James Griswold Merrill | |
---|---|
Born | 1839 or 1840
Montague, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died | (aged 80) |
Resting place | Andover, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Alma mater |
Amherst College Princeton Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary |
Spouse | Louisa W. Boutwell |
Children | Lucia Griswold Merrill, Oliver Boutwell Merrill, Mary Perley Merrill, William Fessenden Merrill |
James Griswold Merrill (c. 1840–1920) [1] was an American Congregational minister and university administrator. He was the second president of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1908.
James Griswold Merrill was born in Montague, Massachusetts. [1] He graduated from Phillips Academy Andover and Amherst College. [1] [2] He subsequently attended the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1863 to 1864, and graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1866. [1] [2]
Merrill was a Congregational minister in Iowa, Kansas, St. Louis, Missouri, Portland, Maine and Somerset, Massachusetts. [2] He retired as minister after serving in Lake Helen, Florida from 1912 to 1917. [1] In Portland, Maine from 1894 to 1899, he was also the editor of The Christian Mirror. [1]
Merrill was the acting president of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1899 to 1901, [1] and its second president from 1901 to 1908. [3] An article in The Nashville Globe noted that he spent most of his time fundraising away from Nashville. [4] It also explained, "Dr. Merrill's interest in the education of the Negro springs not from a love of the Negro as a Negro, but from the love of the Negro as one of God's children; and this is simple Christianity." [4]
Merrill married Louisa W. Boutwell. [1] He died on December 22, 1920, in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. [1] [2] He was buried in Andover, Massachusetts. [1]