Stephen Olin

Oline was born in Leicester, Vermont, on March 2, 1797. He was one of ten children born to Henry Olin (1768–1837), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont,{{cite web|title=OLIN, Henry - Biographical Information|url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000068|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate=25 August 2017}} and Lois Richardson (d. 1814). His father was the nephew of Gideon Olin (1743–1823) and the cousin of Abram B. Olin (1808–1879), both of whom also served as members of the House of Representatives from Vermont.{{cite book|last=Brown|first=John Howard|title=The Cyclopedia of American Biography V6: Comprising the Men and Women of the United States Who Have Been Identified with the Growth of the Nation|year=2006|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|pages=61|isbn=9781428640511|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TH9AEMwOuSYC&pg=PA61 }}

In 1820, Olin graduated from Middlebury College in 1820.{{cite book|last1=Olin|first1=Stephen|title=The Works of Stephen Olin|date=1852|publisher=Harper & Brothers|url=https://archive.org/details/worksstephenoli02churgoog|accessdate=25 August 2017|language=en}}

Seeking a better climate for his poor health, Olin traveled to the southern United States, where he found employment as a teacher at Tabernacle Academy in Mount Ariel, in the Abbeville area of South Carolina.{{cite book|last=Cummings|first=A.W.|title=The Early Schools of Methodism|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyschoolsofme00cummrich/page/84/|year=1886|publisher=Phillips & Hunt|location=New York|page=84|accessdate=June 17, 2020}} After having a religious awakening at the age of 25, he gave up consideration of the practice of law and became ordained into the Methodist Episcopal Church; Olin was recognized as a deacon by the Milledgeville, Georgia, conference in January 1826.{{cite book|last=Smith|first=George G.|title=The History of Georgia Methodism from 1786 to 1866|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofgeorgia00smit/page/178/|year=1913|publisher=A.B. Caldwell|location=Atlanta, GA|pages=178–179|accessdate=June 17, 2020}} He then served a pastorate in Charleston, but his health prevented him from continuing in that capacity. He became professor of belle-lettres at the University of Georgia in 1827. He was the first President of Randolph-Macon College (1834–1836) but resigned for health reasons and was succeeded by Dr. Landon C. Garland.{{cite web|title=College Presidents :: Randolph-Macon College|url=http://www.rmc.edu/offices/president/college-presidents|website=www.rmc.edu|accessdate=25 August 2017}} He later served as president of Wesleyan University (1842–1851).{{cite web|title=Stephen Olin, Office of the President|url=http://www.wesleyan.edu/president/pastpresidents/olin.html|website=www.wesleyan.edu|publisher=Wesleyan University|accessdate=25 August 2017|language=en}}

In 1844, at the general conference of the Methodists, Olin called on his friend, Bishop James Andrew, to resign his office, on the grounds the latter owned slaves. Olin himself was criticized because his first wife (Mary E. Bostwick, whom he married in 1827) had owned slaves.

Stephen Olin married Mary Ann Bostwick, who died in Naples, Italy, during the couple's time in Europe after Olin resigned the presidency of Randolph-Macon College.

He was later married to Julia Matilda Lynch (1814–1879), the daughter of James Lynch. Together, they were the parents of:

• Stephen Henry Olin (1847–1925), who married Alice Wadsworth Barlow (1853–1882), daughter of Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow and Alice Cornell Townsend.{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=Leslie |title=Welcome to Wesleyan: Campus Buildings |date=2007 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=9780819568557 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hi2MXDemgpAC&pg=PA36 |accessdate=20 December 2018 |language=en}}

Olin died on August 15, 1851, in Middletown, Connecticut.

The Williamsbridge neighborhood of Olinville in the Bronx, New York, began as two towns named for him (founded in 1852).

• Inaugural Address Delivered by the Rev. Stephen Olin, President of Randolph-Macon College, on the Occasion of His Induction into Office, 5th March, 1834 (1834) Richmond: Nesbitt & Walker.{{cite book |last1=Olin |first1=Stephen |title=Inaugural Address Delivered by the Rev. Stephen Olin, President of Randolph-Macon College, on the Occasion of His Induction into Office, 5th March, 1834 |date=1834 |publisher=Nesbitt & Walker |location=Richmond |url=https://archive.org/details/inauguraladdress00olin |accessdate=June 9, 2020}}
• Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land (1843) New York: Harper & Brothers.{{cite book |last1=Olin |first1=Stephen |title=Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land |date=1843 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsinegyptar01olin |accessdate=June 9, 2020}}
• Resources and Duties of Christian Young Men: A Discourse to the Graduating Class of Wesleyan University, August 1845 (1846) New York: Lane & Tippett.{{cite book |last1=Olin |first1=Stephen |title=Resources and Duties of Christian Young Men: A Discourse to the Graduating Class of Wesleyan University, August 1845 |date=1846 |publisher=Lane & Tippett |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/resourcesdutieso00olin |accessdate=June 9, 2020}}
• The Relations of Christian Principle to Mental Culture: A Discourse to the Graduating Class of Wesleyan University, July 1848 (1848) New York: Lane & Scott.{{cite book |last1=Olin |first1=Stephen |title=The Relations of Christian Principle to Mental Culture: A Discourse to the Graduating Class of Wesleyan University, July 1848 |date=1848 |publisher=Lane & Scott |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/relationschrist00olingoog/ |accessdate=June 9, 2020}}
• Early Piety, the Basis of Elevated Character: A Discourse to the Graduating Class of Wesleyan University, August 1850 (1851) New York: Lane & Scott.{{cite book |last1=Olin |first1=Stephen |title=Early Piety, the Basis of Elevated Character: A Discourse to the Graduating Class of Wesleyan University, August 1850 |date=1851 |publisher=Lane & Scott |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/earlypietybasis00olingoog |accessdate=June 9, 2020}}
• The Works of Stephen Olin (1852) and [https://books.google.com/books?id=B0cMAAAAYAAJ Greece and the Golden Horn] (1854) were edited by his second wife, Julia Matilda Olin, and published posthumously.
• College Life: Its Theory and Practice (1867) New York: Harper & Brothers.{{cite book |last1=Olin |first1=Stephen |title=College Life: Its Theory and Practice |date=1867 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/collegelifeitsth00olin |accessdate=June 9, 2020}}

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• Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography James Grant Wilson & John Fisk, eds. (1888) New York, Appleton.
• The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 George Gilman Smith (1877) J. W. Burke & Co.

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{{succession box|title=President of Randolph-Macon College|before=Office created|years=1834–1836|after=Landon Cabell Garland}}

{{succession box|title=President of Wesleyan University|before=Nathan Bangs|years=1842–1851|after=Augustus William Smith}}

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{{Wesleyan University presidents}}

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Category:Presidents of Wesleyan University

Category:1797 births

Category:1851 deaths

Category:Middlebury College alumni

Category:University of Georgia faculty

Category:Randolph–Macon College

Category:Wesleyan University people

Category:19th-century American Methodist ministers