USA > Vermont > Orange County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time > Part 24
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In the spring and summer of 1834, the machinery of the new institution was put together, and on Monday, September 15, the school opened with prayer in the chapel, and an introductory address by Mr. Baker. The initial catalogue of the seminary was of the first term only, and contains the names of 122 pupils, the number of young men being eighty-one.
The principal, or as he was then styled, the preceptor, was Rev. Charles Adams, born at Stratham, N. H., in 1808, and a graduate in 1833, of Bowdoin College. He was, says Mrs. Twombly, of medium height, robust and impulsive. In school he was considered arbitrary, but just toward all, a man feared and respected, rather than loved. He was highly esteemed in town, both as a preacher
*Democratic Republican, August 6, 1834.
¡Democratic Republican, September 19, 1834.
REV. CHARLES ADAMS. 1834 39.
BISHOP BAKER. PRINCIPAL 1839-44.
REV. HARVEY C. WOOD. 1845-46.
REV. SIMEON F. CHESTER. PRINCIPAL 1867-68.
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and as a citizen. In 1839 he left Newbury, and was connected with Wilbraham Academy four years; was two years professor in Concord Biblical Institute, and ten years president of Illinois Female College, but closed his active career as a clerk in the dead letter office at Washington. He died at above eighty, about ten years ago. Mr. Adams built and occupied the house now the residence of Deacon George Swasey.
In the catalogues of 1834 and 1835, Rev. John G. Bennett's name appears as a teacher in English. Mr. Adams' assistant was Mr. Osman C. Baker, a native of Marlboro, N. H., and a student for three years at Wesleyan University. He was, says Mrs. Twombly, tall and large in stature, very kind, but firm in the school-room. In society he was retiring, but able to give a good account of himself when called upon. In 1844, he was elected a professor in the Theological Institute at Concord, N. H., and in 1852, was chosen a bishop in the Methodist church, in which office he died, December 20, 1871. He was the author of several works upon the polity and discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The first preceptress of the Seminary was Miss Elsey French, who afterward married Joel Cooper, of Rochester, Vt. The school began with only a limited course of study, which was enlarged from time to time, as the interests of the pupils demanded, and money to pay more teachers could be had. Music was not taught until the fall of 1837. In those primitive days, board at the boarding-house including washing, fuel and lights, was only $1.25 per week, and tuition was very low. The school year at first was forty-eight weeks, in two terms, but after a year or two the year was divided into four terms of eleven weeks each.
"The financial condition of the school," says Rev. J. A. Sherburne, "through nearly its whole history, was an occasion of much anxiety and perplexity to its friends, who were often before the public, asking for aid. One means of raising funds was by the sale of scholarships. One hundred dollars constituted a scholarship and entitled its holder to the privilege of sending a student free of tuition. As the money for these scholarships was used up in the current expenses instead of being invested, they were a constant financial embarrassment to the school."
The seminary farm had been purchased with the idea of affording needy students a chance to pay part of their expenses in labor upon it, but not meeting expectations, it was afterward sold. The establishment of the seminary was, in many ways, a great advantage to Newbury, and made the village widely known, while the coming of families drawn hither by its advantages, caused a demand for more houses, of which about forty were erected during the ten years which followed the opening of the school, while some of the older dwellings were enlarged to meet the demand for tenements and rooms.
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Among those who, from time to time in the earlier years, were drawn hither by Newbury Seminary, were a number of Methodist ministers, who came here to educate their children, or who, being retired from active service, found congenial society with the brethren of their persuasion. Among these may be mentioned Rev. N. O. Way, and Rev. B. R. Hoyt, who occupied, successively, the house where the Farnham family have long lived. The latter clergyman had several sons, who became somewhat distinguished. Others were Revs. Solomon Sias, Orange Scott, Calvin Granger, G. F. Wells, men of honorable distinction in their day, who aided greatly in giving a high tone to the society of the village, and in whose families were young people possessing rare qualities of mind and heart.
The first steward was Mr. Lewis B. Tebbetts, who had been a merchant in Dover, N. H., and who was induced to come here and open a store for the sale of school books, stationery, and other essentials for the student. He afterwards acted as secretary for the trustees. Mr. Tebbetts built and occupied the house in which Mrs. Nelson Bailey now lives.
