The Reporter
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:< THE REPORTER VOL. XXV NO. 4 SUMMER 960 The Founders Phi Beta Kappa that gave the Society its name, although of a contemporary admitted in later years, "Whether it be pure I would not now FIFTY NAMES ON A BRONZE TABLET say. At that time none of us supposed that more pure could have been Virginia Waller Davis anything By formed in Athens, such was the opinion founder." of the great learning of our This blue-eyed son of a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses was presi * - / ' I 1 1 1 dent of the Alpha as long as he remained in college. He saw service in the Revolu tion, and on return to his native county was elected Commonwealth's Attorney, his first political post. His silver-tongued ' oratory and statesmanlike manner soon , ! ^ J. < Om . k ? %,Jl , an a u, ,^.C^j| 4e L& $ i ftp , x^ won him election to the Virginia House of Delegates, and next to the third and fourth sessions of the United States fi Congress. He was serving in his last post i.,\.H< Y'feJk^ UVaoto^i- V)futtia. ,J,. of as a member ( Jo-lt-rv j JO*<m*-<--"Y.j UtM<f-i C*ml. ck23vv*. j l honor, of the Council of Governor John Tyler in Richmond, when death claimed him at the age of ^*,ricv> ^ *-* 4u. a*c*wv r^v^,-rcr'V.C^ Qtj (j ^U-tTtAr.' t Lt*sn-H^S*-riXyyt, .: V*>.CA^I^TU^JVhV"-*fifty-two. r The first man to conceive the idea of extending Phi Beta Kappa to colleges in other areas, as a means of binding to gether men of like mind at a critical re- time in the of ACCORDING TO the minutes years. Their names now appear on a history the young nation, was Samuel A\ produced here, the members of plaque in the Phi Beta Kappa Memor Hardy. Many years later "* * Phi Beta Kappa, on the eve of its ial Hall in Williamsburg. At the top of second anniversary, feared "that the the tablet are the names of the five State of the Society was declining young men who organized the Society, iildkmU%mLjx. y.A^i Members." through Want of That par and below these are listed the forty-five ' v. C*rcA*6tiu& ..//*t. , *-/ ,/y ticular problem was soon solved by new who joined their ranks, developing and elections, but two years later on Jan perfecting the organization during the uary 6, 1781 British troops were so near four years before the roar of battle that a meeting was called "for the Pur forced them to suspend Phi Beta Kappa pose of Securing the Papers of the So activities in Virginia "in the sure and ciety during the Confusion of the Times, certain hope that the Fraternity will one and the present Dissolution which day rise to life everlasting and Glory im University." mortal." threatens the This, as it turned out, was the last meeting held by The originator of the idea and the So the Virginia Alpha for seventy years. ciety's first president was John Heath, The state of the Society would then Jr., who was eighteen years old at the have declined indeed if the Virginia time, and a prize Greek scholar at the members had not, in the preceding year, College of William and Alary. He is sent charters to the "universities of Cam credited with forming the Greek phrase Haven." bridge and New The branch at Yale was formally organized on No vember 13, 1780, less than two months before the last meeting of the parent branch in Williamsburg. Nineteen Names on a Parchment Charter Slender as the thread of its continuous Without these signatures, and Elisha existence was, Phi Beta Kappa in its first ^-^^yJ.^J'ii Parmele's zeal in the charter to period was remarkable in carrying Williamsburg New Haven, Phi Beta Kappa the distinction of the its own right for would have gone out of existence when fiftv members elected in its first four the Virginia Alpha suspended activity in 1781. www.pbk.org Parmele, who chose the ministry as his career, had, like Hardy, a short life. While serving as pastor of the Presby terian Church in Lee, Massachusetts, he caught a cold that he was unable to ' throw - off, and a southern was or MC'Yo Ci :; iai<ijk -v i:-i trip dered for his recuperation. The Bronze Crossing the i I u Shenandoah in Virginia Tablet Valley he be came so ill that could ' he go no J,'" , i - i , farther. 