USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 9
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WILLIAMSPORT DICKINSON SEMINARY.
At Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is an institution of high grade, which has long afforded to the young of both sexes superior educational facilities, following the plans which have been approved by long experi- ence and adopted by the best schools in the country. It was founded in 1848, was regularly chartered by the legislature of Pennsylvania, and authorized to confer degrees upon those who complete the prescribed courses of study. It is under the patronage of the Central Pennsylva- nia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, being owned and practically managed by the Preachers' Aid Society.
As this institution was rather to promote the important work of higher Christian education than to make money, the paramount pur- pose has ever been to combine thorough instruction and a careful moral training with the comforts of a good home at a minimum cost. The
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city of its location is one of the most healthful in the state. The sur- roundings are all that could be desired for an educational institution of the highest class. There are forty churches besides other religious or- ganizations, and the public buildings and residences give every evidence of enterprise and taste. The seminary buildings occupy a commanding eminence looking down upon the city, located upon a beautiful six-acre tract of ground well shaded. The buildings are of brick; the main edi- fice, rebuilt and modernized. compares favorably with the best school buildings in the country, and the chapel is among the most attractive auditoriums in the city. The young men's and young women's dormi- tories are entirely separate. The buildings are heated by steam, lighted by incandescent electric lamps, and the water is supplied from uncon- taminated mountain springs. The dormitory buildings are amply sup- plied with bathing facilities. A spacious athletic field is laid off with running track and grounds for ball, tennis and outdoor basket ball, and has a fine grand-stand capable of seating nearly a thousand people.
The music and art building, named Bradley Hall in honor of Hon. Thomas Bradley, of Philadelphia, is an imposing structure, eighty-five feet in frontage, fifty feet in depth and four stories high. In design and symbolic ornamentation it represents a very high type of utility and beauty. While chiefly devoted to the study of music and art, the hall contains, as gifts of friends and patrons of the school, a swimming pool, a large and well-furnished gymnasium, and a bowling alley for the young women; there are also a capacious society hall, a reading room and a library. An enclosed bridge connects it with the main sem- inary building, affording sheltered communication at all times. The young men's gymnasium is finely equipped with bowling alley and best modern appliances for physical culture.
While Dickinson Seminary is in no sense sectarian, it is positively
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and emphatically Christian in its administration and work. By com- bining practical Christian teaching with thorough intellectual training under personal supervision of Christian men and women especially quali- fied by education and experience, the school has established a high repu- tation among literary institutions, and has won the confidence of the public to a degree of which its friends and patrons may justly be proud. The system of government seeks to encourage self-control rather than control by law and rule. It deals with each one as a responsible indi- vidual, as well as a part of the school, making each one largely the arbiter of his own immunities and limitations. The relations of the teachers and officers to their pupils are of a family nature. The president and his family reside in the building, and are in constant association with the students.
The wife of the president entertains the Young Women's Mission- ary Society in her apartments once a month, occasionally receives the entire school in her parlors, and in time of illness and affliction visits the students in their rooms. The members of the faculty, who number eighteen, are so distributed about the building as to be readily accessible at any time for such aid as the student may need outside of the recita- tion room.
The wants of a large class of students are provided for through eleven regular courses of study: Normal English, Belles Lettres, Sci- ence and Literature, Classical, Practical Science, College Preparatory, Business, Instrumental Music, Vocal Music, Expression and Art. Stu- dents may adopt any of these exclusively, or may select such studies from them as they desire, subject to the approval of the faculty. The Normal English course is designed to meet the demand for teachers in the common schools, and affords thorough instruction and drill in the English branches. The Belles Lettres course is especially arranged to
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accommodate young ladies who desire to omit the higher mathematics beyond elementary algebra and geometry, and affords opportunity to connect studies in music and art with a well selected course in literature and science. The course in Science and Literature is designed to give wider culture and more thorough mental discipline. It differs mainly from the Classical course in that it omits Greek entirely, and makes Latin elective, with German or French during the first two years. The scientific department is furnished with very complete equipments of physical and chemical apparatus. The museum contains alcoholic and mounted specimens and models necessary in the study of physiology, and a fine collection of botanical and geological specimens. The Clas- sical course is much more extensive than is ordinarily pursued in semi- naries. The Practical Science course covers the required preparation for admission to schools of technology and to industrial courses in the university. In the College Preparatory course such studies are taken as are required for admission by the leading colleges, and the work has been done so thoroughly that in most cases the diploma of the seminary is accepted in lieu of entrance examinations. The business course is equal to the course offered in the best business schools and aims to give young people a thoroughly practical equipment for business life. The advantages offered to students in music are exceptional. The depart- ments are in charge of thoroughly trained teachers who have studied under the best masters both at home and abroad. The Department of Expression offers a four years' course under the instruction of an ex- perienced and accomplished director. Physical culture receives special attention. A woman trained under the best Swedish instructors gives her entire attention to this work among the young women; while the boys' gymnasium is under the direction of an experienced college-trained athlete. The library facilities of the school are excellent. Five thou-
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sand volumes of selected books, well catalogued, constitute the school library, and are accessible to all students. Within the past few months this number has been greatly increased by several hundred valuable books, presented by friends of the institution.
