Patrick Hues Mell was born 24 May 1850 at Penfield, Georgia, the son of Patrick Hues and Lurene Howard Cooper Mell. After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1871, Mell served as chemist for the state of Georgia. From 1878-1883 Mell served as professor of natural history (later professor of geology and botany) at the Alabama Polytechnical Institute at Auburn, Alabama, and in 1884, he became head of the state weather service of Alabama, where he devised a system of flags designed to signal coming changes in the weather. In both capacities Mell published numerous scientific writings, among them, " Auriferous Slate Deposits of Southern Regions," 1881; Grasses of Alabama, 1889; and Biological Laboratory Methods, 1902.
In 1902 Mell accepted the presidency of Clemson College, succeeding M. B. Hardin. Mell's accomplishments included a faculty reorganization, in which a hierarchy of positions and salaries reduced employee dissatisfaction and resignations, and a separation of the agricultural experiment station from the teaching component of the college in which sufficient time was allowed for professors to teach, researchers to conduct experimental research, and administrators to seek qualified applicants for all positions. A number of difficulties with the Board of Trustees over cadet discipline, especially the Pendleton Guards episode, however, brought Mell into conflict with the Board of Trustees, and on 1 January 1910, Mell resigned his post. After leaving Clemson, Mell moved to Atlanta where he served as treasurer of the board of missions of the Southern Baptist Convention. Mell died 12 October 1918. He was married to the former Annie White of Athens, Georgia.
From the description of Patrick H. Mell presidential records. 1902-1909, 1907-1909. (Clemson University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 24220266
