Nathan S.S. Beman at Mt. Zion

Nathan Sidney Beman, a Presbyterian minister, educator, editor, and college president, graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont and taught and preached in New England until 1812, when he came with his wife to Georgia to regain his health. Described as a man of intelligence and almost boundless energy, he found unusual opportunities in Georgia as wealthy planters banded together to establish centers of religious instruction and education for their children. In late 1812, he became teacher and pastor at Mt. Zion, an academy town founded by Hancock County planters in 1811. Supported by some of the state's leading families, Mt. Zion Academy became one of the most celebrated schools in Georgia, and the outstanding men Beman attracted to teach there contributed much to the state in educational and religious leadership. Although he accepted the presidency of the University of Georgia reluctantly and temporarily, he resigned because of his wife's illness and death in 1819. He then continued to direct the academy, to preach, and to edit The Missionary, a weekly gospel newspaper. In 1821 he married Mrs. Caroline Bird Yancey, mother of secessionist William Lowndes Yancey, and in 1823 he and his wife moved to Troy, N.Y., where he continued his ministerial and academic career.

Georgia · United States