John Hart Hunter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Hart Hunter | |
|---|---|
 Rev. John Hart Hunter | |
| Born | May 3, 1807 US |
| Died | February 12, 1872 (aged 64) Galveston, Texas, US |
| Education | Union College Princeton Theological Seminary |
| Occupation | Pastor |
| Known for | Founder of the Kappa Alpha Society and father of the modern American college fraternity. |
| Spouse | Julia Maria Judson |
John Hart Hunter (May 3, 1807 – February 12, 1872) is recognized as the father of the American college fraternity system. He founded the Kappa Alpha Society (KA) in 1825 at Union College.[1][2]
Studies at Union College
His father, John Hunter, emigrated from Dublin, Ireland to Philadelphia in 1805 and then moved to New York where he worked as a bookkeeper. Hunter, a superb mathematician, soon gave up business for teaching. The elder John Hunter married Sarah Hart of White Plains.
John Hart Hunter was born on May 3, 1807. From his father, he gained a love of scholarship. The younger Hunter developed his early education through extensive reading at the Apprentices' Public Library in New York and particularly enjoyed reading the Waverly novels of Sir Walter Scott.[1]
John Hart Hunter entered college directly into the Junior Class at Union in 1824. He quickly became one of the leading academic scholars of the school at age 17. When Arthur Burtis Jr. entered Union in 1825, also as a Junior following two years at Columbia, college president Eliphalet Nott personally insisted Hunter take him under his wing as a roommate. Thus Hunter's plans for a single room were disrupted, and indirectly President Nott set the stage for the foundation of Kappa Alpha.
On November 26, 1825, John Hart Hunter founded the Kappa Alpha Society, the world's first Greek letter social fraternity, along with eight other students: six of them seniors in the class of 1826, and two juniors of the class of 1827. The first meeting was held in Hunter's dorm room and included discussions of the zodiac.[3]
Upon graduating near the top of his class at Union in 1826, Hunter was admitted to Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied until 1828.