1791 - 1859

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• Suffix	Prof.
  Birth	18 Jun 1791	E. Hartford, Connecticut, USA
  Gender	Male
  Died	13 May 1859
  Person ID	I97140	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	20 Oct 2005 00:00:00
  Father	Nathaniel OLMSTED, b. 19 Jul 1751, of E. Hartford, Connecticut
  Mother	Eunice KINGSBURY, b. 30 Apr 1755
  Family ID	F42145	Group Sheet
  Family 1	Eliza ALLYN, b. 26 Apr 1794, New London, Connecticut
  Married	1 Jun 1818
  Children	1. Francis Allyn OLMSTED, M.D., b. 14 Jul 1819, Usa   2. John Howard OLMSTED, b. 8 Sep 1820, Usa > 3. Cornelia A. OLMSTED, b. 29 Oct 1821   4. Alexander Fisher OLMSTED, b. 20 Dec 1822, Usa   5. Denison OLMSTED, b. 16 Feb 1824, Usa   6. Eliza OLMSTED, b. Jun 1825 > 7. Lucius Duncan OLMSTED, b. 24 Jun 1827, Usa
  Family ID	F42386	Group Sheet
  Family 2	Julia MASON, b. 12 Aug 1803
  Married	24 Aug 1831
  Children	1. Julia Mason OLMSTED, b. 15 Aug 1832
  Family ID	F42387	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Name Suffix: Prof. !He graduated Yale 1813; tutor in College of North Carolina; professor of chemistry, mathematics, natural philosphy and astronomy atYale; degree of LL. D. from University of NY. "He executed the first State geological survey in America and was a noted mineralogist." - Loomis Genealogy,p. 126. A discourse commemorative of the life and services of Denison Olmsted,D.D., Professor of natural philosphy and astronomy in Yale College, was delivered in the College Chapel, May 20, 1859, by the Rev. Theodore D. Woolsey, D.D.,President of Yale College. In the course of his address occurs this passage:"I appear before the academical body, and this respected audience, today, as the eldest of the acting colleagues of Prof. Olmsted, in order to pay an official, but willing tribute to his worth and services. Not thirteen years have elapsed since he stood the fifth, and I the sixth, in the order of seniority upon our catalogue. Of the four elder members of the faculty, one whom I love to think of, and love to honor, Prof. Kingsley, was called away by death a year afterhe had resigned his work of half a century in the service of the college; and three others, whom age or infirmities ahd induced to leave their stations, stillsurvive, to show to the world how honored is the old age of a scholar, who hasbuilt his life upon the foundations of Christian virtue. Prof. Olmsted, the next in this series, presents an example of what has not happened before in ourfaculty for more than a generation, for Prof. Stanley had suspended his laborsa long time before his death, he died in the midst of his work, with his armoron, actively engaged in his lectures through the last term, and looking forward, just before his disease attacked him, to instructions during the summer. Hehad intended, for a considerable time before his death, to resign his professorship in the year 1861, when he should have reached the age of seventy. But god's ways are not our ways. The tranquil shade of the evening of life, that harbor from care and toil, where the old man of intellectual resources and Christian hopes can look forward and backward without distrubance, was not allotted tohim. He thought of rest on earth, as the aged Christian may; but God did better things for him - He gave him rest in Heaven. His family affections were delightful, and united with his sense of duty, made him an exemplary son, husband,father, and kinsman. His children revered without fearing him; they were trained to exercise their powers of thinking, and he was thus within the house theirchief teacher. Their characters rewarded his efforts; but alas, much more than the usual amount of affliction came upon him from a chastening God. Betweenthe years 1844 and 1852, four sons, graduates of Yale College, blameless and exmplary in Christian life, giving promise of usefulness, were snatched away by consumption, two of them in 1846 in which same year also his saintly mother, atthe age of nearly ninety, fell asleep in Christ. His eldest son, Francis Allyn, found it necessary soon after graduation in 1839, to go upon a voyage in quest of health. He visited the Southern seas, and on his return published a smallvolume on what he had seen, especially on the Sandwich Islands. But his voyage was of no permanent use. He died not long after receiving the degree of doctor of medicine in 1844. The second son, John Howard, was kept from College forsome years by ill health, so that he received his degree after his young brothers in 1845. He died but a few months after taking his degree in January 1846at Jacksonville in Florida, whither his commencing illness had carried him, andwas laid by the side of Francis. Two of the brothers, Denison and Alexander Fisher, were members of the same class of 1844, and both apear as orators on thelist of the appointments for Commencement. Denison, second to none in the hopes with which he inspired his friends and having

• Sources

  [S718] GEDCom File from Cassandra Olmstead [CassandraO@msn.com], with information from"Genealogy of the Olmsted Family in Americ, 10 Jun 2002.