Charles Wilson Harris

Charles Wilson Harris (1771 – January 15, 1804) was an American educator and lawyer. He was briefly presiding professor (equivalent of a modern-day university president) of the University of North Carolina during 1796.

Biography

Early life Charles Wilson Harris was born in 1771. He was the son of Col. Robert Harris (1737–1803) and Mary Wilson. His maternal grandfather, Zaccheus Wilson, was a signer of the Mecklenberg Declaration. His elementary education was at a classical school conducted in association with the Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church, of which his father was a presiding elder. He attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and was awarded the Mathematical Oration at his 1792 graduation.

He served as the second presiding professor (now known as university president) of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1796.

Personal life He was a freemason. He never married. He died of consumption on January 15, 1804, in his early thirties, in Anson County.