Mystical Seven (Wesleyan)
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The Mystical Seven is a society founded in 1837 at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
in Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
that currently is in existence as two separate groups. Publicly, members are called Mystics.
Early history
The Mystical Seven was founded in 1837, just six years after the founding of Wesleyan University. It was officially recognized by the university on October 16, 1837. It was Wesleyan's first society, founded a half year before EclecticEclectic Society (Fraternity)
The Eclectic Society was originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and was one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States...
(May 1838). Of the seven founding members, senior Hamilton Brewer was recognized as primus inter pares
Primus inter pares
Primus inter pares is Latin phrase describing the most senior person of a group sharing the same rank or office.When not used in reference to a specific title, it may indicate that the person so described is formally equal, but looked upon as an authority of special importance by their peers...
behind the establishment of the society. The members met each week at their meeting space in the furnished attic of Wesleyan's North College. The society began Wesleyan's first student publication, The Classic, in 1840.
The Mystical Seven is always referred to as a society, but it is one of the early college fraternities. Through the 1840s and 1850s it was a peer organization with Wesleyan's Eclectic Society
Eclectic Society (Fraternity)
The Eclectic Society was originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and was one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States...
, Psi Upsilon
Psi Upsilon
Psi Upsilon is the fifth oldest college fraternity in the United States, founded at Union College in 1833. It has chapters at colleges and universities throughout North America. For most of its history, Psi Upsilon, like most social fraternities, limited its membership to men only...
, Alpha Delta Phi
Alpha Delta Phi
Alpha Delta Phi is a Greek-letter social college fraternity and the fourth-oldest continuous Greek-letter fraternity in the United States and Canada. Alpha Delta Phi was founded on October 29, 1832 by Samuel Eells at Hamilton College and includes former U.S. Presidents, Chief Justices of the U.S....
and Chi Psi
Chi Psi
Chi Psi Fraternity is a fraternity and secret society consisting of 29 active chapters at American colleges and universities. It was founded on Thursday May 20, 1841, by 10 students at Union College with the idea of emphasizing the fraternal and social principles of a brotherhood...
. However, instead of Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
references, it chose Hebraic
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. I.K.A. at Trinity
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
(1829), and Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
at Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(1832), were other nearby non-Greek inspired college fraternities.
From about 1856 to 1865 the Mystical Seven was partners in the Alpha Eating Club with the Eclectic Society
Eclectic Society (Fraternity)
The Eclectic Society was originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and was one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States...
.
The society was especially known for the quality of its arcana. "Never have I seen anything so original, so quaint, so completely unique, or irresistible in its solemn humor, as the Mystical Seven initiation and the ceremonies of its meetings." A similar commentator noted that the Mystical Seven, "in some respects [was] among the most ambitious efforts at creating a college secret society with a good ritual."
The Mystical Seven also had a serious academic and philosophical aspect, including public events like bringing Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
to speak at the campus, or later Orestes Brownson
Orestes Brownson
Orestes Augustus Brownson was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer...
, whose address to the society was later published as "Social Reform: An Address Before the Society of the Mystical Seven".
The Mystical Seven was the first college fraternal organization to admit women, and initiated several during the 1840s. Later a law was enacted in the society that allowed the wife of a member to become initiated at that member's discretion.
The Mystical Seven expanded to several other universities. The chapters of the society were recognized as "temples", with the "Temple of the Wand" being the parent chapter at Wesleyan. In 1841, the first temple was founded outside of Wesleyan, when Mystical Seven was established at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
. Henry Branham brought the society from Wesleyan to Emory, and there interested in membership the president of the university, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet was an American lawyer, minster, educator, and humorist, known for his book Georgia Scenes.-Biography:...
, the humorist author of Georgia Scenes. Branham later became Longstreet's son-in-law. Longstreet, his two daughters, and his two sons-in-law were all eventually made Mystics. When Longstreet moved his family to Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1835, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract....
to become president of the University of Mississippi, they created the Temple of the Star at Mississippi. Historical accounts conflict as to whether or not the Temple of the Wand recognized the legitimacy of any of the other temples founded throughout southern universities. Most were established by one another, with Emory being the only one that may have had a direct tie back to the Wesleyan temple.
- Temple of the Wand - Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan UniversityWesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
- 1837 - Temple of the Sword - Emory UniversityEmory UniversityEmory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
- 1841-1860 - Temple of the Wreath (first) - Transylvania UniversityTransylvania UniversityTransylvania University is a private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Christian Church . The school was founded in 1780. It offers 38 majors, and pre-professional degrees in engineering and accounting...
