safe to say, among the first four, if not at the head of the
Negro race. In all the particulars mentioned, he would honor
a professorship in any college in the land.

Prof. Crogman was born on the island of St. Martin, May 5,
1841. In 1855, Mr. B. L. Boomer, chief mate of the vessel,
visiting the island, became interested in the boy, then an
orphan, and induced him to come to the United States. Mr.
Boomer took him to his home in Middleboro, Mass., sent him
to district school in the winter, and always took great
interest in him. Mr. Boomer's brothers were all seafaring
men, captains or officers of vessels. With one of these the
boy, Willie, began to follow the sea. This beginning
afterward led to a life of eleven years on the ocean. He
visited many lands, and observant and thoughtful, obtained a
wide knowledge of various nationalities and parts of the
world. His visits included especially England, various
points on the Continent of Europe, Calcutta and Bombay in
Asia, various places in South America and Australia.

In 1866, at the suggestion of Mr. Boomer, that an academic
education would make him useful, Prof. Crogman, then at the
age of twenty-five, began to earn means to attend an
academy. He worked and laid by money till two years later in
1868, he entered Pierce Academy, in Middleboro, Mass. He
remained there two years, taking an English course with
French and bookkeeping.

After completing his academic course, in the Fall of 1870,
Prof. Crogman started for the South to give his life to the