LECTUKES AND ESSAYS EEAD AT INSTITUTES. 3?1 



Baxter, of Jonesville, took his place. Mr. Willard has more than once lec- 

 tured before the members of the college. 



In 1859, Mr. Mayhew's term of ofl&ce having expired, Mr. John M. Gregory 

 was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, and became ex-officio Secre- 

 tary of the Board of Education, and exercised a controlling influence in the 

 aifairs of the State Agricultural College. Except for these changes, the 

 Board of Education, with the same membership, managed the college up to 

 April, 1861, when it was transferred to the care of another board. 



At the opening of the college. May 13, 1857, the officers were as follows: 



Joseph Eicketson Williams, M. A., President and Director of the farm; 

 John Clough Holmes, Professor of Horticulture, and Treasurer; Lewis Ran- 

 som Fisk, M. A., Professor of Chemistry; Calvin Tracy, M. A., Professor of 

 Mathematics ; Eobert D. Weeks, Professor of English Literature and Farm 

 Economy, and Secretary; Enoch Banker, Assistant in Chemistry; James M. 

 Shearer, Steward. 



Of these first officers, Mr. Williams continued in office until the beginning 

 of the spring term of 1860, when he resigned. Mr. Williams was a Massa- 

 chusetts man, a graduate of Harvard University of the class of 1831. He was 

 State Senator in 1861, and on the resignation of Hon. James Birney, Mr. 

 Williams became, by virtue of his office of President jfjro tempore of the Senate, 

 the Lieutenant Governor of the State. He was for two years (1854-5) editor 

 of the Toledo Blade. He died very suddenly at his home in Constantine, 

 Mich., June 16, 1861. A fine likeness of him, presented by Mrs. Williams, 

 adorns the college library. He was a person of splendid presence, an eloquent 

 speaker, and of much force of character. His remains were taken to New 

 Bedford, Mass., for burial. Williams Hall is named in honor of its first 

 president. 



Of Mr. John C. Holmes, Esq., mention has already been made. He did 

 much to lay out and beautify the grounds, and to give the college a '"right 

 start." 



Lewis R. Fisk, now D.D. and LL.D., remained in charge of the department 

 of chemistry until the spring of 1863, when he resigned, entered the ministry 

 of the Methodist Episcopal church, preached in Detroit and other places, and 

 became associate editor of the Christian Advocate. Since 1878 he has been 

 the president of Albion College, Michigan. To him is due the excellent posi- 

 tion which the chemical department of the college took at the very first. 

 Professor Fisk managed the college successfully as president pro tempore by 

 election of the faculty, in the four years' interregnum after the resignation of 

 President Williams. 



Professor Tracy resigned his place in the college in 1860, and lives in Lans- 

 ing, a highly respected citizen. 



Mr. Banker is a prosperous lawyer in Jackson, and Mr. Shearer a resident 

 of the township of Lansing. He has been repeatedly honored by votes of his 

 townsmen, and his wife, still living, is remembered by all the older students 

 for her motherly care and authority. She was a woman of rare qualifications 

 for a difficult place. 



Mr. Robert D. Weeks resigned his place at the close of the first term, and 

 subsequently went East. His place, as professor of English literature, was 

 supplied before the spring term of 1858, by Theophilus Capen Abbot, the 

 present president of the college, having been made so in the winter of 1862-3. 



There being no dwelling houses at the college in 1857, the most of the 



