Founding Date

Feb 18th, 1861

On February 18, 1861, on the campus of Soule University the chapter chartered and later ceased ante 1866. The college later merged with Southwestern University in 1873 but operated into the 1880s. The chapter was located in Chappell Hill, Texas.

This chapter was not known to have been given a Greek letter designation.

The Lost Chapter at Soule University

By Towner Blackstock (Davidson 1994)

Recent evidence has demanded reassessment of the old question, "Did Phi Gamma Delta have a chapter at Soule University, Chappell Hill, Texas?"  William Chamberlin, in The History of Phi Gamma Delta, Tomos Beta, determined that a "pseudo-chapter" seems to have existed there. However, his analysis was based on limited facts. It now appears that Phi Gamma Delta established an authorized chapter at Soule University, and that its members founded the chapter at Washington and Lee University.

The Baylor University Chapter in Texas had written a letter to DePauw chapter on April 5, 1860, noting expansion prospects at a nearby campus:

One of the members of our chapter has been at Soule University, located at Chapel Hill in the Co., about sixteen miles distant, and he thinks that the present is a favorable time for honoring said university by establishing a chapter within her walls. We have the matter under consideration and should circumstances continue favorable, we shall take the proper steps for carrying the plan into effect.

In November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln’s election to the American presidency sparked a national crisis. By February seven southern states had seceded from the Union. That month, amidst such turmoil, the Soule chapter was reportedly organized. According to an article in an 1879 issue of The Phi Gamma Delta magazine, it "was duly established by the granting of a charter, on the 18^th day of February, 1861, to Thos. T. Norris, W. S. Oldenham [Oldham], Jr., E. T. Giddings, A. E. Stratton, Jr., and A. G. Beaumont as charters members, and their subsequent initiation into the fraternity by Presley C. Baker, now of Galveston, Texas, and a graduate member of Delta [Union] of ’60."  Presley Baker was 23 years old and occupied as an attorney in Chappell Hill.

The interest expressed by Baylor chapter combined with a Union graduate as legate suggests that the chapter at Union University, Tennessee granted the charter (article). This same pattern had occurred when Union, acting under authority granted to it by the Grand Chapter in 1854, granted charters to chapters at Alabama (1855), Mississippi (1855), and Baylor (1856).  In researching The History of Phi Gamma Delta, Fraternity Historian William F. Chamberlin missed this important connection.  He did note that the Grand Chapter minutes lacked any mention of Soule University. This is true in part because, unfortunately, the Grand Chapter minute book contains a lapse between the minutes of December 1860 and May 1861.

Preston C. Baker (Union 1860), was the Legate for Soule. He later served in the 8th Texas Cavalry with several other Phi Gams, practiced law in Galveston, and died in Pasadena, California. His wife Clara was a founder of Alpha Phi.

Also, the imminent secession crisis may well have prevented the Grand Chapter’s receipt of any notification about the chartering. Before the fall of Fort Sumter in April, students (especially those in the South) left classes to form regiments and perform military drill. Chamberlin did not consider this tumultuous state of affairs across the nation.

The statements of several initiates of the chapter further validate a chapter at Soule. Correspondence from James Harvey McLeary, former attorney general of Texas and justice of the Porto Rico Supreme Court, reads ". . . in regard to the Phi Gamma Delta at Soule University. I became a Phi Gamma Delta at that institution. There were twelve or fifteen members at the time."

In The History of Phi Gamma Delta, Tomos Beta, William Chamberlin questions this claim, as many accounts of Soule note the school ceased operations at the outset of the Civil War and did not resume until 1867.Correspondence with Nath Winfield of the Chappell Hill Historical Society has revealed a range of historical documents, including the original minute book of the University Trustees. These records show outbreaks of yellow fever in the region disrupted classes over the years, as did the economic and physical ravages of the Civil War. But Soule indeed operated during part of the War and during 1865.

After the war, several men transferred from Soule to Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, later called Washington and Lee.  These included McLeary, Duncan McIntyre, Christopher C. Garrett, and Edwin T. Dumble.  All were brothers except Dumble.  There they met at least one transfer from the Nu Chapter, W.P. Gaines (Bethel 1869).  They appealed to the Grand Chapter for a charter; it was granted in 1868 to form the Zeta Deuteron Chapter.  Gaines served as Legate, McLeary was elected president, and Garrett became secretary.

