History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 98

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

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Weinberger became Mr. Worrall's protégé in all the preliminary arrange- ments for appearing to the best advantage in Alumni Hall for examination. The applicant became a mem- ber of the freshman class of '59, numbering one hundred and fifty-three. He spent four profitable years at college, towards the close changed places with some whose early training had been far more favor- able, and at the age of twenty-seven graduated with respectable honors. On the Monday following the commencement of his alma mater he took his place in Freeland Seminary as teacher of ancient and modern languages. He saved all of his salary he could for two years to pay his notes, when he con- sidered himself financially free, and had but a meagre balance to his credit. He entered into a new covenant by marrying a young lady of fine intellectual endow- ments and good taste, Miss Emma Kratz, daughter of Jacob S. Kratz, of Plumstead, Bucks Co. In 1863 he purchased a small farm, stock and all, moved on the farm and managed it successfully without inter- fering with his teaching.

After having taught for Mr. Hunsicker for six years, the school was leased for five years to Mr. Adam H. Fetterolf, now Dr. Fetterolf, president of Girard Col- lege. The services of Mr. Weinberger had previously been secured, and he became Mr. Fetterolf's right- hand man in governing unruly boys and teaching re-

fractory classes. Before Mr. Fetterolf's lease had expired Freeland Seminary was sold to the board of directors of Ursinus College. The constitution of the college provides that one-fourth of the board may consist of members not belonging to the Reformed Church. In the election of the faculty it was consid- ered wise by the board to make J. Sbelly Weinberger a member, to represent the old element in the school, a stroke of policy for which there has been no cause for regret. He saved for the college one-half of the students of Freeland Seminary, some of whom subse- quently graduated. He has rendered valuable aid to the Reformed brethren in their efforts to put the college on a firm basis and in their endeavors to establish a good system of discipline.

Professor Weinberger for some years studied the co-education of the sexes in colleges by reading all the books treating on the subject at his command, pro and con. Besides his own theory, the experience at Oberlin College for fifty years, as well as those of other colleges which have opened for ladies at a more recent period, has satisfied him that it is the natural and normal way to educate, as mind knows no sex. Being acquainted with the difficulties which have to be overcome to introduce the system and make it effective at Ursinus, he proposed what he thought might prove an entering wedge to it. He made a request that his daughter should be allowed to enter the college classes, proposing to pay for her tuition the same as if she were a son. The school had just commenced its session, and immediate action on the request was painful and every intimation unfavor- able. After a consideration of one week the request was granted, with the understanding that uo others be allowed to enter should they apply. Everything went on as before, and at the end of the scholastic year Dr. Super, the vice-president, and Professor Wein- berger were appointed a committee to present an over- ture to the board of directors for admitting youug ladies as day pupils into the institution. The board reported favorably, and the president of the faculty, in his next annual report, stated that the "experiment of admitting young ladies had proved the wisdom of the measure."'

The quarter-centennial of the office of teacher in the different halls, on the same grounds, through three successive administrations, was celebrated on the 26th of June, 1884, by the graduation of his only child, Minerva, who was the valedictorian in a class of nine, and the first lady-graduate in the classical department of Ursinus College.

The professor is senior elder in Trinity Christian Church, which is orthodox in faith, congregational in polity and independent in its organization (Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks, A.M., pastor). He officiates in the pastor's absence, is radical and orthodox in his views, yet liberal. He has had different offers since graduation to become principal or president of higher institutions, all of which he declined, pre-

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ferring a less responsible position, as increasing responsibility weighs heavily on him.

He teaches from nine to twelve o'clock in the forenoon, and the afternoon he devotes to his private business. He is now fifty-three years of age, and lives in a modest home fronting on the beautiful Perki- omen.

Haverford College .- This celebrated and prosper- ous institution holds an estate of about two hundred and twenty acres in the northern part of Haverford township, Delaware Co., and in Lower Merion township, Montgomery Co. It was founded in the year 1832 by prominent members of the Society of Friends in the Middle States, the larger number being residents of Philadelphia and its vicinity. The pur- pose of its founders was to provide a place for the instruction of their sons in the higher learning, and for moral training, which should be free from the temptations prevalent at many of the larger colleges. A traet consisting at first of forty acres, but gradually enlarged until it now contains upwards of seventy, was set off by an experienced English landscape- gardener and planted with a large variety of trees, to constitute the academic grove in which the college buildings should stand. This park is now the most beautiful which any American college can boast, and the exquisite undulations of its surface, its stately trees, its winding walks, and its green and well-kept turf attraet many admiring visitors.

