First Man To Work Way Through College Tolled Bell and Waited an Tables in 1657

For ringing the college bell and waiting on table in the commons, Zachariah Bridgen, who entered Harvard College in 1657 at the age of 14, was given the sum of about $4 by the steward's office, on December 31, 1654, prior to his entrance as a student. This is the first record of an American student who earned part of his college expenses.

The steward's books further reveal that Bridgen had charges against him for: "commones and sizinges," which was board together with food and drink ordered from the buttery: "tuition"; 'study-rente and beed," or room and bed "for and candell"; wood; and for bringing corn from Charlestown." On he other side of the ledgers, Bridgen vas credited with such things as "sillier," "wheatt," "malte," "Indian" or born and "a bush of parsnips."

As a waiter, Bridgen received between 2 and $2.25 per quarter for three successive quarters, after which he was revarded approximately $12.25 for a scholarship, and $7.50 for wages. The total cost of an education in the 1650's ranged from $100 to $200, and was payable in silver and groceries.

Another interesting fact in the history of Harvard is that after the settlement of John Hancock's estate, that worthy gentleman, who graduated in 1754, and was a former treasurer of the corporation, still owed $526 to the college. According to Reverend Carroll Perry of Ipswich, who wrote an essay on Hancock, the latter was also very unsatisfactory in his administration of his alma mater's finances, and the result was that Hancock's reputation as patriot and statesman has suffered with many people. However, the Reverend Perry attributed this unsatisfactory administration to the fact that Hancock, during his stewardship between 1773 and 1776, was preoccupied with affairs in Congress concerning the Revolution, and also because the statesman had a dislike for business. "A very near great man," was the judgment of the essayist as to Hancock.