Ignatius Alphonso Few was an American attorney, farmer, and preacher who was selected to lead "a school for manual labor", which subsequently failed and was replaced by a program for “sub-freshmen” at the newly established Emory College.
[1] In 1834, the Georgia Conference of the MEC founded a school for manual labor 30 miles outside of what would become Atlanta, just north of the town of Covington.
As this was a manual labor school, the students were expected to work three hours a day in the field performing farming chores.
The founders did not have enough experience to take on this project with any success – remember Few’s own failed attempt at farming – and before long the school was overrun with debt.
In 1840, the Manual Labor School closed for good and was replaced by a program for “sub-freshmen” at Emory College.