- JOSEPH EMERSON was born at Norfolk, Litchfield Co., Conn.,
May 28, 1821; he is the son
- of Rev. Ralph EMERSON (Pastor, at that time, of the Congregational
Church at that place) and Eliza ROCKWELL EMERSON. On May 28,
1830, he arrived in Andover, Mass., with his parents, his father
having become Professor in the Theological Seminary of that city.
The subject of this sketch there enjoyed, in the Phillips Academy,
the advantage of preparation for college. He entered Yale College
in 1837, and graduated in 1841. A class-mate was Jackson J. BUSHNELL,
who was afterward, for twenty-five years, his colleague in Beloit
College, at Beloit, Wis. After graduating, Mr. EMERSON taught
a select school for boys in New London, Conn., for one year.
Among his patrons there was T. W. WILLIAMS, who founded the first
professorship in Beloit College. The following two years were
given to the study of theology at Andover Seminary. From September,
1844, to April, 1848, he was a tutor in Yale College. Prof. EMERSON
came to Wisconsin in May, 1848, landing at Milwaukee, where he
was welcomed by Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, then Pastor of the Presbyterian
Church in that city, but since, President of Beloit College.
They came in company to Beloit, where they found a number of
the representative men of the region between Lake Michigan and
the Mississippi assembled to complete the organization of the
college. Here Prof. EMERSON met his former classmate, J. J. BUSHNELL,
who had been on the ground over a year, instructing the little
class already organized. On the following day, May 24, 1848,
they were invited to assume the charge of the young college -
BUSHNELL as Professor of Mathematics, EMERSON as Professor of
Languages. They found a class of five young men pursuing studies
parallel those to the Freshman Class at Yale, though with most
primitive accommodations and meager equipments. The former want
was, however, soon relieved by the liberality of the citizens
of Beloit; and the latter, by that of Prof. EMERSON's colleague
and of other friends, under the influence, especially, of Rev.
S. PEET. In the following year, Prof. S. P. LATHROP came to the
chair of Natural Science; and, in 1850, Rev. A. L. CHAPIN became
President, while Rev. M. P. SQUIER took the chair of Metaphysics.
Meanwhile, the Female Seminary, in co-operation with the College,
which was part of the original design, was established at Rockford,
Ill. Circumstances have brought Prof. EMERSON into connection
with this part of the plan, so that he has had the opportunity,
as member, and, since the decease of Rev. Aratus KENT, the father
of the institution, as President of the Board of Trustees, to
witness its progress and usefulness. Prof. EMERSON was married
Sept. 21, 1852, to Mary Cordelia NORTH, daughter of Alvin NORTH,
of New Britain, Conn., who still cheers his life. Of their children,
the eldest son died in infancy; there remain a son, now in business
in Beloit, and a daughter, who is at school. Prof. EMERSON's
department in Beloit College, which was first the Latin and Greek,
has, since 1856, been the Greek alone. It has given him the opportunity
of presenting the most valuable examples of life, as well as
of language, which the old world had to present to the new. It
had satisfied his aspirations, so that other places and labors
have not been attractive. With the exception of occasional articles
in periodicals or in pamphlet form, and of public service, his
work has been with his pupils, and its success or failure is
to be found in their lives. In 1857, the parents of Prof. EMERSON
removed to the West, to spend their last years among their children,
making their home in Rockford, Ill., where the father died May
20, 1863, and the mother Dec. 11, 1875. They rest in the cemetery
in Beloit, and their memory is cherished by a fund given, principally,
by their son, Ralph EMERSON, of Rockford, for the supply of the
Departments of Sacred and Classical Literature in the Beloit
College library. In the years 1870 and 1871, it was Prof. EMERSON's
privilege to visit the old world - Scotland, Germany, Switzerland,
Turkey, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Italy, France and England.
He returned with new zest to the new world and the great history
which it is forming, - to his place in Beloit College, with which
it is a pleasure to him that his life has been so long identified.
-
- Taken from "The History of Rock County, Wis."
(c)1879; p. 745.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|