Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsOld Clinton Seminary Schooled Wesleyan's First Graduates
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
If you go there now, you will feel the ghosts of many a year gone by. That is, if you go to old Clinton, Georgia, in Jones County. Not far from Gray, Georgia, - the town that took its place. Not far from Griswoldville - the town that wanted the railroad (Clinton did not). Not far from Macon, Georgia, whose early citizens came there to church at Clinton while theirs was being built at Macon. Not far from Milledgeville, government seat of Georgia back in the early 1800's - back when Clinton was flourishing. It is said at one time that Clinton had many fine homes, numerous business enterprises, a solid plantation base around it, and even boasted three colleges. One source reported that it was the third most significant city in the state of Georgia. Clinton was up-and- coming and on the ball.
Even old Rev. Wilson Conner, storied Baptist preacher of Dead River, down in Montgomery County, Georgia, would probably have never thought his daughter, Louisa, would wind up in school at Old Clinton. But she did.
And John Willcox III, just west of Jacksonville, Georgia, probably never thought that one day he would marry that same daughter of old Rev. Wilson Conner. After all, he had a wife, Mary Daniel. But things change. Mary died and he married again. He married Louisa Ann Conner. Louisa was an educated lady. Even did some writing for the Baptist publication we know as "The Christian Index."
Old Clinton was founded around 1808 and was well established by 1823, the year Macon was being incorporated. People from Macon (and other places) came to Clinton to church, to buy supplies, and to be educated.
It is the area of education that becomes interesting because Old Clinton had a lot to do with the first chartered college for women in the world - Wesleyan College at Macon, Georgia. It is also interesting to me because there seems to be a strong lower Ocmulgee influence in that long-ago scheme of things. If we recall, we were told that the old Catholic, John Willcox, Jr., pole-boat builder and Indian fighter of local lore, had an interest in the founding of Wesleyan because he was one of the first contributors to the fund to do just that. Someone told me they thought he even owned some of the land of the original site of the college but I have not seen anything on that. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't.
But what is even more interesting is the set of events surrounding the founding of Wesleyan. We are told in its history that it was chartered in 1836 but that the first classes were not held until 1839 and the first graduates were capped in 1840. Now, how did that happen? Remember, it was a four-year institution, and being the first for women, certainly wanted to do things right. So how did someone enroll there in 1839 and receive a baccalaureate degree the very next year, in 1840?
If we look at some of Wesleyan's history we can tell because they tell us exactly how it all happened:
"We were the first college in the world to grant degrees to women.
Chartered December 23, 1836; classes began January 7, 1839 with almost 100 students; first baccalaureate degree awarded to a woman, July 16, 1840, to Catherine E. Brewer (Benson)--first in alphabetical order in a graduating class of eleven. It was possible to graduate a class so quickly because a group of students had already done the first two years of work at the nearby Clinton Female Seminary under Professor Thomas Bogue Slade."
This happening becomes even more interesting because this was the same time frame which saw Louisa Conner (later Mrs. John Willcox III) attending school at Old Clinton, Georgia. In the Rev. Wilson Conner's diary of his travels (on horseback), we see this entry :
January 31st, 1837 - "Rode 20 mile to Clinton and left Louisa at school."
And later we find Louisa still at school, apparently faring well:
"October 20th, 1837 - "Read a letter from Louisa stating all was well."
This time frame would place Louisa at the Clinton school to do the two years' work prior to the class moving over to Wesleyan to finish and graduate with the baccalaureate degree. I do not have any reference to Louisa's ever going to Wesleyan. She might, at this point, have gone to work for "The Christian Index." Maybe this was too much Methodism for a Missionary Baptist! No, had the circumstances provided the opportunity, I am almost sure that the venerable Baptist, Rev. Wilson Conner would have been proud to have his daughter, Louisa, among those first finishers at Wesleyan. If anyone knows the details of her life at this point I would sure like to know those.
What is just about as challenging is trying to figure out the names of the Clinton college(s). Some refer to a college there as the "Clinton Female Academy." From A Chronology of Georgia, we see the following statement:
"December 15, 1821 - Governor John Clark signs bill establishing Clinton Female Academy."
Now this would have been about the time Gov. Clark was in the middle of his two terms and just before he commissioned former Jacksonville neighbors General John Coffee and Thomas Swain to build the Coffee Road from Jacksonville, Georgia, to Tallahassee, Florida.
But, when we look at another source, we see another name for the the old Clinton school (this also is from the Wesleyan history):
"From the beginning, our curriculum encompassed a liberal-arts course of study, with an emphasis on the sciences--quite progressive for the 1800s. An early course of study included natural philosophy, mental and moral philosophy, astronomy, botany, chemistry, physiology, geology, history, and ancient and modern languages. Thomas B. Slade of the Clinton Female Institute brought two of his teachers and thirty of his students to the new college. Some entered the junior class, which made it possible to graduate the first class in July of 1840, a year and a half after the college opened. Catherine Elizabeth Brewer (Benson) was the first member of the class to receive the "Testimonial of the Georgia Female College (Wesleyan)," which stated in English that "after having passed through a Regular Course of Study ... embracing all the Sciences which are usually taught in the Colleges of the United States, with such as appropriately belong in its most ample range," she was deemed worthy of the first degree conferred by the institution."
So, from three sources, we see three names for the old Clinton learning institution: Clinton Female Seminary, Clinton Female Academy, and Clinton Female Institute.
Wesleyan College seemingly uses Clinton Female Seminary and Clinton Female Institute as interchangeable names, evidenced by the fact that Professor Slade came from that school (each reference uses a different school name) to teach at Wesleyan (and brought students with him).
But, by whatever name it was called, The Old Clinton school had been around quite a while; long enough, that is, to furnish the oldest chartered college for women in the world with its very first graduates.
And if you look hard enough, you can see old Rev. Wilson Conner arriving on horseback with daughter, Louisa, to enroll her in the Clinton school - a little obscure school in a little obscure town of long ago - but quite significant nevertheless.
Credits:
Wesleyan College for its History;
Sid Johnson for "Longpondium";
Telfair County History (1807-1987);
information furnished by the Willcox Family;
information furnished by Lisa Willett;
Floris Perkins Mann for History of Telfair County;
Richard E. Irby, Jr. for Chronology of Georgia.
