William S. Denison pledged $10,000 toward the Granville College, which was a Baptist school. Honoring an earlier commitment, the trustees accordingly changed the name of the institution to Denison University. They also voted to move the college to land then available for purchase in the village of Granville. Denison died in 1880. William S. Denison William S. Denison (17941880) was a Baptist farmer who was a major benefactor and namesake of Denison University in Ohio. William S. Denison was born in Colrain, Massachusetts on November 13, 1794 as the youngest of eight children. His family was originally from Stonington, Connecticut. Denison migrated to
William S. Laughlin William S. Laughlin William S. Laughlin (August 26, 1919 – April 6, 2001) was an American anthropologist who carried on research and wrote about aboriginal peoples in the Aleutians and Greenland. William Sceva Laughlin was born in Canton, Missouri in 1919. He grew up in Salem, Oregon, where his father was a professor at Willamette University. His education included bachelor's (Willamette University, 1941) and master's (Haverford College, 1942) degrees in sociology, and master's (1948) and Ph.D. (1949) degrees in anthropology from Harvard University. His academic career in anthropology included professorships at the University of Oregon (1949-1955), the University of Wisconsin