From collection Member List
LAST KNOWN COMMUNICATION FROM THE EARLY GEORGIA CHAPTER
WRITTEN BY OSCAR CRITTENDEN
As a senior at The University of Georgia, Oscar Crittenden penned the last known correspondence from the Kappa Deuteron of the 1800s, a cryptic and foreboding message to The Phi Gamma Delta Quarterly in June of 1890:
“We are sorry to have to say that Kappa Deuteron is now not enjoying that enthusiastic prosperity which characterized Her in the first years of Her re-establishment ...
This has been a year of many serious inter-fraternity quarrels here ... Now all is quiet again, but a secret hate still lingers and is liable to crop out at any moment ...”
Wishing heartily for the success of all sister chapters, and hoping we can soon make a more favorable report for ourselves, the scribe bids you adieu.”
###
Education: Oscar Crittenden entered The University of Georgia in the fall of 1887 as a sophomore. He became a member of Phi Kappa Society and the organization’s president in 1889. He was elected secretary of his junior class on September 21, 1888 and again in his senior year. Crittenden was one of the members of the Board of Editors of The Pandora in 1889. Crittenden also was an associate editor in 1889 of The University Reporter, a student-run newspaper published by the literary societies.
The University Reporter, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, Christmas 1889, p. 40:
The election in the Demosthenian and Phi Kappa societies for editors of The Reporter came off last Saturday and resulted in the election of Messrs. W. K. Wheatley, Walker King and T. C. Shackelford from the Demosthenians and H. O. Crittenden, A. C. Newell and J. G. Cranford from the Phi Kappa. They are good men and you may look for a spicy Reporter for the next term.
Oscar Crittenden joined the Kappa Deuteron Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta and graduated from The University of Georgia on June 19, 1890 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree. Crittenden later studied at the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York, a practical, business vocational school.
Brother Crittenden’s father was Hiram Albert Crittenden (who had a brother, Robert Flournoy Crittenden, who was the father of Kappa Deuteron’s Zacharias Albert Crittenden.) Brother Crittenden’s mother was Isabel Indiana (Anna) Reid; the parents married while the father was on furlough from the Confederate Army in April 1864. Anna Reid was a sister of Frances Massey Reid, and these two women were daughters of Alexander Reid and Frances Terrell Butler and kin to Kappa Deuteron Brothers Samuel Alonzo Reid and William Dennis Reid.
Career: At least from 1893 until 1895, Crittenden was the editor of The Enterprise-Appeal newspaper of Cuthbert, Georgia, which later became The Cuthbert Leader and Liberal-Enterprise. Crittenden was succeeded by his fraternity Brother, Robert L. Moye, as the editor of The Liberal-Enterprise.
Crittenden was a member of the Georgia state Senate, according to History of The University of Georgia, by Thomas Walter Reed; Chapter X: The Administration of Chancellor William E. Boggs Through the Session of 1893, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, ca. 1949, p. 1575, and was mayor of the city of Shellman by 1896. He was again mayor of Shellman by 1903, according to The Atlanta Constitution.
The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, January 25, 1896, p. 8:
The municipal affairs of our neighboring and thrifty little town of Shellman have fallen into the hands of young America for the year 1896. The ticket elected for mayor and councilman is composed of brainy, thrifty young fellows, who will make the municipal affairs and interest of their town hustle. The confidence of their fellow citizens was shown in their ability by electing them without opposition. The following ticket was elected: Mayor, H. O. Crittenden ...
Crittenden also served as a member of the Shellman Board of Education beginning in 1904 and served, too, on the Randolph County Board of Education. He was engaged in farming, banking and mercantile businesses. He was a trustee for Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia, which institution was chartered in 1854. Crittenden was manager of Crittenden Brothers merchants, which was founded by his father in 1872, and president of the Crittenden Warehouse. According to The Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday, December 22, 1903, p. 5:
The large department store of the Crittenden Bros., worth over a half-a-million dollars, is one of the biggest concerns of southwest Georgia ... Oscar Crittenden, mayor of Shellman, is manager ...
Crittenden was a director of the People’s Bank by 1903, which in 1906 became the First National Bank of Shellman, of which he became president. He operated an insurance agency from 1895 until his death in 1945. Oscar was also president of the Crittenden Warehouse Company and treasurer of the Crittenden Guano Company.
Crittenden was the postmaster at Shellman during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, 1913-1921. In 1914, he was the secretary of the Third Congressional District Democratic Executive Party and in 1920 a delegate to the Democratic State Convention.
The 1940 census of Shellman, Randolph County, Georgia gives Brother Crittenden’s occupation as a “farmer.” Among his crops were hundreds of acres of peach trees. At The University of Georgia, his degree was in philosophy - not agriculture - nonetheless, he was a tireless and enthusiastic supporter of the College of Agriculture and served in the leadership of the college’s Farmer Institute.
Oscar Crittenden was a Democrat, treasurer of the Shellman Methodist Church, a Mason, and a member of the Knight of Pythias.
The Albany Herald, Albany, Georgia, Thursday, May 3, 1945, p. 2:
“A man of sterling character and high ideals ...”
