www.union.edu/Presidents/
Second president of Union College, July 1799–August 1, 1801
The ninth of ten children, Edwards was born on May 26, 1745 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Eager to prepare him as a missionary, Edwards’ father sent him to live with the Oneida Indians. Increasing tension between the French and Indians precipitated Edwards’ early return to his family. Soon after, Edwards’s father was selected as the third president of the College of New Jersey (later named Princeton University) in 1785, and promptly passed away three months later. Edwards remained in the Princeton area, graduating from Princeton University in 1765.
After graduation, Edwards pursued a career as a Congregationalist minister from 1766 until 1795, primarily in New Haven, Connecticut. Ultimately he was dismissed from his post as the pastorate of the White Haven Congregationalist Church, whereupon he became the pastor of small, remote Congregationalist Church at North Colebrook, Connecticut.
Edwards was offered the presidency of Union College on May 1 1799, after two other candidates had declined the offer. Edwards’s presidency was marked not by his leadership qualities but rather his ability to quell the College’s first crisis. In September of 1800, the students petitioned the trustees to dismiss two of the College’s three faculty members, charging one with "being partial" and "assuming too much authority;" the other, the students regarded as being an incompetent instructor. Many students quit the College and numerous others threatened to do so. Edwards managed to assuage the tension and prevent the threatened exodus.
In late July of 1801, President Edwards fell ill of an "intermitting fever of the regular type," dying a few days later on August 1.
Condensed from Wayne Somers, compiler and editor, Encyclopedia of Union College History (Schenectady: Union College Press, 2003), page 249.
Image courtesy of Union College, Schaffer Library Special Collections and Archives, Photograph Collection