James Glasgow

James Glasgow (c. 1735 – November 17, 1819) served as the first North Carolina Secretary of State, from 1777 to 1798.

Biography

Early life James Glasgow, the son of a Scottish minister, Reverend James Patrick Glasgow and his wife, Martha Jones, of Cecil County, Maryland. He was born in the Colony of Maryland and educated at the College of William & Mary. After graduation he served as an accounting and corresponding clerk for an import-export house in Suffolk, Virginia.

Service record: Adjutant in the Dobbs County Regiment of the North Carolina militia (1776) Major in the Dobbs County Regiment (1776-1777) Colonel in the Dobbs County Regiment (1777-1778, 1779-1780) Secretary of State (1776-1799)

In 1791, while he was still serving as Secretary of State, the state legislature named a county after him. He resigned in disgrace after a scandal known as the "Glasgow Land Fraud." After his resignation, the county was renamed Greene County.

Personal life His daughter, Nancy Glasgow, married Willoughby Williams, a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, and later remarried to Joseph McMinn, who served as Governor of Tennessee from 1815 to 1821.