Samuel Eusebius McCorkle
Samuel Eusebius McCorkle (August 23, 1746 – January 21, 1811) was a pioneer Presbyterian preacher, teacher, advocate for public and private education in North Carolina, and the interceptor and progenitor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who first promoted the idea of establishing a university in the state.
At the age of four Samuel was put into an English public school where he learned how to read, write, cipher,[further explanation needed] and recite Bible verses.
[2] In 1756 the McCorkle followed the Great Wagon Trail to North Carolina where they bought messuauge tenement plantation.
The tract of land lay on Back Creek, in the vicinity of present-day Mount Ulla near the border of Rowan and Iredell Counties west of Salisbury, North Carolina.
Around 1766–67 Samuel became one of the first students in Dr. David Caldwell's Log College, a theological and classical school for young men.
The same year John Witherspoon, an influential figure in the development of the United States' national character and forging future religious and civic leaders, became the president of the College of New Jersey.
The favorite words of Witherspoon — dignity, diligence, true religion, Zion, and piety — became an integral part of McCorkle's vocabulary.
[3]McCorkle was admitted to membership in Cliosophic Society, a literary and debating club at the College of New Jersey, where he was known under the fictitious name "Virgil".
[4][5] Frequent references to the humble origins of the Cliosophians — the manual labors, the poverty, the piety — indicate there may have been a social class distinction between the two societies.
They had eight children, six of which lived into adulthood: one son, Alexander "Sandy", and five daughters, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sophia, Peggy, and Harriet.
Article 41 of the North Carolina Constitution called for the establishment of affordable schools and universities for the instruction of the young people in the state.
[10] In 1787 McCorkle requested and received a collection of books on teaching and pedagogy from Germany that allowed him to introduce teacher training at Thyatira Church.
[10] Zion-Parnassus was well known for its normal department, which was the first attempt at teacher training in North Carolina and one of the first in this country, and for its assistance with tuition and books to worthy students.
Authors and books in McCorkle Library On theology: Calvin, Turretin, Stackhouse, Stillingfleet and Owen; in church history, as Owen, Shuckford, Prideaux, and Mosheim (in Latin); on law and civil government, as Puffendorf, Burlemaqui, Montesquieu, and Blackstone, besides the Universal History, Encyclopædia Britannica.
The North Carolina Historical Highway Marker Program marked a site in the vicinity of Zion-Parnassus Academy to commemorate Samuel E.McCorkle on NC 150 west of Salisbury in Rowan County.
