History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 66

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 66

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*George M. Deadereik, 1810-16. +Elibu S. Hall, 1811-52.

*James Trimble, 1813-24. +Wilkins Tannehill, 1814-21. +Thomas Claiborne, 1815-24. *Adam Goodlett, 1815-23. *Michael Campbell, 1815-30. *Jesse Wharton, 1816-33.

*Jenkin Whiteside, 1820-22. *James Roane, M.D., 1820-33. tAlfred Balch, 1820-39. tAndrew Hays, 1820-31. *Henry Crabb, 1821-28. *Rev. William Hume, 1822-33.

*Ephraim H. Foster, 1823-54. *Charles I. Love, 1823-37. John Bell, 1823. +Francis B. Fogg, 1823-80. James Overton, M.D., 1823. +Nathan Ewing, 1823-25. tJohn Catron, 1823-25. *William L. Brown, 1824-30. Leonard P. Cheatham, 1824. *John O. Ewing, M.D., 1825-26. tRev. Robert Paine, 1825-30. +Wilkins Tannehill, 1825-32. "Andrew Jackson, 1826-45. + Moses Norvell, 1826-34. +William Carroll, 1827-29. "Boyd McNairy, M.D., 1828-59. tGeorge W. Gibbs, 1830-34. Thomas Washington, 1830. *George W. Campbell, 1830-48. *Henry M. Rutledge, 1831-44. *David Craighead,. 1832-49. .Joseph W. Horton, 1834-49. John M. Bass, 1834-51. John L. Hadley, M.D., 1834. tWashington Barrow, 1834-39. Return J. Meigs, 1836-61. Robert H. McEwin, 1837.

Edwin II. Ewing, 1839. John Trimble, 1839. William Williams, 1844. Washington Barrow, 1845. *Samuel D. Morgan, 1845-80. Charles Ready, 1847.

*Andrew Ewing, 1851-64. +Russel Houston, 1851-66. C. K. Winston, M.D., 1852. Sterling Cockrell, 1852. A. V. S. Lindsley. +T. T. Player, 1852-53. Jacob MeGavock, 1852. John M. Lea, 1852-75. William T. Berry, 1852. +James W. McCombs, 1852-63. Rev. A. L. P. Green, 1852. James Woods, 1853. Robert C. Foster, 1854. John M. Bass, 1867, re-elected. Samuel Watson, 1867. Horace H. Harrison, 1867. E. H. East, 1867. William F. Cooper, 1867. +I. L. Hadley, 1867. William B. Recse, 1873. John Overton, 1873. Alexander I. Porter, 1873. Frank T. Reid, 1873. Abram L. Demoss, 1873. Robert C. Foster (4th), M.D., 1873.

George II. Nixon, 1880. James D. Porter, 1880. N. W. McConnell, ISSO. Charles G. Smith, 1880. Robert B. Lea, 1880. Samuel Watson, Jr., 1880. Rev. T. A. Hoyt, D.D., 1880. E. D. Hicks, 1880.

GOVERNORS, EX OFFICIO TRUSTEES SINCE 1824.

William Carroll, 1821-27. Samuel Houston, 1827-29.} William Hall.

William Carroll, 1829-35. Newton Cannon, 1835-39. James K. Polk, 1839-44. James C. Jones, 1841-45. Aaron V. Brown, 1845-47. Neill S. Brown, 1847-49. William Trousdale, 1849-51.

Wm. Bowen Campbell, 1851-53. Andrew Johnson, 1853-57. Isham Green Harris, 1857-62. William Galloway Brownlow, 1865-69. De Witt Clinton Senter, 1869-71. John Calvin Brown, 1871-75. James Davis Porter, 1875-79. Albert Sidney Marks, 1879-81.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY.

t James Priestley, LL.D., 1809- t Philip Lindsley, D.D., 1824-53. 16.

CHANCELLORS. +J. Berrien Lindsley, M.D., D.D., t Eben Sperry Stearna, D.D., 1855-70.

1875.

t General Edmund Kirby Smith, 1870-75.

PROFESSORS.

t Rev. William HTume, Ancient Languages, 1808-16. t George W. McGehee, Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 1824 -27.

. George T. Bowen, Chemistry, 1826-28.

t Nathaniel Cross, A.M., Ancient Languages, 1826-31.

t James Hamilton, A.M., Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 1827-29.

