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HOBART 
 
 THE STORY OF A 
 HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 1822-1922 
 
 DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 GENEVA, NEW YORK 
 
 Published by Hobart College 
 At the Press of W. F. Humphrey ’82 
 
 1922 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/hobartstoryofhunOOhoba 
 
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 PREFACE 
 
 On the occasion of the One Hundredth Anni- 
 versary of the granting of a provisional college 
 v charter to Geneva Academy by the Regents of 
 the University of the State of New York, April 
 10, 1822, the College has deemed it appropriate 
 to publish a collection of documents relating to 
 its foundation and the early years of its corpo¬ 
 rate existence. Some of these documents were 
 printed by Bishop Perry in the excellent account 
 of the College which he contributed to W. H. 
 McIntosh’s History of Ontario County, Philadel¬ 
 phia, 1876. But that mighty folio has been long 
 out of print, and almost all the papers here pre¬ 
 sented are now inaccessible. Not a few are here 
 made public for the first time. 
 
 In the preface to Hobart: the Story of a Hun¬ 
 dred Years, published in 1921, the hope was ex¬ 
 pressed that a more comprehensive draft of that 
 <0 historical sketch, with important documents, 
 might be brought out this year. It has been 
 thought better to offer merely this Documentary 
 Appendix, which together with the history should 
 furnish a fairly adequate view of Hobart’s past. 
 The arrangement of the documents follows, as 
 closely as circumstances permit, that of the his¬ 
 torical sketch. 
 
 E. J. W. 
 
 April, 1922. M. H. T. 
 
 
The pages are here numbered continuously with the 
 historical sketch, to which this Appendix belongs, and with 
 which some copies of it will be bound. 
 
LIST OF DOCUMENTS 
 
 SECTION I 
 
 Geneva Academy Becomes a College 
 
 1. Letter from the Rev. Amos G. Baldwin to President Hale 
 
 describing the grant from Trinity Church to Fairfield Acade¬ 
 my, subsequently transferred to Geneva Academy. 
 
 2. Subscriptions to Geneva Academy, Jan. 11, 1813. 
 
 3. Charter of Geneva Academy, March 29, 1813. 
 
 4. Resolutions relative to the discontinuance of Geneva Academy. 
 
 5. Statement of Thomas Davies Burrall relative to Bishop 
 
 Hobart’s plan for establishing a college at Geneva. 
 
 6. Bishop Hobart selects the College site, 1820. 
 
 7. Subscription Paper for the erection of Geneva Hall, February 
 
 15, 1821. 
 
 8. Colonel Troup’s offer of land at Mile Point as an alternative 
 
 site for the College, March 26, 1821. 
 
 9. Report of the professors of the Branch Theological School 
 
 at Geneva, 1821. 
 
 10. Letter from the Rev. D. McDonald and the Rev. Orin Clark 
 
 to Bishop Hobart relative to the establishment of a college 
 in Geneva, Dec. 13, 1821. 
 
 11. Advertisement of Geneva Academy, Dec. 29, 1821. 
 
 12. Petition for a College Charter for Geneva Academy, Jan. 
 
 22, 1822. 
 
 13. Letter from Bishop Hobart to Lieut.-Gov. Tayler urging the 
 
 granting of a College Charter to Geneva Academy, Mar. 
 13, 1822. 
 
 14. Certification of the granting of a provisional College Charter 
 
 to Geneva Academy on April 10, 1822. 
 
 15. Letter from Bishop Hobart to the Rev. Dr. McDonald relative 
 
 to securing funds and selecting officers for the new college, 
 April 15, 1822. 
 
 16. Certificates employed in raising funds to secure a permanent 
 
 charter. 
 
 17. Report to the Assembly, Feb. 21, 1824, recommending a 
 
 grant to the College. 
 
 18. Petition to the Regents for a permanent Charter, Jan. 1, 1825 . 
 
 The Permanent Charter, granted Feb. 8, 1825, is printed, 
 with amendments, at the end of this Appendix. 
 
 19. Report to the Senate, Feb. 23, 1825, recommending a grant 
 
 of $50,000 to Geneva College. 
 
 20. Instrument renouncing claims on General Theological Semi¬ 
 
 nary, June 24, 1826. 
 
 21. First Commencement of Geneva College, Aug. 2, 1826. 
 
SECTION II 
 
 The Church and The College 
 
 1. Extract from Bishop Hobart’s Address to the Convention of 
 
 the Diocese, Oct. 17, 1821. 
 
 2. Bishop Hobart’s Address, and the Resolutions of the Con¬ 
 
 vention, concerning the endowment of Geneva College, 
 Oct. 15, 1822. 
 
 3. Application to the Wardens and Vestry of Trinity Church, 
 
 New York, April 22, 1847. 
 
 4. Minute and Resolution adopted by the Corporation of Trinity 
 
 Church, New York, May 12, 1848. 
 
 5. Extracts from President Hale’s letter to the Rev. William 
 
 Berrian, Rector of Trinity Church, New York, May 26, 
 1851. 
 
 6. Resolution adopted by the Corporation of Trinity Church 
 
 in response to a second appeal, Nov. 14, 1851. 
 
 SECTION III 
 The English Course 
 
 1. A Course of Education proposed to be pursued in Geneva 
 
 College, March 1, 1824. 
 
 2. Observations upon the Project for Establishing Geneva 
 
 College, New York, 1824. 
 
 SECTION IV 
 
 Charter of Hobart College 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 I. Geneva Academy Becomes a College 
 
 1. LETTER FROM THE REV. AMOS G. BALDWIN TO 
 
 PRESIDENT HALE* 
 
 DESCRIBING THE GRANT FROM TRINITY CHURCH TO 
 
 FAIRFIELD ACADEMY 
 
 To the Rev. Benjamin Hale , D.D ., 
 
 President of the College of Geneva. 
 
 Sir: 
 
 Five years ago Mr. W. S. DeZengexpressed tome a 
 wish that I would put into his hands a bundle of papers 
 which were in my possession, relating to the grants of 
 Trinity Church, New York, to the Academy in Fairfield, 
 Herkimer Co., which grants being transferred with addi¬ 
 tions, were the foundation of Geneva College. Mr. De 
 Zeng’s object in asking for the papers was to draw up 
 from them some account of the events which led to the 
 establishment of Geneva College. No other person than 
 myself can write the history of those early events, for this 
 reason: The design of obtaining the grants from Trinity 
 Church to Fairfield Academy originated in my own mind 
 and was carried into effect chiefly by my instrumentality; 
 as may be seen in the papers in my possession and which 
 will be quoted in the following pages. 
 
 The beginning of the gathering of an Episcopal Church 
 in Fairfield was as early as Dec. 1806 , just after I received 
 
 * MS. in the Archives of the College. 
 
 65 
 
66 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 deacon’s orders in Utica from the hands of Bishop Moore, 
 on his first visitation into Western New York. There were 
 at that time only two Episcopal Clergymen in this half 
 of the State, now the Western Diocese, Mr. Phelps and 
 Mr. J. Judd. The latter was in Utica, and removed to 
 Johnstown on my receiving orders, and I took charge of 
 the church in Utica and continued there till the end of 
 May 1818. 
 
 It was some years before another Episcopal Clergyman 
 came into Western New York. During six and a half 
 years I was half of the time in Utica, and the other half 
 in nearly all the places around Utica, where are now nine 
 Episcopal Clergymen. The number of the clergy in the 
 State and Union was small and few were coming into 
 Western New York, then fast rising toward the greatness 
 which it has now attained. My own labors were too 
 extended, and I saw^ the necessity of training up “the 
 sons of the soil” in our own institutions in order to secure 
 them to the Church and provide ministers for her altars. 
 The schools were everywhere in the hands of non-episco¬ 
 palians and we had few clergymen near the Academies which 
 were flourishing in Western New York, and there was not 
 a chartered College in this part of the State. 
 
 The Academy in Fairfield was among the most flourish¬ 
 ing this side of Albany. I began my labors there in Dec. 
 1806. In 1811 *we made our first effort to obtain aid from 
 Trinity Church, New York, to sustain a clergyman in that 
 place, our application being grounded on the influence 
 which the services of a clergyman would have on the minds 
 of the youth educated in the Academy there. I had performed 
 service there only one sixth of the time. Writing to Bishop 
 Moore, Rector of Trinity Church, under date of Oct. 
 8th, 1811, I said, “We do feel, my venerable Diocesan, 
 that in asking aid for the Church in Fairfield, we are 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 67 
 
 pleading the cause of the Church in the western district 
 of this State. The Academy in that place is very flourish¬ 
 ing, and were a clergyman of learning and piety settled 
 there, the young men, educated in that seminary, would 
 have an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the 
 Church, and the advantages to the Church at large would 
 be great.” This was the first application to Trinity 
 Church, New York, which had a bearing on the events 
 which concurred in obtaining the patronage of Trinity 
 Church to Geneva College. And you see what were our 
 enlarged views at that early period. 
 
 Within two months of the date of the letter from which 
 the above extract is made the Principal of the Academy, 
 the Rev. Caleb Alexander, resigned his place in that in¬ 
 stitution. Our previous action to obtain aid for the 
 Church there, as stated in the above extract, had prepared 
 our minds for making the effort to fill the vacancy with 
 an Episcopal Clergyman. I made the proposition to the 
 trustees of the Academy, which received their approbation; 
 and the next April, 1812, I went to New York with a 
 petition from the trustees of Fairfield Academy to Trinity 
 Church, the nature and object of which will appear from the 
 following extracts made from that paper: “Your petition¬ 
 ers by two resolutions of the board passed the 12th inst. 
 (April 1812) Resolved unanimously, That an application 
 be made to the honorable the Corporation of Trinity Church 
 in the city of New York for a competent fund to obtain a 
 charter for a College agreeable to an ordinance of the 
 Regents of the University, upon condition that the Presi¬ 
 dent of said College, if a charter should be obtained, shall 
 forever thereafter be an Episcopal Clergyman. “Re¬ 
 solved unanimously, That in case the honorable the 
 Corporation of Trinity Church should not see fit to endow 
 this Institution to a sufficient amount to obtain a Charter, 
 
68 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 that they be humbly requested to afford such endowment 
 as will be sufficient to support the Principal of the In¬ 
 stitution upon conditions as aforesaid, that he be ever 
 thereafter an Episcopal Clergyman; and that the Rev. 
 Amos G. Baldwin be appointed to present a petition to 
 Trinity Church for the purposes contained in the aforesaid 
 resolutions.” 
 
 I spent some three weeks in New York but could not get 
 the petition of the trustees of Fairfield Academy presented 
 to the vestry of Trinity Church, altho it was accompanied 
 by another of similar import from the Church in Fairfield. 
 Such was the favor which the application, stated in the 
 above resolutions, received from the heads of the Church, 
 both clerical and lay. 
 
 No farther effort was made till the next autumn. I 
 make the following extract from a letter written by me 
 to the Rev. Dr. Beach, assistant Rector of Trinity Church, 
 dated New York, Oct. 12th, 1812: “You know the anxiety 
 which I felt to obtain an Episcopal Clergyman for Fairfield, 
 who should be the Rector of the Church and the Principal 
 of the Academy in that place. This object is certainly 
 of great importance to the general interest of the Church 
 in the Western District of the State. We are in great want 
 of a Seminary of Learning in that quarter in which the 
 young men, designed for the ministry, may be educated 
 and to which Episcopalians generally may send their 
 sons. And, if the object which I have in view can be 
 obtained, there will be a nursery of the Church, and we 
 may expect that the facility of obtaining an education will 
 invite many young men in that quarter to prepare for the 
 ministry of the Church, who will otherwise never enter it. 
 These considerations press so forcibly upon my mind that I 
 do not feel myself at liberty to cease my exertions to obtain 
 an Episcopal minister at Fairfield till I have done all 
 that lies in me to obtain that important object.” . . . . 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 69 
 
 Thus the matter stood on the 12th of October, 1812, 
 on my leaving New York to return to Utica. About 
 that time some new features of the object which we had 
 in view came into my mind as I was crossing the high 
 lands which lie between Utica and Fairfield, returning 
 from the latter to the former place, which I communicated 
 to Dr. Bowden of Columbia College under date of October 
 20th, having previously submitted my views to leading 
 trustees of the Academy and obtained their approbation. 
 I wrote to Dr. Bowden: “The trustees of the Academy 
 authorize me to say, that they will give the Principal 
 thereof $550 per annum and allow him to instruct four 
 divinity scholars free of charges for tuition. The other 
 part of the plan is, that Trinity Church give to the Church 
 in Fairfield $250 per annum, and to the clergyman who 
 may be settled there $250 as theological instructor in the 
 institution, and that he divide among the divinity scholars 
 $50 per annum in the proportion he may think proper. 
 You will instantly see, much respected Sir, the advantages 
 of this plan, and I flatter myself that the vestry of Trinity 
 Church will act on it. About one-half of the last hundred 
 pounds will be directly appropriated to the educating 
 of young men for the ministry and some provision will be 
 made for keeping four constantly at school. And I be¬ 
 lieve you will think with me that this will be but a small 
 part of the advantages which the Church will derive from 
 this plan. We shall have in the Western District a nur¬ 
 sery of the Church, and Episcopalians, not only in this 
 district, but in other places also, will be induced to send 
 their sons there to receive their education.” Dr. Bowden 
 entered warmly into these views and was active in carry¬ 
 ing my plan into effect. 
 
 The vestry of the Church in Fairfield presented a peti¬ 
 tion to Trinity Church, embodying my plan, which was 
 
70 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 written, I think, by myself. I wrote also to Thos. L. 
 Ogden, Esqr., an efficient member of the vestry, stating 
 to him what was the prayer of the Church in Fairfield, 
 and soliciting his aid. In my communication to that 
 gentleman, dated Dec. 2nd, I said: ‘‘The Episcopal Church 
 in America is in great want of Seminaries of Learning 
 under her control, and the paucity of her ministers and her 
 depressed state is more owing to this than to any other 
 cause. A respectable institution may now be obtained 
 and we are solicitous to secure it. I hope your honorable 
 corporation will be pleased to grant the prayer of the 
 Church in Fairfield. It is very desirable and even neces¬ 
 sary that the vestry attend to this object immediately, 
 as the trustees of the institution are most anxious to 
 obtain a Principal.’’ 
 
 The vestry of Trinity Church acted immediately; the 
 plan which I originated and which was communicated 
 to that body and to distinguished individuals in the 
 Church, meeting with warm and general approbation. 
 I received letters from the Honorable Messrs. Robert 
 Troup and Peter Augustus Jay, and from Bishop Hobart; 
 from the two first dated Dec. 17th, 1812, and from the 
 latter dated the 26th, from which I will make extracts. 
 
 Col. Troup writes: “As the case of the Church at Fair- 
 field appears to be more pressing I write this to tell you that 
 the committee (of the vestry) have agreed to report a 
 grant of $500 per annum, for seven years, to that Church, 
 upon the conditions stated in your late communications.” 
 
 Mr. Jay writes: “We (a committee of the vestry) 
 yesterday agreed to report to the vestry a resolution for 
 granting to Fairfield Church for nine (seven) years the 
 sum of $500 annually, on the conditions which you have 
 proposed.” 
 
 And Bishop Hobart: “The Committee on the Church 
 petitions have agreed to report to the vestry in favor of a 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 71 
 
 grant of $500 per annum to the Church and Academy at 
 Fairfield, on the terms proposed by you, for seven years. 
 There is little doubt that the report will be agreed to by 
 the vestry at their next meeting, the first Monday in 
 January next. And at the end of the seven years, if the 
 plan should answer, I have no doubt the grant will be 
 renewed.” 
 
 The vestry of Trinity Church made the grant which 
 their committee proposed. 
 
 The next object was to obtain a Principal of the Acad¬ 
 emy and Rector of the Church. In this matter Bishop 
 Hobart and Dr. Bowden took an active but unsuccessful 
 part. I wrote to the Rev. Bethel Judd of Norwalk, 
 Conn., under date of March 9th, 1813, soliciting him to 
 fill those places. Mr. Judd visited Fairfield in April 
 and conditionally agreed to accept of the offers made him.* 
 But he perceived that the task would be great without an 
 assistant in the Academy. I met him at Fairfield and we 
 sat down together and made the draft of a letter to Col. 
 Troup, partly in my handwriting and partly in his, which 
 I copied and signed, and Mr. Judd delivered in person, 
 asking of the vestry of Trinity Church an additional grant 
 of $250 toward the payment of an assistant teacher. 
 
 *“The Rev. Bethel Judd was the first principal appointed under 
 this new arrangement, but in consequence of his removal to Con¬ 
 necticut, he ‘failed to fulfill his contract.’ 
 
 “The Rev. Virgil H. Barber subsequently entered upon the charge 
 of the academy, being succeeded in January, 1817, by the Rev. 
 Daniel McDonald, at that time rector of St. Peter’s, Auburn. With 
 his incumbency began a new epoch in the history of the institution 
 founded by the labors of Baldwin, and shortly to be developed, on 
 its transplanting to another site, into the free ‘college’ planned 
 by the Fairfield academy trustees at the time of their first application 
 for the aid of Trinity Church, New York.” The History of Hobart 
 College, Geneva, N. Y by William Stevens Perry, D. D., LL.D. 
 
72 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 What we asked was in due time granted, conditioned as 
 the former grant, namely, that four youth, designing 
 to enter the ministry, being recommended by the ecclesi¬ 
 astical authority of the Diocese, should receive their tuition 
 in the Academy free of charges. 
 
 Thus was the second grant to the academy in Fairfield 
 obtained from Trinity Church, both amounting to $750 
 per annum, for seven years, with a provision for the tuition 
 of eight young men, designing themselves for the ministry. 
 .... I have brought down the history of the Academy in 
 Fairfield as far as I intended when I sat down to write. 
 .... I removed from Utica in May 1818, up to which time I 
 took an interest in the Institution at Fairfield, in which 
 several of our clergy were educated, and among these are 
 some of the most efficient. Thus was my object obtained. 
 
