Tag Archives: William Newton Clarke

p. 230 – Colgate in the 1890’s

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Following Professor Thurber’s resignation in 1895, Professor Sisson was made Acting Principal for one year and Professor Frank L. Shepardson succeeded to the vacancy in 1896. A graduate of Brown, he came to Colgate with a fine record as a teacher and as principal of Worcester Academy in Massachusetts. He was to discharge his duties in the Academy with distinction and on its closing in 1912 became Treasurer of the University and Professor of Greek.

Theological instruction in the 1890’s was strengthened and made flexible by the introduction of electives in 1892 and by lengthening all courses of study from two to three years. In 1894, as a new departure, a Bachelor of Divinity degree was authorized for students graduated with an A.B. who had taken the full three-year course, including courses in Hebrew and the Semitic languages and written a thesis.

Easily the most outstanding Seminary professor was William Newton Clarke who had been induced in 1890 to leave the pastorate of the village Baptist church to fill the vacant chair in theology of the late Dr. Dodge. No appointment could have been more momentous. He had graduated from Madison in 1861, served the University for many years as Trustee and Secretary of the Board, been minister to churches in New England and Montreal, and taught in the Toronto Baptist College. For some time he had struggled with theological problems in a period when new interpretations and analyses gave rise to much controversy. His first classroom lectures were the distillation of his advanced thinking and evoked keen interest and active discussion. Though he provoked harsh criticism for what many considered his unorthodox ideas, he maintained that he “endeavored reverently and honestly to deal with the Christian truth.” His students were not required to agree with their teacher but rather “encouraged to think for themselves and form their own conclusions.” These lectures saw publication in 1894 as Outline of Christian Theology, which has gone through 21 editions and represents a milestone in the development of progressive theology in the United States.

Among Dr. Clarke’s colleagues was David F. Estes, a graduate of the University of Vermont, who had studied at the Newton Theological Institution and at Gottingen, had taught in the Atlanta Baptist College, and been pastor in four New England churches. He took over Dr. Harvey’s courses in New Testament in 1891 and in 1892 followed Professor Thomas as University Librarian. Arthur Jones was added in

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p. 207 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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lenged. In 1878 the Democrats objected to their voting and three were arrested. On the grounds that they had severed their connections with their former homes and lived in Hamilton and supported themselves by their own efforts and with scholarship assistance it was later held they met the residence qualifications for the franchise. With the approach of presidential elections students organized their own political clubs and in one campaign, at least, went out stump-speaking for their candidates.

Townspeople and most of the students and faculty attended the regular Sunday service at the Baptist Church; classes of the three divisions of the University had their assigned seats in the gallery. The pastors of the period-Walter R. Brooks, James M. Stiller, Stephen H. Stackpole and William Newton Clarke-were popular with the stu-

First Baptist Church c. 1900, Hamilton History 2, Folder 62, p207

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p. 196 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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Society, apparently anticipating possible criticism, appointed a standing committee in 1888 to examine classes and departments and to report to the Board.

Dr. Dodge’s liberality as Professor of Christian Theology undoubtedly encouraged his Seminary faculty colleagues to venture in new directions. His theology was always open to revision, Dr. Maynard recalled..Yet, he had a strong conservative strain and was no iconoclast. Dr. William Newton Clarke, his friend and successor, saw him as “swift in spirit, and cautious in step.” He permitted wide freedom in class discussion and had consideration and patience for students, no matter how extreme their views.

Professor Hezekiah Harvey, who had resigned from the faculty in 1864 returned in 1869 as Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Pastoral Theology. A saintly man who suffered from chronic ill health, he held a moderate position, emphasizing an evangelical creed. He had no quarrel with Biblical scholarship as such but rejected radical interpretations; his real concern was to teach in terms of the “practical necessities of the pastorate.”

The third division of the University, the Grammar School, or Colgate Academy, developed its own organization and policies independently of the College and Seminary with the completion of its building in 1874. The University Trustees, of course, maintained a general oversight. Mr. James B. Colgate was especially interested in its fortunes and liked to visit the school and address the students. He felt that the faculty should stress instruction in morals and stated “If any teacher dare to teach . . . sentiments subversive to the teachings of God’s word, let him be dismissed.” The school’s major purpose continued to be preparation for college but it did offer an “English and Scientific Course” for those not planning to go on. A large percentage of the graduates entered the College. Francis W. Towle, ’62, was principal 1873-82, and James W. Ford, ’73, followed him from 1883 to 1888. Outstanding among the faculty was Eugene P. Sisson, a graduate of Oswego Normal School, who joined the staff in 1873 after five years as principal of the Hamilton High School. He was sometimes acting principal and taught in the Academy until its closing in 1912 when he became Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the College. A natural teacher, “Daddy” Sisson won and held the affection of his students who prized his fatherly oversight and timely encouragement.

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p. 161 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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The Steward also provided furnishings and bedding for the dormito­ry rooms until the late ’50’s; the occupants were left to supply wood or coal for their stoves and tallow· candles and sperm oil lamps for illumination. Flowers and plants, occasionally found in the windows, afforded a homelike touch. Bathing facilities consisted bf a bath house to which spring water was piped down the hill. In winter some Spartan youths took morning showers in the ice-cold water, roaring with pain at the shock, and then wrapped in overcoats, they dashed to their warm rooms to recover.

To relieve the tedium of study in the long winter months, there were innocent amusements such as skating on the Chenango Canal, coasting, or bees to fill the Steward’s ice-house, followed by a savory supper. In summer, students took long walks, often stopping to pick strawberries, or went on brief camping trips to nearby ponds. Then, too, there were opportunities throughout the year for the companionship of the young ladies in the Hamilton Female Seminary, or “Ham Fem Sem” as it was popularly known, which local citizens had established in 1856. Its receptions were social highlights to which the young men eagerly sought invitations and reciprocated by taking the girls to campus events such as the literary societies’ public exhibitions and baseball games. Some village homes, especially Deacon Charles C. Payne’s, welcomed the boys from the Hill. They also found diversion and stimulation at public lectures by such noted men as Emerson, Beecher, Gough, and George William Curtis.

The pronounced religious atmosphere which had pervaded campus life from the 1820’s moderated somewhat after 1850 as a result of the growing number of non-ministerial students and of outside pressures, particularly the issues which led to the Civil War and the effects of that conflict. Most students were church members, however, and participated in prayer meetings and other religious exercises; the Students Association annually elected a theologue to deliver a sermon at one of its assemblies. With the dissolution of the Seminary Church in 1851, all members of the University attended morning services with the village Baptist congregation and shared in their five stirring re­vivals in the ’50’s and ’60’s. Frequently the faculty supplied the pulpit, but Walker R. Brooks, pastor from 1856 to 1873, made the most profound intellectual and spiritual impression. William Newton Clarke, Class of 1861, who was to become one of the most eminent theologians of the Baptists, once said that sometimes as he sat in the

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