The coming of so many bright, earnest young men and women to the staid village, brought new life; the young people of the place came into contact with young men and maidens who were, commonly, the best and most advanced scholars in the place where their homes were; and opportunity of acquiring a more thorough education was brought to the doors of the young people of this town.
The catalogue of the summer and fall terms of 1836, gives 249 students, besides thirty-one in a primary department-the young men still outnumbering the young women about two to one. In the spring term of that year Miss Jane Z. Morrison, who had been connected with the school at Newmarket, N. H., became preceptress. She was the daughter of Dr. Moses Morrison, who once lived on the "old MeIndoe place," at West Newbury; "a man," says Mrs. Webster, "of much learning but little thrift," who afterward removed to Bath. She married Rev. Alexander Nelson, a native of Ryegate, who taught here at one time, and who afterward became president of a western college. Miss Betsey Dow became preceptress in 1837, and was succeeded two years later by Miss Calista H. Johnson. Miss Dow married Rev. J. H. Twombly and is still living.
Mr. Baker's assistant was Mr. Clark T. Hinman, who in 1844, succeeded Mr. Baker in his turn. Mr. Hinman was born in Kortwright, Delaware County N. Y., August 3, 1819, and graduated at Wesleyan in 1839. He resigned in 1846, to become principal of Wesleyan Seminary at Albion, Mich., and on June 23, 1853, was elected the first president of Northwestern University, at Evanston, Ill. He died while on a journey east, at Troy, N. Y.,
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October 21, 1854, from typhoid fever, the result of overwork. He had made a profound impression upon a considerable portion of the . public, and his loss to the university was almost irreparable. Mr. Hinman received the degree of D. D., from Ohio Wesleyan University. He is buried at the Ox-bow, with his wife, who was a daughter of Hon. Timothy Morse of this town. He occupied the house, built by Mr. Morse, in which S. L. Swasey now lives. A very poor portrait of Dr. Hinman appeared in the Northwestern Christian Advocate for August 31, 1898.
During the administration of Messrs. Baker and Hinman, J. Harrison Goodale taught Latin in 1841, and in 1842, Rev. Henry W. Adams taught Hebrew, Latin and mathematics; Miss Rachel Smith was preceptress from 1841, (succeeding Miss R. H. Corliss, who had held the position for part of the year 1840,) until her sudden death, March 27, 1844. Miss Smith was the only teacher ever connected with the Seminary, who died while in service. The catalogue for 1845 gives 329 different students for the year and six teachers.
During the administration of Mr. Hinman, probably in 1842, a colored girl presented herself for admission. At that time it was held by a large portion of the public, to be a sin and a crime to teach a colored person to read and write, a view endorsed generally by the clergy and the religious press, who ranged themselves on the popular side. Her coming made some sensation and there were those who advised her exclusion from the school, and the steward was inclined to refuse her a place at the boarding-house. But the preceptress insisted that she should come, and gave her a seat next her own at the table, to the great disgust of some, who predicted the ruin of the school. Miss Allyn, now Dr. Rachel Allyn, who furnishes this reminiscence, shared her room with the colored young lady, and no calamity came upon the institution for this action. We can hardly comprehend in these days a state of affairs which make this act one of moral heroism. But only a few years before, Noyes's Academy, in Canaan, N. H., which had opened it sdoors to a few colored pupils, was, for that cause, in a legal town-meeting, condemned as a nuisance, and on the 20th of August, 1835, 500 men, embracing some of the most substantial and respected citizens of Canaan and other towns, aided by a string of ninety-five yoke of oxen, hauled the offending building out of town, where it was soon set on fire and burned.
The relations between the trustees and the faculty, and between the latter and the pupils were generally harmonious, but Prof. G. N. Abbott recalls a circumstance which shows that the course of things did not always run smoothly. "It was customary at the end of each fall term to have an exhibition, which of course attracted a great deal of the students' interest and attention, with a profit of doubtful value. Somewhere about 1842, the corporation voted to
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have no exhibition at the end of thefall term. Some of the students rebelliously persisted in getting up an exhibition, and were expelled."
