and entirely excluded from our schools. Throughout the country you will find men who are excellent scholars who can demonstrate the problems of Euclid, chop logic according to rule, tattle all the metaphysical jargon of the schools, but few, very few, skilful and scientific farmers.
Those arts and sciences should be introduced which come home to the business man. It is a reflection upon the intelli- gent people that they should be almost entirely ignorant of the true principals of the very vocations which they daily pursue, and by which they earn their daily bread. Education should be adapted to the business and pursuits of the masses of the people, whereas it is now conducted as to be almost entirely beneficial to the wealthy and those destined to posts of honor and distinction.
If less time were devoted in our seminaries to the acquisi- tion of the dead languages and abstruse sciences, and more of it devoted to the acquisition of practical knowledge, adapted to the pursuits and operations of common life, it would be better for the country generally.
We ask for the small sum contained in the bill, not for the purpose of educating the sons of the wealthy, but to enable us to diffuse practical information among the mass of our popula- tion. This class of persons is the boast and support of the re- public; they are not so pretentious as those who belong to the learned professions, but they are equally respectable, and equally entitled to your liberality and your patronage.
It has been said that the condition of the treasury will not justify the appropriation-that we should husband all our re- sources for the grand improvement projects in contemplation. Sir, if the blood of our bodies should flow only through the large veins and arteries the body would soon be lifeless. So
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with the body politic. I do not say that large appropriations should not be made for the purpose of internal improvements, but I do say that if appropriations should be made exclusively to these objects that the wholesome operations of the govern- ment will soon be at an end.
Fayette county has paid large sums into the public treasury and has received but small appropriations from it. Nearly two millions of dollars have been expended in different parts of the commonwealth in turnpike roads, but not one cent of it was spent in Fayette county. Nearly two millions of dollars have been expended within the commonwealth for bridges, canals, etc., but not a farthing of it in Fayette county. Internal im- provements on a magnificent scale have been projected, but none are calculated to benefit the people of Fayette county. Would it not be unjust to withhold this small sum, when we will have to sustain our portion of the burdens imposed for the advantages of other parts of the state?
Popular sentiment is decidedly favorable to the passage of this bill; the great number of petitions, signed as they are by the most reflecting and respectable citizens, clearly indicate a decided opinion in favor of the appropriation. The feeling of a large portion of my constituents are intensely anxious, not altogether from any apprehension about the small sum of money, but, Sir, the fear that a rejection of the bill would in its effect be fatal to their prospects-would proclaim to the world that the legislature has no confidence in the plan and no regard for the welfare of Madison college
On February 27, 1828, the legislature made an appropria- tion of $5,000 for the benefit of Madison college.
Some discussion arose as to the best disposition to be made of the money. One influential member of the board advocated that the money be invested in some productive stock and the proceeds of which be applied to the payment of the professors' and tutors' salaries, and depend upon the assistance promised by the Methodist Episcopal conference for aid in putting up suitable buildings. He feared that if the money be expended on new buildings the instructors could not be supported.
Rev. H. B. Bascum resigned as president of Madison col- lege at the conclusion of the spring session of 1829, and Pro- fessor J. H. Fielding and Rev. Charles Elliott were placed in charge. Rev. Charles Elliott was born in County Donegal, Ire-
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land, and was one of those teachers who through their schools had been the leaders of American culture, and have found much that is best in human character. He will remain in early American Methodist history as a bright example of the pure and simple scholar who loved learning for its own sake. While filling the position of president of Madison college and also the pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal church, he held revival meet- ings at Uniontown and the village of Monroe throughout the summer and winter of 1829-30, which are said to be the most remarkable revival meetings ever known in this part of the country. He resided in a red frame house which stood where the fine residence of H. L. Robinson, Esq., now stands. He preceded Rev. Matthew Simpson as editor of the Western Advocate, and finally moved to Cincinnati.
The students of Madison college held a celebration on Saturday, July 3, 1830, in the college building. William Mc- Donald, Esq., read the Declaration of Independence, and Wait- man T. Willey made an address. They then proceeded to a grove in the rear of the college where a fine dinner was served and toasts were given by E. B. Dawson and others.
