Jasper Adams (August 27, 1793 – October 25, 1841) was an American clergyman, college professor, and college president.

Early years

Adams was born in East

Medway, Massachusetts Medway is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The town had a population of 13,115 at the 2020 census. History Medway was first settled in 1657 and was officially incorporated in 1713. At that time, Medway began as a farming ...

, on August 27, 1793, son of Major Jasper Adams and Emma Rounds, and a direct descendant from

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

. He was graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1815, studied at

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...

, theological seminary, from 1816 to 1817.Marquis Who's Who, 1963. He received the degree of A.M. from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

in 1819 and that of S.T.D. from Columbia in 1827.

Career

He was a teacher at

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

of Andover for three years, tutor at Brown, 1818 to 1819, and becoming a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy there, from 1819 to 1824. Adams was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church, as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

on September 2, 1819, and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

on August 4, 1820. He became the president of College of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1824, leaving the post temporarily in 1826 to become the president of Geneva College, New York, now called Hobart College, and returned to the presidency of the College of Charleston in 1828, remaining there through 1838. During this period he wrote the ''Elements of Moral Philosophy'', published in 1837. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1835.

Last years

In 1838, he became a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

and a professor of geography, history and ethics, at the

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

, a position he retained through 1840, when became principal of the seminary at

Pendleton, South Carolina Pendleton is a town in Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,489 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a sister city of Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The town is located southeast of Cl ...

, until his death there on October 25, 1841. Adams was a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, member of Mt. Vernon Lodge No. 4 in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

.Denslow, William R. 10,000 Famous Freemasons, Vol. I, A-D.

Writings by Jasper Adams

* "The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States" (1833), in ''The Sacred Rights of Conscience'', edited by Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2009): 597–610.

References

Sources

* *
Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume, 1607-1896
'. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1963.

External links

*
Elements of Moral Philosophy by Jasper Adams (1837, Folsom, Wells, and Thurston of Cambridge, MA edition)
1793 births 1841 deaths People from Medway, Massachusetts 19th-century American Episcopal priests Presidents of the College of Charleston Brown University alumni American military chaplains People from Pendleton, South Carolina United States Military Academy faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers American ethicists Historians from Massachusetts 19th-century American geographers American male non-fiction writers Presidents of Hobart and William Smith Colleges {{US-academic-administrator-1790s-stub