Sturtevant, Julian M.

Born: 1805-07-26 Warren, Connecticut

Died: 1886-02-11 Jacksonville, Illinois

Flourished: Jacksonville, Illinois

Julian M. Sturtevant was a college professor and president. At a young age, Sturtevant moved with his family to Summit County, Ohio, where he prepared for college. He matriculated to Yale College in 1822, graduating in 1826. After two years spent as principal of an academy in New Canaan, Connecticut, Sturtevant enrolled in the Yale Divinity School. Graduating in 1829, Sturtevant was ordained into the ministry in August. In the fall of 1830, he moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, becoming one of the first faculty at Illinois College. Sturtevant was professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy until 1844, when, upon the retirement of President Edward Beecher, he assumed the presidency of the college. In 1860, he owned real property valued at $11,000 and had a personal estate of $800. During the Civil War, he traveled to Europe where he gave lectures to foster support for the Union cause.

Sturtevant married twice. In August 1829, he wed Elizabeth M. Fayerweather. Elizabeth F. Sturtevant died in 1840, and the next year, Sturtevant married Elizabeth’s sister Hannah. He had ten children, five from each marriage.

J. M. Sturtevant, Jr., ed., Julian M. Sturtevant: An Autobiography (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1896); Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Montgomery County, ed. by Alexander T. Strange (Chicago: Munsell, 1918), 1:512; Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College Deceased During the Academical Year Ending June, 1886 (New Haven, CT: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, [1886]), 288-89; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Jacksonville, Morgan County, IL, 27; Gravestone, Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville, IL.