John F. Pingry
John F. Pingry | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Rev. John F. Pingry (c. 1830s) | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | September 26, 1818 |
| Died | February 16, 1894 (aged 75) |
| Spouse | Caroline G. Oakley |
| Main interest(s) | Pedagogy |
| Notable work(s) | The Pingry School (est. 1861) |
| Education | Dartmouth College (BA) Union Theological Seminary (DD) |
| Occupation |
|
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Church | Presbyterian Church |
John Francis Pingry (September 26, 1818 – February 16, 1893) was an American Presbyterian minister and educator.[1] He founded The Pingry School in 1861.[2]
Life and career
Pingry was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, near Haverhill. At age 14, he entered Dartmouth College to study to become a minister, graduating in 1836.[3] That year, he moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Pingry worked at Chilton Seminary as an assistant to Rev. John T Halsey and later married Halsey's sister, Caroline G. Oakley.[4]
Between 1840-1841, Pingry attended Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan. He was ordained at the Presbyterian Church in Fishkill, New York in 1842 and served as its minister for four years. There, Pingry first began a classical school for boys in Fishkill, which he later relocated to Roseville outside of Newark, New Jersey. In 1860, he became principal of Chilton Seminary, renamed Elizabeth's Pearl Cottage Seminary, located at 1186 East Grand Street.
After 25 years of being a teacher and minister, he opened the 'Pingry Select School for Boys' in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1861, limited to one hundred pupils.[5] As its motto, he wrote Maxima reverentia pueris debetur (Great respect is due students).[6] He took in students like Leander Tallmadge[7] and the Rev. John Bancroft Devins, whom he generously allowed to "earn his tuition and... school books by janitor and other service."[8]
In 1953, the school was relocated a short distance to Hillside, New Jersey, and then Martinsville, New Jersey in 1983, where it continues operating as a private college-preparatory country day school.[9]
References
- ^ Mendenhall, Harlan George (1903). Presbyterianism in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Perth Amboy Publishing Company. pp. 35–36. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ Lurie, Maxine N.; Mappen, Marc (2004). Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. p. 640. ISBN 978-0-8135-3325-4. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ "Pingry Centennial | Dartmouth Alumni Magazine | February 1962". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine | The Complete Archive. No. Pingry Centennial. February 1962. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ "1800s". The Historical Society of Elizabeth. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ "New-York Observer". Morse, Hallock & Company. 1912. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ "The Pingry School" (PDF). Brown Schroder and Associates. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ N.Y.), Union Theological Seminary (New York (1882). Report of the Class of 1867, of the Union Theological Seminary, New York. E. Winton. pp. 36–37. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ New-York Observer 1912, p. 456.
- ^ via Associated Press. "Charles B. Newton", The Press of Atlantic City, June 11, 1936. Accessed March 1, 2024., via Newspapers.com. "Charles Bertram Newton, 64, headmaster of Pingry School since 1920, died at his home today. Illness had forced him to withdraw from active school duty last September. He was recognized as one of the founders of the country Day School movement in this country and was associated with secondary schools since his graduation from Princeton in 1893."