Early American Presbyterian Institutions

Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States

The General Assembly was organized in 1789, out of the materials of the old Synod. At the very first meeting, it was unanimously resolved "to send forth missionaries, well qualified to be employed in mission work on our frontiers, for the purpose of organizing churches, administering ordinances, ordaining elders, collecting information concerning the state of religion in those parts, and proposing the best means of establishing a gospel ministry among the people." and in order to provide means for defraying "the necessary expenses of the mission, it is strictly enjoined on the several Presbyteries to have collections made during the present year, in the several congregations under our care, and forwarded to Isaac Snowden, Esq., Treasurer of the General Assembly, with all convenient speed." This collection amounted to 80 pounds, 12 shillings, and 10 pence. The usual salary allowed a missionary was $400 per annum.

As the boundaries of the country grew, and its frontiers were extended South and West and North, and the importance of the work increased, the General Assembly appointed a Standing Committee of Missions, in 1802. Its nomination of missionaries was made to and confirmed by the General Assembly in open session.

The population increased, and settlements extended very rapidly, after the War of 1812. The missionary wants and work extended as rapidly as the population and beyond the power of the Standing Committee on Missions to supply. To meet this growing demand, and render the management of the work more efficient than it could possibly be, either by the Standing Committee or the General Assembly itself, in the few days of its annual session, it organized, in May, 1816, "The Board of Missions." It was the first of all the Boards, and has been the model, ever since for all similar agencies for the work of the Church.

After the organization of the Board, in 1816, the work of Home Missions increased in extent and interest rapidly, for ten or twelve years, until after the organization of the American Home Missionary Society, in New York, in 1826. After the division of 1838, the New School branch conducted its missionary affairs in connection with the American Home Missionary Society, until a conviction of the desirableness and necessity of distinctive denominational work led to the appointment of the Church Extension Committee, in 1855, which was merged, in 1861, into the organization of the Committee of Home Missions.

The Board of Missions remained after the division in 1838, in connection with the Old School branch, and was the instrumentality through which the Church labored to evangelize the land.

From 1802 to 1816, the Standing Committee of Missions sent out 311 missionaries, and collected $49,349. The Board of Missions, from 1819 to the division in 1838, sent 2,486 missionaries and collected $231,504. From the division in 1838 to the reunion in 1870, the Board sent 16,113 missionaries, and collected $2,805,375. after the organization of the Committee of Home Missions by the New School General Assembly, it sent forth, from 1861 to 1870 (the time of reunion) 3,281 missionaries, and collected $962,947. It is greatly to be regretted that the numbers of missionaries and the amounts of money contributed by the New School Presbyterian Church, from 1838 to 1861, to the American Home Missionary Society cannot be ascertained. The number of missionaries is carefully estimated at about 8000.

The glorious reunion of the two Assemblies was accomplished in 1870. At the reunion the Board of Missions and the Committee of Home Missions were united under the legal name and style of "The Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." The Board, since its reorganization in 1870, has sent out fifteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-two missionaries, and collected $47,319.89 [1884]. Thus the Home Missionary work of the Church before and during the division and since its reunion, presents a grand total, from 1802 to 1883 of 46,962 missionaries, and $7,818.217 contributed for the cause. In 1871 the reunited General Assembly organized the Sustenation Committee, which, in 1874, was transferred to the Board of Home Missions, to be conducted as a separate department, In 1878, the Women's Executive Committee of Home Missions was organized and became a department of the Board. In 1882, the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D.D., offering to present the Board with the Rocky Mountain Presbyterian, which he had published since 1872 as a Home Mission paper, the offer was accepted, and the Board commenced the publication of the paper, as its official organ, under the name of Presbyterian Home Mission.

General Assembly

In 1704, the congregation which Mr. Andrews served removed from the warehouse of the old "Barbadoes Trading Company," on the northwest corner of Chestnut and Second Streets, in which they had previously assembled, to their first house of worship, a frame building on the south side of Market street, between Second and Third streets. "The space occupied by the annual minutes in the manuscript record book," says Dr. Samuel J. Baird, "would lead to the conclusion that the missing leaf would carry us back to the same year, and other circumstances concur to the conclusion that the removal of the congregation, the ordination of Mr. Andrews, and the organization of the Presbytery, occurred at the same date." Dr. William M. Engles, in his preliminary sketch of the "Records of the Presbyterian Church," in referring to the organization of the Presbytery, says: "Judging from the first date which appears on the first page of these records, it must have been about the beginning of the year, 1705. This Presbytery consisted of seven members, viz: Francis Makemie, John Hampton, George McNish, Samuel Davis--all from the best accounts emigrated from Ireland, and exercising their ministry on the eastern shore of Maryland; with the exception of Mr. Davis, who was laboring in Delaware. John Wilson, also, from Scotland, settled in New Castle, and Jedediah Andrews, from New England, settled in Philadelphia. To these may be added John Boyd, who was the first person ordained by the new Presbytery, in 1706, and settled in Freehold, New Jersey." It is proper to state that some respectable authorities place in this list, instead of the name of Mr. Boyd, that of Nathaniel Taylor, who was settled on the Patuxent, over a congregation composed to a considerable extent of Independents, although the body consisted, originally according to tradition, of a colony of two hundred from Fifeshire.

