1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Vol. LV, No. 6THE SCROLLPHI DELTA THETA$ K *, and 2 X were suspended inthe same period, as well as II B * andK K r, the parent chapters of boththese sororities.The antifraternity ruling at Monmouthwas withdrawn a few years agoand the Illinois Gamma alumni at thattime manifested interest in the restorationof the chapter, which, however,the Survey Commission deemed it unwisefor the present to consider.The pioneering work of one man isseen again in the establishment of theOglethorpe chapter. The trail blazerwas C. B. Gaskill, responsible formuch of the early Georgia expansion.Gaskill had corresponded with a VirginiaAlpha member and in time withthe Grand Alpha chapter at Miami.Due precaution was observed duringthe preliminary negotiations and onMay 8, 1871, Ohio Alpha granted thecharter. "Phi Delta Theta was thefirst fraternity of northern origin toenter Georgia after the Civil War."The Oglethorpe chapter, GeorgiaAlpha of course, was active in spreadingthe Fraternity among other Georgiacolleges, Georgia Beta in the University,Gamma at Emory, etc. Nameswere revised later. The Alpha chaptercame to an abrupt end, however,with the closing of Oglethorpe Universityat the end of the fall term in 1872.The catalog of 1894 first labeled theOglethorpe chapter Georgia AlphaPrime, after the other Georgia chaptershad each been moved up a notchalphabetically. But one member ofGeorgia Alpha Prime survives. He isDr. Benjamin Palmer Gaillard, retiredprofessor of the North Georgia AgriculturalCollege, a Golden Legionnaireand a most enthusiastic Phi.Astronomy gives us records of certainstars which have had brilliantperiods of ascendancy and then suffereddeclines, comet-like, into thenothingness of too-distant heavens.A parallel is to be seen in the "rise andfall" of the Wooster chapter, OhioDelta. The initiative in formationhere again came from a Hanover man,R. H. McCelland, '74. He entered[373]Wooster in the fall of 1871 and immediatelyset to work to establish achapter, with the result that on February24, 1872 Ohio Alpha grantedthe coveted charter. By commencementin 1873 the chapter claimedtwenty-one members. An aflSliate ofthat year, Charles T. Jamieson of theHanover chapter, became one of theFraternity's strongest workers.As early as the fall of 1873, OhioDelta at Wooster became the "firstchapter" of the whole Fraternity.Miami had suspended, due to financialdifficulties, and Ohio Alpha at a specialmeeting on August 11, 1873 "decidedto transfer the business of the GrandAlpha, until the Convention, to theOhio Delta." The Wooster chapterwell merited the confidence placed init, despite its youth, since it was in avery flourishing condition. The Conventionof 1874 made official the transferof authority and established OhioDelta as National Grand. This authorityresided with Ohio Delta untilit was transferred, in 1878, to PennsylvaniaAlpha at Lafayette.A premature suspension of OhioDelta occurred in the fall of 1880 whenthe active chapter, due to the lack ofgood fraternity material in the Ohioschool, surrendered its charter. Thefollowing spring two of the chapter'syoungest members engineered a revivalof its activity when nine menwhom they had secretly pledged appearedin church one Sunday morningwith $ A 0 badges. The GeneralCouncil returned the Charter. THechapter name, which the Conventionof 1875 had changed to Ohio Zeta, wasrestored to Ohio Delta by the 1880Convention.A Wooster chapter letter of May,1897, showed a membership of ten,with high expectations for the followingyear. However, only two membersreturned to college. They decided thatdue to deterioration in the quality ofthe student body the chapter's prospectswere not good, and the ProvincePresident after a visit reluctantly concurredin the opinion. Hence, the