James Turner Morehead (August 6, 1840 - April 20, 1908) was an American chemist and entrepreneur. The son of Governor

John Motley Morehead John Motley Morehead (July 4, 1796 – August 27, 1866) was an American lawyer and politician who became the 29th governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina (1841 to 1845). He became known as "the Father of Modern North Carolina." Early and ...

, he graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1861, where he joined

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...

. Commissioned a lieutenant in the Confederate army, he was wounded at Bristoe Station, Virginia in 1863; he ended the war as a major. Following the war, he served two terms as a state senator (1870-1874). Upon his father's death, he inherited his properties, and soon became a pioneering chemical manufacturer. He and his son,

John Motley Morehead III John Motley Morehead III (November 3, 1870 – January 7, 1965) was an American chemist, politician, and diplomat. As a chemist, his work provided much of the foundation for the business of Union Carbide Corporation. The Union Carbide and Ca ...

, would found one of the world's leading chemical companies —

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befor ...

, assisted by

Thomas Willson Thomas Leopold "Carbide" Willson (March 14, 1860 – December 20, 1915) was a Canadian inventor. He was born on a farm near Princeton, Ontario, in 1860 and went to school in Hamilton, Ontario. By the age of 21, he had designed and patented t ...

, who discovered calcium carbide at one of his furnaces. Willson, through his continuing experimentation with calcium carbide and other chemicals, ultimately contributed to the later war effort during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. A serial entrepreneur, chemist, engineer, inventor and author of scientific works, Morehead later entered into cotton manufacturing. He had one son,

, a chemist, diplomat, industrialist, and noted philanthropist; and four daughters: Mary Kerr Morehead Harris (2 children: Trent Harris, William Nelson Harris), Eliza Lindsay Morehead Nelson (1 child: William Harris Nelson),

Lily Morehead Mebane Lily Connally Morehead Mebane (August 13, 1869 – June 15, 1943) was an American relief worker, politician, and heiress. During World War I, she chaired the Rockingham County Committee of the North Carolina Division of the Woman's Committee of t ...

(no children), and Emma Gray Morehead Parrish (no children). Morehead died on April 20, 1908, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links

James Turner Morehead at NCPedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morehead, James Turner American chemical industry businesspeople University of North Carolina alumni 1908 deaths 1840 births Morehead family 19th-century American businesspeople