- 1843-1844 - Temple of the Skull - University of GeorgiaUniversity of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
- 1846-1854 - Temple of the Star - University of MississippiUniversity of MississippiThe University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
- 1848-1878 - Temple of the Wreath - Centenary CollegeCentenary College of LouisianaCentenary College of Louisiana is a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is one of the founding members of the Associated Colleges of the South, a pedagogical organization consisting of sixteen Southern liberal arts colleges...
- 1849-1861 - Temple of the Scroll & Pen - Genesee CollegeGenesee Wesleyan SeminaryThe Genesee Wesleyan Seminary was the name of two institutions located on the same site in Lima, New York.The Genesee Wesleyan Seminary was founded in 1831 by the Genesee Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The plan for its establishment dates to 1829 when the Conference...
- 1855-1871 - Temple of the Hands and Torch - University of VirginiaUniversity of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
- 1868-1885 - Temple of the Serpent - Cumberland UniversityCumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1842, though the current campus buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.-History:...
- 1867-1873 - Temple of the Star and of the South - University of North CarolinaUniversity of North CarolinaChartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
- 1884-1885 (founded by Temple of the Hands and Torch) - Temple of the Sword and Shield - Davidson CollegeDavidson CollegeDavidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
- 1884-1885 (founded by Temple of the Hands and Torch)
The Transylvania temple was destroyed in the Mexican War. The Wesleyan, Emory, Centenary, and Georgia temples did not survive the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The Genesee temple did not survive the closing of the college. The Mississippi temple did not survive campus politics.
The Mississippi temple did create the Virginia temple, but did not pass to it the traditions of the society.
Influences on other organizations
Since the Mystical Seven introduced the idea of the college fraternity into the South, it had considerable influence on the development of organizations in the Antebellum South. All private college societies were, for a time, called 'Mystic Associations' in Georgia. A competitor society called W.W.W. was designed on principles more similar to the Mystical Seven than to Northern college fraternities. It has also been assumed that a society for adult men, not connected to colleges and universities, called the Order of HeptasophsOrder of Heptasophs
The Order of Heptasophs was a fraternal organization established in New Orleans, Louisiana in April 1852. The name is derived from Greek roots meaning seven and wise and means the seven wise men...
, was at least organized on principles parallel to the Mystical Seven, if not by alumni of the Mystical Seven themselves. The resemblances of the ceremonies of the two societies "cannot be given at length; but they leave little room for doubt that...the Heptasophs or Seven Wise Men...is an indirect descendent of the Mystical Seven college fraternity."
Mystic Seven Fraternity and Phi Theta Alpha
In the early 1880s, the Virginia temple was virtually alone. In 1884, it created chapters at North Carolina and Davidson. In the following year, it reconstituted itself as the Mystic Seven Fraternity, and also used the name Phi Theta Alpha. This new society was led by Cooper D. Schmidt. The fraternity had lost almost all the traditions of the older society. It also had a publication, The Mystic Messenger, which published articles including annual reports and history of the society, and some questioned why the society even had such a distinctive, non-Greek letter name. This three-chapter organization began negotiations with Beta Theta PiBeta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
in 1888, and merged with Beta Theta Pi in 1889.
Subsequent history at Wesleyan
The Mystical Seven society became dormant at Wesleyan in 1861; it had not been meeting as a society since 1858. In 1867, a petitioning group for a Delta Kappa EpsilonDelta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
chapter claimed initiation into the Mystical Seven for the purposes of securing a DKE charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
, which was successful.
Later, in 1868, the DKE members formed a new society called Owl & Wand, which was to be a senior society and use the premises of the old Mystical Seven (the attic of North College). As a senior society, it took as members individuals who were already members of four-year college fraternities, and was considered an 'honorary'. In 1890, the Owl & Wand group, without any knowledge of the workings of the Mystical Seven or an intent to restore them, claimed to be the older society. The senior society died off in the 1960s. In 1970-71, some Mystical Seven alumni re-started the society, and at a time when historically single-sex student groups were pressured to become coed, the new Mystical Seven embraced this change, which helped it to survive a decade that was detrimental to many other student societies and fraternities. The society as it was rebuilt in the 1970s has continued on successfully to the present day.
During the 1980s, a group of students also decided to re-establish the original society. Much work was employed in reconstructing the practices of the original society including the addition of much written material from several sources. The two Mystical Seven groups clashed during 1990, (and again in 2001), in a dispute over which group was legitimate. Today, the two groups continue to co-exist with little interaction with one another.
