LITERARY INSTITUTIONS OF THE TN SYNOD

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Besides the Synodical College at Maryville, which has been noticed already, there are other institutions within our bounds, properly Presbyterian, though not directly under ecclesiastical control, which justly claim our attention.

They have been founded, sustained and governed mainly by Presbyterians, and by educating a large proportion of our ministers and other professional men, have powerfully promoted the spiritual and intellectual progress of our population. First in order is:

WASHINGTON COLLEGE

For, though chartered a few months later than Greenville College, yet it was the outgrowth and continuation of Martin Academy, which was chartered before any other literary institution west of the mountains (1783).

In speaking of its founder, Dr. Samuel Doak, we shall give some account, which we need not anticipate, of the building of his log house, log college and log church, and the commencement of long and fruitful labors at Salem, in Washington county. What follows is condensed from a fuller account published by the writer in 1880.

It is reasonable to suppose that Mr. Doak had commenced, and had some success in educational labor at Salem, at least one or two years before he obtained the charter from North Carolina, for Martin Academy, in 1783, and that when it was chartered as Washington College in 1795, he had been teaching already about twelve years in his primitive building. It is matter for regret that the good father left no record of those years for the edification of posterity. But Dr. Ramsey testifies to the usefulness of his infant institution, when he says: "For many years it was the only, and for still more the principal seat of learning in the western country."

There is evidence also from the minutes of the first meeting of the trustees of the College, that the Academy had attracted attention and contributions as early as the date of its charter. for the trustees at that meeting appointed Co. Landon Carter to sell 420 acres of land, on the Doe river,

"Which Col. Waitstill-Avery had donated to Martin Academy," and Messrs. John Waddel and John Sevier, Jr., "to collect certain subscriptions made to Martin Academy in 1784." We pause here for a brief tribute to the memory of this Col. Avery. At the opening of the Revolutionary war he was a citizen of Mecklenberg county, N. C., a zealous patriot, a signer of the celebrated Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence in 1775, and a member of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina in 1776. In 1777, he visited Tennessee as a commissioner of North Carolina, to treat with the Indians at Long Island in the Holston, near Kingsport. When the first Court of Oyer and Terminer was established in Jonesboro in 1782, Waitstill Avery, Esq., was appointed State’s Attorney. It is said that some of his descendants are still large land owners about the headwaters of the Watauga. Honor is due to him who probably was the first to exhibit his patriotism and philanthropy by a large donation of land to a literary institution in the West.

The College had received its charter from the Territorial Legislature, July 8, 1795, and the above-named meeting of the trustees was held on the 23rd of the same month. A new subscription of L135 5s. was put into the hands of Mr. David Deaderick, of Jonesboro, as treasurer, and, as the same log structure which had sheltered the Martin Academy must cradle and protect the new-born college, the moderate sum of L9 8s. 6d. was expended in putting it in proper repair. Three years later the important addition of "a stone chimney" was made to the structure- the arch five feet back, six feet front and the top two feet highter than the roof - at a cost of L8. No doubt the old one, which had sent up its column of smoke for fifteen years, was a crib of logs lined and protected with mortar.

In 1795, the trustees owned no land, except the distant Avery tract, for Dr. Doak was still, and for thirteen years later, the owner of that on which the church and the College stood. But at the second meeting of that body, October 3, 1795, Alexander Mathes donated to the institution a valuable tract of fifty acres, adjuoing that of Dr. Doak. The liberal donor was a pioneer settler and a membr, both of the original session of Salem Church, and of the constituting board of trustees of the College. And here it may be well to add that E. S. Mathes continued a member of the board for forty-five yars, and was, for the most of that time, their secretary and treasurer; that he greatly aided the College, both by personal efforts and by liberal contributions while he lived; and at his death, June 5, 1868, he left a valuable legacy which greatly assisted both the Salem Church and Washington College. He died at the mature age of seventy-nine years, and left behind him a character of generous liberality and devoted piety worthy of being admired and imitated.

In 1808, Dr. Doak donated the land now occupied by Salem Church and its cemetery to that congregation as being no longer needed by the College.

But to return to the organization of 1795. It was completed by dividing the students into three classes and requiring each student to deliver an oration before the trustees, on the 28th of September following, encouraged by small prized in money to the best speaker in each class. The first College Exhibition in the Western ontry was held on the 17th of October, 1796.

Commencement days, under Dr. Doak were gala days, signalized by the display of whatever pomp and circumstance the officers and students could command. The gatherings of the people were in proportion to the novelty of such entertainments in the wilderness. The worthy president was easily distinguished by his peculiar dress as he moved facile princeps among the people, wearing his antique wig, his old-fashioned shoes with broad shining buckles, his long stockings and short breeches, also ornamented with buckles on the knees.

Of course, the multitude hung upon the lips of the youthful orators while their delighted sires and mothers were fondly predicting for them lives of honorable usefulness or lofty fame.