 The patronage of Trinity Church to the Church and 
 Academy in Fairfield was transferred to Geneva after 
 my removal from Utica, in which transfer I had no agency. 
 
 A part of the Library which I collected in New York, 
 Albany, and Utica, to the value of $480, for the use of 
 students in Divinity and the Clergy, is now in the College. 
 
 So much I did, Mr. President, in days forgotten, for the 
 College over wdiich you preside with great honor to your¬ 
 self and usefulness to the Church and the community. 
 
 I am, with great respect and esteem, 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 Geneva , Dec. 3rd , 181+0. Amos G. Baldwin 
 
 2. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO GENEVA ACADEMY* 
 
 Whereas the general diffusion of knowledge in a Country 
 where the Government emanates immediate from the 
 people is of the utmost importance to the preservation of 
 
 *From the original Subscription Paper in the College Archives. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 73 
 
 liberty and an Academy having for many years been 
 established in the Village of Geneva and been in a consid¬ 
 erable degree useful; And whereas we the Subscribers 
 are confident its usefulness & respectability may be 
 much promoted by an increase of its funds & the procur¬ 
 ing its incorporation under the Regents of the University 
 of the State of New-York and becoming subject to the 
 Visitation of the said Regents,— 
 
 We the Subscribers for the purpose of increasing the 
 funds of the said Academy promise severally and not joint¬ 
 ly to pay to the Trustees hereafter to be appointed for the 
 said Academy for the use of the said Academy the sums 
 opposite our respective names or to secure the said sum 
 by Mortgage on sufficient Real Estate to the said Trustees 
 & their successors forever so that the Interest thereof 
 
 shall be annually paid to the said Trustees & their 
 successors forever for the use of the said Academy and 
 default thereof the Real Estate so Mortgaged on which 
 said Interest has not been paid may be sold by the said 
 Trustees or their successors & the said sum of money 
 with the Interest so secured by said Mortgage retained 
 by said Trustees with the Costs, for the Use of the said 
 Academy.—(Signed) January 11th, 1813. 
 
 POLYDORE B. WlSNER. . . 
 
 *H. H. Bogert. 
 
 *R. W. Stoddard. 
 
 *Samuel Colt. 
 
 *Wm. Hortsen. 
 
 *Wm. Hortsen. 
 
 *Jonathan Doane. 
 
 *Thos. Lowthrop & Co. 
 
 *James Rees. 
 
 *James Carter. 
 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 Fifty Dollars. 
 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 Fifty Dollars. 
 
 Fifty Dollars. 
 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 
 *John Nicholas 
 *David Cook . . , 
 * J ohn Woods . . 
 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 One hundred Dollars. 
 
74 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 *Thomas D. Burrall. . Fifty Dollars. 
 
 Joseph Stow . Fifty Dollars. 
 
 * Walter Grieve . Fifty Dollars. 
 
 *Robert Scot . Fifty Dollars. 
 
 *F. A. de Zeng . Fifty Dollars on demand. 
 
 *Wm. Tippitts . Fifty Dollars. 
 
 Abner Cole . Fifty Dollars. 
 
 *A. Dox. One hundred Dollars. 
 
 $1600 
 
 Mortgages have been rec’d from all except three not 
 marked agreeable to the within arrang’t. 
 
 ££ Jan. 1822. H. H. B ., late Treas. 
 
 3. CHARTER OF GENEVA ACADEMY 
 
 The Regents of the University of the State of New York 
 
 To all to whom these Presents shall or may come Greeting: 
 
 Whereas Jedediah Chapman, Samuel Colt, Polydore 
 B. Wisner, John Nicholas, Davenport Phelps, James 
 Rees, H. H. Bogert, Walter Grieve, Robert Scot, F. A. 
 DeZeng, Thos. Lowthrop, John Woods, Wm. Hortsen, 
 David Cook, Jonathan Doane, William Tippitts, Abner 
 Cole, Thomas D. Burrall, R. W. Stoddard, A. Dox, 
 by an instrument in writing under their hands and seals 
 bearing date the Twelfth day of January one thousand 
 eight hundred and thirteen, after stating that they had 
 contributed more than one half in value of the real and 
 personal property and estate collected or appropriated for 
 the use and benefit of the Academy erected at the Village of 
 Geneva in the County of Ontario did make application 
 to us the said Regents that the said Academy might be 
 incorporated and become subject to the visitation of us 
 and our Successors and that the Reverend Jedediah Chap- 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 75 
 
 man, Polydore B. Wisner, James Rees, Samuel Colt, 
 John Nicholas, Herman H. Bogert, Robert Scot, David 
 Cook, Thomas Lowthrop, Jonathan Doane, Walter Grieve, 
 William Tippitts and Frederick A. DeZeng might be Trus¬ 
 tees of the said Academy by the name of “The Trustees 
 of the Geneva Academy”—Now know ye that we the said 
 Regents, having inquired into the allegations contained 
 in the instrument aforesaid and found the same to be 
 true; and that a proper building for said Academy hath 
 been erected and finished and paid for, and that funds 
 have been obtained and well secured, producing an annual 
 nett income of at least one hundred dollars, and conceiving 
 the said Academy calculated for the promotion of litera¬ 
 ture, Do by these presents, pursuant to the Statute in such 
 case made and provided, signify our approbation of the 
 incorporation of the said Reverend Jedediah Chapman, 
 Polydore B. Wisner, James Rees, Samuel Colt, Thomas 
 Lowthrop, John Nicholas, Herman H. Bogert, Robert 
 Scot, David Cook, Jonathan Doane, Walter Grieve, Wil¬ 
 liam Tippitts and Frederick A. DeZeng by the name of 
 “The Trustees of the Geneva Academy,” being the name 
 mentioned in and by the said request in writing, On con¬ 
 dition that the principal or estate producing the said 
 income shall never be diminished or otherwise appropri¬ 
 ated and that the said income shall be applied only to the 
 maintenance or salaries of the professors or tutors of the 
 Academy. 
 
 IN testimony whereof , We have caused our Common 
 
 Seal to be hereunto affixed the 
 (L. S.) Twenty ninth day of March, in 
 
 the year one thousand eight hun¬ 
 dred and Thirteen. 
 
 (Signed) Daniel D. Tompkins 
 
76 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 [Endorsed] Charter of the Geneva Academy, 
 
 State of New York, Secretary’s Office, 
 Recorded in Lib. Deeds M R R page 482, 
 etc. the 25th day of February, 1814. 
 (Signed) Arch’d Campbell, Dep. Secretary. 
 
 Fees $1. Paid by Mr. Bogert 
 
 4. RESOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO THE DISCONTINUANCE 
 
 OF GENEVA ACADEMY* 
 
 Resolved that the Reverend Henry Axtel, Mr. David 
 Cook and Mr. James Carter be a committee to take care 
 of the Academy and that they be authorized to admit any 
 respectable teacher to occupy the house as a school house, 
 stipulating that such teacher shall repair all damage done 
 during his occupation, and that all committees heretofore 
 appointed be discharged. 
 
 Passed 8th Dec. 1817. 
 
 Trustees present: John Nicholas, James Rees, Sam’l 
 Colt, Henry Axtel, Orin Clark, David Cook, R. S. Rose, W. 
 Grieve, Wm. Tippitts, James Carter, Thos. Lowthrop. 
 
 At a meeting of the Trustees of Geneva Academy Thurs¬ 
 day 29th March, 1821. 
 
 Whereas the interest of the monies secured by mortgage 
 as a permanent fund to this Academy, is subject to dis¬ 
 bursement only for the payment of a Teacher, and it was 
 the expectation of the contributors to said fund, that the 
 said interest w T ould be annually appropriated to that 
 object,and whereas the Trustees have deemed it inexpedient 
 since the 8th of Dec. 1817 to employ Teachers and the 
 contributors have in consequence thereof been deprived 
 since that time of the benefits expected from said fund, 
 
 *The resolution of Dec. 8, 1817 is copied from the original MS 
 (Archives of Hobart College). 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 77 
 
 Therefore, Resolved that in the opinion of this board the 
 Interest due and to become due up to 14th May 1821 ought 
 not to be collected. 
 
 (Signed and certified to be a true copy) 
 
 James Rees, 
 
 Senior Trustee 
 
 June 27 , 1822. 
 
 5. STATEMENT OF THOMAS DAVIES BURRALL 
 
 RELATIVE TO BISHOP HOBART’S PLAN FOR ESTABLISHING 
 
 A COLLEGE AT GENEVA.* 
 
 On the evening of September 23, 1818, at the house of 
 Col. Samuel Colt, in Geneva (in presence of the Rev. 
 Orin Clark, Rector of Trinity Church, Col. Colt, 
 Major James Rees and myself), Bishop Hobart announced 
 his purpose of building up a stronghold for the Church 
 in the West (as he then expressed it), at Geneva—an 
 Institution not only of learning but of religious worship and 
 instruction in aid of the Church and its Ministry. In 
 his quick, decisive manner, he proceeded at once to un¬ 
 fold his scheme, and point out the way by which it could 
 be effected. He proposed, first, that the Geneva Academy 
 already chartered, should be placed, by consent of the 
 Trustees, under the control of the Vestry of the Church 
 in Geneva, and elevated to the rank of a college, and by 
 enlarging the number of Trustees from thirteen to twenty- 
 four, to place the direction of the College in the hands of 
 Churchmen; and secondly, he assured his friends that on 
 this being done, the Diocesan Convention of New York 
 would found and endow the College under the charter, 
 
 *From a communication published in the Gospel Messenger, 
 Oct. 8, 1868. 
 
78 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 as an acknowledged Institution of the Church throughout 
 the State, for the promotion of religion and learning com¬ 
 bined, in the broadest acceptation of the terms. 
 
 6. BISHOP HOBART SELECTS THE COLLEGE SITE, 1820 
 
 “In 1820 Bishop Hobart selected the site of the present 
 College buildings as an eligible place for such an Institu¬ 
 tion. On that occasion he was accompanied by the Revd. 
 Orin Clark, D.D., Revd. Danl. McDonald, D.D., Major 
 James Rees, Genl. Sami. Colt, and Wm. S. DeZeng. 
 Of all these Mr. DeZeng is the only survivor.”— From an 
 unsigned MS. note, found in the College Archives, endorsed 
 “To be preserved in the history of Geneva College.” 
 
 “The ground for the College buildings was selected by 
 the Bishop at early morning in the month of September, 
 just as the first rays of the sun were glancing over the 
 waters of our beautiful lake; a few friends were present 
 by appointment (all of whom save the writer have long 
 since gone to their rest), when on consultation and deliber¬ 
 ation on the different opinions of those present, he, in his 
 brisk and decided manner, struck his cane to the ground, 
 saying, ‘Here, gentlemen, this is the spot for the College;’ 
 and on that spot it was placed.” Thos. D. Burrall in 
 Gospel Messenger , Sept. 20, 1866. 
 
 7. SUBSCRIPTION PAPER FOR THE ERECTION OF GENEVA 
 
 HALL* 
 
 The vestry of Trinity Church in the City of New York 
 having heretofore liberally endowed the Academy at 
 
 *From a copy in President Hale’s handwriting. Archives of 
 Hobart College. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 79 
 
 Fairfield in Montgomery County on certain conditions, 
 have recently agreed to transfer the endowment to the 
 Academy established at Geneva in the County of Ontario, 
 with an intent to use all practicable means to raise the 
 Academy to the highly useful station of a college, the 
 transfer however to be subject to the reasonable condition, 
 that the inhabitants of the village of Geneva and its 
 vicinity shall furnish at their own expense a suitable lot of 
 land and buildings thereon. Now we the subscribers, in 
 consideration of the premises, and to secure the transfer 
 of the said endowment to the Trustees of the Geneva 
 Academy, do hereby severally promise and agree to and 
 with the said Trustees to pay them the sums of money set 
 opposite our names respectively, and to do and perform the 
 several acts and undertakings hereinafter promised by us 
 respectively at such times and in such manner as shall be 
 required of us by the said Trustees for the purposes afore¬ 
 said. (Signed) Geneva, 15th February, 1821. 
 
 Samuel Colt. $ 400 
 
 James Rees. $ 400 
 
 Chas. W. Hussy. $ 300 
 
 W. S. DeZeng. $ 250 
 
 in window glass & other building materials. 
 
 Wm. Hortsen. $ 150 
 
 A. Dox. $ 100 
 
 Wm. Tappan. $ 100 
 
 Jacob O. Dox. $ 100 
 
 R. W. Stoddard, by bond and mortgage of Asa 
 
 Gilbert $314.84 (in pencil by W. S. DeZeng) 
 
 Mrs. Anne Nicholas. $ 300 
 
 Thos. D. Burrall, 100 cords wood. 
 
 J. B. & R. Rumney. $ 100 
 
 H. Dwight. $ 150 
 
 D. W. Lewis. $ 50 
 
 John Woods. $ 75 
 
 in lumber, &c. 
 
 H. H. Bogert. $ 300 
 
80 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 N. Ayrault. $ 50 
 
 David Hudson. $ 50 
 
 Copyist’s note: “The original of this is in the hands of 
 R. R. Bishop De Lancey, 1848.” 
 
 8. COL. TROUP’S OFFER OF LAND AT MILE POINT 
 
 AS AN ALTERNATIVE SITE FOR THE COLLEGE* 
 
 Mr. Troup in behalf of the Pulteney Estate hereby 
 offers the following described piece of ground for the 
 Erection of an Academy on the same, viz: The piece of 
 ground lying immediately. South of Mrs. Williamson’s 
 house and lot, bounded West by the road leading to the 
 glass factory, East by the Seneca Lake, and to rim so far 
 South as to contain Eight Acres of Land, excepting there¬ 
 out the landing place and sufficient ground for a road to 
 the same from the main road thro’ the flat. 
 
 With the ground Mr. Troup will give the Mile Point 
 house, the materials of which will be of considerable use 
 in the Erection of new buildings. 
 
 This offer is on the express condition that the Academy 
 shall be erected on the above described piece of Land. 
 
 (Signed) Robt. Troup 
 
 Geneva , 26th March , 1821. 
 
 9. REPORT OF THE PROFESSORS OF THE BRANCH THEO¬ 
 LOGICAL SCHOOL AT GENEVAf 
 
 To the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart, President of the 
 Board of Managers of the Protestant Episcopal Theolog¬ 
 ical Education Society in the Diocess of New York, the 
 Professors in the Branch Theological School at Geneva 
 respectfully report, that— 
 
 *MS. in the Archives of the College. 
 
 f Journal of the Convention of the Diocese of New York, Oct. 17, 
 1821, pp. 36, 37. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 81 
 
 The Branch Theological School was opened in the vestry 
 schoolhouse of Trinity Church, Geneva, on the 11th day of 
 June last, and the following young gentlemen, intending to 
 enter the ministry of the Church, have been admitted 
 members of the school, viz.—Marvin Cady, Richard Sal¬ 
 mon, William Bostwick, Orsimus H. Smith, Burton H. 
 Hecock, John A. Clark, John Gavott, Thaddeus Garlick, 
 and Ira White. In addition to which, Henry Gregory, 
 Allanson Bennett, and Seth Davis, are daily expected. 
 
 The Trustees of Geneva Academy are now erecting, in 
 an eligible situation, on the bank of Seneca Lake, a commo¬ 
 dious stone building, containing thirty rooms for students, 
 besides a convenient chapel. The building will be ready 
 for the reception of theological and classical students 
 on the first of next May. 
 
 Daniel McDonald, 
 Professor of Ecclesiastical History 
 and Scripture Interpretation. 
 
 Orin Clark, 
 
 Professor of Systematic Theology. 
 
 10. LETTER FROM THE REY. DANIEL McDONALD AND 
 THE REV. ORIN CLARK TO BISHOP HOBART 
 
 RELATIVE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLLEGE IN GENEVA 
 
 Geneva, December 13, 1821. 
 
 Rt. Rev. Sir: We take the liberty of communicating to 
 you our views relative to a college in this place.* The 
 
 *In an earlier letter from the Rev. Drs. McDonald and Clark 
 to Bishop Hobart, dated Dec. 8, 1821, the purpose of establishing a 
 college at Geneva had been referred to in the following words: “We 
 are laboring with a project for a college here, but not having mastered 
 any plan, we say but little now; hereafter, and that soon, we will 
 send you a detailed account of our scheme. In the mean time we 
 hope a few of your thoughts, and those of our energetic friend, Mr. 
 Verplanck, will be turned to the subject of an Episcopal college at 
 Geneva,” Both letters are given by Perry from Hobart MSS. 
 
82 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 necessity of having one west of Clinton is obvious, and 
 some other place will soon advance pretenses to it if we do 
 not. We shall say nothing to a person as well acquainted 
 with the west as you are, relative to our claims, founded 
 on local circumstances. But the necessity of our having 
 a college is pressing. A college gives great weight and 
 influence to that denomination that has it and manages 
 it well. We could educate more young men, and better 
 too, in a college than in an academy; because it would be 
 popular, and possessed of better discipline. Such is the 
 charm of a diploma to a youth, that he will ever prefer a 
 college to an academy. Hence some will leave us. A 
 diploma, like an oath in disputes, cuts off all controversy, 
 and the possessor is admitted by the world as competent, 
 without further examination. But what is worthy of 
 deep attention in ecclesiastical concerns is this: he that 
 goes to college must, and thinks he must, proceed through 
 regularly. He that is a member of an academy thinks 
 himself at liberty to study as much as he pleases and no 
 more. Hence a college is indispensably necessary to us 
 if we mean to have a learned clergy. Fifty thousand dol¬ 
 lars, exclusive of academy buildings and lot, will be re¬ 
 quired by the Regents, before they will permit us to exer¬ 
 cise college functions. To obtain this sum to the satis¬ 
 faction of the Regents, we propose: 1st. to get the Regents 
 to accept of the Sherred professorship as a part of the 
 required fund (if acceded to by the Trustees of the Theo¬ 
 logical School), which is $10,000. 2d. We hope Trinity 
 
 Church would, in case we could obtain a charter, convert 
 her donation into an annuity, which would count $11,000 
 more. 3d. We would hope to have another professor¬ 
 ship here, $10,000 more, making $31,000. We think 
 $9,000 could be filled with subscriptions of lands, and some 
 lands might perhaps be obtained from the State. And 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 83 
 
 $10,000, the remainder, must be solicited through the 
 county, secured on property, where the principal was not 
 paid down. 
 
