PETITION FOR A COLLEGE CHARTER. Conceiving the design of converting the Bethesda Orphan House into "a seminary of literature and academical learning," Mr. Whitefield on the 18th of December, 1764, submitted to His Excellency James Wright, Esq., "Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of His Majesty's Province in Georgia," and to "the members of His Majesty's Council in the said Province," a memorial, in which he called their attention to the fact that no institution of that character had as yet been founded south of Virginia; "and consequently [he continues] if a college could be established here (especially as the last addition of the two Floridas renders Georgia more centrical for the southern district) it would not only be highly serviceable to the rising generation of this colony, would probably occasion many youths to be sent from the British West India Islands and other parts. The many advantages accruing thereby to this province must be very considerable."1 but The Georgia authorities heartily applauded and indorsed this design of Mr. Whitefield, whose next step was to proceed to England, that he might, by personal influence, obtain from the Crown the necessary sanction and assistance. That the matter might be brought directly to the notice of His Majesty, Mr. Whitefield prepared and delivered into the hands of the clerk of the Privy Council another memorial, in which he prayed for a charter upon the plan of the College of New Jersey, and expressed his readiness "to give up his present trust and make a free gift of all lands, negroes, goods, and chattels which he now stands possessed of in the Province of Georgia, for the present founding and toward the future support of a College to be called by the name of Bethesda College in the Province of Georgia." His earnest wish was to obtain a college charter "upon a broad bottom," to provide proper masters to instruct and prepare for literary honors many youths who, in Georgia and the adjacent provinces, were desirous of superior educational advantages, to inaugurate a liberal trust which would endure long after he was gathered to his fathers, and to know that his beloved Bethesda would not only be continued as a house of mercy for poor orphans, but would also be confirmed to the latest posterity "as a seat and nursery of sound learning and religious education."2 This favorite and crowning scheme of Whitefield's life was never consummated. His petition for a college charter was refused. Heavy as was his disappointment on account of this failure, he did not allow himself to be daunted. Abandoning the idea of a college, he determined, if possible, to make Bethesda an academy similar in its plan to one then established in Philadelphia, which sustained a high reputation. Revisiting Bethesda in 1769, he reports that everything there exceeded Jones's History of Georgia, Vol. I, pp. 408, 409. A letter to His Excellency, Governor Wright, etc,, etc, London, MDCCLXVIII. Pp. 1-30, his most sanguine expectations. During this year two wings had been added to the main building for the accommodation of students, Governor Wright himself laying the corner-stone in March. Mr. Whitefield remained at Bethesda some five months or more, giving personal and continual attention to the affairs of the institution. DEATH OF WHITEFIELD AND FAILURE OF THE ORPHAN HOUSE. But the care proved too arduous for him, and, with impaired health and a fast declining constitution, he made a trip to the North, only to be arrested by illness at Newburyport, Mass., where he died early on the morning of the 30th of September, 1770. By his will the Orphan House estate was vested in Lady Selina, Countess Dowager of Huntingdon;1 and upon her demise, which occurred in June, 1791, it passed into the hands of thirteen persons, who were specially appointed trustees of Bethesda College, then duly named and incorporated.3 2 Shortly after Whitefield's death, the Orphan House was consumed by fire. It was afterward partially rebuilt, but in the course of a few years suffered a second demolition by hurricane and fire. Those charged with its conduct became seriously embarrassed by these casualties and the lack of funds, and the institution soon ceased to have an active existence: By act of December 22, 1808, the Legislature directed the trustees to sell the estate, and, all debts being paid, to provide for the distribution of the proceeds among certain eleemosynary institutions in the city of Savannah. In 1854 the Board of Managers of the Union Society purchased a part of the original Bethesda tract, and upon the very spot formerly occupied by Whitefield's Orphan House erected buildings for the accommodation of the boys committed to their charitable care. "Thus happily," exclaims Colonel Jones,5 "is the philauthropic scheme of the most noted of English pulpit orators, who 'loved to range in the American woods,' who was never happier than when "And whereas there is in this State a very considerable property, as well real as personal, known and distinguished by the name of Bethesda College, or Orphan House estate, originally intended for an academy, and devised in trust by the late Reverend George Whitefield, for literary and benevolent purposes, to Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. Be it enacted, etc." (Section III of Act of February 1, 1788. Watkins's Digest, p. 373.) 2 Mr. Whitefield in his will had expressed the wish that, as soon as might be after his decease, the plan of the intended Orphan House or Bethesda College might be prosecuted. 3 Act of December 20, 1791. (Marbury and Crawford's Digest, p. 566.) * One-fifth of the net proceeds was to be applied to the uses of the Savannah Poor House and Hospital Society; and of the remainder of such net sum, one-half was to be paid to the Union Society in Savannah, and the other half to the Chatham Academy (which was established by Act of February 1, 1788), to increase their funds for the instruction of youth generally; the proviso in the case of the latter being that it should support and educate five orphans. (John A. Cuthbert's Digest of School Laws, Milledgeville, 1832. Pp. 47-8.) 