Azel Backus

Azel Backus (October 13, 1765 – December 28, 1816) was an American educator, born in Franklin, Connecticut. After having a long preaching career, he was elected as the first President of Hamilton College in New York. He died on December 28, 1816, in Clinton, New York, at the age of 51 and is buried in Hamilton College Cemetery.

Early life Azel was born to Congregationalist parents, Jabez Jr. and Deborah Backus on October 13, 1765 in Franklin, Connecticut. He lost his father, Jabez, at the age of five which resulted in devolving of his education entirely on his mother, Deborah, for several years. He went to live with his uncle, Rev. Charles Backus at the age of seventeen. His uncle, Charles Backus, was a Congregational minister at Somers, Connecticut. Azel was fitted to attend College under his instruction. In 1783, he entered Yale College. While he was at Yale, he grew deistic opinions and graduated in 1787 from there. After graduation he was faced with a difficult choice of profession, as his religious opinion inclined him to the ministry, but he preferred to join the Army. When he decided to enter the Army, his uncle, Charles Backus, induced him to work in the ministry. Later he studied theology with his uncle Charles, and was licensed to preach by the Association of Tolland County Ministers on June 1, 1790.

Career Soon after he left college, he joined as a teacher in a Grammar school at Wethersfield, Connecticut. After receiving his license to preach from Association of Tolland County, he preached at Ellington, Connecticut, on several Sabbaths and soon received multiple invitations to preach and become their pastor.

Personal life and death In February 1791, Backus married Melicent Demming of Wethersfield. Backus was survived by five of eight children, including F. F. Backus, a practicing physician at Rochester for many years after graduating from Yale College in 1813. F. F. Backus was a member of the New York Senate for four years, from 1844 to 1847. His wife Melicent died at the age 88 in October 1853.

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