11 Facts About Brantley York

Richard Brantley York was a Methodist minister and educator best known for founding and serving as president of the institution that would become Duke University, Union Institute Academy in Randolph County, North Carolina.

Brantley York had little formal education, only attending school for thirteen months over a ten-year period.

Brantley York's education was largely self-taught through the library at Ebenezer Church, where he was introduced to the Methodist religion and converted in 1823.

Brantley York began teaching at Bethlehem Church in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1831 and received a license to preach there in 1833.

Brantley York was ordained as a deacon in 1838, but was not made a member of the North Carolina conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church due to an administrative error.

Brantley York was appointed to teach at Brown's Schoolhouse in Randolph County, which at the time was a rough single room log structure.

Brantley York left Union in 1842, and considered his time there to be a burden.

Brantley York appreciated the success that he had accomplished, but had to devote considerable time to raising money and worked late nights preparing to teach subjects with which he was unfamiliar.

Brantley York published multiple English grammars and a The Man of Business and Railroad Calculator, a text that taught arithmetic and basic legal principles.

Brantley York became blind at the age of 48, symptoms of which had developed in one eye while he was working at Union.

Brantley York served as a President of the Randolph County Temperance Society in 1853 and spoke publicly in support of North Carolina's prohibition campaign in 1881.