Fisk, Wilbur, 1792-1839

Wilbur Fisk was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, on August 31, 1792, the son of Isaiah Fisk (1763-1859) and Hanna Bacon (1760-1845). He attended the University of Vermont before graduating from Brown University in 1815. Fisk became a licensed Methodist preacher on March 14, 1818, and worked with several churches in Vermont and Massachusetts. In 1822, he became an elder of the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Between 1825 and 1831, he served as the first president of the Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and in 1831 he became the first president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He represented New England at three Methodist General Conferences, and was an active participant in the American Colonization Society, as well as an advocate for educational societies and temperance reform. He remained at Wesleyan University until his death on February 22, 1839.

From the guide to the Wilbur Fisk collection, Fisk, William collection, 1828-1849, 1829, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)

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