"When going to New Orleans, in 1877, I met him going to Washington City to preach the first sermon to the President-elect, R. B. Hayes. It was not long before wires flashed to me the startling news of his death. Duncan, Marvin, A. T. Bledsoe, Doggett, in a single year. Heaven was drawing heavily upon our beloved church. Duncan's old pupil, President Smith, took up the work he and the sainted Bennett laid down.
"The Randolph-Macon System of Schools and Colleges is a worthy monument to the memory of our dead Duncan. May the graduates of these schools be living stones in the living shaft, ever rising higher and higher to the memory of Olin, Garland, Smith, and their successors, who spent their best days for the advancement of Christian education at our alma mater."
The number of students matriculated the first session was 67. Under all the embarrassments and difficulties of the situation, this number was as great as could have been expected. The income from such a small number was insufficient to meet the expenses, and here ensued the old trouble, which had been such a clog in the past, that is, straitened finances. The condition of the country was anything but favorable to any effort to raise funds for the College. Various plans were proposed, some of which were adopted, but none of them brought speedy relief, and the embarrassment became very onerous and trying. By the efforts of the Agent, Rev. W. B. Rowzie, and the securing of a loan by D'Arcy Paul, Esq., the College was carried through the first session.
The first annual report of the President was made June 21, 1869. The following synopsis is given:
Congratulates the Board on the increase of patronage; the zeal and efficiency of the Faculty; the diligence and good order of the students; the general healthfulness and pleasant harmony of all connected with the institution, and the increased confidence of the public in the permanency and success of Randolph-Macon College; expresses the conviction that the only condition prerequisite to complete success, under the providence of God, is a determined and energetic purpose to succeed; affirms that the demand for such an institution to secure important interests of Methodism is imperative;…. refers to his visit to the Baltimore and North Carolina Conferences and the cordial reception given by these Conferences; recommends a fiscal secretary or director, whose duty it shall be to take entire control of the financial interests of the College, except as to matters in the hands of the Proctor, and to do all he can by travelling and speaking for the College.
The following degrees were conferred, on the recommendation of the Faculty, viz.: LL. D., on Professor Francis H. Smith, of the University of Virginia; D. D., on Rev. James L. Pierce, of the Georgia Conference, Rev. William G. Connor, of the Texas Conference, and Rev. John C. Granbery, of the Virginia Conference. The commencement in June was well attended, especially by visiting Trustees and others from the Baltimore Conference.
An excellent dwelling for the President had been erected by the liberal aid of a friend in Richmond. At an adjourned meeting of the Board, held in Richmond, Va., next November, there were several causes for encouragement. The Agent reported subscriptions amounting to over $13,000. Of this Samuel O. Moon, Esq., of Albemarle, gave $5,000 in Virginia bonds; the Society of Alumni, $1,200; Major W. T. Sutherlin, of Danville, $1,500 ($300 per annum for five years to meet current expenses). But the most important action taken was on the suggestion of Rev. W. H. Christian, an alumnus of the College (class of 1851.) In response to this suggestion, the following resolutions were adopted:
"Resolved, That we request the Virginia Conference to order that the deficiency in the yearly revenues of the College (which shall be reported by the Board to each annual session of the Conference) shall be divided among all the districts of the Conference, and sub-divided among all the stations and circuits by the district stewards, as in case of the Conference collection, and shall be raised by collections in every congregation, and embraced in the annual report of the recording steward of every charge to the Financial Board of the Conference.
"Resolved, That when the Virginia Conference shall have adopted the plan proposed, all its ministers shall be entitled to send their sons of proper age and acquirements to College without payment of tuition fees; that the Baltimore Conference, by adopting the same plan, shall be entitled to the same privilege, and that $2,500 be fixed as the amount to be raised by each of these Conferences for the next year."
This action has been considered, and rightly so, to have been for the time and under the embarrassments of the surroundings the most important and efficient ever taken by the Board. With a small assessment of about five cents on each member of the church in the two Conferences, the annual income was in a short time increased by the sum of $4,000, which was equal to the dividends on an endowment of about $70,000. The Conferences adopted the plan, and have annually raised a large percentage of the assessment, the Virginia Conference having in 1882 increased its assessment to $3,500.