Clemson University. Office of the President.

Edwin Boone Craighead was born in Ham's Prairie, Missouri, the son of Oliver and Frances Payne Craighead. He earned degrees in Latin and Greek from Central College in Missouri and later from Vanderbilt University. After studying classical languages and English in London and Paris, he returned to the United States to teach at Neosha Collegiate Institute in Missouri, Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and Wofford College in South Carolina. The Board of Trustees of Clemson College invited Craighead for a visit in June 1893 and he was elected President that same month.