Monroe Marsh Sweetland (1860 - 1944)

Born 14 Aug 1860 in Dryden, Tompkins Co., New York

Ancestors

Died 12 Feb 1944 at age 83 in Ithaca, Tompkins Co., New York

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Biography

married Georgia Smith (1864-1929) of Ithaca in 1901, no children

Son of George James Sweetland and Hannah Lugenia (Marsh) Sweetland, Monroe Marsh Sweetland born 14 August 1860 in Dryden, New York. He received the A.B. degree from Union College (1885), the LL.B. degree from Albany Law School (1886), and the LL.M. from Cornell University in 1980.

Sweetland, who as a Delta Tau Delta, was interested in fraternal work and ritual.

Sweetland spent his professional career in Ithaca. He held various elected and appointed positions including city judge of Ithaca and county judge of Tompkins county. In the 1917 election, in recognition of his efforts to streamline court procedure, he received more than one-thousand write-in votes, without campaigning, for a seat on the New York state Supreme Court.

In 1901, Sweetland married Georgia Smith of Ithaca. She died in 1929. They had no children.

In politics Sweetland was a Democrat who frequently gained endorsement of the Prohibition Party. Other organizations which he joined included the Odd Fellows, the Grange, the Masons, and the Knights Templar. He also belonged to the Methodist Church.

Delta Chi Fraternity involvement

Like Crandall, he claimed credit for originating the idea for the organization that would become Delta Chi. He also claimed sole credit for the design of the badge and for selecting the name “Delta Chi” because he liked the way the two words sounded together.

Along with Founders Gorham, Stillman, Barnes, Crandall, and Potter, Sweetland was present on the 13th day of October 1890 for the official chartering of the fraternity.

Sweetland was one of a few of the founders who stayed in contact with the fraternity. He was frequently a guest of the Mother Chapter, speaking at initiation and Founder’s Day events.

During the debate over law vs. general membership, Sweetland supported the general side. “It was my idea not to restrict membership entirely to law men,” he stated in an interview in the Quarterly.

At the 1940 convention, Sweetland originated the “hand shake across the country” to pass the greetings of the Founding Fathers to future generations of Delta Chi. This custom has continued into the present at banquets, regional conferences, and international conventions.

During the 1990 centennial convention held in Syracuse and Ithaca, many of those attending visited Sweetland’s grave and placed a wreath of white carnations there.

Aged eighty-three years, Sweetland died 12 February 1944 in Ithaca and is buried with his Georgia at Willow Glen Cemetery, Dryden, New York.

Burial:

Willow Glen Cemetery,

Dryden, Tompkins County, New York

His tomb reads, “Mason, K.T. I.O.O.F Monroe Marsh Sweetland, born in Dryden, son of George J. and Hannah marsh Sweetland was county clerk, recorder, city judge, county judge, surrogate, United States commission, graduate of Union College, Albany Law School, and Cornell university, founder of the Delta Chi college fraternity, member of the American and New York State Bar Associations, Methodist church, Masonic Odd Fellows, and other fraternities. A supporter of the constitution and the United States. A believer in the Christian religion and the noblest motive is the public good.”

Sources

• Monroe Marsh Sweetland biography http://deltachi.org/founders/

• Find A Grave memorial # 24636773