Class of 1788

Isaac Grier was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania in 1763 to Thomas and Martha Grier. For his preparatory education, Grier attended the classical school in Chambersburg and was taught by James Ross. From there, Grier went to Dickinson College to study theology under Charles Nisbet. He was among the founders of the Belles Lettres Literary Society, and graduated with the College's second class in 1788.

On December 21, 1791, Grier was licensed by the Presbytery in Carlisle. His following appointments led him to preach throughout mid- and northern-PA, even into parts of New York. Grier was ordained in Carlisle and installed as a pastor in April 1794. In 1802 he took charge of a classical school to supplement his income while continuing to preach. He moved to the united churches of Sunbury and Northumberland Pennsylvania in 1806, and again headed a classical school. He served here until his death from dyspepsia on August 23, 1814.

In June 1793 Grier married Elizabeth Cooper, the daughter of Rev. Dr. Robert Cooper. The most famous of their 11 children was the eldest, Robert Cooper Grier. Like his father, he attended Dickinson College, graduating in 1812. He taught for a few years at the Dickinson Grammar School, and then took charge of the academy in Northumberland following his father's death. He pursued law, being admitted to the bar in 1817. He rose through the legal ranks and ultimately served as a United States Supreme Court justice from 1833 to 1870.

John Young was born on September 4, 1763 in York County, Pennsylvania. Little is known of his early life prior to his enrollment in Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As a member of the Class of 1788, Young studied under President Charles Nisbet and took fastidious notes. Because of Young's attentiveness, transcripts of Nisbet's lectures on theology, philosophy, and metaphysics survive and are housed in the College's Archives and Special Collections.

After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1788, Young remained at Dickinson to continue his studies in theology with Nisbet, as did several of his classmates. Although he did not earn any advanced degree, Young was licensed to preach by the Philadelphia Presbytery in 1791, and the following year he became the pastor at churches in Timber Ridge and Old Providence, Virginia. His pastorship in Virginia lasted for seven years; he relocated to Greencastle, Pennsylvania in 1799. There he preached until his death in 1803. In 1802, Young became a trustee of Dickinson College.

Young married Mary Fullerton and the couple had at least one son, John Clarke Young, who graduated from Dickinson in 1823 and went on to become president of Centre College in Kentucky. John Young died on July 24, 1803, less than a month before his son John was born.