Elton, Rev. Romeo

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Alumni

Rev. Romeo Elton and the Classics at The George Washington University

by Dr. John Edmund Ziolkowski Professor of Classics

The awarding of prizes is an old and venerable tradition in academia. Ever since the Greeks devised wreaths of olive, laurel and various grasses for winners of their national contests, prizes have been created to honor those who excel in other civilized activities. Tradition has it that the academic “baccalaureate” comes from the berry (bacca) of the “laurel tree” (laurus), a tree sacred to Apollo whose pursuit of Daphne and her subsequent transformation are familiar from Ovid’s version (Metamorphoses Book 1). A less mythical account draws the derivation from the French word bachélier, a person who assists a noble; from that the term was eventually used to denote a person who had achieved a degree at a university.

Naturally, The George Washington University has its own set of prizes and awards for academic excellence, some going back into the last century. A search of the catalogues, in fact, reveals that some of the earliest prizes are still being awarded: The “Isaac Davis Prize” for public speaking and the “Ruggles Prize” for excellence in mathematics, established in 1847 and 1859, respectively. In the early days of Columbian College there were only a few such prizes, in contrast to the large number listed in the current Bulletin.

The esteem for Latin and Greek being what it was in the nineteenth century, it comes as no surprise that prizes for their study were among the earlier established here. A “Staughton Prize” in honor of Reverend William Staughton, first President of Columbian College, was established by a certain Romeo Elton in 1860, “to be given to the best Greek and Latin scholar of the junior and senior class who sustains an unblemished character.” Five years later (1865) Mr. Elton donated funds for another award, later named in his honor, for the senior student having the highest average in Greek language and literature.

Both Isaac Davis and William Ruggles, founders of the earliest prizes, were closely connected with the College, the former as a member of the Board of Trustees and the latter over a long career as tutor, Professor of Math and Natural Philosophy (1822-77) and Acting President three times. Thus their interest in the college is clear. But who was Mr. Romeo Elton and why did he donate funds for prizes at GWU? The following discussion will try to shed some light on these questions.1

Romeo Elton

Romeo Elton was born in Burlington, Connecticut, in 1790. After spending his early days on his father’s farm, he went to Brown [University], where he graduated in 1813. Four years later he was ordained and became a Baptist pastor, first in Newport, R.I., and later in Windsor, Vt. In 1825 he left his pastorate, for reasons of health, to spend two years in Europe in preparation for a teaching position in Greek and Latin at Brown University. He remained there as Professor of Greek and Latin (also as a member of the Board of Trustees) from 1827 until 1843, when he resigned to take up residence in England, in Exeter (1845-67) and Bath (1867-69). Upon returning to the United States (1869) he became pastor in Boston where he died shortly thereafter (1870). He was married three times: his first wife died after his retirement from Brown University; he then married a woman from Exeter, who died in 1867; he married his third wife just a few months before his death. According to the obituary notice in the “Brown University Nectology” he had no children.2

Elton published several works including his sermons. We may mention his centennial edition of Rev. John Callender’s Century Sermon (a history of Rhode Island delivered in 1738), with copious notes and biographical sketches. He also edited the works of Jonathan Maxcy, the first president of Brown University, with an introductory memoir (1844), and wrote a biographical sketch of Roger Williams (1852).

In his will (executed on September 25, 1868) he bestowed the greater part of his estate upon institutions of public beneficence, including the Baptist Missionary Society of London and the American Bible Society of New York. A sum of $20,000 was given to endow a chair of Natural Theology at Brown and nearly as much for a chair of mental and moral philosophy at Columbian College. He had previously donated funds for scholarships and prizes, but according to Brown University archivist Martha L. Mitchell (Nov. 12, 1991) the Elton Scholarship is not listed after 1964 and there is no record at all of an Elton Prize. At George Washington University both the Chair in Philosophy and the prizes in Classics still exist. It is not surprising that Elton would leave bequests to his alma mater (both of his college days and career), but it is less certain why he left an endowment also (and why in philosophy) to G.W.U. The fact that he chose as executors of his will George Ide Chace, professor at Brown University and “my friend, George Washington Samson, Doctor of Divinity, President of Columbian College” indicates a behind-the-scenes relationship of long standing with the College.3

William Staughton

The terms of the bequest mention his friendship with President Staughton, but the brief citations about Elton in biographical dictionaries as well as the much more complete materials concerning Staughton do not indicate a connection between the two men. Fortunately, however, there are three letters from President Staughton to Elton in the archives of Brown University that reveal the existence of a warm relationship going back to 1822. Before looking at the contents of these letters, it will be useful to have before us a short summary of William Staughton’s life. He was twenty years older than Elton and was destined to have a distinguished career as clergyman, educator and even music composer. Born in Coventry, England in 1770, he published some of his own poems at the tender age of twelve that were thought to indicate great talent. After graduating from Brioston Theological College in 1792, he emigrated to the United States, first living in South Carolina and later, dissatisfied with the climate there, moving to New York and New Jersey. He was ordained in 1797 and received a D.D. from Princeton. He began his pastoral career in Philadelphia, at the First Baptist Church (1805) and then at the Sansom Street Church (1811-22). He was considered one of the most eloquent preachers of the day.