Dumble was initiated into the new chapter, and he attests to these events in letters written to the Fraternity in the 1920s.  He claimed McIntyre had a Phi Gamma Delta badge, a rarity among many undergraduates in those days. However, McIntyre never joined Zeta Deuteron Chapter. His health flagged and he returned to Texas, where he died in January 1867.

The original minute book of Zeta Deuteron has survived and gives initiation dates for all the members of the chapter, including McLeary and Garrett.  McLeary joined at Soule in May,1861, while C. C. Garrett joined in June, 1866. This is in keeping with Nath Winfield's evidence showing the school in operation early in the war and afterwards. It also meshes with biographical accounts of McLeary's attendance at Soule in 1861 and again in 1865.

Hopefully in time additional information about our chapter at Soule University will come forth.  In the meantime, we do have biographical information regarding some of the initiates of the chapter (see below).  And we may draw the reasonable conclusion that yes, Phi Gamma Delta did have a chapter at Soule University, it was probably chartered by the Union University chapter, and brothers from Soule established the Zeta Deuteron Chapter at Washington and Lee University.

Our thanks to Nath Winfield and the Chappell Hill Historical Society for their assistance; the majority of the biographical information comes from their records. If in the vicinity drop by the Chappell Hill Museum:

Chappell Hill Museum
Church Street, Chappell Hill, Texas 77426
(409) 836-6033

Open: Wednesday-Saturday: 10am - 4pm; Sunday: 2 - 4pm.
No admission charge; donations are appreciated

Known Initiates of Phi Gamma Delta at Soule University

Charter Members

William S. Oldham, Jr. is listed as a freshman in the 1859-60 University catalogue. In the Civil War served as a private in Company B, 8th Regiment Texas Cavalry, then as A.A.P. in the Adjutant General’s office with General Smith for twelve months. Finally he was promoted to 1stLieutenant and served on General Maxey’s staff until the end of the war. Evidence suggests that he moved to Houston and may be the same W.S. Oldham, Jr. who, according to The Texas Handbook, acted as administrator for a the estate of a wealthy relative, possibly his father (William Oldham, 1798-1868).

Asa Evans Stratton[Jr.] is listed in the freshman class in the 1859-60 University catalogue. A speech given at Soule in 1860 by him is found in the University of Texas Archives.  He was born in Mississippi January 13, 1844, son of Asa Evans Stratton, by second wife Amanda (Gibbons) Wood Stratton (d. 1847).  They moved to Texas in 1859, residing in Bastrop County one year, then Brazoria County, near Cedar Lake.  Asa Jr. enlisted with Confederate forces in 1862, "serving with the Trans-Mississippi department until the close of the war rising from the rank of private to that of sergeant major. He was a member of Colonel Joseph Bate's legion, and subsequently of Company G, 39th [or 30th?], Texas Cavalry."  [Another source says he served "as orderly sergeant of Company G, Brown's regiment of Texas cavalry, and as sergeant-major of that regiment."]  "He was admitted to the bar in Texas, and was judge of the county court of Brazoria County, and subsequently United States attorney for the eastern district of Texas.  He was a member of the State senate of Texas for two terms, during the eighteenth and nineteenth legislatures [1880 to 1884], and resigned his office in 1884 to accept the appointment as United States attorney."  Stratton moved to Alabama in 1897, where he "became collector of internal revenue and United States commissioner."  He soon moved to Montgomery, "where for more than 20 years he made his home, serving for 14 yeas as referee in bankruptcy . . . ."  Stratton was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor of Alabama in 1906.  He died in April, 1921. Sources: Montgomery Advocate, April 27, 1921; and biographical information from the Alabama Department of Archives.

Alex G. Beaumont joined Company I, "Texas Aides", 5th Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Hood’s Texas Brigade, as a private in Chappell Hill on August 3, 1861. He was twenty years old and gave his occupation as "student." He was discharged at Richmond, Virginia on September 25, (or Oct. 5, depending on the document) 1862 due to tuberculosis. He married Isadore Theodocie Franklin on June 30, 1869 in Washington County, Texas.

