William Plumer Jacobs | |
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| Born | March 15, 1842 |
| Died | September 10, 1917 (aged 75) Clinton, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Education | College of Charleston Columbia Theological Seminary |
| Spouse |
Mary Jane Dillard
(m. 1865; died 1879) |
| Family |
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| Signature | |
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William Plumer Jacobs (/ˈpluː.mɜːr/ PLOO-mur; March 15, 1842 – September 10, 1917) was an American Presbyterian minister who founded Thornwell Orphanage and what is now Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. He was the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Clinton for 47 years, from 1864 to 1911.
Jacobs was first licensed to preach by the Charleston Presbytery in April 1863 and was made pastor of three churches in Clinton shortly following his graduation from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 1864. Within four years, he had taken on preaching at First Presbyterian Church in Clinton full-time. He was a part of the Clinton Library Association and the Clinton High School Association, the latter of which founded Clinton High School in January 1873. Thornwell Orphanage opened under Jacobs's direction to ten children on October 1, 1875. In 1880, Clinton High School became Clinton College, and the school conferred degrees for the first time in 1882, the first of which went to Jacobs's daughter. This school eventually became Presbyterian College; Jacobs is credited as the school's founder and is the namesake of Jacobs Hall, present on the campus today. In 1909, Jacobs founded Thornwell Memorial Church on the orphanage's campus since the large number of children at the orphanage overcrowded First Presbyterian, and he ministered at both churches until retiring from First Presbyterian in September 1911. He died in September 1917; many of his obituaries referred to him as the "Father of Clinton" among other nicknames.