Word: belchers
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What sort of man was this Jonathan Belcher, and what prompted him to refound the College of New Jersey? History shows that his character and motives were never open to question...
...Jonathon Belcher ranked second in his class at Harvard but fell into evil ways after graduation. He tried his hand at business but was publicly caned for exporting scarce grain; so he turned to politics. The most notable play of his early political career came in 1716. In this year the choice for governor of Massachusetts fell between two men--Shute and Burgess. By bribing Burgess $1000 to leave the race, Belcher won the commission for his friend Shute and gained a certain notoriety for himself in the bargain. Shute, in turn, grew tired of office quickly and finagled...
...this weakened Jonathon Belcher's influence considerably, and subsequent string-pulling only netted him the post of Governor of New Jersey. His arrival in the Garden State was a gala event in 1747, but he demonstrated the powers of perception gained at Harvard by describing the citizens of New Jersey -- "the greatest part of them in a Wretched State of Ignorance, Unpolisht and of bad manners." Disillusioned, he named his estate "World's End," then decided to establish a respectable college...
...conjunction with another Harvardman, Ebenezer Pemberton '21, Governor Belcher secured a legal and liberal charter for the College of New Jersy and chose Princeton as the site. Beyond this, Belcher used his influence in England to get funds for the struggling institution and tried to attract the sons of prominent Massachusetts families as students. In humble gratitude the Princeton trustees wanted to name their first building "Belcher Hall," but the governor declined and suggested the name "Nassau Hall...
...later board of Princeton trustees referred to Belcher as "the Founder patron, and benefactor of the college" but the good Governor may have doubted the value of his project when he was stricken with palsy at the Princeton Commencement of 1750. He died soon afterward, but not before leaving strict orders that he be buried in Cambridge and that his two sons be sent to Harvard...