In 2010, the Board of Governors voted to change the name of the University to “Crandall University” to honour Rev. Joseph S. Crandall who was arguably the most significant Baptist leader in early 19th century New Brunswick. His impact on the young British colony was felt primarily in the fields of church planting, politics, and education.

Crandall was born c. 1770 in the community of Tiverton located in the then-British colony of Rhode Island. He moved with his parents to Chester, Nova Scotia in the early 1770s, just prior to the American Revolution, and eventually worked in the fishing and lumber industries in Nova Scotia. Crandall’s life profoundly changed when, under the influence of two Baptist patriarchs, Harris Harding and Joseph Dimock, Crandall experienced a profound Christian conversion as a young adult. He experienced a call to pastoral ministry and was ordained in Sackville, New Brunswick in 1799, becoming the first ordained Baptist minister in New Brunswick. Crandall planted (or established) a church in Salisbury, New Brunswick a year later where he served as pastor for 58 years.

Crandall was committed to planting new churches. From his base in Salisbury, he travelled by foot and on horseback to visit new communities for a period of weeks or months to organize new churches, primarily in southern New Brunswick. Dozens and dozens of Baptist churches in New Brunswick trace their founding to Crandall’s ministry. Crandall saw it as important that these churches provide mutual aid to each other, and from its founding in 1822 through to the 1840s, he served as Moderator of the New Brunswick Baptist Association.

In 1818 Crandall was elected to the New Brunswick House of Assembly. Some members of the New Brunswick elite were appalled that a Baptist clergyman had been selected for such a role and were instrumental in passing a new law forbidding members of the clergy from serving in the House. Historians have pointed out that Crandall maintained an interest in politics following his departure from the House in 1822, especially on issues related to civil and religious liberties, and that in the succeeding years it was rare for a member of the House of Assembly to be elected from Westmorland County without Crandall’s endorsement.

Formal education was difficult to come by during Crandall’s youth, but he believed strongly in the importance of providing young people with an opportunity to learn and grow. As the Chair of the New Brunswick Baptist Education Society, Crandall took the lead in helping establish the New Brunswick Baptist Seminary in Fredericton. This secondary school opened in 1836 with 80 boys and 40 girls enrolled. The school was unusual for its era in that boys and girls attended the same classes, and children from all denominational affiliations were welcome to attend. The school closed 1872 for financial reasons. Crandall was also a founder of Horton Academy which opened in 1828 (closed in 1959) and Acadia College (now Acadia University) which opened in 1838, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Following the death of his first wife Rebecca Ann Sherman c. 1803, Crandall married Martha Hopper. He was the father of 14 children. After a full life of service, Crandall died on February 20, 1858, at age 88, six weeks after he preached his final sermon in Salisbury while two of the men from his church supported him as he stood behind the pulpit for the final time.