Rev. George Whitehill Chamberlain
He was with the Mackenzie Presbyterian University (Portuguese: Universi-dade Presbiteriana Mackenzie) a private university in São Paulo, Brazil. The Mackenzie Presbyterian University is an institution of higher learning that has a strong tradition and history in Brazil. It has campuses for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in São Paulo (Campus Higie-nópolis), Campinas, Barueri (Campus Alphaville), Brasilia, Curitiba, and Rio de Janeiro
Founded in 1870 as the American School, Mackenzie is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Brazil. The university is regarded nationally and internationally as a center of excellence having graduated numerous important names in Brazilian history..
History
Part of the São Paulo Campus on Maria Antônia Street
In 1870, the American Presbyterian missionary Rev. George Whitehill Chamberlain and his wife Mary Annesley founded a private grammar school inside their home. The classes were held in their living room and, a few years later, the "American School" was estab-lished as a center of excellence in São Paulo. The Chamberlains' American School was revolutionary for the Brazilian standards at that time: no corporal punishment on students was permitted, and both boys and girls could attend classes. Even though the Chamberlains were openly Presbyterians, students from all ethnic backgrounds, social classes, and religious denominations were welcome. The fame of academic rigor allied to religious tolerance soon reached the United States.
In 1896, John Theron Mackenzie, an attorney from Phelps, New York, and his sisters donated US$50,000 "for the establishment of an engineering school to be built under the auspices of Mr. Chamberlain". The Mackenzie building was built the next year, and the college was named in their honor.
After the establishment of Mackenzie College, the institution saw rapid expansion of its activities with the creation of a School of Architecture, a School of Economics, and a Law School, gaining the status of university in 1952.
Find A Grave
Presbyterian Missionary in Brazil.
Son of Rev. Pierce and Christiana Beckman (Whitehill) Chamberlain. Graduated from Delaware College in 1857 and studied theology in Union Seminary, NY (1859-1861). On the advice of his physician, went to Brazil for health issues. He did missionary work in Brazil from 1862 to 1866 then returning to the Seminary at Princeton. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro in 1865. He became the best known of American missionaries in Brazil, active in the founding of churches and the American School (which later became MacKenzie College) and pastor of a church in Bahia. He returned periodically to the US throughout the period.
Married June 30, 1868 in Albany, NY to Mary Ann Annesley. Known children: Mary Christine (died 1899), Daniel Stewart (died 1899), Pierce, Laura (Chamberlain) Waddell, Mary Christina and George Agnew Chamberlain.