Evening Star Newspaper, May 10, 1925, Page 72

| THE SUNDAY STAR, WASH Wellington, Bearing Historic Name, ' Is a Picturesque Virginia Estate NGTO 1 Formerly Part of Mount Vernon Holdings, It fs Associated With Family of Tobias Lear, at One Time Tutor to Custis-Washington Children. OUTH of Alexandria about five miles theelectric car will stop at Wellington. One of the familiar open-face railway waiting shel- ters, bullt of strong timber and corrugated iron sheeting, stands by the track-side and the name *Wel- lington” looks at you in big letter: Perhaps thoughts of Arthur Welles- ley, first Duke of Wellington, come 10 you, and perhaps also the thought that men of burning ambition and world-shaking achievement turn to dust as common men do. The dust of the Duke of Welling ton rests under the dome of great St. Paul's, and there may be consolation in that: You may wonder what rela- tion this wayside name has to that of 4 man whose reputation as a soldier was so high and whose political role in England was so conspicuous dur- ing the life and after the death of fieorge Canning. The Rambler does not know that there is any association between Wel- lington on the Potomac and the Iron Duke. He believes that an owner of “the land may have given it the name late in the summer of 1815, when news of Waterloo reached the United States and Wellington became what many writers and speakers call a ouselold name’ The tract'of land Wellington has associations of interest and the Ram- bler means to set some of them before vou. Have patience. He will hand the record of these associations t0. you in one neat little chunk. They might be pressed, in guide-book style, into a few lines, but such compression would violate the ethics of the write union. The job of writing Wellington 'nust last at least two columns, and with skillful handling can be stretched into two full Sunday rambles. George Washington leased this land, & part of the Mount Vernon estate. to Tobias Lear and bequeathed it to him, Washington, in his will, de- scribed the tract, but did not call it Wellington. When Washington died in 1799 the Duke of Wellington was only- Col. Wellesley, commanding a regiment in India, but fast rising in Prominence because of his merit_and through the favor of his brother, Lord Mornington, governor general of In- dia. George Washington never heard of the Duke of Wellington, and if he had would not have named a farm for him. Tobias Lear was found dead October 11, 1816, with a pistol-shot through the head, in the garden of his house at the northwest corner of Eighteenth and. sireets northwest, and the Ramble: thinks there are reasons for assuming that Col. Lear did not give the name Wellington to the tract he received from George Washington. It was after the battle of Talavera, in 1809, that the title of Viscount Wellington was given Gen. Wellesley, and English success in Spain or elsewhere, between 1800 and 1815, did not move Ameri- cans to name their homes after Eng- lsh victors Tns papers of administration of Tobias Lear's estate were de- stroyed by fire in our courthouse long ago, and all that can be learned of Lear from Washington court records is an entry in docket No. 2 that his estate was administered by his son, Benjamin L. Lear, under bond of 415,000, with B. D. Henley and John Rodgers as sureties. Wellington on the Potomac may have been named by some one who never heard of the Duke of Welling- ton. There are two towns in England named Wellington, one in Shropshire, with a history antedating the Con. quest, and one in Somersetshire that is_older than any town in the U States. - Perhaps some settler in ginia came from one of those Welling- tons or had a great-dunt who went to school ‘or market_in one of them, and he thought that Wellington would he * ok x E DOORWAY OF _YELLIN(;TO not | _THE WELLI E_OF TODAY. seen John E. Owners as Maj. Welling- ton de Boots in “Everybody's Friend,” with young Clara Morris as Mrs. Swansdown. Coming back to the farm and dream- ing by the hickory logs blazing in the hearth, or nodding by the tallow candle that flamed on the long, black walnut supper table, he may have said to his wife, “Mary Ann, 1 have a good name for the place. We'll call it Wellington.” In writing several hundred words about the origin of this place-name, without getting at the origin of the Rambler may be making a mistake, or sort of mussing things up, but there are Lear de. scendants in_this country and kindred of George Washington who may write a letter to The Star and tell when, how and whom this tract was named Wellington. Where the_electric railway passes the station Wellington it crosses a arrow road of clay in which water- worn stones from pebbles to cobbles are bedded. Cedar trees, old, large conical and rich green, stand