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

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University of Virginia ; and on February 8, 1856, Governor Henry A. Wise, in a communication to the Senate and House of Delegates, announcing the death of Mr. Caheli, said that he vas one with Mr. Jeffer- son in founding the f ' niversity, a pioneer in the State improvements, a gentleman, a scholar, a devoted pa- triot and ' irginian, a venerable good man. The Dictionary of American Biograpliy (vol. 3, p. 387), of comparatively recent date, says that Mr. Cabell was the principal coadjutor of Thomas Jeffer- son in founding the University of Virginia, and adds: His labors in behalf of a great state university, help- ing first to secure legislative sanction therefor and sub- sequentl ' to obtain financial appropriations towards its construction, have lead the institution ' s historians to designate him as Jefferson ' s right-hand man; nor did he promote merely the material needs of the Univer- sity, but for thirty-seven years, as visitor and rector, he helped to shape its destiny. founding of the Philanthropic Literary Society, states that he joined the society in the first year of its organ- ization, 1805, and that this was his first year in college. After two years here he entered the Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania, received his degree in 1809, and returned to ' irginia to practice. He settled in Norfolk for a while, and in 1835-36 was professor of surgery and surgical anatomy in Washington Medi- cal College, Baltimore. He then returned to Prince Edward County, where he practiced both medicine and surgery until the time of his death. His reputation grew steadily, and pa- tients came to him from distant states. He performed operations not only at his own home, but in nearby taverns, where patients came for treatment. His ac- count books show that he was not only a general prac- titioner, but was called in by other physicians for con- sultation and treatment in difficult cases. In 1905 Dr. George Ben Johnston of Richmond, Virginia, after a study of Dr. Mettauer ' s life, made the President ' s address to the Amer- ican Surgical Association, his theme being John Peter Mettauer. Since that day he has been recognized as one of the great surgeons of all time — far ad- vanced in his practice as a surgeon. He was daring and original. Lack of space forbids an extended mention of his pioneer work in his chosen field. An informative article may be found in the Dictionary of American liiog- raphy ( ' ol. 12, pp. 585-586). Union College, Schetiectady, New York, cfiartered In 1795 wHh Hdmpden-Sydney ' s second President, John Blair Smith, as its first President. JOHN PETER METTAUER Francois Josef Mettauer, born in Sulzbach, LTpper Alsace, came with the French troops under Rochambeau, in the capacity of a surgeon with the troops, in the latter days of the American Rev- olution. After the surrender at Vorktown, he came with some of the French troops to Prince Edward County, at Kingsville, where, it is sup- posed, they needed recuperation before returning to France. Through the influence of Patrick Henry, the Holcombes, and others, he was persuaded to settle in this country as a physician. He established a seat about half way between Kingsville and old Prince Edward Court House. He married Mrs. Jemima Gaulding, who is said to have been a Miss Crump of Henrico County. Here was born their son, John Peter Mettauer. The exact date of his birth is not known, and tradition fixes his age all the way from 88 to 98. An old diary stated on the day of his death (November 22, 1875) that he was 88 years old. The boy attended the Acad- emy of Hampden-Sydney in 1804, which would seem to indicate a rather advanced age for an academy stu- dent. An old paper of his, giving an account of the Monument to John Peter Mettauer erected in the College Cemetery by the Virginia Medical Society. In 1837 Dr. Mettauer organized the Prince Edward Medical Institute and trained many young men for the practice of medicine. In 1847 this became the Medical Department of Randolph-Macon College, the faculty being Dr. Mettauer and two of his sons. At the old Mettauer seat were the residence, the office, and a large two-story building, which was the medical school. A prospectus for 1851-52 advertised a hand- some and chaste office, a school of ten months, and an infirmary where surgical operations were performed. The school was suspended at the outbreak of the War Between the States. THE 1941 KALEIDOSCOPE tl5]

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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]