When Luther Rice bought a tract of land on the outskirts of the District of Columbia to serve as a basis for a Baptist presence in the National Capital, Staughton was chosen as first president of the college that opened its doors in 1821. He taught both theology and classics. After seven years he resigned (1827) due to the college’s financial difficulties and differences of opinion among the trustees. Two years later he was chosen president of a theology institution in Georgetown, Kentucky, but he died en route on December 12, 1829. He was buried in Episcopal Cemetery in D.C.; he was reintered three years later in the Samson Street Church Cemetery. His first wife had died in 1823 and he had married again (like Elton) only a few months before his death. He was survived by four children of his first marriage.

Three Letters

As mentioned before, three letters attest to a warm relationship between Staughton and Elton. In the first of these dated July 30, 1822, Staughton expresses thanks to Elton for a favor “by the hands of Rev. Wm Dunn” and for Elton’s “pious wishes and cheery expectations in reference to the college and the Mission.” (Staughton was the first corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions.) Thus Staughton and Elton knew each other already at the time of the foundation of Columbian College; Staughton’s reply is dated six months after the opening convocation (Jan. 9, 1822). Staughton includes an anxious reference to his own son James’ sailing for Europe and the fact that he has not heard from him in seventy-three days. He closes with news about his wife and daughter Leonora who have both been sick, apologizes for his short letter but “for the last two hours I have had incessant calls.” Presumably college and Mission affairs were keeping him very busy even during the summer vacation.

A second letter, written from College Hill, D.C., sixteen months later (Nov. 26, 1823), also refers to a favor of Elton “of the 6th inst.” which Staughton “had the pleasure of laying before our Board of Managers last evening.” Apparently Elton had made an offer to transfer $140.00 from the treasury of the Union Society to the Mission Society, which Staughton says would be very acceptable. He closes with two personal matters: the safe return of his son from Europe and his gratitude for Elton’s “sympathetic observations relative to my deceased companion. She has fought the fight but left me in the field of conflict. I feel my loss most sensibly--but I know that resignation is my duty.” At the time of these two letters Elton was thirty-two or thirty-three years old and serving as pastor in Newport, R.I. (1817-22), having graduated from Brown ten years earlier but not yet appointed to its faculty.

The third letter in the archives of Brown University was written to Elton from Philadelphia on August 1, 1829, by which time Elton had been teaching at Brown for two years after his two-year sojourn in Europe. I was a letter of recommendation for a Mr. Wm Rand, whom Staughton says he has known for the past fifteen or twenty years, and asks Elton to “show him your river and your hills, your College and your churches, your wife and your children” during his short stay in Providence. As noted earlier (note 2), no children are mentioned in his obituary or in his will; perhaps President Staughton is referring to Elton’s college students.

It is noteworthy that Staughton’s letters to Elton come from significant years in the former’s life: his first year at GW (1822), the year his wife died (1823) and the last year of his life (1829). In this correspondence Elton is seen as someone sympathetic to Staughton’s efforts at Columbian College from the start and eager to help the Baptist Mission with urgently needed funds. Although it is quite understandable why he wanted to lend assistance to Columbian College from the start. He was also eager to help the Baptist Mission with urgently needed funds. Although it is quite understandable why he would want to lend assistance to Columbian College in Staughton’s name, the letters do not explain why Elton did this so long after his friend had died (thirty years); in any event, funds to establish prizes would not seem to be more than a symbolic gesture in this respect. Perhaps other letters in Elton’s correspondence at Brown University might clarify this. After all, several mutual acquaintances of the two men passed between Brown and Columbian College throughout the mid-nineteenth century and it may be that one of these suggested the idea to Elton while he was away in England. One of the most likely candidates, it would seem, for the earlier contributions was George Whitefield Samson, an 1839 graduate of Brown, who became President of Columbian College in 1859 (until 1871). Also, several prominent professors at Columbian College had degrees from Brown and presumably knew Elton: Rev. Alva Woods (Math and Natural Philosophy) who taught at Columbian College (1821-24) and at Brown (1824-28); Adoniram J. Huntington, Professor of Greek and Latin from fifty-one years and “without doubt...the best-beloved man who has ever been connected with the University” (E. L. Kayser, Bricks Without Straw, p. 139), who received an honorary degree from Brown in 1868, the year that Alexis Caswell became President there (a Professor of Ancient Languages at Columbian College from 1825 to 1827); William Ruggles, Frank Wilton Freeborn, John Larkin Lincoln, et al. Both Professor Woods and Professor Chase (Professor of Ancient Languages at GW between 1821 and 1825, when he founded Newton Theological Seminary) are mentioned in the first two letters from Staughton to Elton. One is struck by the coincidence of the names of “G. W. Professor George Ide Chace,” who is named as an executor of Elton’s will (he lived until 1884). Elton’s larger contribution came as a result of his will, made in 1868; thus it preceded the period of generous donations during James C. Welling’s tenure as President of Columbian College (1871-94).4

