Lewis Ransom Fiske (December 24,MSU Archives give Fiske's birth date as December 22. Three sources, Barnard, Chapman Brothers, and the Evening News Associates, give the date as December 24. The ''National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'' as provided by Albion College gives the date as December 25. 1825 – February 14, 1901) was an educator from the U.S. state of Michigan. He served as president ''pro tempore'' of the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan (now

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

) from 1859 to 1862 and as president of Albion College from 1877 to 1898. Fiske sometimes spelled his name Fisk.

Biography

Lewis Ransom Fiske was born in

Penfield, New York Penfield is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 36,242 at the 2010 census. The town was incorporated in 1810 by the proprietor Daniel Penfield, who purchased the town lands in 1795 and moved to the area in 1809 ...

, the sixth child of ten born to James and Eleanor (née Ransom) Fiske. The ancestors of the Fiske family left England to settle in Wenham, Massachusetts, in 1637. Lewis' father, James Fiske, was born in New Hampshire, August 4, 1788, and was a cousin to

Levi Woodbury Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789September 4, 1851) was an American attorney, jurist, and Democratic politician from New Hampshire. During a four-decade career in public office, Woodbury served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U ...

, a prominent politician from New Hampshire who served as a justice of the United States Supreme Court. The family moved to a farm in Coldwater, Michigan, in 1835. In the school year 1845–46, Fiske attended the Wesleyan Seminary of Albion (now Albion College). He went on to graduate in 1850 with an A.B. from the University of Michigan. He began to study law, but in the fall of 1850 accepted a position as professor of Natural Science at the Albion Female Collegiate Institute and Wesleyan Seminary. On September 19, 1852, Fiske married Elizabeth Ross SpenceMSU Archives give the maiden name of Fiske's first wife as "Spencer", while several other sources give the name as "Spence". (d. February 25, 1879). Spence was the cousin of Scottish author and poet George MacDonald. In the summer of 1880 Fiske married Helen M. Davis of Detroit (d. 1896). Fiske had one daughter and one son with his first wifeBarnard, published in 1871 reports that Fiske had five sons and a daughter with Elizabeth. One of the sons had died by that date. and three sons with the second. In 1853, Fiske received an A.M. degree from the University of Michigan and also accepted a professorship at the Ypsilanti State Normal School (now Eastern Michigan University). In 1856, he became professor of Chemistry at the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan (now

). He served as President pro tempore of the Agricultural College from 1859 to 1862 and also acted as the chaplain of the State Reform School in Lansing. In 1863, Fiske entered the ministry for the Methodist Episcopal Church, served as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal in Jackson, 1863–66; of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in Detroit, 1866–69; and of the First Methodist Church in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, 1869–72. In 1872 he was the Presiding Elder of the Ann Arbor District. In 1873, he was awarded the

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

from Albion College and returned for another three years to his former pastorate in Detroit. From 1876 to 1877, he was in charge of the Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church in Detroit. For some time, beginning in January 1875, he was editor of the Michigan ''Christian Advocate'', the organ of Michigan Methodism. In 1877, Fiske became president of Albion College, in which position he remained for 22 years until his retirement in 1898. In 1878, he was honored with an LL.D. from the University of Michigan. He was elected six times as a delegate to the quadrennial general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held respectively in Brooklyn,

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, Philadelphia, New York City,

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, and Cleveland. Fiske was president of the State Teachers Association of Michigan in 1889. He was appointed a member of the Ecumenical Council of the Methodist Episcopal Church the met in Washington D.C., in October 1891. For sixteen years he was a trustee of the board of education of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fisk published several works, among them: "Echos from College Platform", "Among the Professions", "Today and Tomorrow", "Choosing a Life-work", and ''Man Building: A Treatise on Human Life and Its Forces'' ().

References

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External links

The Fiske House at Albion College
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiske, Lewis R. 1825 births 1901 deaths People from Coldwater, Michigan Albion College faculty Presidents of Michigan State University University of Michigan alumni People from Penfield, New York