Kenyon College - Reveille Yearbook (Gambier, OH)

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 He was the first ’Kenyon Man’; and he still rubs up against everyone who, dwelling upon the Hill, shares in the life of the college and of the place. . . . Smythe Dudley and Alice Chase, living in Cornish, New Hampshire, had their fourteenth child on the fourteenth of December, 1775. Dudley, addicted to sententious poetry, named his child Philander. Philander grew up as a farmer, backwoodsman and pioneer. In 1795 he graduated from primitive Dartmouth College. While there, a Prayer Book fell into his hands, and, thoroughly im- pressed, he decided to enter the Episcopal ministry. After sundry wanderings about the country, in 1817 Chase came to Ohio and settled at Worthington. Because of the lack of Episcopal clergy he traveled a great deal through the newly settled territory and was eventually selected as the first bishop of the Ohio Diocese. As bishop, he saw the Church neglected and in dire need of sup- port. He was in an extremely depressed frame of mind when suddenly a door opened from which an overwhelming flood of light poured in. He would apply to England for assistance and especially for money to found a seminary of the Church in Ohio. Bishop Chase was a very imposing figure. His height of more than six feet caused Doctor Sparrow to say of him: I tho't as my eye fell upon him he was the most majestic man I had ever seen. He filled the whole door.” Chase might have appeared like a huge, lumbering backwoodsman, but his bearing and his man- ners were those of a gentleman. His motto was “Jehova Jireh — God will provide. His faith drove him to the most strenuous labours. Bishop Chase, discouraged from the project by his friends but determined, nevertheless, sailed from New York on October first the packet ship Orbit. Arriving in London after a stormy pas- sage. Chase found that Bishop Hobart had arrived earlier than he and had circulated letters and pamphlets among the people of influence, condemning Chase's mission as not being authorized 2

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A TREWE AND CONCVSE HISTORIC of KEN YOU COLLEGE --- 1952 1824

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One of tho oarliost examples of Collegiate Gothic in America To fight off the bugs, hot sun, and tho dust of tho stone-cutting the workmen found that three tumblers of whiskey helped. either by the Protestant Episcopal Church or the diocesan conven- tion of Ohio. Chase had one hope: Henry Clay's letter to Lord Gambier of the British Admiralty. Gambier had received a letter from Hobart which had produced “an unpleasant effect on his mind” towards an Ohio seminary. Chase expended all his energy, knowing that he must demonstrate the soundness and justice and the purity of his motives.” Lord Gambier was impressed by the facts and referred Chase to Reverend Josiah Pratt, head of the great Church Missionary Society. Now, Pratt had been thoroughly resolved against Chase's proposal by Hobart's pamphlet and letters. However, a letter from Lord Bexley forced him to receive Chase with a modicum of civility. He finally was convinced that the Ohio seminary was a worthy cause and prepared a propaganda pamphlet and a list of potential subscribers. 3