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ALEXANDER Moss MERWIN was born September 3, 1839, in Norwalk, Connecticut.
His parents were Timothy Taylor and Hannah Bartow (White) Merwin. His preparatory
studies were passed in Burr and Burton Seminary, Manchester, Vermont, and he entered
the Class of 1862, and continued with that class nearly through Sophomore year. He was
the first choice of '62 for president of the Biennial Celebration, but was unable to serve,
being absent in Europe at the time, in the hope of regaining his health. He was out of
college a little more than a year, and joined our Class toward the end of our first term in
Sophomore year. Merwin was a member of the Equitable fraternity; of 'Logian Literary
Society; of Mills Society, being its treasurer Junior year, and its president for the first term
Senior year; also a member of the Lyceum of Natural History, and of the Williams Art
Association. He received the appointment of an oration on the Commencement program.
After graduation, Merwin passed his professional course in Princeton Theological Seminary.
He then entered upon missionary work, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Missionary
Society, in Chile, South America, and spent nineteen years in this field of labor, 1866 to
1885. While in South America he aided in organizing the first Protestant Christian church
in Santiago, Chile; and later, at Valparaiso, in the same republic, he organized the first
native evangelical church; also an orphan asylum and day school; was co-founder of The
Record and La Piedra, the first Chilian Protestant periodical, of which he was editor for
some years. Merwin was obliged to leave South America on account of the health of his
family. In 1886, he removed to Santa Barbara, California, and there for one year he
supplied the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church, and then removed to Pasadena,
California, where he is still residing. For a year or so after taking up his residence in
Pasadena, he was occupied in organizing three churches for English-speaking people, and
then he became a missionary among the Spanish-speaking residents of Pasadena and vicinity,
and our classmate is superintending an important work among the so-called Mexicans in
Southern California, which number about 45,000.
In 1880, Merwin received the degree of Master of Arts from Yale University, having
previously taken this degree in regular course in 1866, as was then the custom, from his
Alma Mater. He has been president of the South Pasadena Public Library from its
organization, five years ago, and also of the Twilight Club, Pasadena, for six years; is
chaplain of the California Chapter of the Society of Colonial Wars; and a member of the
Society of Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of Colonial Governors.
Although not in the rank or file of the army during the Civil War, Merwin, while in
college and seminary, served for a while as substitute for Chaplain Hopkins (now our college
president) and Roe at Alexandria and Fortress Munroe hospitals; also took part in the
fieldwork of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions at different periods.
October 3, 1866, our classmate married Miss Elizabeth Putnam, daughter of Prof.
William A. and Mary J. (Putnam) Burnham, of Manchester, Vermont. Three of the children of this marriage, Arthur, Grace, and Elizabeth, died before any one of them
reached the age of fourteen. Mary Amelia, born October 23, 1869, and William Burnham,
born March 1, 1875, now reside with their parents, unmarried, the son being in business in
Los Angeles.
Source:
Class of Sixty-Three Williams College Fortieth Year Report, by
the Class Historian, Thomas Todd Printer, Boston, 1903
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