The History of Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority

Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority was founded in 1898 by 8 young women attending The Little Seminary (afterward called Farmville Female School) presently known as Longwood College, in Farmville, Virginia. Margaret Batten, Louise Davis, Martha Trent Featherson, Isabella Merrick, Sallie Michie, Elizabeth Watkins, Lucy Wright, and Lelia Scott were fun-loving girls of fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, primarily interested in completing the curriculum for teachers. However, they naturally found time left over from studies to indulge in the lighter side of college life. As kindred spirits, dedicated to high standards of behavior and ideals of friendship, they epitomized the New Woman of the Nineties (sound familiar)! Inspired by their male, Greek-letter friends attending Hampden-Sydney College for men, these eight young women cemented their ties of friendship by forming the S.S.S. Club. Encouraged and supported by their fraternity friends, they announced the establishment of their secret society, to be known henceforth as Sigma Sigma Sigma, on April 20, 1898. Today, the tradition of these young women continues with over 50,000 members nationwide. Today, the national Memorial Headquarters of our sorority is the Mable Lee Walton House, located in Woodstock, Virginia. (Information collected from The Path from Farmville, fifth edition.)

The original founders and members of the Alpha Chapter, 1899.

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