David Newton Sheldon

David Newton Sheldon
President of Colby College
In office
1843–1853
Preceded by Eliphaz Fay
Succeeded by Robert Everett Pattison
Personal details
Born (1807-06-26)June 26, 1807
Suffield, Connecticut
Died October 4, 1889(1889-10-04)
Spouse(s) Rachael Hobart Ripley
Alma mater Williams College, Andover Newton Theological School
Religion Baptist, Unitarian

David Newton Sheldon (June 26, 1807 October 4, 1889) was the fifth President of Colby College, Maine, United States from 1843–1853. He was also a pastor, missionary, and educator.[1]

Early life

Sheldon was born in Suffield, Connecticut, to David and Elizabeth Hall. He was educated at Williams College, where he graduated as the valedictorian of the class of 1830[2] and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society.[3] He was a tutor for one year before entering the Andover Newton Theological School and graduating in 1835. He married Rachael Hobart Ripley in Chelsea, Massachusetts on October 15, 1835, with whom he ultimately had five children.

Career

Sheldon was a Baptisit missionary in France from 1835-1839, and a pastor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before coming to Waterville, Maine in 1842, where he was a pastor and a French Teacher at Colby College. Beginning in 1843, he was the president of the college and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. At least in part due to his liberal inclination towards Free Will Baptist theology, the Calvinistic Baptists who founded the college forced him out in 1853, after years of declining enrollments.[4] He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Brown University in 1847. He held various pastorships in Bath, Maine, including as a Unitarian from 1853-1862 before returning to Waterville, where he continued as a Unitarian pastor until 1879.[5]

Sheldon died at his home in Waterville on October 4, 1889.[6][7]

Published works

References

  1. The Centennial History of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, 1802-1902, Edwin Carey Whittemore, Executive Committee of the Centennial Celebration, 1902 - Waterville (Me.), p. 453
  2. Williams College and Foreign Missions: Biographical Sketches of Williams College Men who Have Rendered Special Service to the Cause of Foreign Missions; John Haskell Hewitt, Pilgrim Press, 1914, p. 177
  3. Gamma of Massachusetts, Williams College, Phi Beta Kappa. Eben Burt Parsons, 1903, p 9
  4. "Little Talks #997," Marriner, January 20, 1974 , COLBY COLLEGE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS. Accessed at http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/02/03/lt997-readonly/
  5. The Centennial History of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, 1802-1902, Edwin Carey Whittemore, Executive Committee of the Centennial Celebration, 1902 - Waterville (Me.), p. 453
  6. The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Rossiter Johnson, John Howard Brown Biographical Society, 1904.
  7. The Wellsboro Agitator, Wellsboro, Tioga Co, Pa, Obituaries, Tuesday, October 22, 1889
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.