Background
Edmund Asa Warewas born in North Wrentham, Massachussets. He was a descendant of Robert Ware who came to the colony at Massachusetts Bay from England as early as 1642.
Edmund Asa Warewas born in North Wrentham, Massachussets. He was a descendant of Robert Ware who came to the colony at Massachusetts Bay from England as early as 1642.
He attended the Norwich Free Academy and was graduated from Yale College in 1863.
He spent two years teaching at the Norwich Academy and in 1865 went to Nashville to assist in organizing the schools of that city. In 1866 he went to Georgia under the auspices of the American Missionary Association as superintendent of schools for the Atlanta district. In December of this year he was licensed to preach by the Congregational Church, and in August 1867 was appointed superintendent of education for Georgia by Gen. Oliver O. Howard, of the Freedmen's Bureau. On accepting this position Ware resigned his position with the American Missionary Association, but he retained his interest in its religious and educational work. It was from the Association that he obtained the first $25, 000 for Atlanta University which, by resolution of its incorporators, should "never exclude loyal refugees and Freedmen". Of this institution Ware was one of the founders and the first president. The University was chartered in 1867 and opened with a preparatory department in 1869. Normal and college departments were added within the next three years. In 1871 President Ware wrote in his report to the American Missionary Association, "two years ago the corner stone of our first building was laid. During the summer the building was completed. A second building was erected last summer. . The whole number of pupils for the year has been 158. Some have come from the Association's schools. Some have had little or no schooling. A large number were brought in by last year's pupils who taught during the summer". Ware was fortunate in beginning his task at a time when the altruistic zeal and moral fervor of the Abolition and missionary movements were at their height, but his own idealism and courage were weighty factors in accounting for the success of the University. He and his associates had profound faith in the mental and spiritual capacities of their students. No small part of President Ware's contribution was communicating that faith to the students themselves, and to the white Southerners who surrounded them. Joseph E. Brown, wartime governor of Georgia, signed a unanimous report of the Board of Visitors which stated in part: "At every step of the way we were impressed with the fallacy of the popular idea (which in common with thousands of others the undersigned have hitherto entertained) that members of the African race are not capable of a high grade of intellectual culture". Ware also understood that the students who flocked to Atlanta, ex-slaves or children of slaves, needed not only a school or college but also a home, and every effort was made to create social intercourse on a high level. In this work, he was associated with his Yale classmate, Horace Bumstead. Except for one year when illness necessitated his absence Ware retained the presidency and the active direction of the University until his death from heart disease.
He was married, on November 10, 1869, to Sarah Jane Twichell, of Plantsville, Connecticut She, with their four children, survived him.
