DAGG, John L., educator, born in Middleburg, Loudon County, Virginia, 13 February 1791; died in Haynesville, Ala., 11 June 1884. He was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1817, preached for some years in Virginia, and in 1825 removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he became pastor of the 5th Baptist Church. Retiring from the pastorate in 1833 on account of a diseased throat, he thenceforth devoted himself to teaching and authorship. In 1836 he took charge of the Alabama female athenaeum in Tuscaloosa, and in 1844 was made president of Mercer University at Penfield, Georgia, where he remained for twelve years, giving instruction in theology in addition to his duties as president. In 1856 he resigned the presidency of Mercer University. His published works are "Manual of Theology"; "Treatise on Church Order"; "Elements of Moral Science'; "Evidences of Christianity"; and several pamphlets, including "The More Excellent Way"; "An Interpretation of John III.: 5" ; "An Essay in Defence of Strict Communion" ; and "A Decisive Argument against Infant Baptism, furnished by One of its Own Proof-Texts."