 The professors in the theological school might be officers 
 in the college. Thus, the president might receive the sti¬ 
 pend from Trinity Church. There might be a professor 
 of divinity, as in New Haven; and the professor of ecclesi¬ 
 astical history might be professor of languages and history 
 generally. The professor of divinity might also be pro¬ 
 fessor of logic and rhetoric. 
 
 We press, and think there is more need of pressure, 
 upon this point of a college from this consideration: 
 Without flattery, we think that the whole weight of the 
 theological branch here rests upon you. Sir, you are 
 its author and supporter. But what guaranty have we 
 of your life, of the good will of your successor, or of the 
 favorable views of other States towards us after your 
 exertions shall have ceased by the course of nature? 
 But if we had a college with the proper professors, sanc¬ 
 tioned by the Trustees of the theological school, we should 
 be safe, and always have the means of educating young 
 men ourselves. Party feelings could do little mischief 
 to a college, but might destroy a branch theological school. 
 
 This winter seems to present a combination of favorable 
 circumstances for us to apply. Mr. Verplanck is in the 
 Legislature; no application of the kind is pending. The 
 census is recent, by which the importance of this western 
 world is fresh in the minds of all; and the west is favorable 
 to the majority in politics. Our friends here are decidedly 
 for making an application this winter. Colonel Troup 
 thinks there will be no difficulty in obtaining a charter. 
 There will probably be difficulties in obtaining the charter 
 as we want it. We want it to be our own, but the property 
 given must secure the control of it. 
 
84 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 We hope to hear from you touching this point; in the 
 meantime we shall open communication with Mr. Ver- 
 planck, with whom we trust you will consult, and assist 
 us to do so. The legal course of procedure in the actual 
 application is pointed out in the statutes, but we wish to 
 have the thing well understood by the Church before we 
 move, that there may be unity in motion. 
 
 We are, with great respect and obedience, 
 
 Your much obliged and dutiful presbyters, 
 
 (Signed) D. McDonald 
 (Signed) Orin Clark 
 
 11. ADVERTISEMENT OF GENEVA ACADEMY* 
 
 GENEVA ACADEMY 
 
 The Trustees of the Geneva Academy give notice, that the 
 first Quarter for the ensuing year will commence on Thurs¬ 
 day, the third day of January. 
 
 From a desire to give every possible facility and advan¬ 
 tage to the pupils in this Institution, the Trustees have 
 lately appointed Mr. W. W. Bostwick, an Assistant In¬ 
 structor in the various branches of education; and Mr. 
 Ira White, Instructor in the art of Penmanship, whose 
 qualifications in this elegant and useful accomplishment 
 are so well grounded as to warrant an assurance to the 
 admirers of good Penmanship, that they cannot fail to 
 receive much gratification from the proficiency of their 
 children in this important art. 
 
 The Corporation of Trinity Church in New York, 
 in consequence of the very generous donations of the in¬ 
 habitants of this Village towards erecting a suitable Build¬ 
 ing for an Academy, have granted a liberal annual sum of 
 
 ^Copied from the Hobart Herald , Vol. 7, Jan. 23, 1886, p. 72. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 85 
 
 money to be expressly applied to the payment of the 
 Principal, and an Assistant in this Academy; and in order 
 the more effectually to extend the benefits of their liberali¬ 
 ty to all who may wish to send their children to this 
 Academy, the Trustees have settled the tuition fees at as 
 low a rate as at present they possibly can, and accordingly 
 the charge will be for 
 
 Reading, 
 
 Writing, 
 Arithmetic, 
 English k Grammar, 
 Geography, 
 
 Two Dollars and 
 ■ Fifty Cents per 
 quarter 
 
 Latin and Greek Languages, 
 Mathematics, 
 
 Rhetoric, 
 
 Metaphysics, 
 
 Moral and Natural Philosophy, 
 Elements of History, and the 
 Evidences of Christianity, 
 
 Three dollars 
 per quarter. 
 
 
 The Rev. Dr. McDonald, as Principal, will have the 
 general charge of the Studies of both sexes in this Academy. 
 His literary acquirements and long experience in the 
 instruction of youth, it is believed, will recommend this 
 Institution to public patronage; in which it will be ob¬ 
 served, all the branches usually taught in Colleges, as 
 well as those preparatory to a Collegiate education, are 
 selected for study. 
 
 Boarding and Lodging can be had in private families at 
 from ten to twelve shillings a week, which will be reduced 
 so soon as the new building shall be fit for students to room 
 therein. 
 
86 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 Applications to be made to the Rev. Dr. McDonald, 
 at the *School-House. 
 
 James Rees, Senior Trustee. 
 
 Geneva , Dec . 29, 1821. 
 
 12. PETITION FOR A COLLEGE CHARTER FOR GENEVA 
 
 ACADEMYf 
 
 JANUARY 22, 1822. 
 
 To the Regents of the University of the State of New York: 
 
 The petition of the Trustees of the Geneva Academy 
 most respectfully sheweth: That your Petitioners, solici¬ 
 tous for the prosperity of the institution with whose in¬ 
 terests they are entrusted, and satisfied that the step they 
 contemplate is the only effectual means of securing the 
 ends for which it was established, have determined to 
 make an effort to procure for it such endowments as, they 
 trust, may, in the estimation of your honorable body, 
 entitle it to the important powers & privileges of a Col¬ 
 lege. The necessity of such an institution, in this part of 
 the country, cannot but be obvious to all who have the 
 least acquaintance with the extent, resources and popula¬ 
 tion of the western counties of this State. The simple 
 fact that there are in the contemplated district of country 
 more than half a million of people whose average distance 
 from any College is more than one hundred miles, is suffi¬ 
 cient, it is presumed, to put this point beyond question. 
 Another instance, of a population of equal extent who are 
 so far removed from the advantages of such an institution, 
 does not, it is confidently believed, exist in the United 
 States. 
 
 *The school-house here referred to is the parish school building 
 which at that time stood on the south-west corner of the Trinity 
 Church lot. (Editor’s note). 
 
 fMS in College Archives. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 87 
 
 Your Petitioners are aware of the prevalence of an 
 opinion that the multiplication of Colleges is unfavorable 
 to the advancement of literature and science, and that the 
 number already chartered is sufficient for all the purposes 
 of public education. But this idea is certainly incorrect, 
 except in cases where they are located so near as to in¬ 
 terfere with each other, and cannot apply in the case under 
 consideration, as Geneva is situated at such a distance from 
 Clinton as must preclude the apprehension of any injury 
 to the College at that place by the establishment of a like 
 institution at Geneva. 
 
 In a general view also the idea is at variance with both 
 reason and fact. No principle can be more obvious than 
 that the diffusion of knowledge and the advantages of 
 learning will be in proportion to the facilities afforded for 
 acquiring them. But the fact that the most flourishing 
 and respectable colleges in the Union are situated in those 
 States whose population is far less than that of the con¬ 
 templated district, is an ample refutation of the objection. 
 
 Your petitioners, sensible that private and local inter¬ 
 ests ought ever to yield to considerations of public good, 
 have been guided solely by a regard to this object in naming 
 Geneva as the proper place for a college in the western 
 district, and they assert, without the fear of contradiction, 
 that no spot more eligible in all respects can be selected 
 within its limits. It possesses all the local advantages that 
 can be desired for a literary institution. In its position 
 it is central and is easily accessible, by means of the Lakes 
 and Erie Canal, to a vast population,—it is surrounded 
 by a country of great fertility, abundant in every pro¬ 
 duction that can contribute to the wealth and comfort 
 of its inhabitants, and in beauty and healthfulness is not 
 surpassed by any place in this or any other country. 
 
 Upon the whole your petitioners are confident that when 
 your honorable body shall take into consideration the 
 
88 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 destitute situation of this part of our State, its great and 
 increasing population and the great advantages to be 
 derived to it from a well regulated and liberally endowed 
 college the only question which will present itself to your 
 deliberation will be whether we have a reasonable prospect 
 of raising funds sufficient to render such an institution 
 useful and respectable. And upon this point your peti¬ 
 tioners beg leave to state that they entertain no fears, 
 and they would cherish the hope that what they have 
 already done may be viewed as a pledge of their success 
 in the accomplishment of this important object. They 
 have, as trustees of the Academy, property well secured 
 
 to the amount of. $1500.— 
 
 Also a lot for buildings of 8 acres valued at. 2500.— 
 
 on which they have erected a large stone edifice, contain¬ 
 ing a chapel and rooms for the accommodation of 60 
 
 students. 7000.— 
 
 They also receive an annuity from the Corporation 
 of Trinity Church, N. Y., of $750 per annum, for the 
 support of a principal and assistant in the academy, which 
 it is expected would be rendered permanent to the presi¬ 
 dent of the College & which arises from a principal of 
 not less than. 10714.— 
 
 $21714.— 
 
 In addition to which they have encouragement of aid 
 from other sources from which they feel justified in 
 calculating with confidence upon raising funds, within the 
 term of three years, to the amount of more than fifty 
 thousand dollars, and which shall produce annually more 
 than three thousand dollars. 
 
 Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray your 
 body to grant them college powers to take effect 
 at the expiration of three years from the date of 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 89 
 
 the grant, provided your petitioners, within that 
 period, shall acquire such permanent funds as your 
 honorable body shall deem sufficient for the impor¬ 
 tant objects of Collegiate Education. 
 
 And your petitioners will ever pray. 
 
 By order of the Board of Trustees of Geneva Academy 
 
 (Signed) James Rees 
 
 Geneva , Jany. 22d, 1822. Senior Trustee 
 
 13. LETTER FROM BISHOP HOBART TO 
 LIEUT.-GOVERNOR TAYLER* 
 
 URGING THE GRANTING OF A COLLEGE CHARTER TO 
 
 GENEVA ACADEMY 
 
 New York, March 13,1822 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I hope you will permit me respectfully to call your 
 attention to an application from Geneva, for a charter for 
 a college. I understand there is a similar one from Ithaca, 
 and may not both be granted, on the principle, that 
 whenever any denomination of Christians raise funds to 
 a certain amount for a college, it is expedient to grant 
 them a charter? Would not the security which this 
 would give to every denomination as it respects its in¬ 
 fluence in literary instruction, the impartiality which this 
 would discover, the removal of all causes of jealousy, and 
 the competition which would thus be excited among the 
 various colleges for public patronage more than counter¬ 
 balance any disadvantages which might arise from the 
 multiplication of colleges? And after all, those only would 
 be eminent which would be deserving, and degrees would 
 be estimated according to the character of the college 
 which conferred them. 
 
 *MS. copy in Archives of the College. 
 
90 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 The establishment of a branch of the General Theologi¬ 
 cal School of our Church at Geneva leads to an earnest 
 wish that the powers of a college may be granted to the 
 Academy there. Union College and Hamilton are de 
 facto under Presbyterian influence and subservient to 
 Presbyterian views in a great measure. All that the 
 Church would wish is an opportunity to employ her 
 means, as she may think proper for the advancement of 
 literature and religion, having of course no objection to 
 the same opportunity being enjoyed by others. 
 
 May I presume, Sir, that you will give to these sugges¬ 
 tions an indulgent consideration, and believe me to be 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Yr. very obt. fd. & servt., 
 (Signed) J. H. Hobart 
 Copyist’s note: “The original of this was given to me 
 (B. H.) by Rev. C. D. Cooper, grandson of Lieu¬ 
 tenant Governor Tayler, and is now in the hands of Bishop 
 DeLancey, 1848.” 
 
 14. CERTIFICATION OF THE GRANTING OF A PROVISIONAL 
 COLLEGE CHARTER TO GENEVA ACADEMY 
 
 ON APRIL 10, 1822* 
 
 In pursuance of a Resolution of the Regents of the L T ni- 
 versity of the State of New York, passed April the 10th, 
 1822, it is hereby Certified that the Regents have declared 
 their approbation of the plan on which it is intended to 
 found and provide for a College at Geneva, in the County 
 of Ontario, and that the term of three years be allowed for 
 completing the same, and if at the expiration of that 
 time it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Regents 
 that the said plan has been executed, and that permanent 
 
 *MS. in College Archives. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 91 
 
 funds, producing annually the sum of four thousand dollars 
 or upwards for the benefit of the said institution, have 
 been properly secured, the said Regents have further 
 declared that the said institution shall thereupon be in¬ 
 corporated as a College according to the laws of the State 
 and the Regulations of the Regents. 
 
 In witness whereof the seal of the said Regents is hereun¬ 
 to affixed at the City of Albany, the 16th day of April, 
 1828. 
 
 Attest: 
 
 (L. S.) (Signed) Gideon Hawley, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 N. B.—The term of three years commenced on the 
 10th day of April, 1822. 
 
 G. Hawley, Secretary 
 
 15. LETTER FROM BISHOP HOBART TO THE 
 REVEREND DR. McDONALD* 
 
 RELATIVE TO SECURING FUNDS AND SELECTING OFFICERS 
 
 FOR THE NEW COLLEGE 
 
 New York, April 15, 1822. 
 
 My Dear Sir, —You must not suppose because you 
 have not heard from me that I have been indifferent to the 
 application from Geneva for a college. The moment I 
 heard of it I took all the measures in my power to promote 
 its success, and addressed letters to several of the Regents, 
 and in some cases, I believe, with effect. You are much 
 indebted for the success of the application to Mr. Duer 
 and Mr. Verplanck, particularly the former, who brought 
 in the report to the Regents, and I think it would be well 
 for yourself and Mr. Clark and some of the friends of the 
 Church at Geneva to write to him a letter of thanks. It 
 is unfortunate that Ithaca is connected with you. But 
 
 *Reprinted from Perry. 
 
92 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 there was no help for it. They will find it difficult, I 
 should think, to raise four thousand dollars per annum , 
 and I am afraid this will be a difficulty with you. Means, 
 however, must be devised for surmounting it. 
 
 You, who know how much I have thought and how much 
 I have planned and labored for this object, can readily 
 conceive my gratification at seeing it thus far accomplished, 
 —sooner, indeed, than I could have expected. Providence 
 has favored us. I am the more gratified, inasmuch as I 
 have found it difficult to make the clergy and others in 
 this quarter feel as I have felt on the subject. And even 
 now M. and W., etc., seem to care little about it. It 
 will give unfeigned pleasure, however, to Bishop Bowen, 
 of South Carolina, who recently wrote to me, expressing, 
 as he has often done, his deep sense of the importance 
 of our having a college, and wishing success to the plan 
 in relation to Geneva. 
 
 The branch theological school is, as you may suppose, 
 not popular with many, and it was not an easy matter to 
 obtain for it the arrangements which have been made. 
 As our income will this year fall short of our expenditures, 
 I have been afraid to press more for Geneva than has been 
 obtained. 
 
 The organization of the college, particularly with regard 
 to the trustees who are to be appointed, and other matters, 
 will require a great deal of deliberation, as much will de¬ 
 pend on these measures. I expect, God willing, to be at 
 the westward this summer, and conclude it will be well 
 
 for me to spend some days at Geneva. 
 
 Very truly and affectionately yours, 
 
 J. H. Hobart 
 
 The Rev. Dr. McDonald. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 93 
 
 16. CERTIFICATES EMPLOYED IN RAISING FUNDS TO 
 SECURE A PERMANENT CHARTER* 
 
 Certificate No. 214. From the Original in the 
 
 Archives of the College. 
 
 Whereas [Luther Filmorejf 
 
 has subscribed One Hundred Dollars to the Funds of 
 Geneva College, and given his Note for the same: 
 
 This is to Certify, that he, the said. 
 
 [Luther Filmore] shall, on payment of the said Note, 
 be entitled to receive from the Trustees a Certificate 
 securing to himself, his heirs and assigns, the privilege 
 of sending One Student to the Geneva Academy or College, 
 for the term of Twenty Years from the date of the said 
 payment and certificate [or at any time thereafter which 
 he may choose] 
 
 Dated at [Ontario] this [27th] day of [October] 182[3]. 
 No. [214] [John Gavett] 
 
 [Agent for the Trustees] 
 Certificate No. 260. From the Original in the 
 
 Archives of the College. 
 
 No. [260.] 
 
 This Certifies, that [William W. Wat¬ 
 son, Geneva] having Subscribed and Paid One Hundred 
 Dollars to the Funds of Geneva College, is himself, his 
 heirs and assigns, entitled to the privilege of sending 
 One StudentJ to Geneva College, free of Tuition Fees, for 
 the term of Twenty years, commencing from the date 
 hereof, or whenever he may choose. Dated at [Geneva] 
 this [18th] day of [June 1841]. 
 
 [James Rees, Treas. G. C ] 
 
 Agent of the Trustees. 
 
 *These certificates and the conditions on which subscriptions 
 were solicited, as well as the advantages offered by the new institu¬ 
 tion, are explained in the circular and pamphlet printed in Section 
 III of this Appendix. 
 
 fThe words in brackets are written into the form. 
 
 {The words “to the Geneva Academy, or” are crossed out. 
 
94 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 17. REPORT TO THE ASSEMBLY, FEB. 21, 1824 
 
 FROM THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON COLLEGES, ACADEMIES 
 
 AND COMMON SCHOOLS 
 
 The standing committee on colleges, academies and com¬ 
 mon schools, to whom was referred the petition of the 
 trustees of Geneva academy, 
 
 Report— 
 
 That the regents of the university, by a provisional act 
 passed by them on the tenth day of April, one thousand 
 eight hundred and twenty-two, engaged to elevate the 
 Geneva academy to the rank of a college, if, within three 
 years from that date, the trustees of the said academy 
 should have procured an endowment of the contemplated 
 college, with funds, yielding an annual income of at least 
 three thousand dollars: The petitioners represent that 
 they will be able to procure the requisite endowment, 
 within the time limited; and they now pray for aid in 
 erecting the buildings suitable for college purposes. 
 
 It appears to your committee, that the patrons of 
 this institution, besides having raised the above mentioned 
 liberal endowment, have also expended, at least, ten 
 thousand dollars, in erecting and completing a substantial 
 and elegant stone edifice for an academy, in which are 
 now instructed ninety-two classical scholars, as appears 
 by the annual return of the superintendent. 
 
 Your committee, in seeking for reasons to justify them 
 in recommending to this honorable house, an appro¬ 
 priation in aid of this institution, have regarded the fol¬ 
 lowing facts: 
 
 That this college will be nearly equi-distant from Ham¬ 
 ilton college and the western frontier of this state; in 
 the midst of a population of half a million of thriving and 
 intelligent citizens, destitute of any other than academic 
 seats of learning. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 95 
 
 That it will have been endowed entirely by the munifi¬ 
 cence of its patrons, without one cent from the treasury. 
 
 That its location in the village of Geneva, upon the 
 margin of the Seneca lake, is eligible and healthy. 
 
 That it is represented, and most probably with truth, 
 that owing to the unusual liberality of individuals to this 
 institution, the trustees cannot rely upon further contri¬ 
 butions to defray the expense of erecting the necessary 
 college buildings; whereby this endowment will, in a 
 great degree, be unavailing to the public. 
 
 That it is the first and only application from the western 
 part of the state, for an appropriation for such a purpose. 
 
 And that finally, liberality so unusual as that mani¬ 
 fested by the patrons of this college, is praiseworthy, and 
 deserves public patronage. 
 
 Your committee forbear to state to this enlightened 
 and patriotic house, any considerations arising from the 
 policy of encouraging institutions of learning in this 
 state, as a reason for assisting this or any other college; 
 believing that the customary treatment of similar appli¬ 
 cations, in years past, furnishes the best evidence of public 
 sentiment on this subject: Nor do your committee be¬ 
 lieve that it is expedient to grant money to be expended 
 as the caprice of trustees may dictate; there should be 
 a certainty that the charity of the state shall not be abused 
 and perverted. 
 
 Your committee, therefore, upon a consideration of 
 the whole subject, have resolved on recommending to 
 this honorable house, to grant to the petitioners the bond 
 of John B. Yates and Archibald Mclntire for 20,000 
 dollars, falling due on the 24th day of March, 1825: 
 Provided , The trustees of the proposed college, shall have, 
 on some future day to be named, complied with the terms 
 of the aforesaid provisional act in respect to their funds; 
 
96 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 and shall have received their charter from the regents; 
 and also shall have erected and completed one or more 
 substantial stone or brick edifices, of at least the value 
 of 20,000 dollars, for college purposes; and that the as¬ 
 signment of the said bond shall not be made, until the 
 comptroller shall be fully satisfied that all these conditions 
 have been complied with. 
 
 Your committee recommend this specific appropriation, 
 because the avails of the fund from which it arises, have 
 been usually set apart for literary purposes; and have 
 prepared a bill, and directed their chairman to ask leave 
 to present the same. 
 
 B. Whiting, Chairman. 
 
 18. PETITION TO THE REGENTS FOR A PERMANENT 
 
 CHARTER* 
 
 To the Honourable the Regents of the University of the 
 State of New York: 
 
 The Memorial of the Trustees of Geneva Academy 
 respectfully shews that, Your honourable Body did on 
 the tenth day of April A. D. 1822 pass a Resolution ele¬ 
 vating Geneva Academy to the rank of a College; provi¬ 
 ded that, within the space of three years succeeding that 
 date, the Trustees of said Academy would raise an active 
 fund for the support of said College, which fund should 
 produce a revenue of not less than Four Thousand Dollars 
 per annum :f 
 
 *MS. in College Archives. 
 
 fThe annual revenue according to the statement submitted to the 
 
 Regents, was made up as follows: 
 
 1. Academy fund of $1800, at 7 p. c., producing. $ 126.00 
 
 2. New York (S. P. R. L.) donation of $20,500 at 6 p. c. 1,230.00 
 
 3. Startin legacy $5000, at 7 p. c. 350.00 
 
 4. Amount collected from various sources, and 
 
 producing 7 p. c., $33,800. 2,366.00 
 
 Amount of annual revenue. $4,072.00 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 97 
 
 In accordance therefore with that Resolution of your 
 honourable Body the Trustees of said Academy now beg 
 leave to state that they have raised and secured, as a 
 s permanent active fund, such a sum of money as will pro¬ 
 duce to the proposed College the said annual revenue 
 of Four Thousand Dollars in good and certain payments. 
 
 Fully persuaded therefore that they have fulfilled the 
 intentions of your honourable Body, as expressed in your 
 above mentioned Resolution, the Trustees of Geneva 
 Academy respectfully request that your honourable Body 
 would cause a Charter to be executed constituting the said 
 Trustees a College Corporation, with all the privileges 
 usually enjoyed by similar Institutions in this State; 
 and that they may be known in Law by the style and title 
 of the “Trustees of Genesee College,” Geneva, and your 
 memorialists as in duty bound will ever pray.* 
 
 Dated at Geneva, Ontario County, this first day of 
 January 1825. 
 
 By order of the Board— 
 
 (Signed) Samuel Colt 
 
 19. REPORT TO THE SENATE, FEBRUARY 23, 1825 
 
 OF THE COMMITTEE ON LITERATURE, ON THE PETITION OF 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF GENEVA COLLEGE 
 
 The standing committee on literature, to whom was 
 referred the petition of the trustees of Geneva college, 
 Report: 
 
 Geneva college has recently been incorporated by the 
 regents of the university, upon satisfactory evidence 
 
 *The Permanent Charter, granted Feb. 8, 1825, is printed, with 
 amendments, at the end of this Appendix. 
 
98 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 having been produced to them, that productive funds, 
 to the amount of more than sixty thousand dollars, have 
 been contributed for its endowment, and have been so 
 vested as to produce an income exceeding four thousand 
 dollars per annum. This income, together with the charges 
 for tuition and other incidental resources, it is believed 
 will be sufficient to command the services of an adequate 
 number of able and competent instructors. The trustees 
 have now a large stone building, but it will not be sufficient 
 for the accommodation of the number of students that 
 may be expected; and they solicit legislative aid to con¬ 
 struct the necessary buildings, and to provide a library, 
 and philosophical and chemical apparatus. 
 
 The plan of instruction proposed to be pursued in the 
 college, has been submitted to your committee, and they 
 are deeply impressed with its usefulness.* Besides the 
 regular course of classical studies pursued in similar 
 institutions, it is intended to institute a totally distinct 
 course, in direct reference to the practical business of life, 
 calculated particularly for the agriculturist, the merchant, 
 the manufacturer and the mechanic, without subjecting 
 them to the loss of time and expense incurred by passing 
 through a course of classical studies. For this purpose, 
 it is contemplated to establish professorships in the higher 
 branches of English education, in the mathematics and in 
 chemistry, under whose instruction students shall pursue 
 a regular course, to occupy about two years. 
 
 It is unquestionably true, that the system of education 
 in existing colleges seems better adapted to preparing 
 students for the professions of divinity, law and physic, 
 than for the ordinary business of life. The consequences 
 of this system are seen in the crowded state of the pro- 
 
 *Compare the circular and pamphlet of 1824, printed as Section 
 III of this Appendix. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 99 
 
 fessions, into which students who have received a collegi¬ 
 ate education are in a measure compelled to enter, from 
 their unfitness for any other business; and in the ignorance 
 which prevails among all the other classes of community, 
 of those sciences which are intimately connected with 
 their trades and pursuits. The spirit of the age, and the 
 genius of our free and equal government, require that this 
 system should be changed, and that means of instruction 
 in their business shall be furnished to that most numerous, 
 and by far most important portion of our community, 
 consisting of the farmer, the manufacturer, the mechanic 
 and the merchant; and your committee rejoice to see the 
 effort now made by Geneva college to accomplish that 
 object. It is worthy of being seconded and sustained by 
 the representatives of a free people. A successful example 
 once made, will have its due influence upon the other 
 colleges of the state, and induce a system of instruction 
 from which the most important and most happy results 
 to the rising generation may be confidently anticipated. 
 
 Geneva college is situated about equidistant from 
 Hamilton college and the western boundary of the state, 
 in the midst of a population of more than half a million, 
 whose enterprise, intelligence and numbers, entitle them 
 to the same facilities in obtaining education which are 
 enjoyed by their fellow-citizens in the eastern and southern 
 parts of the state. It is with no invidious motives, but 
 from the connection with the subject, and with entire 
 approbation, that the committee quote a statement made 
 by the regents of the university in 1823, from which it 
 appears that the state has bestowed on Columbia College 
 113,275 dollars, on Union college 418,500 dollars, and on 
 Hamilton college 106,800 dollars, besides numerous grants 
 of money to academies and medical colleges, to an amount 
 worthy of its character, but of which not more than one 
 
100 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 thousand dollars, which was granted to Middlebury 
 academy, has ever been distributed in that section of 
 country which Geneva college is intended to accommodate. 
 The committee do not perceive how, upon the principles 
 of common justice, the legislature can refuse to that 
 portion of the state its fair and equal participation in the 
 funds to which they, in common with their fellow-citizens, 
 have contributed. 
 
 Independent of these peculiar claims, your committee is 
 of opinion that the best interests of the community, the 
 cause of education and intelligence, and the blessings of 
 liberty and self-government, can in no way be better pro¬ 
 moted than by fostering, sustaining, and extending these 
 institutions. Many of the future statesmen and legis¬ 
 lators upon whom the destinies of their country may 
 depend, are to be there formed. There the teachers of 
 religion, the preservers of our health, and the defenders 
 of our rights, are to be nurtured. Future professors and 
 teachers are to be there qualified to transmit to their 
 successors the inestimable blessings of education. From 
 them your academies and common schools will receive 
 able and accomplished instructors; and the stream of 
 intelligence which flows from them, will widen and expand 
 as it advances, become the source of innumerable diverg¬ 
 ing branches, and force new channels of information, 
 until our country shall become as enlightened as it is free 
 and happy. 
 
 There are many and various considerations which press 
 upon the minds of your committee, in favor of a continu¬ 
 ance of the noble and munificent system of literary and 
 common school patronage which has hitherto distinguished 
 our state; but they forbear entering into them, 
 from a thorough conviction that it can not be necessary. 
 They may remark, that they would foster and cherish the 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 101 
 
 common school system, as the first and greatest object; and 
 they would extend a liberal, but discreet patronage to 
 other literary institutions, as being valuable in themselves, 
 and as being intimately connected with that system, and 
 indeed essential to its full and complete success. 
 
 It is the unanimous opinion of your committee, there¬ 
 fore, that whenever the circumstances of a particular 
 section of the state are such as to require the establishment 
 of seminaries of learning, and a sufficient effort has been 
 made by the citizens of that section, for the endowment 
 of such a seminary, as to afford to the public a pledge that 
 those efforts will not be relaxed, and the institution will 
 not be thrown upon the public bounty, it becomes a sacred 
 duty to extend to it the patronage of the legislature. 
 The present is precisely such a case. Exertions unparal¬ 
 leled in this state, have been made for the collection of a 
 fund; and their success affords at once conclusive proof 
 of the great anxiety of the inhabitants of that part of the 
 country for the establishment of a college, and also an 
 unquestionable pledge that private interest and individual 
 zeal will faithfully and judiciously apply the munificence 
 of the legislature to the destined object. And with this 
 college, the question is even reduced to a narrower point; 
 for having received these contributions for a specified 
 object, the trustees are bound to proceed with their insti¬ 
 tution. And then the question presented to us, is, whether 
 we will suffer such an institution, upon such a plan, and 
 under the circumstances before presented, to languish 
 out a miserable existence, with the name of a college, but 
 with few or none of its means of usefulness—alike dis¬ 
 graceful to our intelligence and patriotism? Or whether, 
 by a judicious appropriation from our abundant resources, 
 we shall reward and stimulate such laudable exertions, 
 impart new vigor and activity to a most valuable insti- 
 
102 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 tution, and extend the blessings of liberal education among 
 a worthy and patriotic people, who have hitherto never 
 participated in the grants for literary purposes? To 
 these questions your committee believe there can be but 
 one answer, that every consideration of duty and of patriot¬ 
 ism requires us to extend our aid to the petitioners. 
 
 Keeping constantly in view the object of bestowing aid 
 so far only as it was really requisite, your committee 
 have required estimates to be laid before them, of the 
 sums necessary for the different objects specified by the 
 petitioners. Dr. T. Romeyn Beck, of this city, states, 
 that he thinks a complete chemical apparatus may be 
 purchased for 2500 dollars, and that 7500 dollars would 
 be requisite for a complete philosophical apparatus; 
 and that the necessary books which a student in those 
 branches ought to have in his power for reference, will 
 cost 2500 dollars. To this should be added 10,000 dollars 
 for a general library; a very low estimate, when it is con¬ 
 sidered that the books wanted are rare, high in price, 
 and must generally be imported. An estimate has been 
 furnished for a plain, substantial building, with the least 
 possible ornamental work, to be constructed of stone 
 or brick, sufficient for the accommodation of two hundred 
 students, at thirty-two thousand dollars. Your committee 
 have reason to believe this estimate is reasonable. The 
 total of these estimates amounts to 54,500 dollars. And 
 the committee are unanimously of opinion, and recommend 
 that the sum of fifty thousand dollars* be appropriated to 
 aid the trustees of Geneva college in the erection of neces- 
 
 *Neither this recommendation nor the recommendation to grant 
 $20,000, made in the Report to the Assembly,Feb. 21, 1824 (see p.95) 
 was ever acted upon by the Legislature. The first State appropri¬ 
 ation for the academic work of the College is contained in an act, 
 passed April 17, 1838. which reads as follows:— 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 103 
 
 sary buildings, and in the purchase of chemical and 
 philosophical apparatus, and a library; and they have 
 directed their chairman to bring in a bill for an appro¬ 
 priation to those purposes, leaving the sum blank. 
 
 20. INSTRUMENT RENOUNCING CLAIMS* 
 
 ON GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, JUNE 24, 1826 
 
 To all to whom these presents shall come or may concern: 
 
 We, the trustees of the Geneva academy, the rector, 
 churchwardens and vestrymen of Trinity church at Gen¬ 
 eva, Orin Clark, rector of the said church and professor 
 in the branch theological school heretofore established at 
 Geneva in connection with the general theological semi¬ 
 nary of the Protestant Episcopal church in the United 
 States, Daniel McDonald, lately principal of the Geneva 
 academy, and professor in the same branch theological 
 school, and Samuel Colt and William S. DeZeng, a commit¬ 
 tee charged with the collection of funds for the permanent 
 endowment of the new college at Geneva, send greeting. 
 
 Whereas, by a certain instrument of writing under 
 our seals, dated the twentieth day of July, in the year of 
 our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, 
 we the several parties above named, acting for ourselves 
 and on behalf of all others interested in the branch the¬ 
 ological school above mentioned, did forever renounce 
 
 “An act to appropriate the income of the United States’de- 
 posite fund to the purposes of education and the diffusion of 
 knowledge: 
 
 “Sec. 6. Six thousand dollars of the income aforesaid 
 shall, for the period of five years and until otherwise directed 
 by law, be annually paid to Geneva College, to be applied ex¬ 
 clusively by said college to the payment of its professors and 
 teachers. Chap. 237, Sess. Laws of New York, 1838. 
 
 *Reprinted from Perry. 
 
104 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 all connection between the said general seminary and 
 branch school, and all claims and demands by or on the 
 part of the said branch school upon the said general 
 seminary, on condition that the said general seminary should 
 cause the sum of eight thousand dollars to be appropriated 
 towards the permanent endowment of the new college 
 then proposed to be established at Geneva, or should 
 secure to its use and benefit the interest of that sum 
 perpetually, in half-yearly payments, at the rate of six 
 per centum per annum. 
 
 And whereas, the said then-proposed college has since 
 been incorporated, and the said general theological semi¬ 
 nary has since caused the yearly interest of eight thousand 
 dollars, payable half-yearly, at the rate of six per centum 
 per annum, to be secured to the use and benefit of the said 
 college by means of a grant for that purpose made by the 
 Protestant Episcopal Society for Promoting Religion and 
 Learning in the State of New York, and an appropriation 
 of real estate satisfactorily assuring the due payment of 
 the said interest, which grant and appropriation we have 
 accepted and do accept as a full performance of the con¬ 
 dition above mentioned by and on the part of the said 
 general seminary. Now, therefore, know ye that we, the 
 several parties above named, acting for ourselves respec¬ 
 tively, and for and on behalf of all other persons and bodies 
 corporate in any wise interested or concerned in the prem¬ 
 ises, in consideration of the said grant and appropriation, 
 and of the sum of one dollar to each of us in hand paid by 
 the trustees of the general theological seminary of the 
 Protestant Episcopal church in the United States, have, 
 and each of us hath, ratified and confirmed, and by these 
 presents do, and each of us doth, fully and unconditionally 
 ratify and confirm, the instruments of renunciation and 
 release hereinbefore recited and referred to. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 105 
 
 In witness whereof, we the trustees of the Geneva 
 academy, and we the rector, churchwardens and vestry¬ 
 men of Trinity church at Geneva, have caused our respec¬ 
 tive seals to be affixed to these presents; and we the said 
 Grin Clark, Daniel McDonald, Samuel Colt and William 
 S. DeZeng have to these presents affixed our hands and 
 seals this twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six. 
 
