Williams College - Gulielmensian Yearbook (Williamstown, MA)

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-...L WILLIAM RANKIN, LL. D

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Volume LVII. 1914 27 Eben Burt Parsons, D. D. 3 March 1835 13 January 1914 Eben Burt Parsons, Doctor of Divinity, died at his home in Williamstown on January '24-, 1913. A native of Berkshire County, he received his early edu- cation in the high school at Pittsfield and was graduated f1'o1n Williams College in 1859. Industry in the search for knowledge brought to him high honors in scholarship wl1icl1 he always cherished as the chief end of undergraduate life. He consecrated his life to the ministry, pursued with zealous devotion the work of preparation in the Union Seminary and at Auburn, and after a brief service as chaplain in the army of the North entered upon the pastorate of the Pres- byterian Church of Baldwinsville, New York, where, for twenty-two years, he faithfully ministered to a devoted parish. In the year 1888 he responded to the call of Williams and became Registrar of the college and Secretary to the Faculty. It was here that the sons of Williams came to know him well, and this brief record of his devotion is a tribute of appreciation of the service that he gave to the College and of the rare quality of his manhood. In these modern days of fuller equipment and of mechanical assistance in the detail of office work it is difficult to measure the accomplishment of his labors. To that portion of his work that was largely clerical he brought infinite patience and untiring industry, and in the other manifold duties of his department he rendered loyal service, un- grudgingly bestowed and distinguished always by the courtesy and forgetfulness of self that were his innate characteristics. He was ever too modest to realize the amount of work that his zeal made possible. Nothing was irksolne if, by assuming it, he could render an act of kindness or further the purposes of the college whose welfare was ever in his thoughts. To him every labor, even of the smallest detail, was an offering of love to his Alma Mattel' and a part of a sacred trust. Prolonged correspondence, tedious interviews with doting but irrational parents, the assembling of information for the records of his department, required industry, tact, and skill, and of these he possessed an inexhaustible store. Years ago, before Dr. Parsons made his home in Williamstown, the writer, then a fresh- man editor of a college periodical and in sore distress for material, asked him for a few alumni notes . A generous supply came forthwith and from time to time afterwards, all written in that familiar hand that college generations of Williams men came to know so well. It was no small task to pen these many items amid countless demands upon his time, but of time and strength Dr. Parsons had enough when there came an opportunity to help his fellow men. We recognize in him, unsparing of self, devoted to the best traditions of the college he loved so well, a conspicuous example of fidelity and loyalty. Respected by all, loved by his friends for the simple faith and trust that made him tender, good, and true, he sleeps scarce an arrow's fiight from the room in Hopkins Hall which we who knew him will always associate with his sweet and gentle spirit. In pace re- quiescat! Sanborn Gave Tenney

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Volume LVII. 1914 29 William Rankin, LL. D., 1831 15 September 1810 20 October 1912 Fortunate indeed is an institution which establishes intimate connection between the present and its earliest days. Tradition is preserved. West Col- lege speaks to us ol' the origins of the Free School. Griffin Hall daily reminds us of the days of strivings necessary to maintain the college ,neath the shadow ol' tl1e hillsn. But in a more unusual way Dr. William Rankin, since 1001 the Pa- triarch of the great family of Williams men, bound the late twenties to our day. In his time six presidents bore the responsibility of the executive oflice, many classes held their last reunions, and he celebrated the eighty-firstanniversary of his graduation. And with these years increased happy relations between him and the college. In the days of President Grillin, at the Commencement of 1827, a serious lad of seventeen entered Williams from Newark, New Jersey. The powerl'ul per- sonality of the President commanded his respect. I-Ie felt the unity of the col- lege community, four professors, two tutors, and eighty-six students gathered together into two buildings. In an article in the Class book of Williams 1910 he tells of his attending in October 1828 the dedication of Griffin Ilall, the third building ol' the campus. Indeed that very building witnessed the establishment of his reputation as an orator. The newspaper of the day, the American Ad- vocate , preserves in its issue of July 1, 1829, under a heading Independence , - The procession will move to the New Chapel, where the usual Fourth of July oration from the Sophomore class will be delivered by Mr. William Rankin, Jr. It further l'CC01'dS these quaint words in the issue of a week later, The usual address from the Sophomore class was pronounced by William Rankin and for its clearness of thought, beauty of arrangement, and force of expression, to- gether with the eloquent manner in which it was delivered, received as it litly deserved, high praise. At the'Comn1encement of September 7, 1831, he delivered an eration on Cardinal Wolsey. Fraternities were not established until later, but the records of the Philologian Society show his active inembership. After his graduation he studied law and practiced in Cincinnati for sixteen years, when he was elected Treasurer of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. His duties during the thirty-seven years C1850-18871 for which he held this important office took him all over the United States and even into Mexico, and his experiences and acquaintaneeships in them found their way into