The " Founders' Hall," as it is now called, a large and well-constructed building, was finished in 1833, and in the autumn of that year "Haverford School " was opened. This modest title, corresponding with the enostentatious spirit of its founders, was borne for upwards of twenty years, although a full collegiate course of study was pursued from the beginning. Early in 1856, however, the institution was incorpo- rated as a college, with the right of conferring aca- demic degrees.

Barelay Hall, built in 1876, a strikingly beautiful building of Port Deposit granite, furnishes studies and bed-rooms for eighty students. Others were ac- commodated in Founders' Hall. There are two astronomical observatories,-one built in 1852, the other in 1884. These contain a refracting equatorial telescope of ten inches aperture, by Clark ; a refract- ing equatorial telescope of eight and one-fourth inches aperture, by Fitz ; an alt-azimutb reflecting telescope of eight and one-fourth inches aperture; a fixed transit instrument of four inches aperture, with circles twenty-six inches in diameter ; a zenith instrument of one and three-fourths inches aperture, with mieron- eter and circles ; a chronograph, connected by elec- tricity with all the instruments, which records the exact time of observations to the tenth of a second ; two sidereal eloeks ; a filar micrometer; a spectro- scope made by Grubb, with a train of ten prisms; a polarizing eye-piece for solar work ; a sextant, and a valuable library of astronomical literature.

The students have free access to the observato. and enjoy such advantages for observatory practice as are seldom offered. The director of the observatory, Professor Sharpless, is a man of great knowledge and wide fame.

A tasteful and well-proportioned building, erected in 1863-64, contains the library and Alumni Hall, the latter being used for lectures, society meetings, and the public exercises of the college. Here some fifteen thousand volumes are always ready for the use of the students, selected with great care in all departments of knowledge. A large number of the best European and American periodicals are taken in. The library is regarded as inferior in importance and usefulness to no other department of the college.

A carpenter shop was built soon after the opening of the school, as a place where the boys might find profitable exercise and amusement in the use of tools. This was fitted up in 1884 for the use of the depart- ment of mechanical engineering, and contains a forge, steam-engines, and a variety of machines and tools for the use of students in that department.

The chemical laboratory was built in 1853 (a room in Founders' Hall having previously been used for the purpose), and has several times been enlarged and improved. It is now very commodious, amply fur- nished and under very skillful management. Under it is a beautiful gymnasium, which is supplied with the apparatus of Dr. Sargent, the director of the Harvard gymnasium. Exercise here is required of the students, under the direction of an experienced physician.

In Founders' Ilall there is a museum of natural history and a physical laboratory. This hall contains also the recitation-rooms and the dining hall.

Among the most distinguished officers and instrue- tors of the school and college have been Daniel B. Smith, John Gummere, Joseph Thomas, Samuel J. Gummere, Henry D. Gregory, Paul Swift, Hugh D. Vail, Joseph Harlan, George Stuart, Moses C. Stevens, Clement L. Smith, Albert Leeds, Henry Hartshorne, Edward D. Cope and John HI. Dillingham. The officers in 1884 are as follows: President, Thomas Chase, a graduate of Harvard University, who re- ceived in 1878 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard, and in 1880 that of Doctor of Literature from Haverford. He was a member of the American company of revisers of the English translation of the New Testament, and is the editor of a series of classi- cal text-books which are very widely used. Dean, Isaac Sharpless, a graduate of Harvard in the scien- tifie school, and honored with the degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Pennsylvania in 1883. Professor Sharpless is a man of wide scientific dis- tinetion, and is the author of excellent text-books in geometry, astronomy and physics. Pliny Earle Chase, LL.D., also a graduate of Harvard, is the professor of philosophy and logie. He holds very I high rank among living thinkers and men of science,

