Kappa Alpha Society

Encyclopedia : K : KA : KAP : Kappa Alpha Society

The Kappa Alpha Society (ΚΑ), founded in 1825, is the oldest continuous national general Greek-letter fraternity in North America. As of 2003 there were seven active chapters in the United States and Canada.

According to the KA account, nine undergraduates at Union College in Schenectady, New York — John Hart Hunter, John McGeoch, Isaac Wilbur Jackson, Thomas Hun, Orlando Meads, James Proudfit, and Joseph Anthony Constant of the class of 1826, and Arthur Burtis and Joseph Law of the Class of 1827—established the Society on November 26, 1825 from an informal group calling itself The Philosophers. It melded characteristics of older secret societies such as Phi Beta Kappa, literary fraternities, and existing formalized social organizations into a new type of organization.

Kappa Alpha, the Sigma Phi Society (est. 1827) and Delta Phi (est. November 1827) constitute the Union Triad, the progenitors of the North American system of social fraternities.

This organization is not to be confused with the Kappa Alpha Order, a completely separate fraternity that operates primarily at schools in Southern and border states.

Contents

Chapters

Chapters are designated with an abbreviation of the institution's Latin name, and are listed here in order of foundation:

Dormant chapters

Plans are underway to recolonize the founding chapter at Union College (CC) as well as the chapter at Cornell University (VC).

Notable alumni

Notable Member Key: Member Name, Chapter, Date Joined (not year of graduation)

Law and politics

Canada

Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King, University of Toronto, 1893. Prime Minister of Canada, 1921-1926, 1926-1930, and 1939-1945.

Member of Federal Parliament

Denton Massey, University of Toronto, 1919. MP for Toronto-Greenwood, 1935-1946. Officer, Order of the British Empire, 1946.
William Pate Mulock, University of Toronto, 1915. MP for York North, 1934-1945. Postmaster General of Canada, 1940-1945.
David Vaughan Pugh, University of Toronto, 1934. MP for Okanagan Boundary, 1958-1968.
Michael Holcombe Wilson, University of Toronto, 1955. MP for Etobicoke Centre, 1978-1993. Minister of State for International Trade, 1979-1980; Minister of Finance, 1984-1991; Minister of International Trade, 1991-1993; Minister of Industry, Science & Technology, 1991-1993. He introduced the unpopular Goods and Services Tax in 1990. Chancellor of University of Trinity College, Toronto, 200?-present. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003. Appointed Canada's Ambassador to the United States, March, 2006.

Provincial Premiers

Donald Ross Getty, University of Western Ontario, 1953. MLA for Strathcona West, 1967-1971; Edmonton West, 1971-1979; Stettler, 1989-1993. Premier of Alberta, 1985-1993. Officer of the Order of Canada, 1998 and recipient of the Alberta Order of Excellence, 1999.

Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)

Ian Thompson Strachan, University of Toronto, 1919. MPP for St.George, 1934-1943. Government Chief Whip, 1937-1943.

Member of the Legislative Assembly (Alberta)

Donald Ross Getty, University of Western Ontario, 1953. See Canadian Politics and Law: Provincial Premiers

United States

Congress

Thomas Allen, Union College, 1832. U.S. Representative from Missouri, 2nd District, 1881-1882 (Died in office).
Leander Babcock, Union College, 1828. U.S. Representative from New York, 23rd District, 1851-1853.
Charles Lewis Beale, Union College, 1842. U.S. Representative from New York, 12th District, 1859-1861.
Gabriel Bouck, Union College, 1846. Wisconsin State Attorney General, 1858-1860. U.S. Represenative from Wisconsin, 6th District, 1877-1881.
Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, Hobart College, 1844. Wisconsin State Senator 1868-1869. U.S. Represenative from Wisconsin, 1877-1883 (5th District) and 1885-1887 (2nd District); U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, 1889-1902; U.S. Consul General in Havana, 1902-1903; U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong, 1903-1906 (resigned). See Armed Forces
John M. Carroll, Union College, 1845. U.S. Representative from New York, 18th District, 1871-1873.
Charles Tappan Dunwell, Cornell University, 1870. U.S. Representative from New York, 3rd District, 1903-1908 (Died in office).
Rodney Frelinghuysen, Hobart College, 1969. New Jersey General Assebly, 1983-1994. U.S. Representative from New Jersey, 11th District, 1995-present.
Lewis Henry, Cornell University, 1905. U.S. Representative from New York, 37th District, 1922-1923.
Levi Augustus Mackey, Union College, 1835. U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 20th District, 1875-1879.
Jesse Olds Norton, Williams College, 1833. U.S. Representative from Illinois, 11th District, 1853-1857, 1863-1865.
Edward Overton Jr., Princeton, 1854. U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 15th District, 1877-1881.
Charles Edward Pearce, Union College, 1861. U.S. Representative from Missouri, 12th District, 1897-1901.
Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873), Union College, 1826. U.S. Representative from New York, 14th District, 1853-1855; Justice of the New York Supreme Court, 1861-1869; Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, 1870-1873 (died in office).
John Benedict Steele, Williams College, 1835. U.S. Representative from New York, 1861-65 (11th District 1861-63, 13th District 1863-65).

