Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor (October 18, 1792 – February 11, 1879) was an
American Baptist minister known for his anti-slavery views. He founded the
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
American Baptist Free Mission Society, which did not allow slaveowners to be missionaries, and refused their contributions, prefiguring the split in the Baptist Church in America into Southern and Northern associations. He helped found and served as the first president of
New York Central College, the first college in the United States to admit both women and Blacks on an equal basis from its first day, and the first college to employ Black professors. He was described as "a reforming
steam engine". In his retirement he worked on a famous mathematics problem and took out a patent to prevent lamp explosions.
Biography
Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor was born in
Grafton, Massachusetts
Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,664 at the 2020 census. The town consists of the North Grafton, Grafton, and South Grafton geographic areas, each with a separate ZIP Code. Incorporated in ...
, the son of Rev. Daniel and Deborah (Hall) Grosvenor. He studied theology with his father in
Petersham, Massachusetts
Petersham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2020 census. Petersham is home to a considerable amount of conservation land, including the Quabbin Reservation, Harvard Forest, the Swift R ...
. He was at one point principal of the Haverhill Academy in
Haverhill, New Hampshire
Haverhill is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,585 at the 2020 census. Haverhill includes the villages of Woodsville, Pike, and North Haverhill, the historic town center at Haverhill Corner, and the dis ...
. He graduated from
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
in 1818
and studied at
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...
in 1821–22. He was a minister for congregations in New Haven, Salem, and Boston (1827–40) from 1825 to 1834. Grosvenor was a leader of the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and an agent of the
American Anti-Slavery Society. The first meeting of the Essex County Anti-Slavery Society was held at his house.
Grosvenor and
Elon Galusha
Elon Galusha (June 18, 1790 – January 6, 1856) was a lawyer and Baptist preacher who was active in reform activities of the early 19th century in New York. He was the son of Jonas Galusha, the 6th and 8th governor of Vermont
Vermont () ...
were the two leading Baptist ministers opposing slavery at the time. Grosvenor was "significantly admonished by a Rev. dignitary of his own denomination, ...that abolition ministers would soon be silenced, amid scenes of blood, if they could not otherwise be reduced to quietness."
Grosvenor was a proponent of the anti-slavery
Liberty Party.
[.]
In 1840 he attended the first
World Anti-Slavery Convention
The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The ex ...
in London, where he was included in the commemorative painting by
Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactle ...
, although Grosvenor's face is obscured by Galusha and Henry Sterry. There was a delegation from Massachusetts that included Galusha,
George Bradburn,
Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Martineau,
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
,
Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney.
According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...
and
Maria Weston Chapman
Maria Weston Chapman (July 25, 1806 – July 12, 1885) was an American abolitionist. She was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and from 1839 until 1842, she served as editor of the anti-slavery jour ...
. In the same year, Grosvenor published a book which investigated whether slavery was or was not endorsed by the Bible.
Grosvenor was the founding editor of the ''Baptist Anti-Slavery Correspondent'', which was first published in February 1841 in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
.
[
In 1844, Grosvenor led the formation of an American missionary society. He was disappointed that Baptist church leaders were unwilling to eject people involved with slavery from the church. He decided that a new organization was required to take a stronger moral position.] This was the American Baptist Free Mission Society.
In 1849 he was among the founders of New-York Central College
New York Central College, commonly called New York Central College, McGrawville, and simply Central College, was the first college in the United States founded on the principle that all qualified students were welcome. It was thus an abolitionist ...
in McGrawville, New York
McGrawville (also New Hudson) is a former Hamlet (New York), hamlet in the town of New Hudson, New York, New Hudson, Allegany County, New York, Allegany County, New York (state), New York, United States.
History
The hamlet was named for one Mr. ...
. He served as its first president.[
Grosvenor married Sarah Warner and they had three children. Their son Cyrus Pitt Daniel Grosvenor (1828–1849), born in ]Utica, New York
Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...
was a printer. One daughter, Emma P. (1832–1853) also died young. Sarah Caroline Grosvenor (1828–1921) married Baptist Rev. Austin Harman in 1852, and they moved to Allegan County, Michigan
Allegan County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 120,502. The county seat is Allegan. The name was coined by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to sound like a Native American word.
Alle ...
, followed by her parents. Grosvenor had retired from the college the year after his daughter married. In 1856, Grosvenor’s wife died.[.]
During the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
Grosvenor went to England, as there was a price on his head.
Science
In 1867, Grosvenor applied for a patent for an idea he had to prevent lamps from exploding by using a reservoir of nitrogen.[Cyrus P. Grosvenor "Improvement in the mode of preventing explosion of lamps", December 10, 1867] The following year Grosvenor published a study in mathematics relating to the problem of squaring the circle. The problem is an old one and can be stated simply as "Is it possible to construct a square with the same area as a given circle using only a compass and ruler". Grosvenor described a method in a pamphlet titled ''The circle squared'' a method for determining the area of a circle squared that as a result gave a value for π ( Pi) that was 3.142135… (Pi is 3.14159…).
This gave a small but real error. The success of the method was measured by the error only being 0.000543. It was later proved (in 1882) that there is no precise geometric method of squaring the circle.
In 1867 Grosvenor received an honorary LLD (Doctor of Laws) degree.
Grosvenor died in Albion, Michigan
Albion is a city in Calhoun County in the south central region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,616 at the 2010 census and is part of the Battle Creek Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The earliest English ...
, in 1879 and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery.
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosvenor, Cyrus Pitt
1792 births
1879 deaths
19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
American abolitionists
Baptist abolitionists
Baptists from Massachusetts
Baptists from Michigan
Burials in Michigan
Dartmouth College alumni
New York Central College
New York Central College faculty
People from Albion, Michigan
People from Grafton, Massachusetts
Princeton Theological Seminary alumni
University and college founders