Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II, Part 32

Author: O'Neall, John Belton, 1793-1863
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Charleston, S.C. : S.G. Courtenay & Co.
Number of Pages: 636


USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II > Part 32


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In December, 1822, after his return from the session of the House of Representatives of that year, he was wounded in his hand, by the accidental discharge of a gun while hunting game. This produced tetanus, or lock-jaw, which caused his death.


He left a widow and four children, Thomas, Sarah, Eliza and Edmund.


Dr. Laborde, speaking of General Glascock, says: It is certain, however, that he attained distinction in the Courts of Edgefield, and that he was a popular lawyer. I am ignorant of the extent of his legal learning. He was a man of pleas- ing manners, a good talker, of a most genial nature, and had the rare talent of making himself agreeable to all. I think, of all men I have ever known, he enjoyed the most uniform popularity. He represented the people of Edgefield for a long period in the State Legislature, and was their Senator at the time of his death.


All who knew him will say, that any notice of him would be inexcusable, if allusion were not made to his fondness for field sports, and particularly for the fox chase. He was an uncommonly fine shot, and often betook himself to this manly


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exercise. But who will describe him as a for-hunter ! He rode the noblest horse in the upper country, and his large pack of fox-dogs would excite the envy of an English nobleman. How often have I been aroused from my slumbers, on a freez- ing December night, by his " echoing horn," and the excited cry of his anxious pack, as he passed my father's house, on his way to his hunting grounds ; and how often have I seen him making his triumphal entry into the village, with the fox suspended to his saddle, and his faithful dogs following, and listened to the story of his chase until my little heart caught the inspiration, and beat with an exultant feeling, almost equal to his own.


He was in the prime of life when removed from this mortal scene, and it so happened that I saw him breathe his last. I was present, as one of his youthful friends, and engaged in dispensing those attentions which his situation demanded. The picture is now before me. He had accidentally inflicted a gun-shot wound upon one of his hands, and was dying of lock-jaw; and his lovely wife was near by, in the last stage of consumption. Their weeping " little ones" were around them, and it was apparent that in a few short days, or fleeting hours, both parents were to be committed to the tomb, and their happy home made desolate. And so it was. They died within the same week, and their bodies were buried in the Baptist church-yard of the village. The house passed into the hands of strangers, the children were distributed among their relations, and he who, but a short time before, filled so large a space in the community of that intelligent district, like the whole family of the dead, (with fewest exceptions,) soon ceased to be remembered.


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STEPHEN D. MILLER.


Stephen Decatur Miller, the son of William Miller and his wife, Margaret White, was born in May, 1787, in the Waxhaw settlement,* of Lancaster District. The original white settlers of that section, among whom were Mr. Miller's paternal and maternal ancestors, were rigid Presbyterians, from the north of Ireland. When they migrated to this State, they brought their pastor with them, and had, therefore, the benefit of constant religious instruction for themselves and their children. They "trained up their children in the way in which they should go," according to the strictest principles of Presbyterian faith and practice. They loved liberty, and, like Cromwell's Ironsides, they were ready to pray, and if need be, to fight for its preservation. Their descendants were like their ancestors, a brave, energetic, and a determined peo- ple. This was shown throughout the Revolution, for they were Whigs, and toiled, and suffered, and bled for liberty until it was attained. His father died when he was young. He was raised, as he says in a letter written to his daughter, principally among his " mother's relations, and, like all chil- dren, thought my mother and her kin most worthy of my affection and the cleverest people in the world." His ma- ternal grandmother, Margaret White, is mentioned in Ram- say's History as an instance of longevity.


Mr. Miller was of the same family with the Crawfords, and, possibly, this family connection created the first begin- ning of his attachment, in mature life, to the great Georgian, William H. Crawford.


He received in early youth, what was, in that time and country, called a classical education. The Rev. Mr. Conser, of the neighborhood, who was a strict disciplinarian, and well


* The Waxhaw settlement lies upon the Waxhaw Creek, the Catawba River, and the North Carolina line, in Lancaster District. It is even now, the finest body of land with which I am acquainted, in South Carolina. The Waxhaw tribe of Indians, now totally extinct, originally occupied it.


