Tag Archives: Samuel Colgate

p. 232 – Colgate in the 1890’s

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Society, reported that the churches were alarmed and the situation became so grave that Schmidt was urged to seek a non-theological chair at some other institution.

In response to questions from Samuel Colgate, President of the Education Society, Professor Schmidt made a detailed statement to Mr. Colgate of his views which he defended as in accord with those usually held by Baptists. The heart of the matter as Schmidt saw it was

 

 

whether there is room in the Baptist denomination for a consistent application of scientific principles in the interpretation of the Bible and for progressive theology to which it invariably leads and what is the true conception of the duty of a theological professor in a Baptist seminary.*

 
Dean Burnham, who seems to have kept to the sidelines at first, threatened to resign if Schmidt remained on the faculty. He considered his associate’s views more Unitarian than Baptist and asserted that the real issue was whether the Seminary was to have a faculty who taught “the generally accepted Baptist truth.” He did concede, however, that in a college the professors might teach “truth as by their studies, they come to believe it to be.”**

Matters came to a climax at the June 1896 meetings of the University and Education Society Trustees. Both Boards, in accordance with their Compact of 1893, appointed a joint committee to recommend action on the Education Society Board’s request that Schmidt be dismissed for teachings which tended “to weaken the confidence of young men in the Scriptures and to alienate the sympathy of our churches from the institution.” The committee promptly recommended that his services be terminated as soon as possible, James C. Colgate, alone of the committee, protesting on the ground that no proper cause of action had been presented. The Education Society’s Board at once unanimously approved the Committee’s recommendation. Since the University Board had already adjourned, Mr. Colgate, as Secretary, informed Schmidt that the University Board was certain to dismiss him at its next meeting in December and advised him to find a new position. At Cornell, meanwhile, President Jacob G. Schurman, himself a Baptist and aware of the Colgate situation, had persuaded one of his

*Letter, Nathaniel Schmidt to Samuel Colgate, May 25, 1895.

**Letter, Dean Sylvester Burnham to Samuel Colgate, February 5, 1896.

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p. 182 – Administration, Faculty and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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41-year old structure, but a dwelling, incorporating some of its thick stone walls, was soon erected and survived until 1924 when the site was taken over for the Huntington Gymnasium.

The Dodge era saw the construction of four new buildings. The first, to house the Preparatory Department, or Grammar School, was completed in 1874. Heretofore, the Grammar School had operated in the same facilities as the College and Seminary in East, West, and Alumni Halls. A gift of James B. Colgate, the new structure was dedicated to the memory of his parents and designated as William Colgate Memorial Hall. In appreciation of Mr. Colgate’s generosity the Trustees in 1873 named the school itself Colgate Academy. The building and site had cost $60,000. With walls of locally manufactured brick, it was three stories high in the center and two on each side, and had a mansard roof. After Colgate Academy was discontinued in 1912 the structure was used as the Administration Building until its destruction by fire in 1963.

The second edifice of the Dodge period is the Chemistry Building. That an entire structure should be devoted to one department, though it housed physics for a few years, showed that the President and Trustees were responding to a strong and growing interest in science. Dr. Dodge, himself, contributed $2,500 to the building fund and three Trustees, Samumel Colgate, Thomson Kingsford, and Col. Morgan L. Smith, made up the balance of the $10,000 which it cost. Joseph F. McGregory, recently appointed as the first Professor of Chemistry, assisted in the planning though he was not to take up his duties until the fall of 18,84. A two-story structure, designed in the “Queen Anne style,” its walls were of local stone trimmed with red brick. There were two large classrooms, one for chemistry and one for physics, on the first floor and a quantitative analysis laboratory on the second. No formal dedication seems to have been held though work in the laboratory had begun by February, 1885. In recognition of Dr. Dodge’s generosity the Junior Class placed over the front entrance a stained glass window showing his portrait and quoting his statement “The amplest knowledge has the largest faith,” a declaration of confidence that Christian doctrine would not suffer at the hands of those who used the building.

Professor Hezekiah Harvey of the Theological Seminary in 1881 strongly urged a building for the exclusive use of that division of the University. Two years later the Education Society vigorously launched

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p. 176 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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Their sagacity, industry and probity, which brought prosperity even in times of financial crises, gave their firm a stainless reputation. Their success, however, Mr. Colgate ascribed, in a spirit of genuine humility, to “God’s hand” leading them and he prayed that the record might show he had been a faithful steward of his earnings.

A feeling of responsibility for Madison University was a family legacy for James B. Colgate and his brother, Samuel, who had continued in the flourishing soap business their father had established. Several of their relatives and friends were quite indifferent to Madison University and could not understand why the brothers should spend their time and money on “an insignificant Baptist school.” A large part of the answer at least may be found in their reputation as two of the most committed Baptist laymen of their time. They were active in many denominational enterprises’ for which the institution had as its primary function the training of qualified young men. As he grew older, James B. Colgate believed more firmly than ever that religion and education should join forces; universities which stressed intellectual distinction without regard for Christian character he strongly opposed. He did not wish to impose Baptist doctrines on others but urged that the claims of religion in general be presented to students and he hoped that the trustees and faculty of Madison University might always be Baptist.

