Lucien W. Berry papers

Lucien Berry was elected second president of the Indiana Asbury University, now DePauw University, in July 1849. A native of Vermont who had grown up in Ohio and attended Miami University, Berry had held influential pastorates in Knightstown and Indianapolis, where his congregations contained members of the political and economic elite of the state. Berry was a Whig at a time when most Indiana Methodists, including Matthew Simpson and Edward Raymond Ames, were Democrats. He had been on the Indiana Asbury board of trustees since 1842 and was a close friend of Simpson. Seemingly a good choice for the position, Berry encountered town-gown conflicts and political and religious rivalry which shortened his presidency. Though Berry's presidency began well, in a few years problems arose. Both the students and the trustees gave Berry a vote of confidence, but the president, feeling unnecessarily harassed, resigned in July 1854. After a year in a New Albany pastorate, Berry became president of Iowa Wesleyan College but died prematurely in that office in 1858 at the age of 43.