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From: DC0339s (Finding Aid)
Transcript
Davidson College [1]
July 8, 1873 [2]
Dear Parents: [3]
We have not heard from any body since we arrived here one week today with hope you will write as soon as an opportunity offers and if any does [illegible] offer to make the expect to leave here in a day or two for the mountains where it is not so hot and where board is cheaper (at 7 or 8 dollars per month) [4]. So I here. Charlie thinks of going back to the University but I had rather stay here [5]. I like everything very well
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better than I did at the university. If Charlie goes back to the University, we will need money by the 1st of September or before that. It will cost about $400 this year but $60 less each succeeding year I think [6]. Some get through here on $250 a year by Clubbing. [7]
I will write you a long letter next time and tell you all my plans. If I have to come home next year arrange it so that I can get the school at Jamestown in the fall [8]. I can make more money teaching school than any other way at present and I can
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teach here every summer, I think by hard trying. A great many young men do it and I suppose I can too. They don’t get much but it does better than nothing. They get $25.00 per month that does tolerably I could almost pay my tuition with it: maybe I would get $30.00 by tight squeezing. Charlie was sick a little the other day had a tuch of colera[illegible] but is all right now [9].
Your most affectionate,
Walter [10]
Original
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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 catalogue was undoubtedly similar to that of 1874-1875 (Catalog). The academic year lasted from late September to late June; by July 8th, the first entrance exams were two weeks past (see [5]) and the academic year would begin in less than three months. 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] Walter 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 (b.c.a. 1853 –) (Rodriguez). Charlie lived in Davidson with his younger brother Walter Bennett Leverett (b.c.a. 1855 –) from June 30th of 1873 until the spring of 1874 (Rodriguez). Walter later married Addie Cunningham, with whom he became a farmer and settled down in San Saba, San Saba County, Texas (Munger).
[4] “The mountains” he mentions here are most likely the Appalachian Mountains, which lie 100 to 120 miles west of Davidson. Due to inflation, the value of “7 or 8 dollars” has changed drastically since 1873. To calculate how much the above amounts are worth, please visit MeasuringWorth.com (MeasuringWorth).
[5] “University” refers to Washington and Lee University. 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 named Augusta Academy. In 1776, the trustees changed the name of the school 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). Walter attended this institute from 1872-1873 and Charlie from 1872-1874 (Card).
[6] See [4].
[7] See [4] for dollar amount estimation. The term “clubbing” refers to Davidson College’s eating house system, a way for students to save money by gathering together and hiring a cook to cover meals, instead of eating at the school (Blodgett).
[8] “Jamestown” refers to Jamestown, Texas, located 146 miles from Walter’s hometown. The Jamestown Common School was founded around 1860. In 1873, the International-Great Northern Railroad was built through Rusk County, and Overton was established as a rail town. Business began to move into Overton, and Jamestown to decline. As the town grew smaller, Jamestown Common School became the center of community activities (Jamestown). Common schools were the form of public primary and secondary education in the United States around 1900 (Century). Walter is expressing the possibility that he will come home to teach at this school and is asking his family to secure the position for him in advance.
[9] It would appear that Leverett is trying to communicate that Charlie had “a touch of coleramanbus;” this disease, although it does not exist, is probably a colloquial term derived from the word “cholera.” “Sickness” here probably refers to the cholera epidemic which reached its peak on June 20, killing 72 people in one day, and killed 259 people in New Orleans before July of 1873 (Kohn).
[10]
Walter Burns Leverett was born in 1855, 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 Walter and his older brother, Charlie C. Leverett (c.a. 1853 – c.a. 1897) (Rodriguez, Munger). Charlie and Walter Leverett attended Washington & Lee University from 1872 to 1873 (Card). Walter attended Davidson College in 1873; his brother came along but did not enroll and the two left the town of Davidson after about a year (Rodriguez, Munger). Incidentally, Walter entered Davidson College in the same year as future NC governor Robert Brodnax Glenn (class of 1875) and Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1873-74) (Timeline). He also joined the literary society known as Philanthropic Hall, a student organization known for its excellent private library, in October of 1873 (Philanthropic Hall). He received the following grades for fall semester, anything below a 60 being a failing grade: an 88 in Logic and Rhetoric, a 59 in Greek, a 94 Modern Languages, and an 88 in Composition (Phillips). After leaving Davidson in 1874, Walter married Addie Cunningham, with whom he became a farmer and settled down in San Saba, San Saba County, Texas (Munger). He later fell out of favor with his family when he sued his brother Howard over the discovery of oil on Howard’s land (Munger).Walter died in San Saba on an unknown date (Munger).
Works cited
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“19th Century Education.” chesapeake.edu. n.p. n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. http://www.chesapeake.edu/library/EDU_101/eduhist_19thC.asp.
“About Montreat | Montreat Conference Center.” Montreat Conference Center. Montreat Conference Center, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. http://www.montreat.org/about/.
“A Brief History.” Washington and Lee University. Washington and Lee University, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. http://www.wlu.edu/about-wandl/history-and-traditions/a-brief-history.
Beaty, Mary. Davidson: a History of the Town from 1835 until 1937. Davidson, N.C.: Briarpatch Press, 1979. Print.
Blodgett, Jan. Personal Interview. 2 May. 2014.
College History Timeline. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC. Available at: http://www.wlu.edu/about-wandl/history-and-traditions/a-brief-history.
Davidson College Catalog, 1874-1875. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications. [1874]. Available at: http://davidson.lyrasistechnology.org/islandora/object/davidson:40375#page/1/mode/1up.
Gillespie, Molly P. “Blake, John Rennie.” Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC. Davidson Encyclopedia, 1998. Available at: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/john-rennie-blake.
Kohn, George Childs. “U.S. cholera epidemic, 1873.” Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, Third Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=ENPP678&SingleRecord=True.
Leverett, Charlie. Alumni Card. Washington and Lee University Archives. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
Leverett, Walter. Alumni Card. Washington and Lee University Archives. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
McCroskey, Vista K. “JAMESTOWN, TX (SMITH COUNTY).” Handbook of Texas. Texas State Association. 15 Jun. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnj03.
MeasuringWorth. Purchasing Power Calculator. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/.
Munger, Greta. “Subject: Re: info on your replies.” Message to Campbell, Shireen. 25 Apr. 2014. E-mail.
Philanthropic Hall. Minute Book of Philanthropic Society: 1872 & 1873. 4 Oct. 1873. 265.
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.” 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. http://gonetotexasgtt.com/f2102.htm#f234.
Thornton, Tamara Plakins. Handwriting in America: A Cultural History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. 59-63.
Transcription and annotation author: Yuyi Zhao.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Zhao, Yuyi, annotator. 8 July 1873 Walter B. Leverett Letter to Parents. DC0339s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/walter-b-leverett-letter-8-jul-1873.
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