The Eight Founding Fathers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Noble Leslie DeVotie
Nathan Elams Cockrell
Samuel Marion Dennis
John Barratt Rudulph
Abner Edwin Patton
Wade Foster
Thomas Chappell Cook
John Webb Kerr
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded March 9, 1856 at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Its eight founders included five seniors. Noble Leslie DeVotie, John Barratt Rudulph, Nathan Elams Cockrell, John Webb Kerr, and Wade Foster, and three juniors, Samuel Marion Dennis, Abner Edwin Patton and Thomas Chappell Cook. Their leader was DeVotie who had written the ritual, devised the grip and chosen the name. The badge was designed by Rudulph. Of all existing fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the ante-bellum South.