The honor of being the first-born sons of this youthful Alma Mater belongs to Messrs. John Whitefield Doak and James Witherspoon, who were graduated in 1796 - the former the eldest son of the founder, and the latter said to be related to the celebrated Dr. John Witherspoon, of Princeton.

In 1798, Dr. Doak, while in the East as a commissioner to the General Assembly, collected the nucleus of a library, which was transported on pack horses across the mountains, and in the same year the Avery lands were sold and the proceeds expended in globes, maps and other equipments. The library consisted largely of text books to be loaned to the students in the literary course, and works of theological lore for those who were students in divinity, for then such books could scarcely be bought in this region, and a goodly number of students received thier entire ppreparation for the ministry under Dr. Doak.

In 1806, the trustees judged that a new building was imperatively demanded, if the College was to maintain its character and retain its patronage. The country around had imprved in all respects. The old building, which had been occupied for twenty years, was antiquated, rude and unsuitable to the changed times and circumstances. But the enterprise of a new building taxed the wisdom, energy and liberality of the officers and friends of the institution.

The Rev. John W. Doak was appointed financial agent, and after two years, having made tours to the South and East, he reported $1956 collected by him. With what was left of this small amount after expenses were paid, and with about $200 collected in Washington county, the trustees commenced building a new frame college and finished or made it habitable in 1808. This structure was erected on the fifty acres donated by Elder Alexander Mathes and about thirty yards north of the present brick college building. It has long since disappeared, and its site is marked by a small mound of monumental earth.

The year 1818 was signalized by the resignation of Dr. Doak, after a presidency of thirty-five years in the Academy and College, and by his retirement to Tusculum, in Greene county.

Since in another place we sketch his character and course as an instructor of youth, we shall proceed with a very brief account of Washington College under his successors.

Our limit will not admit a detail of the numerous struggles and changes experienced, of presidents and professors compelled to resign for want of adequate support, financial embarrassments, and the numberous efforts and expedients resorted to by the trustees to perpetuate the existence of an instituion which was conferring inestimable blessings on both Church and State.

The Rev. John Whitefiled Doak, one of the first graduates, succeeded his father, Februay 27, 1818, as the second president. With him were associated James McLin and Samuel Zetty, and one year later Mr. John V. Bovell, as tutors. His brief adminstration was suddenly terminated by death, October 6, 1920. The Rev. John V. Bovell succeeded, as the third president, and resigned after eight years, having graduated twenty-four students. The trustees then elected the Rev. James McLin as the fourth president, February 19, 1829. Mr. McLin resigned in 1838. Fourteen students were graduated and many had taken a partial course.

Financial difficulties now reached a crisis. Presidents and professor had been compelled to resign for want of support, and it was difficult to have their places filled. Agents to obtain necessary funds had ofter been appointed with inadequate success; and an abortive effort had been made to raise $20,000, to purchase and stock a farm and work-shops, in order to try the manual labor plan.

The next effort was the election of the Rev. S. W. Doak, of Tusculum Academy, who occupied the presidency less than two years and resigned, on condition that the Rev. Joseph I. Foote, the of Knoxville, would accept. Mr. Foote accepted on condition that $10,000 should be raised for a new building and general purposes. the second edifice, a frame structure, had become almost untenantable in about thirty-two years. This frame had succeeded the log college in 1808.

The $10,000 was obtained on subscription, and Mr. Foote having signified his acceptance, the trustees conferred on him the title of D. D., that the new administration might open with the greater eclat. They commenced the erection of the brick College, now standing, which is 85 feet long, 32 feet wide and four stories hight. They also elected a full corps of professors. But a sudden and mysterious providence disappointed the hopes of immediately entering upon a new ear of prosperity, for as Dr. Foote was coming to deliver his inauguarl address and to be inducted into office, he was thrown from his horse and died of the injury on the next day, April 20, 1840.

The Rev. Archibald Alexander Doak succeeded to the presidency, September 19, 1840, with the Rev. Samuel Y. Wylie as vice-president. The new building and a president’s house were finished in 1842, but the subscriptions were largely unpaid, the institution in debt, and the difficulty of maintaining the faculty continued. In this emergency the president and professors were appointed financial agents in an effort to obtain endowments and to collect the subscriptions due for the building. This resulte in the collection of some subscriptions for the buildings, but failed in the matter of endowment. Yet, as the new president was not only a fine scholar but a brilliant genius and popular as a teacher and orator, and as the buildings and equipments were attractive, the attendance of students from far and near was greatly increased.

This administration continued with some interruptions, from 1840 to 1856, a period of about fifteen years. The professors during this period were the Revs. A. A. Mathes, William A. Irwin, Lewis Williams, and Messrs. t. L. Caruthers and William Smith; also the Rev. E. Thompson Baird was for some time professor of mathematics, and for eighteen months (1850-1852) was president during an interruption in the presidency of the Rev. A. A. Doak. After the final resignation of Mr. Doak, in 1856, the institution on account of financial embarrassments and the effects of the civil war, could no longer be sustained as a College proper, but with several changes and suspensions it was conducted as a select or high school for both sexes, for many years. These changes cannot be detailed here. The restoration of Washington College, after the ruin effected by the civil was, to its present position of efficiency, was effected in the midst of difficulties and discouragements, by the labors and sacrifices of its trustees, principals and professors.

