Emanuel Vogel Gerhart

Emanuel Vogel Gerhart (Freeburg, Pennsylvania, 13 June 1817 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 6 May 1904) was an American minister of the German Reformed Church and first president of Franklin and Marshall College. Early life and education Gerhart was born on June 13, 1817, in Freeburg, Snyder County, Pennsylvania. His parents were the Reverend Isaac Gerhart (1788–1865) and Sarah Vogel Gerhart (1790–1861). Gerhart's great-grandfather, Peter Gerhart, emigrated from the town of Alsace, France, to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the early 18th century. Emmanuel Gerhart's mother, of French descent, grew up in Philadelphia but was born in Northhampton, PA, while his father led ministries of German Reformed churches in several counties, including Union County, Snyder County, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In the early years of his education, Gerhart went to the Classical Institution of the Reformed Church in York, Pennsylvania, under the leadership of Rev. Frederich Rauch. The school included a rigorous training in philosophy, history, math, science, Greek and Latin based on the German education system. At this school, Gerhart was one of the first members and developers of the Diagnothian Literary Society in 1835.