Eaton, Edward Dwight 1851 - 1942 | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Eaton, Edward Dwight 1851 - 1942

Eaton, Edward Dwight 1851 - 1942 | Wisconsin Historical Society

Congregational clergy-man, college president, author, b. Lancaster, son of Samuel Witt Eaton (q.v.). He graduated from Beloit College (1872), Yale Divinity School (B.D., 1875), and spent one year studying in Europe. In 1876 he was ordained in the Congregational ministry and served pastorates in Newton, Iowa, and Oak Park, Ill. (1876--1886). In 1886 he became president of Beloit College (1886-1905, 1907-1917, and ad interim president in 1923). Eaton was the author of Historical Sketches of Beloit College (1928, 1935), Two Wisconsin Pioneers (1933), and several other books and was an authority on hymnology, editing The Hymnal of Praise (1913) and The Student Hymnary (1927). He was an officer or trustee of numerous educational, church, and missionary organizations and was secretary of the National Congregational Council. After retiring from the presidency of Beloit, he spent most of his time in the East and died in Fairfield, Conn. Who's Who in Amer., 21 (1940); Commem. Biog. Record of the Cos. of Rock . . . (Chicago, 1901); Beloit Daily News, June 20, 1942; E. D. Eaton Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Edward Dwight Eaton Papers for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]