William Harris (April 29, 1765 – October 18, 1829), an Episcopal priest, was the sixth president of Columbia College, serving from 1811 to 1829. In a compromise, John Mitchell Mason, a Presbyterian minister who was denied the presidency, became the university's first provost and chief operating officer.

Early life and education

William Harris was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, April 29, 1765. His mother was Sarah, a granddaughter of Wm. Pynchon, the founder of Springfield, and his father Daniel was a deacon in the Congregational Church. Harris graduated from Harvard College in 1786, and he began as a minister, but soon retired due to health issues. He turned to the study of medicine and during that time converted to the

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

Church. His health recovered and he rejoined the ministry.

Academic career

After rectoring in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...

, he was made a deacon on October 16, 1791, in

Trinity Church, New York Trinity Church is a historic parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Known for its history, location, architecture and en ...

, and advanced to the priesthood on the following Sunday in St. George's Chapel. On November 3 of that year he married Martha, the daughter of the Rev. Jonas Clark, of

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was fir ...

. They had seven children. Harris continued to officiate both as teacher and preacher until 1801, when he received a unanimous call to

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 131 East 10th Street, at the intersection of Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The property has bee ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the Rev. Mr. Callahan. On February 2, 1802, he was inducted as rector. In 1811, Harris was elected president of Columbia College and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard and Columbia. At the same time, Dr. John M. Mason, the prominent Presbyterian divine, who had been proposed for the presidency, was made provost, an office created for him and carrying with it some of the administrative duties. This lightening of the president's work enabled Harris to retain the rectorship of St. Mark's until 1816, when the resignation of Dr. Mason gave Harris all the duties of president. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1814.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref> Harris died at Columbia College, on October 18, 1829, and was buried in a vault at St. Mark's.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, William Presidents of Columbia University Converts to Anglicanism from Congregationalism 1765 births 1829 deaths People from Marblehead, Massachusetts Harvard University alumni Members of the American Antiquarian Society