Through the generous gifts of alumni and friends, a number of free scholarships are open to both young men and young women. These range in value from one year's tuition in the seminary to two and four year courses of study in college and university.
The wide usefulness of Dickinson Seminary is discerned in the fact that nearly twelve thousand young people have received academic instruc- tion in its halls, in attendance ranging from one to four years, while nine hundred and forty-two have completed the prescribed curriculum, grad- uating with the honors which the institution confers. The yearly attend- ance is most gratifying, and demonstrates that Williamsport Dickinson Seminary is a wide-awake, progressive and thoroughly modern school of which its friends and the city may be justly proud.
Dickinson Seminary had for its foundation the old " Williamsport Academy for the Education of the Youth in the English and other Lan- guages, in Useful Arts, Science and Literature." This institution was authorized by act of the legislature April 2, 1811, and received an appro- priation of two thousand dollars conditioned upon the free teaching of poor children not to exceed five in number. In 1814 an academy build- ing was erected, of brick, two stories high, octagonal in form, and situ- ated at the corner of Third and West streets. The originators of the enterprise were nearly all Scotch-Irish, and the institution was opened under Presbyterian auspices. The first principal was Rev. Samuel Hen- derson, a graduate of Edinburgh (Scotland) University. The academy existed until shortly after the passage of the common school law in 1854, when it was closed. For five years thereafter the building was
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rented at fifteen dollars per annum for common school purposes, and was then sold by the trustees to John B. Hall for $2,392. With this sum the trustees purchased one and three-quarters acres of land on an eleva- tion to the north of the borough limits, and there erected a brick academy building forty by sixty feet, two stories high, and which now, with two stories added, constitutes the west wing of the present Williamsport Dickinson Seminary. In 1845 the property was sold under mechanic's lien, bringing only $432. The purchasers, John K. Hays and Peter Vanderbelt, subsequently sold it to the town council for school purposes. In 1849 the council proposed its transfer to the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, that body to assume the debts against it, but no further obligation. In March of the year named, the Con- ference agreed to take over the property, and it appointed trustees with Rev. Thomas Bowman as president and Rev. B. H. Crever as financial agent. The building constituting the two lower stories of the west wing was out of repair, and the trustees set out to procure the sum of ten thousand dollars for its refitting, the payment of the debt incurred, and the erection of a new building. At the same time was purchased an adjoining tract of five acres of ground. In 1851 the east wing was built, and four years later the two wings were joined by the erection of a central six-story edifice, furnishing accommodations for more than two hundred boarding students, and as many day scholars. The amount ex- pended during this period for repairs and improvements amount to $52,600. Much of the burden of providing funds and building up a supporting patronage was borne by the Preachers' Aid Society of Central Pennsylvania, many of whose members became contributing stockholders. Further enlargements since that time have greatly increased the capacity of the building.
At the opening of Dickinson Seminary, the faculty consisted of
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President Bowman and B. H. Crever, with the wife and sister of the last named as assistants. President Bowman, who had become bishop, resigned after a most efficient service of ten years, and was succeeded by the scholarly Rev. John H. Dashiell, D. D. Two years later, Dr. Dashiell returned to pulpit labors and was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Mitchell, D. D. After a successful presidency of ten years, Dr. Mitchell resigned in 1869, and was succeeded by the Rev. W. Lee Spottswood, who made many improvements during the five years he was in charge. He resigned January 8, 1874, and February 13, following, the Rev. Edward J. Gray, D. D., was elected to the vacancy, a position which he occupied until his death, January. 20, 1905, after an honorable and brilliant incumbency of thirty-one years.
On August 17, 1905, the Rev. William Perry Eveland, Ph. D., was called from a successful pastorate to continue the work of the school. He came with ripe scholarship and rich endowments for his labors, and witnessed on September 5, 1905, the opening of the most successful year in the history of the school.
REV. EDWARD JAMES GRAY.
Reverend Edward James Gray, D. D., clergyman and educator, who for thirty-one years preceding his decease was president of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is a native of the state, born in Half Moon Valley, Centre county, near Bellefonte, July 27, 1832. From his sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestry, which has long made notable the valley of his birth, he derived those sterling elements of character and high-keyed principles that made him resolute in action and helped him to success in the difficult undertakings of his life.