This body ordinarily assumed the title of "The Presbytery," never that of "The Presbytery of Philadelphia." It asserted itself, and was recognized as possessing, not merely the functions of a particular subordinate Presbytery, from which Mr. Thompson carefully distinguishes it, but the powers of a supreme judicature, in the exercise of which it was alike unlimited by a written Constitution and uncontrolled by a superior. Its appropriate title is The General Presbytery.

The General Presbytery, thus constituted, continued in form and name until 1716, when it resolved itself into a Synod, and divided into subordinate meetings, or Presbyteries. The resolution making this division provided for four Presbyteries--Philadelphia, New Castle, Snow Hill and Long Island, but Snow Hill was never organized. The Presbytery of Long Island embraced the province of New York. Philadelphia Presbytery covered East and West Jersey and so much of Pennsylvania as lay north of the Great Valley. All the other churches belonged to Newcastle Presbytery; the project of forming the ministers on the peninsula between the Delaware and the Chesapeake into the Presbytery of Snow Hill having, as has just been stated, failed. The General Presbytery, under its new organization of Synod, met September 17th, 1717. The Rev. Jedediah Andrews was its first Moderator, and the Rev. Robert Witherspoon its first clerk.

The number of ministers in the organization had increased to seventeen, of whom thirteen, with six ruling elders, were present at the constitution of the body. The territory occupied by them extended along the Atlantic slope from Long Island to Virginia.

After the formation of the Synod, the Church went on increasing, receiving additions, not only by emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, but also from natives of England and Wales, who came to the middle colonies, and were thrown by circumstances in the neighborhood of Presbyterian churches; and also from natives, or their descendants of France, Holland, Switzerland, who preferred the Presbyterian form of worship and government. To these may be added a number from New England, who were induced by local considerations, or other circumstances, to connect themselves with the Presbyterian body. As the result of this accession of ministers and others coming from so many different countries, and having been bred up in so many various habits, the harmony of the Church was greatly diminished. It soon became apparent that entire unity of sentiment did not prevail among them respecting the examination of candidates for the ministry on experimental religion, and also respecting strict adherence to Presbyterial order, and the requisite amount of learning in those who sought the ministerial office. Frequent conflicts on those subjects occurred in different Presbyteries. Parties were formed. Those who were most zealous for strict orthodoxy, for adherence to Presbyterial order, and for a learned ministry, were called the "old side," while those who laid greater stress on vital piety than any other qualifications, and who undervalued ecclesiastical order and learning, were called the "new side," or "new light." And although in 1729, the whole body adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechism as the standards of the Church, still it was found that a faithful and uniform adherence to these standards could not be in all cases secured. The parties, in the progress of collision, became more excited and ardent; prejudices were indulged, misrepresentations took place, and everything threatened the approach of serious alienation, if not of total rupture. While things were in this state of unhappy excitement, Mr. Whitefield, in 1739, paid his second visit to America. The extensive and glorious revival of religion which took place under his ministry, and that of his friends and coadjutors, is well known. Among the ministers of the Presbyterian Church, as well as those of New England, this revival was differently viewed; the "old side" men. looking too much at some censurable irregularities which mingled themselves with the genuine work of God, were too ready to pronounce the whole a delusion; while the "new side" men, with zeal and ardor, declared in favor of the ministry of Whitefield and the revival. This brought on the crisis. Undue warmth of feeling and speech, and improper inferences, were admitted on both sides. One act of violence led to another, until, at length, in 1741, the Synod was rent asunder and the Synod of New York, composed of "new side" men, was set up in opposition to that of Philadelphia, which retained the original name, and comprehended all the "old side" men who belonged to the general body. These Synods remained in a state of separation for seventeen years. At length, however, a plan of reunion was agreed upon. Several years were spent in negotiation. Mutual concession were made. The articles of union, in detail, where happily adjusted, and the Synods were united, under the title of the "Synod of New York and Philadelphia," in the year 1758.

From this time, the Presbyterian Church went on in as much prosperity as could consist with the disturbed state of the country, until after the Revolutionary War, when it was judged proper to enter into some new arrangements. Accordingly, in 1785, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, began to take those steps for revising the public standards of the Church which led to their adoption and establishment of the present plan. A large and respectable committee, of which Dr. Witherspoon was chairman, was appointed to "take into consideration the Constitution of the Church of Scotland and other Protestant Churches," and to form a complete system for the organization of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. The result was, that on the 28th of May, 1788, the Synod completed the revision and arrangement of the public standards of the Church, and finally adopted them, and ordered them to be printed and distributed for the government of the several judicatures. This new arrangement consisted in dividing the Old Synod into four Synods--namely, New York and New Jersey (consisting of the Presbyteries of Suffolk,  Dutchess County, New York and New Brunswick), Philadelphia (the Presbyteries of Philadelphia, Lewestown, New Castle, Baltimore and Carlisle), Virginia (the Presbyteries of Red Stone, Hanover, Lexington, and Transylvania), and the Carolinas (the Presbyteries of Abingdon, Orange and South Carolina)--and constituting over these, as a bond of union, a General Assembly in all essential particulars after the model of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The Westminster Confession of Faith was adopted, with three small alterations. The Larger and the Shorter Catechisms were adopted, with one slight amendment. And a Form of Government and discipline, and a Directory for public worship, drawn chiefly from the standards of the Church of Scotland, with such alterations as the form of our civil government and the state of the Church in this country were thought to demand, completed the system.

