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- JOSEPH EMERSON, D.D., L.L. D., deceased. This distinguished
- representative of classical learning and philosophical culture
was the occupant of the chair of Greek at Beloit College for
more than fifty-two years, and his name was associated with the
history of the college form its beginning.
- Dr. EMERSON was born in Norfolk, Conn., May 28, 1821, and
- was a son of Dr. Ralph EMERSON, a native of Hollis, N.H.,
a Professor in Andover Theological Seminary for twenty-five years,
and previously Pastor of the Congregational Church at Norfolk,
Conn., for thirteen years. Dr. Ralph EMERSON married Eliza ROCKWELL,
a native of Colebrook, Conn., and they were the parents of nine
children, three of whom are now living; Samuel EMERSON, of the
University of Virginia; Ralph EMERSON, a manufacturer at Rockford,
Ill., associated with the Emerson Manufacturing
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- Co.; and Elizabeth, wife of Rev. J. S. HUMPHREY, of Oak Park,
Ill. Mary, wife of Prof. Joseph HAVEN, the Chicago Theological
Seminary, died December 31, 1896. Charlotte, wife of Rev. Dr.
W. D. BROWN, of East Orange, N.J., was the first president of
the Federation of Women's Cubs of the United States; she died
in February, 1895. Rev. Daniel EMERSON was pastor of a number
of churches in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio. Rockwell EMERSON
was a lawyer in New York City. Ebenezer Porter EMERSON was a
farmer in Winnebago County, Ill., and an owner of real estate
in different parts of the State; he died in June, 1891. Rev.
Ralph EMERSON came to Illinois in 1857 and located at Rockford,
where he died in 1863, at the age of seventy-five. His widow
survived until 1875, attaining the age of seventy-nine. She was
a member of the Congregational Church, in which her husband was
an honored minister.
- Deacon Daniel EMERSON, the father of Ralph, was the leading
citizen of his native town, Hollis,
- N.H., represented his town nineteen times in the State Legislature,
and served in the State Constitutional Convention. He was a Revolutionary
soldier and participated in three wars, each time as captain,
the third time going out in command of a company. He was a farmer,
and also had an interest in a store. He died in 1820, at the
age of seventy-four. His father, Rev. Daniel EMERSON, was born
in Reading, Mass. He served as a chaplain in the French war.
The history of the EMERSON family in this country begins with
Thomas EMERSON, who settled in Ipswich, Mass., in 1638. His son
Joseph came with him from Hertfordshire, England, when he was
eighteen years old. In England the EMERSON family are clearly
traced back to Ralph EMERSON, in the time of Henry VIII, in 1535.
The family is of Norman antecedents, and its coat of arms is
a compound of those of English, Norwegian and Danish royal families.
It was presented to "Raffe" EMERSON in England, and
was brought to Massachusetts, where it may be seen on the tombstone
of Thomas EMERSON, at Ipswich. Joseph EMERSON, son of Thomas,
became a clergyman at Milton, Mass., and was in charge of the
parish there when the town was burned by the Indians in King
Philip's war. He went to Concord, Mass., where the parents of
his wife, Elizabeth BUCKLEY, lived. Her father, Rev. Edward BUCKLEY,
was a son of Rev. Peter BUCKLEY, the first settler of that town.
- Martin ROCKWELL, a farmer of Colebrook, Conn., the maternal
grandfather of Prof.
- EMERSON, of Beloit, was born in 1772, and died in 1851. He
came of a good old Puritan line. His ancestor six generations
back, Deacon William ROCKWELL, was a member of a church formed
in Plymouth, England. This church elected Messrs. Warham and
Maverick their pastor and teacher, respectively, emigrated to
this country in 1630 and settled in Dorchester, Mass. In 1636
the greater part of the church moved to Windsor, Conn. From that
point Samuel ROCKWELL, the father of Martin ROCKWELL, moved to
Colebrook in 1776, and was the fifth settler in that town.
- Joseph EMERSON was born at Norfolk, Conn., where he lived
until nine years old, when he
- was taken by his parents to Andover, Mass., and there attained
his majority. He fitted for college in Phillips Academy, a famous
old school at Andover, entered Yale in 1837, and was graduated
in 1841, after which he was a teacher for one year at New London,
Conn. He went back to Andover and studied theology in the Seminary
there for two years, returning to Yale, where he taught four
years. In May, 1848, he came to Beloit, Wis., and for fifty-two
years, until his death, was Professor of Greek in Beloit College,
being a member of the first Faculty of that institution. In addition
to his teaching and writing for Beloit College, the Professor
did much preaching and lecturing in Wisconsin and the West. A
volume of his "Lectures and Sermons" was published
in 1897. One of the finest buildings of Beloit College, built
by Dr. D. K. PEARSON, was named "Emerson Hall" in his
honor. Prof. EMERSON died of general debility August 4, 1900,
honored and mourned by the college, the community, and the educational
world at large.
- Dr. EMERSON and Miss Mary Cordelia NORTH were married Sept.
1, 1852, at New
- Brittain, Conn. Mrs. EMERSON was the daughter of Alvin and
Clarissa (BURNAM) NORTH. They had the following children: Ralph
Chapin, born March 20, 1855, died Aug. 31, 1855; Charles Alvin,
born Aug. 29, 1856, is now a druggist in Beloit; Clara Eliza,
born April 4, 1866, is a teacher at New Haven, Conn. Charles
Alvin married Miss Delia BLODGETT, and they have two children,
Charles Alvin, Jr. and Cordelia. The first wife of Prof. EMERSON
died Nov. 13, 1879, and on July 9, 1884 he married Miss Frances
Helen BRACE, a daughter of Harvey and Hannah (THOMPSON) BRACE.
The latter, in connection with her husband, founded the Art Department
of Beloit College, whose art collections, secured by their united
efforts, are of great value.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 120-121; lithograph from same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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