Eliphalet Wheeler Gilbert

Eliphalet Wheeler Gilbert (December 19, 1793 – July 31, 1853) was an American Presbyterian minister who served as the first and third president of Delaware College (now University of Delaware) from 1834 to 1835 and from 1840 to 1847. Biography Gilbert was born on December 19, 1793, in Lebanon, New York. He was the son of Elisha and Ellen Gilbert, and was the eldest of ten children. He was educated by his grandfather, Elisha, who had come from Hebron, Connecticut. His grandmother devoted him to ministry and his grandfather educated him for this purpose. At the age of 13, Gilbert was placed on the care of Rev. Dr. Nott, of Schenectady. He lived in Schenectady for about six years and graduated from Union College at the age of 20. The year after his graduation, Gilbert went to Philadelphia to spend time with a relative. He was not at the time professedly pious, though he seems to have had the ministry always in view; but it was not long after this, that he experienced, as he believed, a radical change in character, which he attributed, under God, to his own study of the scriptures.

In 1814, Gilbert joined the Theological Seminary at Princeton University. He was licensed to preach in 1817, and shortly afterwards accompanied Rev. Backus Wilbur on a mission of six months to the West. Upon returning at the end of the year, Gilbert was unanimously elected pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, where he settled. He started his duties at the school on October 29, and helped start an "extensive revival" of religion at the college.

In the following September, Gilbert returned as pastor of the Hanover Street Church, where he served several years. while later editions of The Evening Journal, Annals of the American Pulpit: Presbyterian, and The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature wrote that Gilbert returned in 1841. Gilbert returned as president of Delaware College under the condition that the lottery scheme be given up. In April 1847, he resigned to become pastor at the Western Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He moved to Philadelphia in the following July, and remained there for the rest of his life. He died from illness on July 31, 1853, at the age of 59.