James Glasgow served as the first North Carolina Secretary of State

North Carolina Secretary of State

The North Carolina Secretary of State is an elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina, heading the Department of the Secretary of State, which oversees many of the economic and business-related operations of the state government...

, from 1777 to 1798. He resigned in disgrace after a scandal known as the "Glasgow Land Fraud."

The son of a Scottish minister, Glasgow was educated at William and Mary College.http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/speculation_lands/biographies/glasgow.htm He was active in the revolutionary cause in North Carolina, and in December 1776, was rewarded by the last of the state's provincial congresses

North Carolina Provincial Congress

The North Carolina Provincial Congresses were extra-legal unicameral legislative bodies formed in 1774 through 1776 by the people of the Province of North Carolina, independent of the British colonial government.-First Provincial Congress:...

 with the office of Secretary of State.

In 1791, while he was still serving as Secretary of State, the state legislature named a county after him, but after his resignation in disgrace, the county was renamed Greene County

Greene County, North Carolina

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 18,974 people, 6,696 households, and 4,955 families residing in the county. The population density was 72 people per square mile . There were 7,368 housing units at an average density of 28 per square mile...

.