Centre College Special Collections - Board of Trustees Minutes (1847)

Centre College Board of Trustees Minutes (Vol. 2 - 1847)

March 31, 1847

The Board met in Mr. Young's study. Present McDowell, Craig, Hopkins, Caldwell, Sneed, Henderson, Grundy, Ford, Bullock, Daniel B. Price, Berryman, Brown, Humphrey, Montgomery.

Messrs. Barclay & Johnson, having appeared & been duly qualified, took their seats.

The committee appointed to find persons suited to fill the vacant professorships having not had a meeting, the Chairman and several other members of the committee presented to the Board a variety of letters conveying information on recommendations in regard to several gentlemen regarded as qualified for the professorships.

After some conversation the Board proceeded to vote for a Professor of Mathematics. On counting the votes Mr. Ormond Beatty was declared to be elected by thirteen votes.

The Board resolved to proceed to the appointment of a Professor of Natural Philosophy & Chemistry in the room of Mr. Beatty, transferred to the Chair of Mathematics. In the absence of any knowledge of any other candidate for the Professorship, & of any satisfactory testimonials of the qualifications of Mr. Brown for the office, the Board elected Mr. Joseph Brown pro tem to hold the Professorship from the 1st of October 1847 to the 31st of August 1848.

After various ballotings for Professor of Languages, Rev. L. J. Halsey

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of Jackson, Mississippi was elected. The Board proceeded to discuss the propriety of filling the vacant Professorship of Belles Lettres & Political Economy. On motion it was resolved to reconsider the appointment of Mr. Halsey to the Professorship of Languages - the motion was carried. Mr. Halsey was then elected to the Professorship of Belles Lettres & Political Economy with a salary of $1,200 per annum.

A subscription being started in the Board to raise the salary for the Professor of Belles Lettres & Political Economy for four years, until the time can be given for securing its permanent endowment, four hundred & fifty dollars was subscribed & Messrs. Barclay, Ford, Henderson, & Jacobs were appointed a committee to endeavor to complete the requisite sum.

Resolved that if Bridges & Pawling will fulfill the terms proposed by them for the settlement of their debt, the Financial Agent is directed to grant them indulgence - if they fail he is to bring suit at the next term of the court.

The Board directed the Financial Agent to grant the Turnpike Company leave & retain, for the present, the balance of principal due on their note, on their regular semi-annual payment of the interest.

Resolved that it is inexpedient to employ a physician in the Asylum by the year, & that henceforth the Board will not procure any medical services by annual contract.

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Resolved that Mr. Jacobs be authorized to raise another story on the family house of the Asylum, & to make the new fences & pavements necessary about the Asylum to the amount of $1,600.00 - he paying one half of these expenses.

Mr. Henderson was placed on the Asylum Committee in the room of Dr. Tod.

Thanks were voted to Messrs. Hardin & Mitchell for their services rendered to the Asylum in the Legislature of Kentucky - also to J. F. Bell for his services to the Asylum in Congress.

Hopkins & Henderson were appointed a Committee to advise with Mr. Beatty in reference to repairs & improvements about the grounds & buildings.

The Board directed Mr. Dod's joint scholarship note to be credited with the amount of principal & interest due by him. The Faculty were empowered to procure from Mr. Dod, if they should deem it advisable, certain articles of apparatus owned by him, such as a compass, a lath, etc., at such price as

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they may judge them to be worth.

The Financial Agent was directed to pay off the Professors who have resigned by borrowing from the permanent funds of the Board, & to charge it to the annual income.

The Board proceeded to ballot for a Professor of Languages, & on the second ballot Mr. Scott was ascertained to have a majority of the votes, & was declared duly elected.

The Board conferred the degree of A.M. on Mr. Burwell B. Sayre, teacher, of Frankfort, Kentucky.

Resolved that as it appears from the report of the Treasurer of the College, through the Financial Agent, that Mr. Price's collections in bearing notes for the College have amounted to such a sum as entitles him to a per centage equal to the amount now due on Miles' & Price's bond within $61.00, & that Mr. Price has placed in the hands of the Treasurer notes to the amount of $1,750.00 to be paid at the death of the donors, in addition to the above collections - & that Mr. Price also promises to render his future services to the College gratuitously, the Financial Agent be directed to deliver up to Mr. Price the aforesaid bond.

