In Bethany, Scots-Irish Alexander Campbell founded a religious movement he called the Disciples of Christ. There Amos Dolbear perfected parts of the telephone, and longtime Speaker of the House "Champ" Clark, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Lamar, and benefactor Earl Oglebay studied. There James A. Garfield served as a trustee and John F. Kennedy affirmed belief in separation of Church and state. Bethany College, the oldest degree granting institution in West Virginia, was chartered in the Old Dominion in 1840, succeeding Buffalo Seminary established by Alexander Campbell in 1818. It remained open through the Civil War and was the only college operating in the new state in 1863. Women were admitted in 1877, and the school was among the earliest accredited colleges in the nation.