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��THE GRANITK MONTHLY.
��was one of the most noted men that Methodism has produced. He was the son of I Ion. Judge Fiske ; was born in Brattleborough, Vermont, August 31, 1792 ; and graduated with distin- guished honor in August, 181 5, at Brown University, R. I. Previous to entering " Brown," in 1814, he was in the sophomore class of 181 2, of the University of Vermont, where he re- mained until the buildings were occu- pied by the army, during the war of 181 2. Graduating at the age of 23 he entered upon the study of law, but relinquished that profession for the ministrv. After a few months' labor as an exhorter, he was licensed as a local preacher, March 14, 181S. His first sermon, at Lyndon, Vt.. gave promise of future eminence. His ser- vices on Craftsbury circuit were partic- ularly acceptable. . He joined the N. E. Conference in 1818, and became an exceedingly eloquent, able and pious minister of the Gospel, and ren- dered invaluable services in the cause of Methodistic Education, as the be- loved principal of the Wesleyan Acad- emy at Wilbraham, Mass., for which a charter was obtained in November,
1825. He removed to Wilbraham in May, 1826. In 1822 he was urged to accept the agency of the Newmarket Academy, then the only Methodist in- stitution of learning in New England ; but he declined the appointment. He was Presiding Elder of the Vermont district ; preached the election sermon before the legislature of Vermont in
1826, and of Massachusetts in 1829. He was elected president of the La Grange College in Alabama in 1829, also Bishop of the Methodist Epis- copal church in Canada, both of which offices he declined, as he could not be prevailed upon to separate himself from the educational interests of his denomination in New England. In 1830 he was elected president of Wes- leyan University at Middletown, Conn., of which he was one of the founders. He was elected Bishop of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church of the United States in 1836, but did not accept the
��office, believing he could be more use- ful to the church in other capacities, particularly in developing his plans for Christian education and culture. He preferred to be an educator rather than one of the chief officers of the church. He was influential as a dele- gale to the General Conference in 1828 and 1832. His positive declina- tion alone prevented him from repre- senting his conference in 1836. In that year he was sent as a delegate to the British Wesleyan Conference. He dignified every position he occupied, and exerted a commanding influence in the denomination for good, rank- ing deservedly high as an educator, preacher, orator, debater, and writer. The memory of the " learned and sainted Fisk " continues a goodly her- itage, beautiful and symmetrical in character and goodness. He died at Middletown, Conn., Feb. 22, 1839, and his body reposes in the College Cemetery.
Rev. John Newland Maffitt was born in Dublin, Ireland, Dec. 28, 1794. He embarked from his native city Feb. 1, 1819, in the Brig Stan- dard," for Boston, but left the vessel at Mayo, one of the Cape Verde Is- lands, coming thence in the Brig " Menton " to New York city, where he arrived April 21, 1819. His pa- rents, members of the Episcopal Church, were interested in the Wes- leyan movement. He was, however, educated in the Established Church, and joined the Wesleyans in 1813. From an early period he had deter- mined on entering the ministry, and at the age of nineteen he commenced public exhortations, evincing a power and ability which foreshadowed his future fame as a preacher of the gospel.
His father died when the future pul- pit orator was twelve years of age. Wm. H. Maffitt, m. D., who accompa- nied his brother from Dublin, and who died in 1841, in North Carolina, is authority for the statement that Mr. Maffitt never engaged in any mercan- tile profession or pursued any voca-
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