[Note: the "Asylum" or "Institution" for the Deaf and Dumb would later become the Kentucky School for the Deaf. Centre's Trustees administered the school until 1870. In 1826 the federal government granted the Trustees one township of land in Florida. In 1836 the trustees received a second land grant in Arkansas. It was the Trustees responsibility to survey and sell the land to provide funds to help support the institution.]
[Note: the Refectory was built in 1824 to provide boarding for Centre students. In 1831 it became the home of the college's president.]
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Danville February 23, 1828
At a meeting of the Trustees of the Centre College of Kentucky, present Honorable John Boyle, Chairman, John Green, David G. Cowan, James Barbour, Ephraim McDowell, Michael G. Youce.
The Chairman laid before the Board a communication Mr. John A. Jacobs [teacher, Kentucky School for the Deaf] upon the subject of his salary. Ordered that it be referred to John Green and David G. Cowan, who are requested to have a personal interview with Mr. Jacobs touching the subject contained in said communication and report to the Board, etc.
A verbal communication from Mr. John R. Kerr [superintendent, Kentucky School for the Deaf] upon the subject of increasing the price of boarding of the indigent pupils received and ordered to lay on the table.
The Board then adjourned.
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Danville April 22, 1828
At a meeting of the Trustees of the Centre College of Kentucky, present Honorable John Boyle, John Green, David G. Cowan, Joseph McDowell, William Miller, Charles Henderson, David Nelson.
Ordered that John Green, David G. Cowan, and William Miller be a committee to procure a suitable person to take charge of the Refectory in place of Mr. Mills, who intends resigning.
Absent Honorable John Boyle, Chairman
John Green appointed Chairman pro tem. James Barbour entered and took his seat.
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Danville April 29, 1828
At a meeting of the Trustees of the Centre College of Kentucky, present Ephraim McDowell, pro tem, James Barbour, John Green, Charles Henderson, William Miller, Michael G. Youce, David G. Cowan.
A communication was received as follows:
President of the Board of Trustees of Centre College
Sir, in obedience to the above resolutions, I communicate to you these papers.
With sentiments of high regard I am,
James K. Burch, Chairman
[contents of papers not shown]
Danville April 22, 1828 [continued]
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Educational Society of the Synod of Kentucky the following resolution was adopted, viz.,
Resolved that the Chairman present to the Trustees of Centre College a copy of the constitution of this society, and ask from them an agreement on their part to receive conveyances and hold real estate and other property for the use of this society.
Teste David G. Cowan, Clerk to the Committee
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Constitution of the Presbyterian Education Society of Kentucky
Article 1. This Society shall be called "The Education Society of the Presbyterian Churches under care the Synod of Kentucky"
Article 2. The object of this Society shall be to assist indigent and pious young men, destined for the gospel ministry, in acquiring an academical and theological education.
Article 3. The young men assisted by this society shall receive their academical education at Centre College and their theological education at the same institution, where the Synod of Kentucky shall have established a theological department, or appointed a theological professor in said institution.
Article 4. Every person paying $3 or more annually shall be a member of this society, and every person paying $30 or more at one time shall be a member for life.
Article 5. The officers of this society shall be a president to preside and keep order at the meetings, and to call special meetings; seven vice-presidents to take the place and perform the duties of the president in his absence; a secretary to record the proceedings and keep the books and papers of the society; a corresponding secretary, with an assistant; and a treasurer to receive and hold the funds of the society and keep its accounts.
Article 6. To constitute a bond of union, etc., a board of directors shall be appointed to conduct the business of the society, consisting of officers mentioned in the preceding Article and 24 other persons, one half ministers and one
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half lay members of the Presbyterian Church. Seven members of the board, three of whom being ministers, shall constitute a quorum. The business of the board shall be to appoint an executive committee; to receive reports from it; to send out agents; to hold and invest funds, or direct the investiture thereof by the executive committee; to appoint the exercises of the annual meetings of the society; to publish whatever they may think proper, relating to the Society; and to do everything not expressly assigned to the executive committee. The board shall hold, at least, two meetings annually, in Danville. They shall report their doings to the society, at every annual meeting. The officers and other Directors shall be elected by the Society, at each annual meeting.*
Article 7. The board of directors shall annually appoint an executive committee, consisting of seven persons, in or out of the board indifferently, provided they all be members of the Presbyterian Church, at least two of them ministers, and all of them residents in Danville or its immediate vicinity. The executive committee shall have power to choose their own officers, to make their own bylaws, to collect funds for the common treasury, to procure and stock a farm contiguous to the College, to manage all the concerns of the farm, to select young men to be educated, to direct their labors on the farm, to appropriate the funds to their support, etc.
