Davidson College Ties

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Davidson College historical marker

As the son of a professor who graduated from and taught at Davidson College, in Davidson, North Carolina, and whose mother lives in Davidson, this writer may hopefully be excused for looking for connections to Davidson at Log College Press. There are many to be found.

Chambers Building, Davidson College

Davidson College, named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson (1746-1781), who served and died in the American War of Independence, was founded in 1837 under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It’s college seal was designed by Peter Stuart Ney, who is believed by some to have been Napoleon's Marshall Peter Ney. That is a story shrouded in mystery to this day.

Davidson College Seal

Presidents and Faculty

  • Robert Hall Morrison (1798-1889) - Morrison served as the first President of Davidson College. He was also a father-in-law of Stonewall Jackson.

  • Drury Lacy, Jr. (1802-1804) - Lacy was the third President of Davidson College.

  • John Lycan Kirkpatrick (1813-1885) - Kirkpatrick was the fourth President of Davidson College.

  • George Wilson McPhail (1815-1871) - McPhail was the fifth President of Davidson College. He is buried at the Davidson College Cemetery.

  • John Rennie Blake (1825-1900) - Prof. Blake served as faculty chairman of Davidson College who oversaw the college in the absence of a President from 1871 to 1877.

  • Andrew Dousa Hepburn (1830-1921) - Hepburn served as President of Miami University (Ohio) before becoming President of Davidson College.

  • William Joseph Martin, Sr. (1830-1896) - Col. Martin served as acting President of Davidson College from 1887 to 1888.

  • John Bunyan Shearer (1832-1919) - Shearer served as the eighth President of Davidson College.

  • Henry Louis Smith (1859-1951) - Smith served as the ninth President of Davidson College, although he was not an ordained minister, and later served as President of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. A scientist, he is credited with pioneering the development of X-rays while at Davidson, as well as important efforts which hastened the end of World War I.

  • William Joseph Martin, Jr. (1868-1943) - The younger Martin served as the tenth President of Davidson College for 17 years.

  • Walter Lee Lingle (1868-1956) - A graduate of Davidson College, Lingle served as the college’s eleventh President.

  • John Rood Cunningham (1891-1980) - Cunningham served as the twelfth President of Davidson College.

  • Patrick Jones Sparrow (1802-1867) - Sparrow was a Presbyterian minister who served as Davidson’s first professor of ancient languages.

  • Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889) - Hill, a Confederate officer, served as Chair of the Mathematics Department at Davidson College. He is buried at the Davidson College Cemetery.

  • Cornelia Rebekah Shaw (1869-1937) - Shaw served as the first full-time librarian at Davidson College. This writer once worked at the E.H. Little Library at Davidson College under Mary D. Beaty, who was a respected historian, and author of Davidson: A History of the Town from 1835 until 1937 (1979); A History of the Davidson College Presbyterian Church (1987); A History of Davidson College (1988); and helped to translate Calvin’s Ecclesiastical Advice (1991).

Davidson College Presbyterian Church

Alumni and Other Connections

  • Calvin Knox Cumming (1854-1935) - Cumming was a Presbyterian missionary to Japan, who died in Davidson, North Carolina. His son, W.P. Cumming (1900-1989), was a famed professor of English, and expert on cartography, at Davidson College, who this writer interviewed in 1980.

  • Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) - Dabney delivered the Davidson College Divinity Lectures for 1897, published as Christ Our Penal Substitute (1898).

  • George Howe (1802-1883) - Howe delivered an oration on The Value and Influence of Literary Pursuits at Davidson College in 1846.

  • Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863) - Stonewall Jackson, the famed Confederate general, served as a deacon in the Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Virginia. He was the son-in-law of Robert Hall Morrison, first President of Davidson College (see above).

  • Benjamin Rice Lacy, Jr. (1886-1981) - Lacy is the grandson of Drury Lacy, Jr., who served as President of Davidson College (see above). He studied at Davidson and was a star quarterback for the football team. He went on to become President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

  • Alexander Jeffrey McKelway (1866-1918) - McKelway received an honorary D.D. degree from Davidson College in 1900. Three generations later, this writer studied piano in the McKelway household.

  • Julius W. Melton (1933-2017) - Melton, a family friend of the writer, worked at Davidson College, and wrote the valuable study on Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787 (1967, 2001), which we have highlighted previously here.

  • Wilson Plumer Mills (1883-1959) - Mills graduated from Davidson College with a B.A. in 1903, and after long missionary service in the Far East, received an honorary D.D. degree from Davidson in 1951.

  • Walter William Moore (1857-1926) - Moore graduated from Davidson College with an A.B. in 1878. He went on to become the first President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

  • LeRoy Tate Newland (1885-1969) - Newland graduated from Davidson College with a B.A. in 1908.

  • J.W. Rosebro (1847-1912) - Rosebro studied at both Davidson College and Princeton. He also served as President of Fredericksburg College (Virginia); director of Union Seminary, Richmond; and as a professor at Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was the son-in-law of B.M. Smith.

  • Jethro Rumple (1827-1906) - Rumple graduated from Davidson College in 1850 and “in 1887 he edited the First Semi-Centenary Celebration of Davidson College, Addresses, Historical and Commemorative, Delivered at the Annual Commencement, Wednesday, June 13, 1887, which includes a forty-six page address by Rumple on the history of the college” (Barry Waugh, Presbyterians of the Past).

