Anna Maria Calhoun

Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson
Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson
Born	Anna Maria Calhoun (1817-02-13)February 13, 1817 Willington, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	September 22, 1875(1875-09-22) (aged 58) Fort Mill, South Carolina, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Saint Philips Episcopal Church Cemetery
Nationality	American
Alma mater	South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute
Spouse(s)	Thomas Green Clemson (m. 1838–1875)
Children	3; including Floride Clemson
Parent(s)	John C. Calhoun Floride Bonneau

Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson (February 13, 1817 – September 22, 1875) was the daughter of John C. Calhoun and Floride Calhoun, and the wife of Thomas Green Clemson, the founder of Clemson University.

Calhoun was born on the Bath plantation, in the Abbeville District of South Carolina, in February 1817. She was one of seven children. She adored her father, politician John C. Calhoun, and remained close to him until his death in 1850. Her early education was through her surroundings and family, at a day school in Edgefield, South Carolina, then later at South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute, in central South Carolina. Calhoun stayed at the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute for about a year before she returned to her family's home at Fort Hill. When she returned, Calhoun taught her younger brothers how to read and write.

In 1835, Calhoun moved to Washington, D.C. to be a copyist for her father, with the notion that she would never marry. In early spring 1838, Calhoun met Thomas Green Clemson. The couple married on November 13, 1838 in Fort Hill, South Carolina. Clemson’s job called him to Washington and the newlyweds moved to Philadelphia. The couple would have three children: a son, John Calhoun (born 1841) and Floride Elizabeth (born 1842). A third child, daughter Cornelia (known as “Nina”) was born in 1855. She died in infancy.

Shortly after the birth of their first two children, Clemson accepted a position in Belgium. The Clemson family moved over-seas for the time. As Clemson became a high-ranking diplomat to the Kingdom of Belgium, Calhoun quickly became homesick and wished to return to her father. She had never been separated from him for an extended period of time. Calhoun had a unique fascination with her father. Before her marriage to Clemson, Calhoun said to a house maid, “You who know my idolatry, for my father, can sympathize with my feelings.” (Aug. 2, 1838) The Clemson family remained overseas from 1844–1852 and returned home to buy one hundred acres in Maryland, four miles for Washington, DC. The couple named their new home in Maryland "The Home”.

After their return to the United States, Clemson served in the Civil War, leaving Calhoun to care for the children and the farm. Calhoun’s mother still lived alone in Pendleton, South Carolina during the Civil War. During this time, Calhoun needed to travel back and forth from "The Home" to her mother, meaning she was crossing hostile lines. Calhoun and Floride packed several possessions and temporarily moved into a five-room home outside of Beltsville, Maryland, which was near Baltimore. Although she was closer to her mother, Calhoun was concerned about the Clemson family's possessions that remained in her family's estate. Calhoun and Floride decided to pack up their remaining possessions and to mail them to relatives, hoping that their items would make it through the war. Calhoun never received trouble from either the North or the South while crossing borderlines to see her mother, until 1865 when she moved back to Pendleton.