THE Ohio University was the first one established in all the territory northwest of the river Ohio; it will be interesting, therefore, to trade its history somewhat minutely from the beginning.
     In authorizing the Board of Treasury to contract for a sale of lands to the Ohio Company, congress agreed that "two complete townships should be given perpetually to the uses of a university, to be laid off by the purchaser or purchasers as near the centre (of the purchase) as the case may be, so that the same shall be good land; to be applied to the intended object by the legislature of the state."*
     There is no doubt that this feature was incorporated in the contract at the instance and by the earnest effort of Dr. Manasseh Cutler.  Himself a man of liberal education, thoroughly appreciating the value and pleasures of learning, he regarded the diffusion of knowledge

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     * Appendix A

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not merely as a source of individual happiness, but as a chief element of political liberty and a necessary part of the policy of a free state.  On the organization of the company he had urged the immediate employment of a competent instructor for the youth of the proposed settlement, and himself was authorized to secure a proper person.  After the settlement at Marietta was begun, he was most active in organizing plans of education.  Common schools were taught there from the first year of the settlement, and were kept up even during the period of the Indian war.*  An academy was established at an early day.  These persistent efforts to advance the cause of education are traceable to the energy of Dr. Cutler, who thus gave an impress to the society of the infant colony which has never disappeared.  Nor have the beneficent results been confined to Ohio alone.  The Ohio university for which he secured so liberal a land endowment (as was then thought), was the first ever thus endowed by congress; but the policy then begun was continued and we now see the universities of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, Mississippi and other states all endowed by congress.  It may fairly be asserted that these noble results are the legitimate fruits of Dr. Cutler's early efforts in fixing the policy of congress on the subject.

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    * One of the schools kept during part of that time, was taught in the block house by Dr. Jabez True, an ancestor of the Trues in Dover township.

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In his case, surely, the good that he did was not "interred with his bones."
     In his reply to the order of congress, Dr. Cutler urged that the location of the lands assigned for the establishment of a university, should be, as nearly as practicable in the center of the first million and a half of acres that the company should pay for; for, he said, "to fix it in the center of the. proposed purchase, might too long defer the establishment.*  But this country, it must be remembered, was a wilderness then, and some years of delay necessarily occurred in carrying Dr. Cutler's plans into effect.  The college townships were not located and surveyed till 1795.†  For some years after that the dense forests that covered the whole region were but slightly invaded by settlers and it was not until the town of Athens had been laid out and "confirmed and established" by the territorial legislature, that any action was taken by that body toward carrying into effect the compact for the establishment of the university.  The following is a copy of the first legislative

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     * Appendix B
     † From the records of the Ohio Company:

                                                                  December 16th, 1795.

     "The reconnoitering committee having reported that townships number eight and nine in the fourteenth range are moat central in the Ohio Company's purchase, and it being fully ascertained that the lands are of an excellent quality.
     Resolved, unanimously, that the aforesaid townships number eight and nine in the fourteenth range be reserved for the benefit of an university, as expressed in the original contract with the Board of Treasury.

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act passed west of the Allegheny mountains looking to the establishment of a college or seminary of learning.

"An act establishing an university in the town of Athens.

     WHEREAS, Institutions for the liberal education of youth are essential to progress of arts and sciences, important to morality, virtue and religion; friendly to the peace, order and prosperity of society, and honorable to the government that encourages and patronizes them; and whereas, the congress of the United states did make a grant of two townships of land, within the purchase made by the Ohio Company of Associates, for the encouragement and support of an university therein; and whereas, the interference of the legislature is rendered necessary, to point out and direct the mode in which the same shall be brought into operation, that the benefits of the grant may be applied to the purposes designed : Therefore,
     SECTION I.  Be it enacted by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives in General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That there shall be an university instituted and established in the town of Athens, in the ninth township of the fourteenth range of townships, within the limits of the tract of land purchased by the Ohio Company of Associates, by the name and style of the 'American Western University,' for the instruction of youth in all the various  branches of the liberal arts and sciences, for the promotion of good education, virtue, religion and morality, and for conferring all the degrees and literary honors granted in similar institutions.
     SEC. 2.  And be it further enacted, That there shall be and forever remain in the said university, a body politic and corporate by the name and style of 'The President and Trustees of the American Western University,' which body politic and corporate shall consist of the president ex-officio, and not more than

