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About
the year 1829 Rev. Dr. David Nelson, a Presbyterian minister of
distinction, emigrated from Kentucky to this county, and settled
in what is now Union township, about thirteen miles northwest of
Palmyra. The location was on the border of the frontier
settlements at the time; if any white men lived beyond, except the
few at "the cabins of the white folks," near Kirksville,
it is not now known who they were. The land was nearly all
unentered around and beyond.
Dr. Nelson was a man of fine talents and deep
piety. In early life he had been an infidel in belief. He had been
connected with the regular army in an official capacity. Becoming
converted, he abandoned military life and devoted himself to the
propagation and advancement of Christianity. He wrote a work
entitled "Cause and Cure of Infidelity," which has had a
wide circulation and is still extant, being commonly known as
"Nelson on Infidelity." Devoting himself to the
ministry, and being licensed to preach, he set zealously to work
to advance the cause of the Master, and his labors were remarkably
successful.
Not long after coming to this county Dr. Nelson
conceived the idea of erecting a college in this part of Missouri
for the education of young men for the ministry. This was to be
accomplished by the manual labor system, each student working so
many hours per day, to pay for his board and tuition. Money was
scarce at that day, and a thorough and liberal education hard to
obtain at the colleges and universities. It was thought that not
only would the idea of a school where poor and pious young men
might educate themselves with but little exertion be a popular
one, but that the institution itself would become popular to that
extent that it would be entirely self-supporting.
Associated with Dr. Nelson in his plan of
building a college were Dr. David Clark and William Muldrow, the
latter one of the most remarkable men that ever lived in Missouri.
Application was made to the Legislature in the winter of 1830-31
for a college charter, which was granted January 15, 1831. By the
terms of the act of incorporation, David Clark, J. A. Minter,
Willis Samuel, John Barr, James Proffit, Cyrus C. Ewig, Joseph
Lafon, Thos. A. Young, Wm. Muldrow, Walter B. Dimmitt, Wm. J.
McElroy, and James Spear were appointed trustees.
The college itself was called Marion College,
and was located on section 6, township 58, range 7. The college
had no endowment. In lieu thereof a large farm was connected with
the institution. Each student was to be assigned a certain number
of acres, which he was to be required to cultivate in some
saleable grain, vegetables or other marketable produce, being
allowed a certain number of hours each day for labor and another
number for study and recitation. A boarding school was to be
attached to the college, where students were to be boarded on very
moderate terms. It was calculated that each student could raise on
the ground allowed him for cultivation a certain quantity of grain
or other products, which would bring in the market an estimated
price. The cost of boarding and the tuition charges being
computed, a balance was struck and a considerable amount it was
thought would be left to the credit of the students. This amount
was to go into the fund for the payment of the faculty. It being
the aim of the founders to afford any poor young man the means of
obtaining a collegiate education without the expenditure of any
money save that which was earned by his own industry, it was
deemed proper to appropriate all his surplus earnings to the
payment of the salaries of the officers of the institution.
The plan appeared to be benevolent and feasible, and the people of
Marion county were elated at the
prospect of having a real college in their midst- a pioneer temple
of knowledge, where the sciences were
to be taught and learned, even though the rattlesnake made the
practical study of botany a dangerous pastime, and the student of
astronomy was disturbed in his contemplation of the milky baldric
of the skies by the long howling of the wolves, while the
practical geologist was frequently confronted in his
investigations by the red Indian, who found sermons in the stones
in which his white brother discovered nothing but fossils.
Dr. Nelson was chosen the first president of
Marion College. The friends of the institution, who were chiefly
members of the Presbyterian church, contributed to the extent of
their ability to give the college a fair start, and the board of
trustees determined to appeal to the liberality and philanthropy
of the friends of the Presbyterian church and of education in the
Eastern States for assistance in placing it upon a firm and
substantial basis. Mr. Wm. Muldrow was selected as the general
agent of the college, and directed to visit the East in the
furtherance of the interests of the institution. No better
selection could have been made. Of strong intellect, though
uneducated and uncultivated, Mr. Muldrow was a forcible talker,
and whatever he found to do he did it with all his might. His
power over men was something wonderful. Zeal and earnestness on
the part of the advocate of any cause always wins respect and
makes converts, and
Mr. Muldrow was nothing if not zealous and earnest even to
enthusiasm in any cause which he advocated. He was successful,
even beyond expectation, in obtaining funds for the college from
the philanthropists and wise men of the East, and he made other
trips with equal success.
