The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-08-18
EARLY DAYS OF YALE COLLEGE
TIE INSTITUTION FIRST 10
GATED AT SAYBR0Ok.


l011I GfFtH WIN ~
uaecntcanisi Celebrates In octeeer.
INV HAVEN. Aug. iT.-one Of the most
Interesting ceremonials that viii mark
tho olose OF the first 100 years OF the history
Of Yale will be tho unwilling Of a tablet
1t Old Ssybrook concentrating the spot
where Yale College was organized, and
where for the first sixteen years OF its ex-
istcncc the college was located Tho
ORIGINAL house l. s;ll standing. though
~rcniodclied. and can be seen at Ssybrook
Point.
The b~icentcnnial ~ Yale this coming
October has renewed the old interest In
the birthplace Of Yale and II IL not unlikely
that q pilgrimage will be made to saybrook
during the celebration week by . nuiaber
OF Yaie's guests and officers. IL has been
only recently. In fact. that an accurate
story Of the establishment Of Yale has been
complied from the old manuscript records
of the collage. and this story has materially
altered some Of previous notions OF the
early history OF the institution.
While Yale was rot actually established
until the fall Of 1901 such a collegiate school
had been In mind ever since the founding OF
New Haven colony In las. John Daven-
port, the leader In tho New Haven settle
mfut, Nhs hn biskhNH 1850
and Il was his plan Immediately after he
came To New Haven with his London and
Hertfordshire colonists to plant n college
In the new colony. In is,7. hardly ten years
after the settlement Of New Haven. a college
bot was offered by Lieut. Gov Goodyear
on the public green. but financial embar-
easements hindered the undertaking. In
1850 a wealthy resident Of the colony. Gov.
Edward Hopkins. left a Request for the
bounding OF such n school. but In ioot q
school was instituted instead
and has had a continuous history 10 the
present time a. the Hopkins grammar
school. This school was for a few months
actually managed a. q college. but it,
character changed and all hope OF a college
was for the time abandoned.
In 1905 the Successor OF Davenport AZ
the New Haven church. ths Rev. James
Pierpont. took up the project for a college.
and II was due TO him almost entirely that
this time II was pushed through to a con-
clusion. Pierpont had been c~omnunicat-
ing " ith the Rev. Cotton Mather In Boston
regarding the founding Of a college In the
New Haven or Connecticut Colony, and
one Of the Oldest manuscripts In the college
archives - the answer 81 Mather. entitled
a Scheme for a College A year later.
on Aug. I. 1901. the first defnite step was
taket., when n round-robin letter. signed
by the Rev James Pierpont ard four other
ministers living Ia Stratford, B-anford.
New Haven and Saybrook wa despatched
by poet TO two prominent BOSTON men
asking for a draft for a college charter.
II was a delicate point to settle whether
q school could I've chartered by the General
Court instead Of 10y the sovereign. Harvard
had been ~ chartered. hut theonly other
collegiate institution La the country,
William and Mary College. had received
it's charter from the Sovereigns whose
names IL bore. The answer was salts
factory, and letters were then sent la
various Connecticut residents asking for
their opinions. One John Eliot. q young
lawyer in Windsor wrote IN answer 10
this letter some sound adSice, which shows
also under what difficulties the ministers
were laboiing Several questions were
propounded to him. Whether the Colonial
Government could erect a college that
c.uld not lie -over-et by law to which
he answered No. m Il was not necessarily
the King's p~rerogative to charter such q
school, a. To -ecurine donations; A. to
the title Of the master of such a school. to
which he answered that -the title of least
grandeur will give the least offence as
Co granting degrees. TO which he answered
thai such n school could not give authentic
degrees and the age limit OF trustees,
which WAS nnallN placed AZ W
Al this time, in i70i. there were thirty
-four incorporated Townships In the Ton
necticut colony with an aggregate popula-
ton of about iS!0p. Almost every town
had its church, with tie minister "A Cam
bridge graduate. and there were about nifty
college eiucated men In the colony Con
necticut had sent its boys 10 Harvard since
1870. nearly sixty Harvard graduates dur
ing this period having come from Con-
necticut towns, and Of these one-third
from New Haven. The need Of a college
In Connecticut had becoms imperative
as the cost Of transportation TO Cambridge
aud Of living there away from home kept
many young fellows from a college educa-
ton, and II was only the extremely we'll
to-do that could secure one even then.
BY October. 1901. the Rev. Mr.. Pierpont's
endeavors had reached a successful Culmi-
nation. the Boston draft had arrived in
New Haven and the Assembly had
met in New Haven and organized on Thurs
day, DC. q. The revised draft OF the charter
with Pierponts correctionr was ccepted
Ivy the Assembly and 10y Oct. 10, i7oi the
college, known a. The Collegiate School
81 Connecticut was IN existence. Major
James Fitch of Plainfield stepped forward
at this date with n donation Of land and
materials with which tn build the college
house. His gift did not hear fruit, though
!, was a handsome one, Of ea7 acres In . re-
mote township 90 the colony and Of glass
and nails with which 20 construct the build
ing. Had the gift be.n acc~pted IL Is prob
9bte that lAf Oohekr NOuiu law urtn
Fitch College IN Piainheld, Conn.
Tho organization Of Yale and the day
whence Yale dates its history was az Say
brook. Tuesday. Nov. II. i7oi. seven 81
the previously elected Beard Of Trustees
met al the house Of the Rev Thomas Buck
ingham and remained In session -four days
Those present were James Pierpont 81
New Haven, who was the presiding odhcrr
Israel Chaunoey 81 Stratford, Thomas
Buckingham Of Saybrook, Abraham Pearson
Of killingworth, Samuel Andrew 81 Milford.
Noadiah Russell ~ Middletown and Joseph
Webb of Fairfield. The trustees framed
a numh~r 81 college hws. which seem
sntiuuaied and even humorous In these
DAYS 4 cour-e az theological training
was mapped ga, and entrance examinations
rrt. limited To Greek and latin. II WAS
voted To locate the college at Ssybrook
a. t-iny a convenient spot Tor students
nom all parts 81 tho colony. and from
western Massachusetts
A. THE meeting tho Tn rector. Ahra-
ham Pi.r~on of killingworth. Wa el~cted
Thomas buckingham Ma for six months
in 100 the only student entered, but AT
the first omnnenc~meui. IN S~ep,cmtrr.
IsOs. N. hr~i dcgr~s Nas conferred On one
Nathaniel ChaunccN Of Stratford. 'hsun-
cry DID not study al Yale. hut under private