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 he 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 L, 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." [16] 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 Albemarle 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." [17] 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 he 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 he 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 he 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 great-grandson 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.