Robertson Howard

Robertson Howard (1847–1899) was a doctor and attorney who is best known as one of the six co-founders of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.

Howard was born December 11, 1847 to Flodoardo R. Howard and Lydia Maria (Robertson) Howard, in Brookeville, Maryland. His mother was a descendant of Quakers, and his father's family had ancestral ties to the Howard family of England, including the likes of Catherine Howard. When Howard was three his father moved the family to Washington, DC, where he purchased a plot of land directly across from Ford's Theatre and established a medical office. Today the site is occupied by Washington's largest department store. Although his father was tied to the Howard family of England, his relations with the mainland quickly deteriorated.

As a child he attended Brookeville Academy, an institution founded in 1808 by his ancestors.

During the Civil War, Robertson, being a Quaker, refused to join either side. He graduated from Georgetown University, founded by his father, with his doctorate of medicine in 1865. However, being only eighteen years old, he was considered too young to begin his practice. Therefore, Howard was sent to the University of Virginia, where one of his uncles was currently employed, to obtain a post-graduate degree in chemistry.

While there he shared Room 47, West Range with James Benjamin Sclater Jr., with whom he and four other men founded Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity on March 1, 1868. This would become the first fraternity in the United States. Howard would remain close friends with these men for the rest of his life- it is said that Howard kept autographed photographs of his fellow co-Founders in his possession throughout his lifetime.

...
Wikipedia