USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II > Part 39
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terminated; visions of future bright and hard-earned emi- nence have fled; and more, more than all this, the enjoyment of domestic happiness, which formed the central spring of all other efforts, plans, and wishes, has been thus early intercep- ted. Yes, for him whose eyes have been forced to close on the scenes of tender and faithful conjugal endearments; for him who can no more watch the opening bloom and increas- ing loveliness of that infancy to which he had given being, and which was fastened, like a flower, to his bosom; for him who will no longer exchange the frankness and confidence of fraternal affection ; for him, who must henceforth cease to pay with unremitting, yet, pleasing assiduity, the claims of filial duty; for him who will never again grasp the warm hand of friendship, nor mingle in the social walks of living men; (especially, when we imagine the mental struggles with which this rare combination of felicity must have been resigned,) for him we will let our tears flow forth»-we will weep for the dead !
" We will weep for the disconsolate living. For her, whose woe is still like an unreal dream-but a dream, oh, how troubled, and how soon to settle down to the repose of intol- erable reality ! For her, who has now nothing to lean upon, this side of heaven, but the energy of harrowed and despair- ing affections! For her, who, as she reaches out her widowed hand for support, finds that she grasps at shadows, and that she must tread the toilsome pilgrimage of life alone. We will weep for those infant orphans, whose memories will retain, but for a few days, the image of their departed father ; and when they have done wondering and mourning for his absence, will shortly know not how to pronounce his name. Yet in advancing years, too soon will they be reminded, of the loss they shall have borne; when they shall find a vacancy in their hearts which nature cannot fill, when they shall feel the need of paternal support, affection, example, society, pro- tection, and advice, they will learn with frequent pangs, to utter the sacred but ineffectual name of father. We will weep for those, who, born beneath the same roof with the deceased, have, under every aspect and vicissitude of life,
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saluted him with fond and proud affection by the title of brother. We will weep for those afar, whom the ocean now severs from his last embrace, but who, if Providence shall speed their way, are on the eve of comning, though they know it not, to plant one of the greenest and saddest turfs upon his tomb, and one of whom will be ready to exclaim, with the patriarch of old, 'I will go down to my son mourning, and my gray heirs, shall be brought with sorrow to the grave.' We will weep for the disconsolate living.
"We will weep for ourselves and the public around us. A promising member of the commonwealth lies like a motion- less branch beneath its parent-tree. He who sat in the coun- cil halls of his native city, and devoted the energies of his prime to her defence in danger, and to her improvement and prosperity, when at quiet, will no longer 'go out and in before his people.' He, who mounted at an early age the still higher seats of legislation, and sent the influence of his talents and exertions through an extended civil sphere, will not again think, speak, or labor, for the welfare of his State. He whose voice resounded within the walls of justice, will no more be heard vindicating the injured rights of the humble, the ignorant, the helpless, the oppressed. He, to whose fidelity and integrity were entrusted the interests of the widow and the orphan, will no longer devote to them his incessant and guardian attention. He, to whom his fellow-citizens resorted on every occasion with unshakened confidence and untiring alacrity, whether the objects in view were civil, martial, mu- nicipal or social, has laid aside his gown, resigned his sword, has put away the badges of office, and has gone down to commune in darkness and in silence with the mouldering congregation of the dead. We will mourn for the loss which will be felt through so many and so various public relations of life-we will weep that we are here."
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BENJAMIN T. ELMORE.
This gentleman, the eldest son of General John A. Elmore and Sarah Saxon, his wife, was born in Laurens District. His father, as is mentioned in the sketch of the Hon. Franklin H. Elmore, was a Revolutionary soldier. I think he came to South Carolina with General Greene. His mother was of that old Revolutionary stock of Laurens, the Saxons.
He, Benjamin T., graduated in the Class of 1810, in the South Carolina College, of which James Dellet had the first honor, William Lowry the second, and Chancellor Job John- ston, (then very young,) the third.
At the commencement of the war of 1812, he received a First Lieutenant's Commission, served at Fort Moultrie, and before the close of the war, was promoted to the rank of Captain.
" When war's wild blast was blown And gentle peace returning,"
he left the army, and studied law, at Newberry, with Anderson Crenshaw, Esq., and in November, 1815, at Columbia, was admitted to the Bar.
