Alester Garden Holmes was born in 1876 at Lime Stone Springs, near Limestone College, in Gaffney, South Carolina. Mr. Holmes was graduated from the Gaffney Seminary in 1893 and the Citadel in 1897. Over the years, Professor Holmes also attended summer schools at Clemson College and Winthrop College. In 1911, he did graduate work at the University of Chicago where he studied under Dr. W.E. Dodd.He then taught in the public schools of Beech Island, Belton and Pendleton. He spent a year-and-a-half at the University of the South and another year at North Carolina State College before coming to Clemson College as Instructor in History in 1906.

Professor Holmes had a distinguished career at Clemson, becoming Head of the History Department in 1924 and Professor of History in 1926. He was an active member of the faculty and was particularly involved in preserving the historical records of John C. Calhoun, Thomas G. Clemson, Clemson College, and history of the surrounding area. In 1933, he served as President of the South Carolina Historical Association, having earlier served as Vice-President. He was a member, and served for two years as Chairman, of the South Carolina Historical Commission. At Clemson, he served for many years as Chairman of the College Library Archives Committee. He also served on a committee to restore the Fort Hill plantation, on the board of the Old Stone Church Association, and was a founder of the Forum Club, a campus organization.

In 1903, Professor Holmes married Anne Ball Simpson, daughter of Richard W. Simpson, Thomas Clemson's friend and lawyer. Mr. Simpson was instrumental in carrying out Clemson's will for the establishment of Clemson College. He served as one of the first life members of the Board of Trustees of Clemson College. Others in Mrs. Holmes’ family were also connected to Clemson College. Two of Mrs. Holmes' sisters married Clemson professors W.W. Klugh and Major Maner Martin. Another sister, Maria Louise, gave the Thomas Clemson Papers to Clemson College through Professor Holmes.

Professor and Mrs. Anne Holmes had two children. Their daughter died of pneumonia when she was four or five years old. Their son, Alester, Jr. became a professor at Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. Anne Ball Simpson Holmes died in 1928.

In the summer of 1930, Professor Holmes re-married, to Mrs. Lila Speer Pennel. Together they shared historical interests and carried on historical research, especially that dealing with the restoration of Fort Hill. In 1937, Professors Sherrill and Holmes published Thomas Green Clemson: His Life and Work. Professor Holmes retired from Clemson College in 1948, but he maintained his interest in and support of historical preservation. He died March 17, 1953.

Lila Speer Pennel Holmes was born in 1891 in Abbeville County, South Carolina. She first married Dr. Pennel, and lived in Belton, South Carolina. Dr. Pennel died in the influenza epidemic of 1918. They had two sons, but both pre-deceased Mrs. Holmes, one killed in a train accident, and the other dying of meningitis at Clemson. After her first husband's death, she served as housemother at a boys' camp in Banner Elk, North Carolina. She met Professor Holmes at Blue Ridge, another camp in North Carolina.

In 1933, Mrs. Lila Holmes became Chairman of the Fort Hill Committee and was active in soliciting material from Greenville merchants to restore the mansion. She also involved both the local United Daughters of the Confederacy and the South Carolina Division of the UDC in the restoration efforts and utilized the advice of members of the Clemson School of Architecture.Her efforts were aided by Clemson alumnus and amateur historian, David Kohn. Lila Holmes encouraged Birge and Company of Buffalo, New York to reproduce a wallpaper pattern similiar to that found at Fort Hill. This "Calhoun" pattern was used in the restoration of the mansion's upstairs. Through her efforts, Miss Margaret Calhoun, great-great-granddaughter of John C. Calhoun, gave furniture and furnishings to restore Fort Hill. Lila Holmes also made a close study of the structural development of the house with her husband. During this research she discovered the original six foot fireplace and Dutch oven.

Another major undertaking during Mrs. Holmes' tenure as Chairman was the production of the historical dramatization, "The Pageant of Fort Hill", which was presented in the spring of 1936. Many local citizens acted in this outdoor drama which gave wide publicity to Fort Hill. That same year, Fort Hill became listed with the Smithsonian Institution as an American House Museum. In 1937, Mrs. Holmes resigned her connection with the Fort Hill Restoration. Restoration work has continued and today John C. Calhoun's mansion is much as it was in his lifetime.

After the death of her husband in 1953, Mrs. Holmes retired to the Presbyterian Retirement Home in Summerville, South Carolina, where she served as Postmistress. She died October 5, 1977 at the age of eighty-six years.

George Raymond Sherrill was born in 1892. In 1921, he received his A.B. degree from Wake Forest College, Wake Forest, North Carolina. In 1925, he obtained an M.A. degree from Columbia University, followed by a Ph.D. in 1928. From 1929 to 1935, Dr. Sherrill was an Associate Professor of Economics and Government at Clemson College. In 1936, he was promoted to Professor.

Professor Sherrill spent the summer of 1934 in Washington, D.C. gathering material about the life of Thomas G. Clemson. Much of the information concerning Mr. Clemson's public service and his diplomatic career was uncovered by Dr. Sherrill in the course of his research.

In 1938, Dr. Sherrill left Clemson College to take a position with the University of South Carolina. At the University, he established the department of Political Science and served as Head of the Department of Political Science and, later, Director of the Bureau of Public Administration. Following his retirement at the University of South Carolina, he taught at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina.