Two Early Dartmouth Men Are Honored as Educators
Two of the College's early teachers, both missionaries of education and true sons of Eleazar Wheelock, have recently been honored for the work which has survived them: the Rt. Rev. Philander Chase 1796, founder of Jubilee and Kenyon Colleges in Illinois; and Caleb Mills 1828, "the father of free schools in Indiana."
At the dedication of the Jubilee College Chapel, restored by the State at a cost of $70,000, educators from all over the countrygathered to pay tribute to Bishop Chase, who was first Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Illinois, later presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, and founder of Jubilee College in 1840. The institution prospered until 1862 when, beset by difficulties, it was forced to close its doors. The college and grounds, consisting of 96 acres, were presented to the State of Illinois by the late Dr. George A. Zeller as a permanent memorial, in 1933. Under the sponsorship of the Peoria Historical Society, other college buildings will be restored.
Edward G. Pree, who represented William G. Stratton, Governor of Illinois, told in his tribute at the chapel dedication how Bishop Chase, "a missionary and builder," was called from his retirement in 1835 to found an institution for training young men and women. In his memory, the speaker stated, "we are in a sense reopening the doors of the college never to be closed."
Bishop Chase, born in Cornish, N. H., on December 14, 1775, graduated from Dartmouth in 1796 and in 1798 was ordained deacon in St. Paul's Chapel, New York. After serving as rector in various cities, he was consecrated a Bishop in St. James Church, Philadelphia, in 1819. Before going to Illinois, he had charge of the Diocese of Ohio for twelve years. He died at Jubilee College, September 20, 1852.
Caleb Mills was honored at the 100 th anniversary convention of the Indiana State Teachers Association in Indianapolis on October 21. In a historical pageant depicting the development of public schools in Indiana, Caleb Mills was paid foremost honors as the man who did most to eliminate subscription schools in the state. A native of Dunbarton, N. H., following his graduation from Dartmouth in 1828 he received a degree from Andover Theological Seminary in 1833. In the Home Missionary magazine he read of the need for teachers in the "western country," and after marrying Sarah Marshall of Dunbarton, set off the next day with a consignment of four teachers for the West. Traveling by stage, steamboat and turnpike, the party took three weeks to reach Crawfordsville, Ind., where Mills was to spend the rest of his life. Although he taught Greek, Latin and Literature at Wabash College for more than forty years, his major activities were not confined to dead languages. For years he lectured, wrote tracts, and letters to editors to promote his ideas about public education. He more than any one man was responsible for doing away with any kind of tuition in public schools, whether it be paid in money, wood, grains or vegetables, or boarding the teacher. Mills' dream came true, and from 1854 until 1856 he was superintendent of public instruction in Indiana; He died in Crawfordsville on October 17, 1879.
