fine scholar, but turned from teaching to business life. He was killed
at Petersburg in 1864, while defending his city in Kautz's attack on it.
Thomas H. Campbell was a distinguished lawyer, served in both houses of
the General Assembly of Virginia, and was president of the Southside
Railroad Company.
Edward Wadsworth was a prominent minister in Virginia and Alabama, a
Doctor of Divinity, and President of the Southern University,
Greensboro, Ala.
In the class of 1842, Thomas C. Johnson, of Virginia, first-honor man,
became a prominent lawyer in St. Louis, Mo., and a member of the
Legislature of that State. After the war he served two years as
President of Randolph-Macon College (1866-'67, 1867-'68).
William G. Connor, D. D., of South Carolina, was for many years a
prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Texas.
Ira I. Crenshaw, of Virginia, was tutor in Randolph-Macon College
several years, and professor at the Female Institute, Buckingham, Va.,
and a minister of the Virginia Conference.
Dr. Samuel D. Saunders was professor at the Southwestern University.
Georgetown, Texas, for a number of years.
Of the class of 1843, George W. Benagh, of Virginia, first-honor man,
was a professor at the University of Alabama, succeeding Dr. Landon C.
Garland, his old preceptor. He died young by accidental drowning.
Edward S. Brown, of Virginia, an eminent lawyer and member of the
Virginia Legislature, is still an active, vigorous man (1897).
William H. Lawton was a faithful itinerant in the South Carolina
Conference for nearly fifty years.
Richard H. Powell was a prominent man in church and state for many years
in his State (Alabama).
A number of the members of this class died in early manhood.
Coming down to my own class (1844). This class in the Freshman year
numbered thirty-three. Of these only nine took degrees. Four others came
in after the opening year, making total graduates thirteen.
John Lyon, of Petersburg, was the first-honor man of this class. He
entered the class in the junior year, when he was in his sixteenth year.
Before his entrance there were several candidates for the first honor.
It was not long before their hopes began to fail. He was precocious, but
his precocity was not short-lived, as it so frequently is. Mathematics,
the great rock on which so many aspiring men were wrecked, was
apparently a pastime with him. President Garland, a natural-born
mathematician, had no mercy on men not like gifted with himself. His
course was beyond the power of nine out of ten. John Lyon was the one of
ten, and was head and shoulders above all the others in the class in
this course, while not equal to others in other courses, but high in
all. His brilliancy made him in after life a successful lawyer. He died
in Washington, November, 1897, aged seventy.
The second-honor man was William C. Doub, of North Carolina. He was an
untiring student, gifted especially in the acquisition of language. He
was a teacher all his life, having spent the most of it as professor in
Trinity College, North Carolina, and Greensboro Female College. He was
very prominent in the Methodist Church. He died in the high noon of
life.
The third-honor man, William M. Cabell, of Virginia, was a man of
clear-cut intellect, and he had the power of concentration in a high
degree. This power was shown in his early life, and afterwards made him
distinguished and feared at the bar and in the Virginia Legislature. He
is still living (1897).
The fourth-honor man was Holland Nimmons McTyeire. Brought by his old
preceptor, James R. Thomas, to Randolph-Macon, when otherwise he might
have gone to a state school, he entered the Sophomore Class in 1841.
College life was no pastime for him. His ambition would make it a
stepping-stone to high position--as at first desired and designed--in
the State. Like Dr. Olin, no place lower than the highest would satisfy
his ambition. To attain to this, all the power of an iron will moving
the enginery of a somewhat slow but giant mind was bent and made
subject. Had not a change come to divert him from his original
intention, he would doubtless have become as notable in the councils and
courts of the State as he became in the church. When he first came to
College he appeared indifferent in church matters, though it was known
he was a member. Whether this was the result of a lapsed religious life,
or was the result of a struggle to still the promptings of conscience,
is not known. But the call to a higher life, heard, doubtless, before,
but a while unheeded, was emphasized in one of those sweeping revivals
which Dr. Olin valued more than laws of discipline, and which he
pronounced as indispensable in college work. Worldly ambition ceased to
be the mainspring of his action, and he began to seek to "have the mind
which was in Christ." But it was no easy work to bend such a will in a
new direction. It was like turning the mighty steamship on a different
course. The passion to rule men around him, the gift of so doing (and it
is the greatest gift with which man is endowed), was constantly
asserting itself. It probably was "strong in death," but it was tempered
and sanctified to other than selfish ends by that good Spirit which
subdued a Luther, a St. Paul, and a John Knox. What Randolph-Macon did
for McTyeire in strengthening his mental powers for what he was to
become as editor and bishop and builder of a great university, in
sobering and elevating his ambition and aspirations, and fitting him for
the work he was called to do in and for the church, cannot be computed.
