University of Virginia Library

IV. Origin of Albemarle Academy

The most famous school situated nearest to Charlottesville
previous to the Revolution was the one conducted
by the Rev. James Maury, who had been the rector of
Fredericksville parish at the time that it took in also the
county of Louisa. Dying in 1770, he was succeeded by
his son, Matthew Maury, as the clergyman of Trinity
parish,—the new parish created in the first division of
Fredericksville,—and as the headmaster of his school.
It was here that Jefferson received his earliest tuition
after leaving home. This school enjoyed a high reputation
for thoroughness many years before Albemarle
Academy was incorporated, and was, no doubt, patronized,
before and after the Revolution, by many families
in Albemarle county, although more or less inconvenient
to them on account of its remoteness. Another clergyman,
Rev. Samuel Black, had established a school near
the foot of the Blue Ridge; and about 1760, James
Forbes was teaching in the neighborhood of Ivy.

But the need of a school in the immediate vicinity of
Charlottesville became so pressing by 1783, that the
first practical step was taken to establish an academy
there. There is no evidence that Jefferson suggested
this project, but there is proof that he felt so deep an
interest in it that he exacted of a friend in the county

the promise that he should be informed of its prospects
of success during his own absence in Annapolis; and he
also assured his neighbors of his willingness to give personal
aid by endeavoring to procure a tutor during his
travels in the North; and this promise he faithfully kept,
for while stopping in Princeton, he sought the advice of
Dr. Witherspoon, President of Princeton College; but no
tutor could be obtained there, as that institution had not
yet recovered from the confusion caused by the war. In
Philadelphia, a short time later, he renewed his search
by inquiring for an Irish instructor; but he was told that
the state of learning in Ireland was so low that few
natives of that country had sufficient accomplishments
for such employment; or if they should have, desired to
secure it. Jefferson, in his perplexity, now thought of a
Scotch tutor; but before resuming the hunt, he wrote back
to his correspondent in Albemarle that he would not go
on until he had heard that the plans for the academy
were fixed upon so firm a basis that he would be justified
in empowering some person in Scotland to engage there
a competent teacher. "It was from that country," he
said, "that a sober, attentive man would be most certainly
obtained." He was so soon called away by his
mission to France that he does not appear to have had a
chance for forwarding the design by further personal cooperation;
and afterwards, down to 1809, was so constantly
absent from home, owing to his official duties in
Washington, that he had not leisure to consider it further
in a practical way.

The purpose of establishing the school seems to have
slumbered for many years, but, in 1803, or on some day
just previous to it, the plan was revived, and so keen
was the interest now aroused, that, in the course of that
year, a charter was obtained and the school incorporated

as the Albemarle Academy. By this date, the population
of the county had substantially increased, and the
need of a good classical school must have been more urgent
than it had been twenty years earlier, when the
scheme was broached for the first time.

Did the new academy enter at once upon an existence
more solid than that of an academy on parchment? Apparently,
it did not. In 1802, an Act of the General Assembly
laid down the manner in which the money accruing
from the sale of the glebe lands in Fredericksville and
St. Anne's parishes was to be secured for any permissible
object: a majority of the freeholders and householders
of the county had only to submit a petition to the
overseers of the poor clearly defining their purpose. It
is possible that this Act was passed at the instance of persons
interested in the projected academy; but that the
fund was not appropriated is demonstrated by the fact
that, when, in 1814, the scheme was resuscitated by the
surviving trustees under the old charter, one of the first
steps taken was to apply to the General Assembly for
the possession of this fund,—an indication that it had not
yet been disposed of, for it would certainly have been
used had the original design been carried out in 1803.
About this time, there was a school at Milton on the
Rivanna conducted by William Ogilvie, an excellent classical
scholar of Scotch birth, who gave the earliest tuition
to the sons of many conspicuous families of Albemarle
and adjoining counties. In 1806, Professor Girardin determined
to resign his chair in the College of William and
Mary, and consulted Joseph C. Cabell, then in Williamsburg,
as to the most promising site for founding a large
school of his own. Cabell conferred with his brother,
Judge William H. Cabell: "Shall we place Girardin in
the academy at New Glasgow," he wrote, "or shall we

connect him with Ogilvie and establish them at Charlottesville?
I wish to do the latter."[6] Now, it is quite
improbable that Cabell, whose birthplace and original
home was at Warminster, on the James River, not very
many miles away, would have suggested Charlottesville
as a suitable place of settlement for two distinguished
teachers like Ogilvie and Girardin had he known that
they would have to meet and overcome the rivalry of an
academy already in operation, and backed by an influential
board of trustees and a large circle of wealthy
patrons.