I think he opened an office at Laurens, but practiced little, for in 1817, he presented himself as a candidate for Treasurer of the Upper Division of South Carolina, and was elected in December, to serve for four years.
He was elected twice as Comptroller-General, and served during the years '23, '24, '25 and '26, filling these various offices remarkably well.
He married Sarah Aurora, the youngest child of Judge Brevard.
He was elected Captain of the Company of Rifles of the town of Columbia, and served several years in that capacity. He volunteered and commanded that company in the expe- dition to Florida against the Seminole Indians, in 1835 and 1836.
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Captain Elmore was a pleasant companion. His military and office habits did not fit him for success in any active occupation in life. He, therefore, never made any reputation as a lawyer. After his marriage, he had no necessity to pursue his profession. He had very considerable financial capacity, as will be seen by his annual reports as Comptroller-General.
He was a kind-hearted man, who was always popular with the people of Columbia. I have little doubt that his early death is very much to be ascribed to his habits of conviviality, . and his enjoyment of social life.
I knew him well, and can say, as I do, with pleasure, that he was a patriotic citizen and an honest man, a good husband and kind father.
His death occurred at the Limestone Springs, in 1840 ; his amiable and accomplished widow, and several children, still survive him.
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PATILLO FARROW.
This gentleman was the son of Thomas Farrow, Esq., a native of North Carolina, and afterwards of Spartanburg District, by his second wife, who was the daughter of the Rev. Henry Patillo, a Presbyterian clergyman of North Caro- lina ; he was born on the 2d of September, 1796. He was a boy of much promise, acquired an education at the usual country schools and academies, with rapidity.
He graduated in the Class of 1815 in the South Carolina College. I see the names of some of his classmates, whom I happen to know as useful and distinguished men, who are still living, viz .: Dr. Henry Boylston, Nathaniel R. Eaves, Esq., John Farley, Esq., Gov. John Gayle, of Alabama, William H. Inglesby, Esq., the Rev. Maurice Harvey Lance, Rev. Albert A. Muller, Dr. Thomas E. Scriven and Dr. John A. Scott. Mr. Farrow had a high distinction in his class.
He studied law at Laurens Court-House with Robert Cres- well, Esq., and was admitted to the Bar in December, 1818. He had a good practice from the outset, both in Law and Equity, at Laurens and Spartanburg. His sensitiveness and extreme modesty were always in his way. He possessed fine speaking powers, and, if he could have been induced to address a Jury, as he was able to do without fear, he would have been a most eminent lawyer. Of the many cases in which he was concerned, I recollect the following, which found their way into our reports, viz .; Felts vs. Simpson, 1 McC. C. R., 217; Warden vs. Burtz, 2 McC. C. R., 73; Fowler vs. Stuart, Harp. Eq .; Garrett vs. Stuart, 1 McC. C., 514; Fowler vs. the same, 1 McC., 504; Stuart vs. Fowler, Harp. 403; Cleveland vs. Darr, Harp. 407 ; Boyce vs. Barkdale, 4 McC. 401; Byrd vs. Boyd, id. 246; Byrd vs. Ward, id. 228; Com- missioners of the Poor vs. Dooling, 1 Bail. 23; Sinclair & Kiddle vs. The Administrators of Price, 1 Hill's Eq., 431.
On the 2d of January, 1826, he married Jane Strother,
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daughter of Benjamin James, Esq. He was an Union man in the stormy period of Nullification, and was placed by the Union party of Laurens District as a candidate for the Senate. He refused to electioneer, and set that best of all examples that he would not treat to a drop of intoxicating drink, and would not ride to a single muster to obtain votes. The consequence was that the free and enlightened men of Lau- rens refused the services of one of her best and most enlight- ened citizens, for he never was a candidate for office on any other occasion. He retired from the Bar in 1837, and joined the Presbyterian Church, at Laurens, in 1841, devoting himself very much to every good word and work, both in temperance and religion. He was soon elected and set apart as a Ruling Elder. He was taken sick with typhoid fever on the 8th of August, 1849, and lingered to the 18th of October, when he died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, at his dwelling in Laurens, giving, in his last illness, evidence of a conscious- ness of his approaching dissolution, and gratifying evidence of his readiness and willingness to go. He left, at his death surviving him, his excellent wife, and the following children, who are now alive : James Farrow, Esq., Anna P., wife of J. Wistar Simpson, Esq., Susan W., wife of Major John Witherspoon, of Laurens, T. Stobo Farrow, Commissioner in Equity for Spartanburg, and Henry Patillo Farrow, Esq., of Cartersville, Georgia.
