The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-23

We again resume the subject OF our Leading
Colleges, with sketches Of the following promi-
Rent institutions
Hamilton College,
located at Clinton, in the State OF New York,
latas hack 10 the year 1912, when its charter
was obtained It's origin was due to the gene
Tositv of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, a native
of Connecticut and a graduate of Princeton,
who labored for more than forty years as
a missionary among the Oneida Indians.
Through his influence the Hamilton Oneida
Academy" was incorporated in 1913, the insti-
tuition receiving from him a grant of several
hundred acres of land. For eighteen years
this academy was in very dourishing condi-
tiOn, and then the people Of the neighborhood
demanding the establishment of an institution
of higher grade, it was erected into college.
The first President was the Rev. Azel Backus,
DID,, who held the position from 1872 to 1916.
An interesting anecdete is related of him. On
one occasion, in a thanksgiving sermon,
preached at Bethlehem, Conn, during the Ad-
Ininistration of Jefferson, he reviewed the
political tendencies of the day with such seve-
rity that he was subjected to civil prosecu-
ton. While being escorted to Hartford for
trial, the horse which he drove took such
rapid strides that the Sheriff, who was riding
behind and scarcely able to keep his prisoner
within sight, exclaimed, "Why, Doctor Backus,
you ride as if the very devil were after YOU"
"And so he is !" responded the Doctor, without
turning his head.
The first class, consisting of only two mem
bers, graduated in 1914. In 1916 the number
had increased to II. The Rev. Henry Davis,
d. D., was President from 1917 to 1888, dur
ing which period the fortunes of the College
were very huctuating. The class of 1923 con-
tanned 33 members; but in 1929 and 1880 there
were no graduates, owing to long and bitter
quarrel between the President and portion
of the trustees, arising from case of disci-
pline. In 1929 there were but nine students
in all the classes, and the treasury was entirely
empty.
From 1888 to 1885 the Rev. Serene Edwards
Dwight, d. D.. occupied the presidency, his
administration being distinguished for a sue
oessful effort at increasing the endowment of
the institution by a subscription of $4,000.
The succeeding Presidents have been the Rev.
Joseph Penney d. D., a distinguished Irish
scholar, from 1885 to 1889; the Rev. Simeon
North, D. D., LID, from 1889 to 1868; and
the Rev. Samuel Ware Fisher, d. D., from
1858 to 1866. The presidential chair of the
institution is now unoccupied.
In 1887 a Law Department was founded,
through the liberality of the Hon. William
Hale Maynard, who bequeathed $40, 600 for
that purpose. This was very fourishing at
one time, under the instruction of Professor
Theodore w. Dwight, now Of the Columbia
College Law School, who held the professor
ship from l846 to 1858, but at present it is not
in very prosperous condition. About the
time of this bequest the College received fur
ther endowment of $4,000 from the Hon. s..
Newton Dexter, of Whitesboro, and within a
few years past it has received over 100000
from various sources. The College and So
eiety libraries contain II, 600 volumes, in ad-
dition to which the late William Curtis Noyes,
of New York city, bequeathed it his valuable
Law Library of 5000 volumes. There is also
connected with the institution one of the finest
and best furnished Astronomical Observatories
in the United States, at which six new aste-
RODS have been discovered within the past six
years, the last one only few weeks since.
The largest graduating Glasses of the College
have been those of 1S4S, with AZ members
and 1851, with 40 members. The general cata
logue issued in 1859 contained the names o
S92 regular graduates, of whom all but IL
were then living The Law Department haC
1pto that time graduated 36 students During
the past two years the number of students il
attendance has been as follows