Adams, Jasper

Jasper Adams (1793-1841), professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, was born in East Medway, Massachusetts, August 27, 1793, prepared for college with Rev. Luther Wright, and graduated from Brown in 1815. He then taught at Phillips Andover Academy for three years. He was a tutor at Brown during the year 1818-19, and in 1819 was named professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. He was ordained an Episcopal deacon in 1819 and a priest in 1820. He left Brown in 1824 to become president of Charleston College, where he remained until 1826. He did much to improve that institution, but left to become president of Geneva (later Hobart) College. The trustees of Charleston called him back in 1828 and the college continued to advance under his administration. He resigned for the second time in 1836. He served as chaplain and professor of geography, history, and ethics at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1838 to 1840, and then had charge of a seminary in Pendleton, S. C. for a brief time before his death on October 25, 1841.