Alonzo Ames Miner was the second president of Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

 from 1862 to 1875.

Born in Lempster, New Hampshire

Lempster, New Hampshire

Lempster is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,154 at the 2010 census. Settlements include the town center and the village of East Lempster.- History :...

, he was the second of five children and only son of Benajah Ames and Amanda (Carey) Miner. His father was a descendant of the colonist Thomas Miner

Thomas Miner

Thomas Miner or Minor was a founder of New London and Stonington, Connecticut, USA, and an early New England diarist.-Early life and marriage:...

. He taught school in rural Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 and New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 before being ordained a Universalist

Universalist Church of America

The Universalist Church of America was a Christian Universalist religious denomination in the United States . Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942...

 minister in 1839.

Miner supported many moral and civic causes, at various times being on the Board of Trustees at Tufts, the Board of Overseers at Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, and the Massachusetts Board of Education

Massachusetts Board of Education

The Massachusetts Board of Education is the state education agency responsible for interpreting and implementing laws relevant to public education in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Public education in the Commonwealth is organized according to the regulations adopted by the BOE, which are good...

. One of the founders of Tufts, he rescued the college from near bankruptcy and instituted many new educational programs as president.

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