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Beta Theta Pi - August 8, 1839 - Miami University - Oxford, OH

John Reily Knox, 1839 (19)
Samuel Taylor Marshall, 1840 (27)
David Linton, 1839 (24)
James George Smith, 1840 (19)
Charles Henry Hardin, 1841 (19)
John Holt Duncan, 1840 (19)
Michael Clarkson Ryan, 1839 (19)
Thomas Boston Gordon, 1840 (23)

~of ever honored memory~

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John Reily Knox, 1839
Reily was 19 when the eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born May 20, 1820, on a farm between Millville and Venice, Ohio, within 15 miles of Oxford. Graduating senior first rank in his class and president of the Union Literary Society. Honored with the title of Pater in acknowledgement of his role in the origin and design of Beta Theta Pi. Taught school in Mississippi, 1841-42. Admitted to bar and practiced at Greenville, Ohio, 1843-52; Dayton, Ohio, 1852-56; and Greenville again 1856-98. Partner in Greenville law firm of Knox, Martz and Rupe. A Whig until formation of Republican Party, as a Presidential Elector in 1860 he cast vote for Lincoln. First president of Greenville Law Library, president of Darke County Bar Association, vestryman of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. Member Miami University Board of Trustees, 1869-98. Member of Beta's Board of Directors 1879-95; ex-offico President 1893-94; Convention President 1890. Stockholder in the Beta Theta Pi Alumni Club at Wooglin-on-Chautauqua, New York. Married Isabel S. Briggs of Greenville in November 1845. Of their four children, son Harry became a Navy commander and Naval Academy teacher, and daughter Elizabeth as Mrs. James M. Lansdowne became the mother of two Beta sons: John Reily Lansdowne, Miami 1900, and Harry Moreton Lansdowne, Miami 1902. A third grandson, Lt. Cdr. Zachary Lansdowne, captain and commanding officer of the U.S. dirigible Shenandoah, was killed in its 1925 crash. Beta's last living Founder, he died at home on February 7, 1898, the date observed by the chapters of the Fraternity with the Knox Ceremony. He is buried in Greenville Cemetery.
Studious, notably modest, manly, and a splendid character in every way. He did not take to athletics, not being a rugged boy, and seldom played football. His college life was a dead level on a high plane and he always stood high with the faculty.

Samuel Taylor Marshall, 1840
Taylor was 27 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born February 26, 1812, on a farm near Oxford. Member of the Union Literary Society. A junior at the founding, he was the oldest of the eight. Drafted Beta's first constitution and arranged for the design and production of the first badges. Participated in a Canadian rebellion as lieutenant colonel, was captured and sentenced, but released. Read law in offices at Cincinnati and Lafayette, Indiana. Moved to Lee County, Iowa, 1842. Taught Latin and began law practice, both at West Point, Iowa, 1844. Sergeant-at-arms, Iowa House of Representatives, 1846-48. Moved to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1846 and practiced law there. In 1855 became editor of that city's first daily, Nipantuck, although he continued law practice most of his life. An uncompromising Democrat who never ran for public office. Said to have worn his Beta badge daily throughout his latter years. In about 1842, married Louisa Patterson. Of their 10 children, the five who survived him included Robert M. Marshall, a Miami graduate and three-term Lee County prosecuting attorney, and Mrs. Maud Marshall Hassall, who was a guest of honor at the 1941 dedication of the Campanile and later presented her father's badge to the Fraternity. He died at home in Keokuk on June 13, 1895, several months after an attack of aphasia. He grave is at Keokuk.
I was really an athlete and could beat anybody playing football. I did many tricks in which I was generally discovered. I was always doing something a little out of the ordinary. I never denied to the professors what I did.

