Thomas Green Clemson

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Thomas Green Clemson, IV

Clemson's statue at Clemson University
Born July 1, 1807
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died April 6, 1888
Fort Hill (Clemson)
Education Sorbonne
Royal School of Mines (Paris)
Occupation Mining engineer
Statesman
Agriculturist
College founder
Spouse Anna Maria Calhoun
Children John Calhoun Clemson
Floride Clemson
Parents Thomas Green Clemson, III, and Elizabeth Baker

Thomas Green Clemson, IV (July 1, 1807 – April 6, 1888) was an American politician and statesman, serving as an ambassador and the United States Superintendent of Agriculture. He was the founder of Clemson University. Born in Philadelphia, Clemson was the son of Thomas Green Clemson, III, and Elizabeth Baker. He was educated in Paris at Sorbonne and the Royal School of Mines, where he got a diploma as an assayer. Upon his return to the U.S., he co-authored significant legislation to promote agricultural education. With knowledge of both French and German, he served as U.S. charge d'affaires to Belgium from 1844 to 1851.

On November 13, 1838, at the age of 31, Clemson married Anna Maria Calhoun, daughter of John C. Calhoun and Floride Calhoun. John C. Calhoun was the noted Senator from South Carolina and Vice President. After Calhoun's death, Floride Calhoun, Anna Clemson, and two other Calhoun children inherited the Fort Hill plantation near Pendleton, South Carolina. It was sold with 50 slaves for $49,000 to Calhoun's oldest son, Andrew Pickens Clemson, in 1854. After the war and upon the Andrew's death in 1865, Floride Calhoun foreclosed on his heirs prior to her death in 1866. After lengthy legal procedures, Fort Hill was auctioned in 1872. The executor of her estate won the auction, which was divided among her surviving heirs. Her daughter, Anna Clemson, received the residence with about 814 acres (329.6 ha) and her great granddaughter, Floride Isabella Lee, received about 288 acres (116.6 ha). Thomas Green and Anna Clemson moved into Fort Hill in 1872. After Anna's death in 1875, Thomas Green Clemson inherited Fort Hill and lived there to his death in 1888.

In 1860-61, with the threat of war, Clemson resigned his agricultural post on March 4, 1861. He stood on the side of his adopted state. Following the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Clemson left Maryland for South Carolina. In Pendleton on November 2, 1861, Clemson spoke to the Farmers Society and publicly "Urged the establishment of a department of agriculture in the government of the Confederate States which, in addition to fostering the general interest of agriculture, would also serve as a sort of university of the diffusion of scientific knowledge and the improvement of agriculture."

Fifty-four-year-old Clemson, enlisted in the Confederacy and was assigned to the Army of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Clemson worked in Arkansas and Texas developing nitrate mines for explosives. He was paroled on June 9, 1865 at Shreveport, Louisiana, after four years of service. His son, Captain John Calhoun Clemson, enlisted in the Confederate States Army and spent two years in a prison camp, similar to the southern Andersonville, on Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, Ohio.

Outliving his wife and his children, Clemson drafted a final will in the mid 1880s which called for the establishment of a land-grant institution called "The Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina" upon the property of the Fort Hill estate. He died on April 6, 1888 and is buried in St. Paul's Episcopal churchyard in Pendleton, South Carolina.

The military college, founded in 1889, opened its doors in 1893 to 446 cadets. Clemson Agricultural College was renamed Clemson University in 1964. A statue of Thomas Green Clemson and the Fort Hill house are located on the campus. The town of Calhoun that bordered the campus was renamed Clemson in 1943.

A sister Louisa married to Samuel Washington, great-nephew of George Washington.

[edit] Biography

  • Edgar, Walter, ed. The South Carolina Encyclopedia, University of South Carolina Press, 2006 ISBN 1-57003-598-2, pp. 188-189.
  • Holmes, Alester G. Thomas Green Clemson : His life and work (1937) Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, Inc.
  • E. M. Lander, Jr., The Calhoun Family and Thomas Green Clemson: The Decline of a Southern Patriarchy (1983) University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Clemson, Thomas Green, IV
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thomas Green Clemson
SHORT DESCRIPTION mining engineer, ambassador to Belgium, founder of Clemson University
DATE OF BIRTH (July 1, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphi, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1888
PLACE OF DEATH Fort Hill, South Carolina