28 Facts About Willbur Fisk

Willbur Fisk was a prominent American Methodist minister, educator and theologian.

Isaiah Willbur Fisk, was from Massachusetts and descended from William Willbur Fisk who emigrated to America from England in about 1637.

Willbur Fisk, their third child, was born two years later in 1792.

Isaiah Willbur Fisk became a respected citizen in Lyndon, and he was elected by his fellow citizens as Assistant Judge, Caledonia County Court from 1808 to 1813 and Chief Judge, Caledonia County Court from 1815 to 1823.

Willbur Fisk was a presidential elector in the 1816 presidential election.

Willbur Fisk was raised in Lyndon, and at age 16 he was admitted to the Peacham Academy in Vermont where he completed a course of instruction in two years.

Willbur Fisk then transferred to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1814 and graduated in 1815.

Willbur Fisk was not known as a particularly devoted student while in college, but after a year or so decided that a career in law was at odds with his Christian character.

Willbur Fisk left the legal profession behind and moved to Baltimore where he was engaged as a tutor.

Willbur Fisk was plagued by respiratory problems throughout his life, and ill health in Baltimore caused him to move back home to Lyndon to recuperate.

Willbur Fisk's mother, Hannah, had forsaken her New England Calvinist roots to become a Methodist, and her home was a center of Methodist activity in northern Vermont.

Willbur Fisk only served as a minister for three years in Vermont and Massachusetts before becoming interested in furthering educational opportunities in New England.

Willbur Fisk accepted that position and remained as its first president from its opening in 1831 until his death in 1839.

In 1835, Willbur Fisk suffered another relapse in his battle with what appears to have been some sort of chronic respiratory disease.

Willbur Fisk's physician advised him to take a sea voyage to try to regain his health.

Willbur Fisk's health did improve and after he returned to Middletown in 1836, he resumed his duties as president of the university.

Willbur Fisk was a colonizationist who favored sending America's slaves to Africa.

Willbur Fisk opposed the abolitionists within the church who sought to deny membership to any slaveholder or any supporter of slavery.

Willbur Fisk felt that the abolitionist approach would split the church and prevent those who needed Christian love and teachings the most from receiving it.

Willbur Fisk endorsed what he believed was a truly Christian, non-violent way of solving this social evil.

Willbur Fisk was instrumental in securing funds for a translation of the Bible into the Mohawk language in 1831.

Willbur Fisk expected to outlive his wife, and did not prepare adequately for his early demise.

Willbur Fisk expressed concern for Ruth's continuing welfare on his deathbed.

Willbur Fisk lived in indigency in a small house on Foss Hill, near Foss House,.

Willbur Fisk lived with her parents in Middletown and then with her mother and grandmother, Lydia Peck, after her father's death in 1839.

Willbur Fisk is mentioned in Prentice's biography as living with them in Middletown.

Willbur Fisk died on June 25,1843, in Middletown and is buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery.

Willbur Fisk died after a long, painful illness in Middletown on February 22,1839, with his wife by his side.