The History of Amherst College (Tyler, 1873)

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Text	Paragraph Number	Page Number
CHAPTER III.	1	33
AMHERST ACADEMY was the mother of Amherst College.	1	34
The Trustees of the Academy were also Trustees of the College,	1	34
and the records of the Academy were the records of the	1	34
College during the first four years of its existence. Some account	1	34
of the Academy must, therefore, precede the history of	1	34
the College. The founding and erecting of Amherst Academy,	1	34
kept pace with the origin and progress of the last war with	1	34
Great Britain. The subscription was started in 1812, when	1	34
that war was declared ; the Academy went into operation in	1	34
December, 1814, the same year and the same month in which	1	34
the peace was signed ; and it was fully dedicated with illuminations	1	34
and public rejoicings in 1815, when the return of peace	1	34
was known and hailed with joy in this country, especially in	1	34
New England. This synchronism is worthy of note, not as a	1	34
mere accidental coincidence, but as illustrating the energy, resolution,	1	34
and self-sacrificing spirit of the men who could raise	1	34
such a sum of money and found such an Institution at the very	1	34
time when the industry and enterprise of New England were	1	34
oppressed as never before nor since, by a war which was peculiarly	1	34
hostile to their industrial interests. The charter was not	1	34
obtained, however, till 1816, having been delayed by opposition	1	34
in Amherst, and in the neighboring towns, of the same kind	1	34
and partly from the very same sources as that which the College	1	34
encountered in later years.	1	34
	2	34
The subscription was started by Samuel Fowler Dickinson,	2	34
and Hezekiah Wright Strong, Esquires, the same men to whom,	2	34
beyond any other citizens of Amherst, the College afterwards	2	34
owed its origin. Calvin Merrill of the village, and Justus Williams	2	34
of South Amherst, were also quite active in raising funds	2	35
and rearing the building. Dr. Parsons gave the land on which	2	35
the building was erected, lent all his influence to the raising of	2	35
the money, and was the first, and, until the establishment of the	2	35
College, the only President of its Board of Trustees, and, to say	2	35
the least, one of its principal fathers and founders. The Trustees	2	35
named in the act of incorporation were David Parsons, Nathan	2	35
Perkins, Samuel F. Dickinson, Hezekiah W. Strong,	2	35
Noah Webster, John Woodbridge, James Taylor, Nathaniel	2	35
Smith, Josiah Dwight, Rufus Graves, Winthrop Bailey, Experience	2	35
Porter, and Elijah Gridley. In common with other	2	35
incorporated institutions of the kind, the Academy received	2	35
from the Legislature of the State, the grant of half a township	2	35
of land in the district of Maine, on condition that the inhabitants	2	35
of the town should raise a sum of money which was	2	35
deemed its equivalent, viz : three thousand dollars.	2	35
	3	35
During the first ten or twelve years or more of its existence	3	35
the Academy was open to both sexes. The principal male	3	35
teachers during this period, in their chronological order, were	3	35
Francis Bascom, Joseph Estabrook, John L. Parkhurst, Gerard	3	35
Hallock, Zenas Clapp, David Green, and Ebenezer S. Snell.	3	35
Three of these were afterwards connected with the College as	3	35
tutors or professors, one became the well-known editor and proprietor	3	35
of The Journal of Commerce, and another an honored	3	35
secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign	3	35
Missions. The lady teachers were Lucy Douglas, afterwards	3	35
Mrs. James Fowler of Westfield, Orra White, afterwards Mrs.	3	35
Dr. Hitchcock, Mary Ann Field, afterwards Mrs. Henry Merrill,	3	35
Sarah S. Strong, [To this lady who became a teacher in the Academy at the age of sixteen, and a teacher of remarkable brilliancy, I am indebted for many facts in the early history	3	35
of Amherst Academy, which but for her extraordinary memory must have	3	35
perished with the fire that consumed the Records in 1838.] daughter of H. W. Strong, now Mrs.	3	35
McConihe of Troy, and Hannah Shepard, sister of Prof. Shepard,	3	35
afterwards Mrs. Judge Terry of Hartford.	3	35
	4	35
” Under the government and instruction of such superior	4	35
teachers,” I quote the language of a competent eye-witness,	4	35