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sud his philosophical and scientific papers have been Widely published, both in this country and in Europe. Allen C. Thomas, a graduate and Master of Arts of Haverford, is the accomplished and learned professor of history, political economy and rhetoric. Lyman B. Ilall, a graduate of Amherst, and Ph.D. of the University of Göttingen, is professor of chemistry and physics, and a thorough master of these sciences. Edwin Davenport, A.B. and A.M. of Harvard, a brilliant and distinguished scholar, is professor of Latin and Greek. Henry Carvill Lewis, graduate and Master of Arts of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the foremost men of science in America, is the professor of geology. The other instruetors are men of distinction and promise. Thomas Newlin, of the University of Michigan, professor of zoology and botany, and curator of the museum. James Beatty, Jr., a graduate of the Stevens Institute, professor of engineering branches. Walter M. Ford, M.D., in- structor in physical training. William Earl Morgan, a graduate and Master of Arts of Penn College, as- sistant astronomical observer, and William F. Wick- ersham, assistant librarian.

The following regular courses of study are pursued at the college: I. A course in classics, mathematics, general literature, modern languages and science, for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Il. A course in general science and literature and modern languages, for the degree of Bachelor of Science. III. A more specialized course in practical science and engineer- ing, together with modern languages, for the degree of Bachelor of Science or for special degrees. The requisites for admission are substantially the same as at other first-class colleges.

The college claims, in its published circulars, special advantages for its students. These are, "First, good moral and religious influences. Endeavors are made to imbue the minds and hearts of the students with the fundamental truths of the Christian religion, and to train them by the inculcation of pure morals and the restraints of a judicious discipline. No stu- dent is admitted without a certificate of character from his last instructor, and none believed to be of low moral character are retained. Second, thorough scholarship. The teaching is of high quality; the classes are small enough to allow regular performance of work and the opportunity for individual instrue- tion. The absence of the constant distractions which attend life at many colleges, and the example and influence of the professors, enables a large amount of honest work to be done, so that the standard of graduation is high. Third, the healthfulness of the student life. In the large and beautiful lawns every facility is given, right at the doors, for cricket, base- ball, foot-ball, tennis, archery and other field games. The gymnasium furnishes judicious physical training, under the care of a skillful physician. The rooms are pleasant, the table and service good and all the conditions wholesome."

Haverford College, from its modest beginnings, has slowly but surely won a position among the foremost literary institutions of the country, and may justly be counted an honor to the county and the common- wealth in which it stands. In October, 1883, it cele- brated the fiftieth anniversary of its opening. Six hundred of the old students assembled on its beautiful grounds, and their high character and eminenee gave a striking testimonial to the merits of their alma mater.

DR. THOMAS CHASE was born in Worcester, Mass., June 16, 1827. His father, Anthony Chase, was one of the most prominent citizens of that place, and his mother was the daughter of Pliny Earle, of Leicester, a distinguished inventor and manufacturer. He was graduated in 1848 at Harvard University, where he distinguished himself greatly in classics, metaphysics and English composition. After holding a master- ship in the Cambridge High School, he was called, in 1850, to a position in the Harvard faculty; first as Latin professor during the year of Dr. Beck's absence in Europe, and then as tutor in Latin and history. In February, 1853, desiring to perfect his scholarship, he sailed for Europe, where he spent two years and a half, going attentively through England, France, Italy and Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Holland, studying antiquities, art, manners and customs, and scenery, perfecting himself in the French, German, Italian and modern Greek languages, and spending a winter semester in the University of Berlin. In this journey he became acquainted with many of the men most distinguished in Europe in literature, art, science and polities. Immediately on his return, though urged to resume his post at Cambridge, he accepted a classical professorship at Haverford. President Walker had recommended him as "the best scholar, not only of his years, but of his time." His success was immediate and great, and he has had no small share in causing the rapid growth which Haver- ford College has made in the last thirty years in influ- ence and fame. In March, 1875, he accepted the presidency of the college. In 1878 Harvard Univer- sity conferred upon him its highest honor, the degree of Doctor of Laws; and Haverford gave him the degree of Doctor of Literature at the end of his twenty- fifth year of service, in 1880.

Dr. Chase was one of the American company of re- visers of the English translation of the New Testament, being conspicuous in that distinguished body for his ability and learning. He has published an interesting volume on his travels in Greece,-" Hellas, her Monu- ments and Scenery,"-contributed valuable articles to the North American Review and other periodicals, and given a number of literary addresses which have gained great commendation, both from their literary merits and from his graceful and effective delivery. He has also written an excellent Latin Grammar, and prepared editions of the first of Cicero's "Tusculan Disputations," and editions of "Virgil," "Horace,"

Thomas Chale

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" Livy " and "Juvenal," which are widely used in the best schools and colleges.

Dr. Chase holds the highest rank as an educator. An enthusiastic scholar himself, an ardent lover of noble literature, and cherishing high ideals in life, he has excited similar enthusiasm and lofty aims in his pupils. He has bestowed much thought upon sys- tems and methods of education, and is regarded as high authority in matters of this kind.

He was married, in 1860, to Alice Underhill Crom- well, of New York, a descendant of Sir Henry Crom- well, the grandfather of the Lord Protector. ITis wife died in January, 1882, leaving a daughter and four sons.

Cottage Seminary .- This academy, located on High Street, in the eastern part of the borough of Pottstown, was opened for the education of young ladies, in the year 1850, by the Rev. William R. Work, who was also pastor of the Presbyterian Church of that place. He was succeeded in the con- duet of this institution by the Revs. Daniel G. Mallory, Curran and Cruikshank, and finally by Mr. George G. Butler, who also retired from the institution in 1881, since which time it has not been occupied for educational purposes. Like a number of other insti- tutions of a similar character in the county, designed for the higher education of young ladies, its mission of usefulness has been, in some measure, supplied by the graded common schools of the borough and nor- mal schools of the State.

Pennsylvania Female College (Collegeville, Pa.). -Prominent among the educators of Montgomery County are Professor J. Warrenne Sunderland, LL.D., and Luannie Sunderland, who, with the Rev. Abra- ham Hunsicker, organized the Montgomery Female Institute or Seminary as early as 1851. In their "announcement " they proclaimed what was then a new departure, and boldly advocated the necessity of a higher education for women in terms which, how- ever well accepted and popular now, were deemed by many well-disposed and influential persons vision- ary then. These advanced educators then said, "We believe the female mind endowed with powers and capabilities quite equal to those of the other sex, and no sufficient reason can be assigned why they shoukl not be as fully and carefully developed. In project- ing this institution, therefore, we have a twofold object in view,-first, to provide correct and thorough instruction in the ordinary branches of learning at so cheap a rate as to bring it within the reach of all; second, to afford to such young ladies as may desire to pursue a more extensive course in the sciences and liberal arts an opportunity of doing so under circum- stances as favorable as those enjoyed by the other sex at our most reputable colleges." They further assured parents, guardians and the public that "any young lady completing the course of studies pre- scribed, and sustaining satisfactory examinations, would receive an appropriate diploma, and be entitled

to a laureate as significant and valuable as that con- ferred on young men at institutions of a corresponding grade."

The foundation was now laid for a "Female Col- lege" in Montgomery County. If it was an experi- ment, it had liberal-minded, progressive and deter- mined projectors, and measures were speedily taken to obtain such chartered privileges from the com- monwealth as would place the institution in such a position as to command the respect, interest and public favor originally solicited for it by its founders. In 1853 an act of incorporation was obtained, vesting the following-named trustees with the necessary cor- porate powers: James Warrenne Sunderland, John R. Grigg, Mathias Haldeman, William B. Hahn and Wright Bringhurst. These trustees were empowered to appoint a president and faculty of instruction, " who shall be charged with the direction and manage- ment of the literary affairs of the college, etc." The charter provided that "the faculty shall have power to confer such literary degrees and academic honors as are usually granted by colleges upon such pupils as shall have completed in a satisfactory manner the prescribed course of study."1

This pioneer female college gave a new and startling impulse to the advance of woman, and its annual commencements called together the most learned and progressive audiences that ever assembled in the Perkiomen Valley. It was indeed something new for the mothers of Eastern Pennsylvania to witness the graduation of daughters with collegiate honors ; and on all these occasions the "class," surrounded by corporators and faculty, having passed the examina- tion required by the high standard prescribed, and otherwise acquitted themselves in accordance with the commencement exercises, elated with their success as students flushed with tributes of substantial friend- ship and the congratulations of senior college sisters, waited in common with an expectant public for the parting address of the president, who was required to disarm all unfriendly criticism, justify the pronounced innovation upon rules of education and approve the advent of the graduates upon the thresholdl of a higher aud broader life than had been vouchsafed to the earlier generations of womanhood in Pennsylvania. This task Professor Sunderland always performed during his presidency with distinguished ability and marked public approval, and to no one more than him is due the credit and honor of moulding that public opinion which a quarter of a century ago and since has demanded equal educational advantages for woman, fitting her for the employment of teacher and all the higher pursuits of life in which she is now found.