* Gerard Troost, M.D., Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology, 1828- 50.

t John Thomson, Mathematics and Natural Philo: ophy, 1830-31.

t James Hamilton, A.M., Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 1831-35.

t Consider Parish, Ancient Languages, 1831-33.

Nicholas S. Parmantier, French Language and Literature, 1832-35.

t Abednego Stephens, A.M., Ancient Languages, 1835-38.

t Abram Litton, A.M., Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 1838.

* James Hamilton, A.M., Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 1838-49.

t Nathaniel Cross, A.M., Ancient Languages, 1838-50.

t Alexander S. Villepluit, A.M., Modern Languages, 1838-42.

+ Alexander P. Stewart, A.M., Mathematics, 1849-50.

GRADUATES.

The total number of regular graduates from 1813 to 1850 was : A.B., in regular course, 432; D.D., honorary, 16; LL.D., honorary, 4; A.M., honorary, 40; A.B., honorary, 2. The total number of new students matriculated in the regular college classes from 1825 to 1850 was 1059. From 1850 to 1854 the regular collegiate department was sus- pended, and again from 1862 to 1870. In 1875 it was su- perseded by the Normal College. The number of graduates since 1850 have been as follows : A.B., in regular course, 99; A.M., in course after three years, 99; A.M., honorary, 4; D.D., honorary, 3; S.S.D., honorary, 14; Ph.D., hon- orary, 2.

STATE NORMAL COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE.

The establishment of the Normal College of the University of Nashville was the rehabilitation, in a more vital form, of the literary and scientific departments of the university, giving them a larger and more comprehensive sphere in the direction of popular education, not only in the State of Ten- nesce, but throughout the South. While other highly-en- dowed universities at Nashville and in the State, such as Vanderbilt, Fisk, Central Tennessee, etc., were doing their work in their own special departments of classical, theologi- cal, and professional training, it was felt that an institution having more direct relation to the education of the masses was needed, and the State Normal College was thought of as the " keystone of the grand arch of public education."

The idea of a State normal school had at least one able and brilliant advocate among the statesmen of Tennessee as long ago as 1855. Robert Hatton, gifted, eloquent, brave, and of classic culture, was a true and whole-souled advocate of popular education. He knew full well that it was edu- cation which transferred " the plowboy of Long Hollow', into the halls of legislation and enabled him to appear, cool and self-reliant, the peer of any in the land. He wished all to have equal opportunity at least with himself. There- fore, in his first and only term in the General Assembly, session 1855-56, we find him bending all his energies to- wards the establishment of a State normal school, and so suc- cessfully that it passed his own body, the lower house, and failed of becoming a law for the want of only one vote in the Senate. It was a sore disappointment to the generous Hatton.

In 1873, Dr. W. P. Jones, while State senator from this county, among other things introduced two bills. One was passed, and became the present public-school law of Tennes-

Resigned in April, 1829, and was succeeded by William Hall, speaker of the Senate.

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

see ; the other, a bill for the establishment of a State normal school, passed three readings in the Senate and two in the House, but was defeated for want of time at the close of the session. This bill made provision for supplementing six thou- sand dollars annually from the Peabody Fund by an appro- priation of an equal annual sum from the treasury of the State. At the next session of the General Assembly, Dr. Barnas Sears and the State Teachers' Association requested ex-Senator Jones to prepare a like bill and have it intro- duced. This he did, and labored to sustain its enactment, but it failed in the Senate; whereupon Dr. Jones (impressed with the importance of the measure) wrote Dr. J. Berrien Lindsley, suggesting that possibly he might secure the pas- sage of a bill without an appropriation. Subsequently, in a public address at the commencement of the first session of the Nashville Medical College, while briefly reviewing the educational institutions of Nashville, Dr. Jones, re- ferring to the Normal College, said, "The charter was ob- tained through the untiring energy of Dr. J. Berrien Lindsley." This explicit public recognition is noteworthy, coming as it did from one who had earnestly worked for the accomplishment of the same great end. The act was passed March 23, 1875, and approved on the same day. In the month of May of the same year, Dr. Lindsley, as president of the State Teachers' Association, delivered an eloquent address before the Tennessee State Grange at Knoxville, on popular education, from which we quote :

" The glory of Nashville in old times was its university. But, as fully shown above, one marked result of its very usefulness has been the continued and repeated cutting down its field until now its work of collegiate education, the very work for which it was founded, and in which it achieved national reputation, has become a work of" supererogation.

