Category: Principals
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Leslie Augustus Jones: North Greenville’s Sixth Principal
Leslie Augustus Jones was born on July 21, 1879, in Orangeburg County, South Carolina to parents James Alfred Jones and Cornelia Wannamaker Jones. Leslie was the oldest of about six children and his father was a farmer and a postmaster. The family moved to Salley, SC when Leslie was a…
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William Fletcher Scott: Lifelong Educator and North Greenville’s 5th Principal
William Fletcher Scott was born on September 30, 1876, in Fairfield County, South Carolina to parents John Austin Scott and Arabella Holmes Scott. The Scotts were a very well-educated family. John Austin Scott was a medical doctor, and Arabella was the daughter of a medical doctor. William was their oldest…
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Silas Franklin Boyles: North Greenville’s 4th Principal
Silas Franklin “Frank” Boyles was born on April 4, 1869, in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina to parents John Henry Boyles and Sarah Needham Boyles. The Boyles family were farmers, and Frank was near the middle of nine kids. He attended Wake Forest College but did not graduate. He also managed…
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Oscar James Peterson: News Editor, Educator, and North Greenville’s Third Principal
“I thank God that I was one of your pupils in those needy days before I became a Christian.”– J. Dean Crain in a 1943 letter to O.J. Peterson Oscar James Peterson, Sr. was born December 19, 1869, in Sampson County, North Carolina, to parents Robert Peterson and Rebecca Herring…
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Leonard Kirklin Simpson: North Greenville’s 8th Principal
Leonard Kirklin Simpson was born to parents James W. Simpson and Cora Beeks Simpson on November 27, 1885, in Laurens County, South Carolina. Leonard was the oldest of five children and grew up on a farm in the Poplar Springs area of Laurens County. The Simpsons were devoted members of…
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North Greenville’s Last Principal and First President: Dr. M.C. Donnan
Let me conclude this look at a man who did what he did because he was who he was by recalling a recollection of many times seeing him stand out there on the hill in front of the administration building. Not knowing he was observed he would gaze for long…
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Mountain Boy, Alumnus, Principal, and Preacher: Dr. John Dean Crain
John Dean Crain was born October 25, 1881 in a cabin near Glassy Mountain. He was the fifth child of seven born to David Hoke Crain and Jane Suddeth Crain. Dean began working on the family farm as soon as he was old enough to do chores. It was hard…
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The Man Who Went Without Pay to Save North Greenville: Henry Clayton Hester
“Brother Hester was outstanding both as a preacher and teacher. Nine years of his ministry were devoted to North Greenville Academy where he was principal. Here he touched the lives of a large number of men and women who are now outstanding pastors and missionaries. All of these attribute much…
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John Silas Miles Finch: North Greenville’s Second Principal
John Finch was born on December 26, 1862, in Spartanburg Country, SC to parents William Finch and Frances Shands Finch. His parents were farmers and he was one of 6 kids. When he was only about 10 years old, one of his brothers contracted measles while away at school. While…
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Hugh Lafayette Brock: North Greenville High School’s First Principal
“Whatever estimate the church may place upon the different branches of her work, that of educating the young is second only to the preaching of the gospel. Like the work of the gospel, true education prepares the heart as well as the mind both for time and for eternity. It…
From These Roots 