There were several Yale Bands. The first was the original Yale Band of Illinois. This group of seven young men, under the guise of Friends of Education founded Beloit College, in Beloit, WI, in 1846. At the time, Wisconsin was still a territory. The Yale Band also founded Illinois College, in Jacksonville, IL. Not only did Theron Baldwin conceptualize the Yale Bands, he was a member of the first group. Baldwin was a grandson of John Davenport who established a colony in New Haven, CT, also known as "Davenport's Colony." Baldwin, along with his cohorts, was born and raised in the East. The band consisted of:
- Theron Baldwin - Connecticut
- John F. Brooks - Westmoreland, NY
- Mason Grosvenor - Ashfield, MA
- Elisha Jenney - Fairhavens, MA
- William Kirby - Connecticut
- Julian M. Sturtevant - Warren, CT
- Asa TURNER - Templeton, MA
- Harvey Adams - Vermont
- Ephraim Adams - New Hampshire
- Ebenezer Alden, Jr. - Massachusetts
- William Hammond - changed his mind and didn't go
- James J. Hill - Maine
- Horace Hutchinson - Massachusetts
- Daniel Lane - Maine
- Erastus Ripley - Connecticut
- Alden B. Robbins - Massachusetts
- William Salter - born in New York
- Benjamin A. Spaulding - Massachusetts
- Edwin B. Turner - Illinois
- Aden B. Case - Illinois
- Pliny B. Fisk - Vermont
- Philip E. Holp - Ohio
- William B. Hubbard - Illinois
- George Lindsey - Scotland
- John R. Reitzel - Pennsylvania
- Charles W. Sheldon - Connecticut
- William H. Thrall - Kewanee, Illinois
- George W. Trimble - Ohio
For further reading, explore these texts online:
- The American College in American Life by Charles Franklin Thwing
- Truman Marcellus Post, D.D.: A Biography, Personal and Literary by Truman Augustus
- Congregationalists in America: A Popular History of Their Origin, Belief by Albert Elijah Dunning
- The College Year-book and Athletic Record for the Academic Year 1896-97 by Edwin Emerson
- Julian M. Sturtevant: An Autobiography