Charles Aubrey Jones – DreamersAndGiants.com

Guardian of Romantic Years – Happy Valentine’s Day

Verse three of the West Virginia Wesleyan Alma Mater talks about the Guardian of Romantic Years. As we celebrate Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to think about that for a minute.

Yes, many people have found their life partners while here. At last count there are more than 1,400 Wesleyan Sweetheart Couples. These are people who met while students here.

Sometimes the courtship has involved long walks on the beautiful campus. Sometimes there were long hours in choir or band practices or lengthy science labs involved. Sometimes romances flourish in the library or in the cafeteria.

Even faculty members have fallen in love!

Literary Society Love

In the early years, it was not uncommon to find love in the Literary Societies (Chrestomathean or Excelsior) because these were organizations where it was approved for boys and girls to gather together. After all, you wanted that debate, or performance, or speech to be extra good! Some notable couples in this category would be Charles and Ireta (Lowe) Jones Seminary graduates in 1904 and 1906 respectively and Edward and Gayzelle (Rusk) Boetticher in the late 1920s.

Whatever the setting, there are people who have an interest (or a challenge) in common and who are spending a lot of time together at a time in their lives when they are discovering who they are and who they want to become.

Alma Mater

But sometimes the love doesn’t involve another person. Sometimes it is the love of learning that is discovered and celebrated. Sometimes it is the love for the place where we spend those romantic years dreaming and growing.

Wallace B. Fleming caputured some of the romantic spirit of the college when he wrote the words to our Alma Mater in 1918, and highlights some of the elements of love.

Verse 1 is about the magic mystic fountains (before we had ACTUAL magic mystic fountains on campus) and the noblest dreams of life. People who were making plans for their lives.

Verse 2 may be my favorite of all. It is about loving to learn as well as learning to love. And, again, the future is imagined.

Verse 3 actually mentions the romantic years. The exciting and mysterious time in life when plans are imagined and dreams are followed is described in this verse along with the call to high endeavor and never ending relationships.

Verse 4 is the same as the first verse. It reiterates the importance of following those noblest dreams of life which have begun and grown during the college years.

All kinds of love.

Agape (unconditional love for everyone).
Philia (deep friendship)
Eros (romantic love)
Storge (familial love….for the college family as well as biological ones)

Ann Lorentz, class of 1931, wrote this lovely poem which wraps up my thoughts for this Valentine’s Day. Not about her sweetheart, but about her college. It is a bit difficult to see, so I will also transcribe it here. The images will sound very familiar to those of us who have walked these same pathways.

Gifts of Stories from the Past

I am sometimes asked where I find all of these stories about West Virginia Wesleyan College. One of the main places I find them is where Giants have placed them for safekeeping: student publications from the past.

Newspapers

The Seminary Herald

From 1893-1899, President Bennett Hutchinson wrote a newsletter called The Seminary Herald, which was basically intended to communicate with alumni and donors. On Pages In Time, a digital archive of West Virginia Wesleyan materials, you can find and read seven issues of this publication. These are the only ones in the library collection, and have been digitized for inclusion.

Pages In Time Tips Here

The Seminary Collegiate

In 1899-1900, two students began monthly publication of The Seminary Collegiate, which included student writings and orations, alumni updates, and campus news. There are forty-six issues of The Seminary Collegiate available on Pages In Time. Here are some examples.

Thomas W. Haught explains in West Virginia Wesleyan College: The First Fifty Years, that it appears that there were managing editors among the students for the first several years. These included:

1900
- W. H. Franklin – who became Professor of English at Marshall College
- C.H. King – who went into the ministry, serving in the Genesee Conference
1901-02
- George C. Kellar – who became mayor of Flint, Michigan
- Walter Barnes – who became Professor of English at New York University
1902-03
- George C. Kellar
- I. Emory Ash – who became Professor of Education at Ohio University at Athens
1904-05
- C.E. Goodwin – who went into the ministry, serving in the West Virginia Conference
- J.F. Throckmorton – who became an attorney in Parkersburg, WV

Naming the Pharos

In 1904-05, J.F. Throckmorton approached the Faculty for assistance in selecting a new name for the publication, as Seminary Collegiate no longer reflected the name of the school.

