Reverend Daniel Gould Portrait

A graduate of Harvard, and perhaps the most learned man of Bethel in his day, the Reverend Daniel Gould was "of a rather worldly disposition, bringing the first chaise to Bethel, and wearing cocked hat, silk gown, and knee breeches around the town. The community's first-settled minister, Gould established a private school in his home that was the first secondary education offered in Bethel. The local Academy was named in his honor in 1843, a year after his death.