 By order of the trustees of Geneva academy. 
 
 (Signed) James Rees, 
 
 Chairman and Acting Clerk, (L. S.) 
 
 By order of the rector, church-wardens and vestrymen 
 of Trinity church, Geneva. 
 
 (Signed) David Hudson, Clerk of Vestry, (L.S.) 
 
 “ Orin Clark, (L.S.) 
 
 “ Daniel McDonald, (L.S.) 
 
 “ Samuel Colt, (L.S.) 
 
 “ W. S. DeZeng, (L.S.) 
 
 Sealed and delivered in presence of 
 
 (Signed) D. S. Hall, 
 
 “ C. Shekell. 
 
 21. FIRST COMMENCEMENT OF GENEVA COLLEGE, 
 
 august 2, 1826 
 
 The first Commencement of Geneva College* was held 
 at Trinity Church, in this village on Wednesday last. The 
 friends of the College regarded this Commencement with 
 great interest, knowing that public opinion would deter¬ 
 mine the literary character of the Institution, by the 
 proficiency which its Students might then exhibit. The 
 Examinations in all the branches which had engaged the 
 
 *Communicated to The Geneva Gazette , Aug. 9, 1826. 
 
106 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 students for the last year, were commenced and continued 
 during eight days previous to the Commencement, and 
 were conducted with strictness in presence, at times, of 
 several literary gentlemen. The progress of the students, 
 and their acquisitions in every department, were such as to 
 afford the highest gratification to such strangers as wit¬ 
 nessed the Examinations, but particularly to the Board of 
 Trustees, under whose care and by whose exertions this 
 Institution has been reared. In fact, the whole exhibition 
 furnished gratifying proofs, that the Professors and Tutors 
 of the College are faithful and competent, that the students 
 have devoted themselves with industry to their pursuits, 
 and that the Institution cannot fail to receive due honor 
 and respect where its true character is known. 
 
 In the morning, the Students, Officers and Trustees of 
 the College, with several gentlemen from the adjacent 
 towns, collected at the College, and from thence repaired 
 in procession to the church, where the exercises were con¬ 
 ducted in the manner following: 
 
 1. Prayer.— 2. Music.— 3. Oration on Association 
 by A. Stevens.— 4. Oration on Glory by J. F. Ernst.— 
 5. Music.— 6. On the Influence of Principle by H. S. 
 Atwater.— 7. Oration on Biography by S. Davis. 
 
 Afternoon.— 8. Music.— 9. Oration on the Character¬ 
 istics of the Age, by U. M. Wheeler.— 10. Oration on 
 Individual Influence, by H. Gregory.— 11. Music.—12. 
 Degrees conferred.— 13. Dismission. 
 
 The degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred on the 
 following gentlemen, who had completed the regular course 
 of studies in the College or at the Academy previous to the 
 grant of a charter: Ulysses M. Wheeler, Henry Gregory, 
 Richard Salmon, William W. Bostwick and Burton H. 
 Heacock. 
 
 The whole was conducted with strict order, and the 
 deep attention of a fashionable and enlightened audience 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 107 
 
 gave evidence of the pleasure which the exercises afforded. 
 —The Orations of Messrs. Wheeler and Gregory were 
 admired for style of writing as well as depth of thought, 
 and convinced the hearer that the speakers were conver¬ 
 sant with the taste and opinions of the living age, as well 
 as the pages of abstract science. The Orations of all the 
 young gentlemen were highly respectable, and those of the 
 Juniors gave promise that when they shall have passed 
 another year of study, their Instructors may be justly 
 proud to recommend them for the honors of the College. 
 We were highly pleased to see several gentlemen and ladies, 
 from the neighboring villages and towns, and have no 
 doubt but they returned home with favorable impressions 
 of the Institution. We hope, and confidently believe, 
 that in a few years, the annual Commencement of this 
 College will afford an interesting day to a liberal and en¬ 
 lightened public. 
 
 But it is not merely to express our gratification at the 
 exhibition of talent afforded by the students, that we pen 
 this article; but also to communicate to the public other 
 information relative to the doings of the Trustees. The 
 Board held their annual session on the day previous to, 
 and on the morning and evening of the Commencement, 
 at which much that relates to the well ordering of the 
 College was done, and also many other things, in which 
 the public are interested, were accomplished. Among 
 other acts, the Reverend Jasper Adams, now President of 
 Charleston College, South Carolina, was elected President 
 of this College, in the room of Mr. Potter,* * who declined his 
 appointment, to take charge of a congregation in Boston. 
 Mr. Adams’ reputation as a man of science is established, 
 
 / 
 
 *Rev. Alonzo Potter, afterwards Bishop of Pennsylvania. At the 
 time he was called to the presidency, Dec. 13,1825, he was only twenty- 
 five years old. 
 
108 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 as he has been a Professor in Brown University, Rhode- 
 Island, and was elected a Professor in Dartmouth College, 
 which he declined. It is expected that he will soon repair 
 to his place in this College, when its Faculty will be com¬ 
 pleted. Janies Wadsworth, Esq. of Livingston County, 
 was unanimously elected a Trustee of the College. We 
 rejoice in this selection, and consider it a pledge that the 
 Trustees are determined to fill all vacancies in the Board 
 from that class of citizens who are distinguished for 
 liberality of opinion, as well as just conceptions of the true 
 nature and value of education. 
 
 Measures were also taken to engage a Professor of the 
 French Language. 
 
II* The Church and the College 
 
 1. EXTRACT FROM BISHOP HOBART’S ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE, OCT. 17, 1821 * 
 
 In the city of New-York, Columbia College, which is 
 constantly rising in reputation, affords advantages inferior 
 to no other institution in the Union, for the studies 
 preparatory to the ministry; and the Corporation of Trini¬ 
 ty Church having transferred the annuity granted to the 
 Academy at Fairfield to a similar institution at Geneva, 
 opportunities will be thus furnished for these preparatory 
 studies. The handsome stone building which is erecting 
 for the use of the Academy, in which also accommodations 
 are to be afforded for the theological school, is situated in 
 the village of Geneva, immediately on the bank of the 
 Seneca Lake, commanding a view of this extensive and 
 beautiful sheet of water, of the cultivated shores that 
 confine it, and of the mountains that bound the distant 
 prospect. It is considered by all who have viewed it 
 as one of the most interesting situations which are any 
 where to be found. 
 
 Its relative advantages are not less important. Geneva 
 is situated in the midst of a very populous, fertile, and 
 highly cultivated country, having a water communication 
 of a few miles with the grand canal which passes through 
 the State, and being thus of easy access from the extensive 
 countries watered by the Western Lakes, and from those 
 on the Atlantic border. And, indulging the reasonable 
 expectation, that the Academy there will, at some future 
 period, be advanced to the privileges of a College, we must 
 
 *Journal of the Convention of the Diocese of New York, 1821, p. 21. 
 
 109 
 
110 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 be forcibly struck with the immense advantages of the 
 contiguity of our theological school to an institution 
 of this description. The principal school in the city of 
 New-York, and the branch school at Geneva, both enjoy¬ 
 ing the advantages of Colleges, in which there will be no 
 influence unfriendly to the Church, will be placed under as 
 commanding circumstances as could well be expected. 
 
 2. BISHOP HOBART’S ADDRESS, AND THE RESOLUTIONS 
 
 OF THE CONVENTION,* * 
 
 CONCERNING THE ENDOWMENT OF GENEVA COLLEGE, 
 
 OCT. 15, 1822 
 
 As connected with this subject, it is with the highest 
 gratification that I inform you of the incorporation of a 
 College at Geneva, in this state. With the exception of 
 Columbia College, which, eminently useful and respectable 
 as it is, must, from obvious circumstances, accommodate 
 almost solely the citizens of New-York, the colleges of this 
 state are under the management of non-Episcopalians. 
 Extending our views to the other states of the union, the 
 numerous colleges that are established in various parts, 
 with increasing funds and influence, are, with one or two 
 exceptions, under the same control. The fact is an 
 alarming one, and were it not for the very peculiar cir¬ 
 cumstances of depression and difficulty under which she 
 has laboured, and which rendered all her exertions neces¬ 
 sary for providing the means essential to her existence, 
 would be a disgraceful one to our Church. The union 
 between science and religion, and their reciprocal influences, 
 
 rj* 
 
 *Journal of the Convention of the Diocese of New York, 1822, 
 pp. 20-22. Cf. report of New York Diocese to General Convention, 
 1826, concerning Geneva College, in the historical sketch, p. 18. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 111 
 
 are so intimate and powerful, that no religious community 
 can flourish where that union is not recognized, and that 
 influence maintained in literary institutions and colleges 
 subject to its paramount control. There is no instance 
 of any universities or colleges in the Christian world, in 
 which some religious denomination has not directly or 
 indirectly predominating influence. The causes of this 
 may be traced to the intimate union between science and 
 religion, and to principles deeply seated in human nature. 
 And it is believed that no universities or colleges, whatever 
 may be their professions, will long be managed on any 
 other footing. But, without digressing into these general 
 views, it is surely obvious that Episcopalians, in common 
 with other Christian denominations, ought to have 
 colleges in which their candidates for orders may receive 
 preparatory instruction, and in which they may have an 
 opportunity of educating their sons under circumstances 
 most favourable to their being confirmed in those princi¬ 
 ples and views of religious truth, maintained by the Church 
 of which they are members. 
 
 An eminently favourable opportunity of obtaining a 
 college of this description is now afforded. The regents of 
 the University in this state, recognising the right of all 
 religious denominations to colleges of their own; and 
 viewing, in the competition thus excited, results highly 
 favourable to the general interests of science, have, with 
 great liberality, granted conditional charters for two 
 colleges, one at Ithaca, and the other at Geneva: the form¬ 
 er of which, it is understood, will be under Methodist 
 influence, and the latter under that of our own Church. 
 Not that there is to be exacted any religious test for 
 office, or any exclusion from the benefit of these institutions 
 of those of other denominations, or any restraint imposed 
 on the religious principles of the students, or any obstacles 
 
112 HOBART : THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 presented to their worshipping where they may think 
 proper. But it is presumed that, without infringing on 
 the rights or privileges of others, these institutions will be 
 managed as other institutions are, with an especial refer¬ 
 ence to the interests of those religious denominations who 
 have the principal control over them. 
 
 In my address at the last Convention, I took the liberty 
 to allude to the eminent advantages of Geneva as the site 
 of a literary institution, and I much question whether, 
 in any part of the continent, a place can be found, uniting 
 so many advantages for a college which is to accommodate 
 Episcopalians generally. Central in its situation in refer¬ 
 ence to the western and Atlantic states; immediately 
 contiguous to the canal, the great water communication 
 between them; in a country that is destined to be the gar¬ 
 den of America, affording from its soil the richest products, 
 and in its numerous lakes and diversified surface, the most 
 interesting and picturesque views, the healthy village of 
 Geneva unites all the local requisites for the site of a 
 literary institution. Our Church has now an opportunity 
 of obtaining a college that may be made, in all respects, to 
 answer her wishes; and much is it to be desired that Epis¬ 
 copalians, laying aside all local jealousies and partialities, 
 should unite their liberal and zealous efforts in the estab¬ 
 lishment of an institution that will be honourable to their 
 Church, and productive of incalculable and lasting benefit. 
 It is believed that the institution may be so organized as 
 to present powerful inducements to general support. 
 
 The Committee on so much of the Bishop’s Address as 
 relates to the proposed college at Geneva, made the fol¬ 
 lowing report, which was accepted: 
 
 The Committee to whom was referred so much of 
 the Address of the Bishop as relates to the establishment 
 and patronage of the college, proposed to be founded in 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 118 
 
 the village of Geneva, beg leave to submit the following 
 resolutions to the consideration of the Convention:* 
 
 Resolved , that this Convention is deeply impress¬ 
 ed with a sense of the advantages that would result from 
 the establishment of a college, combining an accurate 
 and extensive course of literary and scientific education 
 with a system of religious worship and instruction, accord¬ 
 ing to the principles of the Protestant Episcopal Church; 
 and that in their opinion the local situation of Geneva, 
 and the conditions of the charter recently granted to 
 the college, proposed to be founded in that village, are 
 eminently favourable to the attainment of these objects. 
 
 Resolved , that the Bishop and Standing Commit¬ 
 tee of this diocess be requested to prepare and carry 
 into effect, by and with the advice and approbation 
 of the trustees of the proposed college, such a plan for 
 the collection of funds and the endowment of the college, 
 as may seem to them best fitted to promote the general 
 and permanent interests of the Church, and to rec¬ 
 ommend the institution to the patronage and confi¬ 
 dence of Episcopalians throughout the United States. 
 
 3. APPLICATION TO THE WARDENS AND VESTRY OF 
 
 TRINITY CHURCH 
 
 IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK*)* 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 The undersigned, a committee of the Trustees of 
 Geneva College, beg leave respectfully to lay before you 
 the condition and prospects of that College, and to ask 
 in its behalf your Christian liberality. 
 
 * Accepted Oct. 16, 1822. Journal, 1822, pp. 39-40. 
 f Reprinted from President Hale’s copy. The rest of the foot¬ 
 notes to this document are all part of the original. 
 
114 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 The College originated in the suggestion of Bishop 
 Hobart, who aided it in its beginnings, and watched its 
 progress with great interest during the few years of his 
 subsequent life. 
 
 It is under the care of Churchmen, and.has 
 
 never been able, from the want of means, to place itself 
 in such a condition as to enlist warmly the feelings of 
 Churchmen. Its income has been derived mainly from 
 the State, and just sufficient in amount to support its 
 faculty, without enabling it to purchase books for its 
 library, or apparatus for its lecture-rooms. It has not had 
 time to acquire a hold upon the public through its gradu¬ 
 ates, or to establish a permanent reputation; while it has 
 had to compete with old and well endowed institutions, 
 whose graduates were in every village. 
 
 Under these disadvantages however, the College has 
 prospered. In ten years from October 1836, its pupils 
 increased from ten to eighty, and it has acquired a repu¬ 
 tation for soundness of instruction, second to none in the 
 State. The law, however, under which it has received 
 its stipend from the State, is repealed by the new Con¬ 
 stitution; a permanent renewal of the grant is forbidden 
 by the same instrument; and the College must close its 
 doors, or live, if it can, by hanging upon the skirts of the 
 Legislature, or yield itself to the control of the various 
 denominations around it, or find some support within the 
 Church. 
 
 It is well understood that Colleges cannot support them¬ 
 selves. In the competition of more than one hundred 
 institutions of this class in the United States, term bills* 
 
 *The term-bills at Geneva College, including tuition, room-rent, 
 Janitor's services, etc., amount to only $45 per ann.; about the aver¬ 
 age amount of term-bills at American colleges. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 115 
 
 are reduced very low; and funds derived from public or 
 private charity are a principal means of supporting pro¬ 
 fessorships and filling libraries, and some Colleges have 
 accumulated from the same source, large foundations for 
 the assistance of indigent students.* 
 
 It is a part of the settled policy of many of the religious 
 bodies in our country to establish and endow Colleges 
 in their own interests, for the purpose of extending their 
 influence. The Presbyterians and Congregationalists 
 have sixty-three Colleges. Some of them very richly en¬ 
 dowed, f and sustaining bodies of learned men whose in- 
 
 *By the Charity Funds of Union College, ninety-one students 
 were aided in one year.— Regents’ Report , 1846. 
 
 fit is difficult to determine the number exactly. The number 
 above is given on the authority of the American Almanac, 1847, 
 which marks many of the colleges as being in the interests of certain 
 religious bodies; and says, “with respect to the colleges which are 
 unmarked , the prevailing religious influence of those that are in the 
 New England States, is Congregationalism; of most of the others, 
 Presbyterianism.” P.182. Dr. Baird, in his “Religion in America,” 
 assigns 42 colleges to the Presbyterians and Congregationalists; 
 excluding Harvard College, one Lutheran, one German Reformed, 
 two Dutch Reformed, two Cumberland Presbyterian, and seven, 
 the religious character of which he does not know. He assigns, 
 also, to the P. E. Church twelve colleges, an over-estimate. 
 
 The value of the property of Harvard College, in 1840, not includ¬ 
 ing the college buildings , libraries , or other property contained therein , 
 amounted to $646,235.17.— Quincy’s Hist ., Vol. 2, Appendix. 
 
 The donations and legacies to the Theological Seminary at An¬ 
 dover, (Mass.), from four gentlemen, Messrs. Bartlett, Abbott, 
 Norris, and Brown, amounted to about $400,000, probably more. 
 
