Background
John McLaren McBryde was the son of John and Susan (McLaren) McBryde, Scotch immigrants who came to America about 1820. He was born on January 1, 1841 in Abbeville, S. C.
(Excerpt from A Study of Cowley's Davideis: A Dissertation...)
Excerpt from A Study of Cowley's Davideis: A Dissertation Presented to the Board of University Studies of the Johns Hopkins University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In February came the commission of the Earl of Manchester 'to take special care that the solemn league and Covenant be tendered and taken in the University of Cambridge,' and as a consequence Cowley, in common with nearly all the Masters and Fellows, was -forcibly ejected from the University. Together with Crashaw and many others, he took refuge in Oxford, then quite a Royalist stronghold, and entered St. John's College. Here he became intimate with Lord Falkland, to whom he afterwards addressed some lines. He attached him self to the Royal cause and secured an introduction to Baron Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St. Albans, one of the Queen's most trusted friends and admirers. Through him Cowley was brought into her service, and when in July 1644 the Queen escaped from England and took refuge in Paris, Cowley accompanied her as secretary to Lord Jermyn. His duties as secretary were arduous, and his life in Paris was distasteful to him; yet he managed to continue his literary work, and wrote while there his collection of love poems entitled T/ze Mistress. In Paris he met his friend Crashaw again, then in actual need, and introduced him to the Queen. Through her, Crashaw was appointed secretary to Cardinal Palotta, and died in Italy a short time later, soon after he had been appointed one of the Canons of the church of Loretto. In 1656 Lord Jermyn sent Cowley to England, in order that he might, says Sprat, 'under pretence of privacy and retirement, take occasion of giving notice of the posture of things in this nation.' Shortly after reaching his native land, he was seized by mistake for another, but as soon as his identity was discovered he was cast into prison. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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John McLaren McBryde was the son of John and Susan (McLaren) McBryde, Scotch immigrants who came to America about 1820. He was born on January 1, 1841 in Abbeville, S. C.
McBryde's father, a prosperous cotton factor and merchant, gave his son the best education the South then afforded. Prepared in the village academy, he was admitted to the sophomore class of the South Carolina College, where, inspired by the lectures of John and Joseph Leconte, he developed a love of science that determined his life work. From Columbia he went to the University of Virginia in 1859, and left there in January 1861 to become a soldier of the Confederacy. Joining a volunteer company from Abbeville, he was stationed first on Morris Island. Mustered out, he volunteered for service in Virginia, and was with Beauregard at the first battle of Manassas. In 1862 he served with the cavalry on James Island, and thence, stricken with typhus fever, was invalided home. Unfit for military service, he entered the Treasury Department at Richmond and at the age of twenty-two was appointed chief of a division of the War Tax Office.
At the close of the war John McLaren began farming near Charlottesville, Va. , where through reading and private study he learned to apply scientific methods to agriculture. His enthusiasm and gift for leadership soon drew others to him and he organized farmers' clubs, before which he presented the results of his studies and experience. Through his addresses and articles in the newspapers he became well known as an agriculturist and in 1879 was called to the chair of agriculture in the University of Tennessee. His first report, published in 1880, marks an epoch in the history of scientific agriculture in the South. In 1882 he accepted a chair in the South Carolina College, just then beginning to recover from the horrors of the war. Soon afterward, he was elected president and in that capacity reorganized the College and expanded it into a university along modern lines. As the director of experiment stations in different sections of the state he supervised the planting and fertilization of cotton and other crops. His experiments and reports gave an impetus to the revival of agriculture in South Carolina and had a lasting influence on methods of farming throughout the South. Though offered the directorship of the Agricultural Experiment Station in Texas and the presidency of the University of Tennessee, he chose to remain in the service of his native state. Unfortunately, however, during the political disturbances in South Carolina in the nineties the University was reduced to a college and the agricultural department, in which his heart was engaged, was removed to Clemson. Therefore, when offered the presidency of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute, at Blacksburg, he accepted, and in September 1891 took charge of a moribund school with a faculty of ten instructors and a student body of less than a hundred. In sixteen years he created a high-grade polytechnic institute with sixty teachers and more than seven hundred students.
He had numerous flattering offers, including the assistant secretaryship of agriculture under Cleveland (1893) and the first presidency of the University of Virginia, but refused to leave his post. As a member of the board of directors of Sweet Briar Institute he organized the new school on a broad basis and outlined its policy. In June 1907 having tendered his resignation, he was made president emeritus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and granted the degree of Doctor of Science. In 1912 the University of South Carolina awarded him the McMaster Medal in recognition of his distinguished services to the state. He died in New Orleans.
(Excerpt from A Study of Cowley's Davideis: A Dissertation...)
Few other college executives in the South have rendered longer and more faithful service or have contributed to the cause of education along so many different lines. Six feet tall, erect, with keen gray eyes and kindly smile; calm, dignified, courteous towards high and low alike; gentle yet firm, McBryde had a charm of manner that captivated every one. He was an accomplished musician, a fine horseman, a keen sportsman, and an elegant gentleman of the old school. He inspired both faculty and students with confidence and enthusiasm and developed an esprit de corps that contributed to the healthy, permanent growth of every institution with which he was connected.
McBryde married Cora Bolton, daughter of James and Maria (Harrison) Bolton of Richmond, on November 18, 1863. To this union six children were born.