The first meeting of the General Assembly took place on the 21st day of May, 1789. The Assembly met in the Second Presbyterian Church, in the city of Philadelphia, and was opened with a sermon by the Rev. John Witherspoon, from 1st Cor., iii,7: "So, then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."

The following delegates appeared and took their seats:
 

Delegates at the First General Assembly -- May, 1789

Presbytery of Suffolk	Rev. Joshua Hart
Presbytery of Dutchess County	Rev. Benjamin Judd
Presbytery of New York	Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, Rev. Dr. Alexander McWhorter, Rev. Azel Roe, Rev. John Close
Presbytery of New Brunswick	Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, Rev. Dr. Samuel S. Smith, Rev. James F. Armstrong. Elders, Mr. Nehemiah Dunham and Colonel Bayard
Presbytery of Philadelphia	Rev. James Sproat, Rev. Dr. George Duffield, Rev. Dr. John Ewing. Elders, Mr. Isaac Snowden, Mr. Ferguson McIlvaine and Mr. Elijah Clark
Presbytery of New Castle	Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, Rev. Dr. James Latta, and Rev. Thomas Read. Elders, Mr. Moses Irwin, Mr. Amos Slaymaker and Mr. John Crawford.
Presbytery of Lewes	Rev. Dr. Matthew Wilson
Presbytery of Baltimore	Rev. Dr. Patrick Allison
Presbytery of Carlisle	Rev. Robert Cooper, Rev. Thomas McPherrin and Rev. James Snodgrass. Elders, Mr. Samuel Edie and Mr. James Dixon
Presbytery of Redstone	Elder, Hon. John Baird
Presbytery of Lexington	Rev. Moses Hoge
Presbytery of South Carolina	Rev. Templeton

It will be seen that there were twenty-two ministers and ten elders. The Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, of New York, was chosen Moderator. The minutes of the proceedings of the Assembly will be found in a volume printed by the Board of Publication, entitled "Minutes of the General Assembly, etc., from 1789 to 1820."

In addition to the various acts connected with the internal policy of the church, the first General Assembly signalized itself by two important measures. These were, first, the commencement of the missionary work, by requiring collections to be taken up to assist in sending ministers to the frontiers and destitute settlements, and, second, measures to promote the printing and circulation of the Bible.

The following table has been compiled, by Synods, for the purpose fo exhibiting the statistics of the Presbyterian Church at the organization of the first General Assembly:--
 

Number of Congregations and Ministers by Synod, 1789 

Names of Presbyteries	No. of Ministers	Congregations Supplied	Congregations Vacant	Total Congregations	Collections, in pounds
Synod of New York
Suffolk	11	9	3	12	0
Dutchess	6	5	4	9	0
New York	22	20	19	39	25
New Brunswick	16	16	9	25	27
Totals	55	50	35	85	52
Synod of Philadelphia
Philadelphia	13	14	6	20	21
New Castle	16	21	5	26	14
Lewes	6	15	4	19	4
Baltimore	6	9	3	12	22
Carlisle	26	33	21	54	18
Totals	67	92	39	131	79
Synod of Virginia
Hanover	7	13	8	21	19
Lexington	10	11	16	27	15
Redstone	8	14	17	31	2
Transylvania	5	5	10	15 est.	0
Totals	30	43	51	94	36
Synod of the Carolinas
Orange	10	16	35	51	9
South Carolina	11	10	35	45	0
Abington	4	4	19	23	0
Totals	25	30	89	119	9

• Ministers:177
• Probationers:11
• Congregations supplied with ministers:215
• Vacant congregations:214
• Total Congregations:429
• Amount of collections (about $450):176 pounds

Hamilton College, Clinton, New York -- Est. 1794

For eighteen years the Academy existed, and attained to a high degree of prosperity. but with the growth of the neighboring settlements, and the rapid development of western New York, the necessity was felt for an Institution which should afford more ample facilities for instruction and a more extended course of study. Clinton and Fairfield became competitiors for its location, and college charters of similar character were granted to each. by a compromise between the friends of the rival locations, Clinton secured the coveted honor. The Institution bearing the name of Hamilton College, was chartered May 26th, 1812.

Mr. Kirkland's wooden building of nameless architecture, three stories high and ninety feet long, and thirty-eight wide, retired, and three large dormitories, each four stories high and ninety-eight feet long and forty-nine feet wide, and a chapel, three stories high, eighty-one feet long and fifty-one wide, with lecture and recitation rooms, and a hall of natural history, and a laboratory and gymnasium, all of stone; an observatory, at which twenty-seven asteroids have been discovered; a library and a society hall, some of them finely designed, and an elegant President's mansion, have come in its place, with books and cabinets, and instruments and apparatus, worth $120,000 [1884]. The park in the midst of which the college buildings stand embraces fifteen acres.

