David Newton Sheldon
{{Short description|American college president (1797–1854)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = David Newton Sheldon
| image =
| caption =
| order =
| title = President of Colby College
| term_start = 1843
| term_end = 1853
| predecessor = Eliphaz Fay
| successor = Robert Everett Pattison
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=y|1807|06|26}}
| birth_place = Suffield, Connecticut
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=y|1889|10|04|1807|06|26}}
| alma_mater = Williams College, Andover Newton Theological School
| spouse = Rachael Hobart Ripley
}}
David Newton Sheldon (June 26, 1807 – October 4, 1889) was the fifth President of Colby College, Maine, United States from 1843–1853. He was also a pastor, missionary, and educator.{{cite book |title=The Centennial History of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, 1802-1902| editor-first=Edwin Carey |editor-last=Whittemore |publisher=Executive Committee of the Centennial Celebration |date=1902 |location=Waterville (Me.) |page=[https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00whit/page/453 453] |url=https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00whit}}
Early life
Sheldon was born in Suffield, Connecticut, to David and Elizabeth Hall. He was educated at Williams College, where he graduated as the valedictorian of the class of 1830{{cite book |title=Williams College and Foreign Missions: Biographical Sketches of Williams College Men who Have Rendered Special Service to the Cause of Foreign Missions |first=John Haskell |last=Hewitt |publisher=Pilgrim Press |date=1914 |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/williamscollegef00hewirich/page/177 177]|url=https://archive.org/details/williamscollegef00hewirich}} and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa society.{{cite book |title=Phi Beta Kappa Gamma of Massachusetts, Williams College|first=Eben Burt |last=Parsons |date=1903 |publisher=Ingraham |location=Williamstown |page=[https://archive.org/details/gammaofmassachus00phibrich/page/11 11] |url=https://archive.org/details/gammaofmassachus00phibrich}} He was a tutor for one year before entering the Andover Newton Theological School and graduating in 1835. He married Rachael Hobart Ripley in Chelsea, Massachusetts on October 15, 1835, with whom he ultimately had five children.
Career
Sheldon was a Baptist missionary in France from 1835-1839, and a pastor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before coming to Waterville, Maine in 1842, where he was a pastor and a French Teacher at Colby College. Beginning in 1843, he was the president of the college and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. At least in part due to his liberal inclination towards Free Will Baptist theology, the Calvinistic Baptists who founded the college forced him out in 1853, after years of declining enrollments."Little Talks #997," Marriner, January 20, 1974 , Colby College Special Collections. Accessed at http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/02/03/lt997-readonly/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214031852/http://web.colby.edu/specialcollections/2011/02/03/lt997-readonly/ |date=2015-02-14}} He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Brown University in 1847. He held various pastorships in Bath, Maine, including as a Unitarian from 1853-1862 before returning to Waterville, where he continued as a Unitarian pastor until 1879.
Sheldon died at his home in Waterville on October 4, 1889.{{cite book |title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Volume 9 |editor-first=Rossiter |editor-last=Johnson |publisher=Biographical Society |location=Boston|date=1904 |page=343 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__e0UAAAAYAAJ/page/n343}}{{cite news |work=The Wellsboro Agitator |location=Wellsboro, Tioga Co, Pa |title=Obituaries |date=October 22, 1889}}
Published works
- Sin and Redemption, 1856
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Colby College presidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldon, David Newton}}
Category:Colby College faculty
Category:People from Suffield, Connecticut
Category:Presidents of Colby College