Chapter I – ORIGIN
When an old man begins to reminisce those around him often listen half-heartedly and discard golden nuggets of memory which years later they wish they had saved. The Rev. Robert Powell, last survivor of Colgate’s Thirteen Founders, at the age of seventy-nine recalled their momentous meeting in 1817 as he responded to a toast at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary in 1869. His brief remarks were duly recorded but later generations have wished that they had been fuller and that some history-minded member of his audience had asked for details to amplify them. We must be grateful, however, that he, “a solitary remnant of a by-gone age,” as he called himself, could be present in 1869 to give as much of an account as he did. The event in which he took part was indeed significant, for the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York which he and his associates established became the seed of the center of learning known as Colgate University.
The story of Colgate’s early years is often confusing because of the variety of names used in referring to it. In an attempt to give light to the reader they will be explained at the outset. The school which the Education Society actually founded unfortunately had no official title but was first loosely referred to as the “Seminary” or “Institution” and from 1833 to 1846 as “The Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution.” As its course expanded from two years to six there emerged three distinct departments, the preparatory or academic, the collegiate, and the theological. With the granting of the charter in 1846 the three departments were embraced within the new corporation, “Madison University.” The Education Society continued, however, as a separate body with responsibility for the theological department.
With the granting of the charter there were further changes. The academic department was called the “Grammar School” in 1846, and