Dr. Azel Backus, eminent as a preacher and a scholar, as well as the successor of Dr. Bellamy, at Bethlem, Connecticut, was chosen the first President of the College. Upon his death, in December, 1817, Dr. Henry Davis, President for the previous eight years of Middlebury College, was elected his successor, and occupied the post until his resignation in 1833. The successor of President Davis have been the Rev. Dr. Sereno E. Dwight, in 1833; the Rev. Dr. Joseph Penny, in 1835; the Rev. Dr. Simeon North in 1839; the Rev. Dr. Samuel Ware Fisher, in 1858, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Gillman Brown, who was inaugurated into the Presidency in 1866, and filled it until June 30th, 1881. The Rev. Henry Darling, D.D., LL.D., was inaugurated as President, September 15th, 1881, and at present holds the position. The Faculty, that began with one member, has been multiplied to sixteen. The Institution is now, under its excellent control, in a highly prosperous condition, the Catalogue for 1883-4 reporting two hundred and ten students.

Hampden-Sydney College

Rev. S.S. Smith resigned the presidency, held for seven years, in 1779, and was succeeded by his brother, Rev. John B. Smith. He resigned in 1789, to give his whole time to ministerial work. Rev. Drury Lacy, as Vice President, continued, of a short period to conduct the Institution, and was associated, for two or three years of the time, with Rev. A.Alexander. On his retiring, in 1796, Mr. Alexander was elected President. He was succeeded in 1806, on leaving for Pine Street Church, Philadelphia, by Rev. Moses Hoge, who died in 1820. Dr. Hoge was also, from 1812, Synod's Professor of Theology. His successor, in a few years, was Mr. J.P. Cushing, who died in 1835. Then Rev. Dr. D.L.Carroll presided over the college, followed by Mr. William Maxwell, and in 1848, Rev. Dr. Lewis W. Green succeeded, who in 1858, was followed by Rev. Dr. J.M.P. Atkinson, in a presidency of about twenty-five years, the longest period of any. His resignation in June, 1883, preceded his death, in August 28th, 1883. Rev. Richard McIlwain, D.D., has now the position, and give promise to be a worthy successor of this line of one hundred years. with his five able Professors, the prospects of the college are excellent, and it will continue, it is believed, with increasing success, to supply candidates for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church.

View the College's current website at  http://www.hsc.edu

Hanover College, Indiana -- Est. 1827

This school was opened, January 1st, 1827, with six pupils, in a log cabin, near where the Presbyterian Church of Hanover now stands. This was the humble beginning of Hanover College, and of the Northwestern Theological Seminary at Chicago, Illinois.

In May, 1826, the Synod of Indiana was constituted, consisting of the Presbyteries of Salem, Madison, Wabasha nd Missouri. The school at Hanover was committed, temporarily, to the Presbytery of Madison. This Presbytery applied to the Legislature of the State for a charter, and that body, on the 30th of December, 1828, passed an act incorporating Hanover Academy.

The Academy was taken under the care of the Synod of Indiana in 1829. The following resolution was adopted by that body:--

Resolved, That this Synod adopt Hanover Academy as a Synodical school, provided the Trustees of the same will permit the Synod to establish a Theological Department, and appoint Theological Professors.

The academy which was chartered in 1828, had been steadily growing, regular college classes had been formed; and in 1833, by Act of Legislature, the Institution was incorporated as Hanover College.

By active agencies in the East and West funds had been collected and the necessary building had been erected for the Presparatory, Collegiate and Theological Departments. The Rev. James Blythe, D.D., of Lexington, Kentucky, of the Presbytery of West Lexington, and extensively known throughout the Church was, in 1832, secured as the first President of the college. The first catalogue issued after the change in the charter presents for all departments a Faculty of seven Professors and four assistants, and one hundred and eighty-three students: Theological 7; Collegiate 63; Preparatory 113. The Board of Trustees consisted of eighteen members, among whom where those pioneers of the Church and State, Rev. John M. Dickey (1806-1878), President; Rev. James H. Johnston, Secretary; Hon. Williamson Dunn, Treasurer; Victor King, William Reed, Hon. Jeremiah Sullivan, and the Rev. Samuel G. Lowry.

The location of the college in that day was within the corporate limits of the village of Hanover. All that remains of the old buildings is so much of the principal edifice as is embraced in the present Presbyterian church [1887], and one of the shops, now occupied as a private residence. None of the real estate or property now forms any part of the present property of the college.

So remarkable was the success of this pioneer institution of our Church in the West, that the catalogue of 1834-5 shows an attendance of 236 students. These students were gathered from a wide territory, embracing every state from Pennsylvania to Texas and Missouri. This is explained by its location on the Ohio river. But this prosperity was followed by a period of darkness and trial. The manual labor system, for aiding poor students, attempted by many institutions at that day, was tried at Hanover. It failed, and involved the Institution in debt for every day of its continuance. It had to be abandoned; the expense of education was largely increased and a necessary consequence was the withdrawal of a large number of students. While embarrassed by debt and this partial withdrawal of support a fearful tornado swept over the place in 1837, and left the principal college edifice in ruins. From these misfortunes the college rallied, repaired its buildings and canceled its debts, but without endowment, was left in a feeble condition.

