page_title: Oren Burbank Cheney
section_title: Birth and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Oren Burbank Cheney / Early life and family / Birth and youth
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: storyoflifeworko00chen (find matches) Title: The story of the life and work of Oren B. Cheney, founder and first president of Bates college Year: 1907 (1900s) Authors: Cheney, Emeline Stanley Aldrich Burlingame Subjects: Cheney, Oren Burbank, 1816-1903 Bates College (Lewiston, Me.) Publisher: Boston, Mass., Pub. for Bates college by the Morning star publishing house Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: Abigail CheneyMother of Oren B. Cheney Text Appearing After Image: Moses CheneyFather of Oren B. Cheney ANCESTRYBOYHOOD On the tenth of December, 1816, while a snow-storm was raging without, in a modest, but com-fortable home, in a quiet New Hampshire village,a blue-eyed baby boy opened his eyes and caughthis first glimpse of life. On December twenty-second, 1903, those eyesclosed on earthly scenes and a few days later astately form was laid at rest. The life lived andthe influence exerted in the years that bridgethese dates will be the theme of this book. Heredity is of uncertain value. Men that havehonored themselves and their country havechanged their names, because of the stigma des-cending from unworthy ancestors. Others, whoselives are insipidly weak, show an overweeningpride in tracing their line of descent back to nobleor heroic characters. Yet the man is not livingwho would not rejoice in an honorable ancestry. Oren Burbank Cheney was born of sturdy NewEngland stock, in which the religious element hadbeen strongly developed through several g Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Oren Burbank Cheney was an American politician, minister, and statesman who was a key figure in the abolitionist movement in the United States during the later 19th century. Along with textile tycoon Benjamin Bates, he founded the first coeducational university in New England which is widely considered his magnum opus. Cheney is one of the most extensively covered subjects of Neoabolitionism, for his public denouncement of slavery, involuntary servitude, and advocation for fair and equal representation, egalitarianism, and personal sovereignty.
  Cheney's main social ideology was that of egalitarianism; he personally voiced his disdain for racial inequality, social elitism, and socioeconomic depravation regularly, in controversial speeches and articles. He was ordained a minister in his early twenties, became the headmaster at Parsonsfield, Maine, and illegally harbored and transferred slaves to safety during the 1840s in New Hampshire–an action punishable with a decade's jail time by the federal Fugitive Slave acts. His religious community work garnered him widespread support, culminating in his nomination for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives without his knowledge.
context_section_description: Oren Burbank Cheney was born in Holderness, New Hampshire, on December 10, 1816. He was born to Abigail and Moses Cheney, who were noted abolitionists. Cheney's brother, Person, would go on to become a prominent politician in New Hampshire. His father was a paper manufacturer and also a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Moses Cheney held important positions in the church and served many times in the state legislature. Cheney's mother had a significant impact on his religious views, he was often quoted as saying, "my mother used this bible to worship all that is holy, I shall cease when I arise to the heavenly skies that welcome me," later in his life as president of Bates College. His household was deeply religious and he credited his "Godly upbringing" with forming his philosophical ideologies and personal convictions.
  Early in his life he was known as a "humble, patient, and soft-spoken boy." When he was eight years old, he was enrolled in Sunday School in Holderness, and his parents were criticized for sending him to a newly founded school, as it was started by a cashier who found God later in life and was not considered "God's child from birth." He began to work at age nine at the school and spent his allowance on honey and gingerbread, considered luxuries at the time. His rebellious side was exposed on numerous occasions, most notably when a Free Will Baptist came to the family's house to recite lessons, Cheney jumped and stabbed the windowsill with his jack-knife scaring everyone in the room, which formed an ongoing reputation of the young boy. Soon after Sunday School, Cheney began to work at his father's paper mill, tending to the engines, and housekeeping, at night. The paper he would form would go on to print the very first copy of The Morning Star, the single most important newspaper of Free Will Baptists. At age thirteen, he attended the New Hampton Academical and Theological Institute in 1829-30, which was five miles away, his mother's decision to send him so far way was partly based on Cheney's unhealthy interest with knives; he cut the end of his thumb while husking corn. Cheney's demanding personality was developed quickly as he taught at elementary schools during his time at New Hampton. A notable example of this was when a drunken father stumbled into the school yard accusing a young Cheney of disciplining his child in unfair ways, Cheney drew his measuring stick and quieted the man. While at the New Hampton Institute, he was exposed to Free Will Baptism at personal level through his studies, and peers, and soon after returned to his father's mill. After the mill was sustainable through the hiring of other local school boys, Cheney was sent to Parsonsfield Seminary, which was 14 miles away; a three-day trip.
  While going through Parsonsfield, he was surrounded by racial segregation and religious oppression and later in life, sought an educational institution that catered to everyone that required it, that would take the form of a rigorous, and academically prominent school. He was interested in the temperance movement early on and founded his school's temperance society.
caption: Oren Cheney's father, Moses Cheney, a prominent minister and abolitionist
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