San Francisco County
REV. EDWARD
B. CHURCH
REV. EDWARD B. CHURCH, Principal, Irving Institute, is a
native of Mississippi, and was born in 1844.His parents went South in
1832. His father, Dr. Edward B. Church, was for many years a prominent
physician in Vicksburg. The mother’s family name was Bodwell. She
was the daughter of General Thomas Bodwell, of
Kentucky. There were four generations of the name Edward B. Church—the
great-grandfather, grandfather, the father and the son.
The
great-grandfather, Hon. Edward Church, was Consul to Lisbon under President
George Washington in 1790, and our subject has in his possession the
credentials signed by President Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of
State. The grandfather, Edward Church, was appointed Consul to Brittany L’Orient in 1819 by President Madison, and his credentials
were signed by President Madison and James Monroe, Secretary of State.
Rev. Edward B. Church received his education at
Washington University, St. Louis, and Kenyon College, Ohio, graduating in the
class of ’67. Ex-President Hayes, Stanley Mathews, and other men of note
were graduates of the same institution of learning. After graduating Prof.
Church entered upon his theological course and pursued his studies for the next
two years, attending the Episcopal Divinity School in Philadelphia. In
1869 he came to California and accepted the position of head master of St.
Matthew’s Hall, San Mateo, where he remained two years, and resigned to become
principal of Laurel Hall Seminary, and held this position two years. He
returned to St. Matthew’s Hall and accepted his old position, and served in
that capacity four years. In 1881 he came to San Francisco and established
Irving Institute. This well-known school for young ladies has increased
steadily in popularity, and is one of the leading educational institutions in
the city and State noted for its advantages as a thorough training school and
refined Christian home.
Transcribed
by Donna L. Becker.
Source: “The Bay of
San Francisco,” Vol. 2, Page 473, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Donna L.
Becker.