Francis Wayland
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Francis Wayland (March 7, 1796 – September 30, 1865), American educator, was born in New York City. In Washington, D.C., Wayland Seminary was established in 1867 and was named in his honor. (In 1899, Wayland Seminary merged with another school to become the current Virginia Union University at Richmond, Virginia.)
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[edit] Biography
Francis Wayland's father was an Englishman of the same name, who was a Baptist pastor. The son graduated at Union College in 1813 and studied medicine in Troy and in New York City, but in 1816 entered Andover Theological Seminary, where he was greatly influenced by Moses Stuart. He was too poor to conclude his course in theology, and in 1817-1821 was a tutor at Union College, to which after five years as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Boston he returned in 1826 as professor of natural philosophy.
In 1827 he became president of Brown University. In the twenty-eight years of his administration he gradually built up the college, improving academic discipline, formed a library and gave scientific studies a more prominent place. He also worked for higher educational ideals outside the college, writing text-books on ethics and economics, and promoting the free school system of Rhode Island and especially (1828) of Providence. His Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System in the United States (1842) and his Report to the Corporation of Brown University of 1850 pointed the way to educational reforms, particularly the introduction of industrial courses, which were only partially adopted in his lifetime. He resigned the presidency of Brown in 1855, and in 1857-1858 was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Providence.
He was an early advocate of the temperance and anti-slavery causes, for many years was "inspector of the state prison and Providence county jail," president of the Prison Discipline Society, and active in prison reform and local charities. He was one of the "law and order" leaders during the "Dorr Rebellion" of 1842, and was called "the first citizen of Rhode Island."
[edit] Prominent son
His son Francis (1826-1904) graduated at Brown in 1846, and studied law at Harvard; he became probate judge in Connecticut in 1864, was lieutenant-governor in 1869-1870, and in 1872 became a professor in the Yale Law School, of which he was dean from 1873 to 1903.
[edit] Published work
Besides several volumes of sermons and addresses and the volumes already mentioned, he published:
- Elements of Moral Science (1835, repeatedly revised and translated into foreign languages)
- Elements of Political Economy (1837), in which he advocated free trade
- The Limitations of Human Responsibility (1838)
- Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution (1845)
- Memoirs of Harriet Ware (1850)
- Memoirs of Adoniram Judson (1853)
- Elements of Intellectual Philosophy (1854)
- Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches (1857)
- Letters on the Ministry of the Gospel (1863)
- a brief Memoir of Thomas Chalmers (1864).
See The Life and Labors of Francis Wayland (2 vols, New York, 1867) by his sons Francis and Heman Lincoln; the shorter sketch (Boston, 1891) by James O Murray in the "American Religious Leaders" series; and an article by GC Verplanck in vol. xiv. of the American Journal of Education.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
- "Francis Wayland: Preacher-Economist" by Laurence Vance. Mises.org. 8 February 2007.
