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- EDWARD DWIGHT EATON, D.D., LL. D., the distinguished
- president of Beloit College, is justly regarded as a leading
citizen of Beloit, Rock County. Under his administration and
that of his predecessor, the name of the college and of the city
has become familiar to every part of the United States, and many
who are scarcely able to locate the great cities of the land
know well the whereabouts of Beloit, Wis. Dr. EATON is a scholarly
and broadly-educated gentleman, with rare administrative gifts,
and the College has greatly prospered in his hands.
- President EATON was born at Lancaster, Wis., January 12,
1851,
- and is a son of Rev. Dr. Samuel and Catharine (DEMAREST)
EATON, his father a native of Massachusetts, his mother of New
York. They were the parents of four children: Rev. James D.,
D.D. of Chihuahua, Mexico; Dr. Edward D., of Beloit; Samuel L.,
M.D. of Newton - Highlands, Mass; and
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- Charles W., M.D. of Des Moines, Iowa. The father, a clergyman,
now preaches in the Congregational Church at Roscoe, Ill. He
was Chaplin in the Iron Brigade three years during the war of
the Rebellion. For forty years he was pastor of the Congregational
Church at Lancaster, Wis., his pastorate extending from 1846
to 1886. He was a trustee of Beloit College for many years.
- Eben EATON, the father of Dr. Samuel EATON, lived at Framingham,
Mass., where he was a
- farmer. He served for over fifty years as a deacon in the
Congregational Church in that city. Eben EATON's father, Ebenezer
EATON, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and helped to
carry Gen. Warren off the field of battle at Bunker Hill. The
EATON family has been established in that vicinity for a century
and a half. Jonas EATON, of reading, Mass. was the founder of
this branch of the family in this country, coming hither in the
early part of the seventeenth century. Rev. James DEMAREST, the
maternal grandfather of President EATON, was a clergyman of the
Reformed Dutch Church, and lived to be ninety years old. He was
the father of three children: Rev. James DEMAREST, D.D., Catharine,
the mother of Dr. EATON; and Sarah, wife of Richard B. FERRIS,
vice-president of the Bank of New York.
- President EATON was reared in Lancaster, Wis., and attended
Lancaster Institute, where he
- prepared for Beloit College. He was a student here, and was
graduated in the full classical course in 1872. He studied theology
at Andover and at Yale, graduating from Yale Divinity School
in 1875. On August 23, 1875, he was married to Miss Martha E.,
daughter of Hon. J. Allen BARBER, of Lancaster; her mother bore
the maiden name of Elizabeth BANFILL. Dr. and Mrs. EATON are
the parents of one son and five daughters, Ethelwyn, Allen Barber,
Elizabeth, Mildred, Martha, and Aldyth. The two elder daughters
are in Beloit College, and the three younger are in the city
schools. The son is a graduate of Beloit college, in the class
of 1899, was instructor in sciences in the Academy at Elgin,
Ill., in 1899-00, and is now traveling in Egypt and Palestine.
During his course in college he held the State championship in
tennis. He was also in the college baseball team.
- After their marriage Dr. and Mrs. EATON went to Europe, where
he spent a year in study,
- principally in the Universities at Leipzig and Heidelberg.
Returning home, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational
Church at Newton, Iowa, in 1876. In December, 1879, he was called
to the First Congregational Church at Oak Park, Ill, and in June,
1886, was called to the presidency of Beloit College. He succeeded
Dr. CHAPIN, a most scholarly and accomplished educator, and has
been president of the College to the present time. During these
years the resources of the College have been trebled in value,
five large buildings have been erected, and the courses of study
greatly enlarged. The number of students in the classes has increased
nearly four-fold, and the latest enrollment is about 500. The
Faculty numbers twenty-three members. President EATON received
the degree of L.L. D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1887,
and that of D.D. from Northwestern University the same year,
and from Yale in 1900.
- In January, 1898, Dr. EATON went to China as a member of
a deputation sent by the
- American Board of Foreign Missions to inspect and report
upon its missionary operations in that country, returning in
June of the same year. The Doctor will preach the sermon before
the American Board at the annual meeting in Hartford, Conn.,
in October, 1901.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 32-33; lithograph from same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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