In 1868, the school was reorganized as a Female Seminary, with the Re. William B. Rankin as President and Superintendent, and Misses Ellen Rhea, of Blountville, and C. A. Wood, of Kingsport, as associate principals. At the end of one year, Miss N. A. Telford was elected to the place of Miss Wood, who had resigned. The presidency was transferred to Mr. f. G. McClure - Mr. Rankin retaining the position of superintendent. Under the efficient superintendence and financial agency of Mr. Rankin, the debt of the institution was reduced from $4000 to $300, and the institution enjoyed an encouraging attendance of pupils. After his resignation there was another suspension, during which the property was neglected and greatly abused, so that the enclosure was broken down, the grunds overgrown with weeds, the library and apparatus robbed or rendered useless by breakage and the building unttenantable.

In 1877, the trustees elected the Rev. J. E. Alexander, of Greeneville, but formerly of Ridley Park, Pa., principal, to conduct a High School, either male or female, or mixed, at his option. His efforts in adverse circumstances resulted, in six years, in the repairing and improvement of the building and grounds, the addition of ten acres to the landed property and the estblishment of a prosperous institution of male and female pupils, a large proportion of whom were classical students. During the last year of his connection with the College, 1882-83, the Rev. J. W. C. Willoughby was associated as co-principal, and since conducted it as president with encouraging success, in connection with the pastorate of Salem-Presbyterian Church. Rev. M. A. Mathes served as professor of mathematics from 1885 until his death, in 1888. Valuable additions have been made in the way of buildings, and the aid afforded in support of the faculty by the Women’s Executive Committee and the Board of Aid adds increased assurance of permanence and prosperity.

It is impossible to estimate the widespread, various and lasting benefits which it has conferred on the social, civil and religious interest of large sections of our country. Among the distinguished ministrs of the Presbyterian Church who were students of Washington College, were the Rev. Drs. John W., Samuel W., A. A., and w. S. Doak; W. M., John W. and Alexander N. Cunningham, Andrew Vance, James A. Lyon, J. D. Tadlock and Samuel Hodge; also the Revs. Samuel Kelsey and David Nelson, James Gallaher, Gideon Blackburn, James McLin, John V. Bovell and others, of whose lives and labors brief sketches may be found in other parts of this volume.

GREENVILLE COLLEGE

The founder of this institution was the Rev. Hezekiah Balch, D. D., who had graduated at Princeton College, N. J., and having first engaged in preaching and teaching on the Atlantic slope, removed to Greene county, Tenn., about 1780, and became permanently settled over Mount Bethel Church at Greeneville in 1783. Soon afterward he resolved to found a Literary Institution on a plantation which he had purchased and on which he had fixed his own residence, on Richland creek, about three miles south of Greenville.

On the 3d of September, 1794, he obtained a charter from the General Assembly of the Territory of the United States South of the Ohio River, establishing what was known as Greeneville College, and appointed Mr. Balch to be its first president.

At the first meeting of the board of trustees, held in the house of James Stinson, in the town of Greeneville, February 18, 1795, the Rev. Robert Henderson was elected secretary of the board.

They also adopted a memorial to the President and the Congress of the United States, for aid in their enterprise. In the same year, Mr. Balch made a tour to Philadelphia and through the New England States, and collected $1350 in cash; $350 in subscriptions, and a large number of books.

On the 16th of August, 1796, a building committee was instructed to contract for erecting a college building on a site selected near the residence of Mr. Balch - the building to be a frame, 32 feet by 26 feet, and two stories high, with a chimney stack at each end.

The record of the doings of the trustees from 1796 to 1800, was lost without being transcribed by the secretary.

The next meeting of the trustees on record was held March 3, 1800. At a meeting, January 9, 1801, they elected the Rev. Charles Coffin as their vice-president in the room of Mr. Henderson, resigned.

Mr. Coffin, a native of Newburyport, Mass., graduated at Harvard College in 1793. After being licensed by the Essex Association, he made a tour southward for the benefit of his health, and visited Greeneville at this time (1800), and afterward became permanently identifed with the institution, which owed not less to him than to the founder himself.

Mr. Coffin, was immediately commissioned as a financial agent, for the house was yet unfinished and there is no evidence that the College was yet opened. The hindrance was no doubt in a want of funds. It appears from the record that the College was opened October 28,1802. In 1803, the trustees authorized the president to have the windows glazed and the house prepared for the comfort of students. Mr. Coffin had sent forms and lists for subscriptions from the Northern States to stimulate subscription in the home field. When he had spent four years mainly in the East, South and West, on the financial agency, he reported $14,000 collected, of which $8000 were from beyond the mountains. He had also obtained a large addition to the library and apparatus.

