The History of Kappa Sigma
Reprinted with permission from Kappa Sigma International Web Site
Kappa Sigma in America was founded one chilly evening in the fall of 1869, as five students attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville gathered in William Grigsby McCormick's room at 46 East Lawn and planted the seed of Brotherhood. For many weeks the bonds of friendship had drawn these five together; now the need became clear for a formal structure to contain their feelings. Thus, not only did the Founders formalize their friendship, but they also created a fraternity steeped in the traditions of the past and dedicated to the Pursuit of Learning. The new brothers recorded their bond in a Constitution and in an Oath which set forth the ideals and principles to all Kappa Sigmas today.
The Five Friends and Brothers
In 1869 these Five Friends and Brothers brought the Order of Kappa Sigma to the University of Virginia.
George Miles Arnold
George Miles Arnold was born August 27, 1851, in Troy, New York. He entered the University of Virginia in 1869, his chief studies being Latin, French, and mathematics. His facility for languages led his friends to call him "the little Spaniard."
In the summer of 1870, he began a course in medicine at the University and withdrew from Virginia in February, 1871, to enter the Medical College of New York where he completed his medical education. His medical degree was not conferred upon him until a year after finishing, as he was too young at the time. Dr. Arnold had a busy, but short medical career. On January 25, 1890, he died from pneumonia.
Arnold's son, Robert Miles Arnold, became a Kappa Sigma at Gamma-Zeta Chapter at New York University. Legacies such as Robert are a continuing tradition today, with many present Kappa Sigmas being brothers, sons, or grandsons of Kappa Sigmas before them.
George Miles Arnold was very active in the Fraternity during its infancy and through his life. One of the other Founders said of Arnold, "He gave nearly his whole time to the society."
John Covert Boyd
John Covert Boyd was born December 24, 1850, near Bradford Springs, Sumter County, South Carolina. After preparing for college at private schools in Charleston, South Carolina, Boyd spent two years at the University of Virginia from 1869 to 1871.
Boyd began his medical course in his second year at Virginia, then entered the medical department of the University of the City of New York, where he received his M.D. in 1872. Boyd's father and grandfather were also Physicians.
After one year as an intern, Boyd was appointed an assistant surgeon in the Navy medical cops. In 1902, he was appointed a professor in the Naval Medical College. Throughout his career, he authored numerous reports on technical subjects. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Boyd to help incorporate the American National Red Cross. Venerated with McCormick in his final years, Boyd died July 7, 1927.
William Grigsby McCormick
William Grigsby McCormick came to Virginia from a celebrated family. His grandfather Robert(1780-1846) was an inventor who began a family fortune. William's uncle, Cyrus, was a financier and inventor of the McCormick reaper. Still another uncle Leander J., is remembered as the donor of the McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia. On his mother's side, a cousin, Hugh Blair Grigsby, was a President of the College of William and Mary. William's older brother, Rober S., served as the ambassador to Austria, to Russia, and to France.
McCormick was born in Chicago on June 3, 1851. After a preparatory education at the old University of Chicago, he moved to Baltimore in 1865. He enrolled at the University of Virginia in October, 1868, returning again in the year of the founding, 1869.
Leaving the University of Virginia in May, 1870, McCormick and his brother Robert spent six months traveling abroad. Their itinerary included a memorable trip to Bologna. Returning to Baltimore that November, he associated himself with a banking house. McCormick spent the first ten years of his professional life in banking, business and real estate. In 1884, he became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and was engaged with various stock brokerage companies.
McCormick had seven children. One of his three sons, Walter Brooks McCormick, was initiated into Kappa Sigma at the semi-centennial celebration of the Fraternity. This tradition continues today as many "model initiates" are initiated at special occasions such as Biennial Grand Conclaves and Leadership Conferences. At the 28th Biennial Grand Conclave in Los Angeles in 1929, McCormick, the only surviving founder at the time, was elected to the position of Most Worthy Grand Master- the only Kappa Sigma to hold such title. He died November 29, 1941, and the era of the founders came to an end.
Frank Courtney Nicodemus
Frank Courtney Nicodemus, a lifelong resident of Baltimore, was born January 8, 1853. Before entering the University of Virginia, he was a student at Kinner Academy and a friend of Rogers.
Nicodemus left the University of Virginia in the spring of 1870 to join his father's business in which he became a partner four years later. In 1875, Nicodemus and his father formed the investment brokerage firm of J.C. Nicodemus and Son. Four years later Nicodemus formed the firm of F.C. Nicodemus and Co., a manufacturer of boilers, engines, and machinery. In 1885, Nicodemus became the treasurer of the Baltimore post office, and in 1891, he accepted the general agency for Maryland of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company which he continued until his death on May 25, 1919.
Edmund Law Rogers
Edmund Law Rogers was born July 1, 1850, in Baltimore, Maryland. He prepared for college at the James Kinnier Academy in Baltimore, where Founder Frank Courtney Nicodemus was one of his classmates. As with Arnold, Rogers entered the University of Virginia as a freshman in 1869.
Rogers studied architecture and also developed an interest in acting. His graphic talent is apparent in the Badge of Kappa Sigma, which Rogers designed.
Eventually, his interest in acting turned into a career in the theater in 1880. He was a successful actor, known under his stage name as Leslie Edmunds. Rogers was a popular lead and supporting character for productions of the time. He was quick of wit and possessed enormous charm. Rogers died December 19, 1893.
The Golden Hearted Virginian
Stephen Alonzo Jackson
Stephen Alonzo Jackson (left, while attending the University of Virginia) is regarded as possibly the most important man in Kappa Sigma's history. Through his efforts a struggling local fraternity became a strong national organization. He was the architect of our Ritual, writer of our Constitution, and was our first Worthy Grand Master. The following is an excerpt from the Bononia Docet, our pledge manual:
Stephen Alonzo Jackson was born September 22, 1851. He was left motherless in his infancy and was raised by his grandmother. A close associate and brother, Francis Nelson Barksdale, recalled him with these words:
{A} perfect bundle of nervous energy. His love of the Fraternity knew no bounds, and his enthusiasm was so contagious that it influenced everybody who came within his reach. His one ambition was to make Kappa Sigma the leading college fraternity of the world, and to that end he thought and worked by day and night, until the end of his busy life.
During the Fraternity's second Grand Conclave in 1878 in Richmond, Virginia. Jackson was re-elected as Worthy Grand Master. In his speech, he expressed his ideal and goal of an enduring and expanding brotherhood as he addressed the Order:
Why not, my Brothers, since we of today live and cherish the principles of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, throw such a halo around those principles that they may be handed down as a precious heirloom to ages yet unborn? Why not put our apples of gold in pictures of silver? May we not rest contentedly until the Star and Crescent is the pride of every college and university in the land!
Jackson died on March 4, 1892. His legacy to the Fraternity included its Ritual, a revised Constitution, a precedent-setting Grand Conclave, the first southern Fraternity to extend a chapter to the north, and above all else, a spirit for expansion.