President Blyth's connection with the college closed in 1836. For two years Dr. Matthews, of the Theological Department, acted as President, and in 1838, the Rev. E.D. McMaster, D.D., LL.D.(1806-1866), was elected to that post, where he remained five years, terminating his presidency by a memorable epoch in the history of the college. The Board of Trustees was a small body, a close corporation, but indirectly influenced by the Synod, and liable to the control of a powerful mind and local influences. Under the leadership of this eminent and able man, a part of the Board of Trustees adopted a resolution to surrender their charter to the Legislature, in return for the charter of a university at Madison. Thus the college was divided, right down through Board, Faculty, and students, part going with President McMaster to Madison, and part remaining with Vice President Crowe at Hanover. The Synod retained all its early convictions of the importance of Christian education by the church, and it was a day of great men. A struggle followed, in which "Greek met Greek." In the Synod of 1844 Madison University was offered to it as a Synodical College. The offer was declined and the Synod ordered the continuance of its college at Hanover. A new charter was obtained, said to be the most favorable in the state, conferring the powers of a university, and placing the Institution fully under the control of the Synod of Indiana. This it does by giving to that body the right to elect one half of the trustees, and through them a voice in the election of the other half. The rights and franchises of the original Synod have descended to the present Synod of Indiana.

Log College

The spirit in which the institution was established augured well for its future. In this country the primitive zeal of Makemie's compeers was already on the decline. Revivals of religion were nowhere heard of, and an orthodox creed and a descent external conduct were the only points on which inquiry was made when persons were admitted to the Church. The substance of preaching was a "dead orthodoxy," in which little emphasis was laid upon regeneration, a change of heart, or the terrors of the law against sin. With such a state of things Mr. Tennent had no sympathy. His warm evangelical spirit led him to strive, with all his energies to effect a change. The young men who came under his influence in their course of education were inspirited to become his efficient allies.

The humble edifice which was to acquire such an enviable notoriety was made of logs, cut out of the woods. It has long since disappeared, so that although the site on which it stood is well known to many in the vicinity, there is not a vestige of it remaining. Some owner of the property, never dreaming that there was anything sacred in the logs of this unpretending building, had them carried away and applied to some ignoble purpose on the farm, where they rotted away, like common timber. But that some small relic of this venerable edifice might be preserved, the Rev. Robert B. Belville, who was many years ago the Presbyterian minister of the place, rescued for the common ruin so much of one of these logs as enabled him, by paring off the decayed parts, to reduce it to something of the form of a walking staff, which, as a token of respect, and for safe keeping, he presented to the Rev. Samuel Miller D.D., one of the oldest Professors of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey.

The site of the Log College is about a mile from that part of Nashaminy Creek where the Presbyterian Church has long stood. The ground near and around it lies handsomely to the eye, and the more distant prospect is very beautiful; for while there is a considerable extent of fertile, well cultivated land, nearly level, the view is bounded to the north and west by a range of hills, which have a very pleasing appearance.

There seems to be no contemporary written record of the edifice, except in the journal of the Rev. George Whitefield, the celebrated evangelist, who traversed this country several times, preaching everywhere, with a popularity and success which have never been equaled by any other. "The place," says Mr. Whitefield, "wherein the young men study now, in contempt, called THE COLLEGE. It is a log house, about twenty feet long, and near as many broad, and, to me, it seemed to resemble the school of the old prophets, for their habituations were mean; and that they sought not great things for themselves is plain from those passages of Scripture wherein we are told that each of them took them a beam to build them a house; and that at the feast of the sons of the prophets, one of them put on the pot, whilst the others went to fetch some herbs out of the field. All that we can say of most of our universities is, they are glorious without. From this despised place seven or eight worthy ministers of Jesus have lately been sent forth, more are almost ready to be sent, and the foundation is now laying for the instruction of many others." The journal from which this extract is taken was printed in Philadelphia, by Benjamin Franklin, the same year (1739) in which Mr Whitefield visited Mr. Tennent.

Though as poor a house as perhaps was ever erected for the purpose of giving a liberal education, it was, in a noble sense, a College. Dr. Archibald Alexander refers to the Institution as "of unspeakable importance to the Presbyterian Church in this country," and as "the germ from which proceeded the College of New Jersey." See, Archibald Alexander, Biographical Sketches of the Founders and Principal Alumni of the Log College, Together with an Account of the Revival of Religion under Their Ministry (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1851) And the Rev. Matthew Brown, D.D., regarded it as not only the germ of New Jersey College, but several other colleges, such as Jefferson, Hampden-Sydney, and Washington College, in Virginia, all of which were founded and taught originally by students from Princeton." Thus we see how much good work may arise from a small beginning.

Among the graduates of the Log College were Gilbert Tennant, William Robinson, Samuel Blair, Sr. and John Blair. Samuel Blair and his brother, John, established a Log College at Fagg's Manor in Chester Co., Pennsylvania. Three of the graduates of Fagg's Manor were Robert Smith, Samuel Davies, and John Rodgers. Robert Smith, a Fagg's Manor alumnus, opened a Log College at Pequea in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. Other graduates of Fagg's Manor who established log colleges were Joseph Smith, John McMillan, and Thaddeus Dod, three of the 'four horsemen of Redstone' who were constituted into the Redstone Presbytery in 1781.