The Pittsburgh annual conference of the Methodist Episco- pal church met at Uniontown on August 20, 1830, and adjourned to September 13, Bishop Soule presiding, and appointed Rev. Charles Elliott, professor of languages in Madison college, and conferred the degree of A. M. upon Rev. J. H. Fielding and also announced that a six-months' session of the school would open Monday, October 4, 1830. The college had now been in operation three years, and Homer J. Clark had been added to the faculty, and Rev. John H. Fielding, A. M., is principal. Dr. Homer J. Clark was connected, by marriage, with the late Judge A. E. Willson, and served as editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, and also served as president of Allegheny college. Rev. Fielding was born in Ireland in 1796, and died at St. Charles, Mo., in 1844.
The Presbyterian church transferred their Allegheny college buildings at Meadville, Pa., to the Methodist Episcopal con- ference, and this being better equipped, and meeting the re- quirements of the church, it was decided to discontinue Madison college in 1832. Thus ended the career of Madison college under Methodist Episcopal control.
The great Bishop Matthew Simpson relates his connection
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with Madison college as follows: "In 1828, when I was a little more than 17 years old, the Rev. Dr. Charles Elliott, professor in Madison college, visited Cadiz, Ohio, at our house and urged me to come to Madison college, and offered me an appoint- ment as assistant teacher. Dr. Homer J. Clark, also of the Ohio conference, was then acting as agent, trying to raise money for the college, and he, likewise, urged that I should pursue a collegiate course. These were the first ministers of the M. E. church with whom I had met who were finely edu- cated. On the 3rd of November I was ready to start. Uniontown was over 90 miles from Cadiz, with no stage-coaches through our town, nor was there any other public conveyance, and my means were so narrow, I thought it best to make the journey on foot. So tying up my clothes and a few books in a little bundle which I carried, I set out for college with eleven dollars and twenty-five cents in my pocket. I made the whole journey on foot, traveling in the most economical way, and arrived in Uniontown on the afternoon of the third day. I shall never forget the feelings with which I approached the town, and my meeting with some of the students. I was cordially welcomed by Dr. Elliott, and invited to board in his family. I entered a class of Hebrew, and a class with Dr. Fielding, then reviewing geometry, and assisted Dr. Elliott with his classes in the lan- guages; and when he was absent from home, some times for two or three weeks, I took charge of his entire department. There were four or five boarders in his family, among whom was his brother, Simon Elliott, afterwards a distinguished minister in the Pittsburgh conference, and also an older brother. At this time Dr. Bascum was nominally professor of belles- lettres and intellectual philosophy, but there were no regular classes in these studies, and he simply being on the circuit, oc- casionally visited the college and delivered a few lectures on mental philosophy. Prof. Fielding had charge of the mathe- matics, and was one of the clearest and ablest teachers in that department I ever knew. He inspired his students with an earnest love for their work, and took special interest in such as showed aptitude. A young man who was studying law in the town (Thomas Irwin) was acting as tutor, and afterwards became a judge in Pittsburgh.
Returning to Cadiz during the holidays-walking the whole length of the way-I was compelled to remain at home and re-
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linquish my college pursuits. My stay at the college was only two months, but this brief term gave me a sketch of college life. The college day began at 9 a. m. and ended at 3 p. m. Boarding was $1.50 per week, and washing 25 cents."
Bishop Simpson subsequently taught in Allegheny college at Meadville; studied medicine, and began its practice in 1833; studied divinity, and began preaching in 1837; went back to Allegheny college as its vice-president and professor of natural history ; was elected president of Asbury university, Indiana, where he remained until 1848, at which time he became editor of the Western Christian Advocate. He was elected a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1852 by the Geneva con- ference then sitting in the city of Boston. He officiated at the funeral of President Lincoln; coming to Washington and ac- companying the remains to Springfield, Ill., where he made the eulogy at the grave. At the general conference of 1884, at Philadelphia, he made the closing address, May 28, and pro- nounced the benediction, thus closing the conference and at the same time his ministry. He died June 28, 1884, within three days of his seventy-third birthday.
MADISON COLLEGE UNDER CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN RÉGIME.
