Background
Ephraim Emerson Wiley was born on October 6, 1814 at Malden, Massachussets, the son of Ephraim Wiley, a Methodist preacher, and Rebecca (Emerson) Wiley. His background was that of New England Puritanism.
Ephraim Emerson Wiley was born on October 6, 1814 at Malden, Massachussets, the son of Ephraim Wiley, a Methodist preacher, and Rebecca (Emerson) Wiley. His background was that of New England Puritanism.
He was graduated at Wesleyan University in 1837.
Upon the recommendation of President Wilbur Fisk, Emory and Henry College (Emory, Va. ), a Methodist institution, elected him in 1838 professor of ancient languages and literature. At Emory and Henry he served as professor, 1838-52, and as president, 1852-79. In the latter capacity he endeavored to strengthen the struggling school. Through the church press and before Methodist conferences he made pleas for better support. As a result the enrollment for the academic session of 1858-60 reached the highest figure attained during the nineteenth century. By 1861 he had also developed plans for raising an endowment by the sale of scholarships, but during the Civil War the college was forced to cease operations and the buildings were used as a Confederate hospital, of which Wiley was chaplain. After the war he made a desperate effort to recoup the fortunes of the college. In 1879 he resigned as president, although during part of the academic session of 1879-80 he was acting president. From 1881 to 1886 he was president of Martha Washington College at Abingdon, Va. , then returned to Emory and Henry as treasurer and financial agent, 1886-93. For many years the majority of the trained preachers of the Holston Conference were educated under him. Of this Conference, by which he was admitted to full connection in 1843, Wiley was for many years the acknowledged leader. On nine consecutive occasions he was sent as a delegate to the General Conference of the Church. In 1866 and in 1870 his friends actively supported him for the episcopacy. He was a delegate to the Ecumenical Methodist Conferences in 1881 and 1891. After removing to Virginia Wiley became a slaveholder and a champion of the rights of the South. He adhered with his Conference to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, after the schism of 1844 in the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the Civil War and the Reconstruction period certain church property of the Holston Conference was appropriated by Northern Methodists, and beginning in 1867, Wiley kept the question of this property before both sides until a settlement was reached. Between 1866 and 1879 he carried on in various Methodist periodicals debates with Northern leaders over the issues between the Northern and Southern Methodists. Wiley was buried in the cemetery overlooking Emory and Henry College. "The school is dismissed and the 'Old Master' sleeps, " is inscribed on his tombstone.
During his nearly fifty years at Emory and Henry he wielded a great personal influence. Nearly seven thousand students were enrolled in the institution during that period and the "Wiley imprint" was placed upon the majority of them. Although he was nicknamed "Old Eph, " the students always held him in the highest esteem. Through his chapel talks and evangelistic meetings he made Emory and Henry noted for its religious atmosphere.
He was twice married; first, Feburary 18, 1839, to Elizabeth H. Hammond of Middletown, Connecticut; second, in October 1870, to Elizabeth J. Reeves of Jonesboro, Tenn. There were six children by the first marriage and three by the second.
