New-York tribune., 1908-03-25
OBITUARY..
DR.. TRUMAN JAY BACKUS.

DR. Truman Jay Backus head of the Packer Col
iesiate Institute, in Brooklyn, for a quarter OF
century, died last night at his home, NO 81 Law
ingston street. Brooklyn
DR. Backus was born in Locke Cayuga County,
n. Y, February II. 1912. He was descended from
several generations of American ancestry on Oo'h
sides. His father the Rev. Dr. Jay splcer
Baekus a Baptist minister, and the early years
OF the spent in Groton. Tompklns county
N. Y. His father, after pastorates In Auburn
this city and Syracuse. became secretary of the
Baptist Home Mission Society He was a stroiis
Abolitionist and able organizer of churches
Truman J. Backus received his early education
pl:tlic schools of this city and went 20 the
University Of Rochester from which he was gradu-
ated with .he degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1904,
receiving the degree of Master of Arts three years
later. He spent year in postgraduate study ana
at the close of the Civil War went South 10 en-
gage in work for the freedmen, organizing the
first negro school In Richmond Later he became
an assistant to his father the Baptist HoIne
Mission Society Office In 1861 he accepted the
professorshp of rhetoric and English literature N
Vassar College then newly founded lie was the
chief assistant of Dr. John H Raymond Ihs'
president Vassar, and aided him and MISS 1ddiid
Mitchell, professor of astronomy, IN piahnihs ,ie
work the first of the wonlan's colleges Oh tLlls
country. While at Vassar the chalr Oh Ehsl'Sh
at Harvard was offered to Professor Backus' pul
he declined it, and the presidency of Fanderollt
University, Nashville, Tenn, was tehd7ieu ~
him, but he decided not to accept IT,
In 1881 however the presidency Of the PACKER
Collegiate Institute, forty years ulloeI th1
charge of DR.. Alonzo Crittenden, ana coii'ioiIeu |
by a board of trustees composed of many OF tiie
leading men of Brooklyn, was accepted oy hIli
and to he devoted the remainder of his NE "otA
To successful methods Of administration ne adoeu
great ability instructor and the charh VI O.
winning personality. But his devotion 10 MS p4'-
fesson did not abate mis- interest in PUBIC anans'
While in Poughkeepsie he had taken a hNeiy m
In OF public importance anu
Brooklyn he was active in whatever suoserVed lhe
public good. When Mayor Schieren reorganizeo
the Brooklyn Civil Service Commission in 1881 Dr-
Backus accepted membership in the board and ne
continued in that post under Mayor NuFsteT
From 1896 10 1900 he a member of the board
of managers Of the Long Island State Hospital
and in later years OF his service president OF
the board. For several years he was a trustee OF
the RandaIrs Island House Of Refuge He was
one Of the trustees of the Brooklyn Library and
when it became incorporated with the Brooklyn
Public Library DR.. Backus served on the board
in charge of the latter under Mayor Low He was
a member of the advisory board OF the louhs
women.s Christian Association OF Brooklyn, ana
aided in obtaining the funds for the building
erected on the site given by :. B. Chittenden-
DR. Backus vice-president OF the haIiiltoh
Club of Brooklyn. and d member of the Century
Club. of New York. He belonged TO the Alpha
Delta Phi Fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa Society.
He WAS long member of the executive committee
of the American Missionary Association In 1915 ne
was nresident of the Association of Colleges and
Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and
MARYLAND He had also been president of the Head
masters Association, of New York.
The degree OF LII D. was conferred on Dr-
Rack1s bv the University of Rochester in 1855 He
was the author of Great English Writers, Out
lines of English Literature and of a revision OF
Shaw's History of English Literature He was
well known as a lecturer on historical and literary
topics
DIR BackIIs was twice married his first wife be-
ing Sarah c. Glass of Syracuse. whom he married
in 1856 and second Helen (. HiscOck, niece OF
Senator Frank Hiseock. and sister of Judge F H
Hiscock of the Court OF Appeals. whom he married
in 1888 He had four children-Ray moud B. Backus,
Mrs. Roscoe c. Z. Brown, GrOsvenOr H BackuS and
the Rev. A Hamilton Backus. Dr. Backus a
member of Plymouth Church Brooklyn, when Dr.
Lyman Abbott its pastor, and afterward of the
South Congregational Church, OF which DR.. Albert
H. Lyman was the pastor.