Gessner Harrison

Gessner Harrison
Born	(1807-06-27)June 27, 1807 Harrisonburg, Virginia
Died	(1862-04-07)April 7, 1862 Nelson County, Virginia
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Professor of Ancient Languages
Academic background
Alma mater	Univ. of Virginia (M.D.-1827; LL D.-1828)
Academic advisors	Prof. George Long
Academic work
Institutions	Univ. of Virginia
Signature

Gessner Harrison (June 27, 1807 – April 7, 1862) was an acclaimed professor of classical languages during the antebellum years at the University of Virginia (1828–1859). Harrison was published, as well as eloquent, in teaching the fundamentals and the science of the Latin and Greek languages, and he helped lead the advance of linguistics. He therefore served as chairman of the faculty for over a third of his thirty-year tenure. As such, he also responded well in multiple, sometimes violent, encounters with ill-mannered and riotous students, then commonplace on a number of the nation's campuses, and he played a key role in the reclamation of campus civility.

As an undergraduate, he had been one of the first students to enter the University of Virginia in its initial year of operation (1825) and he soon made a distinct impression upon its founder, Thomas Jefferson. He was an academic standout from his classmates, who included Edgar Allan Poe, and he graduated with an M.D., and an LL D. in Ancient Languages. Harrison became the first alumnus to join the faculty there—in 1828 the school's rector James Madison appointed him, at age twenty-one, as Professor.

In 1859 he retired from the university, and started a prep school, the Locust Grove Academy. The school was forced to close in 1862 when Harrison died, nursing a son home from the American Civil War, which overshadowed a momentous loss for the field of education in the South.

Family and early education

Gessner Harrison was born June 26, 1807 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, which was founded by his family in 1780.He was the next eldest of seven children of physician Dr. Peachy Harrison, son of Col. Benjamin Harrison and Mary McClure, and Mary Stuart, daughter of John and Frances Stuart. His father, also a politician, served as County Sheriff, sat in the Virginia House of Delegates (1816–1817), and at the Constitutional Convention (1829–1830). Harrison began school at four years of age and was studying Latin by age eight. His father was a devout Christian; several of Harrison’s teachers were noted Christian ministers. He became an avid reader and spent much of his time in his home library.

College years

1821 portrait of Thomas Jefferson–Harrison dined with him as a student.

When Harrison began college at age 18, he was described as "less than striking" in appearance, "below middle height", and "his face, though engaging, was rather homely." He was the fifth person to enroll for the premier term of the University of Virginia in 1825—his older brother Edward and best friend Henry Tutwiler entered as well.

In contrast with many other educators, the university's founder Thomas Jefferson, author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, was adamant that religious activities and studies at the university be voluntary. This seems not to have affected Harrison or his equally devout Christian father regarding Harrison's attendance. Harrison's religious convictions did make a notable impression, however. Jefferson regularly invited students for dinner on Sundays; but when the invitation was extended to Harrison and his brother, they explicitly declined, as staunch Christians, in order to avoid a desecration of the Sabbath, and a betrayal of their father. Jefferson was impressed by their faith, commended them for their “filial piety,” and prevailed on them to join him for dinner during the week.

As a student Harrison balked at the use of profanity, and with his magnanimity readily risked a degree of isolation from his contemporaries, particularly the more troublesome students. Some even resented his behavior, but as he told his father, "their enmity is better infinitely than their friendship purchased at the high price of virtue."

Harrison, following his father's example, undertook medical courses which presented him with a great challenge, but he persevered, and was one of the first students to receive an M.D. degree, in 1827. He also took ancient languages, taught by Prof. George Long; he was a distinguished student in Latin, Greek, and French and was awarded an LL.D. in 1828. His classmates in Senior Latin and French included Edgar Allan Poe. When Long left the school the same year, he recommended Harrison as his successor, saying the school should, "...not find it necessary to apply to England for that which they already possess."

Marriage and family

Harrison and wife Eliza Lewis Carter Tucker were married December 15, 1830; her parents were George Tucker, the first professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Virginia, and his wife Maria Carter, grand-niece of George Washington. They had ten children:

• Maria Carter—born Nov. 11, 1831; died Oct. 21, 1857
• Mary Stuart—born Feb. 10, 1834; died 1917
• George Tucker, M.D.—born July 23, 1835; died Oct. 4, 1925
• Edward Tiffin—born Sept. 9, 1837; died Dec. 2, 1873
• Peachy Gessner—born Dec. 24, 1839; died (?)
• Charles Carter—born May 10, 1842; died Feb. 1882
• Henry William, M.D.—born Sept. 15, 184l; died (?)
• Eleanor Rosalie—born July 16, 1847; died April 7, 1920;
• Robert Lewis—born March 2, 1850; died (?)
• Francis Washington—born Feb. 15, 1852; died June 10, 1852

Harrison did not entirely follow the more robust male stereotype of the Antebellum South; he preferred a quiet, self-disciplined erudite life. He worked endlessly, but took time to nurture his love of art, nature and music.

