Clinton Liberal Institute

{{Short description|Preparatory boarding school in Clinton, New York, U.S.}} {{Infobox school | name = Clinton Liberal Institute | native_name = | image = The Clinton Liberal Institute in Fort Plain,NY.jpg | alt = | caption = The Clinton Liberal Institute in Fort Plain, NY | motto =  | motto_translation = | location = Town of Kirkland, New York | country = | coordinates =  | other_name =  | former_name =  | type = [[Preparatory school|Preparatory boarding school]] | religious_affiliation = | established = {{start date|1831}} | founder =  | closed = {{end date|1900}} | school_board = | district = | authority =  | oversight =  | principal =  | head =  | staff = | faculty = | grades =  | gender =  | age_range =  | enrollment =  | language = | campus_size = | campus_type = | colors =  | accreditation =  | publication = | newspaper = | yearbook = | affiliation =  | website =  | footnotes = }} The '''Clinton Liberal Institute''' was a [[University-preparatory school|preparatory]] [[boarding school]] established by the [[Universalist Church]] in the village of [[Clinton, Oneida County, New York|Clinton]], in the [[Kirkland, New York|Town of Kirkland, New York]], in 1831. Its main building, a massive stone structure,<ref name=Leader>{{cite news |title=Anniversary Exercises of Clinton Liberal Institute |newspaper=The Christian Leader |location=New York, New York |date=28 Jun 1873 |page=6 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123314288/exercises-at-the-clinton-liberal/}}</ref> was the largest building in Clinton for many years. It relocated to [[Fort Plain, New York]], in 1878, taking over the former Fort Plain Seminary, and remaining there until its buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1900.

It was the first educational institution established by American Universalists. It was an institute of so-called religious "liberals". According to its original constitution, "Students shall in no case be persuaded by an officer or teacher to attend meetings of any denomination, and no minister of any denomination shall have the liberty to perform the service of worship within this Institute." Parents did not want their children obligated to attend the services of the sponsoring church, as for example students at the Houghton Seminary, in Clinton, were required to attend Presbyterian services.<ref>{{cite book |page=121 |title=A View from the Steeple. The Founding and Growth of Stone Church, Hamilton College, and the Village of Clinton |first=Midge |last=Bakos |editor-first=Mary Ann |editor-last=Stiefvater |year=2023 |publisher=The Presbyterian Society of Clinton |isbn=9798858411802}}</ref> This provision was later rescinded and in 1841 a resolution of the Board of Trustees urged that "students be affectionately entreated to attend public worship."<ref name=Courier>{{cite news |title=Clinton Liberal Institute |newspaper=Clinton Courier |date=August 5, 1965 |page=8}}</ref>

Both male and female students studied at the Institute, but separately, with different teachers and in different buildings.

==History== ===Establishment=== The Clinton Liberal Institute was the initial educational venture of the Universalist denomination in America.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sixty Years of St. Lawrence |location=[[Canton, New York]] |publisher=[[St. Lawrence University]] |year=1916 |editor-first=Malcolm S. |editor-last=Black |page=359}}</ref> The need for a Universalist school, and the precedent set by the [[Oneida Institute]], was set forth in an article in the April 30, 1831, issue of ''[[Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Seminary of Learning for Universalists |newspaper=[[Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate]] |date=April 30, 1831 |pages=141–143 |first=Dolphus |last=Skinner |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah6ma7&seq=151&q1=April+30}}</ref> According to its author, the article was "setting forth the importance to our cause, and strongly urging the necessity upon Universalists, of establishing a literary institution [non-religious school] of our own, which should be free from the intermeddling and control of the Orthodox sects, where we could send our sons and daughters for an education without their being insulted and kept under the perpetual surveillance of our religious opponents, and where our young men could receive a suitable education, preparatory to the ministry of reconciliation."<ref>''[[Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Journal]]'', May 17, 1850, writing on Stephen Rensselaer Smith.</ref>

