The Clinton Female Seminary occupied a two-story frame building facing the courthouse square. It reflects the emphasis on literacy, culture, and learning that distinguished Clinton during its glory days from the 1800s through the 1830s, before nearby Gray and Macon supplanted it in importance as hubs of transportation and commerce. Dr. Horatio Bowen, for example, created what Carolyn White called “one of the most complete” personal libraries, a free-standing building constructed next to his home. The Georgia legislature officially incorporated the Clinton Female Seminary on December 15, 1821. James Smith, the enslaved Ellen Craft’s father, was one of the original trustees and served as an interim headmaster. Thomas Bog Slade (June 26, 1900-May 5, 1882) was the Seminary’s most famous headmaster. He facilitated the Seminary’s move to Macon in 1836 and establishment as Georgia Female College (now Wesleyan College), the first college in the US chartered exclusively for women. At the Seminary young ladies were expected to pursue a rigorous, wide-ranging curriculum that included such subjects as Chemistry, Botany, Geography, Natural and Moral Philosophy, Reading, Writing, Grammar, Music, Embroidery, and Painting. Serious study and intellectual growth were central, as well as instruction in cultural and artistic skills that would make the students eligible candidates for marriage and motherhood. In the April 7, 1836 Georgia Citizen (Macon), Headmaster Slade defended his rule prohibiting students from attending “Balls and Parties.” He encouraged parents who questioned this policy to withdraw their daughters post haste. Many of the sixty students boarded at the Seminary during the term or in the homes of local residents. They came from middle Georgia’s most affluent planter families, and their education prepared for them to attract eligible marriage partners and become honorable wives and mothers. Slade, who lived in the building, and his teachers were responsible for their conduct. A student who became pregnant out of wedlock or developed a reputation for promiscuity would have been the death knell for the Seminary. Type: Story