Mr. Hinman's chief assistant was Rev. Harvey C. Wood, a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1844, who, on the resignation of the former, became his successor, being the third assistant who attained to that office. Mr. Wood is yet living, a resident of Aurora, Neb., hale and hearty at eighty-three. In the fall of 1846, Rev. Francis S. Hoyt, who had fitted here for college, and graduated at Wesleyan University, became principal, but resigned after two terms, to take charge of Wesleyan Seminary at Springfield, Vt., which opened its doors March 2, 1847. In the fall of the latter year Mr. Wood, who had been his predecessor at Newbury, succeeded him at Springfield. Mr. Hoyt afterward filled a professor's chair in Ohio Wesleyan University, and, later, became editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate. He is still living at Berea, Ohio. He was succeeded by Rev. Joseph E. King, who had been his assistant and who was principal from 1848, to 1853. Under his administration the school attained its highest prosperity, and widest influence.
In the fall of 1847, smallpox broke out in the school and village, which caused great excitement. Many of the students went home, and a few died.
The catalogue for 1847-8, gives 241 different students, with an aggregate attendance of 338. For the first time the young women outnumbered the young men.
Dr. King writes, that his salary for the first year, as assistant, was $350, board at that time being $1.50 per week. As principal he received $400, at first, which was increased $50 annually. Mr. King induced the versatile and accomplished James E. Latimer, to come from Wesleyan University, and act as his assistant, at a salary of $350. Mr. Latimer was afterward principal of New Hampshire Conference Seminary, and later, became professor of Historic Theology in Boston University. Miss Dyer was preceptress in 1847-8. She afterward became Mrs. Cushing. The next year the number of students had risen to 346, with aggregate attendance of 604. In the latter year, Mr. Jabez Brooks, who was soon called to a professor's chair in a western college, taught Greek and mathematics. In that year the interior of the seminary building was remodeled into the form which it retained until again made over for the graded school, in 1887. This made a hall and one recitation-room on the ground floor, four recitation-rooms and a reading-room on the second floor, and a small hall was made across the north end of the third story.
In 1849, the Female Collegiate Institute was chartered, which went into operation in 1850. Mr. F. D. Hemenway came into the faculty in the latter year, to become, after four years, a professor at Evanston. In 1850, Miss Caroline J. Lane became preceptress,
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REV. JOSEPH E. KING, D. D., FIFTH PRINCIPAL OF NEWBURY SEMINARY.
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who was succeeded in 1852 by Miss Jane P. Chase. In 1850 also Mr. George N. Abbott, lately deceased at South Newbury, who had been assistant while a student in 1844, and again in 1847, while in college, came into the faculty, as teacher of science and mathematics. In 1852, Miss Sarah E. King succeeded Miss Chase as preceptress. She afterward, as Mrs. Ames, became a noted teacher in New England and New York.
In the last two years of Prof. King's administration, the institution reached high-water mark, the whole number of different students being 534, the aggregate attendance 878, and in the fall term of 1851 there were 320 pupils. There were nine teachers, three of whom were in the music and ornamental departments. Professors King, Noyes, Cushing and Abbott with Miss Chase and Miss Calef were the working faculty. Dr. King gives us an insight into the financial working of the institution at that time. He says : "The revenues for maintaining so large, and really so able and accomplished a faculty, were all derived from tuition fees ranging from $3.25 to $4.50 per term. The boarding-house paid its own way, keeping teachers and students comfortably, if not handsomely at $1.50 per week. Out of the surplus from these modest revenues the buildings were kept in the best of repair, and several valuable improvements were made; we were out of debt, and there was money in the treasury at my resignation in November, 1853. There was a nominal treasurer, and an actual auditor, the venerable 'father' Solomon Sias, who received two dollars annually for going through the accounts and the vouchers. The treasurer had no function but to read the report put into his hands. The work was all done by the principal."
In November, 1853, Mr. King announced to the resident trustees, that he had received an offer to become the principal of a new institution, about to be opened, under favorable auspices, in the state of New York. He would gladly have remained in Newbury, but after waiting four days and receiving no word from that body he telegraphed his acceptance. When it was known that he was about to leave, the trustees and citizens, with a zeal and unanimity which came too late, offered him almost any terms if he would stay. Had their offer been earlier, he would have remained and built up in Newbury, such an institution as that at Fort Edward, of which he has long been the head. Dr. King married a daughter of Amherst Bayley, and an account of his children will be found among the annals of that family.
