The  first  President  of  Parsons  College  w;is  the
Rev.  John  Armstrong,  D.  D. ,  a  native  of  Oxford,  Pa. ,
and  for  many  years  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church
of  Muscatine,  Iowa.  He  was  removed  by  death  in
Avigust,  1879.  The  other  members  of  the  original
Faculty  were  Rev.  A.  G.  Wilson,  Professor  of  Greek
and  Latin,  and  Rector  of  the  Preparatory  Deijart-
ment,  and  Rev.  Albert  McCalla,  Professor  of  Mathe-
matics and  Science.  C.  L.  Sturns  became  Assistant
Professor  in  Natural  Sciences  at  the  beginning  of  the
second  year.  Professor  Wilson  resigned  in  1878,  to
accept  a  situation  elsewhere,  and  Tutor  Sturns  to
go  as  a  medical  missionary  to  Turkey.  Professor
JlcCalla  still  remains  in  the  college,  as  Professor  of
Physical  Sciences.  The  Rev.  E.  J.  Gillette,  D.D.,
served  as  President  for  a  year  after  the  death  of  Dr.
Armstrong,  when  Rev.  T.  D.  Ewing,  D.D.,  of  Kittan-
ning,  Pa.,  was  elected  President.  Dr.  Ewing  still
occupies  this  position,  and  is  sustained  in  the  great
educational  work  of  the  College  by  a  large  and  able
Fiiculty.
Patillo,  Rev.  Henry,  w:is  born  in  Scotland,  in
1726.  For  a  time  he  was  clerk  in  a  counting-house,
in  Virginia.  Wliile  on  his  way  to  Pemisylvania,  in
1751,  with  a  view  to  study  for  the  ministry,  he  met
the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  at  Roanoke,  went  with  bim
to  his  house,  and  pnr.sned  a  course  of  instruction
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under  his  care.  He  was  licensed  by  Hanover  Pres-
bytery, September  29th,  1757.
