Stephen Henry Olin

Stephen Henry Olin (April 22, 1847 – August 6, 1925) was a lawyer and the acting president of Wesleyan University and a member of New York society during the Gilded Age. Early life Olin was born on April 22, 1847, in Middletown, Connecticut. He was the son of Stephen Olin (1797–1851) and Julia Matilda (née Lynch) Olin (1814–1879), his father's second wife after his first marriage to Mary Bostwick. His father, a lawyer who became an ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, served as the first president of Randolph Macon College, from 1834 to 1836, and later served as president of Wesleyan University from 1839 until his death in 1851. His maternal grandfather was James Lynch. His paternal grandparents were U.S. Representative from Vermont Henry Olin, and Lois Richardson Olin. His grandfather was the nephew of Gideon Olin and a cousin of Abram B. Olin, both of whom also served as members of the House of Representatives from Vermont. Olin graduated from Wesleyan University in 1866 and received the honorary LL.D. from the University in 1894.