Jonathan Maxcy
Third president of Union College, September 1802 - July 1804.
Jonathan Maxcy was born on September 2, 1768 in Attleborough, Massachusetts. He graduated from Rhode Island College (later named Brown University) with highest honors in 1787. Shortly after graduating, Maxcy went through a religious conversion, was baptized, and ordained as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Providence on April 1, 1790. A few months later, at the age of twenty-three, Maxcy was elected a trustee and appointed the college’s first professor of divinity.
Appointed president pro tempore in September 1792, he received full appointment as the second president of Rhode Island College on September 7, 1797. Maxcy was a young and successful college president, increasing enrollment and being awarded an honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from Harvard.
After the untimely death of Jonathan Edwards, Union College invited Maxcy to become its third president, possibly cajoling him away from Rhode Island College with a salary of $1500 plus fees and a house. This was $500 more than Rhode Island was paying him. Maxcy accepted the offer on November 25, 1801 and took office the following September. After only two years as president, Maxcy submitted his resignation at the July Trustee’s meeting, later accepting the inaugural presidency of South Carolina University at a salary of $2500, plus a house. Maxcy remained president of South Carolina University for fifteen years, until his death on June 4, 1820.
Condensed from Wayne Somers, compiler and editor, Encyclopedia of Union College History (Schenectady: Union College Press, 2003), page 654.
Image courtesy of Union College, Schaffer Library Special Collections and Archives, Photograph Collection