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experience. Knowing, however, that he already had the nod from the New York City Trustees and the sanction of dominant local sentiment, Dr. Eaton accepted the Board’s selection. The President-elect magnanimously sought him out, the morning after his public statement, to tell Eaton that he admired his frankness and was confident they could cooperate for the best interest of the University.
Finances from 1850 to 1869 are perhaps a more graphic index of the University’s recovery and progress than its administration. With the settlement of the Removal issue there were liabilities of over $30,000 and no funds. Professors Eaton and Spear and Treasurer Alvah Pierce of the Education Society at once set to work trying to raise the $60,000 endowment decided on in May 1850. They began in Hamilton where the residents subscribed approximately $21,000 with Professor Spear and his father jointly heading the list with $2,200 and Deacons Pierce and William Cobb with $2,000 each. Before classes resumed in the fall, Eaton and Spear conducted a two-and-a-half-week campaign among New York City Baptists. Starting with Deacon William Colgate, at whose gracious home they were “nicely domiciled,”
they interviewed other friends and addressed public meetings, often encountering Professor Raymond, John N. Wilder and others who were competing with
