• Date of Birth: January 10, 1860
  • Born City: Grand Rapids
  • Born State/Country: MI
  • Parents: Leonard, a teacher, & Johanna Quintus D.
  • Date of Death: March 07, 1940
  • Death City: Allentown
  • Death State/Country: PA
  • Married: Jennie E. Pease, 25 June 1885.
  • Education:

    A.B. U. Michigan, 1881; A.M. 1884; Ph.D., Bonn, 1901; study in Europe, 1899-1901, 1908-9, 1927.

  • Dissertation:

    “De particularum copulativarum apud Caesarem et pseudo-caesarianos scriptores usu” (Bonn, 1901).

  • Professional Experience:

    Princ. Coldwater (MI) HS, 1881-3; instr. Lat. U. Michigan, 1883-5; prof. Lat. & chair class, dept. Michigan State Normal Coll. (now Eastern Michigan U.), 1886-1937; sec.-treas. CAMWS, 1905-8; pres., 1910-1.

  • Publications:

    Colloquia Latina (Boston, 1888); Easy Sight Readings for Secondary Schools (Boston, 1897); Second Year Latin with J. B. Greenough and M. Grant Daniell (Boston, 1899); Latin Composition (Boston, 1901); Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, ed. with Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, & A. A. Howard (Boston, 1903); Caesar's Gallic Wars, ed. with Greenough & Daniell (Boston, 1904); Selections from Urbis Romae Viri Inlustres (Boston, 1905); Latin for Beginners (Boston, 1911); Caesar in Gaul, ed. with Frederick Eastman (Boston, 1918); Elements of Latin (Boston, 1921); Junior Latin Lessons, with Dorothy M. Roehm (Boston, 1926); Cicero. Select Orations rev. ed. (Chicago, 1927);

  • Notes:

    B. L. D'Ooge's (pronounced “Dôgy”) French Huguenot family (he was the brother of M. L. D'Ooge) emigrated from Holland shortly before D'Ooge's birth. His career was devoted to Latin instruction and he understood students as no one else. He maintained the highest standards of precision but had the gift of imparting information to his students. He practiced what he called the “Doctrine of Interest,” meaning that any information conveyed should either arouse or satisfy interest in the cultural life of the ancient world. A beloved figure at CAMWS meetings, he was distinguished by his personal sympathy and gregarious amiability. His energy led him also to community work, active participation in his church choir and Sunday school, and supervising the College Latin Club, but he was at his best in the classroom. One obituary said, “As a psychologist and teacher by nature, and one who believed that education should be, in the widest sense of the word, spiritual, he practiced those principles which are fundamental for all that is genuinely progressive in modern education, while his keen intellect and objective thinking kept him from its pitfalls.”

  • Sources:

    C. J. Allison, CJ 35 (1939-40) 513-5; Eastern Michigan U. archives; NYTimes (9 Mar. 1940) 15; WhAm 3:233.

  • Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.