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Happy Valentine’s Day from Roberts Wesleyan University!
The following is an excerpt from Howard A. Snyder’s publication B. T. Roberts and the Founding of Roberts Wesleyan College.
“The beginning of Roberts Wesleyan University begins in a love story.
In 1848, B. T. Roberts was studying at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, a Methodist school. It was summer, just before graduation. B. T. was about to graduate and started pastoring a Methodist church.
He met a lovely young woman, Ellen Stowe, visiting from New York City. B. T. was fascinated, but figured he’d never see her again once he left campus. Ellen wrote in her diary, ‘I liked the tone of his mind.’
The day after graduation, B. T. planned to take the steamer ship to New York. He arranged first to walk with Ellen, though. The two walked down to Pameacha Grove—a favorite spot for Ellen, though B. T. was unaware.
B. T. climbed on a tree branch and recited ‘some beautiful lines’ of poetry, Ellen wrote. They had ‘some very pleasant and congenial conversation.’ The pair continued talking as they walked along a stream.
Soon they said goodbye. Ellen feared she’d ever see him again. To her surprise, he showed up again next morning! He had set off by steamboat in the afternoon, but a dense fog forced the boat back. Here he was again at Ellen’s door. He asked Ellen if he could write to her. She said yes.
B. T. left that afternoon, a day late but full of hope.
Two weeks later, Ellen got a letter from B. T. “Really a treat,” she said. She replied, realizing B. T. had stirred some deep feelings in her. As it turned out, B. T. was feeling the same.
B. T. traveled to far western New York to begin his first year as a Methodist preacher. He wrote to Ellen, and she replied. Though separated by 400 miles, their friendship blossomed swiftly into love. They hardly knew each other at first, but their relationship grew as letters flew back and forth.
The next time they saw each other was on their wedding day the following May. They were wed in the Manhattan home of Ellen’s uncle, George Lane, publisher for the Methodist Church.
Benjamin and Ellen were committed Christians—that was their deepest bond. Their lives were given to each other, to God, and to the mission of the church in the world. They had a remarkably close marriage, despite constant travels once B. T. became Free Methodist general superintendent. He said marriage should be an equal partnership, and they tried to live that throughout their years together.”
Without their love of Christ and each other, Roberts Wesleyan University may not exist today. On Valentine’s Day we celebrate this sweet love story, and all the others that have blossomed on this campus during the past 157 years!