Who is Peter Stuart Ney and did he design the college seal?
Peter Stuart Ney was a Frenchman and schoolteacher in Rowan County who was believed to have been Napoleon’s Marshal Michel Ney who escaped execution in 1815 and fled to America. In 1840, the Board of Trustees approached Ney and asked him to design the college seal, which is still used today. Many researchers and historians have taken an interest in the legend of Peter Stuart/Marshal Ney and we have some of those research materials in our collection.
For materials related to Peter Stuart Ney, please explore the following resources:
- The Mystery of Peter Stuart Ney Research Guide
- Peter Stuart Ney Encyclopedia Entry
- James Edward Smoot Collection (DC041)
- Dorothy MacKay Quynn Collection (DC042)
- Peter Stuart Ney Collection (DC043)
- Bradshaw-Ney Collection (DC095)
- Margaret E. Hampton Alexander Reminiscences (DC0167s)
- Around the D Blog Post: “Davidson’s French Connection”
- Peter Stewart Ney NCpedia Biographical Entry