Lost Founders...

[naraht]

With the work that I'm doing on tracking down the lives of the Alpha Phi Omega founders, I just thank my lucky stars that I at least have something for all of the founders that I have death dates to within a month (Social Security Death Index just gives month and year) (I'm also getting a lot of other information)

OTOH, for Phi Beta Sigma, one of the three founders is referred to as the "Lost Founder", Charles I Brown for which Phi Beta Sigma isn't even sure where or when (or arguably *if*) he has died. No contact with anyone involved in Phi Beta Sigma was made after 1924 (10 years after graduation)

For Kappa Alpha Psi however, two years ago after a great deal of research on the part of one of the brothers, they identified the unmarked grave of one of their founders and have arranged for a stone to be put in the spot http://www.rrstar.com/article/20120525/News/305259876

Are there any other fraternity or sorority founders out there that are lost? (i.e. the fraternity only knows they are dead because no one born before 1876 is still alive on the planet) or otherwise completely fell out of communication with the national fraternity/sorority and the other founders?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by naraht

OTOH, for Phi Beta Sigma, one of the three founders is referred to as the "Lost Founder", Charles I Brown for which Phi Beta Sigma isn't even sure where or when (or arguably *if*) he has died. No contact with anyone involved in Phi Beta Sigma was made after 1924 (10 years after graduation)

I consider that so sad.

From their website:

[beginning edited out]

Census records and oral interviews have showed us that Founder Brown was alive in the Topeka, Kansas area until 1931. Some believe that he was a casualty of the First World War; others believe that he moved overseas. In the spring of 1949, Founder Leonard F. Morse wrote “We live in daily hope that we shall one day learn the fate of our beloved Brother and Founder”.

In the 1914 Howard University yearbook, under the Personals and Applied Quotations section, Founder Brown left us with this, “No legacy is so rich as honesty”. Founder Brown graduated from Howard University on June 3, 1914. The last correspondence that the fraternity received from him was a letter to Founder Taylor in 1924, in which Founder Brown indicated that he was teaching in Kansas.

Although we may never find out the fate of our beloved Founder, always remember, “March on, March on, Ye mighty host” for Founder Charles I. Brown will remain in our hearts.

http://www.phibetasigma1914.org/our-.../our-founders/

[Sen's Revenge]

He was living in Pittsburgh in 1938. He died in Philadelphia on December 21, 1981. This information is on page 105 of Black Greek-Letter Organizations in the 21st Century. This is why we have to read more than just websites.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge

This is why we have to read more than just websites.

[DrPhil]

Since the GLO hasn't updated its website, I wonder if there is a debate or disagreement about the accuracy of information.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Since the GLO hasn't updated its website, I wonder if there is a debate or disagreement about the accuracy of information.

The book (Black Greek-Letter Organizations in the 21st Century.) is (mostly) on
books google: http://books.google.com/books?id=rDz...sec=frontcover

The information on Charles I Brown's later life and death is on page 105, the references on page 114, which indicates that the information on his later life came from

“Legend of Our Legacy: Reclaiming the Lost History of Sigma's Final Founder” (presented at the 2007 Phi Beta Sigma International Conclave, Charlotte, N.C.). The scholarship in this presentation was compiled by Phi Beta Sigma members Todd LeBon, Kevin Christian, Linden Houston, and Mark Pacich, in conjunction with the Phi Beta Sigma Historical Society"

If this was presented within the last 6 months, then maybe they haven't had a chance to update the website, but 7 years?

The only other research that I've seen was a blog from 2006 that was searching for Charles I Brown with an address in Pittsburgh gotten from Howard, but wasn't posted to afterward. http://charlesibrown.blogspot.com/

I could call Phi Beta Sigma's Headquarters on this (local call), but given the lack of response that I got calling Delta Sigma Theta's HQ (also local) on why the Theta in their shield is spelled the way that it is, I doubt I'd get much response.

[DrPhil]

It could just be a sucky webmaster but I hope a GLO would not want its central publication or point of reference to have misinformation.

It could be an internal battle among members. Outsiders may never know.