College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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I ' ;i siii,i; liver tliL- next forty years, ilurins; wliieli the seed snwii in 1617 was still in embryo, we find that in 1660 the X ' irginia Asscndjjy Mteil thai for the advance of learnins;-. education of ycjiith, sup])ly of the ministry, and promotion of ])iely. there be land taken n|)on pnrchase for a col- ledjje and free sclioole. ' Subscriptions were also taken iij), to which His .Majcstie ' s ( lovcrnor, Council of State, and liurj esses of the present ( irand Assenibl ha e severally subscribed considerable sunies of money and i|uan- lityes of tobacco. Some ha e gone so far as to say that the college was really established in 1661, InU for this there is no proof. The ])eoi)le sulj- scril)cd liberally towards the college, but the odds were against it, both in the economic and political conditions of the coluUry. GEORGE WASHINGTON. President of the United States. Surveyor appoinie ' i hit IJte Cotlcf e Fucutiii 1 4 ' ; Chancellor nf I he CuUege 17Xt -ir9U. Ideas assumed a more definite shape in lOyi, when Rev. James lUair was sent to luigland to secure a charter for said college. He laid the plans of the colony before Oueen Alary, who heartily favored the idea. William concurred, and gave out of the (|uit-rents two thousand ] ouuds sterling. Air. lUair was then sent to Seymour, the . ttorney-General. but with him he found more difficulty. The nation was expensively engaged in war. and could ill afford the necessary fimds for planting a college in America. Mr. lllair urged that the institution was to prepare men to become ministers of the Gospel and that Virginians had souls to save as well as Englishmen. The argument was no doubt forcible, but it only evoked from Seymour that 18

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SEAL OF THE COLLEGE- The College of William and Mary. 11 IS pleasing and protitable to trace minutely the evolution of institu- tions and of men. but to describe the stages of progress which the Col- lege of William and iFar)- has passed since its establishment in 1693, would be a seemingly endless task. Consequently, the writer has contented himself with mentioning a few of the most important and interesting facts connected with its origin, foundatinn. .-md sid)sei|uent career. William and Mary, the oldest college in America with the single exceptinn of Har -ard, altlicnigh not formally established until 1693, has antecedents which date as far back as 1(117. liefore the little colon ' had hardly gained a firm footing at Jamestown, before the onerous task of clear- ing the forest had liardl}- begun, and while the hostile Indians were still hovering aromul the almost defenceless settlements, these earlv ' irginians conceived the idea of higher education. The j rimarx- object in founding a college was t!ie education and Cdnwrsion of the Indians, whose condition seemed to weigh heavily u])on the consciences of the ]}COi)le of that time. So, in t6i(), .Sir lulwin Sandys, together with some good people of England, raised a considerable sum fur the csiablishmtMit of an Indian college and the foimdation (jf a seminary of learning for the English. Mr. George Thorpe, a gentleman of Tlis Majesty ' s I ' rivy Chamber, was sent over to superintend the Mi-called university. Uut this first be,ginning of philan- thro])hy to the Indian was ni])ped in the bud by the Great Massacre of 1622, when Thorpe and three hundred and forty other settlers perislied. 17

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cxi ' laiiiatinii whirli has since hccomc classic; Smils ! Ihimn your souls ' . Make tobacco! Hut in spite nf tlic Attoriiey-Geiiei-al. the King and Ouccn aillieied to their lornier resi )lntic m, and signed the charter an Feljrnarv n;th, Let us n(.) glance at this ancient paper, which is so homirahle to the King, Uueen. and the colonists m their efforts to spread learning and the Christian religion throughout the Western continent. The college was founded on the l)road and coin])rehensi e plan that the ( ' Inu ' ch of X ' irginia nia In. ' furnished with a seminary of ministers of the (iosjtel. and that the outh may he |)iously educated in go(.)d letters and manners, and tlial the ( hristian reli.gion max he ])ro[:)agate(l among the Western Indians, to the glory of Almighty (iod. The officers consisted of a chancellor, a ])resident or rector, eighteen isitors. and six professors. I ' v reconuuendation of the X ' irgiuia . ssend)l -. ] ev. James lUair was cre- HALL AT CARTER ' S GROVE. Home of Dr. E. G. Booth. Showlny sabre ciils made on stairway by Tarleiun ' s Troopisrs dai-hiy the Rerolutionary War. {Bil cuiirlcsil iif (lif pubUshcrx, Chun. Scribnn ' s Soti.i.) ated and estahlished the hrsl ]iresident of the college during his natural life. The liishop of London was to he the lirst chancellor, and ihe visitors were to he a sclf-per])etuating hody of eighteen men. who should June eiuire control of the institntii m. Tlie i-harter then endows the colle.ge with the whole and entire sum of one thousand nine hundred and eighty-live pounds, fomneen shillings and teiipeuce, of good and lawful money of luigland, that has heeu raised out of the (piil ri ' iits (.)f said colony. d ' he college was also to have a penny a |)c]und on all tohacco exi)orted from ' irginia and Maryland; the office of .Surve (ir-( ieneral. with all issues, fees, profits, advantages, lii)erties. places, privileges and iire-cminences whatsoever; and a grant of twenty thousand acres of l;uid l in in tlie ranund ey Neck, . uthority was also granted to the |)resident and professors to select some one of their numher to repre- sent them in the I louse of Burgesses of ' irginia. 19