Charles Wilson Harris

Who was Charles Wilson Harris?

Charles Wilson Harris was briefly presiding professor of the University of North Carolina during 1796.

He was the son of Col. Robert Harris of Poplar Tent and Mary Wilson. His elementary education was probably at a classical school conducted in association with the Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church, of which his father was a presiding elder. Harris attended the College of New Jersey and was awarded the Mathematical Oration at his 1792 graduation.

Harris was a close associate of William Richardson Davie. He was Davie's law clerk and assumed Davie's legal caseload during the latter's absences from Halifax, North Carolina when he was governor and ambassador to France.

Harris was a Mason. He died young, of consumption, and never married.