" What more fitting than that a corporation which took the lead in classical and medical education when these were felt wants in the entire State should now take the lead in normal education, when so many thousands of parents and hundreds of young teachers in Tennessee and the surround- ing States earnestly wish for themselves the privileges en- joyed in the Northwest and the Northeast ? The Univer- sity of Nashville was created for the benefit of the people of the entire State. It has done a great and good work for the people of the entire State. It has now the oppor- tunity of doing still a great work. But these views I may, perhaps, enforce better in the language of a distinguished educator from Kentucky, who thus writes after a recent sojourn in our beautiful capital : 'I was deeply interested in the educational institutions of Nashville while I was with you. But reflection upon the subject has greatly in- creased my interest. Your city ought to be the great educa- tional centre of the South. And it will be, if those who have the control of public affairs have the wise forethought that should characterize statesmen. The one thing that is needed to complete your educational appointments is the establish- ment of a normal and training-school. Such a school would not be in conflict with those already established, but is ne- cessary to the completion of your whole educational system. In the past nine years I have frequently been thrown into conventions with the best educators in this country. I have heard them lecture on all the best methods of teaching,

and have witnessed their public examinations, in which the value and thoroughness of their methods have been trium- phantly vindicated. So that it seems to me the normal schools are absolutely indispensable in order to the thorough preparation of teachers. In looking to the future of the South, I am pained to see that those who are controlling the education of the colored people are wide awake to the advantages of these schools, while those who control the education of the white people do not seem to have turned their earnest attention to the subject. I want to see the black man educated, but I do not want to see the white man neglected. Owning, as you do, the buildings, grounds, and other property of the old Nashville University, how easy it would be for your people to establish one of the grandest normal schools in the world ! The site itself is most beautiful, and, above all other cities in the South, Nashville is the place for such a school."

The State Teachers' Association, before which this ad- dress was originally delivered in January, 1875, had from its organization in 1865, a period of ten years, been active and indefatigable in bringing the necessity of the Normal College before the public as the consummation of the public school system of the State.

The preamble to the act establishing the Normal College sets forth that " an adequate supply of professionally edu- cated teachers is a necessity to the maintenance of an effi- cient system of public schools," and the act proceeds to make such provisions as have culminated in this institution.

The State, however, not having provided the funds neces- sary for a full development of its purposes, the University of Nashville made a generous offer to suspend its Literary Department and devote its buildings, grounds, and funds, with the exception of those appropriated to the Medical College, to it; which generous proposition the trustces of the " Peabody Education Fund," through their distin- guished agent, Dr. Sears, promptly supplemented by an offer of six thousand dollars per annum for two years.

These noble offers having been accepted by the State Board of Education, and grounds, buildings, and funds, to the amount of twelve thousand dollars having been thus furnished, measures were taken to open the institution.

Owing to the greatness of the work, the many hindrances encountered, and the necessity for moving cautiously where such great interests were concerned, the college was not organized until Dec. 1, 1875, when it was formally inaugu- rated with appropriate ceremonies.

The season had already far advanced; the project was wholly new to most of the people; opportunity to make them acquainted with its design and time of opening could not be afforded ; many persons who might gladly have availed themselves of its advantages were already variously employed for the year, and not a few of its most sanguine friends doubted whether its beginning would not be, as to numbers, even humbler than was that of the first normal school established on this continent, which started with three female students. The result, however, far exceeded expectation, and no less than fifteen candidates presented themselves for examination, and before the first term of ten weeks had closed forty-seven had been admitted. At the close of the school year the number had increased to sixty.

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Professor's House.

Porter's Lodge.

Bishop's Residence,

Wesley Hall.

Science Hall.

(Residences of four Professors out of view.)

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY,

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Observatory.

Main Building.

Professor's House.

Gymnasium.

Chancellor's Residence.

Professor's House.

JASEVILLE, TENNESSEE.

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CITY OF NASHVILLE.

Examination for Admission .- These examinations, con- ducted chiefly in writing, were made upon grammar-school studies only, and revealed a surprisingly general deficiency of knowledge of the elementary studies, on which all good education depends. Probably some of the candidates would have passed a far better examination in some of the higher branches of study. A great and most serious defect in school study, public and private, was thus at once brought to the surface, and indicated clearly where the earliest efforts of the college must be employed.

