Carlisle, James Henry
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Carlisle, James Henry
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James H. Carlisle was a member of Wofford College's original faculty and served as the college's third president from 1875 to 1902.
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James H. Carlisle was born in Winnsboro, SC in 1825. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1844, and taught in several male academies until 1854. In that year, at age 29, he joined the founding faculty of Wofford College as professor of mathematics and astronomy. He remained at the college for the rest of his life. In 1860, he was elected to represent Spartanburg District at the South Carolina secession convention, voting against secession but signed the ordinance of secession. Documents show that Carlisle owned one enslaved woman named Nancy. He served one term in the South Carolina House of Representatives during the Civil War, but took the loyalty oath in 1865 after the war ended. In 1875, the trustees elected Carlisle to be the college's 3rd president, a position he held until 1902. As president, Carlisle served largely as the chair of the faculty, declining to undertake most administrative tasks. He served as a symbolic moral leader for the campus as well as for South Carolina Methodism.
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4 May 1825
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21 October 1909
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