The college opened its first session with but
few students, but the number increased from time to time, and the
flavor of Attic salt was soon upon the speech, the manners, and
the customs of the people in the neighborhood, and Marion College
assumed all the airs of Yale and Harvard, if not of Oxford and
Cambridge. Mr. Muldrow in his visits to the East contrived to work
upon the cupidity as well as the generosity of certain gentlemen
of affluence and philanthropy. He described, in his plausible yet
forcible language, the unparalleled advantages presented by Marion
county at that day, of her fertile soil, of her beautiful
landscapes, of the noble river that washes her borders, and of the
vast area of her unappropriated lands, which were to be had for
the insignificant price of $1.25 per acre. The Eastern gentlemen
not only gave liberally to the support of Marion College, but they
began to invest in Marion
county "wild land," as it was called.
Among the men approached by Mr. Muldrow were
Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D. D., of Philadelphia; Rev. James Gallaher,
of Cincinnati, and Mr. John McKee, of Pittsburgh, all of them men
of large means, considered very wealthy at that day. Others of
like high character and of nearly the same circumstances were
induced to contribute toward the maintenance of the college and to
make considerable investment in real estate. To say that Mr.
Muldrow was a shrewd and successful advocate when his heart
favored and his interests were identified with a scheme would be
to state it so mildly as to amount to an injustice. The shrewdest
and most experienced traders and speculators of the East were no
match for him, and they very readily became converts to his
theories, and agreed to do as he directed with alacrity.
The faculties of both colleges were chiefly
divines from the East, induced to emigrate by Mr. Muldrow. They
were men of learning, of high character, and of rigid morality.
They also were for the most part men of some means, and not averse
to adding to their possessions by legitimate speculation and
honest investment. Dr. Ely brought with him to Marion
county about $100,000, all of which he invested.
In 1836 a large tract of land was entered by
the trustees of Marion College, with funds which had been raised
in the East, on which to erect a preparatory department to qualify
the students to enter the College proper or "Upper"
College, as it was denominated. The preparatory or
"lower" College tract was located about twelve miles
southeast of the Upper College, and six miles southwest of
Palmyra, on a valuable body of land chiefly beautiful, undulating
prairie. Rev. Dr. Ely was placed in charge of the lower College.
Quite a respectable number of students attended
the first sessions of Marion College, coming from different parts
of the country, some from Missouri, some from Illinois. The
institution was understood to be under the influence of the
Presbyterian church, and many of the members of that denomination
in the West became its patrons.
Perhaps the college would have flourished for
an indefinite period of time, but for the opinions of Dr. Nelson
and others connected with the institution on the subject of
slavery. These opinions, of course,
were unpopular in Missouri, and becoming known excited great
hostility against their holders, and an animosity against the
college with which they were connected. The anti-abolition crusade
of 1835-36 brought matters to a crisis. The summary measures
adopted and enforced against the abolitionists who came in with
the "Eastern run," the actions of the colonizationists,
the dissemination of anti-slavery tracts, the stabbing of Dr.
Bosley by Mr. Muldrow, the well-known and boldly proclaimed
emancipation opinions of Dr. Nelson-- all worked against the
college.
At last a body of pro-slavery men, citizens of
this county, rode up to Dr. Nelson's residence, surrounded the
house, and called him out. The doctor warned them not to enter his
dooryard, and they regarded him. They informed him, however, that
he must leave the county instantly and for all time, and this he
agreed to do. He resigned his position as president, removed to
Quincy, and not long afterwards was put at the head of Eels'
Institute. He left many sincere friends and warm admirers in this
county, even among slaveholders and ardent pro-slavery men.
Dr. Nelson was succeeded in the presidency of
Marion College by Rev. Dr. Wm. S. Potts, a talented minister of
the Presbyterian church of St. Louis. Two or three of the members
of the old faculty either resigned or were removed, and the
institution passed under pronounced pro-slavery influence. It now
again seemed on the road to complete and permanent success, when
the financial distress of 1837-8-9 came upon the country,
affecting its prosperity very seriously. Still the number of
students increased for a time, and there were commencements and
graduation exercises, and examinations and all the ceremonies and
features of colleges everywhere. Greek letter societies were
formed and lectures by some of the ablest men in the West were
delivered before them. Additional college buildings were erected
and numerous small cottages for the residences and study rooms of
the pupils were built.