Not until 1814 does the Albermarle Academy exhibit
the feeblest sign of practical life. When the project
was revived, only five of the first trustees, namely John
Harris, John Nicholas, John Kelly, Peter Carr, and
John Carr, took hold of it, for all the others had either
died, resigned, or emigrated to the West. The vacancies
in the list, the natural result of the lapse of a decade, had
not been filled as they arose; and this would certainly
have been done had the Academy, in reality, been under
way, since, in that case, it would have called for and received
the close supervision of a large and interested
Board. The original members had fallen off, it would
seem, because there were no duties to perform. Indeed,
the Academy so far had been merely a name.

What was the motive at the bottom of the resuscitation
of the charter? Quite probably the principal one
now, as during many years past, was that there was an immediate
need for the school; the subordinate one, perhaps,
was the desire to bolster up financially Triplett
Estes, the proprietor of the Old Stone tavern, the jovial
friend of all those citizens of the county who had eaten
of the dishes from his kitchen and drunk of the spirits

from his cellar. In a letter which George W. Randolph
wrote to Dr. James L. Cabell, in 1856, when the Stone
tavern was yet standing, he repeated the story of the
tentative purchase which had been told to him by Alexander
Garrett, one of the new trustees of the Academy
after its revival in 1814, and one, therefore, conversant
with all the details of this event at the time, though his
memory may have been weakened subsequently by age.
It was Mr. Garrett's impression, says Mr. Randolph,
that "the owners of the present Monticello House,—
with which the Stone tavern had been incorporated before
1856,—for the purpose of raising the value of
their property, and partly, no doubt, from public spirit,
undertook to establish an academy."[7] As the petition
which certain citizens of Albemarle, at a later day, addressed
to the General Assembly sought the right to collect
funds by lottery to buy this house for the expressed
purpose of profiting Triplett Estes, it seems unlikely, as
Mr. Randolph reports, that any of the trustees had a
personal interest in the property beyond a mortgage.
On the contrary, the concern shown by Estes and his
friends in the proposed sale would appear to demonstrate
that he alone was to be the beneficiary. The building
itself was ample security for any lien which may have
rested on it.

As the scheme of the Academy had been under consideration
during many years, and as the need for it was
greater now than ever, the five surviving members of the
old board probably saw in Estes's offer a very uncommon
chance of securing the right kind of structure for the
projected school in Charlottesville, where alone they
perhaps thought it should be placed, and where alone
an edifice large enough for its purpose was likely to be

found. If, in establishing the Academy, a popular citizen,
who happened to have the property wanted, could
also be assisted, the housing thus made attainable was not,
on that account, rendered less desirable or less satisfactory
to the trustees. Furthermore, those trustees were
aware that it would be necessary to turn to a lottery to
raise in part at least the fund which they would require.
That lottery was certain to be looked upon with more
favor in Albemarle and the adjacent counties if it were
associated in the minds of the citizens in general with
the expectation of succoring so worthy and so genial a
boniface as Estes.

So far as can be discovered, Jefferson had no part of
any kind in the consultations that led up to the first
meeting of the five trustees on March 25, 1814. He
went back to Monticello in 1809, and from that time became
a permanent resident of the county. There was an
interval of five years before the surviving members of
the old board reassembled. Why had he manifested no
interest in the charter of 1803, and, so far as we know,
why was he not previously approached by the trustees
with the view of enlisting his influential co-operation?
Apparently, during these years, he made no suggestion
with respect to the Academy; he gave no advice; nor did
he take any step whatever, either alone or along with
others, to revive the scheme. While his concern for the
advancement of education was never more lively than
during the immediate period that followed his return to
his home, it is quite possible that his long absences from
the county, and the dignity of the great offices he had
filled, had produced a certain aloofness in his intercourse
with his neighbors. There is little proof of any intimate
association on his part with the community around him.
He was not a public speaker, and so far as can be judged,

his attention was now absorbed by his correspondence,
his agricultural experiments, his domestic circle, and his
private visitors, who furnished him with the most cultivated
and distinguished society. Had he been in close
affiliation with the trustees of the Academy, either before
or after he became a member of its board, it is not probable
that, when the Academy was converted into Central
College in 1816, he would have omitted the entire number
from the governing body of the new institution, even
if he were anxious to increase the influence of that body
by placing on it only men known throughout Virginia.