Prior to Dodge’s presidency, James B. Colgate, a Trustee since 1861, had already contributed generously to its needs, individually, and in association with his brothers, Samuel and Robert, and his partner, John B. Trevor. On his 70th birthday, 4 March 1888, after writing in his journal of his gratitude for health, family and friends he noted that

 

God has helped me with an abundance of this world’s goods. I hope I
shall make a wise use of them. As God’s steward, I have made some
distributions for His cause from time to time. I hope wisely, for in my
gifts I have tried to act conscientiously.

 

 

He felt generous giving to be a duty; no matter how little a man might earn, a percentage should be expended for charity. “The value of all you possess,” he said to students in 1878, “grows out of the community in which you live. Therefore you are its debtor.”

Samuel Colgate had been a trustee of Madison University since 1857 but his particular interest was the Seminary and its supporting organization, the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, which

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p. 150 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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them for funds for the University of Rochester. Both sides sought particularly to win over the wealthy iron merchant and philanthropist, Garrat N. Bleecker, who proved to be a decided Madison supporter; his check for $3,000 was the largest single contribution to the endow­ment. Other agents circulated among the upstate Baptist churches, and there, also, met rivals from Rochester. The solicitors for both institutions proved remarkably successful, thanks to the high level of agricultural prosperity then prevailing in the region. By August 1851, the friends of Madison, having exceeded their goal of $60,000 by $7,000, were ready to lift it to $100,000, a sum they did not achieve.

The University endowment drive naturally cut into the Education Society’s income since its patrons had first to pay their endowment pledges, and consequently the latter organization had a deficit of about $15,000 for several years. The Society had originally incurred most of its indebtedness by attempting to support more beneficiaries than funds permitted. Then, the growing apathy of the churches to the cause of ministerial education in the late ’50’s and the demands of charities attendant on the Civil War greatly reduced annual contributions. The University treasury likewise experienced stringency, forcing the Trustees in 1861 to cut salaries.

To Professors Spear, Eaton and others, invested funds seemed the answer to financial worries. Despite his $2,000 contribution to the endowment in 1850, Deacon Colgate resolutely opposed this means of support, citing Scriptural caution against “anxious care for the morrow” and “distrusting our Lord for the future.” As Dr. Eaton wrote years later, “This had been good advice, had all been like-minded with him and been as ready to give according to their ability.” Fortunately for the University, the Deacon’s friend, Garrat Bleecker, dissented, and in 1853 left the institution $12,000 which, with the $3,000 he had given in 1850, he directed to be used as the foundation for the University’s first chair, the Bleecker Professorship of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy.

Professor Spear, noting that the University’s invested funds had mitigated the effect of the Panic of 1857 on its treasury, urged Deacon Colgate’s sons, James B. and Samuel, to assist in raising $30,000 for its sister corporation, the Education Society, and, more particularly, to establish a Colgate professorship by adding $13,000 to the $2,000 their father had given to the original endowment, The latter idea did not

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p. 141 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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Village and Campus, c. 180. First Baptist Church in foreground, A1000-64, Folder 33, p66

Tower who concurrently served as Treasurer from 1847 to 1864. A Waterville, New York, distiller and merchant, sagacious and dignified, he had been a member since 1846 and an Education Society Trustee since 1838. Though he had favored Removal and served as one of the original Trustees of the University of Rochester, no Board member exceeded him in service to the Hamilton institution. Tower’s successor in the presidency was James B. Colgate of New York, son of Deacon William Colgate, who was to serve in that capacity until his death 40 years later. Professor Spear followed Tower as Treasurer, remaining in office until 1888.

The Education Society’s Trustees represented the same shades of opinion as the University Corporation and many sat on both Boards. Its presidents were Deacon William Cobb (1849-58) and Deacon Seneca B. Burchard (1858-61), both from Hamilton, and Samuel Colgate (1861-97) of New York, also a son of Deacon William Colgate. Following their father’s death in 1857, both James B. and Samuel became very influential in the affairs of both Boards. Deacon Alvah Pierce, who had been Treasurer since 1837, retained that office until 1887.

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p. 24 – Administration, setting and staff, 1820-183

Posted on April 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Filston Hall, p024

 Filston Hall, ancestral home of Colgate family near Sevenoaks, Kent, England

almost exclusively to “reform movements” within his own denomination or to those in which Baptists had a direct interest, such as Bible translation. Annually he gave a tenth or more of his income to the church and other charities.

Genuinely concerned for the welfare of the Seminary at Hamilton, Deacon Colgate cultivated in other people an interest in the institution. His wife, Mary, and Sarah, his daughter, assisted the women’s auxiliary societies of New York to collect money for the treasury and furnishings for student rooms. His sons, James B. and Samuel, after their father’s death in 1857, were to carry on nobly the family tradition in education which he had begun. The hospitable Colgate home was the usual stopping place for Kendrick, Hascall, and other Hamilton Baptists when they were in New York. The shrewd advice which their host must have given them on denominational and financial questions as well as the credit he often extended to the harried Treasurer of the Education Society made William Colgate its preeminent patron.

The Institution’s financial history resembles that of most early American colleges which frequently ran deficits and were enabled to continue their work only through heroic sacrifices by their officers, faculties,

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