The faculty, of course, appointed a committee which included Miss Jessie Trotter and Thomas W. Haught as well as editors Goodwin and Throckmorton. The name chosen was The Pharos after The Pharos of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world, which was a lighthouse guiding ships into the harbor.

The Pharos

Pharos Staff 1904 — The staff of the Pharos, 1904. Seated at left is Roy McCuskey, future college president (1931-1941)

In the fall of 1904, the newspaper continued as The Pharos, but the first issue of that title included on Pages In Time is Volume 6, #3 (1904-11).

Thanks to the generosity of Marjorie (McCullough) Modlin, class of 1957, the Friends of the Library were able to have these items digitized. At the moment, issues up into the 1970s have been included. Student interns are helping to keep this work moving forward. Marjorie gave those funds to honor the memory of her husband, Charlie Modlin, class of 1958, who was the editor of the Pharos during his time at WVWC. As it turns out, Charlie’s father was the Editor-in-Chief of the Pharos in 1925-26 and his mother also served as editor in 1925. Dr. and Mrs. Modlin wrote about the Pharos in the 1920s in this article for the Sundial in March 1966.

Modlin, Dr. and Mrs. in Sundial 1966-03 — Dr. H. Eugene and Mary (Sumner) Modlin

Murmurmontis

Another student-led publication, the first edition of the college yearbook, was the idea of the Junior Class (Seminary Class of 1904) and was published in May of 1903. Although most of them had never heard of such a publication outside of the larger institutions, Joe V. Gibson (#4 in the photo below) had heard of them and “dreamed dreams.”

The Editor-In-Chief of the first Murmurmontis was Charles Aubrey Jones, and he wrote an article in the 1910 edition entitled, The Making of the First Murmurmontis. You can read the article here.

The First Edition of the Murmurmontis was a true masterpiece and a heroic venture.

The name, Murmurmontis, was suggested by Frank B. Trotter and is Latin for “Voice of the Mountain.” Very representative of both the school and of West Virginia.

All editions of the Murmurmontis from 1904-2010 are available on the Internet Archive, although there were a few years during the World Wars and the Great Depression where none was published. Internet Archive Tips Here.

These voices are still echoing through the mountains through the streams of time. These voices are still telling the stories and shining the light.

Planting Seeds

Legacy. What is a legacy?
It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see
I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me.

These words, from Hamilton (The World Was Wide Enough) ring very true for many of the Dreamers and the Giants. Conversations with Lincoln, a two-day event last weekend, is a great example. They were brought to the attention of the gathered crowd by speaker, Beth Wasson.

Charles Aubrey Jones, graduated from the West Virginia Conference Seminary in 1904. Although this was a preparatory course, I think most of us would find it pretty daunting. Latin and Greek, Geometry, Botany, History, and Literature, and more. Click here to see what courses Charles Aubrey Jones had to master!

His path then took him to Ohio Wesleyan and beyond. Along the way, he served as the personal secretary to U.S. Senator Frank B. Willis and later to Governor Myers Y. Cooper of Ohio. While spending time in Washington, D.C., he became acquainted with Colonel O.H. Oldroyd — a person who was an avid collector of all things Lincoln. In fact, Jones and Oldroyd were active participants in saving the house where Lincoln died from becoming a parking lot!

Charles Aubrey Jones began collecting Lincolniana as well, and amassed a very fine collection of books, pamphlets, handbills, signatures, framed portraits, and one of only 33 bronzed copies of a rare Life Mask. All of these things (at the time the third largest such private collection east of the Mississippi), he willed to his Alma Mater, West Virginia Wesleyan. He wanted to promote scholarship about Lincoln, and to spark the interest of future students.

Last year, on Valentine’s Day, the funds that he had provided along with the collection made it possible to bring in a world-renowned Lincoln scholar, Ronald C. White. On that cold winter evening, the garden planted by Charles Aubrey Jones was sprouting.

Lincolns visit AMPL — Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln visit with Brett Miller in the Upshur Reading Room

The speakers and events of last weekend’s Conversations with Lincoln were organized in large part by students. They were supported by History faculty as well, and by Trustee Kevin Spear – himself a 1976 graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan. Events were held at Buckhannon-Upshur High School, and 4th and 5th grade students had a chance to visit with Mr. Lincoln at the Upshur County Public Library.

Charles Aubrey Jones must have been beaming with pride to see others singing his song. And, quite possibly, the song of Lincoln as well.

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