Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 17, 2026

Robert Hall Morrison

Robert Hall Morrison was the first president of Davidson College. Morrison, originally from Cabarrus County, North Carolina, enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, eventually graduating second in the class, behind future President James K. Polk. After graduating, Morrison studied for a year at Princeton College and entered the ministry before being appointed as president of Davidson. Morrison taught mathematics and science courses at the college. After a year as president, a typhoid fever or diphtheria epidemic swept through the area, taking two of his children. Morrison would later become ill and resign from the position in 1840, eventually retiring in 1849.

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Robert Hall Morrison
1st President of Davidson College
In office
1836–1840
Succeeded bySamuel Williamson
Personal details
Born(1798-09-08)September 8, 1798
DiedMay 13, 1889(1889-05-13) (aged 90)
SpouseMary Graham Morrison
Children12
EducationUniversity of North Carolina
Princeton University
ProfessionPastor

Robert Hall Morrison was the first president of Davidson College. Morrison, originally from Cabarrus County, North Carolina, enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, eventually graduating second in the class, behind future President James K. Polk.1 After graduating, Morrison studied for a year at Princeton College12 and entered the ministry before being appointed as president of Davidson. Morrison taught mathematics and science courses at the college.3 After a year as president, a typhoid fever4 or diphtheria12 epidemic swept through the area, taking two of his children. Morrison would later become ill and resign from the position in 1840, eventually retiring in 1849.1

Although he claimed to be a “Union man at heart,” Presbyterian pastor and Davidson College's first president “claimed ownership of multiple enslaved people who were forced to work on the college grounds, and would eventually become a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.”5: 58  The Morrison family arrived on campus with at least two enslaved people and kept at least three to work the grounds. “These individuals, named Mary, Sarah, and Bagwell, are some of the few enslaved people at the college who are identified in college materials.”5: 61 

He married Mary Graham, a Lincolnton, North Carolina resident, in 1824.67 Mary Graham had attended Salem Female Academy between 1815 and 1816 in what would later become Winston-Salem.8 They had 12 children,1 including Isabella Sophia, who married Confederate general Daniel Harvey Hill, Mary Anna, second spouse of Confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Eugenia Erixene, who died in 1858 after marrying future Confederate general Rufus Barringer four years prior,9 and Joseph Graham, who graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 and was an aide-de-camp to Jackson while a cadet.10 His oldest son, William Wilberforce, was a secretary to North Carolina governor William A. Graham in the antebellum period, served the Confederacy and died of complications from exposurea in November 1865.2

Notes

Notes

  1. Probably hypothermia
References

References

  1. Williams, Max R. (1991). "Morrison, Robert Hall | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  2. Lore, Adelaide; Lore, Eugenia; Morrison, Robert Hall (1950). The Morrison Family. Charlotte, North Carolina: The Observer Printing House. pp. 281–282. OCLC 1867548.
  3. "Morrison, Robert Hall – Davidson College Archives & Special Collections". libraries.davidson.edu. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  4. Williams, Jim (Summer 2017). "Robert Hall Morrison and the Founding of Davidson College" (PDF). Dandelion. Vol. 23, no. 3. Mecklenburg Historical Association Docents. pp. 1–2. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  5. Mellin, Sarah H.D. (2020). Beneath the bricks: reckoning with legacies of colonialism, slavery, and white supremacy at Davidson college (Bachelor of Arts thesis). Davidson College. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  6. "Young-Morrison House (ca. 1890)". Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  7. Bursis, M.; Clawson, C.; Maltzan, H.; Padalecki, I. (November 23, 2019). "First Ladies: The Women of the Morrison Family". Inclusive Histories of Davidson College. Davidson College. Retrieved June 11, 2026. – citing Mary Graham Morrison's obituary in North Carolina Presbyterian newspaper
  8. Bursis, M.; Clawson, C.; Maltzan, H.; Padalecki, I. (November 23, 2019). "First Ladies: The Women of the Morrison Family". Inclusive Histories of Davidson College. Davidson College. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  9. Krieger, Marvin (1979). "Barringer, Rufus Clay". NCpedia. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  10. "Joseph Graham Morrison, Roster ID 2515". VMI Archives Digital Collections. Virginia Military Institute. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
External links