James J. Blaisdell was born February 8, 1827, in Canaan, New Hampshire. Blaisdell graduated from Dartmouth College in 1846, taught a year in Montreal and then studied law with his father for almost three years before his interest turned toward the ministry. An 1852 graduate of Andover Theological Seminary, he was pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati prior to his arrival here.

Professor Blaisdell was called to the College in 1859 to be the chair of rhetoric and English literature. He proceeded to serve 37 years and earn stature as being among those early Beloit faculty members who gave the College its distinguishing characteristics; he was one of five called “the Old Guard” for dedicating themselves unswervingly to Beloit and giving it the full period of their life service. During the period of 1860 to 1864, Professor Blaisdell provided educational leadership to the Beloit community, serving as superintendent of schools. In 1865, he transferred to the College’s chair of mental and moral philosophy.

Regarded as less theologian and more philosopher, he cited his two masters as Jesus and Plato, who combined in their teachings the duty of contemplation with the duty of action. He was revered for kindly bearing, for lambent humor and for dignity of character that inspired reverence. A patriot, he volunteered and served as chaplain of the 40^th Wisconsin Volunteers during the Civil War. One of its units was called “the Beloit College Company” because of the number of college students serving in it.

After the war, he corresponded with the many Beloit College students who had served their country in the conflict and carefully recorded their sacrifice for posterity. The legendary educator was a Beloiter who served his college, his community and his country. The following words summarize the high esteem in which James Joshua Blaisdell was held by Beloit College students… and his colleagues: “The scholar, the seer, the students’ sympathetic friend and counselor, the devoted citizen, the comforter of the distressed, the man of God.” This appeared in an editorial memorializing him in the October 21, 1896 issue of The Round Table, the student newspaper. In 1873, Professor Blaisdell was awarded the degree of doctor of divinity by both Dartmouth and Knox College. Two leading western colleges offered him their presidencies, but on each occasion he decided to remain here as the center of his teaching. As a prominent citizen who was a student and promoter of good local government, he was nominated for the office of Beloit mayor in 1888, but declined the nomination. He did serve as president of both the Wisconsin Children’s Home Society and the Wisconsin Home Missionary Society. He also chaired the committee on reformatories and penitentiaries of the State Conference of Charities and Corrections and his resulting reports became classics in works pertaining to dependent-class care.

In his Blaisdell Memorial Address, College President Edward Dwight Eaton noted “The fact that his life was that of a thinker and a teacher never in the least tempted him to excuse himself from the life of a practical man of affairs devoted to the welfare of his state. He loved Wisconsin. He had a generous pride in her citizens, in her resources, in her history, in her future.” Pro-fessor James J. Blaisdell died at the age of 69 on October 10, 1896 and rests in Oakwood Cemetery.