“W “is for Woodrow, James (1828-1907)

“W “is for Woodrow, James (1828-1907). Scientist, educator, college president. Born in England, Woodrow's family moved to Ohio in 1837. After graduating from Jefferson College and receiving a Ph.D. from Heidelberg University, he became a professor at Oglethorpe University in Georgia and an ordained Presbyterian minister. During the Civil War, Woodrow was chief of the Confederacy's chemical laboratory in Columbia. In 1861 he became a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian institution. Woodrow edited and published the Southern Presbyterian Review (a quarterly journal) and the Southern Presbyterian (a weekly periodical). In the 1880s he became embroiled in a dispute that developed in the Presbyterian Church over his support of Darwinism.  In addition to teaching at the seminary James Woodrow was a professor at the South Carolina College where he later served as president from 1891 to 1897.