ce,
it being the first, and, at the present writing, the only school of the
Church within the bounds of the Conference.

In the Spring of 1846, Rev. Wm. H. Sampson received a letter from H.
Eugene Eastman, Esq., of Green Bay, informing him that a gentleman in
Boston, Mass., proposed to donate ten thousand dollars to found a school
in the West. And as the gentleman entertained an exalted opinion of the
adaptations of the Methodist Church to the work contemplated, he was
authorized to give the proposition that direction. The conditions on
which the trust must be accepted were, that the School should be located
on the Fox River between Neenah and Green Bay, and that an additional
ten thousand dollars should be contributed by other parties.

Brother Sampson submitted the proposition to the Conference, which met
in August, and was instructed by that body to continue the
correspondence, and, if possible, reduce the negotiations to a
definite form.

In December following, Rev. Reeder Smith, who had been employed as Agent
of the School at Albion, Mich., came to Fond du Lac, bearing the
proposition directly from Hon. Amos A. Lawrence, the gentleman referred
to. Not finding Brother Sampson at home, he went down to Brothertown and
secured the co-operation of Rev. H.R. Colman in making an exploration of
the Fox River. They went to Green Bay, thence to Kaukauna, and,
accompanied by George W. Law, Esq., thence to Grand Chute, the present
site of Appleton. After looking over the grounds now constituting the
campus of the University, they passed on to Oshkosh, and thence to
Fond du Lac.

Brother Sampson had now returned, and it was decided to hold a meeting
in Milwaukee for consultation. The meeting was convened December 2 8th,
1846, and was composed of the following members of the Conference: Wm.
H. Sampson, Henry R. Colman, Washington Wilcox, and Wm. M.D. Ryan. To
these were added Reeder Smith, Geo. E.H. Day, and doubtless several
others whose names I have not been able to learn. At this meeting a
Charter was drafted for the Lawrence Institute, and Rev. Reeder Smith
was sent to Madison to lay it before the Legislature. The Charter
received the signature of Gov. Dodge, Jan. 17, 1847, and the following
gentlemen were constituted the first Board of Trustees: Henry Dodge,
Loyal H. Jones, Jacob L. Bean, Wm. H. Sampson, N.P. Talmadge, Henry R.
Colman, H.S. Baird, Wm. Dutcher, M. C. Darling, M.L. Martin, Geo. E.H.
Day, D.C. Vosburg, an