 It is estimated that in the city of Boston alone, the donations , 
 since the commencement of the present century, for theological 
 education and other religious objects , have amounted to $1,054,966.42 
 
 To colleges and other institutions of instruction. . . . 1,095,594.16 
 
 To charitable institutions. 2,162,412.66 
 
 To miscellaneous objects. 438,321.39 
 
 $4,751,294.63 
 
 Total 
 
116 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 fluence upon the public mind, though noiseless, is very 
 extensive; and there exists among them, in the older 
 States, an organized society, the object of which is to 
 raise funds systematically for the support of their Colleges 
 at the west.* The Roman Catholics have fifteen Colleges, 
 some of which have large bodies of professors, and are 
 richly furnished with the means and appliances for univer¬ 
 sity education.! The Methodists have thirteen Colleges, 
 and the Baptists ten. Out of this great number of Am¬ 
 erican Colleges, the Protestant Episcopal Church has but 
 eight , authorized to confer degrees; of which one, we be¬ 
 lieve, exists only in name, and of the rest only one is com¬ 
 petently endowed. Thus situated, they cannot offer equal 
 advantages, or enter into equal competition with others 
 for the education of the community. Nay, they cannot 
 hold the education of the sons of Churchmen. From all 
 we can learn, we believe that a large majority of the sons 
 of Churchmen, who are at this moment receiving a college 
 education in this country are members of Colleges, whose 
 religious inffuence is hostile to the Church, and are there 
 acquiring views which they may bring with them, in a 
 very few years, into her ministry or counsels. 
 
 *“The Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological 
 Education at the West.” It was formed in New York, in 1844, 
 and derives its revenues chiefly from New England and New York. 
 Its receipts in 1844 were $17,004.71; in 1845, $10,967.53; in 1846, 
 $16,034.78. It was established under the conviction, as Dr. Todd 
 expresses it, in advocating its claims, that “colleges are essential 
 to the Church of God.” (See Reports and Publications of the 
 Society.) 
 
 fit is stated to us by a distinguished Roman Catholic gentleman, 
 that the Roman Catholics have twenty-four colleges authorized to 
 confer degrees. The number of their clergy is but 709. This shews an 
 extraordinary degree of effort made by them to have their part in the 
 higher education of the community. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 117 
 
 Geneva College* is, in regard to position, most favorably 
 situated for exerting a wholesome influence if furnished 
 with the means. There is no existing College nearer to it 
 on the east than 80 or 90 miles: and none west within the 
 bounds of the state. It is thus in the centre of a larger 
 and better peopled territory, unoccupied by such institu- 
 
 *The colleges in the interests of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 
 are 
 
 Trinity, Hartford, which has about 80 
 
 students 
 
 Columbia, N. Y. 
 Geneva, 
 
 Wm. & Mary’s, Va. 
 Kenyon, O. 
 
 Jubilee, Ill. 
 
 St. James, Md. 
 Shelby, Ky. 
 Burlington, N. J. 
 
 <( 
 
 << 
 
 << 
 
 << 
 
 <« 
 
 120 
 
 70 or 80 
 98 
 
 40 or 50 
 
 few in college proper. 
 
 • << < < 
 few 
 
 few (if any) 
 
 only preparatory students. 
 
 The whole number of students in the Church Colleges in this 
 country, pursuing the college course, cannot be more than four 
 hundred, part of whom are not Churchmen. 
 
 The whole number of students, in all the American colleges, is 
 about 10,000. It is estimated sometimes much higher. The Church 
 colleges, then, are not educating more than one-twenty-fifth (1-25) 
 of the students pursuing a college course. 
 
 The number of Presbyterian clergymen is 1643, old-school, and 
 1263 new-school; of Congregationalists, Trinitarian, 1275; Unitarian, 
 250; total, 4431. The number of clergymen of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church, 1236; i.e. they are to the Congregational and 
 Presbyterian as 1 to 3.58. But the principal colleges, and those most 
 numerously attended and best endowed, are all under the influence 
 of these denominations; and if we take 43 as their number of colleges, 
 adding Harvard to Dr. Baird’s 42, they will be found to be educating 
 not much less than 6000, while we are educating only 400, i.e. one- 
 fifteenth as many. If the number of the sons of Churchmen, in the 
 course of college education, is as large in proportion as the number of 
 Presbyterians and Congregationalists, in order to educate all our 
 own children, we ought to have 1800 in our colleges, instead of 400. 
 It would seem, then, that we are not educating one-fourth part of 
 our own young men who are at college. 
 
118 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 tions, than any other College in the Northern and Eastern 
 states. It is on one of the great routes between the east 
 and the west. It is in the centre of a young and vigorous 
 Diocese, which is at the same time the most conservative 
 portion of the state, and every year it is becoming more and 
 more an object of its interest and hope. 
 
 But with all these advantages, and in this dearth of 
 Church Colleges, this College must stop, if some sufficient 
 resource cannot be found in its present emergency. There 
 is no hope of continued legislative patronage. The Dio¬ 
 cese of Western New York cannot furnish the necessary 
 endowments. About half its parishes are missionary 
 stations, sustained by the contributions of the rest, and of 
 the rest few have long been independent of missionary 
 aid. We cannot without an effort abandon it to the care 
 of others. What then shall we do? All eyes turn to you. 
 The common voice of the Church and of the public di¬ 
 rects us to you. Private benevolence hesitates, because 
 the College is not established, and we know not where to 
 find an individual, who will give, as Bartlett of Mass¬ 
 achusetts gave to Andover, by hundreds of thousands, 
 and secure it at once a permanent character. 
 
 Within the territory now occupied only by this College, 
 two others* have been chartered, but are not likely under 
 present circumstances to go into operation. Should the 
 ground be made vacant by the closing of this, one or both 
 would soon be ready to take its place, and not only would 
 there be the loss of its influence to the Church, but the 
 substitution of an opposite one. 
 
 We appeal to you whether the Church can afford to lose 
 this influence, small as it is at present, and the hope of 
 the much greater influence, which it may exert, with more 
 
 ^University of Buffalo, and University of Western New York 
 at Rochester. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 119 
 
 ample means and under more favorable circumstances. 
 Is it not of the highest importance to the Church that its 
 sons have their training during the most susceptible and 
 dangerous period of their lives, within the influence of the 
 Church’s care and teaching and prayers? What can she 
 expect, if she sends them out of her own pale for education, 
 but that they will bring within her precincts, the opinions, 
 which they have learned without? And has not the 
 Church a duty to the State also, to exert her conservative 
 influence, as far as she may, in the education of its leading 
 minds: and how far such an influence may reach, or how 
 much its reaction may benefit herself, who can tell? 
 
 We present the matter to you and ask you earnestly to 
 consider, whether in the present state of the Church and 
 the country, and the present deficiency of Church Schools 
 of the highest class, any object more urgently calls for 
 ample and liberal provision. We ask you to consider the 
 intimate relation, which in a Christian country must exist 
 between religion and learning; the influence, which Uni¬ 
 versities and Colleges have exerted and will exert upon the 
 Church for good or evil: the resource which the Church 
 of England has in her Universities for the supply of her 
 clergy, and the support they give her, through their sons, 
 in all her trials; and to say whether the American Church 
 can safely leave the University education of her children, 
 their training in morals and philosophy to rationalistic and 
 latitudinarian teaching, and hope to preserve her purity, 
 or to avoid the introduction of theories, foreign to her 
 principles, into her counsels, or of a tone of mind, foreign 
 to her discipline, into all her ministries. We lay our re¬ 
 quest before you not only in the name of the Trustees of 
 Geneva College, but of the Diocese of Western New York, 
 which unites with us in our application. We come to 
 you as the Mother Church of that, as well as of your own 
 
120 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 Diocese, and as possessing the means to do this important 
 work, which we know not where else to find.* 
 
 We know that the funds which you hold are Church 
 funds, and we do not ask you to give, but to endow a 
 Church institution. We do not ask you to give, but upon 
 sufficient security, that your benefactions will serve the 
 pious ends for which they are given. We suggest there¬ 
 fore, (1,) that whatever endowments you may give, shall 
 be given for specified purposes, and in specified amounts, 
 and not in one gross sum for general objects to be used 
 according to discretion: (2,) that they be given in trust; 
 and, (3,) under such conditions, as will tend to secure that 
 use of them, which as Churchmen, you must seek; and, 
 (4,) with such farther security for their faithful use and 
 the fulfilment of the conditions, as prudence may devise. 
 We present herewith, for your consideration, some sug¬ 
 gestions tending to this end, and a farther sketch, which 
 will shew what amount of funds may be necessary for 
 setting the college upon a proper foundation; not for 
 doing all, which is desirable, but to give it permanence and 
 efficiency in the view of the public, and to secure to it the 
 confidence and zeal of those, who should be its friends, and 
 to enable it to assume its proper rank as a College, and 
 to exert that degree of influence, which its advantageous 
 position, and the character it has already acquired for 
 soundness of instruction, will with proper means and 
 appliances, enable it most easily to do. 
 
 Benj. Hale, William H. DeLancey, 
 
 J. H. Hobart, J. W^atson Williams, 
 
 April 22, 1847. Committee. 
 
 *Permit us respectfully to suggest, in the words of Dr. Moore, 
 that, from some of the early documents, “it may not unreasonably 
 be inferred, that the grant of the King’s Farm to the Corporation 
 [of Trinity Church] had been made with a view to the ad¬ 
 vancement of learning, as well as religion.” (See Dr. M.’s Historical 
 Sketch of Columbia College, p. 8.) We presume, of learning in alli¬ 
 ance with religion. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 121 
 
 4. MINUTE AND RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE COR¬ 
 PORATION OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK 
 
 IN RESPONSE TO THE APPLICATION FOR AID FROM GENEVA 
 
 COLLEGE * 
 
 On the 12th of May, 1848, the following minute and 
 resolution were adopted by the corporation of Trinity 
 Church: 
 
 “The vestry then considered the resolution heretofore 
 submitted by the committee, to whom was referred the 
 application of Geneva College, together with their report 
 and the accompanying statement of the Bishop of Western 
 New York; and the same having been discussed it was, 
 therefore, 
 
 “ Resolved , That, for the purpose of promoting 
 religious education in connection with the church in this 
 State, it is expedient to endow the college at Geneva, 
 in the diocese of Western New York, with an annuity of 
 $6,000, to commence on the 1st of May, 1866; such sum 
 to be thereafter annually expended in the support of pro¬ 
 fessors and tutors, and upon terms, conditions, and 
 provisos, and with checks to be hereafter settled, so as to 
 insure its application to the uses intended, provided the 
 college shall raise, by subscription or other grants, a suffi¬ 
 cient sum to insure the continuance of the institution 
 in its late efficiency, until the endowment of this church 
 shall be available. 
 
 “And it was referred to the same committee to consider 
 and report the proper terms, conditions, provisos, and 
 checks aforesaid.” 
 
 ^Reprinted from Perry. 
 
122 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 5. EXTRACTS FROM PRESIDENT HALE’S LETTER TO 
 THE REV. WILLIAM BERRIAN, D.D., RECTOR OF TRINITY 
 
 CHURCH, NEW YORK * 
 
 Geneva College, May 26, 1851. 
 
 Reverend and Dear Sir, 
 
 I beg leave to present you a few suggestions touching 
 the subject on which I had the pleasure of conversing with 
 you recently, when I was in New York, and to request 
 you to bring it to the consideration of the Vestry of Trinity 
 Church in such way as you may deem advisable. 
 
 We have as I informed you made the experiment for 
 several years of carrying on this College without adequate 
 means, and we have as we believe accomplished all that 
 could be accomplished under our circumstances, and the 
 conclusion to which we have deliberately come is that with¬ 
 out adequate permanent endowment any such degree of suc¬ 
 cess as would be satisfactory to ourselves or to the Church 
 is impossible. 
 
 It is impossible at present to raise endowments for the 
 support of the College in Western New York, adequate 
 to its present wants, by means of subscriptions; and aid 
 in the way of legacies or large donations cannot be expected 
 from any private sources until the College shall have ac¬ 
 quired strength and permanency. 
 
 As our only practicable resource we turn to the Vestry 
 of Trinity Church and beg to ask the members of that 
 venerable Corporation whether they cannot make their 
 generous promise of an endowment to this College of 
 present effect. We ask no consideration for ourselves 
 as individuals, but we ask the Vestry to consider whether 
 in the present state of the Church any charity is so impor- 
 
 *Printed from a copy of the original letter in the Archives of the 
 College. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 123 
 
 tant as that which provides for the right education of the 
 sons of the Church, we ask them to consider whether there 
 is any point in which the Church in this country exhibits 
 itself so discreditably, or so far fails in its duty to its 
 own children and in wise policy, as in its great inferiority 
 to all the principal sects, in the number and especially 
 in the endowments and resources of its Colleges. 
 
 It was with a wise forethought that Bishop Hobart 
 moved the establishment of this College while the ground 
 in Western New York was yet unoccupied, and in advance 
 of the wants of the Church; but through the utter inade¬ 
 quacy of its means, it has not been able to use this advan¬ 
 tage effectively, and it now sees a College established at 
 Rochester by the Baptists with an endowment of $150,000, 
 and another at Lima established by the Methodists with 
 an endowment of more than $100,000, and both coming 
 into full operation, with all the eclat and shew of success 
 which the energy and activity of these sects know how to 
 give them. It has seen moreover in the Legislature a 
 disposition to give to these two Colleges on the ground of 
 what they had accomplished in the way of endowments, 
 almost any sum they ventured to ask. 
 
 This College now stands before the public as the only 
 one avowedly a Church College in the State. 
 
 Its income from the payments of the students is and must 
 be small, the greater part of its original endowment having 
 been derived from the sale of certificates securing to the 
 holders twenty years of free tuition. More than two 
 hundred of these are now out. It has lost the advantage 
 of priority. It is overshadowed on its own ground. To 
 put itself on an equality with the newer Colleges, it must 
 have endowments and it must get them from Church 
 sources. 
 
 And allow me to add that the present time, marked as 
 the third jubilee of a great Society, to which the Church 
 
124 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 in this country, under God, owes so much, is peculiarly 
 appropriate for an act which would make noble provision 
 for one of the most pressing wants of the Church, and, 
 more than any other single act, give her influence, and that 
 in many ways, upon the community in which we dwell. 
 
 You will pardon this long letter for the sake of the 
 cause which I plead and believe me to be 
 
 Most respectfully and truly 
 
 Your friend and brother, 
 
 Benj. Hale. 
 
 6. RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE CORPORATION OF 
 
 TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK 
 
 IN RESPONSE TO A SECOND APPEAL FROM GENEVA COLLEGE* 
 
 NOVEMBER 14, 1851 
 
 “ Resolved , That the promised endowment to Ge¬ 
 neva College made by this vestry on the 12th of May, 
 1848, of $6000 per annum, to commence on the 1st of May, 
 1866, be so modified as to allow instead thereof $3000 
 per annum in perpetuity, payable quarterly, to commence 
 from the first day of the present college term, provided 
 that the trustees of Geneva College assent to such modifi¬ 
 cation.” 
 
 ^Reprinted from Perry. 
 
III. The English Course 
 
 1. A COURSE OF EDUCATION 
 
 PROPOSED TO BE PURSUED IN GENEVA COLLEGE* 
 
 Geneva, March 1st, 1824. 
 
 Sir:— 
 
 WE beg leave briefly to make you acquainted with 
 the outlines of a Course of Education proposed to be 
 pursued in the Geneva College. 
 
 The republican institutions of these United States, and 
 the general consent of all classes of citizens that such 
 institutions can be preserved pure only by maintaining 
 an unprivileged equality among the citizens, demand a 
 respectful deference of every association. 
 
 That the blessings of civil liberty — real blessings only 
 when shared equally among all ranks of people — may 
 be extended as far as possible, and continued as long as 
 possible, a general diffusion of useful knowledge seems 
 indispensably necessary. This is so universally acknowl¬ 
 edged by all enlightened politicians, and is so universally 
 received in these United States, both theoretically and 
 practically, that it needs no enforcement from any single 
 institution of learning. 
 
 But there is another light in which the diffusion of knowl¬ 
 edge may be viewed as of the highest importance to the 
 community at large. It is where practical information 
 is communicated to citizens in all stations of life, enabling 
 them to add pleasure to business, and extend their exer¬ 
 tions for the means of domestic comfort into fields of re¬ 
 search hitherto confined to the philosopher. 
 
 *The earliest printed document circulated by the College, 
 
 125 
 
126 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 The present extensive application of the discoveries in 
 Chemistry to improvements in Agriculture and the various 
 Manufactures convenient or necessary to human life, 
 demonstrate in the fullest manner the utility of diffusing 
 a practical knowledge of the Arts and Sciences among all 
 ranks of citizens, rather than confine that knowledge to the 
 closet of the philosopher. 
 
 For these reasons it is proposed, should the plan receive 
 the approbation of the Honorable the Regents of the 
 University, to institute in the Geneva College, 
 besides the regular Course of Study pursued in similar 
 Institutions, a totally distinct Course, in direct reference 
 to the practical business of life, by which the Agricultur¬ 
 ist, the Merchant, and the Mechanic may receive a prac¬ 
 tical knowledge of what genius and experience have dis¬ 
 covered, without passing through a tedious Course of 
 C la ssical Studies. 
 
 Students of certain qualifications and age shall be ad¬ 
 mitted Members of the College, with all the privileges 
 of it, to pursue a full Course of the following Studies, 
 under the appointed Instructors. 
 
 1. Under the English Professor they shall study the 
 Philosophy of English Grammar , Geography , Rhetoric , 
 History , English Composition , Moral Philosophy , Logic , 
 Metaphysics , Evidences of Christianity , and shall practise 
 Public Speaking. 
 
 2. Under the Professor of Mathematics they shall 
 study Geometry; Trigonometry; Land Surveying , theoretical 
 and practical; Mensuration , generally; Navigation; Level¬ 
 ling , with reference to Canals and Aqueducts ; Hydraulics , 
 as applied to machinery driven by Water power; Steam 
 power; Natural Philosophy , and Astronomy the use of 
 Mathematical Instruments , the principles of Architectural 
 proportions and Bridge building , Drawing of plans , &c. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 127 
 
 3. Under the Professor of Chemistry shall be studied 
 Chemistry; the Principles of Dyeing , Bleaching , &c.; the 
 nature and use of different Earths and Soils; the fertil¬ 
 izing qualities and effects of different Substances; Min¬ 
 eralogy and Botany. 
 