Resolved that the Financial Agent be recommended to examine into the expediency of vesting such funds as he may collect in the securities of the government of the United States.

John C. Young, Secretary

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June 17, 1847

The Board met. Present Messrs. McDowell, Craig, Montgomery, Caldwell, Berryman, Daniel Price, Ford, Henderson, Barclay, Hopkins, Bell.

The Secretary then stated that, in consequence of its having been ascertained to the satisfaction of many of the members of the Board on the day after their last adjournment that Mr. Scott's supposed majority had been the result of a mistake in counting the votes given in, he had not furnished to Mr. Scott any official notice of his appointment, with a view to leaving the Board to act at its next meeting according to what they should deem most advisable. The Board thereupon took up the business of filling the Chair of Languages, & after having heard a number of testimonials showing the high qualifications of Mr. Scott, & all previous candidates having been withdrawn from nomination, Mr. Scott was unanimously elected.

The Secretary having read a letter from Mr. Brown declining his pro tem appointment, & proposing to present himself as a candidate for a permanent appointment, provided he could have time to procure suitable testimonials, the Board thereupon accepted the declination of Mr. Brown, & resolved to leave the Chair vacant till the regular meeting in July. Messrs. Schaeffer &

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Brown were then put in nomination as candidates for the vacant Professorships, at the election to take place in July.

The Secretary read a letter from M. Halsey declining the appointment to the Professorship of Belles Lettres. The Board, thereupon, resolved to postpone for the present filling the chair of Belles Lettres.

The Board resolved to appoint annually a committee to examine the Asylum & make a report. The committee appointed for the present year were Young, Ford, & Henderson.

Messrs. Young & Montgomery were appointed a committee to ascertain when the Board can procure a suitable person to fill the Chair of Belles Lettres & Political Economy.

John C. Young, Secretary

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July 28, 1847

The Board met. Present McDowell, Johnston, Barclay, Henderson, Ford, Caldwell, Brown, Montgomery, Hopkins.

The degree of A.B. was conferred upon the following young gentlemen, members of the present Senior class, viz. Sidney R. G. Clay, William H. Cunningham, Robert E. Grundy, James I. Hall, William M. Hall, Hugh S. McElroy, James S. Montgomery, Francis R. Morton, Charles J. Morton, Henry Clay Read, Isaac Shelby, John H. Todd, Richard Valentine, James Frederick Youce, James Shelby Young.

The degree of A.M. was conferred on the following members of the class that graduated in 1844, viz., Attwood, Worthington, Lowry, Forman, Fleece, Harbeson, Ray, Butler, Cochran, Elliot, Sandy.

The Honorary degree of A.M. on Mr. David Arnell of Tennessee & on E. B. Walker of Lebanon, Kentucky, also the honorary degree of A.M. conferred on Rev. B. Crawford & W. D. Kerr. The degree of D.D. was conferred on James Holmes of Tennessee.

Resolved that the Secretary inform Synod that in consequence of an oversight; from pressure of business at their meeting in the spring, the Board had neglected to appoint a committee of their body to attend the examinations & unite with the committee of Synod in their report to the Synod & the Board.

Mr. Jacobs was authorized to send to Mr. Edingcon, the agent of the

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Asylum in Arkansas $120.00 to effect the extinguishment of the claim of Norndorff to section 24 of the Asylum lands in Arkansas.

Inasmuch as the Asylum has recently procured funds sufficient to make the necessary alterations in the buildings which the increased prosperity of the institution demands, Resolved that the order of the Board passed March 31, 1847, authorizing Mr. Jacobs to expend $1,600 in enlarging the Asylum, be so altered as to allow him to expend said amount on condition of his paying one fourth of the sum expended instead of one half.

Resolved that Mr. Jacobs be authorized to subscribe & pay in behalf of the Asylum twenty-five dollars toward turnpiking the street before the Asylum.

Resolved that Messrs. Young & Jacobs be appointed a committee to explain to Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge the circumstances under which the Board surrendered to Mr. Price in payment of his salary as agent, the bond on Miles & Price, given by him.

The following minute was adopted in reference to the death of Rev. Jacob F. Price.

