My Genealogy Hound

Prof. W. D. Vandiver, Ph.B., president of the Bellevue Collegiate Institute, was born in Hardy County, W. Va., in 1854. When four years of age he was brought to Missouri, and was educated in the common schools and at Central College at Fayette, Mo., where he received a good classical education, graduating from that institution in June 1877. Having served two years as subordinate teacher he took a place in McKenzie College, West Tennessee, and in 1880 was elected to his present position. He has accomplished a great work in building up the institution and has succeeded in making it one of the leading institutions of Southeast Missouri. In 1880 he married Miss Alice L. Headlee, younger daughter of Rev. J. H. Headlee. She was educated in Bellevue Collegiate Institute and is a lady of culture and refinement. Prof. Vandiver is a wide awake stirring man and is one of the best educators in Missouri. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in which church their fathers are both ministers. The Vandiver family have descended from one of that name who was among the sturdy Hollanders who founded New Amsterdam (now New York), though for several generations most of the family have been Virginians; while the Vance family, from which Prof. Vandiver is descended on his mother’s side, have been well-known in Virginia for more than 100 years, having come from Ireland about the year 1740.