Notes for: William Budd Bodine, Rev.
William was the tenth (or ninth) president of Kenyon College and served from 1876 to 1891. He graduated from Princeton College in 1860 and later studied theology there and at the Theological Seminary of Ohio at Gambier. Ordained in 1865, he returned to Gambier in 1871 to become chaplain of Kenyon College. He served as Deputy to several conventions of the Protestant Episcopal church.
Here is a biography about him found on the Internet. This may come from "http://consort.library.denison.edu/" or some link at that site. I believe the info comes from the Greenslade Special Collections and Archives at the library at Kenyon College.
William Budd Bodine was born near Mount Holly, New Jersey on March 10, 1841. After attending grade school at Trenton Academy, he attended Princeton College and Bexley Seminary in Gambier, graduating from Bexley in 1864. Bodine served at Emmanuel and Memorial Churches in Baltimore and as rector of Christ Church in Brooklyn until 1871. During his time in Gambier, Bodine made a very favorable impression upon Bishop McIlvaine, then Bishop of Ohio. So, when McIlvaine needed a chaplain for Kenyon and a rector for Harcourt Parish in 1871, he called Bodine.
Bodine arrived back in Gambier to find the institution in disarray. Squabbles over theology had ravaged Bexley Hall and Kenyon College in the late 1860s eventually resulting in the closure of the seminary in 1873 by the Board of Trustees. Bodine assumed the only remaining job at the seminary, that of librarian. As chaplain, he traveled extensively on behalf of the institution, raising money and building good will among parishioners throughout Ohio.
After Eli Todd Tappan stepped down from the Presidency in 1875, the Board of Trustees sought to hire one individual to be both President of Kenyon College and Dean of the Theological Seminary in an effort to end the habitual conflicts between the two institutions. This individual would report directly to the Bishops of Ohio and Southern Ohio, who remained the executives-in-charge of the institutions. After nominating several individuals to the combined post, and being unable to find anyone from outside Gambier to accept the position, the Board of Trustees hired Bodine in December 1876. Professor Edward C. Benson had served as Acting President in the interim.
Bodine slowly began to deliver results, raising enrollments at the College to 67 by 1884, higher than at any time since the theological debacles of the late 1860s. However Bodine could not sustain these enrollments, and by 1890, they had dropped back to 33. Efforts were made to involve neighboring bishops in the governance of the college, hoping that new students would enroll. President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, 1842 promoted the school and visited the campus for Commencement during his administration, the only sitting president to ever visit Gambier. However, nothing seemed to work.
Bodine's greatest challenge and accomplishment as president was to diagnose and correct the chronic problems in Gambier that prevented the institution from developing. He proposed sweeping constitutional changes, removing control over the institution from the Bishops and investing it entirely in the Board of Trustees and the President of Kenyon College. In 1891, with Bishop Bedell in failing health and unable to protest, the proposed constitutional changes were adopted, creating a new Kenyon College, with one President and two departments, the College and the Seminary. No longer would meddlesome bishops have direct oversight of the institution. Bodine resigned upon the enactment of these changes to allow a new president to take control of the new institution.
Bodine left for New York where he served briefly as a general missionary, and then as rector of St. James Church in Elberon, New Jersey. He died on September 28, 1907 while filling his final call to the Church of the Saviour in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Here is a book I found by this William Bodine:
Author: Bodine, William Budd,--1841-1907.
Title: Some hymns and hymn writers representing all who profess and call themselves Christians; short studies in the hymnal of the Episcopal Church, by William Budd Bodine ...
Publisher: Philadelphia, The John C. Winston Co., 1907.
Phys Desc: xi, 458 p. front., plates, ports. 25 cm.
Subject: Hymns--History and criticism.
I later found an entry in the 1910 Census Index of Philadelphia that must refer to his family. Here is the info:
County: Philadelphia, Philadelphia. Enumeration District: 0626. Visit: 0069
Name: William B Bodine, Jr
Head of Household
Color: W
Age: 40
Birth Place: Maryland
Other Residents: Mother Rachael A 68, Maryland
Sister Elizabeth 41, Maryland
Sister Alice 38, Ohio
Brother Hugh A 26, Ohio
2 non-relatives
From Ronny Bodine:
William Bodine graduated from Princeton College in 1860, and following the study of theology at the divinity school at Princeton and the Theological Seminary of Ohio at Gambier, he was ordained deacon in 1864, becoming assistant rector of Emanuel Church in Baltimore. Ordained priest in 1865, he was then elected rector of Memorial Church in Baltimore and Christ Church in Brooklyn. On 22 April 1867, at Memorial Church in Baltimore he was married to Rachel Alice Allen, daughter of Ethan and Elizabeth Greenberry Ridgely (Griffith) Allen. He assumed the position of chaplain at Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio in 1871. In December 1876, he was elected as the 10th president of Kenyon College, serving concurrently as dean of the college's Theological Seminary, college chaplain, professor of mental and moral philosophy at the college and professor of ecclesiastical history and the homiletics at the seminary. He resigned in 1891 and two years later became rector of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour in Philadelphia, where he remained until his death. Because of his poor health, he was ordered to Mount Pocono, in the hopes that his health would improve, but instead he died there. William and Rachel Bodine were buried in Old Saint David's Cemetery, Radnor, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. See his biography in "The National Cyclopedia of American Biography," vol. 23 (1906), p. 28-29 and his obituary in the "New York Times" of 29 Sept 1907.
The will of William Budd Bodine, of Philadelphia, clergyman, was written 2 Nov 1900 and proved 8 Oct 1907. Therein, he named his wife Rachel Alice, daughter Elizabeth Bodine and son William Budd Bodine Jr. His children, Elizabeth and William, were appointed executors. It was noted in the probate that the testator died at 2.55 AM on 28 Sept 1907. (Philadelphia Wills, 292: 47-48)
Obituary, the Philadelphia Inquirer of 6 Jan 1921.
Funeral services for Mrs. Rachael Alice Bodine, widow of Rev. William B. Bodine, for sixteen years rector of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour, will be held tomorrow afternoon from her home. Mrs. Bodine, who was 84 years old, died Tuesday at the home of her son, William B. Bodine, Jr., of 4027 Walnut street of apoplexy induced by her advanced age. She is survived by three sons and three daughters. They are William B., Jr., and Allen G. and Hugh A. Bodine and the Misses Elizabeth, Alice and Margaret Bodine. Burial will be in the cemetery of Old St. David's Church, Radnor.