Part 44 (1/2)
Jones, and before he was aware of it, he found himself at the head of a school for young men. This was in the autumn of 1851. He had erected for himself, meantime, a house of the same material of the old church, cement. It still stands on the hill north of the Milwaukee depot. The parlor of that house was at that time unfinished. It was lathed but not plastered. Mr. Jones said to the young men, if they would get one coat of plastering put onto that room, and put in some temporary seats made of slabs, they could have the use of it for a school room. The offer was promptly accepted, and, in due time, the school began in good earnest. One of the number would act as monitor in the school-room for a week, and then another, until the honor had been enjoyed by all. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were the first professors of the inst.i.tution, coming in at regular hours to hear recitations.
The branches of study pursued in the new academy were reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, algebra, grammar, Latin and Greek. Due attention was also given to composition, declamation, and vocal music. For six months that school continued in perfect harmony and marked success.
The term closed sometime in June, I think 1852, with public exercises appropriate to the occasion. The place of meeting was in a grove immediately in front of the school-room. The order of exercises, as nearly as I can remember, consisted in singing and prayer of course, recitations, reading of essays, and declamations. Everything pa.s.sed off pleasantly and satisfactorily, and I believe the school was p.r.o.nounced a success. This effort convinced Mr. Jones more than ever of the need of a permanent school of a higher order. He therefore wrote on to Knox college, I think to Professor Blanchard, to see if one of the graduates could not come and take charge of the school. The result was that Mr. David Blakely, then a recent graduate of Knox college, came in the fall of 1852 and opened the school in the church. The school then a.s.sumed the name of the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute. Mr. Blakely held the position of princ.i.p.al of that school for two years, and then resigned his position to enter the active work of the gospel ministry, in which he is still engaged. During all this time the school was kept up with unabated interest, many students coming in from the country round about, and several from remote parts of the state. At least three of the members of that school entered the ministry, and are still engaged in the active duties of the sacred calling: one. Rev. Hiram Hill, in California; another, Rev. William Campbell, in Kansas; and the third in this state. It was during the spring of 1853, I think, that Mr. Jones was sent as a commissioner to the General a.s.sembly (N. S.) which met in Buffalo, N. Y. During his absence the school at home occupied his thoughts and called out all the energies of his ardent nature. He determined if possible to secure aid in the east by which to place the school upon a permanent basis, having for its chief end the education of indigent young men for the gospel ministry. He was not disappointed in his purpose. Guided no doubt by an all-wise Providence, he met Mr. Daniel Coe, who listened to his earnest appeal, and gave him the money with which the eighty acres of ground, where the college now stands, and these two lots now occupied by this church and chapel, and a lot now occupied by the M. E. church, were secured, Dr. J. F. Ely making the purchase. You will see then, that out of the little school, started in the first pastor's house, has grown Coe college, and Rev. Williston Jones was its founder.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: W. F. KING, LL. D. Long President Cornell College]
It can thus be easily seen that the yearning of Mr. Jones to see a school provided in Cedar Rapids was a fire in his bones. And so, when in the providence of G.o.d, he was in attendance at a meeting of the General a.s.sembly of the Presbyterian church (New School) which was held in May, 1853, in the city of Buffalo, N. Y., he sought to interest everyone whom he met in the cause of Christian education in the west.
At that same session of the General a.s.sembly was a minister of the Presbyterian church from the Catskill mountain region of New York state. He said to Mr. Jones, in substance. ”I cannot help you myself, but I believe I know a man in my section of the country who can and will, and if you come home with me to Durham, Greene county, New York, I will introduce you to him.” The man alluded to was Mr. Daniel Coe, an elder of the church, already deeply interested in the cause of Christian education and preparing to help according to his ability when the suitable opportunity was afforded.
Mr. Jones went to Durham and met Mr. Coe, and presenting to him the matter nearest to his heart, the founding of a school of christian learning in the new world beyond the Mississippi. Mr. Coe gladly consented to a.s.sist in the enterprise. The sum promised, $1,500, would be considered in these days a very meagre one, but in 1853, and in Iowa, it must have seemed like $15,000 or more would seem now to us, and Mr. Jones must have welcomed the proffered aid with delight.