G.W. Records

If we examine Elton’s donation from the context of the records kept in the G.W.U. archives, we learn little more than the financial details. A communication from Exeter, England, dated Jan. 11, 1860, proposing to contribute $100 to fund a Staughton scholarship and $100 for a Luther Rice Scholarship was read by the President (Rev. George Whitefield Samson) and approved by the Board. (Trustees vol. 3, p.8) Six months later (June 26: Records vol. 3, p.22) the President presented an extract from Elton’s letter inclosing a bill of exchange form $250 to fund a prize for the encouragement of classical literature in the Columbian College and the next day the Committee reported a resolution approving a contribution of this sum to constitute a permanent fund for prize medals for excellence in the Greek and Latin languages.5

The 1863/1864 Bulletin (#43) says that the Staughton Prize consisted of two gold medals to be awarded to the best scholar and writer (juniors and seniors eligible) in the Greek and Latin languages. Mr. Cary Robinson of the District of Columbia is listed as winner this year; apparently the second prize was not given. In 1865 (Jan. 11) the Board heard “Mr. Samson” (President) read a portion of a letter from Rev. Elton in which he offered funds fro another prize. In response to this resolutions were offered and adopted (1) to accept and declare gratitude for the gift and (2) to call the new prize “the Elton prize for excellence in the Greek language and literature and the Prize presented by the same generous donor on a former occasion be styled the Staughton Prize for excellence in the Latin language and literature.” (Vol. 3, p. 130) Six months later (June 27), in a sequence oddly similar to the events of 1860, the President’s Report announced Elton’s proposal to increase the fund of $250 to $500, the income of which would furnish two prizes. (The interest of the former fund had increased to $300 due to lack of competitors during the Civil War. The additional $200 had been recently received from Mr. Elton in a draft not yet matured.) According to University records (“Description of Endowment Funds”) “[t]here appears to be no record whatever of the receipt by the treasurer of either of the sums given by Dr. Elton. At this time a large portion of the moneys belonging to the institution were handled by the president, Dr. George W. Samson, without any apparent accountability to anyone, and there are no records of his receipts and expenditures. The president’s reports at about this time state that he was expending money for the improvement of the grounds and buildings, and the inference is that the $500, representing these two funds, was used up in that manner.” The University later made an attempt to “restore” this fund along with other small endowment prize funds by transferring assets belonging to the Corcoran fund to an “Investment A” account. The medals seem to have been regularly awarded but there was no investment to produce an income and no account was kept of the exact cost of medals. At the time these prizes were established Romeo Elton was living in England, so these prizes are usually noted as the gift of Rev. Romeo Elton of Exeter, England. The next we hear about Rev. Elton is in 1872, two years after his death in Boston, when the Records (vol. 3, p. 321: April 10) indicate that the Elton fund ($8742.88 in cash), “received April 8 from Prof. George I. Chase and George W. Samson, executors of the last will and testament of Romeo Elton, bearing date September 25, 1868,” were to be applied to the foundation of a professorship of mental and moral philosophy in the Columbian College. The money was no invested, but was applied toward the payment of the indebtedness of the university. The next year, however, according to the Trustees’ Records (vol. 3, p. 361, June 24, 1873) bonds and notes were set aside to represent the Elton Fund as having $9000.

Finally we learn from President James C. Welling’s report (Records vol. 4, p. 225: Aug. 14, 1888) “that Dr. George W. Samson, of New York, sole surviving executor of the late Romeo Elton, D.D., sometime a professor in the Columbian College, has paid over to the treasurer of the university the sum of $6432.92 in part payment of a residuum of the legacy left to the university by the decedent under the terms of his last will and testament. A small balance is still due upon the legacy.” Again, the cash received was not invested but placed in the general fund.6

The question arises here as to the reference of the phrase “sometime a professor in the Columbian College.” It would be an odd way to refer to former President Samson (1859-1871) and would surely be an error if applied to Romeo Elton, who never taught in the Columbian College. Nevertheless, it is probably an erroneous reference to Elton (perhaps as a way of explaining whey he left a legacy), although it is still strange since Welling had been on the Board in 1865 and should have known the original circumstances.