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qualified to teach, was his preceptor. He was not only in- structed in classical literature, but he was thoroughly imbued with a knowledge of the Scriptures. He could repeat with wonderful rapidity and accuracy, almost any portion. His quotations were frequently drawn from this source, while at the Bar, and were always pointed and telling. He was a bright, energetic, and daring boy, and though not large of stature, possessing unusual strength and activity.


In the athletic sports, which greatly obtained in that day, he had few equals and no superiors. In fact, he delighted to indulge in them after he had arrived at mature age, and reached the highest positions in the State.


In the letter to his daughter, (23d July, 1835,) in speaking of his maternal relations, he says, that the second daughter of his aunt, Jane Crawford, then Mrs. Dunlap, is the oldest of my relations. She was a little girl when General Jackson lived with her father, and is said to have rejected him." Per- haps there was little in the hard-featured and obscure youth to attract the attention of a young and beautiful girl.


Stephen D. Miller graduated in the South Carolina College, in the talented class of 1808, and soon afterwards entered the office of John S. Richardson, Esq., at Sumter, as a student at law.


In 1811, he was admitted to the Bar, in Columbia, and settled in Sumter District, to practice law, succeeding to the practice of his instructor, Mr. Richardson, who had been elected Attorney General, in December, 1810, and had removed to Charleston. Mr. Miller resided at Statesburg. He had an office there, and also at Sumterville. The Clerk of the Court, Mr. Horan, then lived at Statesburg, and there kept the Records of Sumter District.


In 1814 or 1815, he intermarried with Miss Dick, of Sum- ter District.


In 1818, Judge Richardson was elected to Congress from the Congressional Election District composed by Sumter, Ker- shaw, Lancaster, and Chesterfield. For reasons stated in the sketch of this eminent gentleman, he declined the distinction, and Stephen D. Miller, his pupil and friend, was elected in


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his place. Before the close of his first session, he was com- pelled to hasten home to close the eyes of his wife in death. She died in 1819, leaving three children, Elias Dick, John Richardson, and William Smith. Mr. Miller may have re- turned to Congress in 1819 and served until March, 1820. During his service in Congress, he became much attached to the Secretary of the Treasury, under Mr. Monroe, the Hon. William H. Crawford, and espoused his principles, and with Judge Smith, the Senator in Congress, was in opposition to Mr. Calhoun's doctrines of that day. They belonged to the Radical school of politics, as it was termed in South Carolina. He resumed his practice on his return from Congress, and pursued it most successfully, in Sumter, Kershaw, and Lan- caster, and, possibly, in other Districts. In May, 1821, he married his second wife, Miss Mary Boykin, of Kershaw. In 1822, he was elected Senator in the State Legislature, from Claremont, Sumter District, and so continued to serve until 1828, when he was elected Governor of the State. In 1830, he was elected Senator in Congress, over his old friend, Judge William Smith. He served only two years and then resigned on account of ill-health. He was a member of the great Nul- lification Convention of 1830, the action of which, whether for good or evil, as an opponent, it does not behoove me to say. In 1832, when it re-assembled to rescind the ordinance of Nullification, the contest about allegiance began. The members of the Union party felt, as the contest with the Uni- ted States Government was happily ended, that nothing further ought to be done. The Nullifiers prepared the ordinance to nullify the Force Bill, and further proposed to declare, that the primary and paramount allegiance of the citizen was due to the State of South Carolina. This, the members who were of the Union party, strongly opposed, and insisted that the only allegiance known in the United States, was obedience to the Constitutions of the United States and the State, and the gov- ernments thereby constituted ; and that the constitutional oath existing, was quite sufficient. Pending the debate, a recess took place, and the Nullification party went into caucus, pro- fessedly with a view of modifying the measure proposed.


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Governor Miller and myself lodged at the same hotel. When he returned from the caucus, I asked him what was done ? He replied, " they have made it a d-d sight worse than it was before."


On the re-assembling of the Convention, the measure pro- posed was the definition of allegiance, as it stands now in the ordinance. Governor Miller moved to strike it out, and said that, "the Nullification party were charged with a secret intent to dissolve the Union." "If," said he, "this measure passes, it will make the charge true." His motion was overruled by a very small vote. If the members, who were Union men, had been present, as they ought to have been, his motion would have prevailed, and South Carolina would liave been saved from the bitter strife of 1833 and 1834, and its conse- quences in 1835.