*The Board of Directors will hold their first meeting in Danville on Wednesday, 11 o'clock a.m. the 16th of July 1828, at which time and place it is hoped all the officers and directors who can will attend.
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They shall keep a record of all their proceedings, and make a full and particular report to the board of directors at their semiannual meetings. They shall take care of the property of the society, and for the purpose of securing the title of the real estate of the society, shall, by and with the consent of the trustees of Centre College, cause all such estates to be conveyed to that corporation, to be held for the uses and purposes of the society as expressed in this constitution, and shall have and exercise all the powers of the board of directors, until the first meeting of the board shall be held.
Article 8. It is to be regarded as a fundamental principle of this society that no young man shall in any case be selected for education who does not possess good natural talents and hopeful piety, who is not in the communion of the Presbyterian Church, and who does not express it to be his intention to enter the ministry in said Church, and in case any young man who may receive the pecuniary aid of this society shall, by his own fault, fail of entering the gospel ministry, he shall, when able, refund to the executive committee the whole amount of expense incurred by them in his education, if called upon to do so.
Article 9. Any person or persons associated, any church or churches associated, may endow in this society forever a scholarship, name it, and select for it their own beneficiary, by paying into the Treasury $1,000; or they may endow a scholarship for any limited time, by paying $60 per annum. In the former case, the society will vest the $1,000 as a permanent fund, using only the interest, or
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annual proceeds thereof, for which they will procure the tuition, board, lodging, and washing for one beneficiary annually. In the latter case, for the $60 per annum, while paid, they will procure the tuition, board, lodging, and washing for one beneficiary; it being understood that such beneficiaries, as well as others, are to labor on the society's farm two hours every day, if required by the executive committee.
Article 10. That first annual meeting of the society shall be held in Danville on the Monday after the first Wednesday in October 1828, 11 o'clock a.m. The society shall afterwards meet on its own adjournments, and fifteen members shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. Should not fifteen be present, those who may be present shall have power to adjourn from day to day until a quorum can be formed.
Article 11. Special meetings of the society, of the board of directors, or of the executive committee, may be at any time called by their respective presidents or chairman, on the request of any three members of either body in writing.
Article 12. Alterations may be made in this constitution at any annual meeting of the society, provided three fourths of the members present concur in a vote for the purpose.
The officers, directors, and executive committee of the society at present are the following:
President
Honorable Benjamin Mills
Vice Presidents
Rev. James Blythe, D. D.
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Rev. Archibald Cameron
Rev. Samuel Finley
Rev. Samuel Robertson
Rev. Gideon Blackburn, D. D.
Mr. William Hodge
Mr. Cyrus Walker
Rev. James K. Burch, Corresponding Secretary
David G. Cowan, Assistant Secretary
David A. Russel, Recording Secretary
Michael G. Youce, Treasurer
Directors
|
Rev. John R. Kerr Eli Smith Samuel K. Sneed James C. Barnes John McFarland Andrew Todd Thomas Cleland, D. D. Nathan H. Hall William Scott Robert Stuart William M. King John Howe |
Mr. Thomas T. Spillman Thomas Porter Smith Daniel F. Price Benjamin F. Pleasants William S. Vernon Emanual G. Byers James Stonestreet James J. Miles Nathaniel Morton Lewis W. Green Samuel E. McElroy Dr. Venable of Richmond |
Executive Committee
|
Rev. James K. Burch Rev. David Nelson John Green, Esq. Col. Joseph McDowell |
Mr. Phineas G. Rice James Barbour Charles Henderson |
Whereupon the Board came to the following resolution. We deem the object contemplated by said society promotive of the interests of the College. Resolved unanimously that this Board accede to the request contained in said communication.
James J. Miles having resigned the stewardship of the Refectory, John A. Lapsly was chosen to fill that office, and Messrs. Green, Cowan,
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and Barbour were appointed a committee to draw up a contract with him.
The Board then adjourned.
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Danville July 3, 1828
At a meeting of the Trustees of the Centre College of Kentucky, present John Boyle, Chairman, John Green, James Barbour, David Nelson, David G. Cowan, William Miller, Charles Henderson, Michael G. Youce, Ephraim McDowell.
The claim of Mr. John Tompkins for interest on the last payment $2,000 Commonwealth paper due for the property purchased by the Trustees for the Asylum was taken up.
On motion, resolved that James Barbour, David G. Cowan, and William Miller be a committee to settle the controversy with Mr. Tompkins by referring the same to arbitration. But before said committee proceed with said arbitration, they are directed to call upon and receive from Mr. Tompkins a proper deed of conveyance for the property purchased from him in pursuance of the written contract entered into on the 28th January 1826. The power hereby conferred upon said committee shall extend only to the interest claimed by Mr. Tompkins on the $2,000, the whole of the principal sum being paid.
