Wednesday, June 25, 2025

It is the 25th of June 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Back in 1994, Vanity Fair magazine had a cover article on the “New Establishment” with a remarkable group photo that included Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz, and other titans of industry and inventors who would change the world.

It reminds me of a similar picture- a portrait at the national Portrait Galley in Washington called “Men of Progress” it’s a similar “who’s who” of titans of industry and inventors back in 1862 (the portrait was created by one portrait patron visiting each of the 19 men, painting them and creating a large portrait as if they were all in the same room at the same time. The names are familiar: Charles Goodyear of vulcanized rubber fame, Samuel Colt of the revolving pistol, Elias Howe and his sewing machine, Samuel Morse and his electric telegraph and in the middle of it all sits an inventor, yes, but also a college administrator and one of the most famous preachers of his day- the wonderfully named Eliphalet Nott. Eliphalet (E L I P H A L E T) was the name of the last son of King David, and this Eliphalet was the last of 9 children born to Stephen and Deborah Nott on this, the 25th of June in 1773 in Ashford, Connecticut- he was a baby during the Revolution.

His grandfather was a minister in the congregational church and the Nottingham family of some renown- but Stephen, young Eliphalet’s father, would suffer a series of misfortunes and maladies, including a house fire, losing much of the family's money on a business trip when he was robbed by highwaymen, and eventually contracting malaria. He died young, and Eliphalet was raised by his mother before he was sent to live with his brother, 20 years his senior and himself a minister.

He was so well tutored, despite his misfortunes, he attended Rhode Island College (today it is the Ivy League school: Brown University), and he was able to earn a degree on the basis of passing examinations alone- he didn’t require any coursework.

In 1796, he married Sarah Benedict, the daughter of a minister and one of Eliphalet’s tutors. Eliphalet was ordained and sent to Cherry Valley in central New York, where he both pastored and opened an academy. In 1798, he was called to the prestigious First Presbyterian in Albany,  where he became known for his sermons and advocacy for social reform.

He would become most famous for his work as a college administrator- more on that in a second, but without that work, he would be most famous for a sermon/eulogy/discourse he was asked to preach in the wake of a national tragedy.

The Sermon was given on the July 29th 1804 and was “occasioned by the ever to be lamented death of General Alexander Hamilton”- that’s right- Eliphalet Nott gave the sermon in the wake of the famous Burr/Hamilton duel- a sermon so powerful it is credited with ending dueling in America as it was so popular, reproduced and copied that dueling went quickly out of fashion.

In 1804, he would suffer another tragedy, his wife died in childbirth. But it was also the year he was appointed president of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., a position he would hold until his death.

He is responsible for injecting the school with funds from a lottery project he convinced the state to go along with, he allowed the first Fraternities and Sororities on a campus which he believed helped camaraderie and alumni relations and he- ever a man interesting in the new sciences- insisted that Union have a scientific curriculum- the sciences to go along with the classical liberal arts.

And it was this part about the sciences that made him fit for the very center of that painting, 1862’s Men of Progress- and more specifically, it was his invention whose patents would fund the school of the anthracite coal stove that would be a major part of his legacy. As a college administrator, he knew the perils of temperatures in dorms- his “Nott Stove” would take the northeast by storm.

There were rumors and credible reports that the bank accounts for Union College and his own personal accounts were linked in ways that were, at best, ill-advised and, at worst, illegal. He would leave a considerable sum to the college in his will as part of the arrangements made after irregularities were discovered.

Eliphalet Nott would die in 1866, at the age of 92, having served as Union President for over 60 years. The inventor of a popular stove? Yes. A pioneer in higher education curriculum? Sure. But also a minister who preached a eulogy for Alexander Hamilton, credited with ending the practice of dueling! Born on this day in 1773, Eliphalet Nott was 92 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Luke 9:

37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 25th of June 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wonders if the Nott Stove could lead to a “Who’s on First?” Situation- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who had to edit out a delightful sentence from this show- when Eliphalet Nott, now a widow, married Gertrude Peebles Tibbits of Troy… some straight Seuss action… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.