Cobb Divinity School (also known as Bates Theological Seminary or the Free Will Baptist Bible School) was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

theological institute A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological educ ...

. Founded in 1840, it was a

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

affiliated with several Free Baptist institutions throughout its history. Cobb was part of

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

in Lewiston,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from 1870 until 1908 when it merged with the college's Religion Department. The school created one of the first models for a

Bible school A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological educ ...

in the United States. The school had a close relationship with the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

with many Baptist theology students and faculty going back and forth between the schools.

History

The

divinity school A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

was founded by the Free Will Baptists in Parsonsfield, Maine in 1840 as a library department and graduate bible school of the

Parsonsfield Seminary Parsonsfield Seminary, which operated from 1832 to 1949, was a well-known Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can ...

with Moses Smart serving as the first leader of the school. From 1842 to 1844, the divinity school was located in Dracut,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. In 1844, the divinity school moved again to Whitestown,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and became part of the

Whitestown Seminary The Oneida Institute was a short-lived (1827–1843) but highly influential school that was a national leader in the emerging abolitionist movement. It was the most radical school in the country, the first at which black men were just as welcome ...

, where it was known as the Free Baptist Biblical School. From 1854 to 1870, the divinity school was located in

New Hampton, New Hampshire New Hampton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,377 at the 2020 census. A winter sports resort area, New Hampton is home to George Duncan State Forest and to the New Hampton School, a private prepara ...

, and affiliated with the

New Hampton Institute New Hampton School is an independent college preparatory high school in New Hampton, New Hampshire, United States. It has 305 students from over 30 states and 22 countries. The average class size is eleven, and the student-faculty ratio is five to ...

. The school and its library were removed to Lewiston in 1870 and became a graduate school (known as Bates Theological Seminary until 1888) of Bates College. In 1888, it was renamed Cobb Divinity School in honor of Jonathan Leavitt Haskell Cobb (1824-1897), a prominent businessman at the

Bates Mill The Bates Mill is a textile factory company founded in 1850 and located at 35 Canal Street in Lewiston, Maine. The mill served as Maine's largest employer through the 1860s, and early profits from the mill provided much of the initial capital for ...

in Lewiston who had donated $25,000 to the Divinity School at Bates. In 1891, President of Bates College

Oren B. Cheney Oren Burbank Cheney (December 10, 1816 – December 22, 1903) was an American politician, minister, and statesman who was a key figure in the abolitionist movement in the United States during the later 19th century. Along with textile tycoon Ben ...

amended the school's charter requiring that Bates' president and a majority of the trustees be Free Will Baptists. Following Cheney's retirement, the amendment was revoked in 1907 at the request of his successor, President George C. Chase, and the board of trustees. In 1907, the

Maine Legislature The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. The Legislature convenes at the State House in Aug ...

amended the college's

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

removing the requirement for the president and majority of the trustees to be Free Will Baptists, thereby allowing the school to qualify for Carnegie Foundation funding of professor's

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

s.Paul Monroe, ''A Cyclopedia of Education'' (Published by Gale Research Co., 1911) Item notes: v.1

pg. 331 Cobb Divinity School was disbanded in 1908, with much of its curricula and faculty and library becoming the Bates College Religion Department. In 1911, the Northern Free Will Baptist Conference merged with the Northern Baptist Conference, now known as the

American Baptist Churches USA The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...

. Bates remained nominally affiliated with the Baptist tradition until 1970 when the college catalogue no longer described the school as a "Christian college".

Images

File:Cobb Divinity School faculty photo.jpg, Cobb Divinity School faculty, ca. 1895, featuring Professors

John Fullonton John Fullonton (1812-1896) was an American pastor, academic and legislator. Fullonton was born in Raymond, New Hampshire in 1812. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1840, and from the Baptist Biblical School (later renamed Cobb Divinity Sc ...

, Alfred W. Anthony, Purinton, Howe, and

Benjamin F. Hayes Benjamin Francis Hayes (1830-1906) was a Free Will Baptist pastor, author, principal of the Lapham Institute, and early professor at Bates College in Maine. Benjamin Hayes was born in New Gloucester, Maine in 1830 to Mary (Harmon) Hayes and Rev. ...

File:Cobb Divinity School; Roger Williams Hall.jpg, Cobb Divinity School building from 1895-1908. Currently Roger Williams Hall on the campus of Bates College File:Oneida Institute, Whitestown, New York.png, School buildings which were located in New York on the former

Oneida Institute The Oneida Institute was a short-lived (1827–1843) but highly influential school that was a national leader in the emerging Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist movement. It was the most radical school in the country, the first at w ...

campus in Whitesboro, New York

Notable people

* Alfred W. Anthony (1885), pastor, professor, and author * George H. Ball (1847), pastor, teacher of President

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...

and First Lady

Lucretia Garfield Lucretia Garfield ('' née'' Rudolph; April 19, 1832 – March 13, 1918) was the first lady of the United States from March to September 1881, as the wife of James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States. Born in Garrettsville, Oh ...

* John Jay Butler,

Arminian Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...

theologian, professor at Cobb and Hillsdale *

George Colby Chase George Colby Chase (March 15, 1844 - May 27, 1919) was an American intellectual and professor of English who served as the second President of Bates College succeeding its founder, Oren Burbank Cheney, from March 1894 to November 1919. Known as "t ...

, second president of Bates College *

(1846),

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 ...

, founder of Bates College *

Lewis Penick Clinton Lewis Penick Clinton (also known as Louis Penick Clinton and Prince Somayou Zea Clayou) (born 1865 or 1866) was a Prince of the Bassa people in West Africa (Liberia) and later an African American missionary and lecturer.The Literary Digest, Volu ...

(1897), African Bassa prince, missionary in Liberia *

George T. Day George T. Day (1822–1875) was a Free Will Baptist writer, publisher, pastor and professor. George Tiffany Day was born in Concord, New York, in 1822. Day worked in textile mills as a child, and his parents moved to Scituate, Rhode Island, and th ...

(1847), pastor, writer at the

Morning Star Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to: Astronomy * Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise ** See also Venus in culture * Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...

, professor at Bates *

Ransom Dunn Rev. Ransom Dunn, D.D. (July 7, 1818 – November 9, 1900) (nickname: "the Grand Old Man of Hillsdale") was an American minister and theologian, prominent in the early Free Will Baptist movement in New England. He was President of Rio Grande Coll ...

(1840), President of Rio Grande College and Hillsdale College, teacher of President

(1849), Professor and Dean at Cobb Divinity School *

Frank Sandford Frank Weston Sandford (October 2, 1862 – March 4, 1948)Shirley Nelson, ''Fair Clear and Terrible: The Story of Shiloh, Maine'' (Latham, New York: British American Publishing, 1989), 27. A second edition (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2016) includes r ...

, preacher, founder of "The Kingdom"

References

*Anthony, Alfred Williams, ''Bates College and Its Background'', (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1936).

External links

Cobb Divinity School records at Edmund S. Muskie Archives & Special Collections Library, Bates College
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070927185310/http://www.littleivies.com/2006/04/cobb-divinity-school-bates-college.html Info about the Divinity Schoolbr>Bates Religion DepartmentFormer Cobb Divinity School Building 1870-1894Former Cobb Divinity School Building 1894-1908
{{authority control 1908 disestablishments in Maine Bates College Defunct private universities and colleges in Maine Educational institutions established in 1840 Free Will Baptist schools Seminaries and theological colleges in Maine Seminaries and theological colleges affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA Educational institutions disestablished in 1908 1840 establishments in Maine Universities and colleges in Oneida County, New York