Each candidate, on entering, signed the following declara- tion :

"I, A. B., of -, am - - years of age. My object in entering this institution is to qualify myself to teach in and conduct schools, and for this purpose I intend to re- main at this institution -- , and after that to devote my- self to teaching; and I hereby promise to attend regularly and faithfully upon the exercises required, and to conform cheerfully to the discipline and rules which may be pre- scribed.

" Signed

"Nashville, -, 187 -. "

The building is now known as the Tennessce State Nor- mal College, or Literary Department of the University of Nashville. It is under the patronage of the " Peabody Fund," from which it receives six thousand dollars annu- ally. Scholarships are issued not only to students of this State, but to all the Southern States, and the design is to thoroughly train young men and women for the office of teaching. At present there are about seventy students in attendance. The faculty is as follows: Eben S. Stearns, Chancellor; Instructors, Misses Julia A. Sears, Lizzie K. Bloomstein, Emma M. Cutter, and Sallie B. Erwin, and Messrs. Edson S. Wellington, Henry R. Long, and John E. Bailey.

Situated almost in the centre of a beautiful campus, six- teen acres in extent, the buildings are among the finest and best appointed in the South. The college proper is a mag- nificent stone structure in Gothic college style, having a centre building and two wings about two hundred and twenty-five feet front, and one hundred and ten feet depth in the centre, and sixty feet depth in each of the wings. The buttresses are built of the most substantial Tennessee limestone, and the windows in the entire structure are square. The building is two stories high. Each story is divided into a number of large rooms,-recitation- and lecture-halls, society, library, muscum rooms, etc.

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY.

This institution is under the control and patronage of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

The acknowledged want of the means of a higher Chris- tian education than could be obtained within their bounds led several Annual Conferences, in the year 1871, to ap- point delegates to a convention to " consider the subject of a university such as would meet the wants of the church and country." The convention met in Memphis, Jan. 24, 1872, and was composed of delegates from Middle Tennes- sce, West Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

The convention was in session four days, and adopted a plan for a university. Under the plan a board of trust was nominated and authorized to obtain a charter of incor- poration, under the title of " The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church South."

A liberal charter was obtained that year, and the board of trust met Jan. 16, 1873, and completed its organization. By-laws were adopted, and agents appointed to solicit funds. A university, in fact as well as in name, had been deter- mined on ; in the words of the convention, " An institu- tion of learning of the highest order and upon the surest basis, where the youth of the church and the country may prosecute theological, literary, scientific, and professional studies to an extent as great, and in a manner as thorough, as their wants demand."

Such, however, was the exhausted condition of the South, and so slow its recuperation under the disorganized state of its labor, trade, and governments, that the first efforts to raise funds showed the impossibility of the enterprise.

This was the condition of things in February, 1873, at which time Bishop McTyeire spent, by invitation, a few weeks with the family of Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, in New York. Mr. Vanderbilt and the bishop had married cousins in the city of Mobile who were very intimate with each other in their girlhood, and thus was brought about an intimate relation between these two gentlemen. The bishop had from the first deeply interested himself in the founding of the proposed institution. It was very natural that in general conversations upon the condition of the South, and the incidents therein transpiring, this enterprise, so impor- tant to the church, and so dear to the bishop's heart, should be mentioned. Finally, just before the bishop's departure, Mr. Vanderbilt placed in his hands the paper proposing, upon certain conditions, to give the sum of five hundred thousand dollars to the institution. So that, without the least solicitation, this magnificent gift was a free-will offer- ing of the donor to the great enterprise of the Southern Methodist Church, and through the church to the world.

The board of trust, in accepting the donation, as an ex- pression of gratitude resolved to change the name of the projected institution to Vanderbilt University ; and on their petition the charter was so amended. Thus the Vanderbilt, like the more successful institutions of learning in our country,-as Harvard, Amherst, Dartmouth, Cornell, Pea- body,-inherits the name of its founder.

The first donation of Mr. Vanderbilt was made March 27, 1873. Subsequently he added five hundred thousand dollars more.

