William E. Huntington (1873)
HUNTINGTON, WILLIAM EDWARDS (1844-1930), American minister, educator, and university president, was born at Hillsboro, Ill., on July 30, 1844. He was brought up on a farm, for which, in retrospect, he was grateful. The Civil War broke out when he was seventeen and he enlisted, and served until its close. Then he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin. Upon graduating there he entered Boston University School of Theology to prepare for the Methodist ministry. After graduating with the degree of S.T.B., he spent a year in advance study at the Universities of Leipzig and Goetthegen, in Germany. Then he spent eight years in the pastorate. In 1882, at thirty-eight years of age, Huntington was appointed dean of the Boston University College of Liberal Arts, in which position he served twenty-two years. Then, in 1904, he was elected president of Boston University, which office he held with distinction until 1911. On his retirement he was appointed dean of the graduate school, where he served six years more. After his final retirement, he reflected upon his early self- dedication to the Methodist ministry, and said: “I look back upon my 35 years of service in Boston University as truly a time of ministering as were the years in the pastorate.”
Dictionary of American Biography.