EARLY HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COLLEGE.
BY MR. J. K. MORRISON
Jefferson College was incorporated by the Legislature of the Mississippi Territory on the thirteenth of May, 1802. The act of incorporation was entitled: "An act to establish a College in Mississippi Territory." The following named gentlemen attended a meeting of the Trustees of this institution, held January 3, 1803, viz: Wm. C. C. Claiborne, John Ellis, Wm. Dunbar, Anthony Hutchins, David Lattimore, Sulton Banks, Alexander Montgomery, Daniel Burnet, David Kerr, D. W. Breazeale, Abner Green, Cato West, Thos. Calvit and Felix Hughes.
John Ellis was appointed President pro tempore and Felix Hughes, secretary.
The Board then proceeded to elect their officers by ballot. His Excellency, Wm. C. C. Caliborne, was elected President, Sir Wm. Dunbar, Vice-President, Felix Hughes, Secretary, and Cato West, Treasurer. For some reason the last named officer declined to serve.
It was next moved that the following address be submitted to the National Government:
"To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
"We, the Trustees of Jefferson College assembled, agreeable to a law of this Territory, at our first meeting, beg leave to address the Honourable Legislature of the United States. The duty we owe to our Infant Institution, to the community of the Mississippi Territory, and to the United States calls on us to lay before you our wants and our prospects.
"Education in every state of the union has required, and we believe, met in some degree the fostering hand of public support. Every enlightened society, has been willing to contribute in some way to the cultivation of the minds of their rising generation, from whence so many public as well as private benefits have been found to flow.