Barron
Judge
Weatherly
Peterson
Female Firsts
Milestones for Samford Women
Women over the years have made great contributions to Samford University. Listed below are some of the female firsts. Founding Mother Julia Tarrant Barron is considered the founding mother of Howard College, now Samford University. As such, she represents the first of a number of significant “female firsts” in Samford history. Barron was born in South Carolina but moved with her family to Alabama, then a territory, at a young age. In 1828 she married William Barron, a prosperous businessman in Perry County, Alabama, which had become a state in 1819. William died in 1832, leaving Julia with a large estate. Barron became one of the wealthiest women in the town of Marion, well respected in the community and a prominent member of Siloam Baptist Church. In 1841 she discussed the idea of starting a college for men with James H. DeVotie, the church pastor. She subsequently provided the land on which the college was built, according to a history of the school by James F. Sulzby. Barron is believed to have helped recruit the school’s first president, Samuel Sterling Sherman, and she is credited with being at the head of the school’s donor list. The Alabama Baptist
32 • Seasons • Summer 2019
by William Nunnelley
newspaper, which Barron cofounded, described her as being the school’s first donor.
Female Graduate It would be more than half a century before the school recorded its first female graduate. Anna May Judge attained that distinction in 1896 followed by Alice Eugenia Weatherly in 1898. These women were true pioneers because Samford did not become coeducational until 1913.
Dean of Women and Professor In fall 1913, Mrs. J. C. Hockett was appointed acting dean of women as the school formally admitted female students. The next fall, Hellen Manly Patrick was appointed dean of women and assistant in the English department. Patrick served one year before resigning for health reasons. In 1915, Nannie Merle Hiden became dean of women and was also appointed professor of education. In that role, she oversaw what was then the education department, becoming the first woman to lead an academic department at the school. The decade of the 1920s saw important firsts for women. The first women’s intercollegiate athletic team, for basketball, was formed in 1921.