1681

James Pierpont I, Rev

Graduates Harvard College — Class of 1681

• Description: James Pierpont graduates from Harvard College in 1681 with a focus on liberal arts. Harvard is at this time the sole institution of higher education in the colonies and the exclusive training ground for New England's Congregationalist clergy. Pierpont's Harvard cohort will supply nearly all of the men who two decades later co-found the Collegiate School of Connecticut. His Harvard diploma makes him both a member of and a future critic of the institution — his concern about Harvard's theological drift will be a primary motive for founding an alternative college in Connecticut.
• Source: Yale University Art Gallery, *Reverend James Pierpont (1659/60–1714)*, Object Record — https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/9139; WikiTree, *James Pierpont (1660–1714)* — https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pierpont-70
• Quote: "The Rev. James Pierpont (1659/60–1714) was a Harvard graduate (class of 1681)." — Yale University Art Gallery, Object 913

Noadiah Russell

Graduates Harvard College — Class of 1681

• Description: Noadiah Russell graduates from Harvard College in 1681 — the same graduating class as James Pierpont and his cousin Samuel Russell. The convergence of three future Yale co-founding trustees in a single Harvard cohort is the single most structurally significant fact about the Yale founding network at the individual level. All three men are trained in the same curriculum, by the same faculty, in the same years — and Samuel Andrew, himself a Yale co-founder, is among their tutors. Russell is noted as a teacher following his graduation, serving as a Harvard tutor before moving to Ipswich. The Harvard class of 1681 is, in this respect, the intellectual incubator of the Yale founding.
• Source: World Biographical Encyclopedia, Noadiah Russell — https://prabook.com/web/noadiah.russell/1942057; WeRelate, Person: Noadiah Russell (1) — https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Noadiah_Russell_(1)))))))))))))))
• Quote: "He graduated Harvard Coll. 1681; and was a tutor there. He was one of the founders of Yale Coll.; and one of the framers of the Saybrook Platform. He succeeded the Rev. Nathaniel Collins, as the second minister at Middletown." — WeRelate, Person: Noadiah Russell (1)

Teaching at Ipswich — Preparation for Ministry

• Description: Following his Harvard graduation, Noadiah Russell teaches at Ipswich, Massachusetts, one of the established grammar schools of the Massachusetts colony. This period of schoolmastering between college and ordination is standard for the Puritan ministerial class — it provides income, tests pedagogical gifts, and allows time for theological formation and pastoral search. Russell's time at Ipswich precedes his call to Middletown by approximately seven years. No detailed records of his Ipswich teaching period survive in the accessible sources; the period is confirmed but not elaborated.
• Source: Famous Americans, Noadiah Russell — http://famousamericans.net/noadiahrussell/; World Biographical Encyclopedia, Noadiah Russell — https://prabook.com/web/noadiah.russell/1942057
• Quote: "He was graduated at Harvard in 1681, taught at Ipswich, and in October, 1688, was ordained minister of the church in Middletown, where he remained until his death." — Famous Americans, Noadiah Russell

Samuel Russell, Rev

Graduates Harvard College — Class of 1681

• Description: Samuel Russell graduates from Harvard College in 1681 — the same class as James Pierpont I & Noadiah Russell. The three men receive their degrees together, are trained in the same curriculum, breathe the same Puritan intellectual air, and will twenty years later stand as co-founders of a rival Connecticut institution. The Harvard class of 1681 is one of the most consequential graduating cohorts in colonial New England history: it produces two of Yale's founding trustees in the same year, under the same faculty, taught in part by Samuel Andrew. Russell is ordained while still teaching at Hadley following his graduation, then answers a call to Connecticut.
• Source: Geni.com, Rev. Samuel Russell (1660–1731) — https://www.geni.com/people/Rev-Samuel-Russell/6000000002034687380
• Quote: "Samuel Russell (November 4, 1660 – June 24, 1731) was one of the founders of Yale University. He was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College class of 1681 and was ordained in 1687." — Geni.com, Rev. Samuel Russell