His children by his first wife, except his eldest son, Elias Dick Miller, died very young. Elias Dick Miller is said to have been "a youth of rare and noble qualities. Those who were in college with him are now chiefly on the stage of pub- lic action, and while the mention of his name cannot fail to call up recollections, the tenderest love and admiration for the unusual combination of excellencies in his character, they will renew their sighs for his early withdrawal from a world he seemed so well fitted to benefit and adorn." He died in 1832, in his sophomore year, in the South Carolina College. From the terrible shock occasioned by the death of this noble boy, the ardent and devoted nature of his father was never able to recover.


In 1835, Governor Miller having bought land in Mississippi, removed thither with a large number of slaves, and settled a large and valuable plantation. He was then, and sometime before, in bad health. He bore up against it with his usual buoyancy, but in vain. On the 8th of March, 1838, at the house of his nephew, Major Charles M. Hart, in the town of Raymond, Mississippi, he closed his eventful life in the fifty- first year of his age. His family he had left in South Caro- lina. They had, therefore, not the consolation of smoothing


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his dying pillow, nor of dropping upon his marble features the tears of affection. He was there buried, and there his remains still repose.


He left surviving him his excellent wife, Mrs. Mary Miller, and four children, (one son and three daughters,) his son Stephen D., is a planter living in Albama, his eldest daughter, Mary B., is the wife of James Chesnut, Jr., one of the Sena- tors of South Carolina in Congress ; his second daughter, Kate B., is the wife of David R. Williams, the grandson of Gen. Williams, of Society Hill, and his third daughter is the wife of Thomas E. Boykin, of Dallas County, Alabama.


The means of Governor Miller in the beginning of life, were very small. He inherited two or three slaves, which he sold to enable him to complete his education, and start fairly on the way of life. Thus, like most of the great men of the nineteenth century, in Carolina, he began poor ; but by those greater endowments of head and heart, which God had pro- vided for him, he, in the short period of life assigned to him, obtained " wealth, fame and power."


When I first came to know Governor Miller intimately, (about 1820,) he was a lawyer in full and successful practice. His voice was not a pleasant one, and, in his speeches, fell rather harshly on the ear. His flow of words was easy and abundant. He was entirely argumentative. Nothing of fancy entered into his speeches. He was an excellent lawyer. He was a leading Member in the Senate of South Carolina, being Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and of course most of the Acts, making important changes of the law, passed through his hands. The Act to make the stealing of corn or other grain from the freehold, owed its origin to him- he framed it as it now is.


Of his course in Congress, I know little ; he was a respecta- ble Member of the House, but had little opportunity to dis- tinguish himself. In the Senate, he was, with the other South Carolina Senators, in opposition to most of the measures of President Jackson.


As Governor of South Carolina, he administered her affairs


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with prudent discretion, and aided much in arousing the people to the work of Nullification. Whether that ought to be praised or censured, is not for me to determine.


I have no reason to believe that Governor Miller did not think he was pursuing the means which would contribute to the honor and glory of South Carolina. That he was mistaken, I did not then, nor do I now entertain a doubt.


Governor Miller, by nature, was "a bold and vigorous man, he had high ambition and lofty purposes. He loved his friends, and they returned his love with ardent and devoted affection." " He was a man of great power in his day and generation, in society, at the Bar, and in the councils of his country."


In all the relations of private life, he was true, devoted and faithful. His mourning widow and his young orphan children, felt the early blight which fell upon them in his death, as the bitterest stroke which God could inflict upon them. But, like good old Job, they bowed submissive to the chastisement, and felt with him, "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."


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JOHN MURPHY.


Governor John Murphy was a native of South Carolina, and graduated with the second honor of the class of 1808, at the South Carolina College. Senator Evans and Chancel- lor Harper were among his class-mates.


