B. A. Hinsdale (1837–1900)

He received his education in the district schools, and at the Western Reserve Collegiate Institute, afterwards Hiram College. Here he met the young James Abram Garfield, who was about four years his senior, with whom he formed a close and enduring friendship. He early entered upon the work of the Christian ministry and preached regularly for some years. His first pastoral charge was at Solon, where he also conducted a school. Later, while pastor of an East Cleveland church, he was associate editor of "The Christian Standard," to which he contributed a large number of carefully prepared book reviews, chiefly historical and literary. On the opening of Alliance College in 1868 he was appointed to the chair of History, Political Economy, and Governmental Science. This position he resigned at the end of the first year to accept the chair of Philosophy, History, and Biblical Literature in Hiram College. He succeeded to the presidency of the College in 1870, and continued in that office till 1882.