WRITTEN BY OSCAR CRITTENDEN
As a senior at The University of Georgia, Oscar Crittenden penned the last known correspondence from the Kappa Deuteron of the 1800s, a cryptic and foreboding message to The Phi Gamma Delta Quarterly in June of 1890:
“We are sorry to have to say that Kappa Deuteron is now not enjoying that enthusiastic prosperity which characterized Her in the first years of Her re-establishment ...
This has been a year of many serious inter-fraternity quarrels here ... Now all is quiet again, but a secret hate still lingers and is liable to crop out at any moment ...”
Wishing heartily for the success of all sister chapters, and hoping we can soon make a more favorable report for ourselves, the scribe bids you adieu.”
###
Education: Oscar Crittenden entered The University of Georgia in the fall of 1887 as a sophomore. He became a member of Phi Kappa Society and the organization’s president in 1889. He was elected secretary of his junior class on September 21, 1888 and again in his senior year. Crittenden was one of the members of the Board of Editors of The Pandora in 1889. Crittenden also was an associate editor in 1889 of The University Reporter, a student-run newspaper published by the literary societies.
The University Reporter, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, Christmas 1889, p. 40:
The election in the Demosthenian and Phi Kappa societies for editors of The Reporter came off last Saturday and resulted in the election of Messrs. W. K. Wheatley, Walker King and T. C. Shackelford from the Demosthenians and H. O. Crittenden, A. C. Newell and J. G. Cranford from the Phi Kappa. They are good men and you may look for a spicy Reporter for the next term.
Oscar Crittenden joined the Kappa Deuteron Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta and graduated from The University of Georgia on June 19, 1890 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree. Crittenden later studied at the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York, a practical, business vocational school.
Brother Crittenden’s father was Hiram Albert Crittenden (who had a brother, Robert Flournoy Crittenden, who was the father of Kappa Deuteron’s Zacharias Albert Crittenden.) Brother Crittenden’s mother was Isabel Indiana (Anna) Reid; the parents married while the father was on furlough from the Confederate Army in April 1864. Anna Reid was a sister of Frances Massey Reid, and these two women were daughters of Alexander Reid and Frances Terrell Butler and kin to Kappa Deuteron Brothers Samuel Alonzo Reid and William Dennis Reid.
Career: At least from 1893 until 1895, Crittenden was the editor of The Enterprise-Appeal newspaper of Cuthbert, Georgia, which later became The Cuthbert Leader and Liberal-Enterprise. Crittenden was succeeded by his fraternity Brother, Robert L. Moye, as the editor of The Liberal-Enterprise.
Crittenden was a member of the Georgia state Senate, according to History of The University of Georgia, by Thomas Walter Reed; Chapter X: The Administration of Chancellor William E. Boggs Through the Session of 1893, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, ca. 1949, p. 1575, and was mayor of the city of Shellman by 1896. He was again mayor of Shellman by 1903, according to The Atlanta Constitution.
The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, January 25, 1896, p. 8:
The municipal affairs of our neighboring and thrifty little town of Shellman have fallen into the hands of young America for the year 1896. The ticket elected for mayor and councilman is composed of brainy, thrifty young fellows, who will make the municipal affairs and interest of their town hustle. The confidence of their fellow citizens was shown in their ability by electing them without opposition. The following ticket was elected: Mayor, H. O. Crittenden ...
Crittenden also served as a member of the Shellman Board of Education beginning in 1904 and served, too, on the Randolph County Board of Education. He was engaged in farming, banking and mercantile businesses. He was a trustee for Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia, which institution was chartered in 1854. Crittenden was manager of Crittenden Brothers merchants, which was founded by his father in 1872, and president of the Crittenden Warehouse. According to The Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday, December 22, 1903, p. 5:
The large department store of the Crittenden Bros., worth over a half-a-million dollars, is one of the biggest concerns of southwest Georgia ... Oscar Crittenden, mayor of Shellman, is manager ...
Crittenden was a director of the People’s Bank by 1903, which in 1906 became the First National Bank of Shellman, of which he became president. He operated an insurance agency from 1895 until his death in 1945. Oscar was also president of the Crittenden Warehouse Company and treasurer of the Crittenden Guano Company.
Crittenden was the postmaster at Shellman during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, 1913-1921. In 1914, he was the secretary of the Third Congressional District Democratic Executive Party and in 1920 a delegate to the Democratic State Convention.
The 1940 census of Shellman, Randolph County, Georgia gives Brother Crittenden’s occupation as a “farmer.” Among his crops were hundreds of acres of peach trees. At The University of Georgia, his degree was in philosophy - not agriculture - nonetheless, he was a tireless and enthusiastic supporter of the College of Agriculture and served in the leadership of the college’s Farmer Institute.
Oscar Crittenden was a Democrat, treasurer of the Shellman Methodist Church, a Mason, and a member of the Knight of Pythias.
The Albany Herald, Albany, Georgia, Thursday, May 3, 1945, p. 2:
“A man of sterling character and high ideals ...”
