1848 -Hibernia House Bethany- letter of MA's arrival in Bethany

                            

Hibernia House, Main Street, Bethany, WV

Mary Anna’s fluttery stomach due to both nervousness and the winding curves of the hilly rural roads approaching the town of Bethany reflect both my own experience upon first traveling to Bethany as a college student and the emotions of many other nervous students arriving there for the very first time. Many students will remember the view of Bethany College as one rounded a final curve on the road from Wheeling to Bethany.

Mary Anna’s actual arrival was documented in a letter written by Mary Campbell, one of the “Hibernia Campbell girls” to a cousin. This letter was recorded in “Bethany of a Bygone Day,” an unpublished manuscript which can be found in the Bethany College Archives. Mary Campbell writes:

    "I must tell you another adventure about two weeks ago. A grand hack (with footman, driver, and outrider) arrived at our house. It contained a lady, her daughter, and two young gentlemen.The lady was Mr. T.F. Campbell's sister. She entered her daughter at Pleasant Hill and the two young gentlemen at the college. They live in the southern part of Louisiana and were never in the north before. Of course they had fairy dreams about Bethany and Brother Campbell. Her daughter is about 15 and looks a good deal like Miss Best, only prettier. Such a time as we had entertaining them. You know we have no way of receiving company, especially people like them who are accustomed to be waited on all their lives by slaves. We soon dispatched the young gentlemen upstairs, but the ladies-- I could not describe the scene on paper. Jane Eliza paid them a great deal of attention. They stayed at our house for ten days. Poor Anne made her escape to Lizzie's.....We got very well acquainted with the southern folk, indeed, they cried when they were leaving.

    Excuse my haste, and believe me your ever affectionate cousin, Mary

“Bethany of a Bygone Day” also notes the fledgling relationship between Jane Eliza Campbell and Thomas Franklin “T.F.” Campbell, with another letter from the Campbell girls, calling him “Jane Eliza’s gallant.”

Insight about the life of Bethany College students living at Hibernia was provided by the diary of one of its residents, J.W. Carter. I came across this forgotten diary while researching Thomas Franklin Campbell, who was one of J.W.'s friends. In the diary, J.W. details his life at Hibernia and at Bethany College, and many of his friends, including "T.F." Campbell, John McGarvey, J.D. Pickett, Charles Loos and others."Willie" Purvis, Fountain and Mary Anna are also mentioned in the diary. You can read his diary, edited with photographs and illustrations here.

Bethany College in 1850-The Diary of J.W. Carter

(E-book edition release summer of 2022)

The 1850 census of Brooke County shows Archibald Campbell and his family living in the house, along with a number of students. These include Thomas Campbell, Fountain Campbell, and fourteen-year-old William Purvis.

1850 Census, Brooke County, Va.

Hibernia House still stands today on the main street of Bethany. It has a rich and varied history. Since its years as a boarding house, it has been home to college presidents, faculty, visiting scholars, and the Kappa Delta Sorority. 

Sources:

"Bethany of a By-Gone Day" p. 239, unpublished manuscript, Bethany College Archives

"Bethany College in 1850- The Diary of J.W. Carter" Janice Garrison Shepherd, CreateSpace Independent Publishing 2015 

Cobb, R. Jeanne. Hibernia House notes. Research/Survey of Historic Architecture. Bethany College. Bethany: The Council of Independent Colleges, 2003.