Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee
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^ — c^ BR ARY n OF TIIK UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIKT OK Received Q^^^^^"?^..., iSsS^. Accessions Nc^y^^^^ Shelf No. ^h --^. :>..'* Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofofficOOwashrich CATALOGUE OF THE OFFICERS AND ALUMNI OP Washington and Lee Fniversity LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, 1749 — 1888 '^ Of TTfK ' UNIVERSIT71 Published by Or^ otthe^oardoard of Trustees. BALTIMORE: JOHN MURPHY & CO. 1888. jy^^"^ PREFACE This Catalogue has been prepared and is now published under the authority of the Board of Trustees. From 1834 to the present time the list of names given is believed to be complete, the matriculation books of the College and University for that period having been preserved. For the time previous to 1834 the records and register of students are defective. Parts have been muti- lated, some books have been lost, and at times the records were imper- fectly kept. The names of the alumni antecedent to 1834 have been obtained from the fragmentary record books ; from the recollection of surviving alumni ; from contemporaneous history and biography, and from family records and well established tradition. Catalogues of the Alumni were published in 1849 and 1869 which have of course fur- nished much valuable information. The list is necessarily incomplete, however, and the alumni and other friends of the University are earnestly requested to aid in the work of restoring lost names, and in otherwise perfecting as far as pos- sible this Record, with reference to a revision at an early day. The plan is to give the name of every man that has been a student at the Institution—his different places of residence—his occupation or pro- fession—the public positions held by him—and, if not living, the date of his death. Communications conveying such information may be addressed to John L. Campbell, Esq., Treasurer of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. The compilation of this Catalogue has entailed a very large amount of labor and research, and a very extensive correspondence. Much of this work has been done by John L. Campbell, Esq., Treasurer, and Jacob Fuller, Esq., Librarian of the University. Other friends have assisted materially in the work. But the whole has been under the supervision and direction of the Hon. William McLaughlin of the Board of Trustees, and it is but just to say that to the unsparing and enthusiastic labors and the untiring energy of this gentleman is due this very fUll, accurate and valuable record of the sons of our Alma Mater. Committee. April, 1888. conteT^jts. PAGE. Preface 3 Historical Sketch 7 Invested Funds 29 Unproductive Endowment 32 Comparative Statement, 1865-88 33 Augusta Academy and Liberty Hall 34 Washington College and Washington and Lee University.... 36 Corporation 36 Faculty 40 Kegister of Alumni 47 Law School 203 Alumni of Law School 203 Roll of Honorary Degrees Conferred 212 Alumni Association 215 Local Alumni Associations 215 Index of Names 220 'univsksity; <V OB' HISTORICAL SKETCH. The germ of Washington and Lee University was a Mathematical and Classical School, called The Augusta Academy, established in 1749, by Robert Alexander, and first located two miles southwest of the site of Greenville, in Augusta, and near the interlacings of the head springs of the Shenandoah on the east- ward, and of the James River on the westward. "It was the first Classical School in the Valley of Virginia," and was continued by an uninterrupted succession of principals and assistant instructors, on successive sites, increasing in usefulness and influence, until it gradually developed into Washington and Lee University. Robert Alexander was a Master of Arts of Trinity Col- lege, Dublin University. He was of the " Scotch-Irish '' immi- gration which settled in the Valley of Virginia; he located in Augusta County, about 1743. Of his brothers, who came with him, Archibald Alexander was the grandfather of the venerated and lamented Archibald Alexander, D. D., President of Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1746, Robert Alexander was elected by the freeholders one of the " twelve most able and discreet men to act as the Vestry for Augusta Parish," and at the first meeting of the Vestry he was by it elected one of the two church wardens for the Parish, and was continued in the office by annual re- elections until 17th March, 1760, when he resigned, "because of a lingering sickness." His will, dated in 1783, was admitted to record by the Augusta Court, Nov. 18th, 1787. As Principal of Augusta Academy, Mr. Alexander was suc- ceeded by Rev. John Brown, D. D., his pastor, who was called to Providence and Timber-Ridge Churches, in 1753. During the administration of Mr. Brown, the Academy was successively re- moved