The Biographical Dictionary of America/Abernethy, Robert Labon

ABERNETHY, Robert Labon, educator, was born in Lincoln county, N.C., April 3, 1822; son of Turner and Fannie (Wedner) Abernethy. His father was a farmer and his first ancestor in America was John Abernethy, a near kinsman of the eminent English surgeon. He was brought upon the farm and had no school privileges. He gained a knowledge of English grammar from a second-hand text-book, and taught children in the neighborhood, extending his teaching as he gained further knowledge from such books as he could obtain. He became a minister in the Methodist church in 1840, preaching in the South Carolina conference, 1840-'43. In 1850 John Rutherford founded Rutherford college in Burke county, N.C., and the young Methodist preacher was made its first president. The building used, a log cabin, was built by Abernethy, and was used until the college was chartered and new buildings erected. In forty years he educated 10,000 boys and girls, 2200 of these being given free instruction through his personal liberality. In 1890 the college buildings were burned, the loss being $50,000. President Abernethy, although nearly seventy years old, took the lecture field and raised a sum sufficient to rebuild, making the college buildings among the first in the south. He received the degree of A.M. from Trinity college, N.C., in 1869, and that of D.D. from Alfred university, N.Y. He died at Rutherford College, N.C., Nov. 28, 1894.