Class of 1826

Henry Lewis Baugher was born in Abbottstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania on July 19, 1804 to tanner Christian Frederick and his wife Ann Catharine Matter Baugher. He was educated in Reverend David McConaughty's school in Gettysburg and entered Dickinson College in 1822. He was admitted to the Belles Lettres Literary Society that same year. At the commencement ceremony in 1826, Baugher, who received secondary honors, gave the Latin Salutatory Address.

After graduating from Dickinson, Baugher made arrangements to study law with Francis Scott Key, famous for drafting the verses of the current U.S. National Anthem, in Georgetown, but after the death of his mother, changed course and entered first the Princeton Seminary and then the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, he was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1833. Baugher quickly was noted for his preaching ability and became a professor of classical studies at Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College) in 1832. In September 1850, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted him the second president of the Pennsylvania College, a position he would not relinquish until his death in 1868. Baugher remained an active member of the teaching faculty and remained a minister while President of the College. His presidency was noted by his stern disciplinary practices and high standards.

William Wood Gerhard was born on July 23, 1809 to a Moravian Brethren hatter and his wife in Philadelphia. William, the eldest child, was educated at home and in local schools; as a voracious reader he was able to enter Dickinson College with the class of 1826 at the age of seventeen. While at the College, both he and his brother Benjamin were active members of the Union Philosophical Society. He returned to Philadelphia to study medicine under the well known Joseph Parrish and at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School where he was awarded a medical degree in 1830. Both before and after his degree was awarded, he served a residency in the Philadelphia Almshouse and made observations on communicable diseases. When the opportunity arose for him to study in Paris in spring 1831, thanks to an influential professor at Penn, Dr. Samuel Jackson, he was drawn to the teachings of Pierre-Charles-Alexander Louis, the founder of medical statistics for which careful observation, recording and analysis of cases were paramount.