Pearson, Eliphalet, 1752-1826

Principal of Phillips Academy, Andover, professor at Harvard College and Andover Theological Seminary.

On March 1, 1805, a group of prominent Massachusetts citizens presented a plan for an endowment of a Professorship of Botany and Entomology to the Harvard Corporation. The goal of this group was to promote commerce, agriculture, medicine and the arts through the study of zoology, botany, and mineralogy. On March 15, 1805, Professor Eliphalet Pearson (1752-1826), the Reverend John Lathrop (1740-1816), Judge John Davis (1761-1847), and Professor Samuel Webber (1759-1810), were appointed by the Corporation to confer with the plan's subscribers to discuss proposed amendments and alterations to the rules and regulations of the endowment. After a period of discussion between the plan's subscribers and the committee, the Harvard Corporation approved the rules and regulations of the endowment on March 28, 1805, and accepted the election of William Dandridge Peck (1763-1822) as the first Massachusetts Professor of Natural History (formerly Botany and Entomology) at Harvard. After Peck died in October 1822, efforts to secure funding for the Professorship were unsuccessful and the chair was left vacant. In 1862, the Corporation united the Massachusetts Professorship of Natural History and the Fisher Professorship of Natural History (established in 1834) since both professorships served an identical purpose.

Eliphalet Pearson, LL.D. (1752-1826) was the first preceptor of Phillips Andover Academy and became a professor of Hebrew and oriental languages at Harvard. His son, Henry Bromfield Pearson, was born on March 29, 1795 and died June 29, 1867. After attending Andover, Henry Bromfield Pearson entered Yale as a member of the class of 1815. He left Yale for Harvard, from which he graduated with a B.A. in 1816. Being independently wealthy, Henry Bromfield Pearson designated Alonzo Ames Miner, then president of Tufts College, as the executor of his will. His original will stipulated the creation of a high school for girls. However, a codicil to the will made Tufts College a beneficiary of the Bromfield Pearson estate and allowed the College to interpret the will according to its own design. Consequently, in 1893 Tufts College established the Bromfield-Pearson High School, a co-educational, primarily technical school that existed until the 1960s.

Pearson graduated from Harvard in 1772; taught Hebrew and served as Fellow and Acting President of Harvard.

In March 1805, a group of prominent Massachusetts citizens presented a plan to the Harvard Corporation for an endowment of a Professorship of Botany and Entomology, a position which would promote commerce, agriculture, medicine and the arts through the study of zoology, botany, and mineralogy. Professor Eliphalet Pearson (1752-1826), the Reverend John Lathrop (1740-1816), Judge John Davis (1761-1847), and Professor Samuel Webber (1759-1810) were appointed by the Corporation to discuss proposed amendments and alterations to the rules and regulations of the endowment with the plan's subscribers. On March 28, the Corporation approved the amended rules and regulations of the endowment and accepted the election of William Dandridge Peck (1763-1822) as the first Massachusetts Professor of Natural History (formerly Botany and Entomology) at Harvard. After Peck died in October 1822, efforts to secure funding for the Professorship were unsuccessful and the chair was left vacant. In 1862, the Corporation united the Massachusetts Professorship of Natural History and the Fisher Professorship of Natural History (established in 1834) since both professorships served an identical purpose.

Eliphalet Pearson was born in Byfield, Massachusetts on June 11, 1752 and was educated at Dummer Academy. He entered Harvard College in 1769 and graduated with an A.B. in 1773. He was Master of the grammar school in Andover, Massachusetts from 1773 to 1774, before returning to Cambridge to study for the ministry. During the American Revolution, he was commissioned to manufacture saltpetre and gunpowder for the patriot army. In 1788 he was appointed the first preceptor of Phillips Academy, and he continued in that position for eight years. In 1786 he returned to Harvard, where he became Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages; he held this position until his resignation in 1806. In 1800 he became a member of the Corporation of Harvard College, and he served as the College's Acting President from 1804 to 1806, in the period between Joseph Willard and Samuel Webber's Presidencies. He resigned in 1806 and returned to Andover. Upon the establishment of the Theological Seminary in Andover in 1808, he was named that institution's Professor of Sacred Literature. Eliphalet Pearson died September 12, 1826.

Eliphalet Pearson (1752-1826) was Harvard's second Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages from 1786 until 1806, the College's interim President from 1804 to 1806, and a member of the Harvard Corporation.

Pearson was born in Byfield, Massachusetts on June 11, 1752 and was educated at the Dummer Academy. He entered Harvard College in 1769 and graduated with an AB in 1773. He was Master of the grammar school in Andover, Massachusetts from 1773 to 1774, before returning to Cambridge to study for the ministry. During the American Revolution, Pearson was commissioned to manufacture saltpeter and gunpowder for the patriot army with a grammar school friend, Samuel Phillips (Harvard AB 1771). In 1778, he became the first preceptor of Phillips' newly formed grammar school, Phillips Academy. Pearson held the position for eight years until 1786, when he returned to Harvard to become the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages. In the late 1700s, Asian languages were rarely taught at Harvard, and Pearson offered courses in English composition and rhetoric. As a teacher, Pearson had a poor reputation among his students and was known for his severity and lack of humor. He was characterized in a 1787 a student poem: "But Pearson with an awful frown/ Full of article and noun: / Spoke thus…But whether I be right or not / I'll not recede a single jot."

