The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1888-06-14
Presidents Of III. Ya. University

since ITS OTganfZaIi0n I'D oOI,
i the West va. University has hae
seven Presiding officers. As FOL
lows:
r86zz5 Alexander Martin, p.
Ed, LID.
1875, John W Scott, ID,
LII
I8z6-sI, Rev. John r. Thomp.
son, a. NJ.
1853, D. B. Purinton, 3 Id
1898 Hon. w +. Wilson,
l LID.
1885 IS, Robert 3. Berkeley.
i M. A.
1858 Hon. E. N. Turner,
i LID.
Dr.. Martin, the first President.
lis a Scotchman by ancestry and
i by birth. He came to this coun.
/ try Whena youth and shortly after,
I ward entered Allegheny College,
where he graduated ii I848 and
subsequently occupied the Chair d
I Greek.
As a minister of the M. E.
church and as an educator, DR..
Martin has spent more than twenty
years Of his life in successful labor
in West Virginia. He was for s
years President Of the University,
but|in 1876 left the State to accept
the Presidency Of Depauw Uni
versity which position he still &C.
cupies. Under his wise admins
tration, DepauW University has
grown to be one Of the foremost
schools iii the land.
DR.. Scott was native Of Penn
syivania and graduated at Jefferson
College in 1927. He served as
President Of Washington College
for twelve years, was subsequently,
Principal Of WOODBURY. Seminary.
and for several years Vice Presi-
dent of West Va University. For
more than a year he served as
Acting President and in 1877 re
signed at the advanced age of 70
years. He moved to North Caro-
lima where he died two years later.
He was a man Of fine scholarship,
vigor of intellect and force of char
acter.
President Thompson was born
and educated in Ohio. At an ear
ly age, he entered the ministry of
the NJ. E. Church where he won
great distinction as a pulpit orator.
Having served three years as Pas
tor in Wheeling, w. Va, he came
to Morgantown1 in that capacity.
In 1877 he was elected President
of the University, being only IS
years Of ge-the youngest College
President in America, After sue
cessful administration of four years
in which he was instrumental in
doubling the patronage of the Uni
versity and largely increasing its
Faculty and its equipments, he re-
signed to take the Passionate of the
Hedding M. E. Church,. Jersey
City Since then he has occupied
prominent -pulpits in Brooklyn and
New York city. Mr.. Thompson
is "a man of great brilliancy and en-
ergy of character and is generally
regarded as one1of the finest. pulpit
orators of his church "a
7. DR.. Purinton is a native West
Virginian, and a graduate. of West
Virginia University. He has
benin the service Of the Univers-
ity ever since his graduation,
having acted su ccessively as In
Estructor Of the Preparatory Depart
ment and in music, and as Profes-
scr of Logic and Comparative Phil
ology, of Mathematics and Astren-
omy, and Of Metaphysics. In Jan
| uary 1877, he was made Vice
President, and upon the resignation
Of President Thompson, became
Acting President. During his adj
ministration of year and ahalf,
the patronage of the University in
creased to I77-7 the largest enroll
ment ever made, until the present
| year. T..
DR.. Wilson is also a West Virgin
| ian. He graduated from Colun-
bian College, Washington, D. C.,
in 1860. He took A. NJ. at the
| University of Virginia. At the
IEclose Of the war, during which he
had served in the Confederacy, he
was elected Professor Of Latin in
Columbia College, where he re,
NAMED till 1877. He then resign.
ed and began the practice Of law
| in CharlestoWn, w. Va. In June
1882, he accepted the Presidency
of the w. Va. University. but hav,
ing been elected in October follow.
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