Thomas Boston Gordon was an American educator, attorney, and county judge in Kentucky. He was a founding member of Beta Theta Pi national fraternity.
Mount Olivet Cemetery is a 206-acre (83 ha) cemetery located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is located approximately two miles East of downtown Nashville, and adjacent to the Catholic Calvary Cemetery. It is open to the public during daylight hours.
Samuel Taylor Marshall was an American attorney, government official, and fraternity founder. He was one of the founders of Beta Theta Pi, a college fraternity founded at Miami University in 1839. Marshall served as the sergeant-at-arms of the Iowa legislature.
Sigma Alpha Iota (ΣΑΙ) is an international music fraternity. Formed to "uphold the highest standards of music" and "to further the development of music in America and throughout the world", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its members and the general public. Sigma Alpha Iota operates its own national philanthropy, Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Inc. Sigma Alpha Iota is a member of the National Interfraternity Music Council and the Professional Fraternity Association.
Michael Clarkson Ryan was an American attorney, politician, newspaper editor, and a founder of Beta Theta Pi. Ryan also organized and was the colonel of the 50th Ohio Infantry during the American Civil War.
Landon Cabell Garland (1810–1895), an American, was professor of physics and history and university president three times at different Southern Universities while living in the Southern United States for his entire life. He served as the second president of Randolph–Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, from 1836 to 1846; then professor from 1847 to 1855, and then third president of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, from 1855 to 1867; and first chancellor of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1875 to 1893. He was an apologist for slavery in the United States before the Civil War, but afterward became a vociferous spokesperson against slavery.
Theta Nu Epsilon is a sophomore class society. Founded at Wesleyan University in 1870 as a chapter of Skull and Bones, the society expanded into a new national organization. It accepts members regardless of their fraternity status.
The Zeta Phi Society (ΖΦ) was a fraternal organization founded in 1870 at the University of Missouri. The Alpha chapter of the society became a chapter of Beta Theta Pi in 1890. The Missouri unit is the oldest fraternity in continuous existence at the university and the second fraternity founded west of the Mississippi River. Its second chapter, Sigma chapter joined Phi Gamma Delta in 1886. Zeta Phi Society's other two units disbanded.
Events from the year 1839 in the United States.
Orville James Nave was an American Methodist theologian and chaplain in the United States Army. He is best known for compiling Nave's Topical Bible, an index of topics addressed in the Christian Bible.
George Steadman Holden was an American football player and manufacturer.
James Lilly Zink was an athletic director at Indiana University and DePauw University as well as one of the first head coaches of the basketball and football teams at Butler University.
Augustus E. Alden (1837–1886) was an American Radical Republican politician. He served as the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, from 1867 to 1868.
William Litterer (1834–1917) was an American Democratic politician. He served as the Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, from 1890 to 1891.
Adolphus Heiman was a Prussian-born American architect and soldier; later becoming a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
John Berry McFerrin (1807–1887) was an American Methodist preacher and editor. He served as a chaplain in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
William J. Vaughn was an American university professor, school principal, librarian and book collector. He was one of the earliest professors at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Robert Burns Mayes was an American jurist. He was a state senator and justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1906 to 1912.
Addison Gillespie Smith was a lawyer, prosecutor, mayor, and state legislator in Alabama. He served in the Alabama Senate from 1880-1884. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and studied law in Birmingham.
Confederate States of America 
Confederate States Army 