David Linton, 1839
Dave was 24 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born January 30, 1815, on a farm near Wilmington, Ohio, fifth of 12 children. Member of the Erodelphian Literary Society. A graduating senior at the founding. The minutes of August 8, 1839, report that he had been previously appointed to prepare an address for the occasion, and his essay has been preserved in the first Alpha minute book. He was called both the laughing philosopher and the silent philosopher, and was known for steady habits, clear head and mature judgment. Graduated from Cincinnati Law School, 1841. Practiced law in Wilmington 25 years, Clinton County prosecutor 1845-47, State Senator 1853-55. In 1865, because of poor health, moved to Linn County, Kansas, to engage in stock raising. Took the first thoroughbred cattle into the county and established one of the first thoroughbred herds in Kansas. Probate judge if Linn County 1867-69. A director of the B&O Railroad. A Quaker by parentage, he was expelled when he married Ann Thomas, daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Their seven children included three daughters who pioneered in journalism, medicine and women's suffrage, plus sons successful in farming, business and contracting. Having moved to Pleasanton, also on Linn County, he died there on August 10, 1889, following a stroke. He is buried in Pleasanton.
Broad shouldered and chunky, raised on a farm. He was a little older than any in our class save one. He was a good debater, a thinking man, and was very methodical.

James George Smith, 1840
Leb or Jimmy George was 19 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born August 20, 1819, in a log house on a farm three miles south of Waynesville, Ohio, six miles east of Lebanon, grandson of a Revolutionary War soldier; son of pre-statehood Ohio settlers from Virginia. Member of the Union Literary Society. Smith was Marshall's roommate in Old Main, and according to Marshall, was the third invited to join Beta. A junior at the founding, he was the first secretary of Alpha Chapter. He was neither sturdy or athletic, and abandon plans for law school because of health. Rode horseback to Florida Gulf Coast in fall-winter of 1841-42 and later to ancestral home in Powhatan County, Virginia, seeking health. He never married. No known photograph; his portrait here is based on other Founder's descriptions: pale, studious, quiet and unwell. He died on September 16, 1849, on the farm where he was born, a few days after his mother's death and apparently from the same fever that was epidemic in the neighborhood. He was the first Founder to die. His grave is in a small cemetery near his birthplace.
He was a pale, studious, quiet fellow in delicate health. I never saw such an eater in my life, and he never took physical exercise. Whatever lesson he prepared he understood, and could parse to the last single letter and word. He never forgot to be a gentleman, but took no pride in dress, though well off financially. A photo has never been accounted for; however, it is believed that the conception at right depicts what he may have looked like.

Charles Henry Hardin, 1841
Charley was 19 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born July 15, 1820, on a farm in northern Trimble County, Kentucky, across the Ohio from Madison, Indiana. Spent childhood at Columbia, Missouri; rode horseback to Indiana University in 1837. In March 1839, transferred to Miami, also riding there by horse. Member of the Union Literary Society. According to Knox, he was the third invited to join Beta. A sophomore at the founding, he was the third president of Alpha Chapter. Admitted to the bar in 1843. Practiced law at Fulton, Missouri, 1843-61, moved to Mexico, Missouri. Elected State Representative in 1852, 1854, 1858. In 1855, selected one of three to revise and codify the state statues. In 1860 elected State Senator, and in 1862, although the only Senator who voted against Missouri secession put under bonds and subsequently disfranchised because of alleged sympathy for the Confederacy. Apparently withdrew from public life and retired to a farm though the rest of this Civil War. In 1872, elected State Senator. In 1874, elected Governor of Missouri on the Democratic ticket by a majority of some 38,000. Chairman of the Democratic state convention of 1884; member of the board of managers of state lunatic asylum 10 years; president of Mexico Southern Bank for 25 years; trustee of William Jewell College 22 years. Founder of Hardin Female College at Mexico and president of its board for many years, and curator of the University of Missouri. Married Mary Barr Jenkins in May 1844. They had no children. She wrote his biography, Life and Writings of Governor Charles Henry Hardin. He died in Mexico on July 29, 1892. Buried in the Jewell family cemetery at Columbia.
A bright student, and it didn't take him half the time to get his lessons that it did the others. A cheerful, pleasant, agreeable companion. He could read the New Testament in Greek like English but knew not a word of Latin. They asked me to help him, and in ninety days he was above mediocrity in that language.

