Andrew Jackson Ritchie (June 30, 1868–1948) was the founder of Rabun Gap Industrial School, which later merged with Nacoochee Institute to become

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School (informally known as Rabun Gap) is a small, private college preparatory school located in Rabun County, Georgia, United States, in the Appalachian Mountains. It is both a boarding and a day school. Rabun Gap is nota ...

. He served there as president until 1939. Ritchie earned his Bachelor of Law from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

(UGA)

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

in 1897. While at UGA, Ritchie was a member of the

Phi Kappa Literary Society The Phi Kappa Literary Society is a College literary societies (American), college literary society, located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and is one of the few active literary societies left in America. Originally founded in ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1899 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and was the first college graduate from

Rabun County, Georgia Rabun County () is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,883, up from 16,276 in 2010. The county seat is Clayton. With an average annual rainfall of over , Rabun County has the ...

. In 1901, he was awarded an honorary

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree by Harvard. He was a local historian and in 1948 his ''Sketches of Rabun County History'' was published. Before founding the Rabun Gap Industrial School, Ritchie was a professor of English for three years at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. His wife was Addie Corn Ritchie.

References

''History of the University of Georgia by Thomas Walter Reed'', Thomas Walter Reed, Imprint: Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia, ca. 1949, pp.1723-1725
1868 births 1948 deaths University of Georgia School of Law alumni Harvard University alumni Baylor University faculty Members of the Georgia House of Representatives Heads of universities and colleges in the United States People from Rabun County, Georgia {{US-academic-administrator-1860s-stub