Nathan Bishop (educator)
Nathan Bishop was an American educator and philanthropist who served as the first superintendent of schools in Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston. He later spearheaded an effort to create a college for African-American Baptists in Texas which led to the creation of Bishop College.
Early life
Bishop was born on August 12, 1808, in Vernon, New York. He was the eldest son of Connecticut natives Elnathan and Statira Bishop and grew up on the family farm. He left home at the age of eighteen to attend school in Hamilton, New York. In 1832 he moved to Providence to attend Brown University. He graduated in 1837.Career in education
From 1838 to 1839, Bishop was a tutor at Brown. In 1842 he was made a trustee of the university. From 1854 to 1861 he served on Brown's Board of Fellows.In 1839, Bishop was appointed to the newly created position of superintendent of schools in Providence, Rhode Island. In this role, Bishop oversaw the construction of seventeen new schools, thirteen of which were completed between 1839 and 1841. In 1851, Bishop was named Boston's first ever superintendent of schools. In 1855 Harvard College conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws.
New York
In 1858, Bishop moved to New York City. He planned to work in the publishing industry, however the aftermath of the Panic of 1857 made it impossible for him to start his new venture. That same year he married Caroline Bleecker. They had one child together.During the American Civil War, Bishop was active in the United States Christian Commission. From 1863 to 1865 he served as the chairman of the commission's New York Branch. After the war, Bishop served as a trustee of the American Bible Society, was a member of the New York Commission for Public Charities, and was a founding trustee of Vassar College. He was also active in the American wing of the Evangelical Alliance and in 1871 was part of a delegation that went to Friedrichshafen to petition Alexander II of Russia for religious liberty for Lutherans in the Baltic governorates.