The Cumberland Presbyterian church, having secured a considerable hold in this part of the country in 1832, decided to take Madison college under its fostering care. A new faculty was organized with Rev. J. P. Weethee as president, under whose charge the institution flourished for a while.
Rev. Weethee was a graduate of Athens college, Ohio, and paid his tuition through college by cutting cord-wood, and would walk from his home to Athens, a distance of several miles.
In 1835, a third addition was added to the college building, and on December 11, 1837, John M. Austin conveyed to the trus- tees of Madison college 98.5 perchases of additional land and, in 1837, Samuel Wilson, a most excellent teacher, was added to the faculty. The program for an exhibition given at the col- lege on September 25, 1839, gives 13 separate numbers, among which may be mentioned : An original oration, " America," by Thomas D. Miller; " Individual Influence," an original ora- tion, Alexander M. Linn; "Influence of Christianity," an original oration, T. Simpson; "Is the American Colonization Society calculated to better the condition of the African popula-
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tion now in the United States?" a discussion; affirm, Azel Freeman ; deny, C. Moore; "History," an original oration, T. W. Tipton. Of the above, A. M. Linn read law in Uniontown and went to Washington City, where he died. T. W. Tipton was born in a log cabin in Ohio. He went back to Ohio and was elected to the legislature and afterwards moved to Ne- braska whence he was sent to the United States senate.
Catalogue of officers and students; course of study and statement of present condition of the college, 1840. Board of trustees, Dr. Lewis Marchand, president; Roberts Barton, William Nixon, Alexander Turner, George Meason, Rev. L. N. Freeman, L. W. Stockton, John M. Austin, Esq., Henry H. Beeson, Dr. Lutellus Lindley, Andrew Stewart, Esq., Thomas Irwin, Esq., Rev. George Hudson, Rev. Thornton Fleming, Joshua B. Howell, Esq., Rev. James Sansom, Richard Beeson, Esq., John A. Sangston, Robert Darrah, Dr. Daniel Sturgeon, George Brown, Rev. Asa Shinn, Samuel Haslett, Ross Wilkins, B. S. Pigman, Charles McClain, James W. Nicholson, William Davidson, Joseph Pennock, Edwin S. Duncan, John Leech, Rev. D. Sharp, Rev. Charles Cook, John Dawson, secretary, Isaac Beeson, treasurer.
Faculty-Rev. J. P. Weethee, president and professor of mathematics; Rev. John Morgan, professor of moral science; Rev. J. Uncles, professor of natural science ; H. Hamner, profes- sor of languages.
College department-Students-Seniors: Walker Irwin, Thomas W. Tipton; Juniors : Azel Freeman, Isaac Hague, Jr., Thomas D. Miller, C. Moore, Jr., Samuel Sharpless, John Stur- geon. Sophomores: John Bierer, William Emery, Albert S. Hayden, Thomas Simpson, S. B. Walker. Freshmen: Michael King, J. Adams, Ellis Baily, Benjamin Barton, A. W. Barclay, D. Barclay, Enoch Baird, J. A. Crane, M. Collins, Jacob Emery, A. Fuller, J. B. Gallagher, George Griffin, J. Gibson, C. Gilbert, G. T. Greenland, D. Galway, William Harah, William Hellen, Amos Howell, William B. Jones, I. Jackson, J. P. Long, Wil- liam Laughead, Samuel Marchand, A. G. Osborn, Thomas Stone, J. Smith, E. Smith, William Sturgeon, R. Thompson, J. W. Tipton, Robert Wood, Eli Sturgeon, Isaac Beeson, Jr., John Harah, H. Beeson, William McClane, J. Shearer, James Sturgis, J. R. Gorley, Joshua Gilbert, Charles Stone, Joseph Peach, John Jones, William McCoy, O. P. Wells, Ethelbert Wood, R. Skiles
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Austin, Charles Austin, C. Shaneman, J. McCormick, Elijah Gadd, Shriver Stewart, J. Crawford, C. Brown, N. Deford, A. Melliser, Albert Byers, F. Dorsey, Aza Frey, George Walker, John Boyle, James Nash, John Watts, Jacob Skeen, J. L. Skeen, J. F. Smith, G. W. Brown, S. McGary, C. Barclay, John Bowie, Robert King. Recapitulation-Seniors, 2; Juniors, 5; Sopho- mores, 6; Freshmen, 34; Preparatory, 40; Total, 87.
