In 1850—quite half a century ago—a committee was appointed to raise a fund of $125,000 for the university. President Wayland was then at the head of the institution. Among the subscribers to this fund was Matthew Watson, who contributed $500. Watson was, I believe, a descendant of a sturdy Irish immigrant, who settled in Barrington, R. I., in 1722. This immigrant’s name was also Matthew Watson, and nearly every generation of the family since that day has had a Matthew in it. Bicknell, in his “Sketches of Barrington,” tells us that Matthew the settler became a brickmaker and in time wedded Miss Read, the daughter of his employer. Her father opposed the match and represented to her the “folly” of throwing herself away, as he expressed it, on “a little poor Irishman.” His arguments were of no avail, however, and she and Matthew were married at Barrington in 1732. The marriage was a happy one. The “little poor Irishman” subsequently purchased the farm of his father-in-law and conducted the brickmaking business on an extensive scale. He erected a commodious brick house, which became known to the country round about as “the great Watson mansion.” Matthew, the immigrant, at one time held the position of judge of the court of common pleas for Bristol county. He is estimated to have accumulated in his brickmaking industry a fortune of $80,000. Some of his descendants are still living on the homestead. Matthew Watson, the benefactor to Brown in 1850, is believed, as I have stated, to be a descendant of this old Barrington settler. The part taken by students and alumni of Brown University in the Civil War has been alike honorable and eminent. A memorial volume has been published on the subject. Of the graduates in 1856, Thomas Ewing, Jr., became one of the most distinguished. He came of a prominent Ohio family and on his mother’s side was of Irish descent. He was made colonel of the Eleventh Kansas Volunteers, 1862; brigadier-general of United States Volunteers, 1863, and brevet major-general United States Volunteers in 1865. Later he became chief justice of Kansas. John C. Sullivan of the class of 1867 served in the Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, entering the regiment in 1862. He became a student of Brown University after leaving the army.