A New Guide For Emigrants To The West Part 25

I. COLLEGES.

OHIO.--_Ohio University_, at Athens, was founded in 1802;--has an endowment of 46,030 acres of land, which yields $2,300 annually. A large and elegant edifice of brick was erected in 1817. The number of students about 90. _Miami University_, was founded in 1824, and is a flouris.h.i.+ng inst.i.tution at Oxford, Butler county, 37 miles from Cincinnati. It possesses the towns.h.i.+p of land in which it is situated, and from which it receives an income of about $5000. Number of students about 200. Patronized by Presbyterians. The _Cincinnati College_ was incorporated in 1819, continued to be sustained as a cla.s.sical inst.i.tution for some years, and then suspended operations. It has been revived and re-organized lately, and will probably be sustained. _Kenyon College_, at Gambier, Knox county, in a central part of the State, was established in 1828, through the efforts of Rev. Philander Chase, then bishop of the Ohio Diocess, who obtained about $30,000 in England to endow it. Its chief patrons were those excellent British n.o.blemen, Lords Kenyon and Gambier. It is under Episcopal jurisdiction, and has a theological department, for the education of candidates for the ministry in the Episcopal church. It has about 150 students. _Western Reserve College_ is at Hudson. It was founded by Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1826, and has 82 students in all its departments. _Franklin College_ is in New Athens, Harrison county, on the eastern side of the State, and has about 50 students. The _Granville Literary and Theological Inst.i.tution_ originated under patronage of the Baptist denomination in 1831. It is designed to embrace four departments,--preparatory, English, collegiate, and theological. It is rapidly rising, and contains more than 100 students.

_Oberlin Inst.i.tute_ has been recently established in Lorain county, under the influence of "new measure" Presbyterians, with four departments, and has 276 students, as follows: In the theological department, 35; collegiate, 37; preparatory, 31; female, 73. The citizens of Cleveland have recently contributed to it $15,000, of which six persons gave $1000 each. The _Willibough Collegiate Inst.i.tute_ is in the lake country of Ohio, and has been gotten up within a few years past. The _Marietta Collegiate Inst.i.tute_ is said to be a flouris.h.i.+ng and respectable inst.i.tution, having a large number of students in various departments.

INDIANA.--_Indiana college_ is a State inst.i.tution, established at Bloomington, and commenced operations in 1828. Present number of students not known. In 1832 the number exceeded 50.

_Hanover College_ is at South Hanover, six miles below the town of Madison, and near the Ohio river. It is a flouris.h.i.+ng inst.i.tution, with arrangements for manual labor, and is styled "South Hanover College and Indiana Theological Seminary." The number of students exceed 100.

_Wabash College_, at Crawfordsville, has just commenced operations under auspicious circ.u.mstances. Under patronage of the Presbyterians.

ILLINOIS.--_Illinois College_, near Jacksonville, commenced as a preparatory school in 1830, and has made rapid progress. Large funds for its endowment have been recently provided in the Eastern States. The number of students about 80.

_Shurtleff College of Alton, Illinois_, was commenced under the efforts of Baptists at Alton in 1832, as a preparatory inst.i.tution;--chartered as a college in February, 1835, and has been recently named in honor of a liberal patron, Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, of Boston, Ma.s.s., who has presented the inst.i.tution with $10,000. It has 60 students, and its prospects are encouraging. _McKendreean College_ has been chartered, a building erected, and a school commenced at Lebanon. It is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Charters have been recently granted for other colleges in this State, and measures adopted to bring some of them into existence. The Rev. Philander Chase, whose persevering labors brought into existence and successful operation, Kenyon college in Ohio, and who is now bishop of Illinois, is at present in England, where, by recent advices, he has obtained $50,000 to invest in Illinois lands, and to establish a college for the interests of the Episcopal church.

MISSOURI.--The Roman Catholics have two inst.i.tutions of a collegiate character, established in this State, _St. Mary's College_, in Perry county, was established by Bishop Du Bourg, in 1822. It has 6,000 volumes in the library. Including the _nunnery_, and school for females, a seminary for the education of _priests_, a preparatory, and a primary school, the number of teachers and students are about 300.

_St. Louis University_ was founded in 1829, and is conducted by the Fathers of the society of Jesuits. The edifice is 130 feet, by 40, of 4 stories, including the bas.e.m.e.nt, and is situated on elevated and pleasant ground, on the confines of the city.

For the Protestants, the following inst.i.tutions have been established.

_Columbia College_, adjacent to Columbia, Boon county. The inst.i.tution opened in 1835, under encouraging circ.u.mstances. _Marion College_ is in a delightful tract of country, a prairie region, in the western part of Michigan county,--and has between 80 and 100 students. It is connected with the Presbyterian interests. The project as developed by some of its founders, is an immense one, including English, scientific, cla.s.sical, theological, medical, agricultural, and law departments,--all to be sustained by manual labor, and the proceeds of extensive farms.

Doubtless, by prudent and persevering efforts, a respectable college may be brought into successful operation. A _college_ at St. Charles, has been founded, princ.i.p.ally by the liberality of George Collier, a merchant of St. Louis, and two or three other gentlemen, and a cla.s.sical and scientific school has been commenced.

