County of marker: Callaway County
Location of marker: W. 5th St., east of Westminster Ave., Fulton
Erected by: Missouri Gamma House
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on an escutcheon (i.e. shield), surcoat, or tabard. A surcoat, and subsequently a coat of arms was used by medieval knights to cover, protect, and identify the wearer. Thus these are sometimes called coat armory. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement which consists of shield, supporters, crest, and motto. The design is a symbol unique to an individual person or family (except in the UK), corporation, or state. Such displays are commonly called armorial bearings, armorial devices, heraldic devices, or simply arms.
"Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded on March 9, 1856, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Its founders were Noble Leslie DeVotie, Nathan Elams Cockrell, John Barratt Rudulph, John Webb Kerr, Samuel Marion Dennis, Wade Hampton Foster, Abner Edwin Patton, and Thomas Chappell Cook. Their leader was DeVotie, who wrote the ritual, created the grip, and chose the name. Rudulph designed the badge.
"By the end of 1857, the fraternity numbered seven chapters. Its first national convention met in the summer of 1858 at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with four of its eight chapters in attendance. By the early 1860's, fifteen chapters had been established.
"None of the founders of SAE were members of any other fraternity, although Noble Leslie DeVotie had been invited to join all of the other fraternities at the University of Alabama before founding Sigma Alpha Epsilon." ~ Sigma Alpha Epsilon - History