THE O. S. AND S. O. HOME - 175 by one who sees the children come into the large dining room and partake of a huge turkey dinner. Memorial Day is the most impressive one of the whole year. The children have exercises in the' morning for the dead that are buried in the little necropolis by the chapel, and in the afternoon the battalion takes part in the services of the G. A. R. in Xenia. Few people who attend the memorial exercises in the little house of worship can go away with dry eyes. The children are given a month's vacation during the summer, provided they have a place to go, and in July the institution is visited by a number of her former inmates. This annual reunion of the Ex-Pupils' Association brings together some of the representative men of Ohio and from other states, wholook to the institution as the "cradle of their infancy" and point with pride to .the six thousand men and .Women who have gone from the Home to occupy place's in the professional and. commercial intercourses of life. These reunions show the high standard of citizenship which the State of Ohio boasts as recompense for the large appropriations given for the support of the Home. The Home has brought many men prominent in national and state affairs to Xenia, and has from time to time been the gathering place for officials of the Department of Ohio G. A. R. Hon. R. B. Hayes, afterwards governor of Ohio, and president of the United States, was very instrumental in the organization of the institution in 1869 and 1870. Hon. J. Warren Keifer, present congressman from the Eighth Ohio District was another of the ones who were instrumental in its organization. The first children gathered together to form an orphan's' home which after. wards resulted in the present grand institution, were in charge of the Grand Army of the State and numbered about eighty. They were governed, clothed and cared for by a committee from the G. A. R. This first Board of Control was composed of P. P. Ingalls, H. G.. Armstrong, George B. Wright, B.. F. Coates, James Barnett; Eli Millen, G.. W. Collier, and M. S..Gunckel and Mrs. Lucy. Webb Hayes, wife of Governor Hayes, Mrs. Henrietta L. Monroe; of Xenia, and Mrs. Rachel. White, of Springfield. From that first Board to the present time, the men who have governed the institution have been among distinguished sons. Col, J. L. Smith is in charge of the Home as superintendent and Mr. T. J. Collins is the financial officer. < WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY - 183 WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY. PRESIDENT JOSHUA H. JONES. THE germinal spirit that gave origination to Wilberforce University existed several years before it took tangible form; but in due time that spirit bore its full fruit and Wilberforce University was given birth as a seat of learning for the black people of the United States. On September 21. 1844, the Ohio Conference of the A. M. E. Church appointed a committee for the purpose of selecting a site for a seminary of learning for the Negro people. This committee :selected 172 acres twelve miles west of Columbus,. Ohio, on the old National Road. This property was purchased and Union Seminary was projected there in the name of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. On September 28, 1853, the. Cincinnati Conference of the M. E. Church appointed a committee whose duty it was to select a site for the establishment of a literary institution of higher order for the education of the colored people. That committee recommended that "Tawawa Springs,"' a beautiftil summer resort in Greene County, Ohio, be purchased for the aforesaid purpose and in May, 1856, the purchase was consummated and a school of higher learning was established, to be known as Wilberforce University. The University was incorporated in August 30, 1856, and a Board of 24 Trustees was selected, including Governor Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Dr. R. S. Rust of the Church, Ashland Keith of the Colored Baptist denomination, and Bishop Daniel A. Payne of the A. M. E. Church. The broad principle adopted for the future guidance of the University was that, WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY - 181 "There should never be any distinction among the trustees, faculty or students on account of race, creed or color." The University began its work in October, 1856, under the principalship of Rev. M. P. Gaddis. He was succeeded by Prof. James K. Parker, and he by Doctor Richard S. Rust. During these early days many friends and sympathizers were found for the University but much to the chagrin of those who were leading in this enterprise the Civil War, which had already become imminent, broke .out and the life of the University was put in great peril and finally its doors were closed and the M. E. Church withdrew from the field. On March 10, 1863, Bishop Daniel A. Payne purchased the property for $10,000 in the name of the A frican Methodist Episcopal Church, and the old Union Seminary farm near Columbus, Ohio, (referred to above) was sold, and the proceeds, faculty and pupils were merged into Wilberforce University and a new career in the life of Wilberforce began. In the early struggles of the University, Bishop Payne associated with him Rev. James A. Shorter and Prof. John G. Mitchell. During the thirteen years that Bishop Payne was President, 1553 attended the University and 26 of them graduated. Rev. B. F. Lee succeeded. Bishop D. A. Payne as President in the year 1876. He served in that position for eight years during which time 1179 students attended the University and 41 graduated. The growth of the institution under President Lee was steady and healthful in all lines. In 1884 President Lee accepted the editorship of the Christian Recorder, Philadelphia. In 1884 Prof. S. T. Mitchell was elected President and the growth of the University along all lines continued at a very rapid rate. During his presidency 2,924 students attended school at Wilberforce and 459 graduated. In 1900 President Mitchell resigned the presidency and took the chair of mathematics in the University. In 1900 Rev. Joshua H. Jones was elected President of Wilberforce University and has served for eight years and is still incumbent. (President Jones's tenure of office terminated since this article was written, in June, 1908, and at present Prof. Scarborough is Acting President.