John Early, SJ Papers

Collection

Identifier: GTA-GAMMS22

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Scope and Contents

The John Early, SJ Papers include a diary from his second presidency at Georgetown College (1870-1873) along with correspondence, spiritual writings and notes, and printed material. Of note within the correspondence are letters describing the Civil War’s impact on the school.

Dates

Creation: 1834 - 1873

Creator

Early, John, 1814-1873 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

All published documents housed in the University Archives are open for use. Unpublished documents are governed by the following use restrictions: unpublished material dating from 1971 and later may only be consulted with the permission of the office which created it; unpublished material dating from 1970 or before may be used with the permission of the Archivist or the creating office, unless otherwise restricted.

Biographical Note

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John Early (1814-1873) was born in Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh, Ireland, the eldest son of John and Ann Martin Early. He attended Armagh Academy for nine months in 1832 and then applied to St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, County Kildare. When no vacancies were available, he sailed for the US in the summer of 1833 and entered Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg upon arrival. Two of his brothers, James and Thomas, later followed him to America and settled in Albany; a sister became a Carmelite nun in Baltimore, taking the religious name Sister Barbara.

Early moved to Georgetown College in February 1834 and entered the Society of Jesus six months later, completing his noviceship at Frederick (1834-1836). He returned to Georgetown for his philosophy and theology studies, during which he also served as instructor and prefect (1836-1845). After his ordination at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown (1845), he remained at the college as a lecturer in logic, metaphysics, and moral philosophy at Georgetown while simultaneously attending the Jesuit mission in Laurel, Maryland, known as “the Factory” (1845-1847). He was then assigned to St. Joseph’s (Philadelphia, 1847-1848) before becoming president of the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, 1848-1851). Following his tertianship at Frederick (1851-1852), he was sent to Baltimore to help establish Loyola College where he would serve twice as rector (1852-1858, 1866-1870).

During Early’s first presidency of Georgetown College (1858-1866), he was confronted with declining enrollment, financial challenges, and three federal occupations of the campus. His second term (1870-1873) saw progress with the start of Law Department classes in October 1870 and the debut of the university’s first student newspaper, the Georgetown College Journal, in December 1872. Early died in office on May 23, 1873, and is buried in the Jesuit cemetery at Georgetown.