Dr. Gray began his education in the ordinary country schools of
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that day, pursued advanced branches in Pine Grove Academy, and in 1856 entered Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, from which he was graduated in the Classical Course in 1858. In the following year he was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. For fifteen years he occupied various important pulpits, displaying great powers as a preacher, and that skill in financial undertakings and that knowledge of men which made him a master when he came into his king- dom at Williamsport. In 1874 he was elected to the presidency of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, and the remainder of his life was consecrated to the service of that institution. He took high rank as an educator, and his excellent traits of personal character, his sympathy with the young student and his deep fatherly interest gave him a power of influence which found its fruit in directing many into useful paths of life, and in affording them splendid equipment for important places, nota- ble in the church and schoolroom. He moved among his students as an earnest Christian gentleman of a cultured mind and a tender heart.
His career as a teacher and the head of Dickinson Seminary covered the long period of nearly thirty-one years, ending only with his death at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, January 20, 1905. During Dr. Gray's administration the institution was steadily advanced in usefulness and the public favor, and developed into one of the best higher seminaries in the state. Over one hundred thousand dollars were expended in new buildings, improvements and equipments in various de- partments, the money being largely obtained through Dr. Gray's per- sonal efforts. There was nothing perfunctory in his labors in connec- tion with the school. He regarded it as the best field before him for his effort, and devoted himself to it with a rare degree of conscientiousness and persistent endeavor. His vigorous constitution stood him well in his ceaseless labors. He never lost sight of his pupils after their leaving
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his immediate presence, but followed them with a parental interest, and in many instances procured their entrance upon important positions, his intimate personal acquaintance with them affording him knowledge of their capabilities along lines which they frequently did not themselves discern.
While Dr. Gray gave his principal effort to instructional work in connection with the institution of which he was the head, he was also a man of wide usefulness and potent influence in his church. He was ever a conspicuous figure in the Central Pennsylvania Conference, and for many years preceding his death was, perhaps, the most forceful mem- ber of the board of managers of its educational society. To secondary education he gave much attention. There was nothing new in educa- tional matters that he did not investigate; nothing old that he would preserve if he thought it had lost its value. He was in constant demand for public occasions and in missionary efforts. As a dedicator of churches he was remarkably successful, both in preaching and in man- aging the finances. By this means he benefited many of his old students, and it is said that no man in the state was called to dedicate so many churches as was he. He had educated a very large number of the mem- bers of his conference, who showed their appreciation for him in various ways. Six times in succession he was chosen by his ministerial brethren to represent them in the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, the highest legislative body in that denom- ination in this country, meeting quadrennially. He was also twice elected to the Methodist Episcopal Ecumenical Conference, meeting once in ten years. The first of the last named sessions which he attended met in Washington City, in 1891, and the second in London, England, in 1901. In his attendance upon these he was accompanied by Mrs. Gray. From Dickinson College of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he received the de-
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grees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity. As a citizen Doctor Gray showed great pride and interest in Williamsport. He believed in the city of his choice, and was ready to give to the advancement of her interests both of his time and means.
He has left an impress upon Dickinson Seminary which will remain as long as the institution lasts. He lived only for it, and, dying, died as he wished, at the head of the school where he had been educated and to which he had devoted the best and greater portion of his life. Of him it may well be said :
" Servant of God, well done. They serve Him well who serve His creatures ; For good is not a shapely mass of stone Hewn by one's hands, and worked by him alone; It is a seed God suffers him to sow ; Others will reap, and when the harvests grow,
He giveth increase through all coming years, And lets men reap in joy seed that was sown in tears."
December 26, 1861, Doctor Gray married Miss Eva Vanderbilt Emery of Williamsport. To them were born three daughters and two sons. He was survived by Mrs. Gray and their two sons, William E. Gray, in business in the city, and Edward J. Gray, Jr., in school.
Eva Vanderbilt (Emery) Gray, who died suddenly, September 7, 1905, was the daughter of Joseph and Julia Emery. She was born in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1840. Much of her early life was spent in Williamsport, where she then resided. She was educated at Dickinson Seminary, from which she was graduated with the class of 1857. It was while attending the seminary that she met Edward James Gray, then a ministerial student there, and the friendship there formed grew into that riper affection, and on December 26, 1861, they were united in marriage.
For nearly thirteen years she resided with her husband in a number
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of charges, he being a Methodist Episcopal minister, and in March, 1874, when Dr. Gray was elected president of the seminary they returned to Williamsport and took up their residence in that institution.
During the thirty-one years of Dr. Gray's presidency Mrs. Gray was his co-laborer in every field. Much of the success of the institution dur- ing those years was due to her influence, assistance and constant uphold- ing of his hands. Countless little things that the public and the school never knew were her labor of love. Her husband's life work was hers and the success of the school was interwoven with her very being. At his death she was made chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of the seminary for the balance of the school year.