View the college's current website at  http://www.hanover.edu

Maryville College (Southern and Western Theological Seminary), Maryville, Tennessee

East Tennessee, imbedded in the mountains, was difficult of access, far away from the great centers of commerce and population, an din those times quite an isolated community.  The people were poor and the churches small and unable to offer to young men inviting inducements.  But the Scotch-Irish will of Dr. Anderson would not succumb to difficulties and disappointments.  He was at last driven to this conclusion:  That there is no possible way to the ministry, but to educate native young men on the ground.  The ministers of the region must be the sons of the soil, trained there for its needs.  And this became his grand idea.  It was the thought that gave, in the Autumn of 1819, existence to the Southern and Western Theological Seminary, which was chartered in 1842, by the Legislature of the State of Tennessee, by the name and style of the Directors of Maryville College, at Maryville.  The college is governed [1884] by a Board of thirty-six trustees, one third of whom are appointed annually by the Synod of Tennessee.  And to this Synod the trustees are required to make an annual report of the financial condition and education al work of the college.  It is emphatically a Christian Institution, founded by Christian men, chiefly for Christ and His Church.  It has served a long apprenticeship to poverty.  Its little fund of $16,000 was gathered in small sums, through forty-two years, and year in and year out was largely supplemented by the faith, prayers and self-denying labors of Dr. Anderson and those associated withy him in the work of instruction.

Up to 1861 several hundred alumni were sent out.  Of these at least one hundred and fifty went into the ministry.  Hundreds entered other of the learned professions, and many became useful and successful Christian teachers.  During the war the work of the college was suspended for five years.  The Faculty was broken up.  The library was badly damaged.  The college building were destroyed.  Two thirds of the endowment funds were lost.  In short, the war left Maryville College in ruins, not worth, in funds and real estate, more than seven thousand dollars.  And moreover, all East Tennessee was stripped, impoverished and desolated.  In view of these facts., some of the best and oldest friends of the college thought it dead, to live no more, But the Synod of Tennessee met in the Fall of 1865, and resumed organic relations with the old General Assembly; and feeling that it could not hold its ground and extend its influence without Maryville College, it resolved, if possible to resuscitate it.  The only Professor then remaining on the ground was ordered to reopen the college, for instruction, as soon as practicable.  This was done in the Fall of 1866, with an attendance of thirteen students.  In less than tree years two more Professors were added to the Faculty and there was a large increase of students.

View the College's current website at:  http://www.MARYVILLECOLLEGE.EDU/

Princeton College and the College of New Jersey

Thus the Presbyterian College was founded, not by the Presbyterian Church, but simply by four Presbyterian ministers, Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, Ebenezer Pemberton and Aaron Burr, who, with eight other gentlemen, were its trustees. Two years afterwards a new charter, with enlarged privileges, was voluntarily granted by Jonathan Belcher, His Majesty's Governor of New Jersey, and passed the great seal of the province on the 14th of September, 1748. All the four ministers concerned in procuring the first charter, with Governor Belcher, who granted the second, were New England men, thus making the Presbyterian Church of America as much indebted, for education, to the English Puritans, as to the sons of Scottish Covenanters.

After the Declaration of Independence the grants of the second charter were recognized and confirmed by the Legislature of the State, in an act passed March 13th, 1780.

Mr. Dickinson died on the 7th of October, 1747. The classes were removed to Newark, and the presidential duties devolved upon the Rev. Aaron Burr, minister of the Presbyterian Church in that city, where he had previously conducted a classical school, together with his pastoral work. He was formally inaugurated President at the first Commencement, next year. For that ceremonial, the third Wednesday of May, 1748, had been selected, but to gratify Governor Belcher, who wished to present his improved charter at the same time, it was postponed until the 9th of November. A class of young men, having been so well advance previously in the schools of Dickinson and Burr, were already prepared to receive their first degree.

Nine years the college remained at Newark. But Princeton had early been selected as the permanent site for it, by Governor Belcher. A large building for the accommodation of students and a house for the President having been erected there, and in habitable condition, by the Autumn of 1756, the President, with his assistants and seventy students proceeded to occupy them. Next year measures were adopted in the two Synods which resulted in the restoration of complete concord, and the college was encouraged with hope in the patronage of a united Church.

At the first Commencement in Princeton, May, 1757, twenty-two young men were prepared to receive their first degree. So far, out of one hundred and fourteen graduates, sixty-two had entered the ministry. That same year Governor Belcher died, on the 31st of August, and President Burr, on the 24th of September, four days before the annual Commencement. After the close fo the exercises, September 29th, the Trustees elected to the vacant presidency the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, then minister of the Church at Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The Grammar School still continued in College by Mr. Burr, aided by two tutors, was retained by order of the Trustees after his death.

