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From: DC0339s (Finding Aid)
Transcript
Davidson College [1]
July 1 1873 [2]
Dear Parents, [3]
We arrived here on the last day of June, yesterday evening. Guess you have not had letter from us in some time: we are both well and have been so every since you heard from us last: I like this college very well but don’t think I will stay here (that is to say I don’t like it as well I do Old Washington & Lee the best) I may like it better and stay here by staying here a little will longer. [4] The reason I object to staying here is that well will have to enter the Freshmen
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class and that will make us one year longer graduating than we ough to be though may be we can get into the Sopho-more class, that is what Prof. Blake told us this morning. [5] Walter dont seem to care much where he enters We have to pay $12 1/2 for board and furnish our own rooms, they require all of the students room in the college buildings. [6] If I decide not to stay I will get in some employment so that I will not loose any thing by coming down here. But if I decide to stay I will have to study very hard all summer. [7] Would you believe it that there is no church here? [8]
I began this letter yesterday
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I will finish today.
I thought when I got to Davidson College I would see a very pretty little town, but I was mistaken: It looks like one gets clear out of the world when they get here. [9] The people seem to be very friendly but they are such old foggies; the ladies are (3) three years behind the times in way of dress It is worse than Texas. [10] They have a railroad here but it is a little one horse affair. The young ladies dress like the old ladies in Texas only not quite so tasty as some of the old ladies do there. There is not more than (5) five young ladies here I can’t tell them from them old ones
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I will send a list of the graduate proficients and distinctions
In Charlotte the ladies don’t dress any better than our country ladies, the most of them least. We were there on the day the female college closed I saw a good many. To say the shortest of it they all look like country people to me. Well I will tell you a little about our commencement. We had one of the finest sermons before the christian association that I ever heard The baccalaureate surmon could not be beat any where both preached by the same man Beu Brooks D.D. [11]
Presbyterian of course.
Your son Charlie [12]
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Annotations
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Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, known today as “the Princeton of the South.” The College was founded in 1837 by The Concord Presbytery after purchasing the college land from William Lee Davidson II, and remains affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The college is named for William’s father, William Lee Davidson, a local Revolutionary War hero and general, who died at the battle of Cowan’s Ford in 1781 (Timeline). By 1873, Davidson College had 113 students, 7 faculty, and an alumni network 1,247 strong (Statistics). Davidson College was until 1891 also the name of the current town Davidson (Beaty).
[2] There is no catalog for the 1873-1874 academic year, but the missing catalog was undoubtedly similar to that of 1874-1875 (Catalog). The academic year lasted from late September to late June; by July 1st, the first chance for entrance exams were a week past (see [5]) and the academic year would begin in three months. In this time period, at Davidson College, a student could choose one out of three courses to study: the classical course, the scientific course, and the elective course. For each course, there are specific class requirements for each semester that can be found in the respective catalog (Catalog). Incidentally, Walter Leverett, Charlie Leverett’s brother, entered Davidson College in the same year as future NC governor Robert Brodnax Glenn (class of 1875) and Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1873-74) (Timeline).
[3] Charlie Clinton Leverett’s parents were Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett ( c.a. 1815 – c.a.1900) and Eliza Ann Patterson (1826 — ), who both lived in Leverett’s Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas (Rodriguez). Their town, Leverett’s Chapel, was named for Eliza’s family; they settled their 759 acres in the 1850s with “Georgia slaves, cattle, and equipment to begin what became an effective plantation system” (Rodriguez). According to the 1860 and 1880 Censuses, Cpt. Leverett owned thirteen slaves and had seven children including Charlie C. Leverett (c.a. 1853 – c.a. 1897) (Rodriguez, Munger). Charlie lived in Davidson with his younger brother Walter Bennett Leverett (b.c.a. 1855 – 1937) from June 30th of 1873 until spring of 1874 (Rodriguez, Munger).
[4] Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts school in Lexington, Virginia. The University was founded in 1749 by Scotch-Irish pioneers as a small classical school. In 1776, the trustees changed the school’s name from Augusta Academy to Liberty Hall. Six years later, it was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy by the Virginia legislature and empowered to grant degrees. In 1796, George Washington saved the struggling academy when he gave the school its first major endowment. The trustees changed the school name to Washington Academy as an expression of gratitude. In 1813 the name was changed to Washington College. General Robert E. Lee accepted the position of president of the College in 1865. After Lee’s death in 1870, the trustees changed the name to Washington and Lee University (Brief History). Charlie attended this University from 1872 to 1874 and Walter from 1872 to 1873, although neither graduated from this school, nor any other institution (Card).
[5] Professor John Rennie Blake (b. 1825 d. 1900) acted as the faculty chairman following the Civil War in lieu of a college president. Blake remained a member of the faculty from 1861 to 1885 and served as chairman from 1871 to 1877, advising students and teaching an array of subjects until his retirement. The college required students to take entrance exams in English, Latin, Greek, and Mathematics. Blake’s advice to the Leveretts refers to their results: with high enough scores, they could enter as Sophomores (Catalog).
