Abbie Park Ferguson (April 4, 1837,

Whately, Massachusetts Whately (; ) is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,607 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Whately was first settled in 1672 as ...

- March 25, 1919

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

) was founder and president of Huguenot Seminary (later Huguenot College).

Education

She graduated from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

(then Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) in 1856. She taught in

Niles, Michigan Niles is a city in Berrien County, Michigan, Berrien and Cass County, Michigan, Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the Indiana state line city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. The population was 11,988 according to the 2020 Unit ...

until 1858 and later in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

from 1867 until 1873.In 1869, she accompanied two female students to chaperone them in their studies abroad in Europe. While abroad, Park Ferguson and the girls were detained from their travels when war broke out. They had to wait for peace to be brokered before continuing their travels.

Huguenot Seminary

In 1873 Ferguson and another Mount Holyoke graduate (1862), Anna Bliss, moved to

and established the first

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male st ...

in the region, Huguenot Seminary in 1874. She took a leave of absence from 1905 to 1906 during which time she received an M.A. from Mount Holyoke. In 1912, Mount Holyoke honoured her in absentia with a Doctor of Letters. The seminary school was established as an official college in 1898. She was the first president of the seminary school and continued her presidency until her retirement in 1910. She died nine years later at the age of 82 while still living in South Africa.

References

1. Page 34 Ferguson, Arthur B. ''Genealogy of the descendants of John Ferguson: a native of Scotland, who emigrated to America before the Revolutionary War''. Salem MA: Newcomb & Gauss, 1911. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066139429&view=1up&seq=7. 2. Page 126 Mount Holyoke College: The Seventy-fifth Anniversary, South Hadley, Mass., October 8 and 9, 1912. United States: Springfield Printing and Binding Company, 1913. 3. Rolle, Elisa. Queer Places. Accessed November 8, 2020. http://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/abcde/Abbie%20Park%20Ferguson.html.

External links

Mount Holyoke College Biographical Directory

1837 births 1919 deaths Mount Holyoke College alumni People from Franklin County, Massachusetts Women heads of universities and colleges Heads of universities and colleges in South Africa American emigrants to South Africa Founders of educational institutions {{US-academic-administrator-1830s-stub