Rufus T. Babcock (September 18, 1798 – May 4, 1875) was an American clergyman and the second president of

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philanthr ...

in Waterville,

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 ...

Life

Babcock was born at North

Colebrook, Connecticut Colebrook is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,361 at the 2020 census. Colebrook was named after Colebrooke in the English county of Devon; the reason is now unknown. Geography Colebrook is in northeas ...

. His father, Rufus Babcock, who had been a soldier in the revolutionary war, and was pastor of the Baptist church at Colebrook from 1794 to 1842. He graduated

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1821, and was a tutor for two years at Columbian College in Washington, D. C. In 1823 he was ordained pastor of the Baptist church at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; in 1826 he became pastor in Salem, Mass.; and in 1833 he was elected as the second president Waterville College (now

) in Waterville, Maine. At the time, the college was in debt $18,000 and could not meet more than three-fifths of its current expenses. Champlin Hall was erected in 1836. The value of the College property was $50,000. He resigned in 1836, and accepted the pastorate of the Spruce street Baptist church in Philadelphia, whence he returned after three years to his first charge at Poughkeepsie. He was subsequently pastor of a church in Paterson, N. J., and has held successively the offices of secretary of the American and foreign Bible society, of the American Sunday school union, and of the Pennsylvania colonization society. He edited for five years the "Baptist Memorial." He received a DD from

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

in 1834. He was the President of the

American Baptist Publication Society The American Baptist Publication Society is a historic building at 1420–1422 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1896 on the site of the former headquarters of the American Baptist Publication Society, which had been ...

for many years. He died in Salem, MA. The twentieth century biographical dictionary of notable Americans, edited by Rossiter Johnson, John Howard Brown, published by the Biographical Society, 1904.
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Publications

*''Claims of Education Societies'' (1829) *''Review of Beckwith on Baptism'' (1829) *''Making Light of Christ'' (1830) *''Memoir of Andrew Fuller'' (1830) *''Sketches of George Leonard, Abraham Booth and Isaac Backus'' (1832) *''History of Waterville College'' (1836) *''Tales of Truth for the Young'' (1837) *''Personal Recollections of J. M. Peck'' (1858) *''The Emigrant's Mother'' (1859) *''Memoirs of John M. Peck'' (1862)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babcock, Rufus T. 1798 births 1895 deaths Baptist ministers from the United States Presidents of Colby College Brown University alumni George Washington University faculty People from Colebrook, Connecticut 19th-century American clergy