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Charles F. McCay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles F. McCay (1810-1889) was an American professor and college administrator.

Charles McCay was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania;[1] his brother, Henry Kent McCay, later became a Federal judge. He attended Jefferson College where George Junkin was one of his classmates,[2] and graduated in 1829.[1] After graduation, he was the tutor for Margaret Junkin Preston, the precocious ten-year-old daughter of his college friend.[2]

In 1832 he began teaching at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania as a professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy, until 1833.[1] At that time, the school only had a charter; George Junkin started the college as an actual institution, with McCay and James I. Coon as the first two professors.[2] He moved to Georgia and at the University of Georgia, he taught civil engineering, and mathematics. In 1856, he became president of the South Carolina College.[1]

McCay received his Ll.d. degree from the College of New Jersey Law School in 1857.[1]

His papers are held in Special Collections of the University of Georgia.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Coffin, Selden Jennings (1879). Record of the Men of Lafayette: Brief Biographical Sketches of the Alumni of Lafayette College from Its Organization to the Present Time. Lafayette College. pp. 341–42.
  2. ^ a b c Flora, Joseph M.; Vogel, Amber, eds. (2006). "Margaret Junkin Preston (1820-1897)". Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary. Louisiana State University Press. p. 325.
  3. ^ "Charles F. McCay collection". University of Georgia. Retrieved March 19, 2022.