Orville Nelson Hartshorn (1823-1901)

Class of 2026 – Founder

Orville Nelson Hartshorn was the founder and first president of Mount Union College.

Born on August 20, 1823, in Nelson, Ohio, Hartshorn was visiting a gravely ill sister in the village of Mount Union in 1846 when local residents learned that he had been a teacher in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and requested he start a school for their children. On October 4, 1846, Hartshorn founded Mount Union Seminary with six students on the second floor of a carding mill. In January 1858, it was chartered as a college.

On November 1, 1849, Hartshorn married Amanda Melvina Brush (1828-1909). The couple had five children – Lucetta Abigail “Setti” Hartshorn Jacob (1850-1932), Dora Hartshorn Lehman (1854-1905), Homer Hartshorn (1865-1926), Emma Hartshorn Beck (1865-1926) and Walter B. Hartshorn (1867-1921).

An ardent fighter for the cause of temperance, Hartshorn was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852. He was a professor of moral and intellectual philosophy and international law at Mount Union College in addition to serving as president of the institution until 1887.

After hearing of the assassination of President William McKinley on September 6, 1901, Hartshorn had a series of attacks and died on September 17, 1901. He is buried in Mount Union Cemetery.