This report of agency was made in 1805, when a serious difficulty arose in regard to making it a condition to the use of these funds that the trustees should adopt a rule that no man should be admitted into the College as an instructor, who would not adopt a certain system of doctrines, usually known as Hopkinsian, which many of the New England donors had embraced.

At first the trustees, by a large majority, rejected the condition; but afterward a compromise was made, and the rul adopted in view of a modified statement of the doctrines, and the donations were accepted. Of the sum collected, %6550 were invested in United States stocks bearing eight per cent interest. The building being now finished, and the income of investments being available for the support of the professors, the College became encouragingly prosperous. The first recorded "Bachelor of Arts," Hugh Brown, was graduated in 1808.

It is remarkable that the records of the board of trustees, extending over upwards of forty years, are entirely silent on the subject of graduations, excepting in three or four cases, so that it is impossible from them to learn who, and how many were the alumni; though it is known from other sources that a considerable number did graduate subsequently to 1808, during the administrations of Presidents Balch and Coffin and some at a later date. Whether any record was kept separately by the faculty, of examinations and conferring degrees, is unknown.

Dr. Hezekiah Balch, the founder and first president of Greeneville College, died in April, 1810, and the 27th of April following, the Rev. Charles Coffin was elected to succeed him by a unanimous vote of the trustees, as one eminently qualified for that position.

In 1818, President Coffin, as financial agent, collected $3162 cash, and obtained $227 on subscription. At othr times also he obtained considerable sums, so that personally he obtained upwards of $20,000, by personal efforts, a large part of which was invested and yielded a considerable amount for the support of the instructors. The last of his tours to the East was in the summer of 1822. On his return, he received the thanks of the board for "his patriotic exertions on behalf of the College." In this year, a two-story brick boarding house was erected on the college grounds.

The Rev. Oramel Hinckley, and after him the Rev. Stephen Foster, filled the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy, in connection with Dr. Coffin.

In 1827, there seems, from the records, to have been factional movements connected with the board of trustees, unpleasant to Dr. Coffin, and he having been elected, by the Legislature, president of East Tennessee College at Knoxville, resigned the presidency of Greeneville College, April 23, 1827, and accepted the other position.

This was a loss from which Greeneville College never recovered to the enjoyment of any considerable prosperity. It would be tedious and uninteresting to detail the changes connected with its struggles, decline and final extinction.

It no longer enjoyed the former public favor and confidence; its efforts to obtain funds were various but generall unsuccessful, and instead of retaining the investments had has supported the instructors, first the dividends and afterwards the principal began to be used for repairs and other expenses, until no proper faculty could be employed or sustained in the institution.

Mr. Henry Hoss, of Greene county, succeeded Dr. Coffin in 1828, and presided until his death in 1836. In 1838, Rev. James McLin, formerly president of Washington College, was elected successor to Mr. Hoss.

In 1839, the school was removed to the Rhea Academy building in Greeneville, and a committee appointed to secure a lot and to erect a new college building in the same town. In 1840, Mr. Valentine Sevier offered the donation of a lot, which was accpted by the trustees as the site. A building committee and agents to collect funds for erecting the edifice were appointed. But these agents had little success, and the building was erected by selling what remained of the investment in the Union Bank of Maryland, in Baltimore. This building was of brick and stood on the ground now occupied by the residence of Mr. Naff, on the north-east border of the town of Greeneville, and was builty by Joseph D. Price for $3025. It was opened for instruction on the 16th of October, 1843. In the meantime President McLin resigned, in 1840, and his successors were Rev. Samuel Mathews, 1843-45; Rev. Charles A. Van Vleck, one year, 1846; Rev. John J. Fleming, one year, 1847. During the years 1847-1854 there occurred a vacancy in which the building was neglected and many of the books and pieces of apparatus were carried off. In 1854, the Trustees made some repairs, and elected the Rev. William B. Rankin President, with whom they associated as Professor of Mathematics, etc., in 1855, the Rev. A. J. Brown, of Blountville. The latter resigned in 1857, and Mr. S. V. McCorkle was employed in his room with President Rankin, one year, 1858.

Under President Rankin there was a temporary revival of interest and efficiency. In 1855-56, the tuition fees amounted to $882; in 1857-58, to $782. In each of these years there were two graduates.

There is no record of any meeting of the Board of Trustees from June 26, 1858 to 1863, when they met and ordered that the remainder of the library be saved from loss by being removed to the second story of the storehouse of Messrs. Park & Brown.

On January 16, 1868, the Board of Trustees appointed a committee to negotiate with similar committee of the Trustees of Tusculum College, which resulted in the consolidation of the two institutions, in the same year, under the title of "Greeneville and Tusculum College." The site and college building were sold for $700, and the remnant of the library was removed to Tusculum.

TUSCULUM COLLEGE

The records of the Trustees of this institution for twenty-one years from the date of its charter, 1844, till 1865, have been lost. Hence we can record but little concerning that important period of its history.