—Ed.) Under his administration WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY - 183 the University has continued to grow along all lines and is accomplishing much for humanity. During his administration 4673 have attended the University, and 495 have graduated. The departments of the 'University embrace the College, Theological, Normal and Industrial Departments. The courses taught are the Collegiate, Scientific, Law, Music, Theological, Academic, Normal, Art, Business, Shorthand and Typewriting, Military Science and Tactics, as literary courses—twelve in all ; to these are added shop-work in iron, plumbing, tailoring, dressmaking, millinery, cooking, shoemaking, printing, blacksmithing and carpentry, as industrial courses or trades courses. In the twelve literary courses, we seek to prepare students in the educative arts ; in the ten industrial courses, we strive to prepare students in the occupative arts. Wilberforce 'University, therefore, aims at the double purpOse: first, spiritual enlargement ; second, industrial efficiency. These twenty-two courses, including the various departments, comprise the breadth of the. University's operations. From the founding of the University until now 11,351 students have attended the University and 1,021 have graduated from the various departments up to this time. These graduates and undergraduates have gone into all parts of the world helping in the work of human amelioration, taking rank in the world of service and letters by the side of the best Negro graduates of any school in the United States. The teachers and Preachers of our race sent out by Wilberforce University stand in the front ranks of the intellectual, moral and industrial leaders of our country. Tuskegee InStitute, Hampton Institute, Howard University and a score of similar institutions as well as high schools, normal schools and grammar schools throughout the nation have felt the force and influence of Wilberforce University through her graduates who teach in them. Some of the best teachers in Wilberforce University are her own graduates and some of the ablest preachers in the connection are the theological graduates of the University who have gone out to do honor to themselves and their Alma Mater. It is noteworhty that Msikinya Maxeke, Charlotte Manye-Maxeke, Charles Dube, Adelaide Tantsi-Dube, James Y. Tantsi, Thomas E. Warde WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY - 185 and K. S. E. Insiadoo are hard at work in far away Africa bringing honor to themselves, our race and our beloved Wilberforce. Special mention should be Made of Rev. Peter Alpheus Luckie who, after graduation, returned to British Guiana and founded at his native home The Demarara Missionary and. Industrial Institute. Many are the worthy of this great institution who deserve mention, but time forbids. In 1887 the representatives of Wilberforce University went before the Legislature at Columbus, Ohio; and requested the State of Ohio to aid in the maintenance of the educational work at Wilberforce UniverSity by establishing a department at the University, and by the concurrent action of the Legislature and the Trustees of the University the Combined Normal and Industrial Department was established at Wilberforce and by continued concurrent action of the Legislature and the Trustees this department has been fostered by the State to the great good of the UniVersity at large, the citizenship of the United States in general and the Negro race in particular. The Legislature of Ohio has been generous, arid only unborn generations will be able to estimate the enormous good that is being accomplished by the State at this institution fOr the black man and for the body politic. through the betterment of Negro citizenship. The University includes three great departments : (1) The Theological Department which is supported by. the African Methodist Episcopal Church, purely and simply; (2) the Collegiate Department which is supported by contributions from the African Methodist Episcopal Church and philanthropic lovers of education; (3) the Combined Normal and Industrial Department which is supported by the State of Ohio. The property of the Theological Department is valued at $14,000; the property of the Collegiate Department, including endowments, is valued at $23000 ; the property of the Combined Normal and, Industrial Department is valued at $220,000; making the grand total valuation $467,000. The entire cost to a student for tuition, board, room rent and fuel, at the University does not exceed $117:50, per year. Wilberforce University is the best place for the education of Negroes to be found in the United States. The University is educative and Christian in all of its bearings. THE XENIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY - 187 THE XENIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRESIDENT WILLIAM G. MOOREHEAD. THIS institution is one of the oldest of its kind on the continent, perhaps the very oldest. Owing. to the urgent need of a ministry trained in our own country and the inability of the mother church in Scotland to send sufficient help, the Associate Presbyterian church in America was led to establish a theological school where men might be trained for the ministry of the Gospel. Accordingly at Service, in Mercer County, Pa., the Seminary was established which remains to this day in full vigor of Christian activity. This took place in 1794 when Washington was President for the second time. In a little log house, with a library