The seventh principal was Henry S. Noyes, born December 24, 1822, at Landaff, N. H., and a graduate of Wesleyan in 1848. Mr. Noyes sustained the character which the school had attained and was supported by an able faculty, Charles W. Cushing, Jonathan Johnson, F. D. Hemenway, and Jasper Tenney, being his assistants, with Mrs. Noyes as preceptress, and five other teachers-eleven in
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all. Mr. Noyes was principal but one year, when he resigned to become professor of mathematics in Northwestern University, of which he was acting president, from 1860 to 1867. He died there May 24, 1872.
From 1855 to 1858, Rev. Charles W. Cushing, who had been connected with the school as assistant for eight years, was principal. In 1858 there were thirteen teachers, Mr. Henry Lummis being his lieutenant two years, while Miss Azubah C. Edson was preceptress during Mr. Cushing's administration. Mr. Cushing was the only principal who never attended college, and owes his position and fame entirely to his own exertions. He was afterward principal of Lasell Female Seminary.
There are many who will recall Mr. Charles Gobeille, the French teacher for several years. He was deformed, but very polite and agreeable. In 1858, Rev. Fenner E. King, who had been assistant for three years, became principal, and held the office four years, after which he entered the ministry, and died March 30, 1869, at Carydon, Iowa. He was a relative of Rev. J. E. King, and married a Miss Nelson, of Ryegate. Cambridge, N. Y., was his birthplace in 1826, and he graduated at Wesleyan in 1854. During his administration the patronage fell off somewhat; other academies drew students away; money for needed repairs, and the purchase of more modern apparatus was not forthcoming; and the breaking out of the war called away many young men, ten enlisting at one time. The number of different pupils fell to 267. A military department was added during the first years of the war.
When Mr. King resigned in 1862, the traditional policy of the school was followed by placing his assistant, Rev. George C. Smith, at its head. Rev. J. C. W. Coxe, afterward principal at Montpelier, was his associate for some time. Under Mr. Smith's administration the school regained somewhat of its former patronage, and there were 415 different pupils in attendance in 1863. He was born at St. Johnsbury, in 1830, graduated at Wesleyan in 1859, and, after leaving Newbury, at the end of the winter term, in 1866, was at the head of Drew Female Seminary at Carmel, N. Y. He died in 1871. His wife was Miss Newhall of this town.
Miss Emeline B. Chapin was preceptress from 1858 to 1863, when Miss Betsey M. Clapp held that position two years. Rev. Silas E. Quimby succeeded Mr. Smith, both as assistant, and as principal, giving place at the end of the fall term of 1867, to Simeon F. Chester, A. M. Rev. Charles W. Wilder was associated with Mr. Quimby, and Mr. Chester, and Miss Kate S. Jewell was preceptress. At the end of the spring term of 1868, the seminary was closed, and Mr. Chester became the first principal at Montpelier. He has been, for many years, the honored master of the high school at Springfield, Mass.
Mr. Augustus Pond was, in 1837, the first music teacher; in
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1838, Miss Martha Morse, who became Mrs. Hinman, taught until 1846. Mr. Thomas A. Cutter, in that year, was followed in the next by C. S. Harrington; Miss Lucia M. Stevens, now Mrs. Peaslee, and her sister, who became Mrs. Ladd, taught the science from 1847 to 1855. Two of the Cheney brothers, and Mr. E. K. Prouty taught vocal music at various times. In 1855 L. B. Harrington taught music; Mr. Joshua Gill in 1857, and in 1859, David A. French, who was connected with the school excepting two years, during which Mr. Solon G. Smith conducted that department, until the school closed. Several others assisted from time to time.
Connected with the seminary were two other institutions which had a separate legal existence, but which were, actually, under one management, and shared a common purse. One of these was called "Newbury Biblical Institute," and was designed to train young men for the ministry. Mrs. Twombly tells us that the beginning of this department was on this wise: At the opening of the winter term of 1837, (she, then Miss Betsey Dow, being preceptress), five or six young men solicited the principal to form a class in Mental Philosophy. This class was formed, but for want of time on the part of Messrs. Baker and Hinman, was given to her.
