Alonzo Ames Miner (August 17, 1814 – June 14, 1895) was a Universalist minister. He was the second president of

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

Origins

Born in

Lempster, New Hampshire Lempster is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,118 at the 2020 census. Settlements include the town center (Lempster village) and the village of East Lempster. History First granted by colonial go ...

, he was the second of five children and only son of Benajah Ames and Amanda (Carey) Miner. His father was a descendant of the colonist

Thomas Miner Thomas Minor (23 April 1608 – 23 October 1690) was a founder of New London, Connecticut, New London and Stonington, Connecticut, United States, and an early colonial New England diarist. Early life and marriage Minor was born in Chew Magna, i ...

. He married Maria S. Perley in August 1836.

Career

He taught school in rural

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

before being ordained a Universalist minister in 1839. He served as pastor to churches in Methuen, Lowell, and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts. Miner supported many moral and civic causes, at various times serving on the Board of Trustees at Tufts College, the Board of Overseers at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

(appointed 1863), the

Massachusetts Board of Education The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) is the state education agency responsible for interpreting and implementing laws relevant to public education in the Commonwealth of Massachusettsbr>https://www.sec.state.ma.us ...

(from 1869, serving 24 years), the Board of Visitors to the Massachusetts normal school. For 21 years, he was president of the Massachusetts State Temperance Alliance, and he was the Prohibition candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1878. One of the founders of Tufts, he rescued the college from near bankruptcy and instituted many new educational programs as president from 1862 to 1875. Alonzo Ames Miner died at his home in Boston on June 14, 1895.

References

*
Alonzo Ames Miner, 1862
– Tufts Interactive Timeline

Footnotes

External links

Records
pertaining to marriages and funerals performed and/or attended by Alonzo Ames Miner are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Alonzo Ames 1814 births 1895 deaths People from Lempster, New Hampshire Members of the Universalist Church of America 19th-century Christian universalists Presidents of Tufts University Members of the Harvard Board of Overseers