Fredericksburg College - Quips and Quibbles Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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Q U P S AND QUIB B L E .S’ PAGE 17 A Short Sketch of the College In the session of ' 95- ' 96 Dr. Saunders, during an entertainment in the Institute, announced that he had been before the proper authorities, and had succeeded in chartering the Institute as a Virginian college, to be known as Fredericksburg College. Also at the same time he announced that Dr. T. R. Sampson, D. D., would become President, while he would fill the office of Chan¬ cellor. Dr. Sampson occupied the position of President for two years, and was a splendid teacher. The next year Dr. Saunders again took charge. During the session the management thought it best to separate the home for the children of ministers from the College. So in that year Rev. F. P. Ramsay bought the College as his personal property. During the sessions of ’98-’oo he was at the head, and was one of the best in¬ structors that the College has ever had. In 1900 Mr. Ramsay sold the College to a board of trustees. In the fall of that year Dr. J. W. Rosebro, D. D., took charge. His popularity and well-known abilities soon placed our College on a firmer footing, and he soon won the esteem of his patrons. By his wise guidance the academic department has been improved, and athletics have also greatly improved. Never before have we occupied such a place among the colleges as we now hold. May he and the faculty which he has collected remain with us without a break for many years to come. w. m. s. ’04.

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Page i6 A Short Sketch m T is always pleasant to look back at the foun¬ dation and beginning of any institution, and to notice its growth and improvements. Rev. A. P. Saunders, then a Presbyterian missionary in Greece, first conceived the idea of his great undertaking. He had been stricken down by sickness, and as he lay thus, probably thinking of his destiny, and the fate of his wife and her little child, the thought came into his kind heart to found an institution that could care for the children of deceased ministers and missionaries. For some years he gave all of his time and attention to gathering means and arranging plans. It was finally in the year 1893 that he accomplished his undertaking. After he had provided for the maintenance of those gath¬ ered together, he knew of no better way of educating them than founding an institution in their midst capable of QUIPS AND QUIBBLES of the College giving them a good education. So in the fall of that year the institution, known as Fredericksburg Collegiate Institute, was opened. The opening was encouraging, and in the spring the pupils were temporarily moved while an addition was made to the building which greatly improved the accommodations. For the first two years Dr. Saunders was the president, and was in reality so during the three years following. Whatever glory is given to those who follow ought not to be compared with the praise and the admiration of the originator. It was he who first conceived the idea, who gave his time and substance, and placed the institution on a firm footing. We do not mean to lessen the praise and the faithfulness of his successors, but to Dr. Saunders is due the glory of founding our College, and what it has accomplished, ami will accomplish, will reflect glory on him.

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Page i8 QUIPS AXD QUIBBLES Alexander Pierce Saunders [Founder of the Assembly ' s Home and School, and Fredericksburg College] LEXANDER PIERCE SAUNDERS was born June 12, 1865, in the beautiful Cripple Creek Valley of South-western Virginia. He was educated at Emory and Henry College, the University of Virginia, and Union Theological Seminary. While he was a student at Union Seminary, Dr. Saunders felt the call to devote his life to service in the foreign mission field. In the autumn of 1890 he sailed for Greece, having been married a few weeks before his de¬ parture to Miss Susie Baskerville, of Prince Edward Count}’. The station to which he was assigned was Salonica, where he was associated with Dr. T. R. Sampson. Dr. Saunders was peculiarly fitted by nature for the work to which he had been called. His was pre-eminently a genial and lovable disposition, winning the affection of all with whom he came in contact, and he was overflowing with youthful enthusiasm, ready to do and dare anything in the Master’s service. A career of great usefulness seemed to lie before him, but a year after he had entered the mission it was deemed best by the Assembly to trans¬ fer his work in Greece to the Native Evangelical Church. His health was greatly impaired while at Salonica by a severe attack of smallpox, from which he had only recently recovered w hen he returned to America in 1891. Soon after his home-coming Dr. Saunders was called to supply the pulpit of the Presbyterian church in Alex¬ andria for some months. In 1892 he became pastor of the Fredericksburg church. His work here will long be held in grateful and affectionate remembrance, for not only did he proclaim the gospel from the pulpit with eloquence and earnestness, and win and hold the hearts of his people by his winsome and attractive personality, but in the early days of his ministry in this city he inaug¬ urated the work that stands today as his monument. Debarred from active service in the foreign field, his heart still yearned to aid the work to which he h ad hoped to consecrate his life. In his heart, so full of sympathetic tenderness and enthusiasm for ideal love and goodness, was conceived the plan of founding a home for the children of missionaries and of deceased ministers of