Franceway Ranna Cossitt (April 24, 1790 - February 3, 1863) was an early minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination of Christianity. He was also the first stated clerk of the Cumberland Presbyterian General Assembly in 1829. He was also the founder of Cumberland College in Princeton, Kentucky, in 1825, which was eventually moved to Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1843, to become Cumberland University. The name Franceway Ranna was a frontier corruption of François-René.
Early life
Education
Cossitt was born in Claremont, New Hampshire on April 24, 1790 to Ambrose and Anna Catherine (Cole) Cossitt. His family was Episcopalians. His maternal grandfather and an uncle were in succession pastors of the Episcopalian congregation at Claremont. His great uncle, Rev. Ranna Cossitt, was a Loyalist who became the first Anglican minister in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
At the age of fourteen, Cossitt commenced his preparation for college, and entered Middlebury College, in Vermont, graduating in 1813. After leaving college, he spent two years teaching, at Morristown, New Jersey; it was customary, in those days, for men who had completed their collegiate studies to spend some time in teaching before entering upon the study of those things relating more immediately to their chosen profession. From Morristown, he went to North Carolina, and took charge of Vine Hill Academy, on Roanoke River.
From North Carolina he returned to New England, deeply impressed with the necessity of personal religion. His original purpose was to engage in the legal profession, but with his spiritual change came a change of purpose and he resolved to devote himself to the Christian ministry. He studied theology at New Haven, in what has since become the General Episcopal Seminary of New York - the institution having been removed. Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut, gave him a license as a "lay reader" in the Episcopal Church.
Teaching and ministry
Cossitt moved to Tennessee and established a school at a little place on Cumberland River, called in its day New York, a few miles below Clarksville. A number of his friends from Carolina had moved and settled there. They were wealthy and desired to educate their children. With a view to this object, they urged his settlement among them. His school went on to become an unofficial theological seminary where a number of young men studied for the ministry.
In the fall of 1821, he came to a camp meeting held on Wells's Creek, in Stewart county. He was accompanied by William Clements, an elder in the Church. The ministers in attendance included Thomas Calhoun, Robert Baker, and Robert S. Donnell. Cossitt preached on Saturday evening, although he was still an Episcopalian. His text was, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." The sermon was an argument in support of the truth of the Christian Scriptures. This was his introduction to Cumberland Presbyterians.
In 1822 he joined the work of the ministry in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and became a member of the Anderson Presbytery. On the 19th of February, of the same year, he was married to Miss Lucinda Blair, of Montgomery County, whose father was a prominent member of the Church. They went on have five children.
Shortly after his marriage, he issued a prospectus with a view to the publication of a paper, which he proposed to call the Western Star; however, the publication was never commenced. After spending two or three years in New York, he moved to Elkton, Kentucky, and established a school there.
Cumberland College
Establishment
At the sessions of the Cumberland Synod at Princeton, in 1825, the plan of Cumberland College was announced. Commissioners were appointed to examine particular points and make the location and a second set of commissioners was appointed to procure a charter for the proposed Institution from the Legislature of Kentucky. It was to have been called the Cumberland Presbyterian College. The men who visited the Legislature to procure a charter were advised to drop the "Presbyterian" from the proposed name, as it might arouse sectarian opposition among the members and their friends, and thus cause the application to be rejected. Accordingly, the application was made for a charter of Cumberland College. The change was displeasing to some leading members of the Church and was perhaps the first step in producing a series of embarrassments which grew so much that in a few years the existence of the Institution was placed in jeopardy.