It is at this point that Jehudi Ashmun came to Liberia. He was a remarkable man, and to him the colonial enterprise owes much. He was born April 21, 1794; he studied at Middlebury College and Vermont University; in 1816 he was principal of the Maine Charity School; in 1818 he married Miss C. D. Gray, at New York City; resigning his principalship on April 7, 1819, he removed to Washington where, for three years, he edited the _Theological Repository_; he here thought seriously of entering the ministry; he wrote the _Life of Samuel Bacon_, who had died for the sake of the colonial enterprise; in 1822, June 20th, he embarked upon the brig _Strong_, at Baltimore, having been employed to accompany a cargo of returned Georgian slaves. Mrs. Ashmun accompanied him; they were 81 days upon the voyage; on August 9th they arrived at Cape Montserrado. When Ashmun arrived, a small spot had been cleared, about thirty houses had been constructed in native style, together with a storehouse too small to receive the supplies which had been brought; the rainy season was at its height; the settlers already on the ground were barely supplied with shelter; for the new-comers no provision had been made; though the whole country was hostile, there were no adequate means of defense; the total population of the settlement, including the new-comers, did not exceed 130 persons, of whom thirty-five only were capable of bearing arms. It was a desperate situation; the erection of a storehouse and of a building to shelter the recaptured Africans was at once begun. The people and the goods were transferred as rapidly as possible from the vessel to the shore. On September 15th, less than six weeks after their arrival, Mrs. Ashmun died of fever, and on December 16th Ashmun himself was taken down and for two months his life was in doubt; it was not until the middle of February, 1823, that he was able to resume his duties.