Introduction

Biography

Nathan was the son of Sam­uel Be­man and Si­lence Doug­lass. He mar­ried twice, to Lo­rane Eli­za Smith (1811), and Car­ol­ine Bird.

Nathan gra­du­at­ed from Mid­dle­bu­ry College, Ver­mont, in 1807. He then stu­died theo­lo­gy and preached in Port­land, Maine (1810–12), and Mount Zi­on, Geor­gia (1812–22).

In 1818, he be­came pre­si­dent of Frank­lin College in Ath­ens, Geor­gia (the found­ing col­lege of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia), though he served on­ly a year in that po­si­tion. He lat­er served as pas­tor of the First Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Troy, New York (1823–63).

In 1824, Be­man became a trus­tee of Mid­dl­ebu­ry Col­lege, his al­ma ma­ter, a po­si­tion he held un­til his death. He was elect­ed pre­si­dent of Mid­dle­bu­ry Col­lege in 1846, but de­clined the po­si­tion.

Beman al­so served as vice pre­si­dent of Rens­se­laer Po­ly­tech­nic In­sti­tute in Troy (1842–45), and as its fourth pre­si­dent (1845–65).

Works

• Sac­red Lyr­ics (Troy, New York: 1832), en­larged in 1841. The 1841 edi­tion was adopt­ed by the New School Pres­by­ter­ian Ge­ne­ral As­sem­bly as the Church Psal­mist in 1847