Great-Great Grandson Of First Aggie Serves As Head Yell Leader

If Zachary Lawrence were one to boast, he could point to his current status as head yell leader at Texas A&M University. He was selected for the prestigious position after he won in the senior yell leader election by the university’s 60,000-plus student body.  However, his more lasting current claim to fame is that he is the great-great grandson of the man believed to be the very first Aggie.

That goes back to 1876, with the anniversary of that historic event—the opening of Texas A&M as the state’s first public institution of higher learning on Oct. 4.

Not one to boast or seek special consideration, Lawrence kept secret that family belief when he applied for enrollment at Texas A&M in 2012.

While not one to boast, he will certainly be in the limelight—more specifically, the spotlight—as he leads Texas A&M’s four other yell leaders in leading yells (Aggies don’t cheer—they yell) at major sporting events and representing the university in various other venues and activities. They could be considered Texas A&M’s ambassadors.

“There’s no other feeling in the world that compares to getting the chance to lead the 12th Man. I still wake some days in disbelief that I’m a Yell Leader,” Lawrence said. “It’s such an amazing blessing that it’s hard to describe the joy I get from doing this. Last year was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I’m really excited see what this year has in store for me. I know I’ll cherish the memories from this for the rest of my life.”

Do his longstanding Aggie ties prompt him to approach any differently his duties as a yell leader and as informal ambassador for the university?

“Knowing where I come from gives me great pride, but it also gives me a drive to continue to represent my family well,” Lawrence noted. “I always remind myself of where I come from and of the sacrifices that my ancestors made. Without them, I would certainly not be in this position today and I’ll always be grateful for the path they set for me.”

Asked, when his family tie of historic Aggie significance became known, why he had not volunteered that information, he replied:  “I didn’t want to call attention to myself,” adding he didn’t want his family connection to be a factor in his admission.

“I wanted to get into Texas A&M on my own merits,” emphasized the fifth-generation Aggie from Shiner.

His legacy is even more of a historic factor when viewed in the light that his great-great-great grandfather, John Archibald McIver, was the very first person to enroll in a public institution of higher learning in Texas–by virtue of Texas A&M being the first such institution, opening on Oct. 4, 1876.

Aggie blood runs deep in the family. Lawrence has a brother and a sister who are recent graduates, and his father, grandfather and great grandfather were Aggies. Then there was the great-great grandfather, who was the very first.

His name shows up as James Archibald McIver on a copy of the “catalogue of students” for the institution’s first session in 1876-77. However, his first name is actually John, and a correction was made in the catalogue issued the following year. Given that the struggling new institution in 1876 was still at least somewhat caught up in the throes of the old wild-west frontier, and with its hard-scrabble campus occasionally visited by roaming packs of wolves, university officials noted that niceties such as precise record-keeping were not likely among the highest priorities back then.

University records show McIver as being from Caldwell, a small town about 25 miles west of what is now College Station.

Lawrence recounted often-repeated family history that helps substantiate the belief that McIver was the first Aggie. “What I’ve often heard family members say is that he rode over on horseback from Caldwell to enroll but was told he was a day early. Rather than ride back to Caldwell as he had planned, he decided just to stay overnight. He slept under a tree that night and then registered the next morning.”

The family has copies of newspapers stories reporting McIver’s death in 1923 and having headlines noting that he was the first student to register at Texas A&M. Also, a photo of McIver is on display in the Sanders Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor on campus and includes a caption describing him as “the first student to register at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas,” as the institution was officially known until 1963.

“The Lawrence and McIver families came into relation when John Archie’s granddaughter, Patsy McIver (my grandmother), married my grandfather Allen S. Lawrence, Jr. and took the Lawrence name,” the Texas A&M senior said in explaining why his last name differs from that of the earliest family Aggie.

He is in the same Corps of Cadets unit in which his father was a member, as was his brother — Company E-1. His other Aggie family members were also in the Corps but it is not known which units.

Taking into account the two brothers and sister, prospects appear bright for extending the legacy to a sixth generation and perhaps beyond — extending even more what seem to be the ultimate Aggie family ties. That would also result in a great-great-great-grandfather designation — perhaps not a Guinness World Record but still a feat of historic proportions.

“It’s one of those special things, knowing that my family lineage goes back to the very start of Texas A&M,” Lawrence added, still emphasizing he doesn’t choose to “gloat about it.”