 4. This Course of Study shall consume at least two 
 years, and the Students shall be classed by years, as in 
 the Classical departments of the College. 
 
 5. Students pursuing this Course shall be subject to 
 the same number of public Examinations in every year 
 as are the Classical Students; and shall equally conform 
 to all the By-Laws of the College. 
 
 6. Upon the expiration of the prescribed term of study, 
 such Students in this minor Course as shall appear, upon 
 public Examination, to merit it, shall receive from the 
 President, on Commencement Day, if the President be so 
 authorized by the Honorable the Regents of the Universi¬ 
 ty, an English Diploma, signed by the President and 
 Professors of the College, and which shall be considered 
 an honorary testimony of application to Practical Studies, 
 as the other Diploma of the College is of Classical and 
 Theoretical Studies. 
 
 We are , respectfully , 
 
 Your most obt. Servts . 
 
 Samuel Colt, 
 
 Wm. S. De Zeng, 
 
 Committee of the Board of Trustees. 
 
The preceding and nextToIlowing documents are the earliest known 
 publications of the College, and only a single copy of either, now in 
 the College Archives, has apparently survived. The former (p. 125) 
 is merely a letter, printed without title on the first page of a heavy 
 four-page foolscap sheet; the latter is an octavo pamphlet. The title 
 page given opposite is a very close reproduction of the original. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 UPON 
 
 THE PROJECT 
 
 ESTABLISH]!?}© 
 
 GENEVA COLLEGE 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 PRINTED2BY T. AND J. SWORDS, 
 No. 99 Pearl-Street 
 
 1824 
 
OBSERVATIONS, &c. 
 
 The good influence of seminaries of learning upon the 
 dearest interests, both civil and religious, of communities 
 of men, has been so fully experienced, and is now so gener¬ 
 ally acknowledged, that no apology need be offered for call¬ 
 ing the patient attention of the intelligent and liberal 
 minded reader to these few pages. 
 
 The Regents of the University of New-York have grant¬ 
 ed to the Trustees of Geneva Academy a Charter and Col¬ 
 lege privileges, on condition of their raising an income of 
 $4000 within a certain period. The requisite sum has very 
 nearly been obtained by liberal donations and subscrip¬ 
 tions from the country. Still, however, additional funds 
 are wanted, not only to secure the Charter, but also, 
 when secured, to place the College upon a respectable and 
 useful foundation. The design of the following observa¬ 
 tions is to show the importance of the proposed institu¬ 
 tion, and to explain its peculiar claims, arising both from 
 the plan of instruction to be pursued, and from the great 
 privileges which it holds forth to those who may be in¬ 
 clined to become its patrons. 
 
 In regard to its location, Geneva College will combine 
 almost every advantage which could be desired. *“Cen- 
 tral in its situation, in reference to the Western and At¬ 
 lantic States, immediately contiguous to the Canal, the 
 great water communication between them; in a country 
 that is destined to be the garden of America, affording from 
 its soil the richest products, and in its numerous Lakes 
 and diversified surface the most interesting and picturesque 
 
 *Bishop Hobart’s Address to the Convention of 1822. 
 
 131 
 
132 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 views, the healthy village of Geneva unites all the local 
 requisites for the site of a literary institution.” In 
 addition to these advantages of a healthy climate, beauty 
 of the surrounding scenery, and great facility of communi¬ 
 cation with an extensive country, and also with the city 
 of New-York, it is to be noticed that the expenses of 
 living are now, and must always continue, to be extremely 
 moderate. Good boarding may be obtained for one 
 dollar or one dollar and twenty-five cents per week. The 
 Trustees of the Academy have already erected a handsome 
 stone building sufficiently large to accommodate one 
 hundred students with rooms. Both the building and the 
 situation in which it is placed are well calculated for a 
 College. “It is immediately on the bank of the Seneca 
 Lake, commanding a view of this extensive and beautiful 
 sheet of water, of the cultivated shores that confine it, 
 and of the mountains that bound the distant prospect. 
 It is considered by all who have viewed it as one of the 
 most interesting situations which are anywhere to be 
 found.” 
 
 Having spoken of the location of the projected College, 
 something must be said in regard to the course of in¬ 
 struction which will be established in it. The requisites 
 for admission, and the studies to be pursued by those who 
 continue the full period of four years, will be the same as 
 adopted in the most respectable Colleges of our country. 
 But in connexion with this, a plan of education is intended, 
 which, as it differs in several important particulars from 
 those at present existing in any of our collegiate institu¬ 
 tions, will require a more particular description. 
 
 The general design is to establish an institution, which, 
 in connexion with the collegiate course of four years, shall 
 possess a system of education to be gone through in a 
 shorter period, (say two years,) and comprising all the 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 133 
 
 literary and scientific information necessary to render 
 young men who are designed for the other walks of life, 
 as agriculture, merchandise, mechanism, and manufactur¬ 
 ing, useful and respectable. 
 
 Our collegiate institutions have heretofore been estab¬ 
 lished with the design of preparing young men for the 
 learned professions. Their course of discipline and in¬ 
 struction has this object principally, and perhaps solely, 
 in view. So obviously is this the fact, that a young man, 
 who, after leaving College, turns his attention to merchan¬ 
 dise or farming, is considered as having in a great measure 
 lost four years of his time at the most important period 
 of his life. Part, and a very considerable part of his 
 studies has no important bearing upon his profession, and 
 the habits he acquires at College are in general not favour¬ 
 able to his future pursuits. All the advantages he ob¬ 
 tains of literary and scientific information might be gained 
 under another system much more efficaciously, and at 
 a far less expense of time. The proposed institution will 
 supply this desideratum. It wfil receive young men not 
 intended for the learned professions. In our Colleges, 
 Chemistry, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy are 
 taught as liberal sciences, both for the sake of the discipline 
 they give to the mind, and because a general knowledge 
 of their principles is desirable in every walk of life, and is 
 absolutely essential to him who would be esteemed a 
 scholar. Geneva College, in addition to the mode of 
 teaching these sciences to the general scholar, will also 
 teach them practically, that is, with a direct application 
 of their principles to the purposes of life. Thus he who is 
 designed to be a farmer will have an opportunity of attend¬ 
 ing lectures upon agricultural Chemistry, and will obtain 
 all that valuable information which this science has thrown 
 upon the nature of soils and manures. The manufacturer 
 
134 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 will learn to apply the principles of the same science to the 
 various departments of dyeing, tanning, bleaching, &c. 
 The mechanician, the surveyor, and the civil engineer, will 
 also be instructed in the various branches of Mathematics 
 and Natural Philosophy, which are so absolutely essential 
 to them in their different operations. 
 
 We need not speak of the assistance which the sciences 
 are calculated to afford to the uses of life. In this State 
 especially, where so much has already been done, and 
 where so much remains yet to be accomplished in the way 
 of canals; where our individual interests as landholders 
 are so much involved in the skilful use of the surveyor’s 
 art; where we have such an immense population of farmers, 
 whose interests are so connected with improvements in 
 agriculture; where we have so many manufacturers, who 
 are deeply concerned in the various applications of machin¬ 
 ery; where not only the surface of our country is to be 
 infinitely improved, and rendered more and more produc¬ 
 tive to the commercialist, the manufacturer, and the 
 farmer, but where we are yet to look for immense riches 
 in the mines contained in its bosom—what can we expect 
 to accomplish without a succession of men having an ex¬ 
 tensive practical knowledge of Chemistry, Mineralogy, 
 Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy? And yet we have 
 not one public institution, with college privileges, which 
 devotes its attention to this valuable class of men, and our 
 Legislature has not contributed anything to the endow¬ 
 ment of such a system of practical education. Our divines, 
 our physicians, and lawyers, have Colleges erected to give 
 them four years of preparatory instruction for their sepa¬ 
 rate professions; and to these institutions, our Legislature, 
 and in several instances individuals, have exhibited a 
 splendid munificence worthy of all praise. Is it not time 
 that some particular attention should be bestowed upon 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 135 
 
 the education of farmers, mechanics, manufacturers, and 
 merchants; and that both our Legislature and liberal 
 minded individuals should be called upon to give to an 
 institution having this object in view, some of that pat¬ 
 ronage which has been extended with such a noble and en¬ 
 lightened liberality to our different Colleges. 
 
 In establishing a new College, there will be a great ad¬ 
 vantage derived from uniting with it such a system of 
 education as the above, rather than having this system 
 upon a separate foundation. This plan will be more 
 economical, for the professors who give the usual course 
 of instruction to the young men designed for the learned 
 professions, may, with comparatively little additional 
 exertion, prepare a course for young men who intend to 
 follow other pursuits. The professor of Chemistry may 
 teach this science in its practical applications, and may also 
 give such instruction in Mineralogy and Geology as will 
 enable the future farmer or surveyor to detect the mineral 
 wealth which may lay beneath the surface of the ground. 
 The professor of Mathematics and Natural and Experi¬ 
 mental Philosophy may teach the requisite principles of 
 science to the surveyor, civil engineer, and mechanician. 
 Other branches there are which may be profitably taught 
 to young men who do not pursue a full collegiate course, 
 such as History, Moral Science, and Political Economy, 
 and these may be attended to by the usual professors of a 
 College. 
 
 In addition to the economy of uniting under the same 
 institution two courses of instruction, there will be many 
 advantages derived from associating together in early 
 life those who are afterwards to follow different occupa¬ 
 tions in the same community. A prominent one is, that 
 this system will have a tendency to give greater liberality 
 and enlargement to the minds of all, and to produce a 
 
136 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 more general respect for science and letters, and a more 
 powerful co-operation in promoting this cause, which is 
 so intimately connected not only with the dignity, but 
 also with the happiness and prosperity of our country. 
 
 Such is the general plan of the projected College at 
 Geneva, which, while it may give a preparatory education 
 to those intended for the learned professions, will also 
 establish a system, which, as respects the literary and 
 scientific information it affords, and the time it occupies, 
 will be calculated to prepare young men for the other 
 walks of life. 
 
 To establish a College upon so broad a foundation, it is 
 obvious that a considerable amount of funds is desirable. 
 For in addition to the customary college buildings and 
 library, an extensive chemical and philosophical apparatus 
 will be required, and also a small farm and suitable build¬ 
 ings for the purpose of experiments, and for illustrating 
 the most approved system of husbandry. 
 
 To all, therefore, who are interested in the great cause 
 of education; that cause so intimately connected with the 
 extension of our prosperity, the security of our liberties, 
 and the maintenance of our moral and religious character, 
 an earnest request is made that they would seriously weigh 
 the subject matter of the foregoing pages, and having 
 approved the design unfolded in them, that they would 
 give it their countenance and pecuniary assistance. 
 
 Geneva College does not ask for this without offering 
 to those patrons who may be disposed to avail themselves 
 of it, what will be esteemed a valuable equivalent, in 
 addition to that elevated pleasure which every intelligent 
 and good man must feel in contributing to the advance¬ 
 ment of religion and learning. In proof of this the 
 conditions of subscription are here stated:— 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 137 
 
 CONDITIONS. 
 
 1. Any person who shall subscribe and pay one hundred 
 dollars, shall have the right of sending to Geneva Academy, 
 or Geneva College, for the term of twenty years, or during 
 his or her natural life, one student, free of any charge 
 for tuition fees. 
 
 2. Any person who shall subscribe and pay five hundred 
 dollars, shall have the right to send two students for the 
 period of thirty years, or during his or her natural life, 
 free from tuition fees. 
 
 3. Any congregation or society that shall subscribe and 
 pay one thousand dollars, shall have the privilege of send¬ 
 ing to the said Academy or College, one student, for the 
 period of fifty years, commencing with the dates of pay¬ 
 ment, free from all charges of tuition, room rent, or any 
 other tax usually assessed by similar institutions. 
 
 It must be obvious that the advantages held out in 
 these conditions to the patrons of the College are very 
 great. They are secured to subscribers by a certificate 
 from an agent, vested with full powers for this purpose. 
 The certificate is in this form— 
 
 THIS CERTIFIES, That 
 
 having subscribed and paid One Hundred Dollars to the 
 Funds of Geneva College, is himself, his heirs and assigns, 
 entitled to the privilege of sending one Student to the 
 Geneva Academy, or to Geneva College, free of Tuition 
 Fees, for Twenty Years, commencing from the date 
 hereof, or at any time he may choose. 
 
 Dated at the day of 182 
 
 It must be remarked here, that the form of this certif¬ 
 icate was adopted by the Trustees subsequent to the 
 
138 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 publication of the conditions of subscription, and that the 
 privileges it ensures are much greater than those at 
 first promised. The certificate is made transferable proper¬ 
 ty, and the term of twenty years may be commenced at 
 any time according to the pleasure of the holder. 
 
 To enlarge upon the advantages thus stated must be 
 needless. It is hoped and confidently expected, that these, 
 in combination with more disinterested motives, a love 
 of religion and sound learning, and a pure and elevated 
 ambition to be instrumental in sustaining these, the great 
 supports of human happiness, and dignity, and virtue, 
 will secure a liberal endowment for Geneva College. 
 
CHARTER 
 
 OF 
 
 HOBART COLLEGE 
 
 GRANTED BY THE 
 
 REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 GENEVA COLLEGE 
 
 FEBRUARY 8th, 1825 
 
 Amended April 10,1852; April 10, 1855; March 27. 1860; 
 February 5,1863; February 20, 1874 etc. 
 
STATE OF NEW YORK 
 Secretary’s Office 
 
 Recorded in Book of Deeds, No. 41, page 357, etc., April 14, 1825. 
 
 (Signed) Arch’d Campbell 
 
 Dep. Secretary 
 
By the Regents of the University of the State 
 of New York. 
 
 Whereas the Trustees of the Geneva Academy did by 
 their petition presented to us, on the eleventh day of Febru¬ 
 ary, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, repre¬ 
 sent among other things, that they were desirous of found¬ 
 ing a College by engrafting the same on the said Academy 
 at or near the site of said Academy in the Village of 
 Geneva, in the County of Ontario, and that for the ac¬ 
 complishment of that object they had provided consid¬ 
 erable funds, and were about providing more for the 
 same purpose, and thereupon praying for a grant from 
 us the said Regents of College powers to take effect 
 at the expiration of three years thereafter, provided the 
 said petitioners should within that period acquire such 
 permanent funds as we should deem sufficient for the 
 endowment of such College; And Whereas after due 
 consideration of the said petition and the object therein 
 prayed for we did on the tenth day of April, in the year of 
 our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, 
 under and in pursuance of the Sixth Section of the Act 
 entitled “An Act relative to the University,” passed 
 April 5, 1813, signify our approbation of the plan on which 
 it was intended to found said College, and did thereupon 
 Ordain and Declare that if the said petitioners should 
 within the space of three years thereafter provide and 
 satisfactorily secure permanent funds for the use and 
 benefit of such College which should produce a clear annu¬ 
 al revenue of four thousand dollars, they the said peti¬ 
 tioners should on exhibiting evidence satisfactory to us 
 of their having provided and secured such funds, be there¬ 
 
 in 
 
142 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 upon incorporated by us as a College according to the 
 Laws of the State and the regulations of us, the said 
 Regents; And Whereas now 7 at this day, to wit, on the 
 eighth day of February, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and twenty-five, the said Trustees have by their 
 petition to us represented that they have fulfilled the con¬ 
 ditions on which they were by our said ordinance, in that 
 behalf made as aforesaid, to be incorporated as a College, 
 thereupon praying to be so incorporated by us accordingly; 
 and for that purpose have signified to us that the name 
 of said College shall be “Geneva College/’ and have 
 proposed to us the twenty-four persons hereinafter 
 named for the first Trustees thereof; And Whereas it 
 satisfactorily appears to us, that funds have been pro¬ 
 vided and set apart for the endowment and support of 
 said College to the amount of sixty thousand dollars and 
 upwards, producing a clear annual revenue of four thou¬ 
 sand dollars and upwards; which said fund appears 
 to us to be secured in as safe and sufficient a manner as 
 can reasonably be required; And Whereas it appears to 
 us that the establishment of said College as prayed for 
 by the said petitioners will promote the cause of science 
 and redound to the public good, and the same being in 
 fulfilment of the aforesaid ordinance heretofore made 
 by us: 
 
 Therefore We, the said Regents, moved by the consid¬ 
 eration of the premises, and in virtue of the power in us 
 vested by Law, have authorized and empowered, and 
 by these presents do authorize and empower, the said 
 Trustees of Geneva Academy to appoint a President and 
 the said Academy to become a College pursuant to Law, 
 and have granted and declared, and by these presents 
 do grant and declare, that a College for the instruction 
 and education of youth in the learned languages and 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 143 
 
 liberal arts and sciences shall be, and hereby is founded 
 and established in said Village of Geneva; that the 
 Trustees of said College shall always be twenty-four in 
 number and that James Rees, Samuel Colt, Orin Clark, 
 Daniel McDonald, Abraham Dox, William S. DeZeng, 
 Elnathan Noble, Robert S. Rose, Walter Grieve, David 
 Cook, James Carter, Henry Axtell, Herman H. Bogert, 
 John C Spencer, Philip Church, Bowen Whiting, David 
 Hudson, Thomas D. Burrall, Henry Seymour, Elijah 
 Miller, Francis H. Cuming, Jesse Clark, Henry Anthon 
 and Lucius Smith shall be the first Trustees of said Col¬ 
 lege; and that the said Trustees and their successors 
 shall be a body corporate and politic, by the name of 
 “The Trustees of Geneva College,” and shall have per¬ 
 petual succession, and shall be capable to sue and be 
 sued, and to purchase, take, hold, enjoy and have lands, 
 messuages, tenements, hereditaments and real estate 
 whatsoever in fee simple, or for term of life or lives, or 
 years, or in any other manner howsoever, and also goods, 
 chattels, books, monies, annuities and all other things of 
 what nature or kind soever; provided always, that the clear 
 yearly value of such real estate shall not exceed the sum 
 of thirteen thousand three hundred and thirty-three dol¬ 
 lars and one-third of a dollar* lawful money of the United 
 States. 
 