ARKANSAS.--Efforts are making to establish a college by Presbyterian agency, at Cane Hill, in this newly formed State. Two or three collegiate inst.i.tutions will soon be needed in this region.

KENTUCKY.--_Transylvania University_, at Lexington, is the oldest collegiate inst.i.tution in the West. It was commenced, by a grant of 8,000 acres of land by the legislature of Virginia, in 1783, and was then called "Transylvania Seminary." The "Kentucky Academy" was founded in 1794, and both inst.i.tutions were united and incorporated in 1798, under the present name. It has cla.s.sical, medical, law, and preparatory departments,--and including each, from 300 to 400 students.

_Center College_, at Danville, was founded by the Presbyterian church, in 1818, for which the synod of Kentucky pledged $20,000. Number of students about 100. _Augusta College_ was founded in 1822, by the Ohio and Kentucky conferences of the Methodist Episcopal church. It adopted collegiate regulations in 1828. Number of students in the collegiate, academical and primary departments, about 200.

_c.u.mberland College_ was incorporated in 1824, and is established at Princeton, in the western part of the State. It is under the patronage and jurisdiction of the c.u.mberland Presbyterians. A farm, including a tract of 5,000 acres of land, with workshops, furnish facilities for manual labor. It has about 80 students.

_St. Joseph's College_ is a Roman Catholic inst.i.tution, at Bardstown, with college buildings sufficient to accommodate 200 students, and valued at $60,000. It commenced with 4 students in 1820. In 1833 there were in the collegiate and preparatory departments, 120 students. The St. Thomas and St. Mary Seminaries are also under the charge of Roman Catholic priests, the one in Nelson county, four miles from Bardstown, and the other in Was.h.i.+ngton county.

A college was founded by the Baptists at Georgetown in 1830, but from untoward circ.u.mstances, is probably relinquished by the denomination.

TENNESSEE.--The _University of Nashville_ is a prominent inst.i.tution. The laboratory is one of the finest in the United States, and the mineralogical cabinet, not exceeded, and this department, as well as every other in the college, is superintended with much talent.

The number of students is about 100. _Greenville_, _Knoxville_ and _Was.h.i.+ngton_ colleges are in East Tennessee. _Jackson College_ is about to be removed from its present site, and located at Columbia. $25,000 have been subscribed for the purpose. A Presbyterian Theological Seminary is at Maryville.

MISSISSIPPI.--_Jefferson College_ is at Was.h.i.+ngton, six miles from Natchez. It has not flourished as a college, and is now said to be conducted somewhat on the principle of a military academy. _Oakland College_ has been recently founded by Presbyterians, and bids fair to exert a beneficial influence upon religion and morals, much needed in that State. The Baptist denomination are taking measures to establish a collegiate inst.i.tution in that State.

LOUISIANA.--Has a college at Jackson, in the eastern part of the State, The Roman Catholics have a college at New Orleans.

There is a respectable collegiate inst.i.tution, under the fostering care of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Lagrange, in the north-western part of ALABAMA.

Academies have been established in various parts of the West, for both s.e.xes, and there are female seminaries of character and standing at Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Granville, Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, and many other places. Several more colleges, and a large number of minor inst.i.tutions, will be needed very shortly to supply the demands for education in the West. The public mind is awake to the subject of education, and much has already been done, though a greater work has yet to be accomplished to supply the wants of the West in literary inst.i.tutions.

An annual convention is held in Cincinnati, on the first Monday in October, denominated the "_Western Inst.i.tute and College of Professional Teachers_." Its object, according to the const.i.tution, is, "to promote by every laudable means, the diffusion of knowledge in regard to education, and especially by aiming at the elevation of the character of teachers, who shall have adopted instruction as their regular profession." The first meeting was held in 1831, under the auspices of the "Academic Inst.i.tute," a previously existing inst.i.tution, but of more limited operations. The second convention, in 1832, framed a const.i.tution and chose officers, since which time regular meetings have been held by delegates or individuals from various parts of the West, and a volume of Transactions of 300 or 400 pages published annually.

II. THEOLOGICAL INSt.i.tUTIONS.

The _Western Theological Seminary_ at Alleghany town, opposite Pittsburg, is under the jurisdiction of the General a.s.sembly of the Presbyterian Church. It commenced operations in 1829. At _Canonsburg_ is a seminary belonging to the a.s.sociate church, of which Dr. Ramsey is Professor. The a.s.sociate Reformed church have a theological school in Pittsburg, under charge of the Rev. John T. Pressly D. D. The Baptist denomination are now engaged in establis.h.i.+ng a manual labor academy in the vicinity of Pittsburg, for both ministerial and general education.

The theological departments of Oberlin, Granville, and other collegiate inst.i.tutions, have been noticed already. _Lane Seminary_, near Cincinnati, was founded in 1830, by Messrs. E. & W. A. Lane, merchants, of New Orleans, who made a very liberal offer of aid. Its location is excellent, two and a half miles from Cincinnati, at Walnut Hills, and is under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Beecher, and a body of professors.