a few miles westward, first to Old Providence, then to — 8 Catalogue of Alumni. New Providence Church, and "shortly before the Revolution^' to Mt. Pleasant, near Fairfield, in (now) Rockbridge County, where in 1774 Mr. Wm. Graham became his assistant, and in 1776 succeeded him as Principal. Mr. Brown married in early life a daughter of John Preston, of Staunton, ancestor of the dis- tinguished families of that name. He died in Kentucky, in 1803, leaving there descendants who perpetuated his virtues and by their learning and talents promoted the interests of the country in State and National councils, on the judicial bench, and at foreign courts. Under the auspices of William Graham,—whose history is already well known and cherished sacredly by every friend of Washington College, — the Academy continued with advancing fortunes. Incited by the patriotic spirit of the day, and on the first meeting after the battle of Lexington, the Trustees direct the record for the 6th of May, 1776, to be entitled "Liberty Hall—as this Academy is hereafter to be called instead of the Augusta Academy.'^ At that meeting provision was made for the purchase of a library and scientific apparatus ; for new and enlarged buildings ; —and a " new site " was selected and the dona- tion of 80 acres of land therefor accepted, near Old Timber-Ridge Church. It was removed to this location in 1777, but was again removed, in 1785, to near Lexington,—to where yet stand the picturesque stone ruins of Old Liberty Hall, burned in 1802, and was removed finally, in 1803, to its present site within the limits of Lexington. In October, 1771, the Presbytery of Hanover expressed upon its records their sense of "the great expediency of erecting a Seminary of learning somewhere within the bounds " of the Val- ley of Virginia; and having at subsequent sessions determined to carry out the proposition, in October, 1773, formally "agreed to fix the Publick Seminary for the liberal education of youth at Staunton, in Augusta." But before the session of October, 1774, having ascertained that " there is no person to take the manage- ment of it in the place first agreed upon—and it is very uncertain whether there ever will be," the Presbytery thereupon "judging it to be of great and immediate importance, agree to establish and to patronize the public school for the present, managed by Mr. Catalogue of At.tjmni. 9 William Graham, under the inspection of the Rev. John Brown, and reserve to themselves the liberty at a future session, more particularly, to appoint the person by whom it shall be conducted and the place where it shall be fixed/' And a committee of the body was appointed to ^^ collect subscriptions in the several con- gregations for the purpose of obtaining a library and proper apparatus." In April, 1775, the Presbytery resolved that "as guardians and directors they take this opportunity to declare their resolution to do their best endeavor to establish (the Seminary,) on the most catholic plan that circumstances will permit of; and further, " finding that they cannot of themselves forward subscriptions in a particular manner, do, for the encouragement of the Academy, recommend it to the following gentlemen to take in subscriptions in their behalf: viz. "The Rev. Mr. Cummings, Col. Wm. Preston and Col. Wm. Christian, in Fincastle (County;) Col. Lewis, Col. Fleming and Mr. Lockart, in Botetourt ; on South side of James River, Capt. John Bowyer, Capt. AYm. McKee, Capt. Audley Paul, Capt. John Maxwell and Mr. James Trimble ; in the forks of James River, Mr. Saml. Lyle and Capt. Saml. McDowell ; in Timber-Ridge, the Rev. Mr. John Brown, Mr. James Wilson and Mr. Charles Camp- bell, of Providence ; Mr. William McPheeters, Mr. Wm. Ledger- wood and Mr. John Trimble, in the North Mountain and Brown's Settlement; Mr. Thomas Stuart, and Mr. Walter Davis, at the Tinkling Spring; Mr. Sampson Matthews, of Staunton; Capt. George Matthews, Capt. George Moffett and Mr. James Allen, in Augusta Congregation ; (Revs.) Mr. Brown, Mr. Irvin and Mr. Wallace, are to give the above named gentlemen notice of their appointment and to solicit their favour." At the session in May, 1776, Mr. Graham reported his purchases of books and philosophical apparatus, out of a sum of about £300, which had been paid in for this purpose on the subscriptions here- tofore made. Also that for erectino; new buildings on the " new site" at Timber-Ridge, Mr. Samuel Houston and Capt. Alexander Stuart had donated each forty acres of land; and the neighbors had agreed to build a hewed log-house, twenty-eight by twenty- four feet, one story and a half high, " besides their subscriptions, 2 10 Catalogue of Alumni. and assuring of the probability that firewood and timber for build- ing will be furnished gratis for at least twenty years." The Pres- bytery approved the report, and appointed a Board of Trustees for the Academy.