Willbur Fisk (August 31, 1792February 22, 1839) was a prominent American Methodist minister, educator and theologian. He was the first president of Wesleyan University.
Family background
Fisk was born in Guilford, (near Brattleboro), Vermont on August 31, 1792. His father, the Hon. Isaiah Fisk (1763–1859), was from Massachusetts and descended from William Fisk who emigrated to America from England in about 1637. His mother, Hannah (née Bacon, c. 1760–1845), was also from Massachusetts and was descended from John Bacon who came to America in 1640.
Isaiah and Hannah Fisk married on May 2, 1786, and moved to Guildford, where Isaiah's father, Amos Fisk, had purchased land at the outbreak of the American Revolution. Their first child, Isaiah Jr., was born in 1789, and died as a youngster in 1793. Polly, their second child, was born in Brattleboro in 1790. Willbur, their third child, was born two years later in 1792.
Unfortunate business interests caused a financial hardship for Isaiah and Hannah, and they moved with their children from Guilford to Lyndon, Vermont, in Caledonia County, about forty miles from the Canada–US border.
Isaiah 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. He was also a presidential elector in the 1816 presidential election.
Early life
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. After leaving the academy, he began attending Burlington College in Vermont in 1812 (now the University of Vermont). The outbreak of the War of 1812, however, caused classes to be suspended. He then transferred to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1814 and graduated in 1815. His influence with the conference reversed its opinion from principled opposition to higher education to the establishment of secondary schools and colleges.
Fisk was instrumental in securing funds for a translation of the Bible into the Mohawk language in 1831 (the project was completed in 1839).
Marriage and family
Fisk most likely met his wife, Ruth Peck of Providence, at some point while he was in Rhode Island. They carried on a seven-year engagement, primarily through correspondence, until they decided to marry on June 9, 1823, in Providence. She was an Episcopalian prior to her marriage. Prentice indicates that most friends believed that Willbur and Ruth had an unhappy marriage, and her letters indicate dissatisfaction with her ability to have a harmonious relationship. Willbur expected to outlive his wife, and did not prepare adequately for his early demise. He expressed concern for Ruth's continuing welfare on his deathbed. In an expression of true friendship and Christian charity, faculty members and students of Wesleyan University helped Ruth for the remainder of her life. She lived in poverty in a small house on Foss Hill, near Foss House, (the house was later moved to the lower Union Street section of Middletown, where it was demolished in the 1960s).
The Fisks adopted a daughter, Martha S. Fisk, who was born on October 24, 1824. She lived with her parents in Middletown and then with her mother and grandmother, Lydia Peck, after her father's death in 1839. Martha died at age twenty on April 25, 1844, in Middletown. She is buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery (on campus).
Ruth's mother, Lydia (Lyon) Peck was born May 9, 1769, in West Woodstock, Connecticut, and came to live with Willbur and Ruth in her old age. She is mentioned in Prentice's biography (though not by her first name) as living with them in Middletown. Lydia was the daughter of Amos Lyon (1733–1812). She 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. He is buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery.
Wilbur Wright was named after him.
Bibliography
This is a partial bibliography of works by and about Willbur Fisk. Also see entries in the Dictionary of American Biography, the Encyclopædia Britannica, as well as many Methodist histories.
- Bangs, Nathan, A discourse on occasion of the death of the Reverend Wilbur Fisk, D.D., president of the Wesleyan University: Delivered in the Greene-Street Church, New-York, on the evening of the 29th of March 1839, NY: T. Mason & G. Lane, 1839, 24 p.
- Bangs, Nathan, A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, NY, T. Mason and G. Lane, 1839, 3rd edition, 4 volumes (see volume four)
- Fisk, Wilbur, Travels On The Continent Of Europe; Viz., In England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, And The Netherlands, NY: Harper's, 1838, 688 p.
- Fisk, Wilbur, Calvinistic Controversy: Embracing a Sermon on Predestination and Election; and Several Numbers on the Same Subject,..., New York: B. Waugh and T. Mason, 1835, 273 p.
[Articles originally published in The Christian Advocate and Journal]
- Holdich, Joseph, The Life of Wilbur Fisk, D.D., First President of Wesleyan University, NY: Harper, 1842, 455 p.
- Pierce, Frederick C., Fiske and Fisk Family, Chicago: Published by the Author, 1896
- Prentice, George, Wilbur Fisk, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1889, 289 p. (American Religious Leaders Series)
- Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, pp. 348–349