He has made his mark as high as any son of his alma mater, possibly
higher than any other.
Space will not allow me to dwell upon the names of Thomas H. Rogers, of
Virginia, for a while a tutor in the College, afterwards M. D.; of
Richard S. Parham, of Virginia, a clever student and lawyer, who died in
the prime of life, in his adopted State, Tennessee; of "Judge" Fanning,
of Georgia, the frequent butt of Prof. Duncan's wit, who was said (poor
fellow) to have chewed his brains out along with his teeth; of B. F.
Simmons, a prominent young lawyer, who died prematurely, and of Willie
M. Person, a M. D., who also died young.
John Howard has been since early youth a prominent lawyer in Richmond,
ranking very high in his profession. He was noted when at College for
his love for, and proficiency in, English literature and composition.
He is still living (1897).
Of my most intimate friend in the class, Archibald Clark, I quote what
Bishop McTyeire wrote of him: "The most useful local preacher in
Southern Georgia, is what his presiding elder said of him."
Among those who were students with me at the College, but left without
taking degrees, the following were the most notable: William T. Howard,
of Virginia, who became a distinguished physician and professor in the
University of Maryland; Lucius I. Gartrell, of Georgia, who became one
of the foremost lawyers of his State, and a general in the Confederate
army; Chas. E. Hooker, of South Carolina, Attorney-General of the State
of Mississippi, colonel in the Confederate army, and for many years a
member of Congress; Colonel Joel B. Leftwich, of Virginia, for a number
of years a member of the General Assembly of Virginia; Smith W. Moore,
of North Carolina, a Doctor of Divinity in the Memphis Conference,
author of several books, and poet. He was associated with Bishop
McTyeire on the Board of Trust during the early years of the Vanderbilt
University. James N. Ramsey, of Georgia, colonel in the Confederate
army; Robert Ridgway, of Virginia, the brilliant editor of the _Richmond
Whig_, and member of Congress from Virginia; Walter L. Steele, of North
Carolina, a member of Congress, and prominent in business and state,
matters; W. L. Blanton, a minister of the Virginia Conference, eloquent
and zealous, who died in early manhood; James D. Crawley, a most
estimable man, and a local minister for many years; W. K. Blake, of
North Carolina, a prominent merchant in Spartanburg, S. C., and trustee
of Wofford College; John Wesley Williams, a member of the Virginia
Conference, whose useful life was early cut short by consumption.
Nearly all of my college-mates sleep in the dust of the earth. Many of
them were "wise, and shall shine as the brightness of the firmament,"
and some "turned many to righteousness," and shall "shine as the stars,
forever and ever."
[Illustration: GEN. TENNENT LOMAX, CLASS 1840. _Killed at Seven Pines,
Va., 1862._]
We go back now and take up the record regularly. At the close of the
session of 1839-'40 the report of the Faculty notes the year as
successful, and makes mention of the introduction of Anglo-Saxon into
the course as the basis of the proper study of English. The Bible was
also recommended as a part of the course of study. At this meeting the
first legacy to the College, made by Rev. Robert C. Jones, of $3,000,
was reported.
[Illustration: DAVID CLOPTON, LL. D.]
The following degrees were conferred June, 1840:
A. B.
DAVID CLOPTON, of Georgia.
JAMES F. DOWDELL, of Georgia.
BURWELL K. HARRISON, of Ga.
JAMES L. PIERCE, of Georgia.
TENNENT LOMAX, of S. C.
WOODSON L. LIGON, of S. C.
A. M.
JOHN C. BLACKWELL, of Va.
R. E. G. ADAMS, of Virginia.
J. W. HARDY, of Georgia.
F. N. MULLEN, of N. C.
JOHN TILLET, of North Carolina.
JUNIUS L. CLEMONS, of N. C.
WARREN DU PRE, of S. C.