Efforts by the [[Universalist Church]] to establish a non-denominational and non-sectarian school to train ministers, in the State of New York, began in 1831.<ref name="Allen">Joseph Henry Allen, Richard Eddy, ''History of Universalism'', p. 486-490.</ref><ref name=Everts>{{cite book |title=History of Oneida County, New York. With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers |location=Philadelphia |page=226 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofoneidac00unse/page/n241/mode/1up |publisher=Everts and Fariss |year=1878}}</ref> The intent of these efforts was to create a school "not only for general purposes of science and literature, but with a particular view of furnishing with an education young men designed for the ministry of reconciliation", due to the perception that other Christian schools that dominated the state were "hostile to the doctrine" of Universalism.<ref name="Allen"/> To this end, the Clinton Liberal Institute was established in Clinton, New York, and the first students were admitted in November 1831.<ref name="Allen"/> On April 29, 1834, the [[New York State Legislature]] passed a bill entitled "A{{sc|n}} A{{sc|ct}} to incorporate the Clinton liberal institute", formally allowing a group of eighteen trustees to create "The Clinton Liberal Institute" as a body "for the purpose of providing a literary [non-religious] seminary for the public instruction and education of youth."<ref>''Laws of the State of New York: Passed at the Fifty-Seventh Session of the Legislature'' (1834), p. 364.</ref>

No record survives explaining why Clinton was chosen, but the school's 1878 catalog offered this explanation: "[the] climate is agreeable and healthful; the citizens are intelligent, moral, and hospitable, and are deeply interested in the intellectual culture of the young. The village is exceptionally free from the vices and temptations that abound in most towns and cities. The general quiet of the place and its prevailing intellectual and moral tone are highly favorable to study and the development of true character."<ref>{{citation |first=Richard L. |last=Williams |title=The Story of the Clinton Liberal Institute |date=November 2002 |publisher=Manuscript.}}</ref>

===Operation=== [[File:Clinton Liberal Institute.jpg|thumb|300px|Drawing of the main (male) building of the Clinton Liberal Institute, published in ''Historical Collections of the State of New York'' in 1842. At that date Clinton had not yet been incorporated, so it is described as being in the [[Kirkland, New York|town of Kirkland]].]] The original building of the Institute, located on eight acres at the southeast corner of Utica and Mulberry Streets, where male students boarded, was four stories tall (plus a basement), with a base 96 by 52 feet, built of gray stone. It cost $9,300 to build ({{inflation|US|9300|1831|fmt=eq}}) and was the largest building in Clinton. A separate wooden building for classes for women, who boarded with families, was two stories tall, and 40 by 25 feet. During the first year there were 108 students.<ref name=Gridley>{{cite book |title=History of the Town of Kirkland New York |first=A[mos] D[elos] |last=Gridley |location=New York |publisher=[[Hurd and Houghton]] |year=1874}}</ref>{{rp|138}} The school was placed under the visitation of the Regents of nearby [[Hamilton College]] in 1836.<ref>John Warner Barber, Henry Howe, ''Historical Collections of the State of New York'' (1842), p. 362.</ref> By 1838 it had a library of 1,000 volumes.<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Clinton Liberal Institute |year=1838 |page=12}}</ref>

The Ladies' Department was located 0.8 miles (1.25 km) away from the men's department, at Chestnut and William Streets, "pleasantly situated at the head of one of the main streets of the village, commanding a view of the whole street and West Park Row, in fact overlooking the entire village."<ref name=Leader/> The Ladies' Department had eight pianos.<ref name="Leader 2">{{cite news |title=Report of Clinton Liberal Institute |newspaper=The Christian Leader |location=New York, New York |date=November 1, 1873 |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123315141/report-of-clinton-liberal-institute/}}</ref>

Both male and female students had free access to the Astronomical Observatory at [[Hamilton College]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Clinton Liberal Institute [handbill] |date=March 1860 |publisher=Held by the Clinton Historical Society}}</ref> According to the school's 1844 Catalogue, "Students will also have the privilege of attending free of charge the Scientific Lectures delivered at Hamilton College, which will comprise a complete course in Chemistry, Philosophy [physics], Geology, and Astronomy. This is an advantage which few schools of this description can enjoy, since the College is but a short walk from the Institute."<ref>{{cite book |page=11 |title=Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Clinton Liberal Institute, at Clinton, Oneida Co., N.Y. |year=1844 |publisher=Held by the Clinton Historical Society}}</ref>

In 1839, a call for funds to retire debt stated that 1,000 youth of both sexes had been taught by the Institute.<ref>{{cite news |title=Clinton Liberal Institute. To Universalist Ministers |page=19 |newspaper=[[Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate]] |date=January 18, 1839 |volume=10, new series |number=3 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080021739&seq=29&q1=%22Clinton+liberal+institute%22}}</ref>

