Tablet in Memory of Henry Dunster

A tablet to the memory of Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard College, was unveiled yesterday in the First Church, Boston, at the morning services. The tablet was presented by descendants of Henry Dunster. Addresses were made at the services by Rev. G. H. Whittemore, a descendant of Henry Dunster, Professor David G. Lyon, of the Harvard Divinity School, Rev. Dr. Nathan E. Wood, president of the Newton Theological Institute, and Rev. F. H. Rowley, pastor of the First Baptist Church.

Henry Dunster was a graduate of Magdalen College, Cambridge, England, in 1630. He came to America in 1640, and in the same year was chosen the first president of Harvard College, which had been founded six years before. His fourteen years of office came at the most critical period in the history of the College, and his service was effectual in placing it on a firm foundation. His resignation in 1654 was the result of a dispute with the stricter Puritans of the colony over church doctrines which Dunster refused to accept. After his resignation he was pastor of a church in Scituate, Mass., until his death in 1659. He was buried, at his own request, in the churchyard of the First Church, Cambridge, opposite the Johnston Gate.