U.S. Senate

James Dixon, Williams College, 1833. U.S. Representative from Connecticut, 1st District, 1845-1849; Connecticut State Senate, 1st District, 1849; U.S. Senator from Connecticut, 1857-1869.
Preston King, Union College, 1826. U.S. Representative from New York, 18th District, 1843-1847, 1849-1853; U.S. Senator from New York, 1857-1863.

Governor

Herbert James Hagerman, Cornell University, 1890. Second secretary, U.S. Embassy to Russia, 1898-1901; presented the Order of St. Anne (Russia) by the Czar, 1901; Governor of New Mexico Territory, 1906-07.
Henry Martyn Hoyt, Williams College, 1849. Governor of Pennsylvania, 1879-83.
Horace White, Cornell University, 1883. Member of the New York State Senate, 1896-1908; Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1909-1910; Governor of New York, 1910-1911.

U.S. Supreme Court

Ward Hunt, Union College, 1828. Founder of the New York Republican Party, 1856. Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1872-1882.

Armed Forces

Canada

George Edwin Beament, Brigadier General (CAN), Appointed OBE and Recipient of Croix de guerre (avec palme); University of Toronto, 1929.
Ian Hugh Cumberland, Brigadier General (CAN), Appointed OBE and Recipient of DSO; University of Toronto, 1927.
Douglas Gordon Cunningham, Brigadier General (CAN), Appointed CBE , Recipient of DSO , ED and QC; University of Toronto, 1930.
Andrew Eastman Duncanson, Brigadier General (CAN), Appointed CBE in 1946, Recipient of DSO , VD and three times MID; University of Toronto, 1907.
Clarence Churchill Mann, Vice Chief of the General Staff, Canadian Army HQ, Appointed CBE , Recipient of DSO , Appointed Commander of the Order of Orange Nassau and Officer of the Legion of Merit; University of Toronto, 1923.
Wilfrid Mavor, Brigadier General (CAN), Appointed CBE , Recipient of MC and ED; University of Toronto, 1919. Wounded four times and gassed during WW1.
Harold French McDonald, General Officer (CAN), Commanding Military District No. 13 (Canada), Recipient of DSO , KCMG and the Order of St. Anne (Russia: 2nd Class with Swords); McGill University, 1903. Wounded at Ypres, 1914 and lost left arm at Pozieres, 1916.
Andrew George Latta McNaughton, Lieutenant General (CAN), Recipient of PC , CH , CB , CMG , DSO , CD; McGill University, 1905. Chief of the General Staff, 1929-1935; Minister of National Defence 1944-1945 (resigned); First Canadian Ambassador to the UN, 1950. Wounded at Ypres 1915. Inventor of the "box barrage" artillery firing system, 1918 & the Cathode-ray direction finder (the forerunner to radar), 1926.
Charles Alexander Phipps Murison, Major General (GB), Recipient of the MC and twice MID; McGill University, 1912. Wounded at Barakli Dzoma, 1917.
Christopher Vokes, Major General (CAN); McGill University, 1926.
Gordon Dorward deSalaberry Wotherspoon, Brigadier General (CAN), Recipient of DSO and Netherland's Bronze Lion.

United States

Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, Brigadier General (U.S.); Hobart College, 1844. See American Politics and Law: Congress
James McCredie Irish, Rear Admiral (U.S.); Hobart College, 1903.
Albert James Myer, Brigadier General (U.S.); Hobart College, 1845. "Father of Army Signal Corps" and founder of the U.S. Weather Bureau
James Rufus Tryon, Rear Admiral (U.S.); Union College, 1855. See Medicine
Harry Richards Van Liew, Brigadier General (U.S. Marines); Hobart College, 1926.

