Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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again removed about six miles into the country and established Willington Academy, a school which added to his already great reputation. It is believed that the school was named for Willington, the old home of Major James Morton, near Hampden-Sydney, where young Waddel was a visitor in 1790-92, while a stu- dent at college, and where he had first met Elizabeth Pleasants, a niece of Mrs. James (Mary Smith) Mor- ton. Forty-one years later. Dr. John Newton Waddel established in Mississippi a school modeled on the plan of Willington Academy, and called it Montrose, the name of the old home in Powhatan County, Virginia, where Mary Smith (Mrs. James) Morton was born. There was evidently sentiment in the hearts of father and son. George R. Gilmer, one of his pupils and afterwards Governor of Georgia and Congressman, gives, in his Georgians, a vivid sketch of Dr. Waddel as a teacher, with his unique methods, and as a man of brilliant mind and constructive ability. Among his pupils were John C. Calhoun, William H. Crawford, Hugh S. Legare, George McDuffie, A. B. Longstreet, James L. Pettigru, and George R. Gilmer. Franklin College, at Athens, Georgia, had declined until it had only seven students, and a small faculty whose salaries were based for the most part on hopes. Dr. Waddel was waited upon by a committee of Georgians and urged to take charge of the moribund institution. This was in 1819. The university had bestowed upon him in 1807 the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Governor Gilmer, in his Georgians, says, When he took charge of it (Franklin College), there were neither funds, professors, nor students. In a few years Franklin College, under his direction, became Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, formally opened in 1824 ai htampden-Sydney College as a separate branch of the Theological Department. Seminary Building (1825-1898) was given to the College in 1912 and its name changed to Venabte Hall. I offered a resolution e, pressive of the high apprecia- tion ... of Dr. Waddel ' s value as President, and the desire that he would remain at the head of the college. The resolution was adopted by a nearly unanimous vote. I doubt whether any act of my after life was more cordially approved by the people of Georgia. Thus was Franklin College resurrected from the dying, if not from the dead, and became the University of Georgia. Today (1941) three Hampden-Sydney men are members of its faculty: Willis H. Bocock, who divided the first honor with William 0. Little in 1884; W. D. Hooper, who missed first honor in 1889 by a fractional point; and E. Claybrook Griffith, who took the first honor in 1936. In 1829, Dr. Waddel re- signed the Presidency and re- turned to Willington, South Carolina, where he conducted a large plantation with great success, and preached. In 1836 he returned to Athens, where he died on July 21, 1840. His brother-in-law, U. S. Senator John C. Calhoun, said of him, He may justly be considered as the father of classical edu- cation in the upper country of South Carolina and Georgia. Old Franklin College building in which was housed the Uni- versity of Georgia from 1819-1829 when Rev. Moses Waddell, Class of 1791, revived the college, made if a leading Southern educational center. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER 6 the most flourishing literary institution in the Southern States. Some years after the college commenced pros- pering, one or two trustees . . . expressed the opinion that it w as time for him to yield his place to some one of more distinguished literary reputation. Dr. Wad- del at once sent in his resignation. Gilmer continues: Archibald Alexander, the fourth President of Hampden- Sydney College, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, April 17, 1772, the son of William Alexander and his wife Agnes Anne Reid. Many sketches of his life, and a biography of his son, James W. Alexander, have been written, but a brief sketch of his life and work belongs In this series. In the search for old brick from the homes of Presidents, members of the Board of Trustees, and alumni, to go THE 13 41 KALEIDDSCDPE [13]

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HAMPDE]V-SYD]VEY COLLEGE McMurran Hall, old courthouse building in which Shepherd State Teachers College was founded as Shepherd College. West Virginia, in 1871 through the work of Joseph McMurran, first President of the school. until a tew month lit-fore hiv death in 1842. Hi bi)d and that of his wife are buried in the cemetery at Hanover. In a statement sent me in February, 1941, Dr. L. R. Dingus of Transylvania College says, An acting- presidency lasting over a dozen years represents a strange phenomenon but has a rational explanation ' here. The Board religiously (as also the State) was passing through a violent religious struggle between the conservatives with a Calvinistic slant and the liberals including Unitarian, deistic, anti-church ten- dencies. . . . He kept the institution going during this period. In 1812 President Bl the and Professor Robert Bishop started the publication of Tlw E-vanijetnat Rfcnrd and ll ' islern Rfvirv:. This went through two volumes. In 1822, Dr. Blythe started T ie Christian Rrt isler, which was discontinued after one year for lack of sufHcient support. Princeton in 181 5 conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 181 6 he was made Moderator of the Presbyterian (ieneral As- semblv. In the schism of 1837 between the New School and the Old School, Dr. Blythe adhered to the latter. E. Forman, in a sketch of Dr. Blythe I The Kaleido- scope, vol. 8, p. 33, 1900) savs that Hanover College rose to a high degree of prosperity under his admin- istration. Transvlvania College has an excellent portrait of Dr. Blvthe and Mrs. Blythe by the famous Kentucky artist, Matthew H. Joiiett. MOSES WADDEL William Waddel left County Down, near Belfast, Ireland, in 1766 and settled in that part of Rowan which later became Iredell County, North Carolina. Here his son, Moses Waddel, was born July 29, 1770. The boy was very