XXIX.-FINDLAY COLLEGE.

(FINDLAY, HANCOCK COUNTY.)

The first steps toward the establishment of this institution were taken during the sittings of the general eldership of the Church of God, in Findlay, Ohio, in May, 1881. This body meets triennially, and is composed of ministerial and lay delegates appointed by the various annual elderships throughout the United States. The question of founding an institution of learning had been agitated for a number of years, but prior to this time nothing definite or permanent had been agreed upon. A special session was devoted to the consideration of this project; the discussions were animated and unanimous in favor of a college, several thousand dollars being subscribed at once for such a purpose. The whole matter was then referred to the board of education of the general eldership, with instructions to take at once the necessary steps toward locating and establishing a college to be owned and controlled by the Church of God in North America, but to be unsectarian in its influence, and to extend equal privileges to all, irrespective of sex, race, or color. From the beginning there has been great uuanimity of sentiment in regard to making the college in every respect a first-class institution. This called for concentrated effort. To insure the latter, the location must be central. Hence, Ohio was chosen as the State, and the activity and liberality of the citizens of Findlay elected their city as the site of the new college.

On the 28th of January, 1882, the college was incorporated under the title of "Findlay College." The following are the names of the original incorporators: Jeremiah M. Carvell, Robert L. Byrnes, of Pennsylvania; Isaac Schrader, of Indiana; Tobias Koogle, Jacob M. Cassel, Anderson C. Heck, John C. Strickler, and George F. Pendleton, of Ohio.

A college building has been erected four stories in height, and 171 by 107 feet in dimensions. The financial assets amount to something over $100,000.

There are three departments of instruction. The theological department holds a prominent place. The collegiate department grants three degrees, A. B., PH. B., and B. S. There is also an English and normal department.

The attendance in 1889 numbers 287 students, distributed as follows: Collegiate, 44; preparatory, 90; English and normal, 130; theological, 5. The president is John R. H. Latchaw, A. M.

XXX.-WILMINGTON COLLEGE.

(WILMINGTON, CLINTON COUNTY.)

In June 1863, articles of incorporation were issued to the religious denomination known as the Christian for the establishment of an institution of learning to be called Franklin College, and located at Tupper's Plains, Meigs County. In 1866 a building was erected at Wilmington. The school was carried on successfully until 1868, when, owing to finan cial embarrassment, it was found necessary to sell the college property. At this point the Friends, or Quakers, as they are usually called, some of whom had already been interested in the work, conceived the idea of purchasing the building and organizing an institution of learning under the control of the Fairfield, Center, and Miami quarterly meetings. of that denomination. On August 17, 1870, the property was sold at sheriff's sale, and was bid in by a committee appointed by the aforesaid quarterly meeting. An arrangement was made with Lewis A. Estees, of Westfield, Ind., who thereupon assumed the responsibility of the school for 10 years, agreeing "to look to tuition fees for remuneration for all his said services and expenses."

During the first year 148 students were enrolled. Mr. Estees, however, presented his resignation in 1874, after which the doors of the institution were closed for a short period. After varying experiences the endowment reached the amount of $30,000 in 1881, and during recent years its enrollment of students has reached 200.

The president of the college is James B. Unthank, who has held the position since 1881.

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XXXI.-RIO GRANDE COLLEGE.

(RIO GRANDE, GALLIA COUNTY. }

[Sketch by President J. M. DAVIS.]

This school owes its existence to the Christian benevolence of Deacon Nehemiah Atwood and his wife, Parmelia Atwood. They were mar ried in 1819, and spent all of their subsequent lives in Raccoon Township, Gallia County, Ohio, where they accumulated an estate of about $100,000. About the year 1850 Rev. Ira Z. Haning, a young minister of the gospel in the Freewill Baptist denomination, who had been for some time a student in the Ohio University at Athens, was doing evangelistic work in Huntington and Raccoon Townships. Under his ministry Mr. and Mrs. Atwood were converted and joined the Freewill Baptist Church, being baptized January 26, 1851.

From that time until their death they were active in Christian work and liberal in the support of the church and its benevolent enterprises. They gave $2,000 to the church at Rio Grande and gave a considerable sum to the West Virginia College at Flemington, W. Va.

Gradually the purpose of giving their entire estate to found and endow an institution for higher Christian education in the place where their lives had been spent and their estate accumulated was developed and matured largely through the suggestions and invited counsels of Mr. Haning; but no steps had been taken to carry out this purpose prior to Mr. Atwood's death in December, 1869. His widow soon began to move in this direction.

A campus was laid out and the main college building erected. This is a brick building with stone basement. It is three stories high above the basement, and has fourteen large rooms for recitation and for library and society halls. It contains the chapel, which occupies the entire upper story. It cost about $17,000, this money being furnished by Mrs. Wood (after Mr. Atwood's death his widow married Mr. Harrison Wood) to a committee consisting of Rev. Ira Z. Haning and Messrs. G. W. Eagle and T. W. Hampton. Its corner stone was laid in September, 1875, by Revs. S. D. Bates and W. Whitacre.