In 1845, after much discussion within the Universalist Church about establishing a [[seminary]] in the state of New York, Reverend [[Thomas J. Sawyer]]—a leading proponent of such an establishment—took charge of the Clinton Liberal Institute. He set aside two hours per day to lecture on [[theology]] to any students who wanted to attend, at no cost to the students. He continued to offer this additional instruction until the fall of 1853, by which time efforts were underway to open a Universalist seminary elsewhere in New York. Sawyer prepared a total of 37 students to enter the ministry during this period.<ref name="Allen"/>

According to Cunningham, in his ''History of Oneida County,'' "This institution had somewhat of a checkered career, and finally, in 1879, was removed to Fort Plain." The checkered career was the institute's precarious financial status, which threatened its survival: "through a long period the life of the school was an incessant struggle with floating debts and inadequate resources.... Repeatedly—almost periodically during its first years and not rarely later—it encountered financial storms that seemed certain to overwhelm it."<ref name=Courier/> The move to Fort Plain reflected the deterioration of the original buildings (the stone of the main building was later used in the construction of Carnegie Hall, on the Hamilton College campus, which opened in 1904<ref name=Forty/>{{rp|25}}). [[Fort Plain, New York]] is in [[Montgomery County, New York|Montgomery County]]. Still named the Clinton Liberal Institute, it occupied in Fort Plain the facilities of the former Fort Plain Female Seminary and Collegiate Institute.<ref>{{cite book |page=366 |volume=I |title=History of Oneida County New York from 1700 to the Present Time |last=Cunningham |first=Henry J. |year=1912 |location=Chicago |publisher=S. ). Clarke Publishing Company}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm/ref/collection/fpfl/id/48|title=The Clinton Liberal Institute :: Fort Plain Free Library|website=nyheritage.nnyln.net|access-date=2017-08-03|archive-date=2017-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803211441/http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm/ref/collection/fpfl/id/48|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Allen"/> In 1887, it had a [[William Cullen Bryant]] Literary Society.<ref>{{cite book |title=Programme. Third Annual Reception of the William Cullen Bryant Literary Society of Clinton Liberal Institute Fort Plain, N.Y. |date=February 5, 1887 |publisher=Held by the Clinton Historical Society}}</ref> In 1892, it had thirty pianos.<ref>{{cite news |page=1 |url=https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FLogin_18%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201892%2520Jun-Dec%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201892%2520Jun-Dec%2520-%25200392.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Db25bcba%26DocId%3D4088639%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520E%26HitCount%3D3%26hits%3D1dbf%2B1dc0%2B1dc1%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FLogin_18%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201892%2520Jun-Dec%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201892%2520Jun-Dec%2520-%25200392.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Db25bcba%26DocId%3D4088639%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520E%26HitCount%3D3%26hits%3D1dbf%2B1dc0%2B1dc1%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false |title=Albany Ahead! |newspaper=[[Albany Times-Union]] |date=September 24, 1892}}</ref> In 1891, the Institute established a [[military academy]] (with both male and female cadets) as part of the school,<ref>United States. War Department, ''Annual Report of the Secretary of War'' (1892), p. 270.</ref><ref name="NYH">{{cite web|url=http://tealcat.nyheritage.org/collections/clinton-liberal-institute|title=Clinton Liberal Institute|publisher=New York Heritage|access-date=August 3, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803090048/http://tealcat.nyheritage.org/collections/clinton-liberal-institute|archive-date=August 3, 2017}}</ref> adding "Military Academy" to the school name,<ref>{{cite web |title=Clinton Liberal Institute (Fort Plain, N.Y.) |publisher=SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Context) |accessdate=October 22, 2023 |url=https://snaccooperative.org/view/20322600}}</ref> and had an armory for the storage of [[artillery]] equipment.<ref name="NYH"/> All of the Institute's buildings at the Fort Plain location were destroyed in a fire on March 25, 1900.<ref name="Scott">{{cite book |first=Clinton Lee |last=Scott |title=The Universalist Church of America: A Short History |year=1957 |page=76}}</ref><ref name="NYH"/> The Institute's remaining resources were then transferred to [[Canton, New York]], and merged with the theological school of [[St. Lawrence University]].<ref name="Scott"/>

