Furman University - Bonhomie Yearbook (Greenville, SC)

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Historical Sketch of Furman University E. M. POTEAT M EPSON said an institution is the lengthened shadow of a man. Furman University is the lengthened shadow ot a towering man, Richard Furman (1755-1825). His name is written in letters of light over all the early history of the Baptists in South Carolina. From the beginning of his public career he was an aggressive promoter of Education and of organized denominational effort with a view to larger efficiency. As early as 1791 he brought before the Charleston Association a plan by which the churches might unite in aiding young students for the ministry, and when in 1792 the plan was ratified, his name is the first in the list of signatures. He remained Chairman of the General Committee of the Charleston Association for educational work for thirty-three years. And it is significant of his influence in this interest that the white membership of the First Baptist Church in Charleston averaged about two dollars per member for thirty-six consecutive years for education . In 1811- her was elected at Philadelphia the first President of the Tri-cnnial Convention and in 1817 tin theme of his presidential address was Education. Says Prof. II. T. Cook in the volume just cited: Columbia College grew out of this speech as well as divers colleges in the states (p. 22). In the History of the First Baptist Church of Charleston. I)r. James C. Furman, the distinguished son of a distinguished father, says of this great Philadelphia address by his father: “ 11 is own views contemplated a central institution at Washington, with institutions preparatory to it founded in separate states, where lower grades of culture might be obtained. Watcrvillc and Hamilton were probably the direct outgrowth of the original plan. So were Furman Institution in South Carolina and the institution at Penfield. Ga.. now Mercer University. Furman Institution became Furman University and then gave up its Theological Department that it might become the Southern Baptist Seminary. Newton, in Massachusetts, it is believed, originated from dissatisfaction with the bad management at Washington. Indeed the whole later denominational movement in favor of education, originated from this impulse. And this great address grew out of an experience of twenty-six years during which the preacher had been educating young men. I have given this much space in the brief sketch here undertaken because a ’Cook: Education in South Carolina., | . 20. ‘Cook: Op. Cit. p. 84-85.