Class of 1837

Thomas Bowman was born in Briarcreek Township near Berwick, Pennsylvania on July 15, 1817. His father was a successful businessman and the family had been Methodists since Francis Asbury had converted, and later ordained, Bowman's grandfather, also named Thomas, in 1780. Young Thomas was educated in the local schoolhouse and then entered Wilbraham Academy in Massachusetts for a year, progressing to the Casenovia Seminary in New York where he studied for three years. He entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as a junior in 1835 and graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1837, the first class to graduate under the management of the Methodist Church.

Andrew Gregg Curtin was born April 22, 1817 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He was the son of a Scots Irish immigrant who had begun an iron manufacturing concern in Center County and his second wife, Jean Gregg, daughter of a prominent Pennsylvania political family. He prepared at academies in Harrisburg and Milton and entered Dickinson to study law under Judge John Reed. He graduated with the class of 1837 and began private practice after being admitted to the bar in 1839.

Active in support of Whig candidates, he placed his developing skills as a speaker at the service of an array of candidates, including Harrison, Clay, and Taylor. By 1854, he was regarded highly enough to be offered the Whig nomination for governor, which he refused in favor of his friend James Pollock. Pollock named Curtin immediately as Secretary of the Commonwealth. His work on public schooling added to his name and he stood for governor himself in the pivotal election of 1860 as a strong supporter of Lincoln. He thus became one of the so-called "war governors" upon whom Lincoln depended for support after the outbreak of hostilities.

John Zug was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1818. Little is known of his childhood except that he began to study Latin in 1830. These studies allowed him to enter Dickinson College on September 10, 1834 as a sophomore. During his years at Dickinson College, Zug was an active member of the Union Philosophical Society, giving an address at the society's 47th Anniversary Celebration held July 4, 1836. His oratory skills appear to have been well known in both the community and the College, as he addressed several college and local groups on special occasions throughout his school career. Zug also claimed to have become "religious" on December 6, 1835. What type of event or conversion took place is neither known nor recorded, but presumably his affiliation with the Methodist Church began around that time. Zug graduated from Dickinson with the highest honors on July 20, 1837, and addressed his graduating class at Commencement. He enrolled in the law school on October 3, 1837 and was admitted to the Carlisle Bar on November 9, 1839. While at the law school, he was active in the Pennsylvania Colonial Society, serving as an agent from July 26 to November 26, 1838.