Nathan Bishop (educator)

Bishop was born on August 12, 1808, in Vernon, New York. He was the eldest son of Connecticut natives Elnathan and Statira (Sperry) Bishop and grew up on the family farm. He left home at the age of eighteen to attend school in Hamilton, New York. In 1832 he moved to Providence to attend Brown University. He graduated in 1837. ==Career in education==

From 1838 to 1839, Bishop was a tutor at Brown. In 1842 he was made a trustee of the university. From 1854 to 1861 he served on Brown's Board of Fellows. During the American Civil War, Bishop was active in the United States Christian Commission. From 1863 to 1865 he served as the chairman of the commission's New York Branch. American Baptist Home Mission Society In 1865, Bishop was elected to the executive board of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. In 1875 he was elected corresponding secretary after serving as acting secretary following the death of E. E. L. Taylor the previous year. Bishop gave the society $30,000 to retire its debts upon he retirement from the organization in 1877. ==Board of Indian Commissioners==

In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Bishop to the Board of Indian Commissioners. That summer, Bishop and two other commissioners traveled to the Indian Territory, where they visited the Arapaho, Comanche, Apache, and other tribes. During the trip he contracted a severe malarial fever which permanently impacted his health. ==Death==

Bishop became severely ill in the spring of 1880. That May he moved to a summer cottage in Saratoga Springs, New York, and his health recovered somewhat. On July 6 his good friend Barnas Sears died and Bishop told a family member that he would soon follow him. Soon thereafter Bishop's son died. Bishop himself also fell ill and died on August 7, 1880. His wife died the following day. ==References==