John Monteith (minister)

John Monteith
Born(1788-08-05)August 5, 1788
DiedApril 5, 1868(1868-04-05) (aged 79)
NationalityAmerican
Education
Spouses
  • Sarah Sophia Granger
  • Abigail Harris
Children
  • Sarah Sophia
  • Mary Harris
  • Charles Alexander
  • Elizabeth Hamilton
  • John, Jr.
  • Abigail
  • George
  • Edwin Harris
  • Arthur
Parent(s)Daniel Monteith and Sarah Lecky
ReligionPresbyterian
OrdainedMay 1817
Congregations served
Offices held

John Monteith (August 5, 1788 – April 5, 1868)[1] was a United States Presbyterian minister, educator, abolitionist and a founding father of the University of Michigan, formerly known as University of Michigania or the Catholepistemiad. Monteith served as president of the university from 1817 through 1821. During his five years in Detroit, he also served as the city's first librarian, and founded the first Protestant church in Detroit and the first Presbyterian church in what is now the State of Michigan.

According to his son, Monteith was six feet tall, and was straight as a rod. He did not drink liquor, and he was rarely ill. As an abolitionist, a temperance advocate, a defender of the Sabbath, and an educator of young minds, he took it as his personal mission to convince others to accept his beliefs, and was therefore sometimes a controversial figure.[2]

  1. ^ Roscoe O. Bonisteel, John Monteith, first president of the University of Michigan, Michigan Historical Collections, Bulletin 15, Ann Arbor, MI, 1967, p.6.
  2. ^ "Pastor's New Years Greeting", No. 6-1887, Memorial Presbyterian Church, Detroit, Michigan pp. 17-18.