On the 1st day of November, 1875, a meeting was held in Gallipolis for the purpose of effecting a legal organization, and the articles of association were written and adopted. The preamble to these articles is in the following words:

We, the undersigned, and our associates, grateful for the natural advantages, providential blessings, and Christian civilization granted to us and our country, desire to

recognize and discharge the obligations enforced by such privileges; and, believing that a sound education, based upon Christian principles and ethics, is necessary to the development and support of our religious institutions and the present and future welfare of our race, have resolved to establish an institution of learning at Rio Grande, in Gallia County and State of Ohio, and having received pledges from Mrs. Parmelia Wood to the amount of over $50,000 and the positive payment of over $20,000 from the same party, do hereby adopt the following articles of association, and appoint the persons herein named trustees to manage and control said institution according to the laws of Ohio and the theology and practice of the Freewill Baptist denomination.

The denominational control of the college is provided for by an arti cle requiring two-thirds of the members of the board of trustees to be members in good standing of the Freewill Baptist Church, and the repeal of this article is forbidden.

The persons adopting the articles of association were Parmelia Wood, Harrison Wood, I. Z. Haning, G. W. Eagle, W. C. Eagle, R. P. Porter, W. H. McNeal, J. C. Gross, T. W. Hampton, and J. H. Evans. They organized with Rev. I. Z. Haning as president and W. H. McNeal as secretary, and chose a full board of trustees, consisting of twenty-four members.

On the same day a certificate of appraisement, in which the building and grounds were valued at $20,500, was filed with the auditor of Gallia County.

The trustees met at Rio Grande December 9, 1875, and made arrangements for the erection of a boarding ball. This was soon afterward built at a cost of $13,000, which was paid by Mrs. Wood.

At another meeting, held June 30, 1876, the trustees adopted by-laws, elected an executive committee of nine members, and made arrangements for the opening of the college for the work of instruction.

The college was dedicated August 29, 1876. The dedicatory address was made by Rev. Ransom Dunu, D. D. A response, on behalf of the Freewill Baptist denomination, was made by A. A. Moulton, A. M., and a response on behalf of the people by Rev. H. L. Whitehead.

The following resolution was adopted by the people present:

Resolved, That we gratefully recognize the noble generosity of Mrs. Wood in what has already been accomplished in this college work, and pledge our sympathy and coöperation in the prosecution of the enterprise.

In the afternoon of the same day Dr. Dunn delivered an address on "The power and advantage of a collegiate education."

During the summer a faculty, consisting of Rev. R. Dunn, D. D., Albanus A. Moulton, A. M., George A. Slayton, A. M., and Miss Nellie M. Phillips, B. S., had been chosen, Dr. Dunn being president.

The college was opened September 13, 1876. As was to be expected, all of the students present the first year were of the preparatory grade, but the teachers at once arranged a course of study substantially equal to those in the first-class colleges of the Western States. This policy was sanctioned at a meeting of the board of trustees on June 28, 1877,

and the line of work for the future was thus marked out. Since that time the work of the college has continued according to those plans.

The courses of study are the English and normal; the preparatory, both scientific and classical, and the collegiate. both scientific and classical.

The following studies belong to the English and normal course: Orthography and reading, English grammar, mental arithmetic, practical arithmetic, higher arithmetic, geography, penmanship, United States history, mathematical geography and map drawing, composition and rhetoric, physical geography, algebra, physiology, bookkeeping, civil government, elementary physics, and pedagogy.

The scientific preparatory course is 2 years in length; the classical preparatory, 3.

The college courses are each 4 years in length. The scientific course contains no Greek. There is 1 year each of German and French in each of the college courses.

Rev. Ransom Dunn, D. D., was president of the college from its organization until 1879. He then resigned and was succeeded by Albanus A. Moulton, A. M., a graduate of Yale College and a teacher here from the beginning. In 1885 he was granted a leave of absence on account of failing health. In 1887 he resigned, and Rev. J. M. Davis, A. M., PH. D., a graduate of the Ohio University, who had been teaching in the college since 1879, and who had been acting president for the 2 preceding years, became president. In addition to the president the following is the faculty at present, September, 1889: Rufus D. Jacobs, M. D., lecturer on chemistry; J. W. Jones, A. M., professor of mathematics and Greek; C. O. Clarke, A. M., instructor in English department; Miss Ruth E. Brockett, A. M., preceptress, teacher of rhetoric and German; Mrs. Ida H. Brandyberry, PH. B., teacher of history and instrumental music.

Dr. Jacobs does not perform regular class-room work.

The attendance has never been large, averaging about 110 yearly. The first class was graduated from the collegiate department in 1883. Up to the present time 17 have been graduated from this department, 10 having taken the classical and 7 the scientific course.

The college has had a marked beneficial effect upon the intellectual and moral life of the region in which it is located.

Mrs. Wood paid the current expenses of the college not met by fees from students until her death in March, 1885. She bequeathed her private estate, appraised at $80,000, to the college for an endowment fund. Her relatives have tried to have her will set aside, but have been defeated in two suits instituted for this purpose. A third suit has been instituted, but it is not believed that any part of this fund will be diverted from its benevolent purpose.

Rev. W. J. Fulton has been president of the board of trustees since