When he returned to his home in Cedar Rapids and to his brethren of the Presbytery of Iowa City, of which he was a member, he made such encouraging statements concerning the treatment he had received at the General a.s.sembly, and especially concerning the offer of Mr. Coe, that there was formed in Cedar Rapids a corporation by the name of the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute, which prepared articles and filed them for record August 9, 1853. All persons owning one share of stock each in the Inst.i.tute became thereby members of the corporation, each share of stock being of the value of $25.00. Article twelve of the fourteen articles of corporation reads as follows:
”The Iowa City Presbytery in consideration of five scholars.h.i.+ps for the first five years, and of ten scholars.h.i.+ps thereafter, shall have the right to nominate all teachers of the Inst.i.tute, subject, however, to confirmation by the Board of Directors, but this right shall be forfeited if said consideration should at any time fail.”
There is no reason to suppose from the records that this consideration was ever fulfilled.
Article thirteen gives the names of the directors: Williston Jones, John F. Ely, W. W. Smith, Seymour D. Carpenter, Addison Daniels, Isaac Cook, William Greene, John L. Shearer, and Aaron Van Dorn; and the following persons as officers of the board: George Greene, president; Samson C. Bever, treasurer; David Blakely, secretary.
It is very interesting to note that of these persons there is one who survives to this day, Mr. W. W. Smith, who at a very advanced age still lives at Minneapolis.
The first meeting of this board of directors was held July 18, 1853, and it was at that meeting that Mr. Jones presented the instrument of writing signed by Daniel Coe, of the county of Greene, in the state of New York, making a conditional donation to the Inst.i.tute of the sum of $1,500, of which the following is a copy:
”CONDITIONAL DONATION TO CEDAR RAPIDS COLLEGIATE INSt.i.tUTE
”Know all men by these presents that I, Daniel Coe, of the town of Durham, County of Greene, and State of New York, in view of the educational wants of the great and growing West, and in expectation of its resulting in the establishment of a permanent inst.i.tution of learning, do hereby engage to give in behalf of Iowa City Presbytery, connected with the const.i.tutional General a.s.sembly of the Presbyterian Church which met at Buffalo, May 19th, 1853, to Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute the following sums for the object hereinafter specified, to-wit: Four Hundred and twenty-five Dollars ($425.00) for the purchase of as large and suitable tract of land as practicable as a site for the location of the inst.i.tute. And Seventy-five Dollars ($75.00) for fencing of the same. Also One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00) to be appropriated in the best manner for a farm contiguous to the site, the avails of which are to be appropriated to the best advantage for the benefit of such students as may need to a.s.sist themselves by manual labor. Of these two sums the first mentioned, consisting of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), can be secured to the Inst.i.tute as a part of its property by the erection upon its site thus purchased of a building costing at least Two Thousand Dollars ($2000.00), and the last mentioned One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00) can be thus secured by bringing the Inst.i.tute into successful operation. _Provided_ that if these conditions fail, or if the Inst.i.tute be removed or diverted from its original design, either or both of these donations shall be forfeited, and the land purchased shall revert back to the said Daniel Coe, his heirs, executors, or administrators.
”Dr. John F. Ely, Hon. George Greene, Dr. S. D. Carpenter, Isaac Cook, Esq., James Ferguson, and Williston Jones are hereby authorized to act for me in the selection and purchasing for said Inst.i.tute the above mentioned site and farm, and are to draw on me for the money; of which sum Seven Hundred Dollars ($700.00) can be drawn at any time, and the remaining Eight Hundred Dollars ($800.00) one year from the date of this engagement.
”It is my strong desire that this Inst.i.tute should be made available for the education of females as well as males.”
It is evidently to be seen that it was the purpose of Mr. Coe to enable the directors of the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute to maintain a school of learning to be conducted in a building within easy access to the town, and at the same time aid such students as needed a.s.sistance through the products of the farm purchased on the edge of the town.
Steps were taken at once to procure two sites, one for the school building, the other for the farm. And after considerable inquiry and debate, two sites were chosen and purchased: the one for the school building consisting of the two lots on which the First Presbyterian church of this city now stands and has stood since 1869; the other for the farm, consisting of a plot of eighty acres, of which the present campus of Coe College of ten acres, is the southwestern extremity.