[6] Due to inflation, the value of $12.50 has changed dramatically since 1873. To calculate the sum’s current worth, click here (MeasuringWorth).
[7] Charlie is communicating that he will have to devote himself to his studies in order to pass the second chance of entrance exams that Davidson College required all incoming students to take, happening late September, right around the beginning of the school year (see [2]).
[8] Leverett’s claim that “there is no church here” is only somewhat substantiated. The college held regular services in a campus chapel, which was remodeled in 1901 by President John Bunyan Shearer and eventually demolished in 1960 (Shearer). Davidson College Presbyterian Church (DCPC), which functions as the school’s main house of worship, although it technically belongs to the town, was not constructed until 1885.
[9] By “clear out of the world,” Leverett is likely referring to Davidson as an isolated, “unworldly” place. His estimation of Davidson is somewhat ironic; his derision of the small town simply for its smallness implies that he himself comes a great modern city, when in fact his home town of Leverett’s Chapel boasts a population of only 450 by the year 2000 (Rodriguez).
[10] The term “foggies” is likely a precursor to the word “fogey,” which the Oxford English Dictionary describes as “a person, typically an old one, who is considered to be old-fashioned or conservative in attitude or tastes.” “Texas” refers to his hometown of Leverett’s Chapel, Texas (see [3]).
[11] Each year, the senior class would graduate late June. During the graduation ceremony, a commencement speech and a baccalaureate speech would be given. The 1872-1873 commencement was delivered on June 25, 1873 by Hon. Thomas L. Clingman from Asheville, NC. There is no record of who gave the baccalaureate speech (Anniversary).
[12] Charles Clinton Leverett (also known as Charlie) was born on March 14th, 1853, in Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County, Texas. His parents were Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett ( c.a. 1815 – c.a.1900) and Eliza Ann Patterson (1826 — ), and their town, Leverett’s Chapel, was named for Eliza’s family; the family had settled their 759 acres in the 1850s with “Georgia slaves, cattle, and equipment to begin what became an effective plantation system” (Rodriguez). According to the 1860 and 1880 Censuses, Cpt. Leverett owned thirteen slaves and had seven children including Charlie C. Leverett (c.a. 1853 – c.a. 1897) (Rodriguez, Munger). Charlie lived in Davidson with his younger brother Walter Bennett Leverett (b.c.a. 1855 – 1937) from June 30th of 1873 until spring of 1874 (Rodriguez, Munger). They also attended Washington and Lee University together from 1872-1873 (Card). Charlie stayed for part of the 1873-1874 academic year, but Walter transferred to Davidson College (Rodriguez). At length, Charlie resided in Overton, Rusk County, Texas (Munger). He died in April of 1897 in Overton (Munger).
Works cited
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“A Brief History.” Washington and Lee University. Washington and Lee University, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Available at: http://www.wlu.edu/about-wandl/history-and-traditions/a-brief-history.
Anniversary Celebration Davidson College Philanthropic & Eumenean Lit. Societies. 25 June 2873. RG 3/3.7. President’s Office. Commencement Files. Davidson College Archives. Davidson College, NC.
Beaty, Mary. Davidson: a History of the Town from 1835 until 1937. Davidson, N.C.: Briarpatch, 1979. Print
“College History Timeline.” Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Available at: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/college-history-timeline.
Davidson College Catalog, 1874-1875. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications. [1874].
“Davidson History | Explore Davidson, NC.” Explore Davidson NC. Town of Davidson, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. Available at: http://www.exploredavidsonnc.com/things-to-do/history/.
Leverett, Charlie. Alumni Card. Washington and Lee University Archives. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, NC.
Leverett, Walter. Alumni Card. Washington and Lee University Archives. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
MeasuringWorth. Purchasing Power Calculator. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. Available at: http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/.
Munger, Greta. “Subject: Re: info on your replies.” Message to Campbell, Shireen. 25 Apr. 2014. E-mail.
Phillips, Charles C. Report: On the Scholarship, Punctuality and Deportment of Mr. Walter B. Leverett. Davidson College, NC. 22 Dec. 1873.
Rodriguez, Donna McCreary. “Gone to Texas! Pioneer Trails of McCreary, Buck, Bayliss, Leverett, Rice, Estes, Timberlake, Graham, Hughes, Wheeler, & Allied Families: Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett and Eliza Ann Patterson.” n.n. 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Available at: http://gonetotexasgtt.com/f2102.htm.
Shearer Hall Davidsonian file. Davidson College Archives. 2014. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Available at: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/shearer-hall.
“Statistics and Class Events.” Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Available at: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/databases/colhist.
Thornton, Tamara Plakins. Handwriting in America: A Cultural History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. 59-63.
Transcription and annotation author: Eleanor Yarboro.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Yarboro, Eleanor, annotator. 1 July 1873 Charles C. Leverett Letter to Parents. DC0339s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/charles-c-leverett-letter-1-jul-1873.
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