Edwards came to Princeton in January, 1758, and was regularly constituted President, at a meeting of the Trustees, on the 16th of February, when he was also invested with the care of the Grammar School, its masters and ushers, and with a right to the profits accruing from it. The President's salary was to be two hundred pounds a year, with the use of the house, and his firewood from the college grounds. He entered upon his duties with great promise of success. The Senior class were charmed with their new instructor. It was doomed to be only a beginning. Alarmed by prevalence of smallpox in the neighborhood, his physician and friends urged the President to submit to the mitigative of inoculation. The precaution proved unfortunate; and Jonathan Edwards died on the 22d of March, 1758, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. A vacancy then occurred in the presidency, of about a year and four months, supplied by temporary assistants. It was terminated by the election of Rev. Samuel Davies, of Virginia, who entered upon his duties on the 26th of July, 1759. A preacher of great power and popularity, the new President evinced himself also skillful to govern and a successful instructor. But his term of office was also brief. He died February 4th, 1761, in the thirty-eighth year of his age. Samuel Finley was elected on the 30th of September, the same year, and died on the 17th of July, 1766. Within her first twenty years the college had seen more than half the presidents of her first century.

The next choice was from abroad. When Mr. Davies was in Scotland soliciting contributions for the college, he mentioned in one of his letters a young minister of much promise, by name "Weatherspoon or Witherspoon" whose book, called Ecclesiastical Characteristics, a Satire upon the Moderates in the Church of Scotland, was creating a sensation. That young minister had now established a reputation broader than the Characteristics and at middle age became the sixth President of the College at Princeton. His long term of twenty-four years, from 1768, was crowned with important events, in most of which he took an active part. In the questions of statesmanship whereby the colonies were alienated from the mother country, in the Declaration of Independence, in the deliberations of the Revolutionary Congress, and in those which formed the United States Constitution, he was effectively concerned. The college also passed through the destructive occupation of armies, the derangement and partial suspension of studies during the heat of the war, and the meetings of Congress at the end of it. During the war, the number of students was greatly diminished. In the years 1775 and 1776 the graduating classes numbered each twenty-seven, that of next year only seven, that of 1778, only five, and those of the succeeding three years, only six each. With the return of peace the classes successively rose toward the standard of former years, and some in the last ten years of Dr. Witherspoon, exceeded it. The eminence of her President in public affairs, both ecclesiastical and civil, through all that agitating and momentous epoch, conferred upon the College of New Jersey a character of nationality. A hope of stronger backing was also furnished in the enlargement of the Presbyterian Church, and the crowning of its organization by the General Assembly in 1788.

Dr. Witherspoon died on the 15th of November, 1794 and on the 6th of May, 1795, Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith was elected to succeed him. He had been Vice-President several years before. Eight years of depression followed. Application for pecuniary aid was made to the Legislature of the State. A temporary grant was voted, but met with such public disapproval that it has never been repeated. The college, in her poverty, was spared her independence. Nassau Hall was burned in March, 1802. Funds were collected by private donation, where by the building was restored, and two others were erected for lectures, recitations and library.

Upon the retirement of Dr. Smith, in 1812, Dr. Ashbel Green succeeded, and after ten agitated years resigned, leaving things as he found them. The first six years of James Carnahan, who was inaugurated in August, 1823, were years of discouragement. With 1829 a new era in the history of the college began. It was due chiefly to the enterprise of Prof. Maclean, then a young man, made Vice President in that year. Improvement now followed improvement boldly, and yet with prudence, for the only reliance was that the effort would be patronized by the Church and an intelligent public. For the next five and twenty years Drs. Maclean and Carnahan acted, in all college matters, as one man. The originating enterprise of the Vice-President was always respectfully considered and sustained by his superior. And the administration was adorned by the talents of men whom it brought into office. Through the greater part of its first century the College of New Jersey struggled under poverty. Until 1771 its Faculty consisted of only the President and two sometimes three Tutors. In 1768 a Professor Theology was appointed and entered upon his duties, but thinking his salary too great a burden upon the funds of the Institution, resigned the next year. From 1771, through the Revolutionary war, the President had the assistance of one Professor, and from 1779 to 1783 of two. But from the latter date, for two years, he had none, and from 1785, for fifteen years, only one. In 1802 a Professor of Ancient Languages was added, next year a Professor of Theology, and in 1804, a Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy. But after 1808 the number of Professors was again reduced to one. From 1813 to 1829 there were only two. In 1830 six departments were added, or separated, and filled with men of mark; two more in 1832; again two in 1834, one in 1846, and two in 1847. By resignation and death, the number at the retirement of Dr. Carnahan, in 1854, was reduced to seven, and until 1869 did not rise to more than eight, with four lecturers. Dr. Maclean was made President in 1854, but enterprise was retarded for a time, by the lack of pecuniary means, a second burning of Nassau Hall, in 1855, and the embarrassment of the civil war.

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Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania

The first President of Jefferson College was Rev. John Watson, who had been a student at the Canonsburg Academy. He was elected August 29th, 1802, and died in November of the same year. The office was filled successively by Rev. James Dunlap, Rev. Andrew Wylie, D.D., Rev. William McMillan, A.M., Rev. Matthew Brown, D.D., LL.D., Rev. R.J. Breckinridge, D.D., LL.D., Rev. Alexander B. Brown, D.D., Rev. Joseph Alden, D.D., LL.D. and Rev. David H. Riddle, D.D., LL.D.