The town lots were purchased for $275.00. The eighty acres were bought for $1000.00. These eighty acres were obtained from Mr. Otho S. Bowling by Dr. John F. Ely, who bought them with Mr. Coe's money for the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute. The date of the purchase is December 5, 1853. Mr. Bowling had obtained the land at the price of $820.00 from the executors of the estate of Mr. Joshua Phillips, of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Phillips had died at his residence in Pennsylvania at some time between the 15th of December, 1852, and the 4th of January, 1853, and he had himself obtained the property in Cedar Rapids by patent from the United States government May 1, 1848. So that the plot of ground which figures in such a vital manner in the history of Coe College had pa.s.sed through but two hands before being transferred to the Collegiate Inst.i.tute from the government which had obtained it from the Indians.
It has also appeared that it was the wish of Mr. Coe and the design of the directors of the school that the building to cost $2000.00 should be erected as soon as practicable upon the town lots. But the erection of this building was delayed for various causes and especially in consequence of the lack of funds. Meanwhile, a school of very elementary character was maintained in the building used as their house of wors.h.i.+p by the First Presbyterian church, and Mr. David Blakely was obtained as princ.i.p.al at a salary of $400.00 per annum, payable quarterly.
As time went on it was found to be more difficult than seemed probable in the beginning, to obtain subscriptions for the erection of the building of a school of just the character that seemed within the feeble means of the directors. And it became even more difficult, if not impossible, to maintain the school in the building occupied by the Presbyterian church. For it would appear that this community of Cedar Rapids was in process of organizing a general public school system, and no place seemed to exist for a parochial school of the elementary character that was then being conducted by the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute, at least in so small a community and one so feebly provided with material funds.
Therefore, through the want of proper sustenance, everyone connected with the Inst.i.tute and notably the princ.i.p.al upon whom the chief burden fell became wholly discouraged and the Presbytery of Iowa City, that had a certain relations.h.i.+p to the school and interest in its success, proposed to put the school on wheels and offer it to the highest bidder, naming several localities among which were: Vinton, Waterloo, Lyons, Cedar Falls, Newton, and Iowa City.[M]
It will surely be of interest to learn [See _Minutes Iowa City Presbytery_, Mt. Vernon, February 4, 1857] that the citizens and proprietors of Comanche offered a site and subscriptions to the amount of $10,000, or $200.00 more than any other town, for the location of the Collegiate Inst.i.tute of the Presbytery. Vinton also made a strong bid for the school and hoped to capture it, and might have done so had it not been that the eighty acre plot of ground, which was the only financial a.s.set of the inst.i.tution, was securely fastened down in Cedar Rapids, and Mr. Coe hesitated as to the propositions for the removal of the school.
But these internal and external discussions acted in a very unfavorable manner upon the Inst.i.tute, and led to the winding up of its affairs, for there is no record of any meeting of its board of directors subsequent to July 26, 1859.
Meanwhile, a new star of hope arose in the heavens, and for several years at least it was a star of considerable brilliancy. It was made known, namely, that the will of Mr. Lewis Baldwin Parsons, a benefactor and philanthropist, and who died in Detroit, Michigan, December 21, 1855, after a successful life as a manufacturer in Buffalo, N. Y., contained a bequest setting aside a very considerable amount of money to found a Presbyterian college in Iowa. It could not be a matter of surprise, therefore, that the brethren in Cedar Rapids, who had struggled so hard to found a college with Mr. Coe's donation, and who had been so sorely disappointed, should now with enthusiasm welcome the thought that the Parsons legacy might be located here and be added to the Coe donation, and thus become the foundation of a strong college in Iowa in connection with the Presbyterian church. Accordingly, steps were taken to incorporate a new body of stockholders into an organization to be known as Parsons Seminary. The date of the first meeting with this end in view is November 10, 1866, and the following persons were chosen to serve as officers until the annual meeting in December: Rev. James Knox, president; Hon. George Greene, vice-president; Dr. John F. Ely, secretary; and Mr. S. C. Bever, treasurer.
At the annual meeting, December 3, 1866, the following officers were chosen: George Greene, president; James Knox, vice-president; John F.
Ely, secretary; W. W. Walker, treasurer.
It was resolved immediately that Mr. Coe should be requested to deed to the new organization the eighty acres of land already donated by him to the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Inst.i.tute, and at a meeting of the board of trustees of Parsons Seminary, held January 4, 1867, Judge Greene, president of the board, reported that he had visited Mr. Daniel Coe at his home in Durham, N. Y., and had procured from him the deed to Parsons Seminary of the land in question.
This most generous act of Mr. Coe reveals the large and unselfish character of the man and declares the n.o.bility of his motive to promote the cause of high christian education in the west.