Elmer Hewitt Capen
By David L. Maulsby
Elmer Hewitt Capen was born at Stoughton, April 5, 1838. He died at Tufts College, March 22, 1905.He received his preparatory education at Pierce Academy, Middleborough, and at the Green Mountain Institute, Woodstock, Vt. He entered Tufts in 1856, and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1860. During the year 1859-60 Mr. Capen served in the Massachusetts legislature. He studied law with Thomas S. Harlow, of Boston, and at the Harvard Law School, but although admitted to the bar in 1864, he never practiced. Instead, he studied theology with the Rev. A. St. John Chambre, and in 1864 began to preach.
From 1865 till 1869 he was pastor of the Independent Christian church in Gloucester. The next year, partly on account of his wife's health, he removed to St. Paul, Minn., to take charge of the Universalist church there. In 1870 he was called to the First Universalist church in Providence, R. I. Here he remained for five years, meanwhile securing the erection of a fine church building.
In 1875 he was summoned to the presidency of Tufts College, a position he held until his death. Besides his administrative duties, he taught ethics, political science, and international law, until the establishment within the last few years of college departments including these subjects. His course in ancient law was continued into the year of his death. He also supplied the college pulpit.
President Capen was twice married: in 1866 to Miss Letitia Howard Mussey, of New London, Conn., who died in 1872; and in 1877 to Miss Mary Lincoln Edwards, of Brookline. His widow and three children survive him: Samuel Paul Capen,
Ruth Paul Capen, and Rosamond Edwards Capen.