==Associated individuals== ===Faculty=== * Rev. C. B. Thummel, Principal and Professor of Languages when the school opened.<ref name=Gridley/>{{rp|138–139}} * Rev. [[Thomas Jefferson Sawyer]], founder of [[Tufts College]], was pastor of the Universalist church in Clinton<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Tufts College |author=Tufts College |date=1896 |page=168 |publisher=Tufts College |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoftuftsco00tuftuoft/page/n227/mode/2up?q=%22Thomas+jefferson+Sawyer%22}}</ref> * Rev. [[Stephen Rensselaer Smith]]. "It is well understood and acknowledged that Rev. Stephen R. Smith, for many years a resident and preacher in Clinton, was the founder of the Institute."<ref name=Everts/>{{rp|237}} * George R. Perkins, taught mathematics<ref>{{cite journal |title=A History of American Mathematical Journals |first=Benjamin F. |last=Finkel |journal=[[National Mathematics Magazine]] |volume=15 |number=4 |date=Jan 1941 |pages=177–190 [178] |jstor=3028132 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3028132}}</ref><ref name=Gridley/>{{rp|139}} * Heman A. Dearborn, A.M., Principal from about 1860 to 1964; left to accept position teaching Latin at the new [[Tufts College]]<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Heman A. Dearborn, A.M. |pages=115–116 |title=History of Tufts College |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historyoftuftsco00tuftuoft/page/n153/mode/2up |publisher=The Class of 1897. Tufts College |editor-first=Alaric Bertrand |editor-last=Start |year=1896}}</ref> * [[Caroline A. Soule]], writer, was for two years the unpaid head of the Female Department.<ref>{{cite web |title=Soule, Caroline Augusta White (1824–1903) |publisher=Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/caroline-augusta-white-soule/ |accessdate=September 5, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://uudb.org/articles/carolinesoule.html |title=Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography, Caroline Soule |access-date=2017-08-04 |archive-date=2018-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224051124/http://uudb.org/articles/carolinesoule.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Emery H. Blair, taught mathematics, husband of [[Ellen A. Dayton Blair]]<ref>{{cite book |page=94 |url=https://archive.org/details/womanofthecentur002516mbp/page/94/mode/2up?q=%22clinton+liberal+institute%22 |title=A woman of the century; fourteen hundred-seventy biographical sketches ... of leading American women in all walks of life |first1=Frances Elizabeth |last1=Willard |first2=Mary A. |last2=Livermore |authorlink1=Frances Willard |authorlink2=Mary Livermore |date=1893 |publisher=[[Charles Wells Moulton]] |location=Buffalo}}</ref> * Edmund S. Jenkins and his wife Lydia Ann Moulton Jenkins were from 1860 to 1862 joint Universalist ministers in Clinton and worked with the Institute students.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jenkins, Lydia Ann Moulton (c. 1825–1874) |publisher=Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/lydia-ann-moulton-jenkins/ |access-date=September 5, 2023}}</ref> * Mrs. Eliza Clackett, Music Teacher – During the Year Terminating August 30th, 1837.<ref>Catalog of the Officers and Students of the Clinton Liberal Institute, at Clinton, Oneida County, N.Y., p. 3</ref> * [[Ephraim Porter Felt]], taught science *[[Everard Enos Hatch]], military instructor * Myron J. Michael, principal in 1895<ref>{{cite news |title=State Truancy Officer |date=July 15, 1895 |page=1 |newspaper=[[Albany Times-Union]] |url=https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FLogin_18%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201895%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201895%2520-%25200752.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3D18cdc23a%26DocId%3D4091658%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520E%26HitCount%3D3%26hits%3D2171%2B2172%2B2173%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FLogin_18%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201895%2FAlbany%2520NY%2520Times%2520Union%25201895%2520-%25200752.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3D18cdc23a%26DocId%3D4091658%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520E%26HitCount%3D3%26hits%3D2171%2B2172%2B2173%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false}}</ref>

