Osgood Johnson


Osgood Johnson was an American educator and 5th Principal of Phillips Academy Andover from 1833 to 1837.

Early life and family

Johnson was born in the West Parish of Andover on September 9, 1803 to Osgood Johnson and Fanney Abbot. His grandfather, Jeduthan Abbot of Andover, was a sergeant during the Revolutionary War, serving in the Saratoga Campaign under General John Burgoyne in Captain Joshua Holt's company at the Lexington Alarm. Johnson became "hopefully possessed of personal piety" and joined the South Church of Andover in January 1821 by letter. He attended Phillips Academy, graduating in 1823. He continued his studies at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1828 summa cum laude.
Johnson had two younger siblings:
  1. Fanny married Deacon Jacob Dascomb of Wilton, New Hampshire on March 10, 1825.
  2. Rebecca died young.
He married Lucretia Bly of Hanover, New Hampshire on July 9, 1829. Together they had five children, three sons and two daughters:
  1. Frances Elizabeth died young of typhus fever.
  2. Osgood was a minister by trade and principal of Woburn Academy from 1852-1853, Worcester High School from 1855-1856, and Cambridge High School from 1856 until his death. He attended Phillips Academy and Dartmouth College, graduating in 1852. He entered the Andover Theological Seminary in 1853 and left in 1855 without graduating.
  3. James Henry married Sarah Elizabeth Elanor Jones in 1854. He is buried in Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore.
  4. Lucretia Osgood married William Burnet Wright, of Cincinnati, in Baltimore on January 1, 1863.
  5. Alfred Osgood was an Army Lieutenant mortally wounded while leading a charge at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee November 25, 1863 during the American Civil War. His gravestone in the Phillips Academy Cemetery reads, "A Brave and Gallant soldier he fell defending our Flag our Nationality and all that is dear to us."
After Johnson died in 1837, Lucretia Bly continued to live in Samaritan House, taking care of students as well as allowing some to board there.

Career

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1828, he remained in Hanover as a tutor at Moor's Charity School, a part of Dartmouth. A year later in 1829 he took on an assistant teaching role under then Principal John Adams at Phillips Academy. Over the next couple of years Adams would come to depend on Johnson for his "extraordinary gifts as a teacher". In 1831 Johnson and his family moved into Samaritan House, then on Chapel Avenue on campus.
Upon Adams' resignation on November 22, 1832, he requested Johnson take his place. Johnson became acting Principal until January 1, 1833 when he was given a permanent position. He officially took office when he accepted in a letter to the Trustees dated March 20, 1833. The Trustees were looking for someone young and progressive, and the thirty year old Johnson was the person they were looking for. Thus from this point he would begin his brief term, entrusted in modernizing and reforming the school.
Despite the wishes of the Trustees, very little changed under Johnson. He was satisfied with the current academic curriculum and administrative procedures and was by no means an innovator. In the first year of his administration the school dealt with financial issues and debated whether the cost for teachers and assistants should be paid separately by the school or taken out of Johnson's salary. Samuel Farrar Esq., Treasurer of the Board of Trustees, proposed the latter as well as a plan to encourage more paying students and increase the size of the student body. Johnson fought Squire Farrar's plans, deeming them unjust and dangerous. In addition, he was according to others "too honest to resort to unscrupulous methods in enlarging the school." On April 28, 1834, the Trustees resolved that Johnson would simply earn $1000 each year, essentially abandoning Farrar's plan. Since then Principals have not held the responsibility to deal with financial matters.
As a teacher Johnson varied greatly from his predecessors. He was kind, gentle, and rarely resorted to harshness or corporal punishment. He was an efficient teacher, rarely bringing books to class as he had already memorized them beforehand. There are a number of accounts of his classes and teaching style from his former students and colleagues. Chiefly is the account by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in his poem, The School-boy:

"His was the charm magnetic, the bright look
That sheds its sunshine on the dreariest book;
A loving soul to every task he brought
That sweetly mingled with the lore he taught;
Sprung from a saintly race that never could
From youth to age be anything but good,
His few brief years in holiest labors spent,
Earth lost too soon the treasure heaven had lent."

