David Nelson (Presbyterian)

David Nelson (September 24, 1793 - October 17, 1844)[1] was known as a Presbyterian minister and anti-slavery advocate who was the first president of Marion College.[2] This was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the state of Missouri. Two other co-founders of this school included William Muldrow and Dr. David Clark.

Born in Tennessee, Nelson had served as a surgeon in the War of 1812. He became a Presbyterian minister before moving to the slave state of Missouri in 1830. He gradually supported abolition of slavery.

History and career

David Nelson moved to Missouri in 1830 and settled in the Palmyra area, in Marion County. the same county as Hannibal, on the west side of the Mississippi River. The first building for Marion College was a log cabin. Marion College became the first chartered college in Missouri and the second educational institution in Missouri to grant degrees.

In the mid-1830s, he resigned as school president and left the state of Missouri.[3] The outspoken abolitionist had been forced to flee the area for Quincy, Illinois, where he helped with the Underground Railroad.[4]

Minister and journalist Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who published the Presbyterian newspapers, St. Louis Observer, followed by Alton Observer, said he was influenced by Nelson's abolitionist views and actions.

References
  1. "David Nelson". Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  2. Harriet C. Frazier (2004). Runaway and Freed Missouri Slaves and Those who Helped Them, 1763-1865. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 174.
  3. Bob Piddy (1982). Across Our Wide Missouri: Volume I, January through June. Independence, MO: Independence Press. pp. 40–41.
  4. "Register of the First Presbyterian Church of Marion College". Retrieved 2018-05-14.


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