Background
Samuel James Gummere was born at Rancocas, New Jersey, United States on April 28, 1811, the son of John and Elizabeth (Buzby) Gummere.
Samuel James Gummere was born at Rancocas, New Jersey, United States on April 28, 1811, the son of John and Elizabeth (Buzby) Gummere.
Samuel James Gummere was educated in the school conducted at Burlington by his father, who imparted to him his own thorough knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. As his preceptor in languages, William Strong, later a justice of the United States Supreme Court, planted in him an abiding love of literature and so prevented him from becoming one-sided in his interests.
After assisting his father for a short time, Gummere went to Providence, Rhode Island, to organize the classical department in the Friends’ (later the Moses Brown) School, where he was immediately successful, had Pliny Earle Chase as one of his pupils, and enjoyed the society of Moses Brown and other Rhode Island Friends.
In 1834 he returned home to become an assistant teacher in the Haverford School, where his father was now superintendent and his brother William an assistant.
The school was small and its faculty by necessity versatile; during this first period at Haverford Gummere gave instruction in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and Latin, but he was well qualified to teach these subjects and several others.
By 1843 the financial difficulties of the school had led to so much disagreement among the trustees that the Gummeres and several other teachers resigned, father and son going back to Burlington to reopen the old school.
The year 1854 Gummere spent traveling in England, France, and Switzerland.
In 1862 he was recalled to Haverford, which had meanwhile become a college, as principal and professor of mathematics, physics, and astronomy, and two years later he was given the title of president.
Although the college was small - it had sixty-one students and four professors in 1863-64—and grew slowly, his administrative duties were sufficiently numerous and worrisome to wear down his normally robust health and cut short his life.
Overwork brought on in the summer of 1874 a breakdown from which he never recovered.
Samuel James Gummere was a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Known the country over as a mathematician and astronomer, in private he cultivated the art of writing Latin verse. After his death one of his compositions, an ode, “Ad Horologium Mcum, " was found concealed behind the pendulum of his clock.
His combination of the scientific and the literary temper made him an ideal teacher. Students remembered his lectures for their lucidity and precision. Known the country over as a mathematician and astronomer, in private Samuel James Gummere cultivated the art of writing Latin verse.
As a personality on the campus and in the classroom he left a profound impression on all who met him. Gentle, modest, reserved to the point of self-effacement, Samuel James Gummere won love by his sheer goodness and admiration by his attainments. His combination of the scientific and the literary temper made him an ideal teacher. Students remembered his lectures for their lucidity and precision.
After his death one of his compositions, an ode, “Ad Horologium Mcum, " was found concealed behind the pendulum of his clock. In 1869 went to Iowa to observe a total eclipse of the sun.
Slight of figure but muscular, he was fond of walking, swimming, and skating. In the last winter of his life he appeared on the pond and exhibited the fancy figures dear to the old-fashioned skater.
In January 1835 Samuel James Gummere married Abigail, daughter of John Griscom of New York and Burlington, who died September 28, 1840.
On January 9, 1845, Gummere married Elizabeth Hooton Barton, daughter of David Barton of Philadelphia. Francis Barton Gummere, the philologist, was their son.