Term: Jewett, Milo Parker 1808 - 1882

Definition: teacher, educator, b. St. Johnsbury, Vt. He graduated from Dartmouth College (B.A., 1828), and Andover Theological Seminary (1833). He taught at Marietta Collegiate Institute in Ohio (1833-1838), and while in Ohio was one of a board of educators who urged the legislature to establish a common school system in that state. In 1838 Jewett founded the Judson Female Institute in Marion, Ala., which became one of the most successful girls' schools in the South. Returning to the North in 1855, he purchased a seminary from Matthew Vassar in 1856, and persuaded Vassar to back the founding of a woman's college. The charter for Vassar College was granted in 1861, and Jewett served as president of the new institution (1861-1864). In 1867 he moved to Milwaukee where he became co-partner in the coffee and spice wholesaling firm of Jewett and Sherman. He spent the remainder of his life in Wisconsin, and served as commissioner of public schools for Milwaukee, and chairman of the city board of health. He was also a trustee of Milwaukee Female College, president of the State Temperance Society, and chairman of the board of visitors of the Univ. of Wisconsin. Dict. Amer., Biog.; [F. A. Flower], Hist. of Milwaukee (Chicago, 1881); Chicago Tribune, June 10, 1882.