He married the daughter of Robert Hails, and was very soon noticed by the people of the State. He was elected a Trustee of his Alma Mater in 1809, and re-elected in 1813; he was the first graduate who had that honor. He was elected Clerk of the Senate in November, 1810, and continued by succes- sive elections till the close of 1817, when, I presume, he re- moved to Alabama. He was not admitted to the Bar in South Carolina. Judge Porter, of Alabama, gives the follow- ing sketch:


Mr. Murphy removed to Alabama at a very early period in the history of the State. He entered the political arena so soon after his emigration, that he was scarcely known as a lawyer. He was made Governor about the year 1828, and remained in that post for four years; after which, he made several unsuccessful efforts to get into Congress, from the Montgomery District over Dixon H. Lewis. The contest, at that time, turned upon State-rights; and Governor Murphy was a full-length Union, or coercive-doctrine man. Dixon H. Lewis was a Nullifier; and the canvass between them was marked by extraordinary excitement. The question was regarded as one between South Carolina and the Northern States-between Federalism and State-rights-tariffs and free trade; and the speeches of these gentlemen elicited whatever the history of these phases of politics could generate. Dixon H. Lewis was well adapted, in the character of his mind and in manners, to the curious task of exciting the enthusiasm of the masses. He had a graceful and captivating delivery, and possessed a high order of talents; added to which, he con- trolled the sympathies of the people, who cared little for, and


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understood less of, the abstract principles then at issue. Mr. Murphy, while noted for order and precision, was not re- garded as either a graceful or an accomplished orator. He was a plain and matter-of-fact speaker, cold and uninspiring. He was, too, in the decline of life, while Mr. Lewis was in the out-set of his career, energetic, and bold in the assurance of victory. The canvass between these two gentlemen was animated, and tended to impart a vast amount of political knowledge. The writer was present upon one occasion when Governor Murphy was placed in quite a mortifying position. To turn aside the invective of Lewis against the waste of public money for internal improvements, the Governor gave a long and warm account of rail-roads, then an almost un- heard-of improvement. In the midst of his discussion of their merits, he was interrupted by the voice of an ignorant, but influential Democrat, who inquired, if the roads the Gov- ernor was advocating, were "real good roads, or roads made out'en rails ?"


In every position of a public nature held by Mr. Murphy, and as a private citizen, he was regarded with very great respect. He was faithful to his party; as a man and mem- ber of society, he was eminently honorable and just. In per- son, he was unwieldy; of light, sandy complexion; his pro- nunciation strongly marked with Scottish accent.


Governor Murphy was a Member of Congress in, I pre- sume, '34 and '35; he was present when General Blair rashly ended his own life. Removed from the public eye, in his retirement to private life, he spent the remainder of his days, after 1835, in the performance of the duties of a neighbor, in the circle of his acquaintance. He died about the year 1839- '40, in the bosom of his family, full of years, and consoled by the reflections of a life graced by public honors. His educa- tion was good; being understood to be an alumnus of the South Carolina College.


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WILLIAM LOMAX.


William Lomax was a native of Abbeville District. He graduated at Dartmouth College, about the year 1808, and returned to his native district, studied law, and was admitted to the Bar, in 1812. He was elected to the Legislature in 1830, as a Union man.


He was the partner of Mr. Yancey for a short time, and had considerable practice both in law and equity. He wrote a wretched hand, and on one occasion, in term time, he wrote an affidavit which he could not read, so as to be understood. Col. Noble undertook to read it, but was unable to do so. Judge Bay ordered it to be handed up to him, and when he saw it he declared the Justice who wrote it, ought to be struck from the rolls. "Wh-what mag-magistrate wrote it ?" was the Judge's impatient inquiry. Col. Noble said, brother Lomax wrote it ! The Judge, turning to him, said : “ Br-brother Lo- Lomax, wh-what schoo-schoolmaster t-taught you to write ?"


Mr. Lomax's utterance was so rapid and vehement, as to confuse his own mind and that of his hearers. On one occa- sion, he had committed a mistake in the grammatical con- struction of a sentence. If he had let it pass, it would have escaped notice, when even Mr. Calhoun indulged in mala grammatica. Mr. Lomax, however, undertook to correct his error, and made it worse at each trial. He said: “May it please your Honor ! the state of the pleadings are these-are this."