He enjoyed his home and family so much, that he was reluctant to forego such comforts for the glories of the world; and hence he preferred private life, its quiet and ease. There is no doubt he thus enjoyed more happiness. But a man's country has a right to his services, according to his ability.
Mr. Farrow was a good and virtuous man, and the citizens of Laurens ought to cherish his memory as that of one of their brightest jewels.
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WILLIAM McWILLIE.
To this gentleman, who is yet alive, and who, I hope, is to be spared for many years to come, I would gladly pay a trib- ute equal to his worth. But I fear I shall fall very far short in the attempt. Yet his great example belongs to the Bar of South Carolina, and, so far as I am able, I desire to place it before my brethren now and for all time to come. He was born in Kershaw District, on the 17th of November, 1795. He received his common-school education in the neighbor- hood of his birth, and his academic education in Camden.
The regiment of militia drafted for the United States ser- vice, under the command of his father, Col. Adam McWillie, was mustered into service in October, 1814; of that regiment, William McWillie was the Adjutant; the duties of that office he performed to the entire satisfaction of his superiors, at Haddrel's Point, near Charleston, until the regiment was dis- charged in March, 1815. In October of that year, he entered the South Carolina College, and graduated (receiving one of the higher distinctions of his class) in December, 1817. He studied law, I presume, with Chapman Levy, Esq., was admitted to the Bar in 1818, and was married on the 13th of December, of the same year, to Miss Cunningham, the daughter of Joseph Cunningham, a wealthy planter in the neighborhood of Liberty Hill, Kershaw District. Mr. McWil- lie settled in Camden, and successfully practiced law in Ker- shaw and Lancaster Districts.
In April, 1827, he sustained the great loss of his young and lovely wife-leaving him seven young children. On the 17th of March, 1831, he married Miss Anderson, the daughter of Dr. Edward H. Anderson, of Camden, a worthy and accom- plished lady. He continued the practice of law until the 1st of October, 1836, when he was elected President of the Bank of Camden. The intervening eighteen years spent by Mr. McWillie at the Bar were not passed in vain; he had made
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money and acquired reputation. Necessity, however, had not forced him to acquire that transcendant reputation to which his known abilities pointed. He was a rich man from his beginning, and, therefore, made the law more a pastime than a profession.
At the Spring Term, 1834, Mr. McWillie argued, before the Court of Appeals, in Columbia, the great Test Oath question ; his argument against that measure entitles him to stand along- side of Williams, Blanding, Petigru, and Grimké; and if their arguments, compared with those of their opponents, be not as the sun is to the moon in clear effulgence and power, I must be much more mistaken than I usually am. For Mr. Mc Willie's argument, I refer to 2 Hill, 123.
Colonel McWillie was a member of the Senate of South Carolina (I presume from 1836 to 1840). The following is taken from Mr. Bellinger's scrap-book; it is written by an anonymous contributor to one of the South Carolina papers: "Mr. McWillie has a high reputation, and but for his modest and retiring habits, would long since have occupied a more conspicuous station in the country. His mind is one of supe- rior cast. It is bold to originate, and is yet cautious; and few men possess more niceness or exactness of judgment. As a speaker, he is fluent, and always uses the proper words in the most proper places. His elocution is pleasant and his gesture graceful. The arrangement of his speeches is always logical, and he eminently succeeds in compressing into the narrowest compass, all the best arguments appertaining to the subject before him. Though his style is seldom ever other than argu- mentative, he yet declaims, at times, in language of the most impassioned kind. Upon such occasions, few men can in- spire the hearer with more fervency of feeling. He possesses great flexibility of voice, and his tones, though usually soft and insinuating, when excited, become high and command- ing; and every word he utters is listened to as the language of one who speaks for the cause of truth, and commands to be heard for her sake. Though Mr. McWillie was of the unpopular party in this State, some years since, yet no one is more universally respected or esteemed. His great integ-
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rity of purpose, his general intelligence as a statesman, and amiable and lofty character as a man, render him one of the first men in the Senate, and one of the most estimable citizens of which our State can boast."
