Bryan, John Stewart (23 October 1871–16 October 1944), newspaper publisher and college president, was born at Brook Hill, Henrico County, Virginia, the son of Joseph Bryan, a newspaper publisher, and Isobel Lamont Stewart. Bryan grew up at “Brook Hill” and “Laburnum,” his family’s ancestral estates near Richmond, Virginia. Among his ancestors were Virginia’s first families, including the Byrds and the Blands, as well as many leaders of the Confederacy; General ...
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Bryan, John Stewart (1871-1944), newspaper publisher and college president
Gene C. Fant Jr.
Article
Ende, Amalie von (1856-1932), German-American writer, musician, and teacher
Walter Grünzweig
Ende, Amalie von (19 June 1856–25 August 1932), German-American writer, musician, and teacher, was born Amalie Kremper in Warsaw, Poland. The names of her parents are not known. Neither of her parents was native to Poland, but they became entangled in the Polish rebellions of the early 1860s and were forced to leave Poland. At age six von Ende arrived in Milwaukee, where she received early training in music. A student of the German-American writer and activist ...
Article
Fine, Benjamin (1905-1975), educational author, editor, and lecturer and school administrator
Nicholas C. Polos
Fine, Benjamin (01 September 1905–16 May 1975), educational author, editor, and lecturer and school administrator, was born in New York City but was raised on a farm in Attleboro, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Fine and Rebecca Goldin, farmers. From his early youth Fine was rigorously active and would remain so for the rest of his life. He walked miles to get the school bus (good for later story enhancement), milked the cows, and did the farm chores, thus confirming philosopher ...
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Hill, Daniel Harvey (1821-1889), soldier, educator, and editor
Malcolm Lester
Hill, Daniel Harvey (12 July 1821–24 September 1889), soldier, educator, and editor, was born at Hill’s Iron Works, York District, South Carolina, the son of Solomon Hill, a farmer, and Nancy Cabeen. Signally influenced by the military and religious traditions of his forebears, Hill was descended from Scotch-Irish and Scottish Presbyterians who had settled in the Carolina upcountry before the American Revolution. Both grandfathers had fought with distinction under General ...
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Holt, Hamilton Bowen (1872-1951)
In
Hamilton Holt. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-104431).
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Holt, Hamilton Bowen (1872-1951), editor, reformer, and college president
Justus D. Doenecke
Holt, Hamilton Bowen (19 August 1872–26 April 1951), editor, reformer, and college president, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of George Chandler Holt, an attorney and judge, and Mary Louisa Bowen. Holt grew up in Spuyten Duyvil, New York, attending several private schools and graduating from Columbia Grammar School in 1890. After receiving his A.B. from Yale in 1894, he studied sociology and economics for three years at Columbia University. In 1899 he married Alexina Crawford Smith; they had four children. In his prime Holt was a large, broad-shouldered man who possessed a warm personality and great energy....
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King, Charles (1789-1867), editor, merchant, and college president
Edward L. Lach, Jr.
King, Charles (16 March 1789–27 September 1867), editor, merchant, and college president, was born in New York, New York, the son of Rufus King, a diplomat, and Mary Alsop. His father, having succeeded Thomas Pinckney as minister plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James, moved with his family to London, England, in 1796. After a few years at a local school, Charles and his older brother John Alsop King were sent in December 1799 to Harrow, a private secondary school in Middlesex, where they had Lord Byron and Robert Peel as classmates. Leaving Harrow in December 1804, King and his brother then attended a branch of the École Polytechnique in Paris, France, for a few months, after which Charles King took a clerking position with Hope & Company, a banking firm in Amsterdam, the Netherlands....
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Minor, Benjamin Blake (1818-1905), editor, educator, and lawyer
C. E. Lindgren
Minor, Benjamin Blake (21 October 1818–01 August 1905), editor, educator, and lawyer, was born in Tappahannock, Essex County, Virginia, the son of Dr. Hubbard Taylor Minor, a physician, and Jane Blake. Both parents were from prominent Virginia planting families. In 1835 Minor enrolled at the University of Virginia, an institution he much preferred to Bristol College, a small mechanical school near Philadelphia where he had earlier studied. For the next three school terms Minor pursued his studies there, eventually receiving several diplomas in various schools. In 1836 Charles Bonnycastle, one of Minor’s professors, offered him a principalship at a Baton Rouge academy. Although Minor did not accept the offer, he was persuaded to lodge with Professor Bonnycastle and tutor his children....
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Scott, Emmett Jay (1873-1957)
In
Emmett Jay Scott. Courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society.
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Scott, Emmett Jay (1873-1957), educator and publicist
Edgar Allan Toppin
Scott, Emmett Jay (13 February 1873–12 December 1957), educator and publicist, was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Horace Lacy Scott, a civil servant, and Emma Kyle. Scott attended Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, for three years but left college in 1890 for a career in journalism. Starting as a janitor and messenger for a white daily newspaper, the ...
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Seldes, Gilbert Vivian (1893-1970)
Maker: Carl Van Vechten
In
Gilbert Seldes Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1932. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LOT 12735, no. 1019 P&P).
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Seldes, Gilbert Vivian (1893-1970), critic and writer
Michael Kammen
Seldes, Gilbert Vivian (03 January 1893–29 September 1970), critic and writer, was born in Alliance, New Jersey, the son of George Sergei Seldes, a pharmacist, and Anna Saphro, who died when Gilbert was three. His only sibling, George Seldes, became a distinguished journalist known for his coverage of European affairs between the world wars. Their father, a freethinker of Russian Jewish descent, sought to convert his farm into an anarchist utopian colony. When that did not succeed, he entered the drugstore business. He enjoyed friendships with ...
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Spencer, Matthew Lyle (1881-1969), journalist and university president
C. E. Lindgren
Spencer, Matthew Lyle (07 July 1881–10 February 1969), journalist and university president, was born in Batesville, Mississippi, the son of Flournoy Poindexter Spencer, a Methodist Episcopal minister, and Alice Eleanor Manes. During his youth the family moved around Mississippi, because of his father’s duties as a circuit preacher. In 1893 the Spencers left the state for Georgia. For the next three years Spencer lived with his parents until family conflicts forced him to leave home....