Jefferson's participation in the memorable first meeting
of the surviving trustees at the Stone tavern was wholly
accidental and unexpected. It seems that, following his
habit after one o'clock in the day, he had left Monticello
for his afternoon ride, and had turned his horse's head
in the direction of Charlottesville. As he passed through
the village, he was seen from the Stone tavern by one of
the trustees, who, aware of his interest in education, and
justly thinking that his advice would be of substantial
service, suggested that he should be asked to dismount,
and take part in the discussion then going on in one of
the rooms in the inn. He cheerfully complied with the
invitation, got down from the saddle, and joined the
circle within. He first counseled them to fill at once all
the vacancies in the board; and this seems to have been
promptly done. His own name was inserted at the head
of the list, which ran as follows: Thomas Jefferson,
Jonathan B. Carr, Robert B. Streshley, James Leitch, Edmund
Anderson, Thomas Wells, Nicholas M. Lewis,
Frank Carr, John Winn, Alexander Garrett, Dabney
Minor, Samuel Carr, and Thomas Jameson. To this
list should be added the names of the surviving members
of the original board: John Harris, John Nicholas, John

Kelly, Peter Carr, and John Carr. Further additions to
the number were made in the course of the ensuing twelve
months.

What were the histories of the principal men who composed
the reformed board? Without exception, they
were drawn from the body of the substantial and responsible
citizens of the county, those "plain, honest,
rational, and well-informed neighbors" of Jefferson, to
whom he referred in the letter, already quoted, written
this very month of the same year. Frank Carr was, at
one time or another, a physician, teacher, editor, and
farmer, and in the latter character filled the useful office
of secretary of the Albemarle Agricultural Society. He
also sat on the bench of magistrates and served as
sheriff. Edmund Anderson was a brother-in-law of
Meriwether Lewis, the famous explorer of the Missouri
and Columbia Rivers. Nicholas M. Lewis was a greatgrandson
of Nicholas Meriwether, one of the earliest
landowners in Albemarle. His father had been a distinguished
officer in the War of the Revolution, surveyor,
sheriff, and magistrate, and the adviser of the family at
Monticello during Jefferson's numerous absences from his
roof. John Winn had laid by a competence in mercantile
pursuits in Charlottesville, and had afterwards purchased
the valuable estate of Belmont, which he occupied
as his home. Alexander Garrett, who was to become
the bursar of the University, was, at one time, the deputy
sheriff and deputy clerk of the county. Peter Carr was
a member of the bar, and had formerly been associated
with Jefferson as his private secretary. John Kelly, like
John Winn, was a successful merchant, was very alert in
the affairs of his church, and enjoyed such a high reputation
for integrity and good sense that he was frequently
appointed to act as the administrator of estates. John

Nicholas, who was sprung from one of the first settlers,
was a grandson of Colonel Fry, who, with Peter Jefferson,
drafted the celebrated map of Virginia that is designated
by their names. He owned a large area of land in
the neighborhood of the town, and for some years was
the clerk of the county in succession to his father. James
Leitch was, during a subsequent period, the proprietor
of the Pantops estate. Dabney Minor was a member
of a family that has always been actively and honorably
identified with every interest of the county. Samuel
Carr, whose pursuit was that of farmer, had sat on the
magistrates' bench and served as colonel of cavalry in
the War of 1812; and he also won political distinction as
a delegate and senator in the General Assembly. John
Carr was the first clerk of the circuit court of Albemarle,
and was also the clerk of the district court of Charlottesville.
Thomas Jameson, a descendant of one of the earliest
patentees of the lands on Moorman's River, was a
physician who practiced at the county seat and in its
vicinage. Streshley, Wells, and Harris, the three remaining
trustees, were all citizens of respectable position
in the community, well fitted by character and intelligence
for the performance of the highly responsible duties
which they had undertaken.

Merchants, lawyers, physicians, farmers, clerks of
court, magistrates, sheriffs, members of the General Assembly,
either then or yet to be,—such were the men
who sat on the board of trustees of Albemarle Academy.
With a few exceptions, they were sprung from
fathers or grandfathers who had come into the county
with the first immigration, and all were bound to its soil
by financial interests, ties of home and family, and the
associations of a life-time with kinsmen and friends. At
their head stood Jefferson, ready to give them the full

benefit of his long experience of men, and ripe wisdom in
the management of the most intricate public affairs.
There was not another among them who approached him
in personal distinction, or in knowledge of educational
principles; and all were willing to follow his serene and
farsighted leadership, now so essential to the success of
their plans.