Cazenovia College

Cazenovia College began in 1824 as the Genesee Seminary. It was sponsored by the Methodist Church but was a non-sectarian institution. It was initially located in the old Madison County Courthouse. Cazenovia was co-educational from its foundation.[3] The seminary was created at the instigation of George Peck and several other prominent clergymen in the area. In 1839, the seminary initiated a three year course, as it was called, which was focused at the education of women. The seminary also had a missionary course, and in 1843 Sophronia Farrington (class of 1828) went out as the first female missionary to Africa, under the auspices of the Young Men's Missionary Society of Boston. This was the earliest foreign mission established by the Methodist Episcopal Church.[4]