Carr Waller Pritchett Sr. (1823–1910) was an American educator and astronomer. He served briefly as president of Central College just before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He then became the first president of Pritchett School Institute in

Glasgow, Missouri Glasgow is a city on the Missouri River mostly in northwest Howard County and extending into the southeast corner of Chariton County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 1,087 at the 2020 census. The Howard County portion of G ...

, after the war, and he was the first director of the Morrison Observatory, also in Glasgow. (The observatory was moved to

Fayette, Missouri Fayette is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 2,803 at the 2020 census. History Fayette was laid out in 1823. The ...

, in the early 1930s). C. W. Pritchett was born on September 4, 1823, in Henry County,

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 ...

; the oldest of ten children to Henry Pritchett and Martha Myra Waller. The family moved in 1835 first to

St. Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census, making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri. Situated on t ...

and then to eastern

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. At the age of 21 he attended St. Charles College (the first

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

College west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

); in 1844 he began teaching and in 1846 became what was then known as a licentiate of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. (The equivalent of an ordained minister in today's

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

References

Article from Harvard on Pritchett's death
1823 births 1910 deaths People from Henry County, Virginia People from Warren County, Missouri Methodists from Missouri Southern Methodists People from Glasgow, Missouri Scientists from Virginia {{US-astronomer-stub

See also

References