Its origin was as follows: In 1818, the Rev. Samuel Doak, D.D., resigned the presidency of Washington College, and removed to Tusculum, in Greene county, where he opened a private school which he named Tusculum Academy. Here he taught for twelve years, and gave a good practical education to sixty or seventy pupils, many of who filled important positions in this and adjoining States. At his death, December 12, 1830, the Academy was suspened until 1835, when his son, the Rev. Samuel W. Doak, reopened it with an attendance of only four students. He was however so successful that the attendance rose to seventy in 1840. Subsequently competing schools reduced the attendane at Tusculum to about fifty students for some years. In 1842, a Board of Trustees of Tusculum Academy was incorporated with all the powers usually granted to colleges, and two years later (1844) the Legislature changed the name from Tusculum Academy to Tusculum College. From a catalogue issued in 1846, we learned that the aggregate attendance in the eleven years, 1835-46, had been 315; that seven of these had graduated, fifteen had entered the ministry, twenty-seven had become physicians, and eight, as lawyers, had been admitted to the bar.

The Faculty in 1846 were: Rev. Samuel W. Doak, President and Professor of Languages, Natural and Moral Sciences, and Belles-lettres; Rev. John W. K. Doak, Vice-President and Professor of Languages; Mr. Henry S. Stewart, Professor of Mathematics.

The catalogue of 1847 speaks of an effort to raise $6000 for a library and apparatus, one-sixth of which had been donated in the East; of a legacy of $1500 in bank stock bequested to the College, by Mr. William Graham, of Tazewell, Tenn., to aid pious and talented young men in studies preparatory to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church; of an enrollment of seventy-six students, and of three graduates.

The Faculty of 1855 consisted only of President Samuel W. Doak, and Mr. J. Shields, Professor of Mathematics. The catalogue for that year tells us that there were two literary societies, each having a small but well-selected library; that the College library was inferior to none in East Tennessee, and that the College edifice was large and well adapted to every purpose;p also, that, of the students who had attended the College to that time, thirty-one had received diplomas, twenty-four were ministers of the gospel, twenty-nine members of the bar, sixty-three physicians, and many were teachers. The course of studiess was marked by two peculiarities: 1. A student studied only one branch at a time, and took up another when the first was finished. 2. There were no regular college classes, and a student graduated at any time when he could stand an examination on the course of studies.

Immediately on the termination of the civil war, the Trustees commenced (July 6, 1865) the reorganization of the College, by electing the Rev. William Stephenson Doak, President, in the room of his father, the Rev. Samuel W. Doak; who had died in 1864; Samuel S. Doak, Vice-President, and the Rev. R. B. Godfrey, Professor of Mathematics.

The condition of the College and its property is thus described in the minutes of the Board: "The late war has left Tusculum College in a deplorable condition - its enclosures are broken down, its library mch wasted and abused, and its chemical and philosophical apparatus broken and destroyed."

In 1866, the efforts of the Trustees were mainly directed to appeals and agencies for obtaining funds, for restoring and repairing the property and to enable the impoverished institution to resume its educational work with some efficiency. Negotiations were entered into with the Old School Holston Presbytery and with the Trustees of Washington College, which resulted (September 29, 1866) in both institutions being placed under the care and control of said Presbytery. Under this arrangement, Washington, by a decision of the Presbytery, became a female institution and Tusculum continued a male institution. This temporary ecclesiastical control ceased with the reunion of the Old and New Schools, in 1869. The President-elect did not take his seat till September, 1866, and the other professorships having been vacated, Mr. robert McCorkle, of Greeneville, Tenn., was elected Professor of Ancient Languages, June 14, 1867.

In 1868, negotiations between the Trustees of Tusculum College, and those of Greeneville College, located at Greeneville, resulted in a consolidation of the two institutions under the name of "The Greeneville and Tusculum College," located at Tusculum.

The Treasurer’s report, dated December 2, 1868, shows $963 collected by the Rev. William B. Rankin, in Philadelphia and New York, and the whole receipts $1824.89; expenditures, $2204.09.

The next year the building and grounds of the late Greeneville College, badly injured by the war, were sold to Mr. A. F. Naff for $700, and the remnants of its library was transferred to Tusculum.

The act of consolidation led to the election of a new Faculty as follows: Rev. W. S. Doak, D. D., President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science; Samuel S. Doak, A. M., Vice-President and Professor of Mathemtics; Mr. Robert McCorkle, Professor of Languages; Dr. S. P. Crawford, Professor of Natural and Physical Science.

In 1870, Prof. McCorkle was transferred to a professorship of Geology, and the Rev. Paul Feemster was elected to the Chair of Languages.

The plan of endowment by the sale of scholarships was adopted in 1871, which, after much effort during several years, resulted in considerable advantage financialy, but in no endowment.

Certain difficulties in relation to efficient government having risen, the President, on his request, was relieved of this responsibility, and the duty was devolved upon the Vice-President.

