Matthew Vassar, Founder of the College, was born in East Dereham, parish of Tuddingham, Norfolk County, England, the son of Ann Bennett and James Vassar, farmers and dissenters.
James Vassar, with wife and children, emigrated to the United States. "They were the first of the Family name that left their Fatherland and were induced to seek this new Western continent more for the love of civic and religious freedom than from any pecuniary consideration." From and unpublished manuscript by Matthew Vassar.
James Vassar settled in Dutchess County, purchasing a farm on Wappingers Creek, near Manchester Bridge. In 1799, his brother, Thomas Vassar, sowed the first acre of barley grown in Dutchess County.
James Vassar sold his farm and settled in Poughkeepsie to brew ale. He erected extensive brewery works.
Matthew Vassar, with his mother's aid, ran away from home to avoid being apprenticed to a tanner. He wrote in his Autobiography, "Set off to seek my fortune with 6/ in my pockett, two corse East India Muslin Shirts, a pair of woolen Socks, Scow Skin Shoes, all tied up in a cotton bandana Handkerchief." He found employment at Butterworth's store at Balm-town, near Newburgh.
Matthew Vassar, aged 18, returned to Poughkeepsie with $150, "the nett earnings of his Foreign Service." He took over the bookkeeping for his father's brewery business.
James Vassar's brewery was destroyed by fire. Vassar's older son, John Guy, was killed by fumes in the debris. Ruined, James Vassar retired to farm life. His son, Matthew, started brewing independently, in an old dye house owned by his brother-in-law, George Booth.
Matthew Vassar bought from Peter Cooper for $300 the patent-right for machinery for shearing cloth. This was Cooper's first bill of sale.
Outbreak of War of 1812. The United States declared war on Great Britain on the grounds of impressment of American seamen, violation of U.S. neutral rights and territorial waters, blockade of U.S. ports, and refusal to revoke Orders in Council.
Matthew Vassar rented a basement room in the County Court House and opened the first Oyster Saloon or Restaurant in the village of Poughkeepsie, peddling beer by day and attending the Oyster Saloon at night.
Matthew Vassar married Catharine Valentine. "Renting part of a tenement at $40 pr year, and was severely rebuked by my Father for my extravagence ---$25 pr year was as much as he thot I ought to pay..." Autobiography and Letters of Matthew Vassar.
Matthew Vassar entered into partnership with Thomas Purser, the existing co-partnership of M. Vassar & Co. having been dissolved in July. The brewery on Vassar and Bridge Streets was built. Purser's interest was sold to J.M. and N. Conklin, Jr. June 10, 1815.
Matthew Vassar was elected a trustee of the village of Poughkeepsie.
The Dutchess County Colonization Society was formed for "colonizing the free people of colour, of the United States, with their consent and choice." Matthew Vassar was Recording Secretary. Poughkeepsie Journal.
Lafayette was entertained by the village of Poughkeepsie. Matthew Vassar was one of the hosts.
Vassar's partnership with Nathan Conklin was dissolved. In 1832 Matthew Jr. and John Guy Vassar, sons of Matthew's elder brother, became partners with their uncle in Vassar & Co. Brewery.
Matthew Vassar was one of the incorporators of the Poughkeepsie Savings Bank. He was later on the board and president of the Farmers and Manufacturers National Bank, which was chartered in 1834.
Poughkeepsie Whaling Company stocks were all subscribed to by citizens of Poughkeepsie and "Old Dutchess." M. Vassar was one of the subscribers and a director.
Matthew Vassar was elected president of the village of Poughkeepsie.
The Vassar Brewery built new buildings on the river front above the Main Street Dock. The business weathered the depression of 1837 and in 1838 was flourishing.
Lydia Booth, Matthew Vassar's favorite niece by marriage, moved her female seminary from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Poughkeepsie. The school was for many years located in a building on Garden Street owned by Matthew Vassar, Cottage Hill, and was known as Cottage Hill Seminary. Matthew Vassar attributed his early interest in the education of women to Lydia Booth.
The Baptist Association built a new church on Lafayette Place at a cost of $20,000, one-half of which was donated by Matthew Vassar, who also gave the land. Mr. Vassar persuaded Rev. Rufus Babcock, later a charter trustee of the college, to return to the pastorate.
"The Hon. Henry Clay arrived at this place last Monday with the steamboat Robert L. Stevens ... about 2 o'clock ... The numbers present have been ... estimated at from seven to ten thousand people, and it is admitted that never since the welcome of LaFayette has Poughkeepsie been honored with so immense a concourse." Poughkeepsie Journal, Aug. 21, 1839.
Matthew Vassar was elected president of the Hudson River Rail-Road.
Matthew Vassar visited Saratoga Springs and had full-length silhouette cut by the famous French artist, August Edouart. This was later given to the Vassar College library by Helen Evarts, '17.
First telegraph message, "What hath God wrought", was transmitted over a line between Baltimore and Washington. The station was under the direction of Samuel F. B. Morse, later a charter trustee of Vassar.
Matthew Vassar and wife, accompanied by his secretary, Cyrus Swan, later a charter trustee, sailed for Europe in packet-ship Northumberland. "About 1845 I visited Europe and while in London visited the famous 'Guy' Hospital, the founder of which a family relative, 'John (Thomas?) Guy,' my nephew John Guy Vassar had the honor of being named after. Seeing this institution first suggested the idea of devoting a portion of my estate to some charitable purpose, and about this period took quite an interest in a niece of mine, Lydia Booth, who was then engaged in a small way in the tuition of children resulting in after years in the opening of a female seminary in Poughkeepsie being the first of its kind excepting one other, Mrs. Conger, in the village. The force of circumstances brought me occasionally in business intercourse with my Niece, which will account for the early direction of my mind for the enlarged education of women and the subsequent drift of inquiries in my conversation and correspondence with gentlemen educators in this country and a few in Europe, which by reference to letters on file will more fully appear." From an unpublished manuscript by Matthew Vassar.
The United States declared war on Mexico.
Matthew Vassar, President of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum of Literature, Science, and the Mechanic Arts, an important educational force in the city, opened the current course of lectures with a brief address. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the scheduled speakers.
Milo P. Jewett, educator from Marion, Alabama, purchased Cottage Hill from Matthew Vassar and reopened the school for girls founded by Lydia Booth, which had closed after her death in 1854. In an unpublished manuscript, Origin of Vassar College, Jewett related how he suggested the idea of a college for women to the Founder. "... If you will establish a real College for girls and endow it, you will build a monument for yourself more lasting than the Pyramids; it will be the pride and joy of Po'keepsie, an honor to the state and a blessing to the world." The idea caught the imagination of Mr. Vassar, and then and there Vassar College was born.
Elmira Female College, originally chartered in 1852 as Auburn Female University, received a new charter from the State of New York. "Elmira is the oldest existing women's college in the United States which succeeded in attaining standards in a fair degree comparable with men's colleges at the very beginning of her career. Vassar, ten years thereafter, likewise attained fairly comparable standards and was the first women's college that was adequately endowed." A History of Women's Education in the United States, by Thomas Woody.
Thomas Alexander Tefft, American architect, who five years earlier had submitted plans for the College, died in Florence, Italy. He was succeeded as architect of Vassar College by James Renwick, Junior, of New York City.
Matthew Vassar bought land for his college, at site of former fairgrounds, two miles east of Poughkeepsie. "It is my hope to be the instrument in the hands of Providence, of founding and perpetuating an institution which shall accomplish for young women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men."
Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.
Last updated: 10 November, 1999, by Jeremy R. Linden, '00.