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through a series of years, cheated of its revenues.  It should have a large income from its original endowment, and that without, in the least degree, burdening the lessees of these lands.  The state owes it to the fathers of the university who founded it with prayers and amid difficulties, such as we little comprehend, that it shall not be permanently kept out of its rights by legal technicalities; and we can not doubt that the people and the legislature of Ohio will eventually come to this conclusion.  It will be a disgrace to them if the first university founded west of the mountains and around which "memories cluster thick as flowers," shall be allowed to fall into decay and disappear from the land for the want of aid which it has a right to expect and demand.

Trustees of the University from its Organization to the present time.

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     The following is a list of the presidents and professors of the university from the date of its complete organization.

Presidents.

     Rev. Jacob Lindley, from 1808 till 1822; Rev. James Irvine, from 1822 till 1824; Rev. Robert G. Wilson, from 1824 till 1839; Rev. William H. McGuffey, 1839 till 1843; organization suspended from 1843 till 1848; Rev. Alfred Ryors, from 1848 till 1852; Rev. Solomon Howard, from 1852 till present time.

Professors of Ancient Languages.

     Joseph Dana, from 1818 to 1819; Rev. J. B. Whittlesey, from 1819 to 1821; Joseph Dana, from 1822 to 1835; Daniel Read, from 1836 to 1838; Rev. Elisha Ballantyne, Greek, from 1838 to 1 840; Rev. John M. Stephenson, Greek, from 1840 to 1842; Daniel Read, Latin, from 1838 to 1843; Rev. Wells Andrews, from 1843 to 1848; James Irwin Kuhn, Greek, from 1842 to 1844; Rev. Aaron Williams, from 1844 to 1853; Rev. Addison Ballard, Latin, from 1848 to 1852; Rev. E. E. Bragdon, Latin, from 1853 to 1854; Rev. Clinton W. Sears, from 1854 to 1855; Rev. John M. Leavitt, from 1855 to 1857; Rev. William H. Young, from 1859 to present time.

Professors of Mathematics.

     Rev. James Irvine, from 1821 to 184; Rev. Jacob Lindley from 1824 to 1826; William Wall from 1827 to 1836; Rev. L. D. McCabe, from 1844 to 1845; Rev. Wm. J. Hoge, from 1848 to 1851; Rev. Addison Ballard, from 1852 to 1854; Rev. John M. Leavitt, from 1854 to 1855; William H. Young, from 1855 to 1859; Rev. Richard Arthur from 1859 to 1864; Eli T. Tappan, from 1864 to present time.

Professors of Moral Science and Belles Lettres.

     Rev. Jacob Lindley, from 1822 to 1824; Rev. Robert G. Wilson, from 1824 to 1839; Rev. William H. McGuffey, from 1839 to 1843;

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Rev. Alfred Ryors, for 1848 to 1852; Rev. Solomon Howard, from 1852 to present time.

Professors of Natural Science.

     Rev. Samuel D. Hoge, from 1823 to 1826; Thos. M. Drake, from 1827 to 1834; Rev. Frederic Merrick, from 1838 to 1842; William W. Mather, from 1842 to 1850; Rev. Joseph S. Tomlinson, from 1851 to 1852; Rev. James G. Blair, from 1852 to 1864; Rev. Alex. S. Gibbons, from 1864 to present time.

     The present faculty of the university is composed as follows:

President.
Rev. SOLOMON HOWARD,
Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy.

WILLIAM H. YOUNG, *
Professor of Greek and Latin Languages.

ELI T. TAPPAN,
Professor of Mathematics.

REV. ALEXANDER S. GIBBONS,
Professor of Mineralogy, Chemistry, and Geology.

W. H. G. ADNEY,
Principal of Preparatory Department.

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     * Professor Young has held this chair from 1859, but was absent from 1861 till 1864, in the military service.