Mark Newman (educator)


Mark Newman was an American educator, deacon, and publisher and 3rd Principal of Phillips Academy Andover from 1795 to 1809. While he is known primarily for his work at Phillips Academy, the majority of his career was spent as a publisher and bookseller in the same town.

Early life and family

Mark Newman was born into a relatively poor family in Ipswich, Massachusetts on September 7, 1772. At an early age, he caught the attention of the pastor of the First Church in Ipswich, Rev. Levi Frisbie, as someone of note. Thus, under the care of the pastor, Newman was sent to Phillips Exeter Academy. Newman was a charity student, or in other words, on financial aid, funded by the Academy's founder, John Phillips. In his spare time, he worked for Phillips in his home. After graduating from Exeter, he attended Dartmouth College per Phillips' suggestion, graduating in 1793.
His parents were Samuel Newman and Hannah Haskell.

Career

Phillips Academy

Almost immediately after graduating from Dartmouth in 1793, Newman returned to Andover on July 5th to take on an assistant teaching role. There he built a relationship with the Phillips family, especially John Phillips, who helped him secure the Principalship in 1795, shortly after his marriage to Sally Phillips. He moved into the old Abbot House on Phillips Street, where his predecessor Pemberton had recently left. As Principal, he addressed discipline, along with the Trustees of the school. In his first year, students broke windows, resulting in the firing of the instructor Ichabod Johnson. For unknown reasons only described as "prevalent disorder", the school closed for four weeks beginning February 10, 1796. In 1797 a committee was formed to address discipline and in 1798 Newman established a militia company composed of students and young boys in the town as a reward for demonstrating good character. In 1805 a student drowned in the Shawsheen River and measures had to be taken to find a new summer bathing location.
The school's resources grew and secured more funding. The Trustees installed additional seating in the Academy Building in 1799 and added amenities such as window blinds and a clock in 1804. The small school library, founded by Newman in 1796, received more shelf space in 1805. No new buildings were built in that time, however, and the school had changed little since its founding in 1778. Samuel Phillips, the founder, made two later gifts, the first of $1000 in 1801 and the second in 1802 of $4000 as a bequest to fund school textbooks and assist people in the town of Andover, including female teachers and poor Christians. Eight of President George Washington's nephews and grandnephews attended Phillips Academy during this time.
Despite the support, the school was in decline. In 1803 the school had 57 pupils but by 1809 only had 18. He was described as "shy and sensitive" and a man who did not "command the confidence of parents". With this in mind, he resigned on August 22, 1809. He did not disassociate himself from Phillips Academy. He was immediately appointed a trustee after the death of Jonathan French, a role he would keep until 1836. He was also President of the Board of Trustees of Abbot Academy, the neighboring female school, from its founding in 1829 to 1843. He was very involved in the new school's establishment, moderating meetings in response to its proposal in 1828, leading the effort in the construction of its first building, and donating the one-acre parcel it originally sat on.

Deacon

Newman became a member of the South Church in Andover in 1802 and was their deacon from 1811 to 1845. In 1818 he became the first Superintendent of the church's Sunday School. Furthermore, he was a moderator in 1818 and 1833 and treasurer from 1811 to 1827. He also worked for a church in West Newbury, but continued to live in Andover. He also held connections with the First Church in Ipswich.

Publishing company

Newman established a bookstore and publishing house in Andover shortly after the founding of the Andover Theological Seminary in 1808 to provide textbooks to its students, mostly of religious nature. No longer the principal of Phillips Academy, bookselling was his primary occupation for the remainder of his career. In 1818 he moved his business from the area around Phillips Academy to downtown Andover, increasing business. There he constructed a new brick building which would later be occupied by the publisher Warren Draper.

Personal life

Newman pursued a career spanning fifty years after resigning as principal of Phillips Academy. Afterward, he built and moved into a house adjacent to the school. This residence still bears his name today. Met with financial troubles, be moved in 1818 to a house on Central Street closer to the South Church. He moved his publishing business the same year. In 1812 he along with Rev. Justin Edwards, pastor of the South Church and Rev. Ebenezer Porter of the Andover Theological Seminary founded the New England Tract Society.
He remained healthy up to his death. He attended the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Andover Theological Seminary in 1859. He died on June 15th, 1859 in his home. Rev. George Mooar, then pastor of the South Church, delivered a funeral sermon which would be published titled The Enduring and Varying Beauty of a Good Man's Life. He is buried in the South Church cemetery.

Marriage and children

Newman married Sarah Phillips, daughter of John Phillips, on September 29th, 1795 in Boston. Together they had seven children, listed below.
  1. Prof. Samuel Phillips Newman was an author and professor at Bowdoin College. He graduated from Harvard College in 1816 and continued his studies in Lexington, Kentucky with a private instructor and at the Andover Theological Seminary. He tutored at Bowdoin starting 1818 and was appointed Professor of Ancient Languages in 1819. In 1824 he became the Chair of Rhetoric and Oratory and soon after published his best known work, his treatise on Rhetoric. In 1839 he resigned from his professorship to become the principal of the newly established State Normal School in Barre, Massachusetts. In 1842 he quit due to poor health and returned to Andover where he would pass away the same year. Other work includes a textbook on political economy. He married Caroline Kent, daughter of Col. William Austin Kent, of Concord, New Hampshire in 1821 and had five daughters.
  2. Margaret Wendell Newman
  3. Sarah Phillips Newman
  4. Mark Newman died young.
  5. Mark Haskell Newman was a publisher based in New York. His business, Newman & Ivison, was located at 199 Broadway and dealt primarily with books related to Christianity. He attended Phillips Academy and subsequently Bowdoin College, graduating with honors in 1825. He married Mary Dickinson of Amherst, Massachusetts on September 13, 1828.
  6. Hannah H. Newman married Rev. Samuel Austin Fay of Northborough, Massachusetts and later Barre, Massachusetts on September 26, 1833. They had one daughter, Anne.
  7. Rev. William John Newman was pastor of a church in Stratham, New Hampshire. He was a student of Divinity at Yale College and graduated in 1834. He married Caroline S. Cooper of Cooper, Maine on October 24, 1836. He died in York, Maine.
Sarah died November 18, 1811. Newman married Abigail Larkin Dodge, of Tamworth, New Hampshire on October 21, 1814. They had one daughter together, Anna Dodge Newman, who died at the age of 23.