In 1872, the Board of Trustees placed the entire management of the institution, including filling vacancies in the professorships, the carrying out of the scholarship plan, and all other matters of finance and government, "except what they cannot lay aside in the charter," in the hands of a Board of Directors consisting of Messrs. P. S. Feemster, S. S. Doak, M. S. Doak, and others, for the term of ten years, on condition that said Board of Directors would, in that time, turn over to the Board of Trustees at least twenty thousand dollars, in new buildings, improvements,, apparatus, moneys, bonds and othr securities in the way of endowment, etc.

Since 1865, considerable progress had been made in the improvement of buildings and grounds, in the erection of cottages or cabins for lodging and boarding; also in the purchase of apparatus and in additions to the library. The increased attendance of students had been on the whole encouraging. But there had been a hard and constant struggle with difficulties arising chiefly from the resources being always wholly inadequate to any proper support of the College.

The arrangement with the Board of Directors lasted but seven years. During their administration, the meetings of the Board of Trustees were few, and their doings chiefly confined to examining and graduating a few students, and a rather liberal bestowment of honorary titles.

On May 16, 1879, Mr. M. S. Doak, "the only membr present of what had once been known as the Board of Directors," claimed that they had complied fully with their contract and requested a settlement with the Board of Trustees. At their next meeting, the Trustees, having heard a report of a committee appointed to examine the transactions, papers, etc., of the Directors, "that after a brief examination they find the matters apparently satisfactory," made settlement and resumed the full exercise of all their functions in the management of the College. The also agreed to continue the faculty as it was left to them by the directors, viz.:

Rev. W. S. Doak, President; W. A. Kite, Professor of Mathematics and Physical Science; J.G. McFerrin, Professor of Latin; and L. C. Haynes, Assistant in Ancient Languages. They also elected the Rev. Jere Moore, Professor of Greek (Mr. Moore did not accept); and J. K. P. Sayler, Principal of the Preparatory Department.

The years 18879-83 record some ineffectual efforts to obtain $10,000 for a new college building, but a very encouraging advance in the usefulness of the College, as indicated by the largely increased matriculation, and also by the number of graduates. In 1882, all the professorships were vacated and new professors were elected the ensuing year. There had been an encouraging increase in the number of graduates.

On the 7th of May, 1883, the Faculty was reorganized. President W. S. Doak, D. D., having died May 23, 1882, the Rev. Jere Moore was elected President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science; the Rev. A. M. Doak, Professor of Ancient Languages; L. C. Haynes, Professor of Mathematics.

On Friday, April 25, 1884, a plan for obtaining funds for erecting a new college building having been suggested, President Moore, with James H. Robinson and Rev. S. A. Coile, were appointed a committee to confer with the Rev. Dr. Willis G. Craig, of McCormick Seminary, on that subject.

In May, 1884, the President reported that ninety-four students had been in attendance during the year. The Faculty was now reinforced by the election of the Rev. S. A. Coile, as Professor of Greek.

Several propositions were made to the Trustees of Washington College, by which one of the institutions should become a male college and the other a female college, or the one an academy and the other a college, but these propositions were rejected. The object of these negotiations was to remove difficulties in the way of obtaining funds, and in the way of a more successful prosecution of educational work, from two competing colleges in the same field, doing the same work.

On the 21st of Novembr, 1884, Mrs. Nettie F. McCormick, executrix, and Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, Jr., executor of the estate of Cyrus H. McCormick, deceased, offered to donate $7000 for the erection of a new building for Greeneville and Tusculum College, on the conditions: That the Trustees should raise an additional $4000; that the President and at least two professors, when the Faculty numbers three or more, shall be members of the Presbyterian Church; the the President and at least two-thirds of the members of the Board of Trustees shall always be members of said Church; and on violation of nay one of these conditons, the $7000 shall be returned to the Board of Aid of the Prsbyterian Church in the United States of America.

This liberal offer must be regarded as creating a new era in the history of Greeneville and Tusculum College. The Board having thankfully accepted the offer, immediately put forth such efforts that the $4000 was soon secured on reliable subscription, a building committee appointed, and the new building put under contract, and completed at an expense of about $13,000. Of this amount, the McCormich estate furnished $8100: the remainder was collected in the home field. the new edifice is a model of its kind, furnishing the most convenient and comfortable internal arrangements for all the purposes of a complete college building, and occupying a site remarkable for its combination of grand and beautiful scenery.

For the year 1887-88, the President reported an attendance of one hundred and fifteen students. The total income was $1759, of which $490 was from the Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies. In 1888-89, one hundred and forty-four students were in attendance.

On the 1st of January, 1888, a primary department was successfully established with aid from the Women’s Executive Commitee, and Miss Hattie Armitage was appointed teacher.

The following Faculty was elected May 7, 1887: The Rev. Jere Moore, D. D., President, Professor of Mental and Moral Science; Rev. S. A. Coile, Professor of Latin; L. C. Haynes, Professor of Mathematics and Physical Science; T. S. Rankin, Professor of Natural Science and English Literature; Edward Lindeman, Professor of Music and German; Rev. W. C. Clemens, Professor of Greek.