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HAMPDElVf-SYDIVEY COLLEGF. University of Virginia ' s Rotunda Thomas Jefferson once stated that without the help of Joseph C. Cabell, Class of 1799, he would have been unable to found the University. The writer remembers the office — a three-story build- ing with one room on each floor and a winding stair on the inside — an elongated box. There were skeletons in it, and the skin of a rattlesnake that looked to the little boy as if it were large enough to encase him. In the medical school building, which may have been the infirmary also, there was a skeleton in one of the rooms on the first floor. Negroes and small boys trod softly as they went along the road between Kingsville and old Prince Edward Court House; after dark was not a time for traveling. Several hundred yards to the east, across the main highway and near the banks of Mettauer ' s Branch (also known as Shelton ' s Branch) are evidences of a graveyard. Coon and possum hunters, even of today (or rather of the night), tell of rackamous things that occur when they hunt on this branch. Dr. Mettauer married four times, and had children by each of his wives. He drove in a small box-like carriage, with a Negro driver on the driver ' s seat outside, behind two handsome bay horses, and he went like the wind. U he was stopped on the road, he would not permit the conversation to drag. He tapped on the front window, and that signal meant ffo. He never appeared without his tall beaver hat, and it is said that he was buried with it, and that some of his instruments were buried with him. As to these, when he could not find on the market the kind of instrument he wished, he made it. The best known picture of him was taken when he was an old man, wearing his beaver hat. But in recent years a picture taken in middle life shows him to have been a man of hand- some face and piercing eyes. This was taken from a daguerreotvpe given to the writer by his father, who knew Dr. Mettauer well. The Virginia Medical So- ciety honored him and itself by placing a handsome monument over his grave in the College Cemetery. EDWARD BAPTIST Edward Baptist (May 12, 1790-March 31, ' 1863), a native of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, entered Hampden-Sydney in 1810 and graduated in 1813. In 1820 he was given the Master of Arts degree. His father was an Episcopalian, his mother a Presbyterian. Young Baptist joined the Baptist Church while at Col- lege and studied theology under President Moses Hoge. This presents a very interesting picture of that day, for denominational lines were — or were supposed to be — deep and sharp. A college student, converted to Christianity, with an Episcopal father, a Presbyterian mother, and a Presb terian teacher, making up his own mind to join the Baptist denomination, and studying theology under this teacher, the President of a Presby- terian college. Evidently he was a young man of decided convic- tions, and his subsequent career proved that he had unusual ability, and unusual initiative, all of which he had decided to devote to the service of God. He went to Powhatan County, opened a classical school, and taught and preached. He is said to have written the plan of organization of the Baptist General Asso- ciation and to have been one of its founders. He was one of the founders of the Virginia Baptist Education Society in 1830. His school soon had a fine reputation and was well patronized. The Education Society placed in his school nine young men who were to be- come ministers; and to the school came also those who were already in the ministry, but who wished to be- come better prepared for their work. Mr. Baptist is said to have had cottages for the accommodation of many of the students. One is re- minded of a similar plan used by Moses Waddel, class of 1791, and of John Makemie Wilson, class of 1791, famed for his classical academy at Rocky River, North Carolina. It was found necessary to have larger headquarters and was deemed wise to be nearer the city of Rich- mond; so in 1832, under the auspices of the Education Society, a farm was purchased in Henrico County and the Virginia Baptist Seminary was opened. This was the beginning of Richmond College, now the Univer- sity of Richmond. Edward Baptist was offered the Presidency of the college, but declined on account of ill health, and in 1835, seeking a milder climate, he moved with his family to Alabama. In conjunction with his wife ' s aunt, Mrs. William Hickman, who ac- companied the family, a large plantation was pur- chased, and he became a planter on a large scale, and preached to country congregations. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama. On January 3, 1841, he wrote in his diary, I have recently attended a meeting of the board of trustees of the University of Alabama, agreeable session of about a fortniglil and I hope a profitable one to the rising Taylor ' s ' irginia Baptist Ministers 1912) quotes his daughter as saying: We had an (italics mine generation. (Third Series, When Howard College was founded, he delivered the opening address and was called to the Presidency of the institution. He declined this honor, however, as he did calls to churches in Mobile, Montgomery, Tus- caloosa, and other cities, always preferring the country pastorates. He married in 1817 Eliza Judith Cary Eggleston, who died at Marion, Perry County, Alabama, in 1876. The University of Richmond has a portrait of this eminent minister and educator. (More skelchei will be found on p ge, 82. 90. U7 . 17S. 179. 1801 [161