Harrison was a vested member of the Southern gentry; in 1860 he held about nine slaves, and considerable assets as well—real estate valued at $42,000 and other property of $25,842. As a slave master would often do in assuming some responsibility for those under his care, he conducted a Sunday school for his and other local slaves.

Teaching career

1821 portrait of James Madison, Univ. of Va. rector–he appointed Harrison as a professor.

Pavilion VI, Univ. of Virginia Lawn–Prof. Harrison’s home

The first year

The rector of the University of Virginia, James Madison, on behalf of its board of visitors, in 1828 appointed Harrison to a one-year term as Professor of Ancient Languages—he was the first graduate of the university to become a professor. As he sought to find his place among the older esteemed faculty members, handpicked by Jefferson and Madison, Harrison endeavored to overcome his feeling of inferiority. In a letter to Prof. Long, he confessed he felt ill-equipped in "converting my stock of information, which is not the greatest, into a useful instruction to my class" and lamented his "many deficiencies" as a professor. But by the end of his term he had performed sufficiently to receive an extension of his appointment.

Age of discontents

Harrison embarked on his teaching career during an age of widespread student rebellion at a number of colleges and universities across the country. He was challenged early to control unruly students. In 1830 some students were creating a disturbance outside his home; Harrison accused one, apparently drunk, of using "improper language." The student later demanded an apology, cursed and assaulted Harrison, and was expelled. Over the course of the next decade, Harrison was variously confronted by miscreant students, with ignited firecrackers, profane language, and on one occasion was horsewhipped by one student while being restrained by another. The students in each case were dismissed.

Harrison was said to deal with misbehaving students in a "straightforward, downright way, using direct but kind speech." His own children's interactions with him were conducted with "passionate fondness and unalterable reverence."

According to John A. Broadus, the university board adopted, and Harrison as faculty chairman executed, “...a method of discipline, combining liberty and law, which in judicious hands was attended with admirable results.” This new discipline included a curfew, a dress code, and allowance restrictions. Virginius Dabney indicates that the changes, at least initially, only made things worse—the students’ criminal behavior further deteriorated until 1840, when Prof. John A. G. Davis was shot by a student and later died. The campus atmosphere did however eventually improve markedly as a result of the measures which Harrison and the board initiated.

Laying foundations and beyond

In the lecture hall, when Harrison encountered poor preparation of students in the classics, he insisted that language fundamentals not be neglected, even for the more lofty concepts which might remain to be mastered. This proclivity earned him a frequent invocation by the students of their moniker, "Old Gess's humbuggery."

Harrison was quoted, addressing a successor, “I suspect you’ll have a lot such as mine; you will spend your life clearing the ground and laying foundations, mostly out of sight, on which more fortunate men shall build.”; he thereby asserted that education only worked its way from higher to lower. Graduate teachers were ever-more-skillfully proven, who in turn later sent up students ever-more-qualified in the basics. Thus, Harrison and colleagues could, albeit slowly, raise the standard of expertise in each field. One younger colleague affirmed, “I hardly know how we could get on at all if it were not for what Dr. Harrison did before us.“

His earliest published work, Geography of Ancient Greece and Southern Italy, illustrates his emphasis on fundamentals, in the form of a syllabus. The work sought to cover some history as well—there was at the time no professor of history at the school. He knew well that the physical and historical peculiarities of Italy and Greece contributed to the character of the people and the formation of their languages. He was forced to condense the material in order to reduce printing costs, and his anticipated losses—this was not his strong suit.

Harrison found time to devote himself as well to the vanguard of new concepts in his discipline. The modern Science of Language had recently begun in Germany, and sought to expand the consideration of Latin and Greek usage beyond that of mere facts, clothing those facts with "rational explanation and philosophical systemization." Thanks in part to Harrison, this scientific approach took further shape in comparative grammar in the U.S., as it was applied to the striking similarities between the ancient Sanskrit language of India and that of Latin and Greek.

According to Prof. Basil Gildersleeve and biographer Merrow E. Sorley, Harrison's keen interest led him to promote some of the new principles even before they were taken up by the German or English schools. Harrison's Exposition of Latin Grammar, based upon his own studies, was described as "an excellent work" by German Prof. Georg Curtius, considered preeminent in the study of comparative grammar at the time. Curtius' own work on the subject followed six years after Harrison's material was first printed for use in his own class in 1839.

Harrison’s later Treatise on Greek Prepositions was said to be an even better example of his philosophical, inductive approach. Broadus maintained in 1870 that the work achieved such an elevated level as to make its author a decidedly eminent contributor in the field of philology. While Harrison's colleagues had praise for these works, their very specialized nature limited the circle of interested readers, and the royalties therefrom, which did little more than cover expenses.