VAUGHN MEMORIAL ACADEMY,

Formerly called College Hill Academy, is located at Riceville, N. C., about ten miles east from Asheville. A good school had been conducted there for some years by the Rev. A. M. Penland, in connection with preaching to the churches at College Hill, Reems Creek, and Davidson’s River.

Afterwards it was conducted one year each by the Revs. Alexander J. Coile and George Baxter. During the last two years the academy has flourished under the Rev. Herman A. Foff, with one female assistant. The attendance has risen to abut one hundred and twenty pupils. The school has won a good reputation, and is accomplishing an invluable work for that mountain region of North Carolina. The upper story of the College Hill Church building furnishes rooms which have been comfortably fitted up for the use of the school. The tuition fees are low, to meet the ability of the people who are mostly poor, and the school has been liberally aided by Mrs. Vaughn and the Executive Committee of the Women’s Home Missonary Society.

SWIFT MEMORIAL SEMINARY.

In 1883, The Rev. W. H. Franklin, a graduate of Maryville College and of Lane Theological Seminary, opened a school for colored pupils in connection with his charge of the Church of St. Mark’s at Rogersville, Tenn.

In May, 1884, at his solicitation, a committee of Holston Presbytery visited that place, and, finding the field in all respects very favorable for the establishment of a graded school for the higher education of the colored youth of an extensive and destitute region, they organized an agency for raising funds for the purchase of a site and the erection of a suitable building. Presbytry also applied to the Board of Missions for Freedmen for aid. But for several years that Board could only make an annual appropriation in support of the school, which was still successfully conducted by the Rev. W. H. Franklin and one assistant, in a crowded and inconvenient building.

In 1888, Mr. Franklin being appointed Principal and financial agent, devoted himself with zeal and energy to the cause, and Presbytery named the institution "Swift Memorial Seminary," in honor of the Rev. Eliot E. Swift, D. D., of Allegheny City, Pa., long the devoted and efficient friend and President of the Assembly’s Board of Missions for Freedmen.

This Board then donated $1000, which, with the proceeds of local subscriptions (about $500), enabled the officers to purchase a cottage residence on an eligible site of two acres in the town of Rogersville, and to remodel and furnish the same for the temporary accommodation of the growing seminary. To this building and site the school was removed, and opened with increased attendance in Septembr, 1889. But one year has so crowded the rooms, that a large building is demanded by the state and prospects of the school.

A committee of Holston Presbytery, inclding the Principal, are a Board of Managers, with power to appoint the teachers, to have general supervision and to manage its financial affairs.

The Faculty of Swift Memorial Seminary consists of the Rev. W. H. Franklin, Principal; and Mrs. M. J. Woodfin and Miss Paralee Cochraham, Assistants.

RITTENHOUSE ACADEMY.

This institution was established at Kingston, Tenn., by an Act of the Legislature in 1806. There is no account of its going into operation until 1822, when the Rev. William Eagleton was installed as Principal. The first structure was of logs and stood on the same lot with the Presbyterian Church. The present brick building was erected in 1832, and a wing was added in 1853. It was prosperous before the war, but since then it had many changes until it was brought under the control of the Presbytery of Kingston in 1884. During the last two years, (1887, 1888) it has received annually $400 from the Presbyterian Board of Aid, and is in a flourishing condition. The property is valued at $2900.

GRASSY COVE ACADEMY.

The Grassy Cove Academy was organized as a permanent enterprise by the Presbytery of Kingston, in August, 1884, and chartered under the statutes of the State the same year. Its establishment was decided upon in view of the lack of schools to promote sound Christian learning among the young people of the Cumberland plateau. The site is a beautiful one. The cove is situated midway between Crossville and Spring City. It has been styled "The Gem of the Cumberland Mountains." The building is two stories high, the upper story being fitted for church services. Rev. J. Silsby was Principal of the Academy from its establishment until his death, in October, 1888. The effect of his self-denying labors will be long seen in the Christian workers he trained. The Misses Marston conducted the school after his death. In January, 1889, Rev. S. S. De Garmo took charge of the Academy. At times it has been difficult to find room for the pupils who have gathered for instruction.

BEECH ACADEMY,

Buncombe county, N. C. This school was opened by the Rev. Alfred M. Penland and his wife, as teachers, in May, 1884. Their immediate object was to educate their own children and those of their neighbors who, in that destitute region, were growing up in ignorance. It began with but fifteen scholars, amid discouragements arising from want of building, books, etc.; also, from a prejudice in the community against the use of the Catechism, which all were required to learn and recite.

Difficulties and opposition have been so far overcome that the school now (1888-89) flourishes with an attendance of fifty scholars. Each scholar on entering is supplied with a Testament and a Catechism, to be used as text-books. The closing exercises of each day consist in an examination on the Catechism lesson and singing, and the last hour of every Wednesday is set apart for a prayer meeting of the school and any of the community who choose to attend, the interest of which is enhanced by the quotation of Scripture passages on subjects previously appointed, and the singing of hymns by the trained voices of the pupils.