This college and kindred academical institutions in Eastern Pennsylvania, largely instrumental in the accomplishment of good iu the past and passing

1 Act to incorporate the Pennsylvania Female College, Pamphlet Laws, 1858, page 327.

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generations, have ceased to be educational factors. The college buildings and beautifully located grounds are still preserved by the founder of the institution, who is frequently visited by the former students and their children. All are warmly welcomed by their former preceptor and his estimable "helpmeet," who together live in the golden sunshine of mature age, couscious of having performed their duty in their day and hopeful that in the near future the work they commenced in common with the co-laborers of the Schuylkill Valley will be continued for generation after generation, and woman be fully accorded her true position in all the avenues of usefulness, influence and honor consistent with her possibilities in a con- tinental republic resting upon a liberal, intelligent, and Christian civilization.

ALUMNI OF PENNSYLVANIA FEMALE COLLEGE.

Class of 1853 .- Mrs. J. F. Walter, A.M. (E. II. Halin), S. C .; Anna Eliza Oberholtzer, A.M., Chester County ; Hannah U. Price, A.M., Pbonixville.

Class of 1854 .- Mrs. F. M. Hobson, A.M. (E. Gotwaltz), Frecland ; Mrs. G. S. Ashmead, A.M. (S. W. Hall), California ; Hannah P. Hall, San Francisco, Cal. ; Mary E. Kurtz, A.M., Juniata County ; Mrs. D. Nyce, A.M. (M. E. Stephens), Philadelphia ; Emily Todd, A.M., Free- land ; Mrs. Hon. 11. Royer (C B. Todd), Freeland ; Mrs. Rev. Wm. Ma- gee, A. M. (M. A. Wolf), Philadelphia ; Mrs. J. C. Carson, A. M. (L. A. Stewart), Ripley, Tenn.

Class of 1855 .- Josephine Caldwell, New York ; Mrs. Col. T. W. Bean, A.M. (H. Heebner), Montgomery County ; Ellen M. Hilton, A.M., New Jersey ; Margaret B. Jackson, Kennett Square ; Anna M. Newberry, A.M., Whitemarsh ; Mrs. T. Highley (A. C. Nichols), Shannonville ; Mary Ella Pennypacker, l'hunixville.

Class of 1856. - Mrs. Samuel Gross Fry, A.MI. (M. J. Cassady), Phila- delphia ; Rachel Dickinson, died in New Jersey ; Mrs. Dr. H. F. Sellers (Amelia Oakford), Philadelphia ; Mrs. Enoch Davis (M. E. Buckwalter), Delaware County ; Sallie R. Roman, Newport, Del. ; Mrs. C. Reiff (De- boral S. Yerkes), Norristown ; Rebecca Towers, Royer's Ford ; Mrs. W. Hl. Fessenden (H. A. Sunderland), Boston, Mass.

Class of 1857 .- Deborah 1. Hilton, A.M., Washington, D. C. ; Martha A. Pennypacker, A.M., Chester County ; Mrs. Dr. H. C. Dodson, A.M. (M. A. Hahn), Maryland.

Class of 1858 .- Mrs. Slifer (Anna P. Rodenbaugh), Lewisburg; Eliza- beth E. Evans, Philadelphia ; Mary T. Davis, Norristown.

Class of 1859,-Helen G. Coates, Philadelphia ; Mrs. Robins, A. M. (Adeline V. Compton), New Egypt, N. J .; Emma A. Fry, Philadelphia ; Mrs. H. Grubb (E. B. Hunsicker), Freeland ; Mrs. Kerus, A. M. (Elleu ). Mckee), Dayton ; Diana C. Young, A. M., Milford.

Class of 1860,-Emina J. Hahn, A.M., Washington, D. C. ; Mrs. Il. Longstreth (S. Hunsicker), Limerick ; Caroline B. Reinard, A MI., l'otts- town ; Martha E. Schafer, A.M., Chester County ; Mrs. Dr. Wilcox (Hannah S. Tyler), Matoon, Ill. ; Lucy M. Weaver, A.M., Cincinnati, Ohio.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 98

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534