along the lane. A cedar that was a lusty youth when the oldest reader was a babe, spreads its branches above the station and two rural mail boxes are marked, “Malcolm Matheson” and “Willson H. Perrine.” Where the lane leads to- ward the river it is set apart from public use by an iron gate and gray stone gate-posts of rough-molded ce- ment blocks. A white board with em- phatic black letters says, “Private Road.” Eastward the lane calls. Ce dars, solemn, but cordial, line the way and one side of the road is bordered by a high, thick, square-cropped privet hedge. There is a cement footway. Off the right hand is an apple orchard | and off the left a clover field. | Two hundred yards from the iron gate the lane forks. To the right it leads to the Perrine property, and straight ahead to the Wellington House. At the fork is another gate which, like that of iron, stands open and inviting. It is a double gate of vertical palings, painted green, and the gate-posts are brick. There-is a section of curving brick wall, such as you see in old prints. Here is a plot of gay tulips, of jonquils, and « bed of periwinkle blooming blue. There is an azalea dressed with a good name for a farm. He thought | flowers of the form of those of the that there were enough Bel Airs. Buena Vistas, Alta Vistas and Belle- vues in Virginia, and he place-name that would be spiffy and with more swank to it than Locust ‘Thicket, Turkey* Hollow or Mud Plains. This old #pdholder may have wanted a | point f wild azalea of our woods, but their color is golden. not pink. At this you see the river, look across the flat lands in Maryland between Broad and Hatton Creeks, and the Standing at the green gate and the tulip and periwinkle bed, you see within the park a house that gives no hint of age. It seems as fresh as any house built this Spring, and muck labor and material have been used to restore its youth. Wistaria drape one of its fine doorways, and there are TdE MATHESON CHILDREN. show of suspicion, he came around all right and t for his picture. He believes the children of Wellington [\h» best children in Virginia and that there is no other home so good. | Whatever game the children play, | Bonzo joins. He has a hearty, good- | natured bark, and his stubby tail is lawns as green and turfy as lawns can be. Through these are curving walks of old-pattern brick. Big trees grow there and grass beneath their boughs Is thick and green. At the north side of the house is a high, wide portico, brick paved, and north of that a large rectangle, where tulips of every tuliptint are bicoming above a bed “of pansies and forget-me-nots. Here and there are clumps of fleur-de- lys and ezalea crimson and cream. There is a lily pond with rare plants from the Kenilworth gardens. There is & hemlock hedge. A brick wall on which ivy feeds,. parts the garden from the field to the west and on the east the land slopes to the river. On the lower land are a tennis court and a swimming pool. Some home? T'll say it is! On sev- leral trees are bird boxes, and in one, a silver poplar, a pair of wrens have put up for the Summer. Mal- colm Matheson and the children, Mal- colm, jr., Julia T., Lucy and Mar- garet, told me that those wrens, after spending the Winter in the South, have come back to that house five Springs running—ever since the Mathesons have had Wellington. No one knows how many times these busy, merry-quarrelsome birds have come to pass Summer at Wellington. They and their ancestor-wrens may have lived at Wellington when Toblas Lear, tutor to the Custis-Washington children, private secretary and at one time a milifary secretary to George ‘Washington, lived there. These wrens and their fathers and mothers knew Wellington as the Rambler knew it 20 years ago, and in 1904 he wrote of the broken and pathetic house. Here let the Rambler make an apol- ogy. In mentioning the children, Malcolm, jr., Julia, Lucy and Mar- garet, my typewriter made a slip. It forgot to name an important member of the Matheson household, a vigilant ang_respectful dweller on the lands of Wellington, and a genial all-round ap. His name_ is Bonze. Though igh ridge in the east touches the heegreeted the Rambler with some T do not know what breed it any, but he is a dog both | among dogs and cats. | * ¥ ¥ % | T bave not time to write all that I have collected concerning Col. To- bias Lear. because the Sunday editor | is impatient. He says this is the fifth | week in a month that the Rambler has been late in getting in his stuff. | But before 1 sign off 1 will give you the will of Toblas Lear's widow, which' I abstracted—I mean which i made | extracts of—at the Register of Wills Office. Col. Lear was thrice married. He was married first to Miss Mary Long of Portmouth, N. H., a daughter of Col. Pierce