  • Omar ibn Said (1770-1864) - Ibn Said’s Arabic translation of the Bible is currently held at the Davidson College Library Rare Book Room.

  • Charles Alphonso Smith (1864-1924) - Smith studied at Davidson College, earning his A.M. degree in 1887. He was a brother of Henry Louis Smith (see above) and Egbert Watson Smith (see below).

  • Egbert Watson Smith (1862-1944) - Smith graduated as valedictorian of Davidson’s class of 1882. He was a brother of Henry Louis Smith and Charles Alphonso Smith (see above).

  • Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) - Wilson attended Davidson for the 1873-1874 school year before transferring to Princeton (he later served as President of Princeton). He was a a Presbyterian ruling elder, and later served as President of the United States.

  • B.B. Warfield (1851-1921) - Warfield received an LL.D. degree from Davidson College in 1892.

Davidson College Cemetery

There are likely many more ties to Davidson College at Log College Press. Davidson’s place in American Presbyterian church history should not go unnoticed. Many individuals have traveled through Davidson, and Davidson has left its mark on many. Its library alone is a treasure, and its cemetery honors many who have ended their mortal journey there. Small though the town and college is, Davidson is a waystation to take note of for students of history. May this brief introduction inspire further study and appreciation.

Sprunt Lectures at Log College Press

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THE JAMES SPRUNT LECTURES

In 1911 Mr. James Sprunt of Wilmington, North Carolina, gave to The Trustees of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia the sum of thirty thousand dollars, since increased by his generosity to fifty thousand dollars, for the purpose of establishing a perpetual lectureship , which would enable the institution to secure from time to time the services of distinguished ministers and authoritative scholars, outside the regular Faculty, as special lecturers on subjects connected with various departments of Christian thought and Christian work. The lecturers are chosen by the Faculty of the Seminary and a committee of the Board of Trustees, and the lectures are published after their delivery in accordance with a contract between the lecturer and these representatives of the institution. — W.W. Moore, in Francis L. Patton, Fundamental Christianity (1926, 1928)

An endowment that began 110 years ago, and continues today, for a lectureship at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, has included — from a roster that is worldwide — some notable American Presbyterians. The early years encompass some authors found at Log College Press, as noted below.

These lectures contain rich material on a variety of topics. Machen’s lectures are particularly well-known even today, but all of these contributions to the church from a century ago are worthy of study by the current generation. (Interestingly, Kyle also delivered the 1919 Stone Lectures at Princeton.) Sprunt’s legacy consists not only in his own writings, which are fascinating — especially for those interested in eastern North Carolina history — but in the lectureship he established which lives on.

The Presbyterian scientist and educator who hastened the end of World War I

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Henry Louis Smith (1859-1951) was the son of Rev. Jacob Henry Smith (1820-1897), as well as the brother of Rev. Egbert Watson Smith (1862-1944) and Charles Alphonso Smith (1864-1924), a noted educator. Henry was also a Presbyterian ruling elder, and a scientist. He served at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina as a professor of natural science (physics and astronomy), where he pioneered the development of x-rays, before becoming the institution’s ninth president in 1901. From 1912 to 1930, Henry served as president of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Nicknamed “Project” for his many creative ideas, one in particular perhaps saved many lives.

In 1918, the National Security League offered a reward for the best method of distributing Allied propaganda over Germany to reach the people directly with the message that the World War was being waged by Allies not for conquest but for freedom. Dr. Henry L. Smith’s studies of gas-filled balloons and wind currents lead him to propose that such a message could be attached by string to many colored paper and rubber balloons filled with coal gas and hydrogen which, when released at the right time and place, would travel behind enemy lines to achieve the desired objective. Millions of such balloons were released into the air — with attached leaflets containing President Woodrow Wilson’s speeches, news from America and statements about the causes of the conflict from the American perspective — and did in fact reach their goal, as it was reported that when German soldiers surrendered, eight out of ten carried those messages with them. The President later credited Dr. Smith with substantially shortening the war. Dr. Smith told others later with a smile that he used the reward money to purchase his first car, not as a college student, but as a college president.

Dr. Smith’s scientific studies in this matter served the interests of diplomacy, and although not well-known today, deserve to be remembered as a contribution to world peace. His brother Egbert wrote in 1915 of the world-wide obligation that Christians have to promote the interests of the gospel.

The Bible declares over and over again that we are put in trust with the gospel for the world. The unsearchable riches of Christ we do not hold as a piece of private property, but as a trust fund for the benefit of all nations. The Bible calls us not owners, but trustees, stewards, of the grace of God. To neglect a task is one thing, to betray a trust is a far darker thing, whose punishment is that of the unfaithful steward whom his lord put out of the stewardship.

We don’t always know what sort of mark we will leave on the world, but we do well to remember the words of Samuel Davies, who wrote,

Whatever, I say, be your Place, permit me, my dear Youth, to inculcate upon you this important instruction, IMBIBE AND CHERISH A PUBLIC SPIRIT. Serve your Generation. Live not for yourselves, but the Publick. Be the Servants of the Church; the servants of your Country; the Servants of all. Extend the Arms of your Benevolence to embrace your Friends, your Neighbors, your Country, your Nation, the whole Race of mankind, even your Enemies. Let it be the vigorous unremitted Effort of your whole Life, to leave the World wiser and better than you found it at your Entrance.