2014 Meeting Programs
December 4th Program Details
Featured Speakers: Mr. John Caknipe
"Randolph Macon College In The Early Years -- Making Preachers, Teachers and Confederate Officers"
John Caknipe will be the featured speaker for the Granville County Genealogical Society meeting on December 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the large conference room at Richard H. Thornton Library in Oxford. He will discuss his latest book, Randolph Macon College In The Early Years -- Making Preachers, Teachers and Confederate Officers.
When the Methodists came to the United States, they began to conduct services searching for new members of the Church and converts. The first place they relocated to was Brunswick County, VA in 1784, and from that evolved the Old Brunswick Circuit which encompassed the Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina. At the annual Methodist conference held in Oxford, N.C. in 1825, an education committee was established. After several years of work, the result was Randolph Macon College (RMC) which was located in the circuit in Boydton, VA in 1830. In 1844 when the North Carolina folks decided to begin their own conference, they still supported RMC and had several representatives on the Board of Trustees. In 1855, the rift between two powerhouses of the college resulted in a split from North Carolina but even then several of the Board members and sponsors continued to send students from North Carolina. Almost half of the graduating classes from 1837 through 1858 were from North Carolina and about half of the students that took one year of studies at Boydton transferred to UNC and later to Trinity College. Graduates from RMC were responsible for over twenty colleges in North Carolina and several academies.
A southside Virginia native, John Caknipe received graduate degrees from Siena Heights College, Eastern Michigan University and International Graduate School. A college professor for over thirty years, he currently serves on the faculty of Southside Virginia Community College in South Boston, Virginia.
Since 2007, Caknipe has researched and written about the evolution of the Piedmont area. His work was featured in a volume of the Virginia Biography series as well as the credits for the PBS television series "Finding Your Roots" and the NBC television series "Who Do You Think You Are?" He is also the author of Images of America: Around Clarksville, Around South Hill and Chase City and Preachers, Teachers and Confederate Officers: Randolph Macon College -- The Early Years 1830 to 1868 (to be released in Fall 2014).
A former Special Forces U.S. Army disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, John Caknipe and his wife live in Clarksville, Virginia.
Please join the members of the Granville County Genealogical Society at 6:30 P.M. on December 4, 2014
in the small conference room at the Richard H. Thornton Library in Oxford. Visitors are always welcome and are encouraged to join in this presentation.
All GCGS meetings are open to the public and guests are cordially invited to attend.