Long. She died of yel- low fever in Philadelphia in 1793. His second marriage was to Mra. Frances'Bassett Washington, a daugh- ter of Col. Burwell Bassett of Eltham, Kent County, Va., and the widow of | Col. George Augustine Washington. a nephew of George Washington. His thicd marriage was. to Miss Frances | Dandridge Henley of Virginia, who | was a neice of Mrs. George Washing- ton. The third Mrs. Lear long sur- vived her husband and died in Wash- | ington in 1856. Her will was wit. nessed by W. B. Lee, A. W. Whipple | and Samuel Drury, June 13, 1856, and | probated December 9, that year. She bequeathed $2,000 in Washing. | ton City Corporation stock to each of her nieces, Fanny L. Higbee, Hen- rietta E. Smith and Eliza J. Luce. She left $1,000 in Washington City Corporation stock and a $1,000 bond of the city of St. Louis to Louisa Lin- coln Lear, and a $1,000 St. Louls bond jointly to Elizabeth Hawley and Fanny Lear Hawley. The will re- cites:” “To Louisa Lincoln Lear, a miniature of Gen. Washington with his hair inclosed in the back of it, which was presented to_her grand. tather, Col. Lear, by Mrs. Washington; Miniatures of Col. Lear and myself, portrait of her father, Benjamin L. | Lear, books selected from her father’s library, my pearl necklace with which ‘will be found a clasp of opal and brilliants to go with it and 12 silver forks, 12 tablespoons and 12 teaspoons which belonged to her : grandfather. 1 bequeath to my niec | Fannie L. Higbee, my Turkish box: {to Henrletta E. Smith, my small bu reau. To my great niece, Fannie L | Higbee, my own. bookcase and secre- tary (given me by my aunt, Mrs. Washington) with its contents. Tc Beulah Alice Higbee my own cabinet. To Bessie Higbee my mother's watch, To John Henley Highee a covered | silver pitcher. To John Henley Smith | my own watch. To John Henley Lucc a gold medal awardedl by the Govern- | ment to my brother, Robert Henley | The rest of her property, not enu- | merated, she leaves to her nieces, Fan- | nie L. Higbee, Henrietta E. Smith and Eliza J. Luce. Judge Dunlop of Georgetown and Bayard Smith of Washington were the executors. , S T AP SRS < Foiling Mailbox Thief. : FAVORITE trick of the letter-box thief is to fish through the slot with a piece of string. on the end of which is a weight smeared with ad- hesive that sticks to the letters, says | Popular Science. ‘To foil his efforts there recently has | been devised a screen of steel prongs { screwed inside the box just above the ' sibt. The prongs make it practically | lmm:lmn\:l : letter thfough the slot, # easy enough for | | eloquent. ! Bonzo is i dent j was in December of that year, when | D. €, MAY 10, 1925—PART 5. Phi Beta Kappa, Honor Fraternity,. To Observe Its Sesquicentennlal Oldest of American Greek Letter Organizations Will Have Celebration of Event At Its Birthplace, William and Mary College, Virginia. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. ' HE nestor of all the Greek let-{ ter fraternities—that has stood | for nearly 150 years supreme and unchallenged for intellec- tual attainments and public | leadership; that now has more than| 100 chapters _established in every State in the Union and more than 41,000 living members scattered all over the world—is about to calebrate its sesquicentennfal at it uirthplace, old Williams and Mary College, Wil- liamsburg, Va., which was nearly a century old before the Revolution. Having furnished 11 Presidents of the United States and 8 Vice Presi- dents, 28 members of the hall of fame, 26 justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 5 of whom have been Chief Justice, and 5 members who_have won the Nobel peace prize, the Phi Bera Kappa feels it has taken an honorable part in the history and progress of this Nation. e And this tells no part of the noble work done by individuals among the 50 founders, then boys in their teens, during the historic years when this Government took its place among the nations of the earth. Practically every one of those 50 founders won honor- able distinction, and their descendants are preparing to erect a memorial building in their honor at old William and Mary College. The corner stone of: this building will be lald this month. The big celebration comes on Decem- ber 5, 19: and pretentious plans are being made, but between now and then practically every Phi Beta Kappa Chapter will conduct a_ pilgrim- age 1o the old shrine of learning and natriotism. These pilgrimages will be started this month for the corner stone, ceremonies by the Phi Beta Kappa Association of the District of Columbia, which has 106 members from chapters scattered alt over the United States. 