Female department-Miss Eliza Hamner, teacher of Regu- lar Course. Seniors : Mary E. Austin, Annie E. Irwin, E. K. Marchand, J. K. Gallagher, Mary Barclay. Juniors: M. J. Burton, Ellen W. Dawson, Mary A. Meason, E. J. Ludington, P. F. Crane, Elizabeth Canon, E. H. Jack, E. D. Gal- lagher, Martha Sharpless, A. M. Sturgis. Primary class, Mary E. Stewart, C. A. Irons, Sophia Gadd, Eliza M. Downer, Sarah E. Ebert, A. R. Swain, Martha J. McClean, E. J. Green- land, M. E. Douglass, Emily Dawson, Mary Brown, R. S. Marchand, Mary Tipton, C. R. Griffith, Susan Dicus, Ann Mc- Clean, Eliza Howell, Ann B. Canon, Phebe Lincoln, E. J. Shearer, Louisa Dorsey, Malinda Ludington, E. B. Platt, Rachel Barton, Mary J. Laughead, Eliza Barton, Sarah J. West, M. Counet, L. Beeson, E. Crawford, E. Thompson.
The collegiate year was divided into two terms: the first, or summer term, to commence the first Monday in May and end on the last Tuesday in September. The second, or winter term, to commence on the first Monday of November and end on the last Tuesday in March. Each session to have an inter- mediate week of vacation. The tuition was $60 per term, or $120 per annum; fuel extra, and always to be paid in advance unless other arrangements are made. Good boarding can be had at $1.25 per week. The female department is recognized as part of the institution, and is under the control of the same trustees and faculty. It is distinct, however, in its daily ex- ercises; and the members of the two divisions have no inter- course whatever.
Annual commencement of Madison college, September 29, 1840. Latin salutatory, original, W. Irwin, Uniontown, Pa .; Oration, Party Spirit, S. S. Sharpless, Uniontown, Pa .; Oration, Christian Religion Essential to a Republican form of Govern- ment, J. Adams, Franklin, Pa .; Oration, Rise and Progress of Republican Liberty, M. King, Franklin, Pa .; Valedictory, T. W. Tipton, Uniontown, Pa .; Conferring of Degrees; Baccalaureate.
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Notice was given that a meeting of the trustees of the col- lege would be held on the last Monday in June, 1841, among other things to be considered was the propriety of erecting an additional building for the accommodation of the college.
The trustees passed the following resolution : " Resolved ; That the school directors of each township of Fayette county be at liberty to send one scholar or student to Madison college free of charge for tuition fees.
A program of exercises to be held September 28, 1841, gives the following numbers: Latin Salutatory, A. S. Hayden ; Polite Literature, S. S. Sharpless ; The Vicissitudes of Ireland, William S. Emery ; Where Am I? C. A. Gilbert; The Mind-Its Dignity, T. D. Miller; The Instability of the Works of Man, A. S. Hayden; Valedictory, A. Freeman; Conferring of degrees. The institution at this time appears to have been in a most prosper- ous condition, and the prospects for the future the most flatter- ing; but a cloud soon appeared in the horizon of the college and blasted its bright prospects.
It will be remembered that in 1832, one Rev. William Mil- ler, a Baptist minister and a native of Massachusetts, promul- gated the heresy that Jesus Christ would appear a second time, in 1843, in the clouds of heaven; that He would then raise the righteous dead and judge them together with the righteous living, who would be caught up to meet Him in the air; that He would purify the earth with fire, causing the wicked and all their works to be consumed in the general conflagration, and would shut up their souls in the place prepared for the devil and his angels; that the saints would live and reign with Christ on the new earth a thousand years; that then Satan and the wicked spirits would be let loose, and the wicked dead be raised -this being the second resurrection-and, being judged, should make war upon the saints, be defeated, and cast down to hell forever. This doctrine affected those who accepted it very seriously. They refused to repair their property, plant their seeds or to engage in any business, thus reducing themselves and families to poverty.
