Eliphalet Nott

Eliphalet Nott (June 25, 1773 – January 25, 1866), was a famed Presbyterian minister, inventor, educational pioneer, and long-term president of Union College, Schenectady, New York.

Nott was the second son (and the youngest of nine children) of Stephen and Deborah (Selden) Nott. He was born at Ashford, Connecticut on June 25, 1773. He earned a degree in 1795 from Rhode Island College, which became Brown University. In 1804 he became president of Union, at the age of 31. He continued as president of Union College until his death. He married Sarah Marie "Sally" Benedict, the daughter of Rev. Joel Benedict of Plainfield, Connecticut, under whose instruction in early life he pursued his classical and mathematical studies. Sally Nott died at the age of 29 on March 10, 1804. In 1807, he married Gertrude Peebles, who died in January 1841. A year and a half later, in 1842, Nott married educator Urania Sheldon.

More than 4,000 students are estimated to have graduated from Union during Nott's tenure. In the early 1830s, after the founding of the Union Triad fraternities, Nott called for the dissolution of all fraternities. He was dissuaded from this by a member of Delta Phi named John Jay Hyde. Nott was also president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1829 to 1845. He found Union financially embarrassed, but succeeded in placing it on a sound footing. His legacy there is recognized by the imposing Nott Memorial, a centerpiece of the College's campus.

Around 1802, he was called to the Presbyterian Church at Albany, where he took a prominent position as a preacher and was listened to by large congregations. Among his successful pulpit efforts at Albany, was a sermon on the death of Alexander Hamilton. An oration condemning the practice of dueling, it was delivered in the wake of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton's passing. On the Death of Hamilton (1804) had profound influence in curtailing the custom and remains recognized to this day as an exemplary period example of the eloqutor's art. In 1805, the College of New Jersey conferred upon him the title of D.D. (Doctor of Divinity), and in 1828, he received the title of LL.D. His publications include collections of sermons, Counsels to Young Men (1810), and Lectures on Temperance (1847). In 1814, Nott was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. A number of imprints authored by Nott, or related to him in some way reside in the society's collections.

As a scientist he studied heat and obtaining some thirty or more patents for applications of heat to steam engines, but was best known in his day as the inventor of the first stove for anthracite coal, which was named for him.

He died on January 25, 1866 in Schenectady, New York. Nott Road in Rexford, New York, the location of his farm, is named for him, as are Nott Street and Nott Terrace, which border Union College in Schenectady, New York. He remains the longest serving college president in the United States to this day.

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  Cover of pamphlet created from 1804 Nott sermon, On the Death of Hamilton

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  Opening text of sermon