“C” is for Clemson, Thomas Green, IV

  “C” is for Clemson, Thomas Green, IV [1807-1888]. Engineer, agriculturalist, college founder. Born in Philadelphia, Clemson earned a diploma from the Royal School of Mines in Paris. He worked as an engineer in the US and abroad, and published numerous scientific articles. In 1838, he married Anna Maria Calhoun. Eventually the couple settled in Maryland where he helped organize what would become the University of Maryland. After the Civil War, one of Clemson’s passionate goals was to establish a college to provide practical education in agriculture and the sciences. The Clemsons took possession of Fort Hill plantation in 1872 and decided to use the property to establish a college. When Thomas Green Clemson, IV died in 1888, he left 814 acres of land and more than $80,000 in assets to the state of South Carolina for the college he envisioned.