Among the enterprises undertaken for the benefit of Marion College
was a cattle speculation, conceived by Mr. Muldrow, but approved
by him and through him other backers of the institution. He went
East
to obtain help, but was not able to effect anything. Elated at the
unparalleled success that had once attended him, he, in common
with others, had pushed his speculating enterprises too far, and
without
anticipating a revolution so soon had extended his credit and
incurred liabilities to a very large amount. The whole country was
ill-prepared to resist the shock of disaster, borne on the waves
of adversity,
which rapidly rolled from the East to the West, consequent upon
the failure of the United States bank. Litigation and enforced
collections crowded the courts. Mr. Muldrow, who, but a short time
before, had prospectively counted his millions, now was forced to
the most desperate measures to save himself from utter financial
ruin. He made an assignment of his property for the benefit of his
creditors. The legal title of his property passed into the hands
of his friends, where it remained for a considerable period. He
also employed an attorney to go East and collect the notes there
taken for the Marion City lots, but the makers of the notes would
not pay, alleging fraud in the sale and a non-compliance on the
part of Muldrow with the conditions of purchase, in the failure to
make certain stipulated improvements in the town by a certain
time.
Other important personages connected with the
college became victims to the difficulties environing them.
Controversies arose between themselves. Professor went to law with
professor, and minister with
minister. It is said that all of those connected with the
institution became insolvent except Rev. James Gallaher. Mr.
Muldrow brought an action against Dr. Ely, obtained a judgment,
levied on his property and sold it. On a certain occasion, in
Palmyra, the two had an unpleasant, acrimonious conversation
concerning their controversy, which conversation took an extensive
range. Dr. Ely informed Mr. Muldrow, in somewhat bitter language,
that he (Dr. Ely) had come to Marion county with $100,000 and now
he was worth nothing. His condition he attributed to the conduct
of Mr. Muldrow. It is said that to the doctor's complaint and
upbraiding Mr. Muldrow very coolly replied: "Do I understand
you to say, Dr. Ely, that you are worth nothing now?" The
doctor humbly answered No, sir; nothing. I am financially
ruined." Muldrow rejoined in his peculiar style and with his
oft-used expression, "Well, sir, then you may just exactly
return to Philadelphia just as soon as you please, sir, for we
have no further use for you at all, sir!"
Some further efforts were made to save the college, as also to
build up Marion City, but failure was the result in both
instances. As an expedient to raise funds for the use of the
college, and to keep it afloat, the faculty adopted the practice
of selling scholarships, entitling the purchaser to the privilege
of sending one student to the college without additional charge.
There was, however, a failure in general confidence in the
institution, and some persons indebted to it who had given their
notes refused to pay. Costly litigation ensued. In turn suit was
brought against the college itself in 1842, judgment obtained, and
the property sold at a great sacrifice. President Potts, to whom
no censure attaches for the fate of the college, resigned some
time before the final overthrow, and was succeeded by Rev. Hiram,
P. Goodrich, D. D., a worthy gentleman, who did all that his
prudence and talents could to avert the impending fate of the
institution, but without avail.
Connected with Marion College from its birth to
its death as members of its faculty were the following gentlemen:
Drs. David Nelson, Ezra Stiles Ely, Wm. S. Potts and Hiram P.
Goodrich, and Professors Marks, McKee, Hays, Roach, Blatchford and
Thompson. The property, buildings, etc., of Marion College were
purchased by the Masonic fraternity of Missouri for the object,
among others, of educating the orphan children of deceased
brothers. In February, 1843, the Grand Lodge of the State was
incorporated with power to purchase $50,000 worth of real estate,
and to control and operate a college. In October following, this
act of the Legislature was accepted by the Grand Lodge. The real
estate of Marion College-comprising 800 acres near Philadelphia
and 470 acres about twelve miles southwest of Palmyra- was
purchased. In April, 1844, the institution was organized by the
adoption of a code of by-laws and the election of officers and
professors. |
