| Established in 1889 as part of the land-grant | | | | amongst his surviving wife and three children. The |
| university program enacted by the United States | | | | most sizable piece of wealth left behind was a |
| government (through the Morrill Acts of 1862 and | | | | plantation known by the name of Fort Hill which was |
| 1890) in the 1800s Clemson University derives its | | | | located near Pendleton, South Carolina. Pendleton is |
| name from an area man by the name of Thomas | | | | located in Anderson County in the western most |
| Clemson. | | | | corner of South Carolina. Neighboring Pickens County |
| Born around the turn of the nineteenth century in | | | | is home to the city of Clemson and Clemson |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mr. Clemson was educated | | | | University, both of which are named after Thomas |
| at a Vermont military academy before continuing his | | | | Clemson, the eventual heir to the Calhoun fortune |
| education across the Atlantic in Paris where he went | | | | after out surviving the blood heirs that included his |
| on to receive a degree in a scientific field known as | | | | wife who passed away thirteen years before he did. |
| assay - a molecular biology specialty that | | | | During his career as a public servant Thomas Clemson |
| predominately deals with minerals and ores. During a | | | | worked under fifteenth President of the United |
| stint back in the US Clemson co-authored a piece of | | | | States James Buchanan as the Superintendent of |
| legislation on agricultural education and married the | | | | Agriculture where he urged for the establishment of |
| daughter of a prominent politician before returning to | | | | agricultural colleges and other similar learning |
| Europe where he served as a Belgium diplomat | | | | institutions. For the most part it was only in death |
| between the ages of 37 and 44. | | | | that his wishes for greater agricultural education |
| The family of the women that Thomas Clemson | | | | opportunities were realized. |
| married has almost as much to do with the eventual | | | | After outliving his children and wife he left his fortune |
| name of Clemson University as anything Thomas | | | | to the state in a will drafted a few years before his |
| Clemson personally did. Clemson married Anna | | | | passing. Clemson's generous donations were originally |
| Calhoun when he was 31 years old and at that | | | | used to fund a military college known as the Clemson |
| moment (November 13, 1838) cemented his presence | | | | Agricultural College which was later renamed in 1964 |
| amongst America's elite by marrying the daughter of | | | | to the present day Clemson University. Today a |
| former South Carolina Senator and two term United | | | | statue bearing the likeness of Thomas Clemson sits |
| States Vice President (under John Quincy Adams and | | | | on the campus of Clemson University reminding all |
| Andrew Jackson) John Calhoun. | | | | who pass by of the namesake that began the |
| The eventual death of the affluent and influential | | | | prosperous history of the school. |
| John Calhoun left his inheritance to be divided | | | | |