The meeting place of the senior society Mystical Seven on Wyllys Avenue, known as the Mystic Templum, was gutted by fire in 1995. The building remained boarded up until it was razed in the summer of 2007. The seven-sided building, with seven-sashed windows and a seven-paneled door, had originally been dedicated in 1912.
Notable alumni
Wesleyan Alumni:- Augustus Baldwin LongstreetAugustus Baldwin LongstreetAugustus Baldwin Longstreet was an American lawyer, minster, educator, and humorist, known for his book Georgia Scenes.-Biography:...
, President of Emory UniversityEmory UniversityEmory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
(1840–1848), President of Centenary CollegeCentenary College of LouisianaCentenary College of Louisiana is a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is one of the founding members of the Associated Colleges of the South, a pedagogical organization consisting of sixteen Southern liberal arts colleges...
(1848–1849), President of University of MississippiUniversity of MississippiThe University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
(1850–1856) - Miles Tobey GrangerMiles T. GrangerMiles Tobey Granger was a U.S. Representative from Connecticut.Born in New Marlborough, Massachusetts, Granger moved with his parents to Canaan, Connecticut, in 1819....
, judge and U.S. Congressman (1887–1889) - William Henry HuntingtonWilliam Henry HuntingtonWilliam Henry Huntington was an American journalist, born at Norwich, Conn. He attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and there became a member of the Mystical Seven. He was in Paris as correspondent of the New York Tribune for 20 years, from 1858. He notoriously nicknamed...
, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
correspondent of the New York TribuneNew York TribuneThe New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
(1858–1878) - Orestes Augustus Brownson, TranscendentalistTranscendentalismTranscendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian...
author - Robert Carter PitmanRobert Carter PitmanRobert Carter Pitman was a Superior Court judge in Massachusetts, a temperance advocate, and a legislator in the Massachusetts General Court....
, President of Massachusetts SenateMassachusetts SenateThe Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state...
(1869) - Samuel NellesSamuel Sobieski NellesSamuel Sobieski Nelles was a Canadian Methodist minister and academic.Born in Mount Pleasant, Brant County, Upper Canada, the eldest son of William Nelles and Mary Hardy who had immigrated to Canada from New York state after the War of 1812, Nelles was educated in local schools, the Lewiston...
, first President of Victoria University in the University of TorontoVictoria University in the University of TorontoVictoria University is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division...
(1884–1887) - L. Q. C. LamarLucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (II)Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar was an American politician and jurist from Mississippi. A United States Representative and Senator, he also served as United States Secretary of the Interior in the first administration of President Grover Cleveland, as well as an Associate Justice of the U.S...
, Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1888–1893) - Edward Gayer AndrewsEdward Gayer AndrewsEdward Gayer Andrews was a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872.He was born in New Hartford, New York . He was educated at Cazenovia Seminary, Cazenovia, New York, and at Wesleyan University, , where he became a member of the Mystical Seven...
, Methodist Bishop (1876–1904) - Alonzo Jay EdgertonAlonzo J. EdgertonAlonzo Jay Edgerton was an American politician, who graduated from Wesleyan University in 1850, and there became a member of the Mystical Seven. After residing in Mississippi and Illinois for periods of time, Edgerton settled in Mantorville in 1855 and was admitted to the bar. In 1859 he was...
, U.S. Senator from MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
(1881–1883) - Henry White WarrenHenry White WarrenHenry White Warren was an American Methodist Episcopal bishop and author, brother of William Fairfield Warren. He was born at Williamsburg, Mass., and graduated in 1853 at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. He taught ancient languages at Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass. , and then entered...
, Massachusetts legislature, Methodist Bishop (1880–1912) - William Fairfield WarrenWilliam Fairfield WarrenWilliam Fairfield Warren was the first president of Boston University.-Biography:Born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, he graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. , and there became a member of the Mystical Seven. He later studied at Andover Theological Seminary and at Berlin and Halle...
, first President of Boston UniversityBoston UniversityBoston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
(1873–1903) - David J. BrewerDavid Josiah BrewerDavid Josiah Brewer was an American jurist and an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for 20 years.-Early life:...
, Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1890–1910; nephew of founder Hamilton Brewer)
Other Alumni
- John Brown GordonJohn Brown GordonJohn Brown Gordon was one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted Confederate generals during the American Civil War. After the war, he was a strong opponent of Reconstruction and is thought by some to have been the titular leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia during the late 1860s. A member of the...
, Major General, Confederate States of AmericaConfederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, (1846-1848), University of GeorgiaUniversity of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
, Temple of The Skull and Bones