Asa Messer (May 31, 1769 – October 11, 1836) was an American Baptist clergyman and educator. He was President of Brown University from 1804 to 1826.Bronson, Walter Cochrane (1914). ''The History of Brown University, 1764-1914.'' D.B. Updike, The Merrymount Press

Early life

Messer was born in

Methuen Methuen may refer to: *Methuen (surname) *Methuen, Massachusetts, a U.S. city **Methuen High School **Methuen Mall *Baron Methuen, a British title of nobility *Methuen Cove, South Orkney Islands *Methuen Publishing, Methuen & Co. Ltd., a British p ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. He graduated from Brown University (then called the College of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) in 1790.

Career

He was named tutor in the College in 1791, and served as librarian from 1792 to 1799. He was appointed professor of learned languages in 1796, and professor of natural philosophy in 1799. In 1802 he succeeded

Jonathan Maxcy Jonathan Maxcy (September 2, 1768 – June 4, 1820) was an American Baptist minister and college president. He was the second president of Brown University (then known as the ''College in the English Colony of Rhode Island & Providence Plantat ...

as president ''

pro tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

'' for two years before being named president in 1804. In 1812 he received the degree of

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...

from the University of Vermont. Messer was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1815. In 1818 he declined an appointment as justice of the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial N ...

, finding the appointment incompatible with his college office. In 1820 he received the degree of

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

from Harvard. Though as Brown's president Messer worked to make an education available to students of differing means, the student body became increasingly unruly during Messer's tenure, culminating in numerous incidents of

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and #Defacement, defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owne ...

to the chapel and library in the 1820s. Messer resigned as president on September 23, 1826. Though ordained a Baptist minister in 1801, Messer did not serve as a church pastor. He

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...

ed two

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to ...

s in the 1820s and owned a farm in Fishersfield,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, and part of a

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

in Wrentham,

. Messer ran as an unsuccessful candidate in the 1830 Rhode Island gubernatorial election. Asa Messer Elementary School in

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

is named in his honor.

References

External links

*
Encyclopedia Brunoniana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messer, Asa 1769 births 1836 deaths American educational theorists Brown University alumni People from Methuen, Massachusetts Presidents of Brown University Baptist ministers from the United States Harvard Divinity School alumni Members of the American Antiquarian Society University of Vermont alumni People of colonial Massachusetts Burials at North Burying Ground (Providence)