In addition to his duties as a professor, Pearson contributed to Harvard committees and occasionally represented the school before the Massachusetts General Court. In 1800, he was elected a fellow of the Harvard Corporation, and was active in College affairs. After the death of Harvard President Joseph Willard on September 24, 1804, Pearson acted as interim President, and soon became enmeshed in argument with other Corporation members over the proper religious leaning of the next Hollis Professor of Divinity. When liberal minister Henry Ware was chosen the next Hollis Professor, and Pearson himself was rejected as a candidate for the Harvard presidency, he resigned from the Corporation and as professor on March 8, 1806 and returned to Andover. Upon the establishment of the Theological Seminary in Andover in 1808, he was named that institution’s Professor of Sacred Literature, but only served for one year before resigning. Pearson then focused on his role as president of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, a position he held from 1803 until 1821. Pearson died on September 12, 1826.

Pearson married twice, first on July 17, 1780 to Priscilla Holyoke (1739-1782), daughter of President Edward Holyoke, and the couple had one daughter, Mary Holyoke Pearson (1782-1829). After Priscilla Pearson's death in 1782, Pearson married Sarah Bromfield, with whom he had four children.

Eliphalet Pearson (1752-1826), scholar and the first principal of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, served as Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages from 1786 to 1806; Fellow of the Harvard Corporation from 1800 to 1806; and Acting President of Harvard University from 1804 to 1806. Pearson was an influential figure at Harvard as a professor and a contributor to many Harvard committees. After the death of Harvard President Joseph Willard (1738-1804) in September 1804, Pearson, an orthodox Calvinist, assumed the duties as president and soon became embroiled in controversy with other Corporation members regarding the election of Henry Ware (1764-1845), a Unitarian Congregationalist, as Hollis Professor of Divinity. Disenchanted with Harvard's increasingly Unitarianism and the election of Henry Ware as Hollis Professor in 1805, Pearson left Harvard and returned to Andover, Massachusetts, to help establish the Andover Theological Seminary in 1808. At the Seminary, Pearson served as professor of sacred theology (1808-1809) and as president of the board of trustees (1802-1821).

After the death of David Tappan (1752-1803), the third Hollis Professor of Divinity, on August 27, 1803, efforts to appoint a replacement by the Harvard Corporation stalled over the religious beliefs the next Hollis Professor should hold. The Reverend Henry Ware (1764-1845), a Unitarian Congregationalist, was supported by the laymen members of the Corporation. However, Eliphalet Pearson (1752-1826), Hancock of Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages, argued that the statutes of the Hollis Professorship of Divinity required that the Divinity Professor be a Calvinist, and Pearson opposed every candidate proposed that did not meet this religious qualification. Ware's supporters replied that requiring a religious test for a professorial candidate was a "barbarous relic of Inquisitorial power" and contrary to the spirit of the government and people.

President Joseph Willard died on September 25, 1804, before a successor to Tappan could be named. As the senior member on the Harvard faculty, Pearson was appointed acting president and soon after the election process for both the president and Hollis professorship began. Pearson supported the Reverend Jesse Appleton (1772-1819), a leader of the conservative element of the Congregational churches for the Divinity Professorship. The Corporation was equally divided and spent the month of December 1804 debating the merits of various candidates. On February 1, 1805, a compromise was proposed that would have Ware elected president of Harvard and Appleton as Hollis professor. After several trial ballots, Ware was nominated for the Hollis professorship by a single vote. On February 14, 1805, the Board of Overseers elected Ware as the new Hollis Professor of Divinity, and thus the oldest theological professorship in the country became Unitarian. The professorship controversy created a divide between Pearson and the liberal members of the Corporation and diminished Pearson's chances to be elected Harvard's next president. On December 11, 1805, the Corporation elected Fisher Ames (1758-1808), the Federalist statesman, as president of Harvard. However, citing poor health and old age, Ames declined the appointment. On March 1, 1806, Pearson resigned both his chair and fellowship at Harvard when it became apparent to him that he would not be selected as the next Harvard president. On March 3, 1806, the Corporation elected the Reverend Samuel Webber (1759-1810), Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and a Unitarian, President of Harvard University.

The Hollis Professorship of Divinity was founded in 1721 by Thomas Hollis (1659-1731), a London merchant and one of the earliest supporters of Harvard College. It is the oldest endowed chair in the United States and the first professorship in theology in the country. The previous holders of the Hollis Professorship of Divinity were Edward Wigglesworth (1721-1765), Edward Wigglesworth (1765-1794), and David Tappan (1792-1803).