DePauw University - Mirage Yearbook (Greencastle, IN)

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Tm: PRESIDENTS. V N all the history of Asbury and DePauw, it may be fairly said that not a 1 man of mediocre talents has occupied the presidential chair, and we may look with pride upon such a distinguished succession of strong and de- voted men as Simpson, Berry, Curry, Bowman, Andrus, Martin and John. All have borne their part well in building up the institution whose policy they in large part have controlled. OUR FIRST PRESIDENT. MATTHEW SIMPSON, D. D., 1838-1848. Matthew Simpson might almost be called the founder of Indiana Asbury. It was under his regime that the immature uuniversityH began to take stand- ing as an educational institution, and it was the magic of his voice and pen that awakened among the people of Indiana a feeling of interest in the college at Greencastle. He was worth more to Asbury than any endowment could have been. His rugged simplicity and the purity of his character were ineifaceably stamped upon the university he loved and served so well, while his vigorous efforts brought friends in legion at a time of need. The details of his illustrious career-from the date of his humble birth in Cadiz, Ohio, in 1811, to the time when crowned with all the honors at great church could confer, known and felt in every land where his eloquent voice had spoken, he passed to his reward-these are known of all men who feel an interest in the 01d Asbury and the new DePauw. Dr. Simpson was called from the chair of natural sciences in Allegheny College to the presidency of Asbury University in 1838. He found the foundae tion of a college building at Greencastle, a dreary little town of seven hundred inhabitants, and fifty or sixty boys gathered for instruction in the old Academy 14

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building, Which stood where College Avenue Church is to-day. Organizing this nucleus, our first President began his travels from town to town, a missionary in the cause of higher education. Everywhere he awakened enthusiasm, and secured scores of students. In 1840 the new building was dedicated, and Dr. Simpson delivered his inaugural address. In 1844-48 and ,52 he represented his Conference in the General Conference of the M. E. Church. By this time he had secured a national reputation as an educator of zeal and efficiency, and an orator of wonderful power. He was asked during this period to become President of Northwestern University, of Dickinson College, and of old Wess leyan itself. To these offers he gave a refusal, and in 1847 became editor of the Western Christian Advocate. From that time his rise was rapid and worthy of his genius. Only five years after his departure from Greencastle he was elected a Bishop of the M. E. Church, and within a decade he was recognized as the greatest, perhaps, of American pulpit orators. SECOND PRESIDENT. L. W. BERRY, D. D., 1848e1854. Lucien W. Berry was born at Alburg, Vt., in 1815. In 1833 he was admitted into the Indiana Conference of the M. E. Church, and soon became well known throughout the State as a scholar of great attainments, hnd an orator of tremendous power. Chosen to be President of Asbury University at the age of thirty-three years, he filled his oHice with distinction, even as a successor of Matthew Simpson. In 1854., he accepted the presidency of the Iowa Wesleyan University. There he remained three years. At the end of that time he made a sad mistake which clouded his career as an educator. He accepted the presidency of an educational institution at Jeffer- son City, Mo., which, like many another Western school, gave promise of great success for a while, but 'soon relapsed into oblivion. He died at Cincinnati in 1858. THIRD PRESIDENT. DANIEL CURRY, D. D., 1854-1857. Daniel Curry was born near Peekskill, N.Y., in 1809. He graduated from Wesleyan in 1837, and for two years served as President of the Troy Con- ference Academy, at West Poultney, Vt. In 1839, elected as a professor in the Georgia Female College, he served for four years, thence going into 15