[Illustration: D'ARCY PAUL]
The "Centennial of Methodism" occurred in 1839, and was celebrated by
the church. Considerable collections were taken up during the year to
increase the endowment of the College. This year a name, _clarum et
nobile_, appeared for the first time on the records of the Board, D'Arcy
Paul, of Petersburg. In the good providence of God, he was permitted to
act as trustee for many years, and to exert a great influence in saving
the College from financial wreck. At the time of his election he was a
leading Methodist in his city, and probably the most prominent layman in
the State. As a merchant, he had been very successful, and enjoyed the
unbounded confidence of the business world. His liberality towards all
church and benevolent enterprises was such as probably had never before
been witnessed in Virginia. He was by birth a native of Ireland, but his
whole life, except his early boyhood, had been spent in Virginia, and no
son "to the manner born" was more enthusiastic in pushing forward all
interests that enured to its welfare. When he accepted the place of
trustee his heart and hand and credit were put at the service of the
College. Taking the helm of the ship as Financial and Investing Agent,
he held it for nearly thirty years, and it is not going too far to say
that to him, more than to any other man, the College owes its
continuation to the day when age and feebleness forced him to turn over
to other hands the trust he had so long and faithfully borne on his
shoulders. If it had the means, it should erect a monument to perpetuate
his memory. Happy am I here to pay this feeble tribute to his worth, and
to give the portrait, faint representation, though it be, of one who is
worthy of all the honors that could be bestowed on him. His form was so
erect that age could not bend it. His character, which beamed forth in a
face of more than usual manly beauty, was still more true to the line of
truth and righteousness.
[Illustration: EDWARD WADSWORTH, D. D., _President of the Southern
University, Ala._]
The report of the Faculty for the year ending June, 1840-'41, makes
favorable mention of the work of the session and of the conduct and
scholarship of the students. The financial condition of the College was
found to be such as to call for an address asking of the patronizing
Conferences needed relief.
The degrees conferred at the close of the year were:
A. B.
GEORGE B. JONES, Virginia.
THOMAS B. GORDON, Georgia.
ROBERT C. GILLIAM, S. C.
WILLIAM H. DENTON, S. C.
WILLIAM H. BASS, Virginia.
MARCELLUS STANLEY, Georgia.
THOS. S. ARTHUR, S. Carolina.
THOS. H. CAMPBELL, Virginia.
THOMAS H. JONES, Virginia.
WM. W. HEREFORD, Mississippi
SAMUEL B. SCOTT, Virginia.
EDWARD WADSWORTH, N. C.
OLIVER P. WILLIAMS, S. C.
A. M.
CHARLES W. BAIRD, Virginia.
THEOPHILUS STEWART, Georgia.
JOHN T. BRAME, N. Carolina.
EDWARD H. MYERS, Florida.
JAMES M. FITTS, N. Carolina.
HENRY E. LOCKETT, Virginia.
JAMES R. THOMAS, Georgia.
EZEKIEL A. BLANCH, Virginia.
GEORGE W. BLAIN, Virginia.
YEAR 1841-'42.
At a called meeting of the Board held April, 1842, Prof. E. D. Sims
tendered his resignation. The law of Virginia at that time prohibited a
person from marrying the sister of his deceased wife. The Professor was
about to marry Miss Andrews, the sister of his former wife, daughter of
Prof. Andrews, author of Latin Grammar, and therefore was compelled to
leave the State to marry her.
The loss of a Professor so capable and eminent as Professor Sims was
much regretted by the trustees and the friends of the College. Under the
circumstances, it could not be remedied, for there was no one to take
his place in the special English course. He had been elected to take the
chair of English in the University of Alabama, which he accepted. At
this institution he formulated a course of instruction in English based
on Anglo-Saxon, similar to the one he had taught at Randolph-Macon. Here
he proceeded with the work on the Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Dictionary.
This work he was not long permitted to prosecute. He died in 1845. Forty
years after his death the manuscripts of his Anglo-Saxon works came to
Randolph-Macon in an unexpected way. Rev. Mr. Stephan, of Missouri,
found them at a second-hand bookstore in St. Louis, and noticing the
name of Professor Sims on the title-page, he purchased the lot,
embracing other papers, and sent them to the writer. Prof. Sims labored
faithfully, but "others have entered into his labors."
[Illustration: SAMUEL D. SANDERS, A. M., M. D., _Professor Southwestern
University, Texas._]
Rev. Dr. Capers, of South Carolina, was elected to fill the vacancy, and
also president of the College, President Garland having tendered his
resignation.
In the annual report in June, 1842, the Faculty say: "Our pecuniary
embarrassments are becoming serious, and unless effectually relieved, it
will be impossible to keep up the operations of the institution much
longer. The trustees cannot give this matter too much patient
reflection; and if it be practicable to sustain the institution in this
respect, we have no fears for its success in all others."
The reorganization of the Faculty was recommended, also some
modifications in the course of study; also, the establishment of a
"School of Law." This school was established, and Edward R. Chambers, an
eminent lawyer of Boydton, elected Professor.
The degrees conferred June, 1842, were:
A. B.
THOMAS C. JOHNSON, Virginia.
