George Wilson McPhail

(b. 1815 d. 1871) The trustees elected Reverend George Wilson McPhail, D. D. in October 1866 to be Davidson's fifth president. He had been pastor of a church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for more than ten years and, before that, president of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He also served as President of the Davidson College Board of Trustees from 1868 until 1870. Dr. McPhail's health, always frail, gave way after signing the diplomas for the class of 1871, and he died before the commencement exercises that year. He was the first president to be buried in the college cemetery.

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Works Cited

Author: Molly P. Gillespie
Date: 1998

Cite as: Gillespie, Molly P. "George Wilson McPhail " Davidson Encyclopedia 1998 <http://library.davidson.edu/archives/ency/mcpahilgw.asp>

Related Links: McPhail's Presidential Portrait

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