“ He was a remarkable linguist, conversationalist and orator, notable for his uncompromising independence, his opinion that the German reformation was a misfortune and that the reformation should have been within the church. ”

“ Alva Woods (1794–1887) , a nephew of the elder Leonard and the son of Abel Woods (1765–1850) , a Baptist preacher, graduated at Harvard in 1817 and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, and was ordained as a Baptist minister. In 1824–1828 he was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Brown University, acting as president in 1826–1827; in 1828–1831 was president of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky; and in 1831–1837 was president of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where he organized the Alabama Female Athenaeum. ”

“ He was prominent among the founders of Andover Theological Seminary, and was its first professor, occupying the chair of Christian theology from 1805 to 1846, and being professor emeritus until his death in Andover on the 24th of August 1854. He helped to establish the American Tract Society, the American Education Society, the Temperance Society and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. ”