Notwithstanding things like these, which are only the bub- bles on the stream of life, Mr. Lomax deserved much of his native district. He was a good lawyer and an honest man. " He married a most excellent lady, the daughter of William Tennent, Esq., whose ancestors were alike distinguished for their piety and their patriotism." Mr. Lomax died early. About 1833 or 1834, in his usual good health, while walking his piazza, he fell and expired. The shortness and uncer-


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tainty of life was thus fearfully illustrated. Chancellor Bowie, who knew him well, and who is very well qualified to judge, says : " I have known few men whose minds I would find it so difficult to characterize as his. He had capacity enough to acquire knowledge, and he had evidently been a student not wanting in diligence, and yet he never became a success- ful lawyer. I think his main defects were want of discrimi- nation, a want of self-confidence, and a total want of tact in the conduct of a case. An adroit opponent could easily draw him off from the strong points of his case, and cause him to exhaust his powers on immaterial issues. He was a fearless man, without self-possession; but with many noble traits of character-a true friend, a moral and upright citizen, and a most exemplary husband and father."


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ALEXANDER BOWIE.


Alexander Bowie was a son of that eminent revolutionary patriot, Major John Bowie, of Abbeville, and was born and raised, and lived a large part of his life in that district. He has not even told me when he was born. I know, however, from another source, that he was born 14th December, 1789.


He graduated, in the fourth class of the South Carolina College in 1809, with the second honor, alongside of his friend and room-mate James L. Petigru, to whom was as- signed the first. It is gratifying to know, that eight out of that distinguished class of eighteen, after a lapse of fifty years, are still spared to honor and bless their country.


Alexander Bowie studied law with his brother George, was admitted to the Bar in April, 1813, and entered immedi- ately into a pretty extensive practice, as the partner of his brother, till 1817, and afterwards either alone, or as the part- ner of some junior member of the Bar. Mr. Bowie was a man of fine talents and excellent elocution, and, as he says of himself, " if he had not been a lazy dog," he might have stood, always as he did at his graduation, only second to James Louis Petigru, in the noble profession which they both pur- sued.


In 1818, he was a Member of the House of Representatives, of South Carolina; in 1822, he, and Baylis John Earle, were competitors for the Solicitor's office of the Western Circuit. Earle was successful. In 1828, my impression is Mr. Bowie was again a Member from Abbeville. The storm of Nullifi- cation was threatening in the sky of South Carolina ; in 1830, under the name of Convention, Mr. Bowie sided with that party ; whether he was then a candidate or not, I do not know.


The whole of the candidates of that party were excluded in October, 1830. Subsequently, however, Nullification had held the ascendancy in Abbeville; and if Mr. Bowie desired it, I have no doubt he was returned again to the Legislature.


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He removed to Alabama in the fall of 1835, and in Decem- ber, 1839, was elected Chancellor of the Northern Division of Alabama. He held the office for six years, and then retired to private life, which he still adorns, and which he will long grace, if my good wishes will in any way contribute to that end.


I append a sketch of Chancellor Bowie, by my friend Judge Porter, of Sydney, Alabama :


It is to be regretted that, from the habitual retirement of this gentleman, but few memorials of his public character are known. He was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, on the 14th December, 1789, and was admitted to the Bar, in 1813. After occasional displays in the Forum, and on public occasions, in his native State, in which he gave promise of very high distinction as an orator, he removed to Alabama, and settled in Talladega County, in November, 1835. Here he practiced law until the 16th December, 1839, when he was elected one of the Chancellors of the State. He held this office for six years, much to the satisfaction of the Bar ; when, retiring, he devoted himself to his planting interests, at his beautiful farm, Ben Lomond, where he now resides ; less anxious for public employment, than for that quiet indepen- dence which characterizes his household.


Chancellor Bowie served some years as Trustee of the Uni- versity of Alabama ; a position in which he took great pride, and to which he carried very high enthusiasm in the cause of education. His labors, indeed, contributed much to elevate the University; and had the State always possessed trustees and professors of equally sound judgment, independent minds, and classical attainments, it would doubtless have maintained a quite respectable attitude, as an institution of letters. Chan- cellor Bowie is distinguished for remarkable graces of elocu- tion. He possesses a finely-toned, well-modulated voice, and a sensibility which gives considerable effect to his enun- ciation. His powers of entertainment in the social circle, are extensive, and always regulated by modesty and good sense. He is not at all given to affection ; but is courteous and affa- ble, without pretension. Among his neighbors he is regarded




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