===Students ([[alumni]])=== *[[Adolphus C. Bartlett]], industrialist<ref>Daniel Stern, ''American Artisan'' (1922), Vol. 83, p. 21.</ref> *[[Clara Barton]], founder of the [[American Red Cross]],<ref name="CCOC">{{cite web|url=http://www.clintonnychamber.org/our-history.html|title=Our History – Clinton, NY|website=www.clintonnychamber.org}}</ref> 1850–1852<ref>{{citation |title=A day in Clinton: Photo essay of people, places in Upstate NY village |date=Nov 8, 2016 |first=Gary |last=Walts |newspaper=New York Upstate |url=https://www.newyorkupstate.com/central-ny/2016/11/a_day_in_clinton_photo_essay_of_people_places_in_upstate_ny_village.html}}</ref> *[[William Biddlecome]], attorney and politician<ref>'Proceedings of the State Bar Association of Wisconsin,' vol. 1, 1905, Biographical Sketch of William Biddlecome, p. 193.</ref> *[[Winchester Britton]], attorney and politician<ref>Lucien Brock Proctor, ''The Bench and Bar of King's County, N.Y. and the Bench and Bar of the City of Brooklyn'' (1884), p. 105;</ref> *[[Elizabeth Bruce (Universalist)|Elizabeth Bruce]], Universalist author and minister; taught drawing at the Institute in 1853–54<ref>{{cite journal |title='Instead of the Brier' : The Life and Works of Mrs. Elizabeth M Bruce, Universalist Author and Minister |first=Deidre A. |last=Johnson |url=https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHjIloLM_J-oCztr2keYdV8f1ibHmDucods679W_YPnffAGz57joc4it2JtCnEehd0eMAAAA2TCB1gYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHIMIHFAgEAMIG_BgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDHfgVf3x0mxse54fmAIBEICBkWweLN-niIWAfLD9ZZ8t1h72FzapW3AGlrKA6uSMc1Sk04X0Xe_ymhkVTiot-ox-x-HnMwBLBSYSAct5eUKYhxkTJG8yPXuvxTSwwWdXdBRSQNtEa4J3m3G_N3TrwZiJopM5cCiyH8cYEpwDayFGa4N_fipSULl5wgqajD1sYbBd-ntgzGmXTWHB6AomViEsIaw= |journal=Journal of Unitarian Universalist History |year=2021 |volume=44 |pages=64–93 |via=[[Ebscohost]]}}</ref> * Contrary to his biographers, President [[Grover Cleveland]] did not study in the Institute; he attended the Clinton Grammar School<ref>{{cite journal |title=Clinton's Schools |first=Percy L. |last=Wight |journal=Hamilton Alumni Review |volume=2 |date=May 1937 |pages=117–121}}</ref> *[[Bill Dahlen]], baseball player * [[Julia McEntee Dillon]], painter * [[Richard Eddy (clergyman)|Richard Eddy]], Universalist clergyman *[[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], suffragist<ref>{{cite book|last=White|first=J.T.|title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U11DAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA244|edition=Public domain|year=1921|publisher=J.T. White|page=244}}</ref> *[[Francis H. Gates]], politician<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/newyorkredbook01unkngoog#page/n115/mode/1up ''The New York Red Book''] by Edgar L. Murlin (1903; p. 77f).</ref> *[[Garwood L. Judd]], attorney, member [[New York State Assembly]] *[[Jeremiah Keck]], lawyer and politician<ref>'Who's Who In New York State And City,' L. R. Hamersly-editor, L. R. Hamersly Company, New York City: 1905, Biographical Sketch of Jeremiah Keck, p. 499.</ref> *[[Philip Keck]], lawyer, judge, and politician<ref>'New York State Bar Association-Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth Annual Meeting, January 19–20, 1912, The Argus Company, New York City: 1912, Biographical Sketch of Philip Keck, pg. 575–576.</ref> *[[Simon Lake]], inventor of the modern submarine; attended in Fort Plain<ref name="NYH"/>{{failed verification|date=October 2023}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Simon Lake Dead at 79 |date=June 24, 1945 |newspaper=[[Albany Times-Union]] |page=A2 |url=https://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html}}</ref> *[[Charles H. Leonard]] (1822–1918), dean of the [[Crane Theological School|Tufts Divinity School]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Leonard, Charles H. |publisher=[[Harvard Divinity School]] Library |url=https://library.hds.harvard.edu/exhibits/featured-images/leonard-charles}}</ref> *[[Ebenezer Lewis]], Esq. (1819–1878), attorney, active in Wales and missionary work, trustee of the [[Oneida Institute]]<ref>{{citation |title=Whitestown Seminary, Oneida County, New York |year=2002 |first=Laura |last=Perkins |publisher=US GenWeb Archives |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/ny/oneida/history/schools/whitestown.txt}}</ref> * William R. Libbey (1857–1894), dentist, studied at Clinton Grammar School<ref name=Forty>{{cite book |title=Forty Years of Clinton History |orig-date=1915 |date=2003 |publisher=[[Clinton Historical Society (Clinton, New York)]]}}</ref>{{rp|16}} *[[Jervis McEntee]], painter<ref>{{cite web|title=Jervis McEntee Diary, 