President: 1829
Fr. John Beschter, S.J., served as Georgetown's 16th president in 1829.
Early Jesuit career
John Beschter was born in the Austrian Netherlands, and he came to the United States in 1807. He joined the Society of Jesus that October and was appointed priest of St. Mary’s Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1814, Fr. Beschter escorted the first group of novices from Frederick, Maryland to the novitiate at White Marsh where he served as master of novices.1 In 1820, Fr. Bescher was appointed head of the German congregation of St. John’s Church in Baltimore where he remained until 1829.2 When Fr. William Feiner’s health began to fail, Fr. Beschter was appointed Georgetown’s sixteenth president on March 31, 1829.
Presidency
As Fr. Beschter remained in office for a mere six months, little is remembered about his brief tenure. He did take charge of the 1829 Commencement and invited President Andrew Jackson to confer the medals and premiums. President Jackson accepted and began plans to send his adopted son to Georgetown, but a sudden sickness prevented President Jackson’s attendance on the day of the ceremony.3 Instead, Archbishop Whitfield of Baltimore stepped in as the distinguished guest.4
Under Fr. Beschter, the 1829-1830 school year began with forty-five students enrolled, a greater number than the years prior.5 On September 29, 1829, Fr. Beschter’s presidency ended, and he was succeeded by Fr. Thomas Mulledy. Fr. Beschter remained at Georgetown for the 1829 school year as a professor of German.6
- 1Devitt, Edward. "History of the Maryland-New York Province: VII Goshenhoppen (1741–1889)" Woodstock Letters. June 1933.
- 2“Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Volume 22.” 1911, p.242.
- 3“The Towered Hill.” The Hoya. 26 Feb. 1926, p.2.
- 4Easby-Smith, James. “Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, Its Founders, Benefactors, Officers, Instructors and Alumni.” Vol. 1, p.65.
- 5Id.
- 6Gilmary Shea, John. “Memorial of the First Century of Georgetown College, D.C.” 1891, p.90.