Conclusion

Thus, although we cannot answer our original question fully and state precisely why Romeo Elton left so large a bequest to Columbian College in 1868, we have been able to construct a scenario that clarifies some aspects of his relationship with the College. Respect for his friend President William Staughton, first of all, and then continuing contacts with successive presidents and other professors at Columbian College would explain the background of the donation. At some point someone (George W. Samson?) must have asked him to make a contribution. This represents an early example of what every university dreams of now: to be remembered in one’s will! Sixteen thousand dollars is certainly no small contribution for someone who was neither a wealthy alumnus nor an emeritus professor. The Elton Chair in Philosophy still exists and the Elton and Staughton Prizes continue to be awarded annually, with only one change being made in the eligibility of candidates. In 1956, Dr. John Francis Latimer, Professor of Latin and Greek and Chairman of the Classics Department, was concerned that so few prizes had been awarded during and after World War II, due to the lack of qualified candidates. Therefore he recommended that prizes be awarded to the outstanding students in the most advanced classes in Latin and Greek, whether or not they were juniors or seniors. In 1973, Dr. Latimer himself (d. 1991), whose career as professor and administrator at G.W. lasted thirty-six years, established a prize “to be awarded to that graduating senior with the most outstanding record as a major in the Department of Classics.”

Thus, at the present time, three prizes are available for annual awards to qualified students enrolled in Classics at The George Washington University. Records kept in the Dean’s Office of Columbian College since 1937 show that the Prizes have been awarded in most years. Of course sometimes the same student wins two of the three prizes (never all three), but this also happened occasionally in the nineteenth century. In 1958, the monetary value of the Elton and Staughton prizes was $30.00 each; by 1975 their value had increased by $5.00. At that time, the newly established Latimer prize was worth $40.00 but now (1995) its value has increase to $250.00 and the Elton and Staughton prizes are worth $100.00 each. The ceremony of awarding these prizes has also changed over the years. As late as the 1960's, Columbian College sponsored a Prize Awards Tea in the lounge of Lisner Auditorium. Now each department handles these arrangements independently. After the departments make their nominations each year, the Dean sends out letters of congratulations to the students including checks. The gold medals ceased to be awarded long ago. As far as I can determine, no department hands out laurel wreaths to its winners.

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1. This discussion is based not only on standard American biographical dictionaries and records kept in the Special Collections department of The George Washington University Library, but also on material kindly supplied to me by Martha L. Mitchell, University Archivist at Brown University: an obituary notice, three letters to Elton from Staughton and one letter from Luther Rice (plus copies of documents relating to the settlement of Elton’s estate).

2. One of President Staughton’s letters to him, however, refers to “your children.” See below in section on “Three Letters.” His will of 1868 mentions no children. A nephew of the same name and a friend in England, Sir Arthur Hallen Elton, received his books.

3. This quotation from a copy of the will at Brown University was kindly supplied to me by Martha L. Mitchell, University Archivist, who also theorizes that the source of Elton’s estate-money was possibly his second wife (Prothesia Savery), described in one of his obituaries as a “authoress of no little reputation.” Note that President George Whitefield Samson’s middle name is given as “Washington.” Perhaps it is an error of the copyist, although in another copy of the will the name is also cited as “George Washington Samson.”

4. According to E. L. Kayser’s Bricks Without Straw (p. 169), during President Welling’s tenure (1871-1894) “[t]he University received gifts of a size far exceeding anything it had know before.” It is possible that Board Member Welling visited Elton in England on his two trips to Europe in 1865 and 1867. A brief letter in the Brown University Archives from President Welling to Samson (dated January 23, 1888), noting the death of Mrs. Elton and her husband’s interest in “Brown” and “Columbian”, inquiries about “the present status of his trust.”

5. It is interesting to note that in Elton’s original letter of Jan. 11, a prize in Luther Rice’s name is mentioned. The extant correspondence does not indicate why this idea was dropped. As early as 1831, Luther Rice had written to Elton about Nicholas Brown’s (for whom Brown University is named) contribution of $2000.00 to Columbian College; in this letter (Brown University Archives) Rice also appears to want to interest Elton in the financial affairs of the College. Two interesting conclusions may be reached from this sequence of donations: (1) the total given by Romeo Elton seems to have been $15,675.80 ($500.00 in 1865 + $8742.88 in 1872 +$6432.92 in 1888); and (2) the settlement of Elton’s estate continued for a long time (eighteen years) after his death (1870-1888). The figures from the G.W. Trustee’s Records do not tally exactly with those found in the Brown University records.

Reprinted with permission of the author, September 1996

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Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian

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