Evening star., 1936-05-17
DR.. McVeau,'s School Leader
Among Georgetown Institutions
Many Notables Among Graduates of
Academy Directed by Scholar Who
Took Part in Ciuic affairs.
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

FOLD Georgetown, as thriv-
4 ing port, Of its distinguished
folk. and of the charm OF
~ the old residences we justly
hear much. Too little emphasis has
been placed upon the fact that
GEORGETOWN was once one of the
school centers of the United States.
Here were established a great number
ard variety of private schools for the
training Of the children of the day,
both white and colored. There was
also that academy founded by Arch
bishop Carroll destined to become
world famous as Georgetown Univer-
sity.
Most of these schools properly at
tanned q reputation far beyond
Georgetown's boundaries. One OF the
most widely known was founded as a
classical seminary for young men by
Rev Dr. Wylie, Presbyterian clergy
man. 1t was continued by Rev. DR..
Carnahan, afterward president of
Princeton College. Upon DR.. Carna-
hans elevation to Princeton, the
school was taken over in 1920 as
classical and mathematical academy
by Rev. James McVean, born near
Johnstown, N. Y, in 1896.
A graduate from Union College In
1913 and from Princeton in 1919. his
vas destined to be the honored profess
sion of giving to young minds those
CLEANS of the inner spirit which ever
light the true lamp of knowledge. Miss
Sally Mackall in her Early Days Of
Washington" tells us that DR.. Nc
Vean was the descendant Of Duncan
McVean and Grace Fraser, whose
forhear, Peter Fraser, three times
saved the life of Robert Bruce, for
which act of bravery he was knighted.
Royal titles had lapsed in DR.. Nc
Vean's day, but this schoolmaster Of
old Georgetown was one OF natures
gentlemen who believed that through
birth and education the training Of
youth was his mission to mankind.
His memory lives on in the descend-
ants of the youth of Georgetown in
whom he inculcated Christian ideals
as he trained their minds IN his
academy on West street. now p street.
Enjoyed EnVlaDIe hepuLdII0n.
From the time of DR.. McVeans ac-
-cession to the headmastership Of this
= academy for 81 years until his death
on July 8. lS47, this school enjoyed a
truly enviable reputation. AS is the
case with all significant educational
institutions. the lengthening shadows
of the McVean Academy is to be
found in the caliber of its graduates.
This partial list is indicative of the
type Of leadership which the school
developed. One pupil, Rev. John B.
French, was one of the earliest mis-
sionaries to the Presbyterian Foreign
Board in China. Two generals in the
United States Army, Getty and Plea
sonton, were its graduates. Miss
Nancy Getty, a teacher on the staff
of the Wilson Teachers College. is
one of Gen. Getty's descendants. Ad-
miral Semmes and Francis M. Gun
nell, surgeon general of the United
States Navy, we're always proud to re-
late that they were among DR.. Nc
Vean's boys"
This feeling Of pride in the schoo
of their boyhood days was shared by
many other graduates, who became
ministers of the gospel, physicians
lawyers and men of distinction in the
service of our National Government
at home and abroad. Rev. B. F. Bit
finger at the centennial celebration
of Presbyterianism in the National
Capital on November IS, 1895, refers
to the McVean Academy graduates
then living as Henry C. Cameron.
professor in the University Of Penn
sylvania; Elijah R. Craven. secretary
of the Presbyterian Board of Pub
lications; William A. Butler, eminent
Jurist of New York, and that learned
justice of the District Supreme Court.
Alexander B. Hagner, both beloved
and revered by his contemporaries.
DR.. McVean's own brother Charles,
also his pupil. became States attor-
ney and surrogate judge of New York
and member of Congress during
President Van Buren's administra-
ton.
Dr. McVean was a classical scholar
of distinction. 1t is said of him that
he spoke and read seven languages
with f1uency, and it is a matter Of
record that the chair of Greek was
always open to him at Princeton.
His identity, however, with George
town was inseparable from the time
of his marriage in 1928 to Miss Jane
Moffit Whann, member of one of
Georgetown's fine old families and her
self one Of the first three pupils Of
Miss Lydia Englishs famous seminary
for girls
Daughter Broke Custom.
Years later the marriage of Mar
garet, the daughter of the lovely Mrs.
McVean and Of her widower husband.
was the occasion for a chatty letter
from Mrs. Cassin, Georgetown
neighbor, to her son John. In 1t she
tells Of the impending marriage of
Margaret McVean to DR.. Louis Mac
kali. At the time it was the custom
for the bride to spend "the fortnight"
just prior to her marriage in a re-
tirement from which she was not sup
posed to fare forth far beyond her
threshold. The lovely bride to be, with
something Of the intellectual indie
pendence of her father and certainly
with his full and free consent, defied
precedent by going to Baltimore to
. purchase her wedding gown, with a
chaperone and her wedding party, in
cluding the handsome groom. This
was news indeed, and Mrs Cassin
was so shocked by the whole proceed
Ing that she concluded her letter to
-John with the query, which has such a
familiar sound in our own age, What
do you suppose our young people are
coming to?"
The Georgetown Columbian of Au-
gust II, 1927, gives an interesting ac-
count of one of the annual celebra-
tons of DR.. McVean's school which
took place in the old Presbyterian
church on that date. This was the
order in part of the exercises, inter-
spersed by music. Prayer" IAN Ora
tion on Eloquence" by John OFT, "Eu-
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