The energy and enterprise of the Rev. A. M. Penland have secured the erection of a building which serves the double purpose of a school-room and a house of worship. The Women’s Executive Committee of Home Missions has promised assistance, and Beech Academy has a fair prospect for permanence and prosperity.

HUNTSVILLE ACADEMY.

Chartered June 11, 1885. Opened by Mr. D. A. Clens, Principal, and one assistant, August, 1885, with fifteen or twenty scholars; enrollment of the first year, ninety scholars. Mr. Clemens resigned, and Mr. S. E. Henry was elected Principal, April, 1888. Enrollment for 188-89, 120; attendance eighty, of whom twenty-five are schoold teachers in Scott County. In 1889, Mr. M. M. Rankin was chosed Principal. The Academy has a wide field without competition in a mining region, increasing in population and wealth, but very destitute of any other than common school education. Huntsville Academy gives a good English education and preparation in languages and mathematics, for entering the Freshman class in college. Its prospect for increasing usefulness is very encouraging.

NEW MARKET ACADEMY

Is a chartered institution under the care of Union Presbytery, which also elects the Trustees. It was opened in September, 1885, with two teachers. Its Principals have been Profs. C. E. Ensign, G. S. Roberts and J. G. Newman. It now has four teachers and an attendance of 120 (1888-89). Both male and female scholars are received. It has and English course for those who desire only a first-class English education, and an Academic course for preparing students to enter the Freshman class in our best colleges, including higher algebra, three years in Latin and two years in Greek.

About thirty pupils are in Academic studies. "Able and experienced teachers alone have been employed, and no backward step is to be taken." Arrangements have been made for the erection of a new Academy building during the year 1889, and the prospect for permanence and prosperity is full of encouragement.

DAVIES ACADEMY

Is located at Elizabethton, the county seat of Carter county, Tenn., a place peculiarly favorable for present and prospective educational work by our Church. There is a lrge and increasing population in the town and vicinity needing such an institution, and a railroad connects it with the heart of the Unaka moutains and their large and illiterate population. The institution was named in honor of the Rev. John M. Davies, D. D., through whose instrumentality mainly it was established. It was incorporated July 2, 1887, with twelve Trustees, two-thirds of whom and the Principal must be members of the Presbyterian Church. The Principal must also accept the Westminster Confession of Faith, as containing the system of doctrines contained in the Scriptures.

The school was opened with the Rev. E. B. Waller as Principal, and Mrs. Gibson as assistant, with twenty-nine scholars, which number soon increased to seventy, and required a third teacher.

Mr. Waller is also pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton. Twenty pupils have been received on confession of faith in Christ, and one is a candidate for the ministry. The school so far (January, 1889) has been self-sustaining.

THE HOME INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

This institution is located on an eligible site of about thirty acres, and on the crest of a hill one mile south of Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded and for some years successfully conducted by the Rev. L. M. Pease, with the benevolent purpose of giving a good practical education to white girls of the mountain population at a very moderate cost. Through the agency and aid of the Rev. and Mrs. D. Stuart Dodge, of New York city, Mr. Pease generously conveyed the whole property, worth $40,000, to the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, subject only to a charge of $1800 per annum to the donor and his wife during the lives of both and of $1200 to either after the death of the other.

In this school prominence is given to the elementary branches connected with training in the arts and duties of house-keeping, the domestic labor of the Home being performed by the pupils on the plan of Mount Holioke Female Seminary. There is also a Normal Department for training of those who desire to engage in teaching. In 1887, eighty boarders were accommodated, but an addition has since been made affording accommodations for 120 boarders. The cost per scholar per annum is only $80. But as very many of those for whom this institution was mainly designed can pay but little, supplements are provided thrugh the beneficence of Mr. Pease and the Executive Committee of the Woman’s Home Missionary Society.

Near by, the Southern Presbyterian Church has erected a chapel on ground donated by Mr. Pease, furnishing to the pupils religious instruction on the sabbath, and in the basement a parochial schoolroom, where day scholars can be taught with greater advantage than with the boarders in the Industrial School. Thus both branches of the Presbyterian Church are harmoniously cooperating in this good work of sending the blessings of a Christian education into the homes of a very destitute population.

THE JEROLDSTOWN ACADEMY,

Located near the northern corner of Greene county, Tenn., is yet in the first stage of its existence. In the midst of a good agricultural region, and having around it a wide field unoccupied by any similar institution, it will doubtless become a flourishing school. It is under the care and control of the Holston Presbytery. Two-thirds of its Board of Trustees are Presbyterians. For sevral years the Presbytery has had a small Presbyterian Church organization and a comfortable house of worship at Jeroldstown. They now have also a new Academy building, 75 x 30 feet and two stories high, which has cost about $2000.

The aim of the Presbytery is to make the school and church at that point mutually sustaining by placing a minister there who shall be at the same time Principal of the Academy and pastor of the church.

Wit aid from the Women’s Executive Committee of Home Missions, the school was opened with encouraging success in September, 1889, with Riss Rozee Rankin as teacher.

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