Background
Hitchcock was born in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, October 31, 1813. His father, Honorary His mother was Nabby, daughter of Elam Cook, of Cheshire.
Hitchcock was born in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, October 31, 1813. His father, Honorary His mother was Nabby, daughter of Elam Cook, of Cheshire.
He graduated from Yale College in 1832.
On his graduation he returned home and for two years had charge of the Burton Academy, at which he had been prepared for college. He remained in town a year longer, engaged partly in teaching privately, and partly in studying theology. In the autumn of 1835 he entered Lane Theological Seminary, then under the care of Doctor Lyman Beecher, where he spent two years.
Here he continued, and with remarkable success, until elected President of Western Reserve College, May 31, 1855.
He found the college in a languishing condition, and by his untiring energy relieved it of debt and placed it on a firmer foundation. Under this burden of labor, his health declined, and he spent the winter of 1867 in Europe, remaining abroad until June.
Foreign three years longer he continued at the head of the college, and then insisted on retiring, retaining only the duties of pastor and professor He died at Hudson, after two weeks" illness, of typhoid fever, July 6, 1873, in the sixtieth year of his age.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Williams College in 1855.
President Hitchcock was married in December, 1837, to Mission Clarissa M., daughter of Stephen Ford, of Burton, Ohio. This article incorporates public domain material from the Yale Obituary Record.
Peter Hitchcock, a native of Cheshire, Connecticut, was a member of the United States Congress and Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.