” the Academy obtained a reputation second to none in the	4	35
State, and indeed the ladies’ department was in advance of the	4	36
same department in other institutions, as might be shown by a	4	36
simple comparison of the studies pursued and text-books in	4	36
use by the young ladies. Among these may be specified Chemistry,	4	36
which was then just beginning to be studied in schools	4	36
outside of Colleges, but was taught in Amherst Academy with	4	36
lectures and experiments by Prof. Graves who had been lecturer	4	36
on Chemistry in Dartmouth College, Rhetoric, Logic,	4	36
History, Paley’s Moral Philosophy, Play fair’s Euclid, Stewart’s	4	36
Philosophy, Enfield’s Natural Philosophy, Herschell’s Astronomy	4	36
with the calculation and projection of eclipses, Latin,	4	36
French, etc. On Wednesday afternoons all the scholars were	4	36
assembled in the upper hall for reviews, declamations, compositions	4	36
and exercises in reading in which both gentlemen and	4	36
ladies participated. Spectators were admitted and were often	4	36
present in large numbers, among whom Dr. Parsons and Mr.	4	36
Webster, President and Vice-President of the Board of Trustees,	4	36
might usually be seen, and often the lawyers, physicians,	4	36
and other educated men of the place. Not unfrequently gentlemen	4	36
from out of town were present, as for instance, Dr. Packard,	4	36
who early became a Trustee, and was much interested in	4	36
the prosperity of the Institution. Once a year, at the close of	4	36
the fall term in October, the old meeting-house was fitted up	4	36
with a stage and strange to tell in the staid town of Amherst	4	36
where dancing was tabooed and cards never dared show themselves,	4	36
reverend divines went with lawyers and doctors, and all	4	36
classes of their people to the house of God to witness a theatrical	4	36
exhibition ! ”	4	36
	5	36
The following sketch by one who was an Alumnus both of	5	36
the Academy and the College, (Rev. Nahum Gould of the Class	5	36
of ’25) while affording a glimpse of the former, reveals one	5	36
secret, perhaps more than one, of the origin and prosperity of	5	36
the latter :	5	36
	6	36
” I came to Amherst in the spring of 1819 and studied in	6	36
preparation for College under the direction of Joseph Estabrook	6	36
and Gerard Hallock. The principal’s salary was $800	6	36
per annum, and Miss Sarah Strong’s $20 a month. I found the	6	36
piety of the students far in advance of my own. Perhaps	6	36
there never was a people that took such deep interest in the	6	37
welfare of students. None need leave on account of pecuniary	6	37
embarrassments. Tuition was free to any pious student who	6	37
was preparing for the gospel ministry. Board was one dollar a	6	37
week, and if this could not be afforded, there were families	6	37
ready to take students for little services which they might render	6	37
in their leisure hours. Their liberality was spoken of	6	37
through the land, and it was an inducement to persons of limited	6	37
means, preparing for the ministry, to come to Amherst.	6	37
To such the church prayer meeting in the village was a school	6	37
as well as a place for devotion. Daniel A. Clark, the pastor,	6	37
was greatly beloved by the students. Noah Webster resided	6	37
here preparing his dictionary. He took an interest in the	6	37
Academy and opened his doors for an occasional reception,	6	37
which we prized very highly. Col. Graves was a successful	6	37
agent for the Academy and a help to the students. Mr. Estabrook	6	37
was well qualified for his station. Mr. Hallock was a	6	37
scholar and a gentleman. It was a pleasant task to manage a	6	37
school where there were so many pious students seeking qualifications	6	37
for usefulness, who felt that they were in the right place	6	37
and were establishing a Christian character of high standing.”	6	37
It is not surprising that such a school, under such auspices	6	37
and influences, with such a standard of scholarship and Christian	6	37
culture, flourished. It opened with more students than any	6	37
other Academy in Western Massachusetts. It soon attracted	6	37
pupils from every part of New England. It had at one time	6	37
ninety pupils in the ladies’ department, and quite as many, usually	6	37
more, in the gentlemen’s. It was the Williston Seminary and	6	37
the Mount Holyoke of that day united. The founder of Mount	6	37
