The New International Encyclopædia/Fisk, Wilbur

FISK, Wilbur (1792-1839). An American educator and clergyman. He was born at Brattleboro, Vt.; graduated at Brown University, and afterwards studied law, but in 1818 entered the Methodist ministry. With others, he founded an academy at Wilbraham, Mass., of which, in 1825, he became the first principal. He also aided in the founding of Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn., and became its first president in 1831. He had previously refused the presidency of La Grange College (Alabama), and in 1836 declined an election as bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Among his works are: Sermons and Lectures on Universalism; Reply to Pierpont on the Atonement; The Calvinistic Controversy (1837); and Travels in Europe (1838). For his biography, consult Holdich (New York, 1842) and Prentice (Boston, 1890).