Life History

Notes

• There are two memorials for Ignatius A Few on Find a Grave.
  
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  Ignatius Alphonso Few
  Birth Apr 11, 1789 Columbia County, Georgia
  Death Nov 21, 1845 Georgia
  
  Ignatius Alphonso Few was the first president of Emory University.
  
  Biography
  
  Ignatius Alphonso Few was born on April 11, 1789 the son of Captain Ignatius Few and Mary Candler in Columbia County Georgia. A historical oddity exists in the life of Emory University in that Emory's founder (I. A. Few), was Asa Candler's cousin (who later became Emory's greatest benefactor).
  
  Few spent large portions of his early life in New Jersey and Few studied for a time at Princeton University and in New York City before returning to Georgia to study the Law in Augusta. In 1811 he married Salina Carr and became an unsuccessful farmer. He returned to law in 1823 before becoming seriously ill with a form of ‘lung fever' which was perhaps tuberculosis. At this juncture of his life he experienced a spiritual conversion and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1828, Few felt the call to ministry, was admitted to the MEC as a minister. He was a charter member of the Georgia Conference of the MEC in 1831. However, because of his poor health, he left the active ministry shortly before 1835. In 1838, Few received the degree Doctor of Law from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
  
  In 1834, the Georgia Conference of the MEC founded a school for manual labor 30 miles outside of what would become Atlanta, just north of the town of Covington. Few was selected to lead. As this was a manual labor school, the students were expected to work 3 hours a day in the field and doing farming chores. The classwork consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic and was meant to prepare the students for more higher education.
  
  However well meaning this concept was, it was rather idealistic for the time. The founders did not have enough experience to take on this project with any success - remember Few's own failed attempt at farming - and before long the school was overrun with debt. Yet Few persisted and saw a different future for these teenaged students: a regular college which would focus on academics. The Georgia Conference, after considerable debate, asked the Georgia legislature for a charter to establish a college. In 1840, the Manual Labor School closed for good and was replaced by a program for "sub-freshmen" at Emory College. Before the end of the first year at Emory, Few realized that his health, poor to begin with, was failing. He remained at Emory until July 1841. In 1844, he was responsible for writing a report describing the spilt of the MEC in to the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died, probably as a result of his tuberculosis on November 21, 1845 in Athens, Georgia and was buried in the Oxford City Cemetery in Oxford, Georgia. He is commemorated as both the founder of Emory College and the first citizen of Oxford, Georgia.
  --  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_Alphonso_Few
  
  Burial Oxford Historical Cemetery, Oxford, Newton County, Georgia
  
  Created by Dona (Carr) Mooring Feb 08, 2011
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #65374775, https://old.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Few&GSiman=1&GSst=12&GSsr=81&GRid=65374775&
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  Donnie Ruyle's earlier memorial has the wrong date of death on it.  On Dona's memorial above there are two clear photos of the grave marker, which show his date of death as 21 Nov 1845, as Dona reports.
  
  Rev Ignatius Alphonso Few
  Birth Apr 11, 1789 Columbia County, Georgia
  Death Jul 14, 1888 Georgia
  Ignatius, Son of Captain Ignatius Few (Revolution Army)& Mary Chandler, married Celena Angnes Carr, Parents unknown, 29 Aug 1811, Alexandria, Columbia Co., GA
  First President of Emory College, Oxford , Georgia. Now Emory University, Atlanta.
  Burial Oxford Historical Cemetery, Oxford, Newton County, Georgia, USA
  Created by Donnie Ruyle Apr 13, 2009
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #35821093, https://old.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Few&GSiman=1&GSst=12&GSsr=81&GRid=35821093&

Sources

• 1. Roster of Revoloutionary Soldiers in Georgia Vol. I
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 3. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970