The Graduate College at Princeton University is a residential college which serves as the center of graduate student life at Princeton, separate from the seven undergraduate residential colleges. Wyman House, adjacent to the Graduate College, serves as the official residence of the current Dean of the Graduate School.
16-606: Thomson College, the central quadrangle now commonly known as the Old Graduate College, is a memorial to United States Senator John R. Thomson 1817 provided by a bequest left by his widow, Mrs. J. A. W. Thomson Swann , the Graduate College's first benefactor. It was dedicated on October 22, 1913, during the tenure of the first dean of the Graduate School, Andrew Fleming West , and was the first residential college in
32-489: A regional canal company and the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad . He was elected as a United States Senator , serving from 1853 to his death in 1862. Thomson was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , the son of Edward Thomson (1771-1853) and Ann Renshaw (1773-1842). Among his siblings was a brother Richard Renshaw Thomson (1799-1824). Their father and his brother, George Thomson, were shipowners extensively involved in
48-612: The China Trade . Both the named sons eventually worked with their father in China, and Edward succeeded in lobbying Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to appoint first his son Richard as U.S. consul to Canton in 1822, and then to appoint his son John to succeed his deceased brother in 1824 before returning to the U.S. in March 1825. Thomson attended the common schools in Princeton, New Jersey , and
64-483: The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad . He appointed as a delegate to the New Jersey State Constitutional Convention of 1844. That same year, he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor of New Jersey . Thomson's wife Annis died in 1842. In 1845, he married Josephine A. Ward , daughter of Congressman Aaron Ward of New York. Thomson had no children with either wife. Thomson
80-645: The Princeton University Graduate College With Kate McFarlane, Ward organized the Washington Headquarters Association of Rocky Hill. They helped preserve Rockingham , the final headquarters of General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. After passing into private hands in the mid-19th century, it was bought by a quarry and used for worker housing. Ward and McFarlane raised money to buy
96-524: The College of New Jersey (now Princeton University ). In 1817, Thomson went to China and assisted his father in the mercantile trade. The son Thomson was appointed as the United States Consul to Canton from 1823 to 1825. He succeeded his late brother Richard Renshaw Thomson, whose sudden death left the position vacant. In 1825–1826, the father Edward Thomson's business failed. John Thomson returned to
112-666: The Committee on Pensions (Thirty-sixth Congress). Thomson was a friend of President James Buchanan , and supported repeal of the Missouri Compromise on the grounds that slavery was permitted under the United States Constitution . He also supported the candidacy of John C. Breckinridge in the 1860 United States Presidential Election . But when southern states began to form the Confederate States of America after
128-625: The United States and, in the winter of 1825, married Annis Stockton. She was a daughter of Senator Richard Stockton (- NJ). She was a granddaughter of Continental Congressman Richard Stockton and poet Annis Boudinot Stockton . The match brought many financial and political advantages. The young couple settled in Princeton. Thomson became a director and secretary of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company . He also became president, and later treasurer, of
144-439: The United States devoted solely to postgraduate liberal studies. The group of Collegiate Gothic buildings was designed by Ralph Adams Cram and located on a hill, one-half mile west of the main campus. Its most prominent architectural landmark is the 173-ft-high Cleveland Tower , which features one of the largest carillons in the United States. Cleveland Tower adjoins the Old Graduate College, which also includes Procter Hall,
160-528: The Van Dyke Library, Pyne Tower, and North Court. In 1962, the New Graduate College (colloquially, "new GC") was built to expand the Old Graduate College to the south-west, although it features a more modern architectural style. The Graduate College currently houses approximately 430 graduate students, mostly in their first-year of graduate study. The Graduate College's Pyne Tower is also the home of
176-538: The Washington, DC area. In 1878, Ward Thomson married the widower Thomas Swann . She was the second wife of the former Governor of Maryland . Some of the groom's family said this was a sign of "insanity growing out of dotage." The Governor was 72 at the time of the marriage. The couple separated in 1880. Ward Thomson was a frequent participant in Miss Matoaca Gay 's Shakespeare seminars in Washington, DC during
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#1732851796825192-578: The current administrator in residence. It has been featured in the films Admission and Runner Runner . This article about a university or college in New Jersey is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . John Renshaw Thomson John Renshaw Thomson (September 25, 1800 – September 12, 1862) was an American merchant who worked in the China Trade and supported emerging industries in New Jersey through his positions on
208-517: The election of Abraham Lincoln, Thomson supported the Union . Although he was a friend of Buchanan, he deserted the former president and his party after the capture of Fort Sumter by the secessionists. He was interred in Princeton Cemetery . In 1878, his widow Josephine married Maryland governor Thomas Swann . Two years later they separated. Josephine Ward Thomson Josephine Antoinette Ward
224-456: The house and move it away from the quarry, which would undermine it. Over the next century, women continued to play a role in preserving the house. It was moved a few more times, demonstrating the social significance of properties associated with Washington and the Revolution. In 1845 Ward married the widower and US Senator John R. Thomson (R-NJ). He died in 1862. She continued to live in
240-530: Was born in 1820 at Sing Sing , Westchester County, New York . She was the eldest child of Aaron Ward and Mary Watson Ward. Ward was interested in history and was a founding member of the Princeton chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution . This lineage society supported preservation and recognition of sites and properties important to American history. She was also the first benefactor of
256-522: Was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation in early 1853 of his brother-in-law Robert F. Stockton . Thomson was re-elected in 1857, and altogether occupied the seat from March 4, 1853, until his death in Princeton, New Jersey in 1862. He was chairman of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office ( 36th United States Congress ) and
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