"2. And be it further enacted, That the said seminary shall be known and called by the name of Randolph-Macon College.
"3. And be it further enacted, That Hezekiah Leigh, John Early, Edward Cannon, W. A. Smith, William I. Waller, Thomas Crowder, Moses Brock, James Boyd, William Hammett, Caleb Leach, Matthew M. Dance, Lewis Skidmore, Augustine Claiborne, Ethelbert Drake, Henry Fitts, John Nutall, James Wyche, John P. Harrison, Grenville Penn, Walker Timberlake, John G. Claiborne, Howell Taylor, James Smith, Joel Blackwell, John Y. Mason, James Garland, Richard G. Morris, John W. Lewis, William O. Goode, and Nathaniel Alexander be, and are hereby, constituted and appointed trustees of said college, who and their successors shall be a body politic and corporate by the name of the 'Trustees of Randolph-Macon College,' who shall have a perpetual succession and a common seal, and by the name aforesaid they and their successors shall be capable in law to possess, purchase, receive and retain to them and their successors forever, any lands, tenements, rents, goods, chattels or interests of any kind whatsoever, which may have been already given, or by them purchased for the use of said College; to dispose of the same in any way whatsoever they shall adjudge most useful to the interests and legal purposes of the institution; and by the same name to sue and implead, be sued and impleaded, answer and be answered, in all courts of law and equity; and under their common seal to make and establish, from time to time, such by-laws, rules and ordinances, not contrary to the laws and constitution of this Commonwealth, as shall by them be thought essential to the good order and government of the professors, masters and students of said College."
It will appear above that thirty were constituted trustees. Of the thirty, twelve were travelling preachers of the Virginia Annual Conference, and eighteen were local preachers and laymen. The name of Rev. Hezekiah G. Leigh heads the list, as, by courtesy, was proper. All were members of the Methodist Church, except the following: Judge John Y. Mason, John W. Lewis, William O. Goode, and Nathaniel Alexander, the three latter prominent citizens of Mecklenburg county. Of these a number lived to take an active part in the affairs of the college for many years. The last to pass away was Judge Garland, of Lynchburg, who died a few years since at a very advanced age.
It is well known for whom Randolph-Macon College was named—John Randolph, of Roanoke, and Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina. How it came about that a Christian and Methodist college should have been named for men who were not professed Christians, and who had never, so far as is known, shown any preference or kindly interest for the Methodist Church, has been a question of interest and speculation. The most probable solution of the question is that the name was determined very much by precedent. The oldest college in the State, William and Mary, founded primarily and specially for educating "the savages" in Christianity, was named for the King and Queen then on the throne. Washington College was named for Washington, the hero of the day (1782); Hampden-Sidney for the champions of liberty and human rights (1783), all of them Christian colleges, but named for public men, representatives of the sentiments of the periods uppermost when they were founded. Following the precedents set by these colleges, the names then most prominent in Virginia and North Carolina were selected, John Randolph, of Roanoke, and Nathaniel Macon, one living on the south side of the Roanoke River and the other on the north side. Neither of these men was in any way connected with the College, nor did either, so far as is recorded, ever manifest any interest in it by making a contribution to it or otherwise, but both were very popular in their native State, in whose service they literally spent their lives. John Randolph has been called an infidel by some Northern writers, but those who knew him best represent him as far from having been such, though he lived at a time when infidelity was far from being uncommon among public men. At one time, at least, he was a professed believer in Christ, and never gave up his belief, however inconsistent in his life, at times, he may have been.
Hon. J. K. Paulding, a distinguished author and public man, in a letter accepting membership in one of the literary societies of the College soon after it was built, wrote of these men:
"Randolph-Macon combines the names of two very distinguished men, with whom I was acquainted; with the former, long and intimately. Mr. Macon was one of the wisest, most virtuous men I ever knew. His integrity as a private man was only equalled by his devotion to his country and to the great principles of liberty, of which he was a most faithful and devoted advocate. Indeed, I may say, with perfect truth, that in the simplicity of his habits and character, as well as in the purity of his principles, he realized more than any man I ever knew the example of a steadfast, stern, inflexible republican.
"With Mr. John Randolph I was on terms of intimacy for more than twenty years. He was a very extraordinary man, whose life and character should be delineated by one who could analyze them thoroughly and explain their strange apparent inconsistency. To me it always appeared that but for the weakness of his physical constitution and the almost perpetual sufferings it entailed upon him, he would have been one of the highest models of a high-minded gentleman, as well as one of the wisest, most consistent statesmen of the age. But his physical infirmities and sufferings impaired the vigor and consistency of his mind, while they often soured his temper, and caused those sudden caprices, which lost him many friends, and made his greatest admirers almost afraid to indulge in the society of one the charm of whose conversation was otherwise irresistible. This, however, I will say of him, that whatever may have been the infirmities of his temper, his principles were of the most high, and, indeed, lofty character. His integrity was exemplary, and his devotion to the great principles of liberty consistent and profound.
"The life and character of Mr. Macon young men may safely make the objects of their imitation throughout, while Mr. Randolph is rather a subject of admiration and wonder. Virginia should be proud of him as an orator without an equal among his contemporaries and as a man who, with all his faults, was possessed of many virtues of the very highest order."
Looking at the matter from our present standpoint, it seems strange that a more suitable name was not selected more in accordance with the special character of the object of the institution, the blending of the highest culture of the mind with the elevation of Christian character.
[Illustration: REV. JOHN EARLY. First President (1832-1868) of the
Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, and Bishop of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South.]