Founding Fathers
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
University of Connecticut

 Abner Edwin Patton
Abner Edwin Patton was born in Knoxville, Alabama, September 14, 1835. He spent his early life in Greene County, Alabama. He entered the University of Alabama, October 4, 1854, and was graduated in 1857. At the Fraternity's first meeting he was elected president of the chapter. He entered the confederate Army as a private with the Eleventh Alabama regiment in the Army of Virginia, where he was adjutant of the regiment. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Gaines Mill, July 13, 1863, and died in a hospital in Richmond, VA, where he was buried.


 John Webb Kerr
John Webb Kerr was born March 7, 1835, as Greensboro, Alabama. He entered the University of Alabama, October 19, 1852. He was elected first secretary of the Fraternity. after graduation in 1856 he began the study of law in the office of Chief Justice Peck of Alabama. In the fall of that year he entered the law department of Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee. He left shortly and entered Harvard Law School where he received his LL.B. in 1858. He died in St. Louis, Missouri, September 14, 1898.


 Nathan Elams Cockrell
Nathan Elams Cockrell was born at Livingston, Alabama, September 27, 1833. He entered the university of Alabama in 1854 and was graduated July 18, 1856. He managed his father's plantation and later became editor of the Livingston Messenger. He was the first founder to die - June 3, 1859 - and is buried at Sumterville, Alabama.


 Noble Leslie DeVotie
Noble Leslie Devotie was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, January 24, 1838. He spent his early life in Marion, Alabama. He entered the University of Alabama in October, 1853, in the sophomore class, having spent his two years at Howard College. All through his university course he brilliantly maintained his intellectual supremacy. His grade average for his entire course at Alabama was 96 3/4. He was graduated as valedictorian at the had of his class July 17, 1856. In the fall of 1856 he entered Princeton Theological School, from which he graduated in 1859. The he became pastor of the First Baptist Church at Selma, Alabama. In 1861 he enlisted as chaplain in the C.S.A. when the Independent Blues and the Governor's Guard of Selma were sent to Fort Morgan. On February 12, 1861, as he was about to board a steamer at Fort Morgan, Alabama, he made a misstep and fell into the water. Three days later his body was washed ashore. He was the first man to lose his life in the Civil War.


 Samuel Marion Dennis
Samuel Marion Dennis was born at Richmond, Alabama, December 24, 1834. In his senior year at college he attended Princeton University from which he was graduated in 1857. He studied law and located in Columbus, Texas. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined "Terry's Texas Rangers" and served in Company K, Eighth Texas Calvary, C.S.A. He was captured by Union soldiers near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, placed on a steamboat and sent northward to Saint Louis and confined in a military prison. Clothed in his wet garments, he contracted pneumonia and died January 28, 1863.


 Wade Foster
Wade Foster was born March 7, 1838, as Fosters, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He was graduated in 1856, and went to Starkville, Mississippi, to become principal of the high school. On November 11, 1857, he married Sara Bell at Starkville and in 1860 moved to DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, where he began the life of a cotton planter. During the Civil War he was a private in Company D, Second Alabama Calvary, under General Forrest in Ferguson's Brigade. His company surrendered at Washington, Georgia, while acting as escort for Jefferson Davis. After the war he engaged in business at Marshall, Texas, and died there February 15, 1867.


 Thomas Chappell Cook
Thomas Chappell Cook was born in Fairfield, Alabama, September 19, 1836. He entered the University of Alabama, October 5, 1853, and remained there until January 1, 1856. Later he attended Princeton University and was graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the 1st Texas heavy artillery. After the war, he returned to Weimar, Texas. He was a member of the 19th Legislature of Texas in 1885-1886/ He was County Physician of Colorado County, Texas. President Cleveland appointed him medical examiner of the U.S. Army and Navy in 1889-1893. He died at Weimar, Texas, February 18, 1906.


 John Barratt Rudulph
John Barratt Rudulph was born in Benton, Alabama, October 10, 1837. He was graduated in 1856 and married Miss Virginia Blount July 2, 1856. He was delegate to the state convention of 1861, known as the secessionist convention of Alabama. He enlisted as captain in the 10th Alabama regiment of Calvary in 1862 and rose to the rank of Major and later Colonel, November 27, 1864. He lost his left arm at the battle of New Hope Church on May 27, 1864. After the was he moved to Pleasant Hill, Alabama, where he was Justice of the Peace for Dallas County, Alabama, and Tax Assessor in 1890-92. He became president and also a trustee of the Pleasant Hill Academy. He attended the Atlanta Convention in 1906 and the Atlantic City Convention in 1909. He died at Pleasant Hill, Alabama, April 13, 1910, and was buried there.