The commodore made but few conditions. The chief were these : that the proposed institution should be located in or near Nashville; that the endowment fund be kept inviolable, and the interest only to be used; and that Bishop H. N. McTyeire, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, should be president of the board of trustees for life, with a veto power. Through Bishop McTyeire's hands all the money has passed, and under his directions the improve- ments were made. Four hundred thousand dollars have been expended on grounds and buildings and apparatus. The endowment is six hundred thousand dollars, bearing seven per cent. interest, paid scmi-annually.

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

The site of the university is at the west end of Nash- ville. The grounds comprise seventy-five acres, and from their elevation, on a level with Capitol Hill, furnish the amplest conditions of health and beautiful views of the surrounding country. The main building, containing chapel, library, society-halls, museum, laboratories, lecture-rooms, and offices for professors, is substantial and elegant. Within the inclosure are nine handsome residences for the profes- sors and their families; also an astronomical observatory, equipped with all that is requisite for its successful man- agement. These structures, together with the neat cottages built for the accommodation of the employees of the insti- tution, number twenty-eight or thirty in all, and are so located as to subserve the convenience of the occupants and the general beauty. Besides embracing forest growth of the country, the grounds have been ornamented with over three hundred different species and varieties of trees, shrubs, and plants, constituting the Vanderbilt "arboretum," and affording an unusually fine opportunity for the study of practical botany. The physical and the astronomical appa- ratus were purchased from the most skillful manufacturers : in Europe, and embrace all that is needful for the prosecu- tion of the subjects for which they are designed. For the chemical laboratory six rooms are appropriated, furnished with the modern conveniences for practical study. Every facility is offered to students, and the large number engaged every day in analytical investigations attests the great in- terest felt in this department of study.

The university is organized in six departments : 1. The Department of Philosophy, Science, and Literature, having twelve professors; 2. Biblical; 3. Law ; 4. Medicine; 5. Pharmacy ; 6. Dental. The total number of professors, tutors, demonstrators, and clinical instructors, in all depart- ments, is sixty-one. The last two departments were organ- ized in 1879.

During 1873-74, while these expensive improvements were in progress, a financial panic fell upon the country,- banks closed, and even government works were suspended,- but Mr. Vanderbilt steadily furnished the funds, and there was no delay at any time on that account.

In reply to a suggestion or inquiry from the bishop, -" Perhaps I had as well stop drawing on you for a while ?" -the characteristic remark of the commodore was, " Go on with your work ; it is my business to furnish the money. Draw on me as you need it."

The university was formally opened and the faculties in- stalled Oct. 3 and 4, 1875. Such rapid and solid work was never known before in the history of colleges and uni- versities. The halls were well filled with students from the beginning. The register for 1880 shows four hundred and eighty-five on the roll.

The 27th of May-the birthday of the founder of the university-is marked in the calendar for suitable celebra- tion every year. Ou that day the portrait (life size) of the commodore is wreathed in flowers and evergreens; the Founder's medal for oratory is contested for by students representing the two literary societies ; and music and bell-ringing wake the morning hours.

In 1879, Mr. William H. Vanderbilt gave the university one hundred thousand dollars to provide a gymnasium, a

hall of civil engineering, and a theological hall,-all of which had become necessary by development and success. The gymnasium is thought by many visitors, who daily drive through the park-like grounds, to be the best specimen of architecture presented. The civil engineering hall is a fine structure, with ten large rooms, three of them having sky-lights for drawing and art-uses.

Wesley Hall, as the theological hall is called, rivals the main building of the university in size and style. The corner-stone was laid May 4, 1880, all the bishops of the church taking part therein. It is three stories, of brick, with a Mansard roof and a stone basement, and affords accom- modations for one hundred and thirty students, besides four large lecture-rooms, a reading-room and parlor, and ample culinary and dining-room space. These last structures complete the magnificent scheme of buildings, and, with its endowment of learned faculties, make Vanderbilt Uni- versity the greatest in the South. Ministers of the gospel, of any church,-who are, or purpose to be, devoted to the pastoral work, -- are admitted to any school in the academical and biblical departments free of tuition fees. One of the peculiarities of Vanderbilt University is, not the co-educa- tion of the sexes, but of the professions. The young law- yers elbow the young preachers; they meet and mingle in debate, and in the literary and lecture halls, to mutual benefit. Landon C. Garland, LL.D., was chosen chan- cellor, and from the opening of the university he has been assisted by a strong professional staff, five of whom were presidents or chancellors of other universities or colleges when called to Vanderbilt.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 66

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013