Monteith, John, 1788-1868

Presbyterian minister in Elyria, Ohio, Detroit and Blissfield, Michigan; professor at Hamilton College and first president of University of Michigan.

From the description of John Monteith papers, 1797-1885. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 83571487

From the description of John Monteith papers, 1797-1885 [microform] (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 80831687

From the description of John Monteith papers, 1815-1885. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34418458

Of Scotch descent, born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, August 5, 1788; attended Jefferson College and Princeton University. Came to Detroit in 1816, where he organized the Presbyterian Church, and bore a leading part in establishing the University of Michigan in 1817, of which he was president and professor. On June 7, 1820, he married Sarah Granger who died a few months later. He subsequently married Abigail Harris. After 8 years, he became a professor at Hamilton College. He was an ardent anti-slavery propagandist. He died, Apr. 5, 1868. (blue index cards)

From the description of John Monteith papers, 1808-1821. (Detroit Public Library). WorldCat record id: 352904564

John Monteith was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on August 5, 1788. He graduated in 1813 from Jefferson College (name later changed to Washington and Jefferson). He continued his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating from there in 1816. Responding to a call to preach the gospel to the Protestant citizens of Detroit, Monteith moved to the Michigan Territory soon after graduation. In 1817, Monteith and the Reverend Father Gabriel Richard, Catholic Bishop of Michigan, along with other individuals began in Detroit the school which would become the University of Michigan. The name given for their institution was the Catholepistemiad or University of Michigania. Monteith served as first president with Father Gabriel Richard as vice president. During the five years that Monteith spent in Detroit, he also founded the First Protestant Society of Detroit (which became First Presbyterian Church); he also organized Michigan's oldest Presbyterian Church in Monroe; and he helped organize the Detroit library society. In 1821 Monteith went to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he had been appointed to the chair of ancient languages. He later taught at Cambridge, New York and Germantown, Pennsylvania. He next moved on to Elyria, Ohio. In 1845, he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Blissfield, Michigan. He stayed here for ten years, then returned to Elyria, where he died on May 27, 1868.

From the guide to the John Monteith papers [microform], 1797-1885, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)