1844–1845|url=http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/m/mcentee_j.htm|work=Finding Aids|publisher=Syracuse University Libraries|access-date=21 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Hudson River School's McEntee lived in Kingston |newspaper=[[Poughkeepsie Journal]] |date=1 Aug 2018 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123260762/jervis-mcentee/ |last=Musso |first=Anthont |page=A3}}</ref> * [[Stillman T. Meservey]], banker, industrialist, member of Iowa General Assembly<ref>{{cite journal |title=Notable Deaths |journal=Annals of Iowa |date=April 1928 |volume=16 |number=4 |via=America: History and Life with Full Text |page=312}}</ref> * Bernard Peters, minister, editor of the [[Brooklyn Daily Times]]<ref>{{cite journal |title='Saucepan journalism' in an age of indifference: Moody, Beecher, and Brooklyn's gilded press. |last=Evensen |first=Bruce J. |journal=Journalism History |date=Winter 2001–2002 |volume=27 |number=4 |pages=165–177 |doi=10.1080/00947679.2002.12062585 |via=Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson)}}</ref> *[[Oscar Rathbun]], Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island *[[Clinton Scollard]], writer, professor at Hamilton College *[[Charles R. Skinner]], U.S. Representative<ref>United States Congress, "[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000467 Charles R. Skinner (id: S000467)]", ''[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]''.</ref> *[[Joseph G. Standart]], businessman *[[Charles Stanford (politician)|Charles Stanford]], merchant, newspaper publisher and politician, brother of Leland Stanford,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=T7AsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA144 ''Life Sketches of the State Officers, Senators, and Members of the Assembly of the State of New York, in 1867''] by S. R. Harlow & H. H. Boone (pp. 144ff).</ref> attended in 1844. Another brother, DeWitt, attended in 1843. *[[Leland Stanford]], Governor of California, U.S. Senator, and founder of [[Stanford University]]<ref name="CCOC"/> He attended in 1844 and transferred with Charles to the Cazenovia Seminary in 1845. *[[Farris B. Streeter]], Solicitor of the United States Treasury<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TPwLAAAAYAAJ&q=streeter&pg=PA738 Courts and Lawyers of Pennsylvaniar: A History, 1623–1923], by Frank Marshall Eastman, Volume 3, 1922, p. 678.</ref> *[[Isaac Tripp]] (1821–1902), lawyer<ref>{{cite news |title=Practiced law over fifty years |newspaper=[[Utica Observer]] |date=24 February 1902 |page=10 |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=tuo19020224-01.1.10&srpos=32&e=-------en-20--21--txt-txIN-Studied+%22Clinton+liberal+institute%22---------}}</ref> *[[John Wieting]], doctor and philanthropist *[[George E. Williams (New York politician)|George E. Williams]], newspaper publisher and politician<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101061337661;view=1up;seq=188 ''The State Government for 1879''] by [[Charles G. Shanks]] (Weed, Parsons & Co, Albany, 1879; p. 166).</ref> * [[Pardon C. Williams]], lawyer and judge * [[Oren Elbridge Wilson]], mayor of [[Albany, New York]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Wilson Won, with Both Hands Down|newspaper=[[Albany Express]]|date=April 11, 1894|page=1|url=https://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html}}</ref>

==Archival material== * Archival materials are held in the [[St. Lawrence University]] Museum, [[Canton, New York]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Guide to Depositories of Manuscript Collections in New York State: Supplement No. 1 |journal=[[New York History (journal)|New York History]] |volume=24 |number=2 |date=April 1943 |pages=265–270, at p. 267 |jstor=23134962 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23134962}}</ref> New York State Historical Documents, Albany, New York, holds 11 items, including lists of students and instructors, from the Fort Plain period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Clinton Liberal Institute and Military Academy records, 1881-1899 |publisher=[[WorldCat]] |accessdate=September 22, 2023 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/155434034}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm/search/searchterm/Clinton%20Liberal%20Institute/mode/exact New York Heritage Digital Collection of images from the Clinton Liberal Institute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314052014/http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm/search/searchterm/Clinton%20Liberal%20Institute/mode/exact |date=2016-03-14 }}

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