4 Senator Beveridge, in his’ life of Chief Justice John Marshall (who was one of the 50 founders), speaks of 1775 as “the epic year'—the vear of the Boston riots, Paul Revere's ride, the battle of Lexington and Concord, of Virginia's preparation for the Revolu tion, armed resistance to the mother country and Washington taking com- | nd of the troops on Cambridge Common. Dr. J. A. C. Chandler, presi- of William and Mary College, similarly calls “the epoch year." in that it marked the organization and | formation of republican forms of gov- ernment by nearly all of the thirteen original ‘States and promulgation of | Peing Chief Justice for over one-third | drawn from the Declaration of Independence. It Washington was retreating with his army across New Jersey, and it looked | as it the patriots’ cause was all but lost, within less than a mile of the historic capitol of Virginia, where Pat- rick Henry had offered his famous stamp act’ resolutions, where Wash- ington sat as a burgess and where | even then the Virginia Assembly, under the wise direction of Gov. Pat- rick Henry, was planning to raise more troops for Continental service, | that the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity | ! was born. | i N students had left | William and Mary College in the | pring of 1716 at the close of the old | Hilary™ term (Palm Sunday) to enter | was James Monroe, dent of the United S afterw; tes. rd Presi- ,j I ‘1“1‘1'“ ABOVE., RALEIGH TAVERN, HOME OF THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY IN WILLIAMSBURG. BELOW. THE APOLLO ROOM. WHERE THE FIRST MEETING WAS HELD. THIS ROOM WILL BE REPRODUCED IN THE NEW MEMORIAL BUILDING. House and two of the United States S Two were distinguished judges in the highest court of Vir- Einia. Two were members of the United States Supreme Court. one of a century Credit for the initial impulse that led to the organization of the Phi Beta Kappa is attributed to John Heath, the first president, by William Short, the third president. who, nearl. 75 years later, linked the original Alpha Chapter to the united chapters, by being largely re- sponsible for revival of the Phi Beta Kappa at William and Mary College | in 1849, The name of John Heath heads the list of the 50 founders. It is the first of the five mentioned as being pres- ent at the initial meeting. The open- ing sentence of the Phi Beta Kappa records is as follows: “On Thursday, the fifth of December, in the year of our Lord 1776 and the first of the commonwealth, a happy spirit and a resolution of attaining the important | Washington’s Army, and among these | ends of the society entering the minds of John Hes ard Booker, h, Thomas Smith, Rich- Armistead Smith and present-day | | tion had been organized, and of the | 24 members that had then been initi | ated into the Phi Beta Kappa Society | the organic” Alpha Cl | traitor | glory |to brother, Mr. Elisha Parmele, for es tablishing a meeting of the same in the college of New Haven in Con- necticut, to be of the same rank. to have the same power and to en joy the same privileges with thai which he is empowered to fix in the University of Cambridge.” Thus the movement for the growt of a Greek letter fraternity w fostered, and since that day we have seen many organizations among c lege students for the promotion of friendship and sociability; but Phi become the grea! 3 y and is not a com with any of the college fra s of existence pter of the Phi William and Mary “the confusion of ued indefinitely s not revived the close of Eritish fleet ap peared in Chesapeake Bav with = force on board commanded b ¢ Benedict Arnold. He at onc proceeded up the James River, pillag ing and burning. The entire pen insula was threatened The concluding meeting was held on January 6, 1781, when the Brit- ish army, approaching Williamsburg caused the suspension of the college and of the society. Five members met on that date and decided, in view of the “dissolution which threaten the university, to place their paper in the care of the college steward, to remain with him until-the desirable event of the society’s resurrection The record closes thus: “And thi deposit they make in the sure and certain hope that the fraternity will one day rise to life everlasting and immortal.”” But when the records of the old After only four vea at ng to Beta Kapp: College, owin the time: its ses: until 18 December, | original William and Mary Phi Beta Kappa were deposited with the co! lege steward the Phi Beta Kappu was not dead. for Elisha Parmele had gone North in 1780, and on No vember 13 of that vear had estab- lished at Yale the Alpha of Con- necticut, in which 24 persons were initiated. ~Though the first chapter a college was granted to Har- vard, Parmele, himself a Harvard alumnus, had found it more con venient to establish the first chapter at Yale, and in 1781 the Harvar Chapter, the Alpha of Massachusetts 14 had become