Finally, Harrison was able to utilize his medical studies to articulate the relationship of vocal anatomy to language patterns. “To see the Professor exemplifying with his own organs the mode of formation of palatals, linguals, and labials was a standing amusement."

Style of teaching and leadership

Harrison’s lecture style was reputedly much more engaging than his writing (described as “scarcely felicitous.”) He was intent upon clarity, and had a striking ability to discern the comprehension of his audience. There was no hesitancy to revisit a point from varied angles as necessary until conveyed. And owing to the sometimes insipid nature of his subject, he was more than willing to employ his uniquely spontaneous, homespun humor, which on occasion became “as racy as it was peculiar.”

Harrison’s work ethic was to a degree self-defeating, as he neglected to limit his workload to a manageable size. As a result, he suffered from an unappealing foible of chronic procrastination. This became increasingly habitual, with his reports to the faculty as chairman becoming ill-prepared and oral in form, rather than written as prescribed. As well, his review of examinations became last minute, occasionally imprecise, affairs. Overcommitments also eliminated potential for advantageous social life and travel. Such interactions and mobility were deemed invaluable for an educator, who relied upon an exchange of ideas and review of events beyond that provided by newspapers etc.. Harrison is said to have lamented these aspects, and their effect on his expertise, in both early and later correspondence.

Nevertheless, over the years Harrison proved himself a congenial and highly regarded professor. He taught Latin and Greek until the board of visitors, perhaps in recognition of the problems above, revamped his department in 1856; he then continued teaching Latin. In his thirty years of teaching, Harrison also led the faculty as secretary (1831–1832) and as faculty chairman (1837–1839, 1840–1842, 1847–1850, 1851-1854), and published three books.

Retirement and final years

File:Gessner Harrison Pitcher Univ. of Va.jpg

Univ. of Virginia silver pitcher—given to Harrison by students at his retirement

Gessner Harrison’s tombstone, Univ. of Virginia Cemetery

Harrison’s own discipline in money matters may be questioned by his inability to make ends meet on his $3,000 annual salary. In an effort to solve this, in 1858 he set out to follow the example of retired Alabama professor Henry Tutwiler, who had established a profitable boarding school; to further this end, he tendered his resignation to the board of visitors. In desperation, a majority of the board resolved to retain him, and removed his salary cap, offering him the entire proceeds from his classes. Harrison withdrew the resignation, until it became clear there had arisen a fissure on the board as to the arrangement. He resubmitted his resignation and retired from the university in 1859. The faculty responded to his departure, formally resolving that "he had done more than any other man for the cause of education and sound learning in his native state." That year the students presented him with a silver pitcher and goblets, "as a Memorial of their high regard and esteem". It is still used at university library events.

He proceeded to purchase land in nearby Nelson County, and there instituted the Locust Grove Academy, a prep school near Greenwood, Virginia, where he enrolled 100 boys, some of them sons of former students. After he successfully initiated the third school term, the Civil War disrupted his plans—by the end of 1861 half of his students left school to join the Confederate army. Harrison's establishment of the academy was over-leveraged, with the result that there was little leeway when tuition collections dropped.

Harrison maintained his loyalty to slavery and the South. All of his sons joined the Confederate army; one, Charles Carter, returned home in 1861 with camp fever, and Harrison assumed the role of caregiver. His years of exhaustive work had diminished his health, and Harrison contracted the disease. He was forced to close his school and died soon thereafter on April 7, 1862; he was buried in the University of Virginia Cemetery.

Works

• The Geography of Ancient Italy and Southern Greece (1834)
• Exposition of Some of the Laws of the Latin Grammar (1852)
• Treatise on the Greek Prepositions and the Nouns with Which These are Used (1858).

Legacy

Harrison Hall, James Madison Univ.

• Rev. John A. Broadus remarked, in an address memorializing Harrison a decade afterwards, that the momentous loss occasioned by the death of Harrison was quite overshadowed by the passion and fury of the American Civil War:

"He fell amid the storm of war. Three years earlier and the death of Gessner Harrison would have stirred the entire South. The journals of every state would have included tributes from many an admiring and grateful pupil...And so it is likely that the young of today can scarcely believe, the old can with little difficulty recall, how widely known and how highly honored and admired, how warmly loved, was this mere civilian, the quiet and unpretending professor of 1859."

• Historian William F Boogher has also said the following of Harrison:

"he was perhaps the most important figure in the educational history of the Southern States in the period before the Civil War."

• Harrison Hall, a former dormitory at the University of Virginia, was named for him.
• Harrison Hall, an academic building at James Madison University, bears his name.

Primary sources

• Papers of Gessner Harrison, 1827–1862. MSS 12762. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.