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Danville July 16, 1828
At a meeting of Trustees, present Benjamin Mills, John Green, James Barbour, Michael G. Youce, Charles Henderson, Joseph McDowell, David G. Cowan.
Mr. Benjamin Mills certificate of oath of office. Benjamin Mills appointed Chairman. A communication was received from Mr. Jacobs and acceded to. The sum not to exceed $50.
Adjourned
July 17, 1828 7 o'clock
Board met, present Messrs. John Green, Ephraim McDowell, James Barbour, William Miller, Charles Henderson, Michael G. Youce, David G. Cowan, Ephraim McDowell. Chairman pro tem, David G. Cowan; Secretary pro tem, Thomas Nichols.
James Bush and Joshua Fry Bell, members of the Senior class, recommended for the degree of A.B. Resolved that the President confer said degree on those young gentlemen.
Ordered that Dr. Gideon Blackburn [president, Centre College] be allowed $50 Commonwealth paper for the services of his black man as janitor of College for the last year.
Judge Mills took his seat.
Resolved that John Pope Trotter, A.B., receive the degree of M.A.
Resolved that the degree of Doctor of Divinity be conferred on the Rev. Jeremiah Chamberlain, president of the College of Louisiana, and the Rev. Robert Hardin of Tennessee.
The Board then adjourned.
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Danville July 18, 1828
At a meeting of the Trustees of Centre College, present Benjamin Mills, James Barbour, David Nelson, William Miller, Charles Henderson, Michael G. Youce, David G. Cowan. The Chairman being absent, Benjamin Mills was appointed pro tem and David G. Cowan Secretary pro tem.
The Board proceeded to the appointment of the Standing Committee of Repairs: Youce, Henderson, and Miller. Collection of Debts: Green, McDowell, and Cowan. Apparatus, Library, etc.: Nelson, Barbour, and Ephraim McDowell.
Ordered that the Committee of Repairs cause a pavement of flagstones not exceeding ten feet in breadth to be made in front of the dormitories, and a like pavement of brick or flagstone in front of the Refectory.
Resolved that the Committee of Repairs be authorized to contract for improvements to be made in the near buildings of the Refectory, and also for the erection of a spring house to be paid for out of the accruing rents of the Refectory.
Resolved that the Treasurer address a letter to each drawer of the notes paid into his hands by Synod urging the payment of them at or before the meeting of Synod.
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Ordered that the Committee of Repairs be authorized to cause gutters to be made at the College edifice [Old Centre], also to the Refectory.
Ordered that Messrs. Cowan and Barbour cause to be published a notice of the commencement of the next session in the Olive Branch, Luminary at St. Louis, Register at Knoxville, Focus L. at Natchez, Tuscaloosa.
Adjourned.
Centre College July 29, 1828
At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, present Honorable John Boyle, Chairman, John Green, David G. Cowan, James Barbour, William Miller, Charles Henderson, Joseph McDowell, Michael G. Youce.
On motion of Mr. Green, ordered that the price of tuition be reduced to the following rates: $24 per college year in the Preparatory Department, and $30 per college year in the Collegiate Department, which is required to be paid half yearly in advance.
Adjourned
Danville November 18, 1828
At a meeting of the Trustees of College, present Messrs. Joseph McDowell, John Green, Charles Henderson, James Barbour, Michael G. Youce, David G. Cowan. McDowell, Chairman pro tem; David G. Cowan, Secretary pro tem.
Ordered that the Treasurer refund to the representative of John C. Martin, deceased, the funds paid in advance for his tuition in College.
Resolved that David Nelson and David G. Cowan be a committee to visit the College, attend to the recitations of the classes at least once in each month, and report to the Board from time to time.
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Ordered that James Barbour and David G. Cowan be a committee to complete the contract with D. B. F. Cochrane upon the best terms they can.
Resolved that the Treasurer be authorized to lend to John A. Lapsley $600, and to William Munford $400, to be repaid on or before the 1st of July 1829 with interest at 6 percent, with securities as the Treasurer and Mr. Henderson shall approve, not less than two in each case.
Ordered that David G. Cowan and James Barbour be a committee to correspond with Richard C. Allin, agent of the Asylum, and give him the necessary instructions as to his proceedings. [i.e., to sell land in Florida]
Ordered that Messrs. Green, Barbour, and Cowan be a committee to prepare report to the [Kentucky General Assembly] Legislature.
Ordered that Mr. Green be authorized to draw from Bank of Kentucky dividends due on 2 shares of stock.
Adjourned
all David G. Cowan