Connecting a Florida school's Amherst heritage

Hello! I live in Walton County, Florida, home of the Knox Hill Academy, and find your discovery interesting, to say the least. I suspect the information about Newton's attendance at Amherst was taken from "History of Walton County" (1911) by John L. McKinnon, who was quite fanciful with his history at times. This may be one more example. I will do my best to research this and provide whatever additional information I can.

How great that you have the Biographical Record online! Best wishes, Diane Merkel, Trustee, Walton County Heritage Museum

Proceedings of the A.A.A.S. (http://books.google.com/books?id=gGICAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA453&dq="john+newton") give Newton's birth as April 22, 1814, in Pittsburgh, and his death as Nov 25, 1893, near Pensacola.

Without evidence, I am inclined to think that Newton attended Amherst Academy, which was open until 1861, and someone misinterpreted that to mean Amherst College. I found a transcribed letter, dated 1966, that makes the Amherst College claim (http://www.flgenhistonline.com/counties/walton/knoxhill.rtf).

Newton's attendance at Amherst Academy would be difficult to confirm, because per Frederick Tuckerman's book on the Academy, "The early records and other valuable papers of the Academy...were burnt in the fire that destroyed Phoenix Row, on the eleventh of February 1838."

If we assume Newton attended Amherst Academy, he would probably have done so before age 18 (i.e., 1832), so any records of his attendance held by the Academy -- which would now be held by the College -- would have been lost in the fire.

According to Tuckerman, "No records exist showing the names of all whose fitted for college at Amherst Academy. The total number of scholars who attended the school can only be estimated. Between five and six thousand would probably be a conservative guess. During the preceptorship of Dr. Gale, 1837-1841, the yearly enrollment was between 189 and 220."

So unless Newton's personal papers have survived with documentation of his time in Amherst, I think this is the best guess possible. For what it's worth, the earlier Biographical Record (1881/1883) does not list Newton at the College either.

Rick

P.S. My paragraph breaks are being ignored; sorry for the tough reading.

Rick, thank you very much for your great research. I feel quite certain you have solved the mystery. If Rev. Newton had mentioned attending Amherst, it makes sense that someone would interpret that as meaning the better-known college. It is unfortunate that the records for the Academy are gone, making primary source confirmation unlikely.

There is now a missing piece of his education puzzle: Did he attend college somewhere else? He was a Presbyterian minister as well as a schoolteacher, so he may have attended college.

BTW, the plaque as shown in the "Walton Sun" article referenced in Parker's initial post has a glaring error. It lists Newton's death year as 1871, and we know that is not true. I spoke yesterday with the County Commissioner who arranged for the plaque, and he is going to have it corrected.

Thanks to all who were interested in this story! If you find anything else about Rev. John Newton, please feel free to contact me at WaltonCountyHeritage@cox.net.

Diane