In the spring of 1862, the Rev. A. A. Miner, D.D., was elected to succeed Dr. Ballou, and continued to hold the office until his resignation in February, 1875, a period of nearly thirteen years. Dr. Miner did not take up his residence at the College nor relinquish his connection with the School Street parish in Boston, of which he was pastor. But he visited the College daily, or as often as his presence was required. It was during his presidency and largely through his instrumentality that the extraordinary material development of the College was secured. Very soon after its establishment, Silvanus Packard, a prosperous merchant and a parishioner of Dr. Miner, who was without children, announced his intention of making Tufts College his child. He gave generously to it during his lifetime, and, dying, bequeathed to it nearly the whole of his property, amounting to nearly three hundred thousand dollars. The donations and legacies of Mr. Packard exceed in amount those of any other benefactor. The one who comes the nearest to him in the aggregate of his gifts is Dr. Wm. J. Walker. This gentleman divided his princely estate between the following institutions: Amherst College, the Museum of Natural History in Boston, Tufts College, and Williams College. The share which Tufts College received in this distribution was upwards of two hundred thousand dollars. The benefactions of Dr. Walker are remarkable, if we remember that he was an alumnus of Harvard College, an Episcopalian in religion, that his trusted friend and counsellor at the time he was arranging for the disposal of his property was Thomas Hill, D.D., the president of Harvard University, and that Tufts College was in the earliest stages of its development. But notwithstanding these facts, sufficient in themselves to warp the judgment of ordinary men, his vision was clear enough to enable him to see that there was room for another great college to grow up in the neighborhood of Boston, even under the shadow of that ancient and renowned university.
Another notable friend of Tufts College was Dr. Oliver Dean. In the beginning he made very liberal offers, provided the institution should be placed in Franklin. Subsequently he devoted the greater portion of his wealth to the founding of Dean Academy, one of whose functions was to be the fitting of young men for the College. He also showed still more distinctly his favor to the College by contributing in all $90,000 to its funds.
