Jewett, Milo Parker, 1808-1882

Biography

Milo Parker Jewett was born in St. Johnsbury, VT on the 27th of April, 1808. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1828, he attended the Andover Theological Seminary, receiving his degree in 1833 - the same year in which he was wed to Jane Augusta Russell. He served as Professor at Marietta College in Ohio from 1834-38, as his change of views on baptism caused a split with the college; he was later ordained a Baptist minister in 1842. Jewett then served as Principal of the Judson Female Institution in Marion, Alabama from 1839-1855, going on to the Cottage Hill Seminary in Poughkeepsie, NY under the same title. It was during these years (1856-1861) in Poughkeepsie that he befriended Matthew Vassar and convinced him to create a college for women that would be what Yale and Harvard were for men. Vassar College was incorporated in 1861, at which time it was the only endowed college for women in the world. Jewett acted as President there from 1861-1864 before moving to Milwaukee in 1867, where he spent the remainder of his life. At various times, he was commissioner of public schools, trustee of the Milwaukee Female College, chairman of the board of visitors for the University of Wisconsin, president of the Milwaukee board of health, president of the Wisconsin State Temperance Society, member of the Western Advisory Committee of the American Baptist Educational Commission, and chairman of the State Baptist Centennial Committee. Jewett passed away on June 29, 1882 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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