John Early (educator)

John Early (educator).
John Early (July 1, 1814 – May 23, 1873) was a Catholic priest and Jesuit who held several prominent positions in American academia. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United States in 1833 and was educated in Maryland and Washington, D.C. After he began ministering, he was appointed the president of the College of the Holy Cross in 1848. In 1852, he founded St. Ignatius Church and Loyola College in Baltimore to educate the lay former students of St. Mary's Seminary and College. Early left in 1858 to become the president of Georgetown University, which operated through the Civil War despite being commandeered several times by the Union Army. In 1866, Early returned to Loyola College as president, where he restarted the conferral of degrees following the war. He finally returned to Georgetown in 1870 as president and oversaw the first years of the Law Department. He died in 1873.