The Biographical Dictionary of America/Andrews, Elisha Benjamin

ANDREWS, Elisha Benjamin, educator, was born in Hinsdale, N.H., Jan. 10, 1844, son of Erastus and Almira (Bartlett) Andrews. In boyhood he worked on his father's farm, and his opportunities for early school training were limited. His ambition to prepare himself for college was changed into a patriotic desire to serve his country, when in 1861 President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers. A boy of sixteen he enlisted as a soldier in the 4th Connecticut infantry, subsequently the 1st Connecticut heavy artillery. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in 1863. In the summer of 1864, at the siege of Petersburg, Va., he received a wound that destroyed the sight of his left eye, and incapacitated him for further active service, and he received an honorable discharge in October, 1864. He resumed his studies at Power's institute and the Wesleyan academy, and matriculated at Brown university in 1866, graduating in 1870. He was appointed principal of the Connecticut literary institution, Suffield, Conn., remaining there two years. He entered Newton theological seminary in 1872, was graduated in 1874, and became pastor of the First Baptist church at Beverly, Mass., resigning in 1875 to accept the presidency of Denison university, Granville, O. His success there led to his election to the chair of homiletics in the Newton theological seminary, in 1879. This position he resigned in 1882 to accept the professorship of political economy and history in Brown university, which position he held until 1888, spending one year of the time in Germany at the universities of Berlin and Munich. In 1888 he became professor of political economy and public finance in Cornell university. His varied attainments and his fame as an educator made him a prominent candidate for the presidency of Brown university, and upon the resignation of President Robinson in 1889 he was unanimously chosen, and served in 1889-98. He was superintendent of the public schools of Chicago, Ill., 1898-1900, and on Sept. 22, 1900, accepted the chancellorship of the University of Nebraska. He was one of the commissioners sent by the United States government to the monetary conference at Brussels in 1892. He received the degree of D.D. from Colby in 1884, and that of LL.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1884, from Brown in 1900, and from the University of Chicago in 1901. Among his published works are: "Institutes of Our Constitutional History" (1887); "Institutes of General History" (1889); "Institutes of Economics" (1889); "Eternal Words," a volume of sermons (1894); "Wealth and Moral Law" (1894); "History of the United States" (2 vols., 1894); "An Honest Dollar, a Plea for Bimetallism" (1894); "History of the United States during the Last Quarter Century" (2 vols., 1896). He became a member of the Rhode Island historical society. He was married, Nov. 25, 1870, to Ella Anna Allen.