planned and did
for the college should not be forgotten the taste with which he laid out
and beautified its grounds. To him succeeded, in 1837, the Rev. Dr.
Silas Totten, professor of mathematics. During his presidency of eleven
years, additions were made to the scholarship fund, and the foundation
of a library fund was laid; and in 1845 a third building, Brownell Hall,
was built, corresponding in appearance to Jarvis Hall, and, like it,
designed for occupation by students. In the same year, on the petition
of the corporation, who acted in the matter at the desire of the alumni,
the General Assembly of the State changed the name of the college to
TRINITY COLLEGE. The change was intended in part to prevent the
confusion which arose from the use of a name which the college had in
common with other institutions, in part to attest the faith of those who
had founded and who maintained the college, and in part to secure a name
which (especially at Cambridge in England) had been long associated with
sound learning. At the same time the alumni were organized into a
convocation as a constituent part of the academic body.
[Illustration: (signature) N. S. Wheaton]
[Illustration: (signature) Silas Totten]
In 1848 the Rev. Dr. John Williams, a graduate in the class of 1835,
who, though he was less than thirty-one years of age, had given ample
promise of extraordinary abilities, was chosen president, and he held
the office until 1854, when the duties of assistant bishop, to which he
had been consecrated in 1851, forced him to resign. He did much to
increase the library funds and to develop the course of academic
instruction. He also began instruction in theology, and an informal
theological department grew up, which was organized in 1854 as the
Berkeley Divinity School and located in Middletown. He was succeeded by
the Rev. Dr. D. R. Goodwin. In 1860 Prof. Samuel Eliot was chosen
president, and in 1864, the Rev. Dr. J. B. Kerfoot, who was called in
1866 to the bishopric of Pittsburgh. Under the care of these scholarly
men the college maintained and strengthened its position as a seat of
learning (though in the time of the civil war it suffered from depletion
in numbers), additions were made to the funds, and a new professorship
was founded. Among those whom the college gave to the war were Generals
G. A. Stedman and Strong Vincent, and the "battle-laureate of America,"
Henry H. Brownell.
[Illustration: (signature) D. R. Goodw
|