3 I . i /n addition to i : i i i ( . i rT^f : He sought refuge in the home of i K"fsl,gJ,.jj|F the name of a Chief Abra l",M 111 CJI.!, L, ^ ali! ham Bird on Smith Justice and of an Creek, where he died iR^--"y>'W*J,ifttJV*a!B UL1 J . .-l tti. I' and was buried in 1784. i 3U.K. $'tJitLE UUJ_M.<-t. MM .-. L Associate Justice i\^. ' ISa.C SilfCtJ P!^ iviTs V^1T>? ^ of the Supreme The man who became the first Clerk of i i.ijm/ ;, \ ,-r ijl,i.iiKi'"''&;.?'U j the plaque the JOi'.- Court, United States House of iO.y lgi i^i 1 cL Representa includes those CEOltiSE liU/A'IOlJ. 1,1 1, 1 1 c 1 1 J of tives and the first Librarian of Congress i >i i two members the ty i-ua ^"l^.tW-'dL;'..': Ll . of b, was the brain behind the smooth work iCliU .Ji.i-.L< CMM. CM lilKEWt Continental Congress, ' ' out of I v .i the charter plan from its JOC -JM LiCU O eighteen men who ing in co-cm" .'-u!.w..u_ ..He. $m& served in the Virginia ception. He was John James 1 . ii . ... i Beckley, 1 . , i _L^i J. M L' who at the time of :! House his initiation into -v i^ i^JBlL ti L\ U\ .:.cm -. of Delegates, rJC<" iMiM.OL' , ' i ' Xi I >,,, -.;,ri /, C 1 1 'JZ .E three Virginia the Society at the age of twenty-three :- . OUU CUO Wis iv, ,/, i m Senators, five had c- been Clerk of the State . : i && iCbi u.OV.'OOttv Mv . already ^^i. members of the U. S. I 1*11 El D-K I Z\ LU-; .i in i Senate. he served as Clerk of Congress, two Eventually lv!: L:^i\! - 1 Mil \l. OLi. Ufo-Mlf P | the Virginia General of ! !' f>iXtHSOt*T U. S. Senators, Court, 1 U 0 IH, . ci L 1 II l\X mULtWMl Secretary ' T - and first the Virginia 1 , 1 the ttiOEM:*. WlLLi.u--l U^cLXEK! j _ J ratifying convention, Mayor CCClvl.:'": "1 ' . Librarian .-. of Congress. of Richmond, and the first Clerk of the - ; i -. Virginia House of Delegates to serve in M the new Capitol in Richmond t-dJ. ZOM& jr \ i,.,<jim/v designed by Jefferson. Finally he held the Wash ' I I l ington posts that climaxed his career. He has been described as America's first manager," "party and he unquestionably had his finger in many pies; but too ac tive participation in the campaign of William Short wrote of him, "He was a General Assembly of Virginia paid all Thomas Jefferson brought the wrath of man of a most comprehensive mind, but the expenses for his funeral in New York. the Federalists on his head. He was as he was what was termed an irregular Elisha Parmele, the "gentleman from ousted from his post as Clerk of the Eastward," House of and student, that is, not entitled to wear a the had studied at Yale but Representatives tempor esti received from Harvard in eyed with great disfavor. When cap and gown, he was not held in his A.B. 1777, arily Jefferson mation bv the pedantic and often thick and in 1779 was tutoring in a Virginia became President, however, headed cap-and-gown students. I re family. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in Beckley not only got his old job back, of that he applied but was given one that of member yet my surprise when he com July year, for a char newly created, ter on and Librarian of Congress. was the municated to me his plan for extending for Harvard December 4, five He only later for a charter man ever to hold both of these offices at branches of our Society to the different days for Yale. These States. It was the first symptom of any he carried north in 1780. the same time. thing coming from him, indicative of his mind. He expatiated on the great advantages that would attend it in bind ing together the several States. "I happened at that time to be ac quainted with a gentleman from the Eastward who was a private tutor in the family of one of my friends, and as I knew he then contemplated returning to his native state, I suggested to Mr. Hardy the propriety of bringing for ward his plan before the society, so that the charter might be ready to be sent by this gentleman. It was accordingly done." Hardy, the man with the idea, did not live to see his thirtieth birthday, but his brief life was filled with honors. At the age of was elected to the Vir he 'Y' twenty '"' ' : '. *-, ginia House of Delegates, and five years later, in 1783, to the Continental Con gress. In all the battles that raged there he fought hard, but maintained his seren ity and friendships throughout.