DR. A. C.
HIRST
President of the University of the Pacific- San Jose
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES:
The President of the University of the Pacific, San Jose, A. C. Hirst, D. D., was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 15, 1839. He was for a number of years a pupil in the schools of that city, but finished his collegiate education at Hanover College, Indiana, in 1859, graduating in that year with honor. He was elected at once Adjunct Professor of Latin and Greek in Stewart College, Clarksville, Tennessee. His first position afterward was that of Associate Principal of Sayre Female Institute, Lexington, Kentucky, which he resigned to accept a professorship in Transylvania University. For five years he was Superintendent of Public Schools at Ironton, Ohio, and in 1870 became Professor of the Latin Language and Literature in the State University at Athens, Ohio. He quitted his professional duties to engage in active ministerial work in connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and served the leading churches at Marietta, Washington, Chillicothe, Columbus, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, being Pastor for one term of Christ Church in the latter city. He was also for one year Principal of the public schools at Washington Court House, Ohio, after he entered the ministry. In 1887 Dr. Hirst was Pastor of Trinity Church, Cincinnati, when he was requested to assume the duties of President of the University of the Pacific. Finally yielding to the most pressing invitations, and the manifest call and necessity of the occasion, Dr. Hirst consented to accept the position. He resigned his pastorate in Cincinnati, and arrived here, as was stated, in August, 1887, at once entering upon his duties, following in this position Dr. C. C. Stratton, the eminent educator, who resigned in order to undertake the presidency of Mills College.
It will thus be
seen that Dr. Hirst fills his laborious and responsible position as President of
a great university, with a mind well-stored with knowledge drawn from practical
experience in the higher walks of educational effort, and with a culture
enriched and enlarged from the direct and personal advantages gained by an
itinerant minister, of all of which opportunities he has made excellent use in
the storing and maturing of information and experience. The University has felt
the effect already of his energy and tact, and displays at once a highly
gratifying and successful advance. Dr. Hirst enjoys a high rank among
theologians and pulpit orators, and his advent to this coast marks another
period in the progress of educational development in California.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 375-376
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT