Colleagues and Partners

Originally published in Auburn Seminary Record, Volume 12, March 10, 1916, No.1 The Organizing , Training and Inspiring of Church Officers Address by Rev. William R. Taylor, D.D., Before the Alumni Conference, May 9, 1916 III. The Inspiring of Church Officers And now abideth organizing, training and inspiring, these three; but the greatest of these is inspiring. For if a …

Born in the medieval village of Confolens (Poitou-Charentes Region), son of a provisieur, Émile was gifted and began school ahead the other boys his age. His father was quite strict which was common for a school principal, but his expectations must have been appropriate for this precocious boy. His father died suddenly when Émile was eight years old. His mother’s …

Born in Chilly-le-Vignoble (Franche-Comté Province) to a schoolteacher and a housewife, Charles’ education was well provisioned. He attended the lycée Rouget-de-l’Isle de Lons-le-Saunier. This is when he settled on Mathematics and Science. Rural towns would most often raise their sons to tend the fields and the flocks, but if they were destined for academics, these bachelors were sent to Paris, …

Born in 1774 in the capital city, Paris (Ile de France Province), to a family just recently lifted from poverty. His ancestors were peasant stock, mostly farmers in the Lorraine region. Fortunately his father had attained a position at the Treasury so he lived in relative comfort in those restless years before the Revolution. From an early age, Jean Baptiste …

Born in the city of Mézières (Champagn-Ardennes Province) adjacent to Belgium. The family traces back to Château-Regnault, the name being eminent in France. His father was a primary school teacher, and some time inspector of primary education. We have every reason to believe that he pushed his son to study. The young Jules frequented the Collège de Charleville from an …

Born in Montpellier (Languedoc-Roussillon Province), to extremely poor parents, young Jérôme was adopted by his godmother who was better able to provide a proper education. This circumstance must have affected him profoundly because he would remain frugal his whole life. When traveling, he carried nothing but an extra shirt, tucked into his coat pocket. He was an open minded, generous …

Born in the city of Aurillac (Auvergne Province), the firstborn son of a clerk, Émile Duclaux was brought up under his father’s tutelage until he reached the age for secondary school. During his years at the lycée his father kept pace with his son’s course work, which today would seem very controlling. But Émile did not resent his father; rather, …

Jean Baptiste Dumas was born in the city of Alais (Languedoc-Roussillon Province) on the national holiday of July 14. This date would prove to be auspicious because his life would be intertwined with the fate of France, first as a revolutionary in science, later, as an eminent statesman. His father, a city clerk, would have sent him to serve in …

Born in the city of Valenciennes (département du Nord). Not much is known of his childhood but he must have excelled in his preparatory studies because he was accepted into the École Normale in 1855 where he studied physics. After achieving his lycées agrégation (teaching license) in 1858 he was assigned to teach in the remote Garonne countryside at the …