Birthdays on November 9

Asa Mahan was born in Verona, New York. He became a Congregational clergyman and the first president of Oberlin College, founded by evangelist Charles Finney. In a leading advance for the times, he insisted that the school take students without regard to their race or sex.

Elijah P. Lovejoy was born in Albion, Maine. An abolitionist, he printed a newspaper against slavery. He became a martyr when he died defending his press against a pro-slavery mob.