SRU turning
SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University is looking for descendants of its founders in honor of its 125th anniversary.
In the late 1880s, the residents of what was then called Centerville were interested in opening a state school. To raise money, they sold stock to 100 people for $100 per share.
Bob Watson, interim vice president for student affairs at SRU, said that relatives of these shareholders are still around.
“They may be a mile and a half away. They could be in Sacramento,” Watson said.
He said he also is interested in finding relatives of early employees and students.
“First of all, we need to know who they are,” Watson said.
He said he wants to know what descendants know and to see if they have any memorabilia or documents.
There is one thing in particular he hopes to find.
“We are genuinely interested in trying to find one of the original stock certificates,” Watson said, noting neither he nor any others who keep track of SRU history have ever seen one or gotten hold of one.
Because of a flood many years ago in the basement of Old Main, no documents from 1889 to about 1915 exist.
“We've lost everything,” Watson said, saying all information known about that period comes from yearbooks and catalogs.
SRU will be holding a big celebration June 21, and Watson hopes that relatives of founders will be in attendance.
History students will be on hand to interview people to make oral histories. This is important, Watson said, because people with knowledge of the past die every day.“When those people are lost, there's no coming back,” Watson said.Genealogy specialists and archivists also will be at the event.Part of the challenge of finding descendants of the founders comes because many of the women who are related to them got married and changed their names, making them almost impossible to track.Watson himself is a descendant of SRU founders. Four of his family members bought stock, and his great-grandfather, John N. Watson, served on the council of trustees early on in SRU's history. John Watson, a stone mason who owned a general store, also carved a pair of stone lions that flanked the entrance to West Gym.In 25 years, SRU will celebrate its 150th anniversary. Watson said he and the few other SRU historians likely will not be around at that point.He hopes the 125th anniversary's events will help find some people to carry on.“We want to find out who else shares that passion that we share,” Watson said.Watson has researched the history of SRU since the 1970s, and he wrote two history books on it, including ”Slippery Rock University: The Legend Behind the Name,” released in 2012.“You can never know too much about its roots, its beginning, its early development,” Watson said.People who believe they are related to SRU founders or who have other information should contact SRU's student affairs office at 724-738-2003.
To raise money to found the Slippery Rock State Normal School, which is today known as Slippery Rock University, residents of the town of Centerville, today known as Slippery Rock, sold shares of stock.Listed below are the names of original stockholders that Bob Watson, interim vice president for student affairs at SRU, believes still have descendants in the Slippery Rock and Butler County areas.J.S., Thomas, Miss M.C., and Mrs. J.S. Bingham and O.K. BinghamJ.H., C.I., Miss Mary and A.W. ChristleyJoseph L., A.I., George W., Salina, Hattie, Frank and Clara CooperJ.M. and Mrs. Mary CovertFred DoerrW.R. HockenberryJacob HilgarW.M. and C.R. HumphreyJohn KellyL.D. KiesterJames P. McQuistionHenry McConnellW.J., S.G. and John MorrisonJ. Frank and Mrs. J. Frank MillerNorman D., Lewis C. and James R. PattersonRobert RalstonC. SandersonP.M. SowashMary A. VincentJohn N., Mrs. Roy A., Earl and Grover WatsonJ.S., David, Caroline, R.A. and Margaret Wilson.