Subsequent to 1836, my circuit duty now and then enabled me to hear and admire Mr. McWillie (then commonly called Colonel McWillie, from, I suppose, an aidship to one of the Governors). In the State vs. Ingram and others, a great assault and battery case, for lynching a man named Love, tried at Lancaster in the fall of 1842, he succeeded in saving several worthy men from conviction. His speech was an ad- mirable one, and showed how much better he was suited to the Bar than to be cooped up in the walls of a banking house.
Mr. McWillie, like myself, was a thorough-going tempe- rance man. In this particular, he was the life and soul of total abstinence in the ancient town of Camden, alike dear to both of us; to me, by descent, and to him by early and long associations. As a total-abstinence man, I have often heard and admired Mr. McWillie. As the President of the Camden Bank, till '45, (nine years,) he discharged admirably well its various duties; he gave to it that character for general useful- ness and prosperity to which it has ever since shown itself so well entitled.
On the 25th of September, 1845, Colonel McWillie aban- doned the soil of his birth, and sought a home in the South- west. The removal of no citizen created more universal regret. For I hazard nothing in saying, that he was a favor- ite son of an honored mother; and if he had thought fit to remain, she would have given him honor and office to any extent he might have desired. But I am delighted to know, that the State of his adoption (Mississippi) has not been slow to perceive and reward his worth. She elected him a Mem- ber of the Thirty-first Congress, in November, 1849, and Governor in October, 1857. He is now enjoying that greatest dignity in a republican State, and wearing its honors with that modest, dignified usefulness, which has always so distin- guished him.
He remarks, in a letter to the author: " I have been, through-
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out my life, a planter, and fortune has been kind to me, for which I am most thankful. I have raised a numerous family, and with the conduct of my children, and their success in life, I have every reason to be satisfied. Last, though not least, I am a member of the Episcopal Church, to which communion I have been attached for many years."
So much for the past life of Governor McWillie. He will soon complete his sixty-fourth year, and yet his fine constitu- tion and temperate habits promise to add many more years of usefulness to his life, which has been a bright example of talents of love, purity, and fidelity, coupled with an useful and a religious walk and conversation. Long may he live, honored, respected and loved; serene and happy may his evening be, and bright and everlasting the dawn of the morn- ing of a future life.
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DAVID J. McCORD.
David J. McCord was a native of St. Matthew's Parish. He was a student of the South Carolina College, in the class which graduated in 1814, but for some cause, he left the college in his Senior year. He studied law, and was admitted to the Bar, in Columbia, in 1818. He married, very young, Miss Wagner, a beautiful young lady in, or near Charleston. He and Henry J. Nott, were associated together as partners, in the practice of the law, in Columbia. Their practice was not very large, but quite enough for young men. They were both under ordinary size. A Polander was employed as an engineer on the canal around Beard's Falls, on Saluda River. He fre- quently thumped the operatives under his command, and they employed, as he termed them, " little Messrs. Nott & McCord," as attorneys to sue him. His principal was also sued by them, about something connected with the work. He appealed to the Polander, and asked him what he should do. "Burn the - papers," was his prompt advice. They, (Messrs. Nott & McCord,) under a contract with Mr. Faust, the State Printer, published Ist and 2d Nott & McCord, containing the de- cisions of the Constitutional Court, in 1818, 1819 and 1820.
In 1821, his partner, H. J. Nott, left for Europe, and their partnership was dissolved. Mr. McCord, continued the Re- ports under the same arrangement with the State Printer, and published Ist and 2d McCord's Reports, containing the deci- sions of the Constitutional Court in 1821, '22 and '23. In 1822, he and Col. Preston became partners in the practice of the law.
In December, 1823, an appropriation of $1,000 was made for the salary of the State's Reporter, and William Harper, Esq., who had just returned from Missouri, was elected. In De- cember, 1824, the Court of Appeals was established ; and as Mr. Harper did not desire the office of Reporter, Mr. McCord was elected, and continued until the winter of 1827. He reported the law decisions of the Court of Appeals, for 1825, 1826 and 1827, in 3d and 4th McCord's
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Reports, and the Equity Decisions for 1825, 1826 and 1827, in 1st and 2d McCord's C. R. These last Reports, (3d and 4th McCord, and 1st and 2d McCord's C. R.,) are very creditable to the industry of Mr. McCord. In March 1825, Mr. McCord was the Intendant of Columbia, who received and welcomed General Lafayette, on his visit to that town.
