Talk:Joseph Francis Barrett/Archive 1

Archive 1

Middle Name

The 18th edition of Hills and a Star, Phi Sigma Kappa's new member manual, lists information that Joseph F. Barrett's middle name had been recently discovered to be "Francis." This may be surprising to earlier generations of Phi Sigs, taught that his middle name was "Franklin". But indeed, it was Francis.

Joseph Barrett often used the nickname "Frank", which can be a diminutive of either name. Most often he signed his name with the single initial "F". This, or simply a first or last name are visible on numerous original government documents such as census forms available on a search of the Barrett family in their home town of Barre, Massachusetts, and especially via genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com, which typically show "F."

The conflicting data on this issue seems to me to stem from the supposition that Frank would stand for Franklin. Now, interestingly, a document signed by Barrett in 1910 and held by the national headquarters of the fraternity shows the middle name as "Francis." Grand Historian, Al Shonk, Jr., has indicated to me, gently, that one answer to this mystery could be that there may have been a name change at some point in Barrett's life, or that one or another name may be a very, very old error. He was being kind, as the historical record is clear. One notes that gentlemen of this era routinely used initials for their first and middle names in regular business, adding more difficulty to a comprehensive investigation.

Weighing the evidence, I've no doubt that Francis is correct. Readers can look at the UMass (Massachusetts Agricultural College) yearbooks online for the 1871 and 1873 editions, showing our Founders as early students. In several places where the name was spelled out, there it is: Joseph Francis Barrett. Back in Sept of 2016 I had Wikipedia move the article about Barrett to the correct spelling. This is why. Jax MN (talk) 19:04, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Sachem Hall

I've always wondered why our brothers of Epsilon chapter at Yale, of New Haven, CT, named their building Sachem Hall.

Sachem Hall, Phi Sig at Yale (built in 1907)

Of course the old line (pre-Civil War) chapters at Yale used such nicknames: St. Anthony Hall (ΔΨ), St. Elmo's (ΔΦ), the Fence Club (ΨΥ), Vernon Hall (Fiji), York Hall (ΧΦ), and Franklin Hall (ΘΞ) are examples. Delta Psi's Yale nickname spread to their entire small but prestigious national, and they greet guests with, "Welcome to St. Anthony Hall," which, from a marketing perspective, gives them something unique and memorable to talk about. I don't know whether the nickname came first, or the prestige, but if your fraternity house – piles, as they drolly called them -- had a centuries-old sounding name, would you use it? Indeed the sons of industry who joined these posh houses may have spent their early days in named mansions, or estates. I suppose such a nickname was destined, at least for chapters at our Ivy League schools. But which name to choose, when a national fraternity has such a deeply-held mission of serving the common man, and specifically is not aiming to capture the wealthiest? "Wellborn Hall" simply wouldn't do. What was to be the source of our house name at Yale?

I have a conjecture on this. Our national historian may want to investigate this further in the archives at National HQ. But let me connect a few threads of an idea I had.

We know that, in response to their affection of the man, undergraduates nicknamed Founder Barrett "The Big Chief," after his attempt to settle a particularly rambunctious annual convention in 1904. The fellows of these days were already apt to whoop it up with war cries and a snake line at the end of each convention. --A tradition that is followed today. That's one thread.

Next thread: It's a matter of history that Americans of this time were fascinated by a couple of Art Deco-era trends: One was Egyptology, and the other was Wild West, Cowboys and Native Americans - American Indians to their way of thinking. Especially tucked safely away in the cities of the East Coast, anything to do with the indigenous tribes was fascinating. American schoolboys of the time were taught about the "civilized" Eastern tribes, especially the five tribes of the Iroquois nation, and how their ideas of a confederation influenced the Founding Fathers of our country.

In the Iroquois language, which had been used for centuries in what became NY and New England, the word for "Greatest of Chiefs" was ...Sachem. In other words, this is the Iroquois word for "Big Chief."  Was the Sachem Hall moniker a nod to the affection these boys had for our Founder Barrett, with a very 'Yale' spin?

Barrett's nickname was coined in the summer of 1904. At this very time, Epsilon at Yale was in the midst of planning for their new building, completing the structure in 1907.

In English, "Big Chief Hall" wasn't as impressive a name. But Sachem Hall? It has a nice ring to it. Jax MN (talk) 04:15, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

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