 And the said Trustees shall have power to ap¬ 
 point a President and Professors and Tutors to have 
 the immediate care of the education and govern¬ 
 ment of the students who shall be sent to and be admit¬ 
 ted into the said College for instruction and education, 
 according to such ordinances, rules and orders as shall 
 be made by the said Trustees; and also to appoint a 
 Treasurer and Clerk, and all other needful officers and 
 
 *As Amended Oct. 17, 1907: fifty thousand dollars. 
 
144 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 ministers, and to assign to them their respective duties; 
 and also from time to time to make such ordinances, rules 
 and orders for the management and disposition of the 
 lands and other real estate, and of the chattels and monies 
 and other property at any time held and possessed by 
 them the said Trustees to the use of the said College, 
 and for the more orderly and conveniently perform¬ 
 ing and executing the trusts and authorities hereby 
 granted and committed to them, as they the said Trus¬ 
 tees (in legal meeting convened) shall deem most fit and 
 beneficial, and also all such ordinances, rules and orders 
 directing and appointing what books shall be publicly 
 read and taught in said College, and for the better gov¬ 
 ernment of said College and of the President, Professors, 
 Tutors and Students thereof as they the said Trustees 
 think best for the general good of the same; provided 
 that no ordinance, rule or order to be made by the said 
 Trustees, nor any appointment of a President, Professor 
 or Tutor in said College, nor any appointment of a Treas¬ 
 urer, Clerk, or any other Officer or Minister shall have 
 any force or validity unless the same shall be agreed 
 to by the major part of any thirteen or more of them 
 the said Trustees duly convened and met together. 
 
 And Provided further, that no such ordinance, rule 
 or order shall be repugnant to the constitution or laws 
 of this State or the United States; neither shall any 
 of them extend to exclude any person of any relig¬ 
 ious denomination whatever from equal liberty and 
 advantage of education, or from any of the degrees, 
 liberties, privileges, benefits or immunities of said College, 
 on account of his particular tenets in religion; And Pro¬ 
 vided also, that every such ordinance, rule or order 
 whereby the punishment of expulsion, suspension, degra¬ 
 dation or public confession shall be inflicted on any 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 145 
 
 student shall be put in execution only by such major 
 part of any thirteen or more of the said Trustees; that the 
 President of said College shall hold his office for and dur¬ 
 ing his good behavior, but that all Professors and Tu¬ 
 tors and every Treasurer and Clerk, and all other Officers 
 and Ministers of said College shall hold their respective 
 offices at the will and pleasure of the said Trustees. 
 
 That there shall be two meetings of the said Trustees in 
 the said Village of Geneva every year, on such days and 
 at such place as the said Trustees shall by ordinances to 
 be by them from time to time made in that behalf, ap¬ 
 point, to be denominated stated meetings; and until the 
 said Trustees shall have made an ordinance appointing the 
 day and place of such stated meetings, the same shall be 
 held on the first Wednesday in August and on the first 
 Wednesday in February in each year, and in the building 
 hitherto called the Academy; that whenever any special 
 meeting of the said Trustees shall be deemed necessary, 
 the Senior Trustee then residing in said Village, and taking 
 upon himself the exercise of the office, shall upon an appli¬ 
 cation for that purpose in writing under the hands of any 
 five or more of the said Trustees, appoint a time for said 
 special meeting at some convenient place in said Village, 
 and cause due notice thereof to be given by advertising 
 the same in one or more of the public newspapers printed 
 in the aforesaid County nearest to said College, at least 
 twenty days before such meeting; and at such meeting 
 such Senior Trustee before entering on any business 
 shall certify such notification to the Trustees then met; 
 that whenever the said Trustees shall be met together at 
 any meeting, the Senior Trustee then present shall preside 
 at such meeting; that the seniority intended in these two 
 several cases shall be determined according to the order 
 in which the said Trustees are herein named, and shall 
 
146 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 be hereafter elected, and not less than thirteen Trustees 
 shall form a quorum for the transaction of any business. 
 
 That the said Trustees shall also have power at any 
 meeting duly convened, to elect and appoint upon the 
 death, removal out of the State, or other vacancy of the 
 place or places of any Trustee or Trustees, other or others 
 in his or their place or stead, as often as such vacancy 
 shall happen, and also to make and declare vacant the seat 
 of any Trustee who shall absent himself from five successive 
 meetings of the Board. But no professor or tutor of 
 said College, or member of the Faculty thereof, other than 
 the President thereof shall ever be eligible to the office 
 of Trustee. That the said Trustees may by the Presi¬ 
 dent of the said College, or any other person by them auth¬ 
 orized or appointed, give and grant any such degree and 
 degrees to all such persons thought by them worthy 
 thereof, as are known to and usually granted by any 
 University or College in Europe. That the said Trustees 
 shall and may have a common seal under which they 
 shall and may pass all grants, diplomas and all other 
 writings whatsoever, requisite or convenient to pass 
 under such seal, and which shall be engraven in such 
 form and with such devices and inscription as shall be 
 agreed upon by the said Trustees, and to alter the same 
 at their pleasure. 
 
 In Testimony Whereof, We have caused these presents 
 to be signed by our Chancellor, and our Common Seal to 
 
 be affixed thereto this eighth day of Feb- 
 L. S. ruary in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 eight hundred and twenty-five. 
 
 Attest: (Signed) 
 
 Gideon Hawley, John Taylor, 
 
 Secretary. Chancellor. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 147 
 
 An Act to Change the Name of Geneva College 
 
 Passed April 10, 1852. 
 
 The People of the State of New York represented in 
 Senate and Assembly do enact as follows: 
 
 Section 1 . The name of Geneva College in the 
 County of Ontario is hereby changed to Hobart Free 
 College at Geneva, by which name it will hereafter be 
 known and called: but the Medical Department of that 
 Institution shall continue to be known and designated 
 as the Medical Institution of Geneva College. 
 
 Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 An Act to Amend the Charter of Hobart Free College 
 
 Passed April 10, 1855. 
 
 The People of the State of New York represented in 
 Senate and Assembly do enact as follows: 
 
 Section 1 . Nine members of the Board of Trustees 
 of Hobart Free College are hereby declared to be a law¬ 
 ful quorum of said board for the transaction of business. 
 
 Sec. 2. No act of said board of Trustees shall be valid 
 unless the same shall have been passed by the affirma¬ 
 tive vote of at least seven members of the said board of 
 Trustees. 
 
 Sec. 3. This Act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 By the Regents of the University of the State of New 
 York. 
 
 The Trustees of “Hobart Free College at Geneva,” an 
 institution subject to the visitation of the Regents of 
 the University of the State of New York, and originally 
 
148 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 incorporated by the said Regents under the name of the 
 Trustees of Geneva College, having applied under their 
 common seal to the said Regents for authority further 
 to change the name of the said institution, and that it 
 be hereafter known as “Hobart College,’’ and the said 
 application having been considered, and appearing to 
 the said Regents to be reasonable; They the said Re¬ 
 gents do therefore in pursuance of the authority vested 
 in them by law, Ordain, determine and declare that the 
 said Institution shall hereafter be known as, and its cor¬ 
 porate name shall be “Hobart College;” that the char¬ 
 ter thereof be, and the same is hereby amended accord¬ 
 ingly; and that this ordinance do take effect immediate- 
 
 ly> 
 
 In witness whereof the common seal of the said Re¬ 
 gents is hereunto affixed and their Chancellor and Sec¬ 
 retary have hereunto subscribed their names 
 
 L. S. this 27th day of March in the year one thou¬ 
 sand eight hundred and sixty. 
 
 (Signed) G. Y. Lansing, Chancellor. 
 
 S. B. Woolworth, Secretary. 
 
 By the Regents of the University of the State of New 
 York. 
 
 Whereas the Trustees of Hobart (formerly Geneva) 
 College, an Institution incorporated by, and subject to the 
 visitation of the said Regents, have presented their ap¬ 
 plication to the said Regents, representing that the 
 provisions of their Charter, granted on the eighth day 
 of February, one thousand eight hundred and twenty- 
 five, relative to calling special meetings by the said 
 Trustees, and as to the person to preside at the meet- 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 149 
 
 ings of the Board, have been found inconvenient in 
 practice, and praying for an amendment thereof in that 
 respect, and the said Regents having considered the 
 premises do, in pursuance of the authority in them by 
 law vested, grant, ordain and declare that the Charter 
 of the said College shall be, and the same is hereby amend¬ 
 ed as follows: 
 
 First. The Trustees of the said College shall have 
 power to elect annually at such time as may be fixed by 
 their by-laws one of their number as Chairman of the 
 Board, who shall preside at all meetings of the Trustees 
 and hold his office until his successor shall be appointed. 
 In the absence of the Chairman from any meeting, the 
 Senior Trustee present shall preside. 
 
 Second. In addition to the two stated meetings of the 
 Board, to be held in each year, as provided by the Charter, 
 the Trustees may meet upon their own adjournment and 
 as often as they shall be summoned by their Chairman, or 
 in his absence by the Senior Trustee, on the request in 
 writing of any other three Trustees. 
 
 Third. Notice of the time and place of every meet¬ 
 ing of the Trustees shall be given in a newspaper printed 
 in the village of Geneva, in the County of Ontario, being 
 the County in which the said College is situated, at least 
 six days before the day of meeting, and every Trustee 
 resident in the said County shall be previously notified 
 in writing for the like period of the time and place of 
 such meeting. Trustees residing elsewhere shall be 
 notified in like manner by post. 
 
 Fourth. Seniority among the said Trustees shall be 
 determined according to the order in which they were 
 named in the Charter of the said College or in which they 
 were afterwards elected. 
 
150 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 And the said Regents do hereby Ordain and declare 
 that these presents shall take effect immediately, and 
 also reserve the right at any time to alter, amend or 
 repeal the same. 
 
 In witness whereof the said Regents have caused their 
 common seal to be hereunto affixed, and their Chancel¬ 
 lor and Secretary to subscribe their names hereto 
 L. S. this fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 John V. L. Pruyn, 
 Chancellor of the University. 
 
 S. B. Woolworth, 
 Secretary. 
 
 An Act to Amend the Charter of Hobart (late Geneva) 
 
 College 
 
 Passed Feb. 20, 1874, three-fifths being present. 
 
 (Chapter 21, Laws of 1874) 
 
 The People of the State of New York, represented in 
 Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: 
 
 Section 1 . The Charter of Hobart (late Geneva) 
 College is hereby amended by striking out so much of the 
 Charter as reads “That the said Trustees shall also have 
 power, at any meeting duly convened, to elect and ap¬ 
 point, upon the death, removal out of the State, or other 
 vacancy of the place or places of any Trustee or Trus¬ 
 tees, other or others in his or their place or stead, as 
 often as such vacancies shall happen, and also to make 
 and declare vacant the seat of any Trustee who shall 
 absent himself from five successive meetings of the Board,” 
 and by inserting in the place thereof the following pro¬ 
 visions, namely: 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 151 
 
 “From and after the second stated meeting of the 
 Board of Trustees appointed to be held in eighteen hun¬ 
 dred and seventy-four, said board shall consist of the 
 President of the College ex-officio , the Bishop of that Dio¬ 
 cese of the Protestant Episcopal Church which includes 
 the College within its boundaries, ex-officio , and twenty 
 others. At the first meeting of the board of Trustees 
 held after the passage of this amendment, the Trustees 
 (other than the President of the College and the Bishop 
 as aforesaid) shall divide themselves by lot into five 
 classes of four in each class. The term of office of one of 
 such classes shall expire on the day appointed for the 
 second stated meeting of the board in the year eighteen 
 hundred and seventy-four; of another of such classes on 
 the corresponding day of the year eighteen hundred and 
 seventy-five; of another of such classes on the corre¬ 
 sponding day of the year eighteen hundred and seventy- 
 six; of another of such classes on the corresponding day 
 of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-seven; of 
 another of such classes on the corresponding day of 
 the year eighteen hundred and seventy-eight; provided, 
 however, that every Trustee shall hold office until his 
 successor is elected and accepts. At said first meeting 
 after the passage of this amendment the said board 
 shall determine by lot the order in which the several 
 classes shall go out of office, as aforesaid, and if there 
 be more than twenty of such Trustees, the excess shall 
 be added to the class going out of office in eighteen hun¬ 
 dred and seventy-four. At the second stated annual 
 meeting in each year, beginning with the year eighteen 
 hundred and seventy-four, three Trustees shall be elected 
 by the board who shall hold office until the second stated 
 meeting in the fifth year from their election and until 
 their successors are elected and have accepted. All 
 elections of Trustees shall be by ballot. 
 
152 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 “The alumni of the College may, in each year, elect 
 one person from among their own number, who shall be 
 qualified to vote at such election, to the office of Trus¬ 
 tee. All alumni of five years standing who have received 
 in course the degree of bachelor of science, and all alumni 
 who have received in course the degree of master of arts, 
 may have a vote at such election, but in other respects 
 the Trustees may, by by-law, regulate, from time to 
 time, the mode in which such election shall be made and 
 authenticated to them. No election shall be made, 
 except at a meeting at which at least thirty qualified 
 voters shall be present, and if such a number be not 
 present, the election shall lapse to the Trustees; but 
 it shall be the privilege of the alumni, in such case, to 
 nominate three of their number, from whom the Trus¬ 
 tees shall make their choice for the vacancy, provided 
 that at least twenty qualified voters of the alumni are 
 present to make such nomination. If less than twenty 
 alumni be present, the Trustees may fill the vacancy by 
 electing any alumnus of the College. Such Trustee 
 shall hold office until the second stated meeting in the 
 fifth year from his election and until his successor is 
 elected and accepts. 
 
 “Whenever any vacancy, by death, removal out of the 
 State, or otherwise, shall occur in the board, the Trus¬ 
 tees shall have power to fill the vacancy, and the person 
 who may be elected to fill such vacancy shall hold office 
 for the unexpired term of the Trustee in whose place 
 he was elected. The Trustees shall also have power to 
 make and declare vacant the seat of any Trustee who shall 
 absent himself from five successive meetings of the board.” 
 
 Sec. 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX 
 
 153 
 
 Extracts from Official Minutes of the Regents of the 
 University of the State of New York 
 
 HOBART COLLEGE .—That the change in the charter 
 of Hobart College voted June 13, 1890, be amended to 
 read as follows: 
 
 “All alumni who are graduates in the arts or sciences 
 of three years’ standing, and all graduates in special 
 studies of three years’ standing holding such certificates 
 as may have been prepared by the faculty, with the 
 approval of the Board of Trustees, shall be entitled to 
 vote either in person or by letter, and the Trustees may, 
 by by-law, regulate, from time to time, the mode in 
 which such election shall be made and authenticated to 
 them except as hereinafter provided. The candidate 
 receiving the highest number of lawful votes shall be 
 deemed elected, provided he shall be an alumnus of 
 Hobart College of at least five years’ standing, and pro¬ 
 vided also that at least 30 lawful votes in all shall have 
 been cast. In case a less number of votes than 30 be 
 cast the election shall lapse to the Trustees, who may 
 fill the vacancy by electing any alumnus of the College.” 
 
 Voting by letter shall be under the following regu¬ 
 lations : 
 
 1. All nominations of candidates for the office of 
 alumnus Trustee, shall be made in writing, signed by the 
 qualified voter making the nomination, to the secretary 
 of the Board of Trustees, on or before May 1 of each 
 year. The secretary of the Board of Trustees shall in 
 conjunction with the registrar of the College, examine 
 and determine whether the persons nominated are eligi¬ 
 ble for election. 
 
 2. Between May 1 and May 10, the secretary of the 
 Board of Trustees shall mail to each qualified elector 
 
154 HOBART: THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 whose postoffice address can be obtained, a copy of the 
 official list of candidates, the list to recite the name, 
 College class and postoffice address of each candidate. 
 
 3. Qualified voters wishing to vote by letter shall 
 fill out a form to be sent by the secretary of the Board 
 of Trustees with the official list as before provided, said 
 form to be as follows: 
 
 “I-class of-whose present postoffice 
 
 is-do hereby vote for-class of- 
 
 as Trustee of Hobart College for the term of five years 
 beginning with the next stated meeting.” 
 
 This form having been filled out and attested before a 
 notary public or any officer qualified to take acknowl¬ 
 edgments, shall be enclosed in an envelope which shall 
 be sealed and addressed to the secretary of the Board of 
 Trustees of Hobart College and on the face of such en¬ 
 velope shall appear the statement, “From- 
 
 class-, ballot for Alumnus Trustee.” No ballot 
 
 not so enclosed shall be voted. 
 
 4. As soon as the polls are open for the electors of 
 an Alumnus Trustee, the secretary of the Board of Trus¬ 
 tees or a teller appointed by them, shall in the presence 
 of a teller appointed by the alumni, open each envel¬ 
 ope and depsit th e enclosed ballot. All letters 
 received from persons not qualified to vote shall be de¬ 
 livered unopened to the Board of Trustees. 
 
 A true copy. Attest: Albert B. Watkins 
 
 Asst. Sec’y 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 3 01 
 
 2105551383 
 
 HOBART 
 
 COLLEGE BULLETINS 
 VOLUME XX, 3 s, APRIL, 19*2 
 
 ... M . ' 
 
 Published Quarterly at Geneva, N. Y. Entered as 
 
 •< > 
 
 Second ( £lass Matter October 28, 1902, at 
 Geneva, Under the Act of 
 Jnly 16, 1894 
 
 \ 
 
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