5 History of Georgia, Vol. I, pp. 414-15, 'holding a levee of wounded souls,' and whose generous arms were ever open to succor the poor and the orphan, perpetuated in the living present." In another place,' referring to the valuable services performed by the school at Bethesda, the same author says: "That this orphan house, in the face of many disappointments connected with its advancement to the stage of usefulness and prosperity anticipated and predicted for it, was an institution of great benefit to the colony, and that its sheltering arms ministered to the comfort of many homeless orphans and pointed the way to future industry, respectability, and independ ence, cannot be questioned. True it is that several persons who exercised a controlling influence over Georgia affairs during the last quarter of the eighteenth century were wards of this charity."2 1 History of Georgia, Vol. I, pp. 405-6. 2 Among them may be mentioned Milledge and Ewen, both Governors of Georgia, and Langworthy, who was a delegate from that State to the Continental Congress. CHAPTER II. SCHOOLS AFTER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. THE ACADEMY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Some months had elapsed after the signing of the Declaration of Independence when Georgia took her next step in educational progress. This was effected under the Constitution of 1777, the fifty-fourth sectiou of which provided that schools should be erected in each county, and supported at the general expense of the State. During the Revolutionary War, such were the distractions of the period and of the community, that all efforts for education, either public or private, were wholly omitted. Upon the return of peace and the adjustment of affairs, both private and political, attention was once more directed to this important subject. The earliest legislation in regard to public education occurring after the war will be found in an act for laying out the reserve land in the town of Augusta into acre lots, the erecting of an academy or seminary of learning, and for other purposes therein mentioned, assented to July 31, 1783.2 By the fourteenth section of this act, the Governor was empowered to grant one thousand acres of land for a free school in each county. Under the same act provision was made for the establishment of a free school in the town of Washington, Wilkes County, and of two academies, one at Waynesborough, Burke County, and the other at Augusta, in the county of Richmond.. Of the academies the latter only deserves special consideration, partly from the fact of its longevity, it having from the beginning almost uninterruptedly maintained an active existence, but particularly on account of the historic memories which are connected with it. After reciting, "And whereas a seminary of learning is greatly necessary for the instruction of our youth, and ought to be one of the first objects of attention, after the promotion of religion," the act directed the town commissioners to lay out the reserve land of Augusta into acre lots and sell them. With the moneys arising from such sales they I Watkins's Digest, p. 15. 2 Marbury and Crawford's Digest, pp. 132-4. 11409-No. 4——2 17 were, among other things, to erect an academy. This was the origin of what has since been known as the Academy of Richmond County. The school was regularly opened in 1785, and on the 25th of March of that year, we are told, "Mr. William Rogers, late of the State of Maryland, having been well recommended as being of good fame and sufficiently learned in the sciences," was appointed master of the academy, at a salary of two hundred pounds a year, with the use of the tenement buildings and the garden on the premises. He was required to teach the Latin, Greek, and English languages, and the common practical branches of mathematics. The tuition of the highest class of pupils was fixed at ten dollars per quarter. The master, as he was called, had the assistance of one, and afterward of two tutors.1 Mr. Rogers was re-elected annually to the office of rector of the acad emy until 1793. Three years later the Hon. William H. Crawford, who was afterward United States Senator from Georgia, minister to France under President Madison, and Secretary of War under President Monroe, became connected with the institution, serving two terms as Eng. lish teacher in the academy, and one in the capacity of rector, resigning the latter position in 1799. In 1826 James P. Waddell, subsequently a professor of ancient languages in the University of Georgia, assumed the control of the school, holding the rectorship during six successive terms. The present faculty of the academy consists of three teachers, its principal being a prominent graduate of the University of Virginia. The original trustees of the Academy of Richmond County were George Walton, Joseph Pannill, Andrew Burns, William Glascock, and Samuel Jack. The number was subsequently increased to seven, and then to nine, as at present. The office of president of the Board was created in 1788, William Glascock being the first incumbent. Since Mr. Glascock sixteen persons, including the one now serving, have suc cessively filled the position. In 1790, Augusta still being the seat of government of Georgia, the building occupied by the academy, upon its tender by the trustees, was accepted and utilized for the transaction of the general business of the State. In May of the following year the acade.ay was honored by a visit from President Washington, who, in his tour through the States, had stopped at Augusta. The General expressed himself highly pleased with the condition and conduct of the institution, and complimented the teachers upon the fine appearance of their pupils. In 1815 a branch school was located and organized on the Sand Hills, near Augusta, which for many years subserved the purposes of a preparatory department for the academy. The academy continued in successful operation until the latter part of the Civil War, when it was used by the Confederate authorities as a hospital. It was occupied by United States troops for a year or more after the termination of hostilities, and was then restored to its trustees, who, 1 Hand-Book of Augusta, etc. Augusta, Ga., 1878. Pp. 63-5. |