Other

Medicine

James Collip, University of Western Ontario, 1948. Discoverer of cortisone and co-discoverer of insulin. Shared John James Richard Macleod portion of the 1923 Nobel Prize for medicine.
William Lawerence Estes Jr., Lehigh University, 1901. President of the American College of Surgeons, 1957-1958.
James Rufus Tryon, Union College, 1855. Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy 1893-1899 (retired). See Armed Forces

Arts and humanities

D. Shayne Aldrich, Union College, 1997. Artist & Celestial Intelligencer.
James Phinney Baxter III, Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History.
Hume Cronyn, McGill University, 1930. Actor. Was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1944.
Oliver Bronson Capen, Hobart College, 1898. Publisher and author.
Fitzhugh Ludlow, Union College, 1856. Author and explorer.
Raymond Hart Massey, University of Toronto, 1914. Actor. Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1940.
Christopher McDonald, Hobart College, 1977. Has acted in over 85 films along with numerous television and theater productions, commonly known for his character "Shooter McGavin" in Happy Gilmore (1996).
Lewis Henry Morgan, Union College, 1839. "Father of American Anthropology"
Ronald D. Moore, Cornell University, 1984. Writer and Producer of TV and film. Notably Star Trek and the remake of Battlestar Galactica. Two-time winner of Hugo Award for Excellence in Science Fiction.
Earl A. Powell III, Williams College, 1963. Currently the Director of the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC.
John Kirk Train Varnedoe, Williams College, 1964. Former Chief Curator of painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art (New York City), 1988-2001. Was dubbed to be “the most powerful man in the modern art world,” by Newsweek before his death in 2003.
James N. Wood, Williams College, 1960. Former President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1980-2004.
Scooby Carolan, Union College, 1998. Owner of [Massive Audio], Influential DJ & Electronic Musician
Steven Solomon, Union College,1977. Writer, Inventor, Near Futurist, Literary Secretary to Professor Anton Saurian. [link]

Business

Verschoyle Philip Cronyn, University of Western Ontario, 1948. Former Director of John Labatt Ltd. Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario, 1961-1967. Brother of Hume Cronyn and cousin of Arthur Labatt.
Arthur Labatt, McGill University, 1953. Founder of Trimark Investment Management, currently the Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario and Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996.
William "Bill" Scandling, Hobart College, 1946. Founder of the college meal plan, at one time was the king of the food service industry, and founder of Saga Corporation (sold to Marriott Corp., 1986).
Augustus Schell, Union College, 1830. Railroad magnate and the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, 1872-1876.

Sports

Richard William Duncan Pound, McGill University, 1957. Former Olympic athlete (1960); Gold, Silver and Bronze medalist at the 1962 Commonwealth Games; Canadian champion (1958, 1960, 1961 and 1962); Secretary General of the Canadian Olympic Committee, 1968-1976; President of the Canadian Olympic Committee, 1977-1982; International Olympic Committee member (IOC), 1978-present; Vice-President of the IOC, 1987-1991 and 1996-2000; Chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), 1999-present; Chancellor of McGill University, 1999-present; Officer of the Order of Canada, 1992 and Officer of the National Order of Quebec, 1993.

References

Kappa Alpha Society. (1881). A biographical record of the Kappa Alpha Society in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.: From its foundation to the present time. 1831-1881. New York, NY: S. W. Green's Son.
Kappa Alpha Society. (2002). A directory of Kappa Alpha 2002: 175th anniversary edition. Purchase, NY: Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company.
Tarleton, R. S. (1993). The spirit of Kappa Alpha: The oldest Greek-letter social fraternity in prose, poetry and picture. New York, NY: John Hart Hunter Press.
The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1941). Kappa Alpha Record: 1825-1940. Clinton, MA: The Colonial Press.
The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1950). Directory of the Kappa Alpha Society 1950. St. Albans, VT: The North Country Press.
The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1960). Kappa Alpha Record 1825-1960. Utica, NY: Thomas J. Griffiths Sons.
The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1976). Kappa Alpha Record 1825-1976: Sesquicentennial edition. Ithaca, NY: Art Craft Printers.

External links

[Kappa Alpha], a history
[The Political Graveyard], U.S. Political Biographies

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