Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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George Elliott Howard, ICORGE ELLIOTT HOXVARD was born in Saratoga, N. Y.. October 1, 18.19. At 311 early age he 111OVCCl WSSt with hiS parents and completed his elementary education in the COllllllOl1 schoolslof Ohio and Illinois. He prepared for college at the Nebraska State Normal, and entered the University of Nebraska, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1876. As a student he dis- tinguished himself in scholarship and athletics, and, in addition to routine work, performed the duties of assistant to the State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction from 1872 to 1876. The years 1876-78 were spent in Europe studying institutional history and Roman jurisprudence at the universities of Munich and Leipzig. The vacations were devoted to travel and supplementary study in Gerinany, Austria, Italy and Belgium. From 1879 until 1391 llr. I-Ioward occupied the Chair of History at the University of Nebraska. Fl'Olll 1885 until 1891, as Secretary of the State Historical Society, with meager resources at command, he collected for the Society Z1 valuzible library of 5,ooo books and pamphlets, comprising many of the choicest sources of Colonial and Western history. - llr. l'Ioward's leading work is his Local Constitutional History, in two volumes. Vol. I, an Introduction to the Local Constitutional History ol' the United States, was published in 1889.4 Vol. II, novv in p1'ep:11':1tio11, The Evolution of Municipal Institutions in American Cities, will be completed as soo11 as Eastern libraries can be visited. The Developinent of the Ki11g's Peace and the English Local Peace 3l:1gistr:1cy is a valuable contribution to institutional literature and has been widely reviewed. A series of addresses on university ques- tions, to be published i11 one volume. comprise, 4' The Evolution of the I'niversity, The State University in America, The West and the Public l'niversity. and The American University and the .-Xinericzin Blau. ' A projected work, to appear this year, is entitled, D y ofthe Evolution of the Marriage Contract in England and the United States. Klrtrriage and the Iianiily : A Stud Dr. Howard is a devoted student of history and is eminently quali- lied tor the duties ofthe classroom. He is a prodigious Worker an . . . ' 3 enthusiastic instructor, and an impressive lecturer. He commands the I . . Rf 11111':1t1fn1 of his students, inspires their zeal for Work, and elicits their best efliirts. H. H. BROWN. I2

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In the same year another honor was conferred upon him, that of the presidency of the Central Pacific Railroad, then recently incorporated for the purpose of building a railroad East across the Rockies. While men generally regarded Leland Stanford and his three associates in this enterprise as harebrained enthusiasts, while jealous rivals scoffed and hindered and capital hung timidly back, the four projectors of the road went quietly to work to do, risked their private fortunes in the venture, and persevered with indomitable energy until they achieved complete success. In May, 1869, Leland Stanford drove the last spike in the line of railroad connecting the Pacihc and Atlantic oceans,-an act which, together with the close of the Civil War, has assured the per- manent solidarity of the Union. One year previous to this event, on the 14th of May, 1868, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Stanford,--a boy whose brief life, stimulating the philanthropy of his parents, was destined to influence so profoundly for good the lives of thousands of others. These and the succeeding years, down to the time of his election as United States Senator in 1885, were busy ones for the great rail- road president. All sorts of business projects claimed his attention, and all sorts of charitable plans, of which the world at large knew nothing, proved that the heart of the multimillionaire, instead of becoming hardened in the race after wealth, was still large and gen- erous as it had always been. O11 March 13, 1884, came the crushing blow of young Leland's sudde11 death in Italy. The grief of the parents was all but inconsolable, yet how signihcant is the fact that within the shadow of this great sorrow were laid the foundations of the Leland Stanford junior University. The children of California shall be my children, said Leland Stanford, and by a single act of matchless philanthropy not only perpetuated but immortalized the name which Providence had decreed should not be perpetuated by children of his own. On the ISI of October, 1891, the University threw open its doors to a hastening throng of eager students. Within less than two years from that time, in the stillness of the midnight hour,-on the night of june 20, 1893,-the news was flashed around the world that Leland Stanford, millionaire, captain of industry, statesman and philanthro- pist, was dead. O mighty soul that trampled sorrow down, Triumphant Where the fallen are thickliest strewed, Received this greater than a laurel crown, Man's deathless gratitude. , W. M- R- II

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GEORGE ELLIOTT HOWARDSPH. D. T120-rs 1512010