Macon County AlArchives Biographies.....Massey, John 1834 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Carolyn Golowka http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002972 April 8, 2008, 8:05 pm Author: “Memorial Record of Alabama,” Volume 2, published by Brant & Fuller in Madison, WI (1893), pages 448-452 John Massey, LL.D., president of the Alabama Conference Female college at Tuskegee, Ala., is a native of Choctaw county, Ala., and was born in 1834, the son of Drewry and Vashti (Gorham) Massey, of South Carolina. Drewry Massey was quite a young man when he left his native state and went to Tennessee, whence he came to Alabama and located in Choctaw county, where he followed farming.. He served in the war of 1812, under Gen. Andrew Jackson, and died in 1849, at the age of about sixty-five years, a member of the Baptist church, his widow surviving him until 1857. These were the parents of three children, viz.: Drewry, who was killed at Resaca, Ga., in 1864, while serving as a private in the Twenty-third Alabama infantry, in which he enlisted in 1862; Joel, who died before the war; and John, whose name introduces this sketch. The last named was reared on a farm and received his preliminary education at the common schools; he then passed six years in Clarke county, Miss., under the tutelage of Dr. S. S. Mellen, and three years at the State university of Alabama, from which he graduated in 18632. He was then requested by the president of the university to accept an assistant professorship, but the war had aroused his patriotism, and he determined to try a soldier’s life. Accordingly, in 1862, he joined Hilliard’s legion – later known as the Alabama legion – of which he was mad adjutant of the first battalion, and operated in the department of east Tennessee until 1864, when, by special request of the president of the State university of Alabama, the governor of the state appointed him to an assistant professorship in that institution of learning, which position he held until the buildings were destroyed, April 3, 1865. After the close of the war he returned to his native county, where he taught school for a year with marked success. He was then offered the presidency of the Centenary institute at Summerfield, which offer he accepted, and for eight years successfully managed that institution. He then moved to Mobile, and after teaching two years in Mobile he was chosen president of the Alabama Conference Female college. This college is situated on a high ridge that constitutes the dividing line between the cotton and mineral belts of Alabama. Occupying a position midway between the debilitating temperature of the extreme south and the rigor of a more northern latitude, it is highly favored in the uniformity and salubrity of its climate. As may be seen by reference to the statistical maps published by the government at Washington, Tuskegee is located in a small area which is less liable to malarial diseases than any other portion of Alabama, middle Georgia or middle Tennessee. The idea of founding this school was the conception of Mrs. Martha Alexander, who, though “dead, yet speaketh” through her philanthropic enterprise. It was chartered by the legislature of Alabama in 1854, under the name of Tuskegee Female college, and its title and management were placed in the hands of a board of trustees. It was organized and began its career February 11, 1856. Under its original name it continued to prosecute it work until 1872, when the Alabama conference became the owners of the property in fee-simple, had the name changed by legislative action to Alabama Conference Female college, and appointed a board of managers to supervise its administration. This board makes contracts with the president, who employs the teachers and manages its affairs. The first president was the Rev. A. A. Lipscomb, D. D. LL. D. The superior aesthetic and literary culture of Dr. Lipscomb crowned the enterprise with eminent success from the outset, and gave tone to an educational movement of a unique and elevated order, in which taste and criticism found a higher development than has been hitherto attempted in female education. In 1859 Dr. Lipscomb retired, and Dr. G. W. F. Price was placed in charge of the institution. In 1862 the board of trustees sold the property to Rev. Jesse Wood, who assumed control of the school. In 1863 Mr. Wood sold the property to Dr. C. D. Elliott, who managed its affairs until the spring of 1865, when Dr. Price was again placed in the presidency, which he held until 1872. In 1872 the Rev. H. D. Moore, D. D., was placed in charge of the institution by the board of managers, and presided until December 1875, when he was recalled to the work of the ministry. Upon his retirement the Rev. E. L. Lovelace, D. D., the preacher in charge of Tuskegee Station, filled the vacancy for the remainder of the school year. In June, 1876, John Massey was elected president by the board of managers for a term of five years. At the expiration of this term, in 1881, he was re-elected for another term of five years. In 1886, he was re-elected for a third term of five years. In 1891, he was re-elected for a fourth term of five-years. Dr. Massey has proven himself to be one of the foremost educators in the south, and since assuming the presidency of this college has been earnestly solicited to accept the presidency of several of the most prominent colleges of Georgia and Alabama, but has steadfastly declined relinquishing his present position. Dr. Massey was first married in 1866, to Miss Fredonia A. Taylor, of Clarke county, Ala., who died in 1871. In 1873 he was again married to Miss Elnora F. Dallas, a native of Greene County, Ala. And a daughter of Alexander Dallas, a Scotchman by birth, but an early settler of Greene County, where he was extensively engaged in planting. Dr. Massey has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, since he was twenty years of age, and is also a member of the Knights of Honor. His degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Alabama in 1869. 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