About this time, 1828, I think Mr. McCord visited Europe. He was present in Paris, at the Revolution of three days, which sent the Bourbons from France, and placed Louis Philippe on the throne. He returned full of the incidents of that period, which he took great pleasure in narrating.
He soon became a violent politician-wrote largely and spoke vehemently in favor of Nullification. He was a Mem- ber of the House of Representatives several times, between 1832 and 1840. He was very much identified with Dr. Cooper, while he was President of the South Carolina College.
In 1829, 1833 and 1837, he was elected a Trustee of the South Carolina College
He lost his first wife, who left a large family of children. Some time afterwards, he had the good fortune to find a " help-mate" in the person of a most intelligent lady, Miss Louisa Cheves, the daughter of Judge Cheves.
He became, by the election of the parent Bank in Charles- ton, President of the Branch Bank, Columbia.
Mr. McCord was a Whig in 1840; his politics little suited the atmosphere of South Carolina ; he was consequently re- moved, and Colonel R. H. Goodwyn, the present excellent president, was placed in his stead.
Mr. McCord retired to private life; he lived in Columbia, and managed his wife's estate in St. Matthew's.
He died about 1855, or 1856, leaving his wife, and several children by his first and last marriages, surviving him.
Mr. McCord was a sprightly, lively, entertaining companion ; he was about the bitterest politician with whom I was ac- quainted. He was a good lawyer, and argued his cases with great legal ingenuity ; but he wanted that degree of force and point, which is necessary to make an impression on a Jury, and sometimes became tedious in his legal arguments.
This is a fault, which I know it is hard to avoid; for law-
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yers desire to show their legal knowledge, and very often forget that the Judges to whom they are speaking, do know, at least, the alphabet of their profession.
On the whole, Mr. McCord may be stated to have been a good lawyer, ardent in pursuit of success, violent in his politics-honest, though mistaken-a friend " who sticketh closer than a brother," a devoted husband and father, a good citizen and officer-one who drained to its dregs the cup of persecution, which, in the day of his power, he most violently presented to his political opponents.
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HENRY JUNIUS NOTT.
Henry Junius Nott, the second son of Judge Nott and Angelica Michell, his wife, was born in Union District, on the Pacolett River, on the 4th November, 1797. His father is well known as an eminent Judge; his mother was an ex- traordinary woman, remarkable for her pleasant, cheerful disposition, her great intelligence, and for an unfailing and uncomplaining fortitude, which carried her through the great privations to which her later years were subjected, in the death of her husband and many of her children.
His father removed to Columbia in 1804; his education he received in the Columbia Academy, until he entered the Sophomore Class of the South Carolina College, in December, 1810; he graduated in 1812, in the highly cultivated and intellectual class of which Hon. Hugh S. Legaré had the first honor.
H. J. Nott, about 1816, visited Europe in company with Ainsley Hall and wife. His tour was a short one; he re- turned the same year and studied law with Wm. Harper, afterwards Chancellor Harper, and was admitted to the Bar in 1818. He and David J. McCord were associated together as partners ; their practice was not extensive. They pub- lished two volumes of Reports, covering the cases decided by the Constitutional Court in 1818, 1819 and 1820. These reports are little more than the decisions, with suitable heads and indexes ; yet they were, and are now, of great value to the profession.
His health failed, and he abandoned his profession, and, in 1821, he sailed for Europe, and spent most of his time in France and Holland, in the pursuit and acquisition of know- ledge.
On the 7th of December, 1824, before he reached home, he was elected Professor of the Elements of Criticism, Logic and the Philosophy of Languages, in the South Carolina College. While in Europe, he was married to a French lady.
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He was for thirteen years connected with the South Caro- lina College, and was an excellent teacher and professor. He had a great fund of knowledge and incident, which he com- municated with marked facility to his classes.
He wrote several learned and valuable contributions to the Southern Review. He wrote a lively little novelette, called Thomas Singularity. Although this was a sprightly tale, well written, yet there was much in it which was displeasing to the religious community.
On the 13th of October, 1837, he and his wife were lost at sea, off the coast of North Carolina, in the unfortunate steamer " Home." It is believed he could have escaped, if he had abandoned his wife. Rather than do this, he chose to perish with her. They left an only child, Amelia, now the wife of William Mckenzie Parker, Esq.
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