John Holt Duncan, 1840
John Holt was 19 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born July 7, 1820, in Cynthiana, Kentucky, and taken as a baby to Jefferson County, Mississippi. He was a grandson of Major Thomas Holt, who was on Lafayette's staff at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Member if the Erodelphian Literary Society. A junior at the founding, he was the first president of Alpha Chapter, giving his inaugural address on August 8, 1939. He roomed in the home of Captain Joel Collins, Indian-fighter, pioneer settler, surveyor of Oxford Township, secretary and Miami University superintendent, who played a material role in Miami's survival. May have practiced law in Fayette, Mississippi, before moving to Houston, Texas, about 1854. By 1857, he was chief justice of Bexar County, Texas. Resigned that post to accept a Confederate cavalry captains in 1862. He lost a leg in battle while gallantly charging the enemy. Became a Texas District Judge 1864-65 and Houston City Attorney 1877-79. He never married. According to a nephew, he "deemed it his duty to support and educate the children of the man murdered for his sake, and though deeply enamored of a most lovely woman who returned his affection, both denied themselves the pleasure of marriage and children to fulfill what he considered a sacred duty. He died on May 27, 1896, in the Confederate Old Soldiers Home at Austin, Texas. He was buried at the Texas State Cemetery. Years later, Texas Betas replaced his simple veteran's marker with a handsome granite shaft in the eight-sided outline of the modern Beta badge, recognizing him as a Founder.
John Holt was a Southerner; the best dressed boy in the class, and the best appearing young gentleman in the whole college. But he couldn't study mathematics. In the other departments he stood well.

Michael Clarkson Ryan, 1839
Mike was 19 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born April 23, 1820, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Member of the Erodelphian Literary Society. A graduate senior at the founding. Received the law degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1842. Admitted to the bar in Hamilton, Ohio, he began practice there in partnership with an influential brother-in-law, John B. Weller. Concurrently he was publisher and editor of the Hamilton Telegraph 1847-49 and County Prosecuting Attorney 1848-52. Then was Clerk of Court 1852-58 and for a time also clerk of the county's Fund Commission appointed to distribute the surplus revenue of the United States among the states. Delegate to the 1856 Democratic Party Convention which nominated James Buchanan. He married Emily Lefflar of Hamilton in 1845. On of their three daughters, Mrs. Emma L'Hommedieu, gave his original badge to Milton Sayler, Cincinnati 1893, from whom it passes to Saylor's nephew Benjamin Franklin Lehman, Ohio State 1932, who presented it to the General Fraternity in 1986. He was a bibliophile and assembled a large valuable private library. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he recruited the Fiftieth Ohio Volunteer Regiment and was named its colonel. He died on October 23, 1861, without field service. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Hamilton.
Mike was a splendid fellow, whole-souled and all heart; had more heart than half a dozen boys ought to have. He had fits and starts of study and was a kind of an athlete, too.

Thomas Boston Gordon, 1840
Tom was 23 when the Eight founded Beta Theta Pi. Born February 4, 1816, near Hartwell, Georgia, son of a veteran of the War of 1812. Third of 10 children, his two older brothers had attended Miami. He spent all his money on a horse which he rode to Oxford, carrying his entire outfit in a pair of saddle pockets. Member of the Erodelphian Literary Society. A junior at the founding. He was the second president of Alpha Chapter. Taught two years at Decatur, Georgia, read law at Forsythia, Georgia, and was admitted to the bar there in 1842. He received the Master of Arts from Miami in 1845. He married Frances M. Greer of Forsythe in 1845. They moved to a farm in Bath County, Kentucky in 1848. About 1851, he resumed law practice at Owingsville, Kentucky. He was the County Judge, 1854-58. He was the father of six children. In 1862, he and his two oldest sons, ages 16 and 15, enlisted in a Confederate infantry battalion. In the spring of 1863 all were transferred to a battalion of Kentucky Mounted Rifles under Lt. Col. Tom Johnson, part of the famous Orphan Brigade. Having lost everything in the war, he returned to Owingsville, taught until 1879 and spent his last years on the farm. He died on January 25, 1891, at Lexington, Kentucky, following a stroke. His grave is in The Lexington Cemetery.
As studious a boy as could be found. A vigorous debater and hard worker. He was a critical scholar and loved literature. He came from a wealthy family, but wore as poor clothes as he could pick up. I don't believe I ever say him with a necktie on. He played football with the rest of us and was full of energy.