 On November 6, 1863, Dr. Charles Clinton Beatty, head of the Young Ladies' Seminary in Steubenville offered $50,000 to entice the schools to unify.Beatty had a number of familiar and social connections to Washington College, including a stint in leadership of the Synod of Wheeling.The debate among the Boards of Trustees festered for a time, until they were sparked to movement by a meeting on September 27, 1864 of 69 Jefferson and 66 Washington alumni at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.