Historical records matching Gardner Colby
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About Gardner Colby
Gardner Colby
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardner_Colby
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161030314/gardner-colby
Colby was a prominent businessman and Christian philanthropist. He is the namesake of Colby College in Maine.
Early Life
Colby was born in Bowdoinham, Maine in 1810 and spent part of his childhood in Waterville, Maine. His father, Josiah Colby, died in 1814 after having lost his fortune during the War of 1812, and Josiah Colby had spent time manufacturing gunpowder in Waterville before his death. To aid Colby's mother, Jeremiah Chaplin, a Baptist minister who served as the first President of Waterville College (later Colby College) arranged for the Colby family to operate a store in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Career
Gardner Colby eventually started his own store in Boston and became involved in various other businesses including railroads, shipping and manufacturing. As a lifelong Baptist, Colby was very involved in various Christian causes. During the Civil War in 1864 the college in Waterville was facing hardships, so Colby made the first of several large donations to the college and it was subsequently renamed "Colby University" in his honor. He served as a trustee from 1864 to his death and many of his descendants became involved with the school. Colby also served as treasurer and made several large donations to what is now Andover Newton Theological School, which was a Reformed seminary located near Colby's home in Newton, Massachusetts.
COLBY, Gardner, philanthropist, born in Bowdoinham, Maine, 3 September, 1810; died in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, 2 April, 1879. After receiving the rudiments of an English education, he entered the dry-goods business in Boston, and afterward engaged in manufacturing woollen goods.
During the civil war he was a large contractor for the supply of clothing to the national army, and in 1870 became president of the Wisconsin central railroad.
Mr. Colby was distinguished for his liberal contributions to benevolent objects. Newton Theological Seminary, Brown University, and the American Baptist missionary union received large sums from him. A gift of $50,000 to Waterville College, Maine, caused the name of that institution to be changed to Colby College.
He occupied many important places of trust and honor in the Baptist denomination, and for years was treasurer of Newton theological seminary.
--His son, Charles Lewis Colby, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1839, was graduated at Brown in 1858. He removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 1874, and became president of the Wisconsin central railroad. He was a member of the legislature in 1880, and became a trustee of Brown University in 1879.
--Another son, Henry Francis Colby, clergyman, born in Boston Highlands (Roxbury), Massachusetts, 25 November, 1842, was graduated at Brown in 1862, and at Newton theological seminary in 1867. He has been pastor of the 1st Baptist church in Dayton, Ohio, since his ordination in 1868, and in 1883 was president of the Ohio Baptist convention. He has travelled extensively in Europe.
He has published a class poem (1862), and sketches of Gardner Colby, Caleb Parker, and Ebenezer Thresher.
https://books.google.com/books?id=8pQsAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#...
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Gardner Colby's Timeline
| 1810 |
September 3, 1810
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Bowdoinham, Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States
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| 1837 |
April 11, 1837
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Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
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| 1839 |
May 22, 1839
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Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
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| 1842 |
November 25, 1842
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Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
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| 1846 |
1846
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| 1849 |
September 18, 1849
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Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
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| 1879 |
April 2, 1879
Age 68
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Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
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Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
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Newton Cemetery Newton Middlesex County Massachusetts
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