Another comes from Isaac P. Langworthy, a former student of Johnson's and founding President of the student-run Society of Inquiry on his teaching style:

"As a teacher, I never knew one more thorough, lucid, patient, or inspiring. I never saw him disconcerted. He was always self -poised, awake to every emergency; and having full command of his varied and broad resources, he could meet every exigency incident to his responsible position with most admirable tact and skill....When he became Principal, he at once began the gradual elevation of the standard of scholarship, keeping it abreast, if not in advance, of the best Academies in the country."

After the establishment of William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator slavery became a heated issue in New England and as a result in 1835, the "Anti-Slavery Rebellion" rose in popularity, including among Phillips Academy students. Teachers at the Andover Theological Seminary as well as Johnson who opposed abolition, banned anti-slavery societies, their reason being "such organizations would bring odium on the institutions, and keep away Southern students." Despite warnings students went off campus to listen to anti-slavery talks, known as "theologues" or "cads", including ones by English anti-slavery orators Sir Robert Peel and George Thompson, and Garrison himself, who visited Andover during lecture tours of Massachusetts. Tens of students gathered in July 1835 on Indian Ridge to discuss the formation of an anti-slavery society, and multiple times their requests were denied by Johnson. At the height of the conflict, fifty students in rebellion dismissed themselves from the school in a letter to Johnson. Of the fifty most were no longer minors and sufficiently prepared to enter college.
During the same time the first dormitories on campus, known as the "Latin Commons" were completed and occupied for the first time. Before that time non-local students primarily lived off-campus with host families. They were simple, wooden, utilitarian buildings, lined in a single row, costing about $1500 each. A similar parallel "English Commons" was completed in 1836 for the Teachers' Seminary about a quarter mile to the north. The method and speed by which students could travel to Phillips Academy also changed drastically during Johnson's administration. On August 6, 1836, crowds gathered to witness the first train to travel on the newly constructed railroad through Andover by the Andover and Wilmington Company. The line is currently operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad. Prior to its construction, students either walked or rode by horseback, sometimes hundreds of miles. The railroad broadened the reach of the school and increased access to more students.

Decline and death

Johnson had for a great portion of his life been in a state of poor health. He had a clubfoot which impaired his movement as well as signs of tuberculosis, often becoming tired. As his health declined while Principal, he instructed fewer class and took on fewer administrative duties. Rev. Dr. John P. Gulliver, a teacher, described his figure and state of health:

"I first saw Johnson while, slowly and limpingly, he was making his way from the door of the old Brick Academy down to his chaise. His pallid face, surmounted by a dome-like brow, with his large spectacles and a peculiar spiritual expression, gave me the impression, to a degree I never got from any other man, that what I saw was not the man, but that his real self was out of sight, behind those glasses, and that white, placid face, and that great coat and muffler which he wore. He had a club-foot also, which struck the sidewalk with a thud at every step, and alternately raised and depressed his form as he walked. The tout ensemble made a great impression on my boyish imagination. His infirmities added to his dignity, and the whole effect of his appearance was to inspire the idea that some supernatural being had been born lame, like Vulcan, and unjustly cast down from Olympus."

Johnson considered resigning in the Fall of 1836, but students and colleagues urged him otherwise. Students even carried Johnson to the classroom. Finally in 1837 he was forced to remain in bed. During this time William Augustus Peabody, a student at the Theological Seminary, served as Acting Principal. On April 17th, Johnson resigned. His final action was to request Samuel Harvey Taylor succeed him. On May 9, 1837, he died of pulmonary tuberculosis. He was buried in the Phillips Academy Cemetery and a monument in his name was constructed "at the expense of his students." The stone bore a commemorative inscription composed by Professor James L. Kingsley, of Yale College.
At the time of his death Johnson was one of foremost classical scholars of his time. Historians speculate whether he would have had a greater impact on the school if he lived longer.