| The Presidents and Chancellors of Antioch Stories of Antioch History
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The Reverend Thomas Hill was as good a scientist as he was a
minister. He graduated from Harvard in 1843
with distinction in mathematics, achieving his divinity degree in 1845. He was the
pastor of the Unitarian church in Waltham, MS when he reluctantly agreed to succeed Horace Mann as the second president of Antioch College. There he
labored under sectarian and financial difficulties until 1862 when he was appointed
president of Harvard. Hill was an accomplished astronomer (as a student he invented
an instrument for calculating eclipses) and an enthusiastic gardener (many of the old
growth trees on the Antioch campus date from his tenure). His tendency to turn the
soil as a common groundskeeper was considered behavior unbecoming of the President of
Harvard. |
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