JOSEPH SUTTON, Virginia.
ALEX. B. PIERCE, N. Carolina.
BENJAMIN Z. HERNDON, S. C.
WILLIAM G. CONNOR, S. C.
SAMUEL D. SANDERS, S. C.
IRA I. CRENSHAW, Virginia.
THOMAS R. EPES, Virginia.
JOSEPH T. REESE, Georgia.
LUCIEN H. LOMAX, S. Carolina.
GEO. E. WYCHE, N. Carolina.
A. M.
ISAAC C. CROFT, S. Carolina.
WILLIAM H. BATTE, Virginia.
JOSIAH F. ASKEW, Georgia.
CHARLES F. BURNLEY, Virginia
AMOS W. JONES, N. Carolina.
JAMES W. WIGHTMAN, S. C.
JAMES R. WASHINGTON, Ga.
Rev. DAVID S. DOGGETT, Virginia (honorary).
Rev. David S. Doggett was elected to the chair vacated by the
resignation of Professor Sims.
1842-1843.
This year the second decade of the College commenced. The year was
marked by great financial pressure, which was partially relieved by the
sale of some of the funds of the College. A part of the proceeds of the
sale was used to pay off a debt on building account and the rest for
current expenses. At the low rates of college fees, the current receipts
failed to meet salaries and other expenses.
In the annual report of the Faculty mention is made of a decrease in
patronage, caused by the financial condition of the country and the
establishment of colleges in other Southern Conferences; so that it was
again necessary to ask the Board to do something to increase the income
of the College.
This year a French course was introduced for the first time, and E. A.
Blanch was elected tutor of French.
At the annual meeting, June, 1843, a committee was appointed, consisting
of Messrs. Chambers, Rogers, Alexander, Leigh, and Early, to recommend a
plan for the relief of the College from financial embarrassment. This
committee reported as follows:
1. That it is absolutely necessary to raise a permanent fund of $20,000
to sustain the institution, and if we fail in doing so, _it must and
will go down_.
2. That the Agent be instructed to endeavor to obtain one hundred
subscribers of $500 in money or in bonds, the interest to be paid
annually at the sessions of the Virginia and North Carolina Conferences,
and the principal within a period not to exceed ten years, no
subscription to be binding until $10,000 shall have been subscribed, the
principal to be kept as a permanent fund.
The Faculty of the College showed their spirit of liberality and
self-denial by the following communication:
"The Faculty, with a view to contribute all in their power toward the
establishment of the College, propose to give to the Board of Trustees
the sum of five thousand dollars, the same to be paid in five years by a
relinquishment annually of $1,000 on their salaries upon the following
conditions, viz.:
"1. That the balance of their salaries be paid promptly.
"2. That the donation shall cease before the expiration of the five
years, unless the exigencies of the institution shall require it."
[Illustration: GEORGE W. BENAGH, A. M., _Professor, University of
Alabama._]
It being necessary to raise funds to pay the professors, Messrs. H. G.
Leigh, D'Arcy Paul, Dr. Archibald A. Campbell, George Rogers, and Edward
R. Chambers offered to loan the College $500 each, and Messrs. H. B.
Cowles and Landon C. Garland $250 each, on the 25th of December next;
and Rev. W. B. Rowzie, Agent of the College, offered, that if the amount
of his collections should fall under $500, to make up the deficiency in
a loan.
[Illustration: JUDGE EDWARD R. CHAMBERS, _Professor of Law 1842-'43.
Trustee of the College. Judge Circuit Court. Member of Virginia
Convention 1851 and 1861._]
The above record is given to show the great financial strait of the
College and to bring to mind the liberality of the members of the Board
and the Faculty. But for this liberal action the College would have
ceased its work, as so many others were forced to do.
Some steps were taken at this meeting to establish a Medical Department
in the College.
The following degrees were conferred, June, 1843:
A. B.
GEORGE W. BENAGH, Virginia.
EDWARD S. BROWN, Virginia.
HAMPDEN S. SMITH, N. C.
THOMAS E. MASSIE, Virginia.
WILLIAM H. LAWTON, S. C.
FELIX H. G. TAYLOR, Miss.
RICHARD H. POWELL, Alabama.
THOMAS W. BLAKE, N. C.
HENRY B. ELDRIDGE, Virginia.
WALLER MASSIE, Virginia.
JOHN F. RIVES, Mississippi.
NATHANIEL R. WADDILL, Va.
JOHN C. WALKER, Virginia.
A. M.
JAMES F. SMITH, South Carolina.
D. D.
Rev. ROBT. NEWTON, England.
