Calvin Ellis Stowe

Calvin Ellis Stowe (April 6, 1802 – August 22, 1886) was an American Biblical scholar who helped spread public education in the United States. Over his career, he was a professor of languages and Biblical and sacred literature at Andover Theological Seminary, Dartmouth College, Lane Theological Seminary, and Bowdoin College. He was the husband and literary agent of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the best-seller Uncle Tom's Cabin. Early life and education Stowe was born in South Natick, Massachusetts. His father, a village baker, died due to an accident in 1808. He left an impoverished widow with two sons. Stowe was sent to his maternal grandparents to live. At the age of twelve, Stowe was apprenticed to a paper maker. Stowe had an insatiable craving for books, and acquired the rudiments of Latin by studying at odd moments during his apprenticeship in the paper mill. He saved enough money to pay for a year at Bradford Academy in 1818. His earnest desire and determined efforts to gain an education attracted the attention of benefactors who sent him to an academy in Gorham, Maine in 1819 or 1820. He entered Bowdoin College and in 1821 Stowe became a member of the Peucinian literary society which had a collection of 600 to 700 titles. He became secretary of the society in 1822. After donations of several hundred books, Stowe became a paid librarian for the school in 1824. He graduated with honors in 1824. President Franklin Pierce was a classmate, who said that he benefited by sitting next to Stowe when taking tests. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne's class was one year behind Stowe's.