Cyrus Hamlin
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For the Civil War general, see Cyrus Hamlin (general).
| Part of a series on Protestant missions to the Middle East |
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Cyrus Hamlin (1811–1900) was an American Congregational missionary and educator, the father of A. D. F. Hamlin. He was also a prominent member of the Peucinian Society tradition.
Hamlin was born in Waterford, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834 and from Bangor Theological Seminary in 1837. The Hamlins were a prominent nineteenth-century Maine family which also produced a Vice President of the United States (Hannibal Hamlin) and at least two Civil War generals, one of whom was also named Cyrus Hamlin.
He promptly left the United States in 1838 as a missionary under the American Board, arriving in Turkey in January 1839. In 1860, he began the work of establishing Robert College in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire. He served as its president until 1876, then returned to the United States where he served as professor of dogmatic theology at Bangor Theological Seminary. He was elected president of Middlebury College, Vermont in 1880. His term was short, lasting only until 1885. However, in 1883, during his tenure, the college made a significant decision to accept women. He published Among the Turks (1878) and My Life and Times (1893). Hamlin Hall at Robert College is named after him.
For many years, he lived in Lexington, Massachusetts. Thus, he is buried in Munroe Cemetery, in that town.
| Preceded by Calvin Butler Hulbert |
President of Middlebury College 1880–1885 |
Succeeded by Ezra Brainerd |