quite extensive for those days, with -a single. professor, Dr. John Anderson, a Scotchman by birth, a graduate of Glasgow University, a man of distinguished gifts but eccentric and absent-minded to a degree, the first Protestant theological seminary west of Philadelphia, perhaps the first in the whole land, began its career, and it has continued its beneficent work now for 114 years, with no interruption in its sessions and no cessation of instruction. In 1821 it was removed from Service to Canonsburg, Pa., and from thence it was transferred to Xenia, Ohio, its present location, in 1855. Its first. home in Xenia was in the building on West Main titreet now known as the "Miami Flats," which was erected for its special use ; it was afterwards .housed in the old Seminary 188 - GREENE COUNTY 1803-1908 structure on West Third street, which is at present the dormitory for students, a fine new building having been erected recently to accommodate the growing needs of the institution. Its library, small at the beginning, has been added to until now it contains a carefully selected collection of books that in quality of theological usefulness can not easily be surpassed.   NEW BUILDING, XENIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Photo by Canby Dormitory showing slightly in the right.   One hundred years ago, the curriculum of study was limited almost exclusively to the single branch of Biblical Theology, to which study gradually were added studies embracing Church History and the original languages in which the Bible was given, viz., Hebrew and Greek. Now some fourteen departments are conducted each session covering the field of theological education.   THE XENIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY - 189   At its annual meeting in May of this year. the Board of Managers established a permanent lectureship of Biblical Theology as illustrated by Archaeological Research, and it elected Dr. M. G. Kyle, of Philadelphia, to this new chair. Prof. Kyle will not teach during the entire session, but will give a series of lectures on the subject above-mentioned at a time to be agreed upon. This is mentioned to indicate that it is the aim of those in charge of the institution to equip it with every advantage that can be secured.   Nearly one thousand students haVe received their theological education, in whole or in part, within its walls, and its alumni may be reckoned at about nine hundred. It has its sons scattered over our broad land from New England to the Pacific slope. Its graduates are found in the foreign mission field, in the Punjab, India, in Egypt, and in the Sudan. l the of the graduates of two . years ago, Elbert McCreery, is now toiling in the torrid heat of the. Egyptian Sudan, at Khartum, that the light of the glorious Gospel may shine into the darkened minds of that heathen populace. He is but one of a number of others engaged in the like blessed work.   Four regular professors devote their time to instruction, Profs. Joseph Kyle, Jesse Johnson, John E. Wishart, and William G. Moorehead. Prof. M. G. Kyle will be a filth, besides tutors in the Greek language who are employed nearly every session. Twelve young men graduated at the /last commencement, May 6, who are already under appointment to various fields ; one will gO in the early autumn to India, one to the destitute whites of the Kentucky MoUntains, one to the inew State of-Oklahoma,, and the others to various places. Two of these young men came to us from distant parts of the world., one, Mr.. Alexander Reese, from New Zealand, and the other, Mr. Hormizd Sleman, from Van in Turkey. Both of these expect to become foreign missionaries.   A visit to the Seminary during the Horne-Coming time will be greatly appreciated by the faculty, who will welcome friends and explain to them the Raised Map of Palestine of the Exploration Expedition, a unique map indeed.   190 - GREENE COUNTY 1803-1908.   ORGANIZATION OF THE GREENE COUNTY HOME COMING ASSOCIATION.   EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE—J. F. Orr, Chairman ; Dr. A. C. Messenger, Vice Chairman; Austin Patterson, Secretary ; Marshall Wolf, Treasurer ; Prof. E. B. Cox, Harry D. Smith, S. O. hale.   COMMITTEE ON PROMOTION, PUBLICITY AND PRINTING— Dr. A. C. Messenger, Chairman ; William Brennan, C. L. Jobe, R. S. Kingsbury, J. H. Whitmer. LADIES' AUXILIARY COMMITTEE—Miss Helen Boyd, Mrs. Carrie Geyer, Miss Carrie Hypes, .Miss Mary Maxwell, Miss Lucy Richardson.   FINANCE COMMITTEE—M. L. Wolf, Chairman; George Galloway, H. E.. Schmidt, Judge Marcus Shoup, George R. Kelly.   COMMITTEE ON ACCOMMODATIONS AND FACILITIES—Harry D. Smith, Chairman; Fisk Alexander, Jacob Kany, S. B. LeSourd, John Prugh.   COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM AND DECORATION—S. O. Hale, Chairman ; Dr. W. A. Galloway, G. J. Graham, C. F. Howard, T. J. Kennedy.   COMMITTEE ON SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS—Prof. E. B. Cox, Chairman; M. A. Broadstone, William Neeld, John A. Nisbet, B. Schlesinger, Judge H. L. Smith, W. F. Trader.   SOUVENIR BOOK COMMITTEE—Austin Patterson, Chairman; J. M. Davidson, Mrs. H. H. Eavey, Marshall Lupton, Mrs. William Wilson.   COMMITTEE ON RELICS—J. E. Jones, Chairman ; L. F. Clevenger, George Fetz, Mrs. George Fetz, George Greiner, Mrs. Katharine Landaker, Miss Jessa Pearson.   COMMITTEE OF COLORED CITIZENS—J. M. Somers, Chairman; Rev. George Coble, R. E. Holmes, Jordan Robb, W. S. Rogers.   THE FIRMS and individuals whose places of business are shown on the following pages are to be regarded, not as advertisers, but rather as patrons who have made it possible for the committee to present an additional number of interesting Greene County views. However, we think it not out of place to remind our readers that our commerce, as here represented, reaches far beyond the limits of the county and that many persons living in larger cities than Xenia have found advantage in purchasing from us.