Rev. Weethee became a Millerite and advocated the doc- trine of the materiality of the soul, which he declared, could not exist without the body, and that when the body died the soul became torpid and dormant until the resurrection of the body from the grave, when a reunion would take place, which would
UNIONTOWN HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING.
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be eternal. He also believed in the pre-millennial coming of Christ, and provided himself with a robe in which he expected to ascend with his Lord into Paradise. He even arrayed him- self in this robe and sat up all night on a certain occasion, awaiting the coming of his Lord.
The 14th of April, 1843, was calculated as the time when the Lord should descend to receive His people and many, clad in their robes of white, resorted to the housetops and to the cemeteries and spent the time in prayer and praise. The time passed and other times were set for the coming of the Lord; these too passed without anything unusual happening, and the sect of Adventists became a subject of ridicule.
This departure of Rev. Weethee was destined to throw Madison college into chaos, when Hon. John Dawson, having the interests of the college at heart, and being a trustee, took the initiative in calling Rev. Weethee to a halt. This, of course, precipitated the resignation of Rev. Weethee and terminated the connection of the Cumberland Presbyterian church with the college.
Mr. Weethee subsequently had charge of Beverly, Waynes- burg, and Weethee colleges respectively. A letter written by him from Jacksonville, Ohio, bearing date of April 30, 1899, re- lates his connection with Madison college as follows: "I was president of Madison college from 1834 to 1842. I commenced and taught three weeks with only three students, and closed with one hundred and twenty students. I was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, and had opposition from the Presby- terian church during my eight years' instructions and finally lost the college; being succeeded by a Presbyterian minister from Scotland. This upset was accomplished through the agency of Hon. John Dawson. Some years after that, when in charge of Waynesburg college, I was invited by Hon. Andrew Stewart to return, saying that the college had done no good since I had left it. My untiring efforts, night and day, at home and abroad, had made the college. I could say much of my life there and since. I have outlived most of my old students, and on August 6, 1899, I shall be 87 years of age. My physical and mental powers are still active, and I hope to meet some of my students still living, at my home, August 6th next."
Rev. Andrew Ferrier, a Scotch Presbyterian minister, was called to the presidency of Madison college in the spring of
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1842. He began his education in Glasgow college and completed his course at Edinburgh university, consequently was a polished scholar. He delivered his inaugural address as president of Madison college in the Methodist Episcopal church May 17, 1842, precisely eight months to the day after landing on the shores of America.
The college, during the administration of President Fer- rier, does not appear to have been under the auspices of the Presbyterian church.
The Board of Trustees published at that time, was as follows: John Dawson, Esq., president ; Hon. Daniel Sturgeon, Hon. Andrew Stewart, Lucius W. Stockton, Dr. Louis Mar- chand, Rev. George S. Holmes, John M. Austin, Esq., Joshua B. Howell, Esq., William Nixon, Isaac Beeson, George Meason, Esq., Alexander Turner, William D. Barclay, Richard Beeson, Esq., John A. Sangston, John Gallagher, Everhart Bierer, Wil- liam Maquilken, Rev. J. M. Hudson, Rev. Thornton Fleming, Rev. Asa Shinn, Hon. Ross Wilkins, Hon. Edward L. Duncan, Dr. Lutellus Lindley, Roberts Barton, William Stone, Eli Baily, William Wilson, John Hackney, Robert P. Flenniken, Esq., Zalmon Ludington, Alfred Newlon, Charles G. Page, Alfred Patterson, Esq., secretary ; Hugh Espy, treasurer.
The faculty was composed as follows: Rev. Andrew Fer- rier, D. D., president of the college and professor of mental and moral sciences and of the evidences of Christianity. John N. Lewis, professor of mathematics and physical science; Rev. Alcinous Young, professor of chemistry, geology and of natural theology; Rev. William W. Arnett, professor of languages, belles-lettres, logic and political economy; Ethelbert P. Oli- phant, professor of elocution.
Other branches, as English grammar and literature, ancient and modern history, geography and astronomy, botany, etc., are also taught. Milton Collins will have charge of the preparatory department.
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