Horner, Jerome Channing

23 July 1853–1 Sept. 1951

Jerome Channing Horner, educator, was born in Oxford, the son of James Hunter and Sophronia Moore Horner. He attended his father's school, Horner School, and Davidson College from which he received both a bachelor's (1875) and a master's degree. Upon graduation he became principal of the Albemarle Academy, Edenton, where he taught for two years. He then began teaching in the Horner School, which for a brief time was located in Hillsborough, but in 1876 the school reopened in Oxford.

In 1879 Horner's brother, Junius, taught for him while he served as an assistant at the Cape Fear Military Academy to learn something about managing a military school. When he returned to Oxford in 1880, the Horner School became Horner Military School. On 2 Jan. 1914 fire destroyed the barracks, and at the end of the term it was decided to reestablish the school in Charlotte. There it continued to provide excellent training for young men until it closed in 1920.

Horner, an Episcopalian who served his parish as senior warden, treasurer, and lay reader, was married on 22 Nov. 1885 to Kate M. Williams of Wilmington, and they were the parents of two children. Following her death he married Eloise Kent of Wisconsin, and they had four children.