John Storer
John Storer(January 18, 1796 – October 23, 1867) was a merchant andphilanthropistfromSanford, Maine,who was the namesake ofStorer CollegeinHarpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Life and career[edit]
Storer was born in 1796 inWells,Massachusetts(after 1820 in Maine) and was aCongregationalist.He started working as a clerk for the firm of Smith & Porter inKennebunk, Maine,but on their recommendation, and with their financing, he set up his own shop in Sanford in 1820.[1]He eventually owned stores throughout the state of Maine and made numerous lucrative investments.[2][1]
Storer was "an avowedWhig",[3]later aRepublican.No one in Sanford was more in favor of theUnioncause.[1]As told by the wife of Rev.Oren B. Cheney,founder ofBates College,a Freewill Baptist school in Maine, Cheney suggested to Storer that his desire to donate to "the colored race" could finance a Free Baptist school for former slaves.[4]Storer offered a $10,000 matching grant to theFreewill Baptistsfor a "colored school"in theSouth,[5]with several conditions. First, the school must plan to become a degree-granting college. Second, the school had to be open to all applicants, regardless of "race" or gender. And, finally, the Freewill Baptist Church had to match his donation within the year. The money was raised, just days before Storer's offer would expire, andStorer Collegeopened its doors; in March 1868 it received its state charter.
Storer died in 1867, oftyphoid fever;Free Will Baptist ministers conducted the funeral.[3]His heirs donated additional funds to the school.[2][1]
References[edit]
- ^abcdEmery, Edwin (1901). Emery, William Morrell (ed.).The History of Sanford, Maine, 1661-1900.Fall River, Massachusetts:William Morrell Emery. pp. 507–508.
- ^abBurke, Dawne Raines (2004).Storer College: A Hope for Redemption in the Shadow of Slavery(PDF).Ph.D. dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).
- ^abBurke, Dawne Raines (2015).An American Phoenix: A History of Storer College from Slavery to Desegregation, 1865–1955.Morgantown, West Virginia:Storer College Books, an imprint ofWest Virginia University Press.p. 38.ISBN978-1940425771.
- ^Burlingame-Cheney, Emeline(1907).The Story of the Life and Work of Oren B. Cheney, Founder and First President of Bates College.Boston:Morning Star Publishing House.pp. 159–160.
- ^"Storer College"Harpers Ferry National Historical Park