John Franklin Heitman was born on April 17, 1840 in Davidson County, North Carolina, the son of Henry and Eve McRary Heitman. He entered Trinity College in Randolph County in 1861, but left in 1862 to join the Confederate Army. He served as a captain in the Civil War. After the war, following a short period of business and teaching, he retuned to Trinity and received an A.M. degree in 1868. He then resumed teaching and became a clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and held several parishes. In 1881, he left the clergy to enter business in Chapel Hill, establishing the North Carolina Educational Journal, which he called "the organ of the North Carolina State Teachers Association."
During this time period, he met and married Emma Carr, sister of the Durham tobacco manufacturer Julian S. Carr. In 1883, he was appointed a professor at Trinity College and moved, along with the Education Journal, back to Randolph County. Much of his time over then next few years was spent in dealing with the financial problems of the school. After Marquis Lafayette Wood resigned from the presidency of Trinty in December 1884, Heitman served as an interim head of the school in his capacity as chairman of the faculty. Along with the Committee of Management--his brother-in-law Carr, J.W. Alspaugh, and James A. Gray--Heitman managed to keep the school financially afloat and increase enrollment. In 1887, a new president, John Franklin Crowell, was chosen to lead Trinity.
In 1892, Trinity College moved to Durham County, but Heitman stayed in Randolph County to become Headmaster of Trinity High School. In 1895 he was replaced as headmaster by the Board of Trustees of Trinity College. He then devoted his time to the North Carolina Home Journal, and continuing a series of articles on North Carolina history that he had begun in the North Carolina Educational Journal .
Heitman died on June 15, 1904, and is buried in Trinity Cemetery, Trinity, North Carolina, along with his wife. They had three children: Eva (Mrs. W. Bivens), Polly (Mrs. R.B. Terry), and John.
From the guide to the John Franklin Heitman Papers, ., 1863 - 1911, (University Archives, Duke University)