WILLIAM WINANS, Mississippi.
LOVICK PIERCE, Georgia.
WILLIAM A. SMITH, Virginia.
1843-1844.
The dark cloud resting on the prospects of the College in June, 1843,
still hung over it the succeeding year, notwithstanding the efforts made
to relieve the embarrassment. Patronage continued to decrease. The
session opened with sixty matriculates in the College and thirty in the
Preparatory School, the smallest number in the history of the College up
to this year.
The President, in the annual report, alludes to the depression of
Faculty and patrons, neither of whom "could feel proper interest in an
institution _which might close its doors at any time_." This feeling of
despondency seemed to have pervaded also the members of the Board, for a
bare quorum were in attendance at the opening session. The president, in
his report, said: "We shall regard it as a calamity if you leave this
place without making some definite arrangement by which our future may
be relieved from all embarrassment."
[Illustration: HOLLAND N. MCTYEIRE, A. M., D. D., _Bishop of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Regent Vanderbilt University._]
That grand layman, D'Arcy Paul, in this dark hour, came to the relief of
the College by guaranteeing the salaries of the professors to the amount
of $5,000 on certain conditions. Thus, in the good providence of God,
the life of the College was prolonged.
[Illustration: COL. WM. TOWNES, TRUSTEE. _Elected 1844._]
The following received degrees June, 1844:
A. B.
JOHN LYON, Virginia.
WILLIAM C. DOUB, N. C.
WILLIAM M. CABELL, Virginia.
HOLLAND N. MCTYEIRE, Ala.
ARCHIBALD CLARK, Virginia.
THOMAS H. RODGERS, Virginia.
JAMES G. FANNING, Georgia.
JOHN HOWARD, Virginia.
RICHARD IRBY, Virginia.
RICHARD S. PARHAM, Virginia.
WILLIE M. PERSON, N. C.
BENJAMIN F. SIMMONS, N. C.
J. L. GILLESPIE, Virginia.
A. M.
THOMAS B. GORDON, Georgia.
GEORGE B. JONES, Virginia.
Rev. EDWARD WADSWORTH, Va.
FRANCIS A. CONNOR, S. C.
Rev. THOS. H. JONES, Virginia.
WILLIAM H. BASS, Virginia.
HENRY F. JONES, N. C.
Rev. Henry B. Cowles having declined to accept the office of Agent, to
which he had been previously elected, was again elected.
Warren DuPre resigned the tutorship, and Holland N. McTyeire was elected
to fill the place.
It would be an omission if, in describing and relating other matters,
the description of an old-time Annual Commencement should be left out.
These occasions were notable events in the first two decades of the
College. In those days preparations were begun four weeks before the
Commencement day by releasing the Seniors from regular daily exercises
so as to give them time to prepare their orations, which each one had to
write and commit to memory and rehearse before the Professor of English,
who was authorized to make corrections in matter, style, and also in
manner of delivery. The Commencement generally was held the third
Wednesday and Thursday of June. The Sunday previous a sermon was
preached by some eminent minister appropriate to the occasion. Selecting
one occasion that the writer witnessed as a specimen, that of 1842, the
following description is faithful: The visitors, in the main, began to
fill up the boarding-houses around the College and the hotels of Boydton
on Tuesday. The Board of Trustees assembled on Tuesday at an early hour,
holding their meeting, strictly private, during the day. Friends of the
graduates from Virginia and the Carolinas were largely in attendance on
Wednesday in time for the opening of the exercises in the chapel. On
this occasion the far-famed evangelist, Rev. John Newland Maffett, had
been selected to deliver the annual oration before the literary
societies. He arrived on Tuesday by private carriage, having travelled
over seventy miles. The Alumni Society orator had also arrived.
The exercises of Wednesday opened at 11 A. M. The band had been
discoursing musical selections for hours previous on the campus, and
continued in the gallery of the chapel, to which they and the crowd had
repaired. The chaplain invoked the blessing of God on the College and
the young men. The president introduced the alumni orator, who delivered
his address to the Society and the audience. The applause of the
auditors would have been prolonged but for their anxiety to hear the
silver-tongued orator, whose fame was as wide as the country. He was in
the prime of life. His dress was faultless; his black locks were
unruffled, as when he left the hair-dresser's shop an hour before, for
it was said he held his hat in his hand all the way from Boydton as he
rode in the carriage to the chapel. Be that as it may, every lock was in
perfect order. He was a native of the Emerald Isle, but was thoroughly
naturalized. His manner was well-nigh perfect, possibly a little too
dramatic; his voice musical, his enunciation rolling and faultless.