"At the annual examination in 1838, the class and its teacher received special commendation from the board of visitors for the manner and thoroughness of the work accomplished." Miss Dow continued to hold the class while she remained in the school, when it was taken by Mr. Baker, who added studies of a theological character. During some years before this the desirability of a theological school in which to train young men for the Methodist ministry had been agitated, and the proposal had met with some rivalry and jealousy among the conferences, and the institutions which desired to secure such a theological department as an addition to their own courses of study.
On the 11th of August, 1841, the seminary trustees announced in Zion's Herald, that, following the recommendation of the annual conference held in Dover the preceding June, a department of sacred science would be opened immediately, in connection with Newbury Seminary, "to meet the wants and conditions of those who were called, of God to the work of the ministry, until more complete provision could be made." Rev. W. M. Willett, a learned man, and fine Hebrew scholar, became president of this department, and with him was associated Rev. John Dempster, D. D.
Dr. Willett was born in New York city in 1803, and lived to be past ninety, dying a few years ago, having filled a chair in Drew Theological Seminary for some years. He came of a noted Dutch fainily and was son of Col. Marinus Willett, a noted officer in the revolutionary war, who was one of the grantees of Newbury under the New York charter. He lived in the brick house built by Timothy Morse, where the Leslie family have long resided and was quite a
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wealthy man. He edited and published the "Newbury Biblical Magazine."
At the end of the spring term of 1846, Newbury Biblical Institute closed its work here, and was merged into the General Biblical Institute at Concord, which, about twenty years later, closed its work there and the theological department of Boston University was opened in its stead. Thus the oldest and most important Theological Seminary of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States, had its humble origin in a class in Mental Philosophy taught in 1837 by Miss Betsey Dow, in Newbury Seminary. "Honor to whom honor is due."
The establishment of a theological department at Newbury Seminary was an experiment little favored by the great majority of the Methodist clergy of that day. Before this time the ministers of that order were, generally, men who had obtained only a limited education. Many of them had never attended even a district school for a whole year altogether, but had acquired their training in the arduous work of the itinerarcy, and the continued study of the Bible and Wesley's sermons. They regarded with distrust, and, perhaps, with a little jealousy, any attempt at systematic training of the clergy. But there were those who took a more comprehensive view, and saw that if the Methodist church would attain the eminence and permanency which they desired, it must have an educated ministry. But the failure to secure an endowment, and to erect a suitable building for the accommodation of its students, caused the discontinuance of the Biblical Institute.
The "Female Collegiate Institute," was chartered in 1849, and became a department of Newbury Seminary, having however, a separate board of trustees, and special courses of study for the higher education of young women. It went into operation in the fall of 1850. No endowment was ever provided, and tuition fees of both institutions were kept in a common purse, all bills being paid by the treasurer of the seminary, who was, during most of the time, the principal. During the eighteen years of its existence, 118 young ladies were graduated, and received diplomas. This institution was transferred with the seminary to Montpelier, and has still a legal cxistence.
There were several private societies connected with the seminary, which deserve passing mention. Mrs. Twombly says that she organized, in the fall of 1837, "a literary society, composed of young ladies only, for the benefit of the more advanced, many of whom had taught in the district schools, and which was the first society of the kind formed in any academy in the country. This fact was clicited by those who opposed these separate organizations. Thcy wrote to the different schools, asking if such socicties existed and hoped to silence the young ladies by proving to them that they were going beyond their sphere, being bold and
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presumptuous in assuming what belonged to gentlemen only." The "Aesthetic Society" was formed in 1852, and at first included only such young ladies as were pursuing their studies at the institute. The Band Society of young men was organized in 1856, and the Adelphi Society in 1857. The Ladies Literary Society came into existence in 1861. The two former of these shared a hall upon the third floor, and the two latter held their meetings in a room finished off for them in the attic. These societies still exist at Montpelier. Other organizations were formed from time to time, which existed for months or years. Rev. J. A. Sherburne recalls that in his time, the early '40's, a paper was edited by the students and printed by Mr. Rand, for some time, but its very name is now forgotten. A public debating society called the Pulaski Lyceum, met at stated times, and furnished opportunity for the cultivation of public speaking. Exhibitions were held once or more during each year, and lectures were provided by the faculty or by the literary societies.
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