E. T. Giddings: The Giddings were a respected early family in Brenham, Texas in the same county as Chappell Hill. J.D. and D.C. Giddings were prominent Brenham attorneys and businessmen; J.D. was an active Methodist and donor to Soule University. Prairie Lea Cemetery in Brenham bears the following tombstone: "Edmond T. Giddings, Son of J.D. and Ann A. M. Giddings died January 27, 1863, Age 17 yrs. 10 mos."  This would have made him just short of his sixteenth birthday at the time of Soule chapter's chartering.

Thomas T. Norris: No information. In a 1905 letter, John H. McLeary (see below) recalled "S. Thomas Norris" as a member, and "afterward a business man in Austin, Texas . . . ."

FROM THE RECOLLECTIONS OF EDWIN T. DUMBLE:

D. D. Felder was a member of the chapter at Soule according to a letter written by Edwin T. Dumble in 1925. While we do not currently have any additional information on Felder, Soule University’s board of trustees at different times included a Gabriel Felder and later M.M. Felder. At the laying of the main building’s cornerstone, a R. Felder spoke.

TRANSFERS TO WASHINGTON COLLEGE (now Washington and Lee)

Duncan M. McIntyre, was born November 13, 1843, to H.C. and Sarah McIntyre. He returned to Texas in late 1866, according to Edwin Dumble, who wrote that the climate was "too severe" back in Virginia.  McIntyre died on January 2, 1867, and is buried in Prairie Lea Cemetery, Brenham, Texas. Dumble noted that the only Phi Gamma Delta badge among the new chapter at Washington had belonged to McIntyre.

"Christopher C. Garrett, son of Oliver Hazard Perry and Nancy M. Garrett, was born at Chappell Hill, Texas, on February 3, 1846. He attended Soule University and Baylor University before he enlisted in the Confederate Army, in which he served for two years but never saw active duty. After the war he entered Washington College [now Washington and Lee], from which he graduated with honors in June, 1869. He taught school and studied law for two years before he was admitted to the bar in Brenham in 1871. He established his practice in Brenham and soon was known throughout the state as an outstanding attorney. Garrett had continued his interests in education, assisting in the organization of graded schools at Brenham, and in August, 1886, Governor John Ireland appointed him to the board of directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas [now Texas A and M]. In May, 1887, he was made president of the board. In 1888 Garrett was elected judge of the twenty-first judicial district, which position he held until May 2, 1891, when Governor James S. Hogg appointed him to the Commission of Appeals. Garrett married Lora Rial on September 27, 1870; they were the parents of nine children. He died at Brenham on September 15, 1905." From The Handbook of Texas, Volume I (Austin, Texas: The Texas State Historical Association, 1952), p. 672. A more thorough biography is found at the on-line The Handbook of Texas. It states he was president of the board of Texas A&M University starting in 1887. See McLeary's information, below, for more on Garrett.

Edwin T. Dumble was not initiated at Soule, but attended school there and later transferred to Washington with Garrett, McIntyre, and McLeary. He later joined Phi Gamma Delta after its founding at Washington. A letter he wrote in 1925 describes the connection between the chapters at Soule and at Washington and Lee. A complete biography is found at the on-line The Handbook of Texas.

John Harvey McLeary (pictured) attended Soule and was initiated there in May, 1861, according to a contemporary source. Phi Gamma Delta's  1898 Chapter Rolls and Directorystates "In 1859 he was sent to Soule University, at Chapel [sic] Hill, Texas, where he remained until 1861."  It further states that after serving in the Confederate forces,

In September 1865 he again entered Soule University, and there spent another year in study.  It was during his year that he joined Phi Gamma Delta.  The chapter there at the time consisted of a few bright fellows who were leaders in their classes and college affairs in general.

The next year, 1866, saw the young student at Washington-Lee University, then Washington University.  He and C. C. Garrett . . . were at Washington-Lee together, and being already brothers in Phi Gamma Delta, they applied for a charter for Zeta Deuteron Chapter, which they founded and of which they were charter members.  McLeary was made [president], and Garrett, [secretary].

The original minute book of the Washington and Lee chapter, however, differs from this account. It states that McLeary was initiated in May, 1861, and that Garret was initiated in June, 1866. This would seem to be the more authoritative account.

McLeary's biography is found at the The Handbook of Texas. He was an attorney who eventually served on the Supreme Court of Porto [later Puerto] Rico. He died in 1914 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.