About the middle of July, 1905, Mrs. Gray left the halls which had been her home and her pride for so many years and took up her residence with her son, William E. Gray, at 823 West Third street. She had laid down the cares of active life and prepared to spend her remaining days quietly, relinquishing all except an active interest in her church work and in the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Mulberry Street Methodist church, of which she was the founder and president.
She had lived an earnest, Christian life and, although no danger was anticipated from the operation, she frequently had expressed her readi- ness and willingness to go and join her husband in the home above. The hand of death found her prepared, a loving and useful Christian life well spent, her labors ended.
She was the organizer of the Seminary Branch of the Woman's Missionary Society, which has established the Eva Gray Scholarship and is educating a girl in Japan. She was one of the board of managers of the Home for the Friendless and also of the Y. W. C. A., of which latter she had also been a vice president. She was one of the original members of the Clio Club.
Fig Muy F.G KermanNY.
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BENJAMIN CARLTON BOWMAN.
Benjamin Carlton Bowman, deceased, of Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, was during an unusually long and active career one of the foremost men of his region in laying the foundation for its industrial interests. He was a pioneer in various important enterprises which developed into mammoth proportions, and was a prime factor in the upbuilding of the city of Williamsport. He was a man of most exemplary character and high capability, whose activities went far beyond merely material con- . cerns, the institutions of religion and education being ever the objects of his solicitude and of his benefactions.
He was a native of the state of New York, born in Chenango town- ship, Broome county, April 7, 1818, a son of Ebenezer and Sylvia Pru- dentia (Barnaby) Bowman. His early training and schooling were. near Binghamton, New York. The death of his mother occurred when he was about thirteen years of age, and his father returned to Vermont, his native state. The son removed to Great Bend, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he found employment on a farm, and he remained there and was so occupied until he came to manhood. He subsequently rented a farm in the same county, upon which he remained for two years. Removing to Centre county, he there engaged in the lumber business, and this venture marks the beginning of an independent career in which he conquered fate and acquired fortune. Purchasing an old saw mill of primitive construction, and a tract of timber land, he applied himself industriously to making the best possible use of his new acquisitions. He put the old machinery in repair, felled the trees upon his timber tract, and manufactured lumber which he rafted down the Moshannon river to market. He found a ready market for his product, and soon extended his operations, erecting a steam saw mill near Phillipsburg,
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Centre county, and sent his product to market by wagon to Clearfield creek, and thence down the stream in rafts. He was among the very first to float logs down the Susquehanna river to Williamsport, and soon came to be known as one of the most extensive lumber manufacturers and dealers in the counties of Centre and Clearfield. In June, 1864, Mr. Bowman took up his residence in Williamsport, and identified himself with the firm of Barrows, Bowman & Company (later Bowman, Fores- man & Company), which purchased the Star Mills and operated them with great success and commensurate returns for many years. As the lumber business developed Mr. Bowman extended his operations into larger fields, effecting the organization of the Susquehanna Boom Com- pany and the Bowman Lumber Company of West Virginia, of both of which he was president and the managerial head. That success habit- ually attended him may in no degree be ascribed to conditions which must necessarily lead to such results. At every step, from the day he set in operation his first old-fashioned saw mill on the Moshannon, were needed just such qualities as marked his character-unflagging industry, indomitable resolution, close attention to business details, and, besides, that business sagacity that enables the well-equipped resourceful man not only to rightly measure immediate conditions, but accurately fore- cast and make preparation for opportunity which the shortsighted cannot see and which one of weak mental fibre fears to grasp. Mr. Bowman, while bearing the burdens of these large affairs, bore a full part in the advancement of other enterprises entering into the commercial life of his city. He aided in the organization of the Lycoming Rubber Company, of which he was president and directing manager from the day it opened for business until the last of his life. He was also prominent in the institution of the Susquehanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of which he was president, and the Williamsport Gas Company, in which
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he was a director, and he was also identified with other companies and firms in a financial and advisorial way. He was vice-president of the Lumbermen's National Bank, and president of the Lycoming Rubber Company.
Mr. Bowman was deeply interested in all that enters into the higher life of the community, and freely exerted his influence and contributed of his means for every worthy cause. He was an exemplary member of Grace (Methodist Episcopal) Church, which he served for many years in the capacity of steward and president of the board of trustees. He was a cheerful and efficient aider of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, and gave to it his personal services as a member of its board of trustees. He was a liberal benefactor of Dickinson Seminary, and was for years one of its most efficient trustees, and was also deeply interested in the Young Women's Christian Association. His political affilia- tions were with the Democratic party. In his personal character he was an ideal figure-sincere, unaffected, abhorring pretense; deeply sympathetic with one in distress, and ever helpful to such; and in all things setting an example of good citizenship and christian manhood. His death occurred July 28, 1896, in his seventy-eighth year. He pre- served his mental qualities unimpaired to the last, and passed away
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