Number of students about 40. The _Hanover Inst.i.tution_ in Indiana, has been noticed already. In the theological department are three professors and 12 students. The Baptists in this State are about establis.h.i.+ng a manual labor seminary for ministerial and general education.

A valuable property has been purchased, adjoining Covington, Ky., opposite Cincinnati, and measures have been put in train to found a theological seminary by the Baptist denomination. The executive committee of the "_Western Baptist Education Society_," have this object in charge. The "_Alton Theological Seminary_," located at Upper Alton, Illinois, is under an organization distinct from that of _Shurtleff College_, already noticed. This inst.i.tution has 50 acres of valuable land, and a stone edifice of respectable size, occupied at present in joint concern with the college, and a valuable library of several hundred volumes. Its organization has been but recently effected. Rev.

L. Colby, is professor, with 8 students. Other inst.i.tutions, having theological education, either in whole or in part, their object, are in contemplation.

Two remarks, by way of explanation are here necessary. 1. Most of the colleges and theological schools of the Western Valley have facilities for manual labor, or are making that provision. In several, some of the students pay half, and even the whole of their expenses, by their own efforts. Public sentiment is awake to this subject, and is gaining ground. 2. In enumerating the students, the members of the preparatory departments are included, many of whom do not expect to pa.s.s through a regular collegiate course. The circ.u.mstances and wants of the country, from its rapid growth, seem to require the appendage of a large preparatory department to every college.

It may be well to observe here, that a great and increasing demand exists in all the Western States, and especially those bordering on the Mississippi, for teachers of primary schools. Hundreds and thousands of moral, intelligent, and pious persons, male and female, would meet with encouragement and success in this department of labor. It is altogether unnecessary for such persons to write to their friends, to make inquiries whether there are openings, &c. If they come from the older States with the proper recommendations as to character and qualifications, they will not fail to meet with employment in almost any quarter to which they may direct their course. There is not a county in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, or Indiana, where persons would not meet with constant employment in teaching, and especially where teachers in Sabbath schools are needed. Persons desirous of such a field, of humble, yet useful labor, should come here with the fixed purpose to mix with, and conform to the usages of the Western population, to avoid fastidiousness, and to submit to the plain, frank, social, and hospitable manners of the people.

III. DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUMS.

There are two inst.i.tutions of this description in the West,--one at Columbus, Ohio; the other at Danville, Ky. The one in Ohio contains about 50 pupils.

IV. MEDICAL INSt.i.tUTIONS.

The medical department in Transylvania University, Kentucky, has six professors, and usually about 200 students to attend the lectures. Fees for an entire course, with matriculation and library, $110. Two medical inst.i.tutions of respectable standing exist in Cincinnati,--one connected with the Miami university, the other with Cincinnati college.

The _Ohio Reformed Medical School_, was established at Worthington, 9 miles north of Columbus, in 1830. No specified time is required for study, but when a student will pa.s.s examination, he is licensed to practice.

V. LAW SCHOOLS.

The law department of Transylvania University, is under the charge of two able professors, who hear recitations and deliver lectures. The average number of students is about 40.

A law school was established at Cincinnati, in 1833, with four professors,--Messrs. John C. Wright, John M. Goodenow, Edward King, and Timothy Walker. The bar, the inst.i.tution, and the city have recently sustained a severe loss in the decease of Mr. King.

VI. BENEVOLENT AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

To enumerate and give particulars of all these, would make a volume. We can but barely call the attention of the reader to some of the more prominent organizations, amongst the different Christian denominations in this great Valley, for doing good.

The _Foreign Missionary Society of the Valley of the Mississippi_, is a prominent auxiliary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Its seat is Cincinnati, but by agencies and branches, it operates throughout the Valley. The Report of November, 1835, states that _eighteen thousand six hundred and fifty eight dollars_ had been received into the treasury the preceding year. An edition of 3000 copies of the Missionary Herald is republished in Cincinnati, for circulation in the West.

The _Western Education Society_, connected with the American Education Society, has also its seat of operations at Cincinnati. Auxiliaries also exist in most of the Western States. 71 beneficiaries were under its charge at the last anniversary.

The _American Tract Society_ has auxiliaries and agencies in most of the Western States. The operations of the _American Bible Society_, through its numerous auxiliaries, is felt to the remotest parts of the West.

The _American Sunday School Union_ has recently established a central agency in Cincinnati, and is preparing to renew, and greatly enlarge its very important efforts for the benefit of the rising generation in the West.

A series of very interesting anniversaries are held in Cincinnati, the first week in November, when all the great objects of Christian effort receive a renewed impulse.

The _American Home Missionary Society_ has more than 200 missionaries, laboring in the States, west of the mountains. In 1835, they a.s.sisted 217 Presbyterian ministers in this field.

The _Temperance Effort_ has not been neglected, and an interesting change is going forward, in a quiet and noiseless way, in the habits of the people, in reference to the use of intoxicating liquors. It is to be hoped that more prompt and vigorous efforts will be made to promote this cause, but even now, there are many thousands, who abstain from the use of spiritous liquors, without any formal pledge.