members of that hili- | was inaugurated. while others had with- ollege to enter the serv John ieath and first clerk. tary company. | ice of their country. | Thomas Smith, the day indebted for the records of meet- ngs held during those first formative | vears, were two of the 14 in the Col- | lege Company. society’ honor the principle of taking members who were not a established by a vote on December 10, 1778. This led to the admission of two Revolutionary officers, who. while on leave or stationed near Williamsburg, attended lectures at the college—Capt. John Marshall, later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Willlam aide-de-camp to Gen. Green, won dis- tinction at the battle of Eutaw Springs and carried news of the victory to Congress, for which he was duly hon ored with a sword: and to the initia- Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the |John Jones, and afterward seconded |tion of Elisha Parmele, who had grad- Declaration of Independence, was an | alumnus of William and ) . and | had been a member of the at Hat | Club of that college, predecessor of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He | was preceptor, friend and adviser of | some of the leaders among these| founders, so that his strong and | beneficial influence helped to guide the Phi Beta Kappa in its formative years. | For nearly a century and a half, since the date of its foundation, mem- bers of this fraternity have shaped the destinies of this republic, been outstanding leaders in the legislative, executive ang judicial branches of Government and in public life, had charge of the education of the gvouth of the land, contributed the bcst’lf our literature, led in their professions and in scientific advancement and ex- emplified in every respect the high- est type of American manhood. The 50 founders themselves—those ambitious, forward-looking, earnest young men of surprising vision and foresight who originated the first chapter of this great fraternity that has spread all over the world—set a world record for public service. Forl a group of college students, their rec- ord in the Revolutionary Army was truly remarkable, for it is known that 30 of the 50 saw service, either in the State militia or in the Continental line. And there is a strong probability that some of the 20 others were like- in the Revolutionary Army. Never in the history of any college | anization of students did so large a_percentage attain to distinction in after life as the members of this group. Nineteen were members of the Virginia legislature. Ten had seats in the convention of 1788 that ratified the Constitution of the United States on the part of Virginia. Two served in the diplomatic service, one through a long period of years. Two were members of the Continental Congress. One became secretary and another ‘was in 1789 chosen the first secretary of the mational House of Representa- tives. Two were members of the IN HONOR OF 50 OF THE FIRST { who was such by other: ingly ratitied.” ox % T that time a Tory president was in charge of the college, but he departed within a few months for England and was succeeded by “the patriot President,” James Madison, a patriot that in no sermon preached by him during the Revolutionary period did he ever al- lude to the “kingdom of God” or the ingdom of Heaven,” but only to the Republic of Heaven.” John Heath's name also heads the list of the nine who were present on January 5, 1777, at which the oath of fidelity was adopted and the mem- bers “severally initiated.” The four others then admitted to the society were Daniel Fitzhugh, John Stuart, Theodorick Fitzhugh and John Storke. It was at this meeting that John Heath formally became the first presi- dent. A study of the records shows that 14 became members in 1777, 10 during 1778, 13 during 1779 and 13 during 1780. While it is evident that those received during the first two years determined the characteristics of the soclety by the adoption of rules and settling its__practices, those received during 1779 shared in perfecting these methods by adopting the revised constitution and ritual and by preparing and_issuing the charters for brances at Harvard and Yale that were voted in Decem- ber of that year and made possible the perpetuation of the society. The members recelved during 1780 did much to develop the fraternal and literary characteristics which became so prominent in the early days in New England. From the early rulek and regulations it is clear that the main object of the society was to promote composition, the studv of literature, debate and oratory among a select group of col- legians. On August 22, 1777. the College Company in the War of the Revolu- MEMBERS OF PHI BETA KAPPA, MARY prevailed and was accord- | THIS IORIAL BUILDING