The Board have been called to mourn the sudden death of the Rev. Jacob F. Price, one of its most active & efficient members; & while we would ever cherish a spirit of resignation to the will of our heavenly Father, yet we deeply feel & deplore his loss, & earnestly pray that the same Providence which has so deeply affected us, may raise up some one to fill his place, who will feel a similar

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interest & expend similar energy for the prosperity of the institution, the supervision of which is committed to our hands.

Resolved that the Secretary transmit a copy of this minute to the family of the deceased & to the congregation of which he was the pastor.

The Board, having received a letter from Prof. Beatty asking for more definite instructions in regard to repairs to be made in the College, authorized Professor Beatty to expend two hundred dollars in repairs at present, & directed him to make such arrangements in reference to the care of grounds & buildings as he shall deem expedient - they further authorized him to hire a servant to attend the College.

The Board proceeded to elect a Professor of Natural Philosophy & Chemistry, & on counting the votes Mr. George C. Schaeffer was found to be unanimously elected.

A committee, consisting of Ford, Hopkins, & Barclay, were appointed to examine the accounts of the Treasurer & report at the next regular meeting.

Professor Beatty having given his half-scholarship to the College absolutely & unconditionally, with the request that the Board should appropriate that amount to increase the apparatus, therefore, Resolved that the Financial Agent be directed to pay over to the Treasurer this amount from the permanent funds in his hands, subject to the order of the Secretary to be transmitted to

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Mr. Schaeffer, Professor elect, for procuring additional apparatus.

After some conversation in the Board on the cultivation of the manners of the students, the President, being appointed to draft some resolutions on the subject, submitted the following, which were adopted:

1. Resolved, That the Board urge upon the Faculty, as a matter affecting the reputation of the College, as well as the present character & future interests of the students themselves, the importance of steady & diligent efforts to secure, in all the students, the habitual observance of all those laws of propriety & decorum in the recitation room as well as at public examinations, which should ever regulate the public deportment of gentlemen.

2. Resolved, That the Board expect the Faculty to secure from the students not only quietness & attention to their recitations & lectures, but also a strict regard to the neat condition of the rooms in which they recite, & to the decorum of the postures which they assume while in attendance upon their instructions.

3. Resolved, That the President be directed to read these resolutions accordingly, before the students in chapel.

The Board adjourned to meet at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning.

July 29, [1847]

The Board met. Present McDowell, Brown, Montgomery, Grundy, Barclay, Johnstone, Caldwell, Ford, Craig, Henderson.

Professor Beatty was directed to have the recitation rooms

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furnished with comfortable seats, & report the cost to the Board.

A committee, consisting of Young, Barclay, & Craig, were appointed to publish an advertisement of the College in such papers as they may select to the amount of fifty dollars.

The Board proceeded to elect a person to discharge the duties of Professor of Belles Lettres & Political Economy, & of agent for completing the College endowment, at a salary of $1,200.00 per annum; on counting the votes the Rev. John Brown was declared to be unanimously elected. Resolved that the Board pledge themselves to raise the salary of Mr. Brown for one year by special contributions independent of the contributions to the permanent funds. Messrs. Barclay & Jacobs were appointed the committee to secure the $1,200.00, in case Mr. Brown shall accept.

Messrs. Henderson & Craig were appointed a committee to settle with the retiring professors the arrearages of their salaries.

John C. Young, Secretary

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August 16, 1847

The Board met at Mr. Henderson's. Present McDowell, Craig, Caldwell, Hopkins, Barclay, Henderson, Ford, Sneed.

Resolved that the Commencement be hereafter fixed on the last Thursday of June, & that the session after the present year shall open on the first Monday in September.

Resolved that Messrs. Young & Ford be a committee to publish, if they shall deem it advisable, an advertisement of the College to be suspended in steam-baths & hotels.

Resolved that the Board hereafter appoint regularly, at each spring meeting, a committee to make arrangements for celebrating the Commencement.

John C. Young, Secretary

October 4, 1847

The Board met at Mr. Henderson's. Present McDowell, Hopkins, Barclay, Johnstone, Henderson, Berryman, Ford, Bell.

A letter having been received from Rev. J. Brown declining his appointment as Professor & Agent, Mr. J. S. Berryman was unanimously appointed Agent for raising the endowment of Centre College by subscriptions, donations, & scholarships - & his remuneration was fixed at the same rate with that of the past two agents, viz. at 10 per cent on the amount collected, payable in the description of funds collected, according as they may be in notes or moneys.

John C. Young, Secretary