Samuel Czar Carrick (July 17, 1760 – August 17, 1809)
was an American
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister who was the first president of Blount College, the educational institution to which the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
traces its origin.
Milton M. Klein
Milton Martin Klein (15 August 1917 – 10 June 2004) was an American historian.
He was born in New York City on 15 August 1917 to Margaret and Edward Klein. Milton Klein earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the City College of New York. ...
UT's First Presidents
The University Archives, Hoskins Library, University of Tennessee. Accessed September 11, 2010.
Early life
Carrick was born on July 17, 1760 in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. He received his education in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, and was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
as a minister when he was 22 years old.
Career
In 1790, Carrick helped establish the
Lebanon-in-the-Fork Presbyterian Church at the confluence of the
Holston and
French Broad River
The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows from near the town of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville forms ...
s.
On October 3, 1791, Carrick took part in the initial drawing of lots for
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
,
[Stanley Folmsbee and Lucile Deaderick, "The Founding of Knoxville," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', No. 13 (1941), p. 3-20.] which had been platted as a capital for the
Southwest Territory
The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States a ...
. He and his family moved to the new city shortly afterward.
In December 1792, Carrick began advertising a "seminary" that operated out of his home, where he offered a
classical education Classical education may refer to:
*''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements:
**An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin
**Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...
.
During the same period, he established the First Presbyterian Church on a State Street lot set aside by Knoxville founder
James White, although no building was constructed for the church until after Carrick's death.
On January 12, 1796, Carrick delivered the opening prayer and sermon for the Tennessee Constitutional Convention.
In 1794, Carrick expanded his educational efforts when the territorial legislature chartered Blount College, named for territorial governor
William Blount
William Blount (March 26, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, statesman, farmer and land speculator who signed the United States Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention of ...
.
[Milton M. Klein]
University of Tennessee
, ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' The school initially met in a building on the lot now bounded by
Gay Street, State Street, Church Avenue, and Clinch Avenue, which had been donated by James White.
Carrick was the college's president and only faculty member. The
tuition
Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...
fee was $8.00 per
semester. The school was rechartered as East Tennessee College in 1807
[ or 1808][ and closed after Carrick's death in August 1809.][ Only one student ever graduated from Blount College.][
]
Personal life, death and legacy
Carrick married Elizabeth Moore in Rockbridge County, Virginia
Rockbridge County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its county seat is the city of Lexington. Rockbridge County completely surrounds the ...
, in 1779.[East Tennessee Historical Society, Mary Rothrock (ed.), ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: The Society, 1972), pp. 33, 392-393.]
Carrick died on August 17, 1809. He was buried in First Presbyterian Church Cemetery
The First Presbyterian Church Graveyard is the oldest graveyard in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in the 1790s, the graveyard contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most prominent early residents, including territorial gov ...
in Knoxville.[ East Tennessee College reopened in 1820, 11 years after Carrick's death, under the leadership of David A. Sherman.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrick, Samuel
American Presbyterian ministers
People from Knoxville, Tennessee
Leaders of the University of Tennessee Knoxville
1760 births
1809 deaths
18th-century American clergy
People of colonial Pennsylvania
Burials in Tennessee