The Biographical Dictionary of America/Abernethy, William Ellis

ABERNETHY, William Ellis, educator, was born at Rutherford College, N.C., May 28, 1860; son of the Rev. Dr. Robert Labon and Mary Ann (Hayes) Abernethy. His first ancestor in America, Robert Abernethy, came from Scotland, settled in North Carolina, and was a prominent member of the Halifax state constitutional convention of 1776. William Ellis was graduated at Rutherford college, of which his father was president, in 1877. He studied law under Col. George N. Folk, of Lanier, N.C., in 1880; was county superintendent of public instruction 1890-'93; twice declined the nomination of the dominant party for state senator; and served as professor of law and English literature in Rutherford college, 1881-'94, and succeeded to the presidency of the college on the death of his father in 1894.