Furman University - Bonhomie Yearbook (Greenville, SC)

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Kditokiai. Stait ok Uonhomik

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Officers oi? Annum. Association and Managers of Roxiiomie

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A Brief History of Furman University THE record of Furman University is that of struggle, sacrifice and triumph. In exulting over the splendid triumphs one may he inclined to forget the strenuous struggles and silent sacrifices that have placed Furman where siie now stands. Then patiently attend, kind reader, while we present the paramount events transpiring, which have developed stage by stage the grand old institution which we all love to call Furman University. Twenty-five years before the writing of the Declaration of American Independence there was a man named Oliver Hart, who went from place to place speaking and working for the Baptist school in South Carolina. After his earthly career was ended, the agitation for an educated ministry was taken up by I)r. Richard Furman, who migrated with his parents from New York. Doctor Furman will ever be remembered as the first president of the Triennial Convention of Baptists, the founder of Mercer University of Georgia, and Hamilton University of New York. For a number of years this faithful, devout man pleaded and worked for a Baptist institution of learning in South Carolina, but he did not live to see its real inception. I fowever, the dreams and plans of this earnest worker passed into the hearts of others, who in the year 1S27 founded at the old Edge-field courthouse the institution that has ever borne his name—Furman Academy and Theological Institute. The Academy began its eventful course with only one man at its helm, 'file future looked dark and gloomy, and for two long years the institution lingered on the verge of disbandment. At this impending crisis it was suggested by Basil Manly. Sr., then the influential young pastor of the Edgefield Baptist Church, that the Academy be moved to a place not far from the Savannah River, 'flic convention. believing that they could secure the co-operation of the Georgia Baptists, accordingly removed the school to a location near the Georgia line. The results were not so good as exjK-cted and in 1830 the convention decided to take the institution to the I ligh 11 ills of the Santee. Here with discouragement on all sides lames Hartwell and Samuel Furman freely opened the treasury of their minds to a few thirsty young men who had been given scholarships at the institution. For four years these generous-hearted instructors toiled and strived in order to keep the door of the Academy open. But the scheme of the scholarships proved futile, and in 1835 the doors were closed and the students sorrowfully made their way toward home. As a partial result of this failure there was a cessation for about two years. Then on a bleak morning in January. 1837. it was whispered half timidly, half hopefully, around in the towns of innsborough that l’rof. Y. E. Bailey would open at that place on the first Monday in February a Manual Labor Classical 16