Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. Dr. Daniel W. Fagg of Mount Olive "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore This week the community received the news of the death of Dr. Dan Fagg, formerly of Mount Olive, but more recently of Batesville, Arkansas. I did not know him intimately, but as a fellow historian, and because of his service to Mount Olive College, I wanted to pay tribute to him through this column. I had recently seen him, along with his accomplished wife, at a meeting of the Duplin Historical Society. Dr. Fagg was born in Mount Olive in 1931 and was the son of Daniel W. Fagg, Sr., and Bell Simmons Fagg. Through his mother he was descended from John Simmons of Bucha, Switzerland, who came to New Bern in 1710 with Baron Christopher Von Graffenreid. The Simmons later moved to Jones County and then to Duplin where they intermarried with the Kornegay, Grady, Hargett, and Isler families. Dr. Fagg owned and lived in the home of his great- grandfather, Daniel H. Simmons (1803-1888) "Waterloo" built in 1826 near Albertson. Young Daniel attended elementary school in Mount Olive and was graduated from Mount Olive High School. For a time, he served in the United States Army, but I do not have details of his record. He later earned his M.A. degree from the University of North Carolina, and much later, a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Fagg served as Dean of Mount Olive College from 1956 to 1958. He was Assistant to the Dean of Emory University College of Arts and Sciences for five years. In August 1964, he returned to Mount Olive College as Academic Dean. He was the first Academic Dean of the College and quoting Dr. W. Burkette Raper, "It was under his leadership that the academic program of Mount Olive College had its formative development. He made a valuable and lasting contribution to the academic integrity and educational standards on which we have tried to build through the years . . .he has a penetrating insight into the essential academic mission of a liberal arts church-related college." On August 30, 1966, Dr. Fagg was married to Miss Jane Christ Bush of Atlanta. They were married in the Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill. They have no children. The Faggs later went to Arkansas College (Presbyterian) at Batesville, Arkansas where he has been a professor during the years. After restoring his ancestral home near Albertson, they spent their summers there and often visited Mount Olive College. He was on a sabbatical leave at the time of his death. Funeral services were held on Wednesday afternoon, February 20th, at Holy Innocents Episcopal Church near Seven Springs, with the Reverend Jeff Douglas officiating. Burial was in the family cemetery at "Waterloo." Besides his widow, he is survived by his sister, Mrs. Doris Siske of Miami and a host of cousins. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================