Presidents of Georgetown College

Joel Smith Bacon   1830-1832

            After the death of William Staughton, the trustees of the Kentucky Baptist Education Society recruited Irah Chase, the head of a classical school in Princeton, New Jersey, to be the second president.  But when he declined, they turned to Joel Smith Bacon.  Bacon had accompanied Chase to Georgetown College with the intention of becoming an instructor. Accepting the position, Bacon became the first to assume the office.

            Born in Cayuga County, New York, on September 3, 1802, Bacon entered Homer Academy in 1821, and stayed two years before being admitted to the sophomore class at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.  He graduated with honors from Hamilton in 1826.  The year following his graduation, Bacon taught school in Amelia County, Virginia, and then became head of a classical school in Princeton.

            When Bacon arrived at Georgetown College, he faced formidable challenges.  The college had but two professors and two tutors.  The Christian Reform Movement was gaining in strength and injunctions tied up the Scott County and Pawling Funds, the primary support of the fledgling college.  In fact, the Pawling Fund was not released until 1836.  After two years of fighting court cases, Bacon resigned.

            After leaving Georgetown College, Bacon taught Mathematics and Natural History, and then was chair of Moral and Mental Philosophy at Hamilton College.  When his father-in-law died in 1837, he resigned his professorship and became pastor of the First Baptist Church, Lynn, Massachusetts.  He eventually became president of Columbian College (known today as George Washington University) in Washington, D.C.  During his eleven years there, Bacon oversaw the transition of the College's Department of Medicine into the National Medical College, one of the nation's first teaching hospitals. He also began a program in natural science leading to a Bachelor of Philosophy degree, the college's first alumni association, and the first Doctor of Laws program.  He left Columbian to work as an educator in female education in Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, and Alabama.  After the Civil War, Bacon worked for the American and Foreign Bible Societies, distributing Bibles to freed slaves.  Bacon died November 9, 1869 from pleurisy and pneumonia, which developed after baptizing two of his daughters in Rivanna River, near Fluvanna, Virginia, on October 31.  

Please direct inquiries to Dr. Glen Taul