precocious, and at the age of eight was placed in a classical school ct)nducted by James Hall and bearing the euphonious name of Clio ' s Nur- sery; a school celebrated in its day. After five or six } ears here, where he made rapid progress in his studies, he began teaching, though himself only a boy. Teaching first in North Carolina, he next removed to (Jeorgia, where his father had gone, and taught there. Deciding to enter the ministry, he sought the advice of Rev. John Springer of Abbeville District, S. C, who was a graduate of Princeton, had taught and studied at Hampden-Sydney in 1776-77, and had then entered the ministry. Advised to enter Hampden- Sydney, Waddel was so well prepared and a student of such diligence that he graduated in one year — a member of the famous class of 1791. Continuing his studies he was licensed to preach in May, 1792, by Hanover Presbytery. Howe ' s History of the Presby- terian Church in South Carolina says (vol. 2, p. 669) ,«i Tusculum College, Greenevljle, Tennessee, founded in 1818 as a classical academy by Dr Samuel Doak, 1776, the pioneer (Headmaster cf Tennessee. that he was received from the Presbytery of Hanover, April, 1793, as a licentiate. He was ordained as pastor of the Carmel Church, in Georgia, June 6, 1794. He preached for a while at the Calhoun Settlement in Abbeville District, S. C, where Patrick Calhoun, father of John C. Calhoun, lived. He prepared John C. Calhoun for the junior class at Vale, and in 1795 he married young Calhoun ' s sister, Catherine, who lived only a few years. In 1800 he married Elizabeth Woodson Pleasants of Halifax County, X ' irginia. Moses Waddel ' s reputation as a teacher soon became widespread, and promising boys flocked to his schools. In 1 801 he removed to Vienna, a town on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River, and in 1804 [12]

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HA IPDEIV-SYDIVEY CDLLtIi p into the W ' atkiiis Bfll Tower, no brick could be found at the birth-place of Archibald Alexander, but a small stone from the chimney was sent, and was installed. Archibald Alexander was a student at Liberty Hall, under its first Principal, William (Jraham. There he gave evidence of his unusual abilities, of his studious day; and of course small endowment. This of course has always beeii the case at Hampden-Sydney. Dis- cipline and instruction took on new life. Presidejit Alexander resigned in i8c6 and went to Philadelphia as pastor of the Pine Street Church, where he remained about six years. In 1812 he became Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology at Princeton Seminary, of which he may be regarded as the founder. Here he continued until October 22, 1851; nearly forty years of eminent service. He was a prolific writer, both of books and of ar:icles for the religious press. He was a man of singular beauty of person and of singular charm of manner. He was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity U the College of New Jersey in iSio. Southwestern University, Memphis. Tennessee. Rev. John B. Shearer, Class of 1852. was the President and guiding figure of Stewart Col- lege fron-i 1870 until 1875. when through his efforts the college became the university. habits, and of his clean. Christian life. He was licensed in the fall of 1791 by Lexington Presbytery, at Winchester, Virginia, and at once began missionary work in Frederick, Jefferson, and Berk- eley Counties. From the very first he showed marked gifts as a preacher. Being dismissed to F,ast Hanover Pres- bytery, he preached at Old Cumber- land Church, about three miles north of Farmville, and at Hampden-Sydney, where a separate church from Old Cumberland had not yet been organ- ized. He preached also at Buffalo, Briery, Cub Creek, and Charlotte Court House. In 1796 he was elected President of Hampden- Sydney, and took office in the spring of 1797. This brought him into a more intimate contact with John Holt Rice, then a member of the faculty of the College. Thus began an intimate association between these two remarkable men. While President of Hampden-Sydney he continued as pastor in one or more churches. In 1802 he married Janetta Waddell, daughter of Rev. James Waddel, D.D., the celebrated Blind Preacher. The administration of the College by President Alex- ander was a most successful one in every way. It is probable that catalogues were not issued in that day; certainly none have been found prior to 1821, but there are other sources of information. Dr. William Henry Foote states that there was a small wooden building for the President; a brick building which contained rooms for recitation, and lodging rooms; the college hall was a -( vooden building, where the students assembled at an early hour for prayer, and where public worship was held. There was a small library; good scientific apparatus for that University of Richmond, established in t8 0 as Richmond Col- lege, through the work of Edward Baptist, Class of 1613. JOSEPH CARRINGTON CABELL Joseph Carrington Cabell (Dec. 28, 1778-Feb. 5, 1856), was born in that part of Amherst which is now Nelson County, ' irginia. He attended both Hampden- Sydney and Wi!liam and Mary and was of the Class of 1799 at Hampden-Sydney. He spent four years in Europe (1802-1806), married, and settled in (now) Nelson County. Beginning public life in 1808, he was a member of the Virginia Assembly, in both House and Senate, for twenty-seven years; in which time he acquired great influence. He was the first President of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company. Mr. Cabell was a great advocate of public educa- tion, and was instrumental in establishing the Literary Fund, which has been of inestimable benefit to the public schools of ' irginia. Dr. J. H. C. Bagby, in his Gineral Catalo juf of Hampden-Sydney College, published in 1908 (a work that should immortalize him in the annals of the in- stitution), that Mr. Cabell was Jefferson ' s right hand in founding the I ' niversity of ' irginia. In his nota- ble D ' ulionary of Hampden-Sydney Alumni, published in 1921, Dr. A. J. Morrison says that Mr. Cabell was Mr. Jefferson ' s chief coadjutor in the founding of the [14]