Rev. Matthew Brown became pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Washington and Principal of the academy in 1805. When the charter of Washington College was secured, the next year, he was elected to the Presidency, and retained the position for eleven years. His successors in office were Rev. Andrew Wylie, D.D., Rev. David Elliott, D.D., LL.D., Rev. David McConaughy, D.D., Rev. James Clark, D.D., Rev. James I. Brownson, D.D. (Pro Tem) and Rev. John W. Scott, D.D., LL.D. The distinguished educators who served the Colleges of Jefferson and Washington, as Presidents, were seconded in their labors by able and devoted men who dilled the several chairs of instruction. They cannot even be named in this sketch, but their work, performed under many discouragements, lives in the grateful memories of hundreds who were helped by them in the paths of knowledge. These Institutions attracted students from all parts of the West and South, and Eastern Pennsylvania, and their alumni have always taken high rank, both in the Church and State. A healthy and dominant religious influenced prevailed in them throughout the history. Revivals of religion of great power occurred at intervals, which resulted in the conversion of many of the students, and the consecration of not a few to the ministry of the gospel. a large majority of the Trustees and Professors have been connected with the Presbyterian church and from that Denomination their support was chiefly derived. From 1852 to 1865 Washington College was under the care of the Synod of Wheeling. An ample return for all expenditures made in their behalf was received in the number of ministers educated in their halls. Of three thousand graduates over fourteen hundred became preachers of the gospel.

But their contiguity and the fact that they appealed to the same constituency alike for patronage and pecuniary support, operated as a barrier to their sufficient endowment. Many enlightened friends of education withheld their help, under a conviction that no sufficient reason appeared for the coexistence of two colleges, having identical aims, and under circumstances calculated to excite rivalry and inspire efforts to build up one at the expense of the other. Efforts to bring about a union were often made, beginning as early as 1807, and repeated in 1815, 1817, 1843 , 1847 and 1852; but all negotiations to this end were fruitless until Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D.D., LL.D. of Stubensville, Ohio, made an offer of fifty thousand dollars, conditioned upon a union. The time at which this generous proposal was made was propitious for securing its favorable consideration. The number of students had been reduced, owing to the large numbers of young men who had entered the military service of the country. The sale of cheap scholarships by both Institutions, gave them an insufficient endowment, and cut off all income that had formerly been derived from tuition fees. The advance in prices incident to war times increased their financial embarrassments, and rendered their continuance impossible without debt or increase of resources. These circumstances, in a measure, prepared the way for the acceptance of Dr. Beatty's proposition.

By an Act of the Legislature, passed March 4th, 1865, Washington and Jefferson College was established. It was provided that the Senior, Junior and Sophomore Classes should be instructed at Canonsburg, and the studies of the Freshman Class and the Scientific and Preparatory Departments should be conducted at Washington. Rev. Jonathan Edwards, D.D., was elected President, and Rev. James Black, D.D., Vice President and Executive of the department at Washington. This dual arrangement continued four years, and furnished sufficient evidence that it was an impracticable mode of management. The Board, acting upon unmistakable indications of public sentiment, applied to the Legislature for an amendment to the Charter, which was passed February 26th, 1869, authorizing the consolidation of the departments and their location at a place to be determined by a majority of two-thirds of the Board. Under the provisions of this act the college was finally located at Washington. The decision being unsatisfactory to some who had favored Canonsburg, suit was entered to test the legality of the proceedings by which the results had been attained. The action of the Board was sustained by an unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and an appeal being taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, it was in like manner affirmed by that high tribunal.

In April, 1869, Dr. Edwards resigned the presidency to accept a call to the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church of Baltimore. The office was filled temporarily by Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Wilson, of the Western Theological Seminary, and Rev. Dr. James I. Brownson. Rev. George P. Hays, D.D., was elected President August 3d, 1870. In 1884 the faculty consisted of the President and nine professors.

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Washington and Lee University

From 1798 to 1799 Dr. Samuel L. Campbell was rector. He was succeeded by Rev. George A. Baxter, who, on the change of charter, by which the academy became a college, in 1813 became President in 1829; he was succeeded by Lewis Marshall, M.D., 1830, and he by Henry Vettake, LL.D., in 1834. Rev. Dr. Henry Ruffner presided over the Institution from 1836 to 1848. The college was made his sole legatee by Mr. John Robinson, and received about $40,000 net proceeds of his estate.

During Dr. Ruffner's presidency the college received a donation by the Cincinnati Society of $25,000. Deduction for erection of building and other expenses, there remained of these sums and $50,000, Washington's donation, about $100,000 of vested funds, when Rev. Dr. George Junkin succeeded Dr. Ruffner in 1848. He having resigned, about the opening of the war, the college remained, till its close, without a president. Four Professors and two Tutors had been associated with Dr. Junkin. In 1865, the Trustees called to the presidency Gen. Robert E. Lee, whose life of active and successful administration was cut short in 1870, and he was succeeded by his son, Gen. Geo. W. Custis Lee. The charter of the College was again changed, raising the Institution to the grade of a University. Large additions have been made to its fund during the period of 1866 to 1883. Now, there are, including the President, eight professors and three assistant Instructors. The Institution, notwithstanding its separation from all formal relation to the Presbyterian Church, has still, in its Board of Trustees of fifteen members, fourteen by education Presbyterians, and of them, twelve are ministers, elders and members of the Church. Of the Faculty, a majority are officers and members of the same Church. The Institution is still a feeder of Union Seminary.

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