Asa Messer


Asa Messer was an American Baptist clergyman and educator. He was President of Brown University from 1804 to 1826.

Early life

Messer was born in Methuen, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brown University in 1790.

Career

He was named tutor in the College in 1791, and served as librarian from 1792 to 1799. He was appointed professor of learned languages in 1796, and professor of natural philosophy in 1799. In 1802 he succeeded Jonathan Maxcy as president pro tempore for two years before being named president in 1804.
In 1812 he received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont. Messer was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815. In 1818 he declined an appointment as justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, finding the appointment incompatible with his college office. In 1820 he received the degree of D.D. from Harvard. Though as Brown's president Messer worked to make an education available to students of differing means, the student body became increasingly unruly during Messer's tenure, culminating in numerous incidents of vandalism to the chapel and library in the 1820s. Messer resigned as president on September 23, 1826.
Though ordained a Baptist minister in 1801, Messer did not serve as a church pastor. He patented two flumes in the 1820s and owned a farm in Fishersfield, New Hampshire, and part of a cotton mill in Wrentham, Massachusetts. Messer was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Rhode Island in 1830.
Asa Messer Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island is named in his honor.