Holyoke Seminary was a member of Amherst Academy in 1821.	6	37
Her teacher, the lady principal, thus describes her : ” The	6	37
number of young ladies that term was ninety-two. Some had	6	37
been teachers. They were of all ages, from nine to thirty-two,	6	37
and from all parts of Massachusetts and the adjoining States.	6	37
Among these pupils was one whose name is now famous in	6	37
history. Then uncultivated in mind and manners, of large	6	37
physique, twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, and receiving	6	37
her first impulse in education. She commenced with grammar	6	37
and geography, and soon advanced to rhetoric and logic.	6	38
Having a comprehensive mind and being very assiduous in her	6	38
studies, she improved rapidly. Her name was Mary Lyon.”	6	38
	7	38
The number of useful men whose names are ” written in	7	38
heaven,” and not unknown on earth, who fitted for College and	7	38
for business during this period in the history of Amherst, was	7	38
very great. And the reputation and success of the classical	7	38
department became so remarkable, that partly to give fuller	7	38
scope and perfection to this department, and partly to avoid	7	38
some difficulties and some scandals which at length arose from	7	38
educating the two sexes together, the female department was	7	38
abolished, and the Academy, thus entered on the second period,	7	38
and in some respects a new one in its history, in which it was	7	38
mainly distinguished as a school, preparatory for College.	7	38
	8	38
During this second period, Elijah Paine, Solomon Maxwell,	8	38
Story Hebard, Robert E. Pattisou, William P. Paine, William	8	38
Thompson, Simeon Colton, William S. Tyler, Evangelinus Sophocles,	8	38
Ebenezer Burgess, George C. Partridge, Nahum Gale,	8	38
and Lyman Coleman, were among the principal or assistant	8	38
teachers. At this time, there were usually from seventy-five	8	38
to one hundred students in the classical department, and in	8	38
the first year of Mr. Colton’s administration, the writer, who	8	38
was his assistant, well remembers that we sent about thirty to	8	38
College, the larger part of whom entered at Amherst. Prior to	8	38
the existence of Williston Seminary, and during the depression	8	38
of Phillips Academy at Andover, in the declining years of	8	38
Principal Adams, if not still earlier, Amherst Academy, without	8	38
dispute, held the first position among the Academies of Massachusetts.	8	38
	9	38
	10	38
But the subsequent prosperity of Phillips Academy, the establishment	10	38
of Williston Seminary and the rise of Normal	10	38
schools and High schools in all the large towns gradually drew	10	38
off their students and thus their support from Amherst, and	10	38
other comparatively unendowed Academies, till one after another	10	38
of them became extinct. And although the Academy	10	38
at Amherst sustained itself longer and better than many others,	10	38
although it returned to the admission of both sexes in order to	10	38
increase the number of students, and although it was under the	10	38
government and instruction of some quite superior teachers who	10	39
have since become distinguished educators, yet it became more	10	39
and more a merely local institution for the children of the town,	10	39
and was at length superseded by our excellent High school. The	10	39
building which was a large three story edifice of brick occupying	10	39
one of the most beautiful sites in the centre of the village, and	10	39
which was hallowed in the memory of so many hundreds and thousands,	10	39
as not only the place where they received their education,	10	39
but also as the place where the first meetings for prayer and	10	39
conference in the village, and all the social religious meetings of	10	39
the village church, were held for many years, this venerable	10	39
and sacred edifice was taken down in the summer of 1868,	10	39
to make way for the Grammar school, west of the hotel, which	10	39
now occupies the site. Amherst Academy did a great and	10	39
good work in and of itself for which many who were educated	10	39
there and not a few who were spiritually “born there,” will	10	39
bless God forever. But the best work which it did and which,	10	39
it is believed, will perpetuate its memory and its influence, was	10	39
the founding of Amherst College.	10	39
	11	39