IS WALLANSBURGY ¥e uated at Harvard and who was in- trusted with charters for branches of | the society at Harvard and Yale, by means of which two ‘'scions” were planted in New England and the per- | petuity of the fraternity effected. At the meeting on December 4, 17 and the anniversary meeting the next day, the charter for Phi Beta Kappa Chapter at Harvard was adopted, pro- viding that it should be known as the Akpha Chapter of Massachusetts Bay and to be regarded as not inferior to the Alpha Chapter of Virginia, but as of equal rank. The organization was to “promote friendship and union among one another. as well as to bring it forth in a communion with us here, 80 far as it may be practical and convenient.” It provided for cor- respondence between the two chap- ters. Thus was laid the foundation | not established until & century later. | * *x x x | INOT only was this December 4. an important date in the history of the Phi Beta Kappa, but also in the history of education in the United States. On that day a meeting of the board of visitors of the College of Wil- liam and Mary was held, to which Thomas Jefferson brought a new plan for higher education in Virginia. This was approved by President James Madison of the college and also by James Madison, afterward President of the United States, who was a mem- ber of the board of visitors. This was the beginning of the American Uni- versity idea. It was the first time in the history of America that any one institution attempted to give a liberal arts course and professional courses in law and medicine. The honor sys- tem was accentuated and the elective system introduced. The_pioneer members of the Phi Beta Kappa were deeply in earnest about extending the fraternity, and on December 9, 1779, we find the fol- lowing resolution passed: “That a second charter be granted to our Plerce, captain in the ist Continental | Cavalry in 1778, who was for a time Two years after organization of the | founder of Phi Beta Kappa. in{ four y part of the college community Was!was for many for the united chapters, which were | States until | He aid not return Thus. from its very beginning on December 5, 1 to the present day there has always been an active Ph to | Beta Kappa organization whose painstaking labors we are to- | * % ok (COXNSIDER the three presidents of that first, organic, Alpha Chapter First. John Heath, considered as the was for rs a member of Congress second, Thomas Smith, the first clerk vears a member of th eneral Assembly and member of the ate convention of 1788 to ratify the State constitution, and. third, Willian: Short, who was the second clerk, was for 17 years engaged in the diplomatic service with distinguished success. hort prepared himself carefully fo s service by going on a French of-war that he might, by associa tion with the officers of the fleet. per fect himself in the French language. Two vears after the close of his col lege duties he was associated with the Government as a member of the executive council and the vear fol lowing, 1784, he accompanied Jeffer son to France as secretary of lega tion.. When, four years later, Jeffer | son returned to this country to be come Secretary of State, made charge d'affaires. sion being the first Wasl Short was his commis. one signed by hington as President. In Janu 1794, he became Minister to The He was next appointed a ner to treat with the Span ish government concerning the Flor- ida and Mississippi boundaries, the navigation of the Mississippi and other open questions. A treaty of friend ship, commerce and boundaries re. sulted. His state papers, especially those re- lating to the Spanish negotiations, are marked by ability and research. to the United 1801. When in 1849 the records of the so. ciety were brought to light, he, as its |last president, gave encouragement to the plan for its revival. He did not live to see this event, but died on December 5. 1849, having been presi- dent since 1778. Of the vice presidents in those Revo- lutionary days—we know that Archi- bald Stuart preserved the seal of the Phi Beta Kappa. and after studying law under Jefferson, he was for sev- eral sessions a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and a member of the convention of 1788 and judge of the General Court of Virginia. Isaac Hite, treasurer of the Alpha Chapter, was a lieutenant in the Rev- olutionary War and a_prominent cit zen of the northern valley of Virgi William Cabell, another _treasur rose to the rank of colonel in the Rev- olutionary army. John James Beckley, a secretary, afterward became secretary of the State convention of 1788 and of the first House of Representatives of Con- gress, and the first Librarian of Con gress. But this gives no idea whatever of BEING (Continued on Fourth Page.)