Ira Condict (February 21, 1764 – June 1, 1811) was an American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

minister who served as the third

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of Queen's College (now

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. A 1784 graduate of the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

), Condict was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian faith. In 1794, Condict was appointed as Professor of Moral Philosophy at Queen's College in New Brunswick, and subsequently asked to serve as its third president following the resignation of William Linn. Because the college had closed in 1795, Condict served in a pro tempore capacity from 1795 to 1810, dedicating his efforts to providing theological instruction and administering the Queen's College Grammar School (now Rutgers Preparatory School) which remained open during this time. After a difficult fundraising effort led by Condict, Queen's College was reopened in 1807 and he presided over the laying of the cornerstone for the college's

Old Queens Old Queens is the oldest extant building at Rutgers University and is the symbolic heart of the university's campus in New Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey in the United States. Rutgers, the eighth-oldest college in the United States, wa ...

building on April 27, 1809.

Biography

Condict was born in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000. Orange was original ...

in 1764 to Daniel Condict (or Condit) and Ruth Harrison. His grandparents were Mary Dodd & Samuel Condict. Condict's famous Revolutionary War patriot sister, Jemima Condict Harrison (of Daniel), and her spouse Major Aaron Harrison, wrote of American colonial life and of the Boston Tea Party.New Jersey Historical Society. http://www.jerseyhistory.org/findingaid.php?aid=0123 Condict graduated from the College of New Jersey (now

) with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(A.B.) in 1784. After being

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

in 1785 by the Reverend

John Witherspoon John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense real ...

(then president of Princeton), Condict accepted a calling to serve as pastor to three

congregations under the

Presbytery of Newton The Presbytery of Newton is a regional governing body for Presbyterian congregations located in northwestern New Jersey and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Established in 1817 to oversee congregations in northwestern New Jersey and ...

throughout Northwestern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

: Upper Hardwick (now Yellow Frame in Fredon Township, New Jersey), Sussex Court House (now Newton), and Shappenock. In 1794, Condict was installed at the First Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey.Pickersgill, Harold E.; Wall, John Patrick. ''History of Middlesex County, New Jersey: 1664-1920'' (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1921). This calling soon led to him being appointed as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the nearby Queen's College. Despite the college closing in 1795, Condict was appointed to serve as President pro tempore and he dedicated his efforts to the Queen's College Grammar School (now Rutgers Preparatory School) which remained open under Condict's leadership. During his tenure in New Brunswick, Condit was known for operating a private circulating library, which a person could join as a member by paying modest annual dues. After his death, the library was sold. In 1807, Condict, along with Andrew Kilpatrick, renewed the efforts to reopen Queen's College, securing $12,000 in donations to construct what became Old Queen's (completed in 1823). Shortly after Queen's College reopened, the Board of Trustees offered Condict the full presidency, which he declined, returning to his professorship and to supervise instruction at the college. However, his tenure was short lived. Condict died of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

on June 1, 1811 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Condict, Ira 1764 births 1811 deaths Presidents of Rutgers University Rutgers University faculty People from Sussex County, New Jersey People from Orange, New Jersey Deaths from yellow fever Infectious disease deaths in New Jersey Princeton University alumni People of colonial New Jersey

Biography

See also

References