USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II > Part 42
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schools remain in existence, they will be identified with the name of Crafts: his memory will long be cherished by the thousands who have, and the tens of thousands who shall hereafter participate in the blessings they impart."
The man who spoke thus was gifted with the power of just and elevated thinking, and with a scope and grace of lan- guage to express his thoughts, sufficient to have insured high professional and forensic position. The whole production is equal to, and, in some parts, rises above this specimen of his powers of thought and language.
Mr. Courtenay's religious opinions settled down in an adherence to the doctrines and discipline of the "Methodist Episcopal Church," in the full communion of which he lived and died. But there was no sectarianism in the ample folds of his noble and flowing Christian heart. The charity of his soul was only circumscribed by the numbers of the human race. He was an active and devoted servant of the Master he loved, at Trinity Church, Hasel-street, Charleston, where his mortal remains are buried. The teachers and pupils of the Sunday school where he labored, asked and obtained from his family permission to erect a monument to his memory. There it stands, a simple and truthful witness to the affection he had inspired by his efforts and usefulness, where the pre- cepts of the Gospel were most likely to influence a true judg- ment of his character.
In his personal figure, he was above the middle stature, and his bearing was commanding and courteous. Genial in his feelings, full of kindness in his manner to all who approached him, he bore the trials of life, which were neither few nor light, with patience and resignation-leaving a memory most cherished by those who knew him best. His name survives, and is worthily represented by his sons. One of his brothers, the late Professor James Carlisle Courtenay, of the Charleston College, died, unmarried, several years since, greatly lamented for his private virtues, and for his devotion to the cause of science, having been one of the earliest advocates for the es- tablishment of the present "National Observatory." Another brother, of remarkable promise, died young. The Hon. Ed-
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ward Courtenay Bullock, of Eufaula, Barbour County, Ala., is the son of one sister. Col. Charles Courtenay Tew, of the Hillsboro', North Carolina, Military Institute, is the son of another.
The writer of this humble attempt to rescue Mr. Courte- nay's name from the mists and oblivion with which the un- ceasing work of time enshrouds all things, performs a grateful duty to the memory of a friend, gone before, who loved and served him with a zeal that would not cease when he ceased to live, but descended, with his last blessing, to those who re- ceived his dying sigh and inherited his name.
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HENRY GRIMKÉ.
He was the youngest son of Judge John Faucheraud Grimké and Mary Smith, his wife; he was born 3d January, 1801, in the City of Charleston, and was educated there until he entered the South Carolina College, where he graduated in December, 1818. (He is entered in the college catalogue as Henry W. Grimké.)
He studied law in the office of his distinguished brother, Thomas Smith Grimké, and was admitted to the bar, in Charleston, on the 10th of January, 1823.
He was the partner of his brother, Thomas Smith Grimké, until his death, in 1834. In 1829 he married Selma T. Simons, of St. Paul's Parish, who died in 1843.
Mr. Grimké, both before and after his brother's death, en- joyed an extensive and lucrative practice in the city, together with some in the country.
In 1847, he retired from the practice in order to manage his agricultural interests in St. Paul's Parish. On the 28th September, 1852, he fell a victim to country fever. Three children, a son and two daughters, survived him.
Mr. Grimké was as firm a man as ever I saw at the bar. He was often opposed to Colonel Hunt, and very often com- pelled him to yield some arrogant assertion to the firm, un- yielding manner which he (Mr. Grimké) presented.
Mr. Grimké was a man of uniform good humor. He was a good lawyer, and managed some very important insurance cases with great ability.
In the cases of Joseph Cohen, Jr., vs. The Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Desaussure, 147; Oliver Simpson, vs. The Same, Desaussure, 239; he conducted the defence with distinguished ability against his friend, the greatest lawyer in the city, James L. Petigru, Esq.
Mr. Grimké was a virtuous man and good citizen. He made no effort at distinction, though, I think, he was a Major
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in the militia, and had great reputation in his military capa- city. In the State vs. Henry Grimké, 3d Hill, 17, it was de- cided, that his service, as a militia officer for seven years, did not exempt him, under the Act of '94, from further service.
A life of fifty-one years, spent generally in private life, presents very few points on which remarks can be made. But notwithstanding the paucity of illustrations, such a life cannot be permitted to rest in the silence of the grave. For virtue, though unadorned by brilliancy, must be remembered by all those who lived with or after him, both with respect and veneration.
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THOMAS HARRISON.
This gentleman was a native either of Greenville, or of Pendleton, before its division. After diligent inquiry, I have been unable to ascertain his birth-place, or anything about his early life. He must have had a good education at the academies in the upper districts. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar; but when, does not appear ; his name is not on the roll of attorneys. He married a daughter of Gen. John B. Earle, and was a Member of the House of Re- presentatives, in the General Assembly of South Carolina, in 1822 and 1823, where he was remarkable for his quick per- ception of a subject, and his able exposition of it.
About this time he argued in the Constitutional Court, Means vs. Moore, et al, (Harper's Rep., 314; 3d McC., 282.) The questions arose upon the will of Gen. Moore, of Spar- tanburg. The main one was, whether erasures and inter- lineations with a pencil, with the view of having prepared for execution another will, was a revocation? Two Juries, at successive terms, found for the revocation, and against the will. The Court set the verdicts aside, thus deciding in favor of Mr. Harrison. In Maverick vs. Lewis & Gibbes, (3d McC. R., 211,) he discussed learnedly the question, what is a lease ? His argument at (p. 214) is very well reported, and will show his powers as a lawyer.
His difficulty of hearing, which was approaching deafness, made him soon withdraw from professional business, and seek other employment.
He was elected Treasurer of the Upper Division in, I be- lieve, 1826, and served for four years. When elected to this office, against the remonstrance of his friends, he determined to perform the duties in person. The duties of that office had been, and since have been, often performed by deputies. He thought this a violation of the Constitution; he said to his friends, " I must go to Columbia, and personally conduct the
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office, or I will resign." His friends ceased to urge him in the matter; whether he removed his family or not, I do not remember, but he certainly conducted his official duties in person.
He was Comptroller-General, as appears by his reports in 1830, 1831 and 1832. They evince great capability for that office.
He was elected Cashier of the Branch Bank at Columbia, and performed the duties for a short period, when he resigned and sought the enjoyments of his home in Anderson District.
There he closed his life by his own hand. This was the result of mental alienation. He survived several days, was able to discourse sensibly, and stated the mental delusion under which he was laboring, and which led to the sad act. He probably would have recovered, but his malady recurred, and he refused to suffer a particle of nourishment to enter his body; he died, as I have understood, from voluntary star- vation.
Thus perished, in the meridian of his days, an eminent lawyer, a perfectly pure and amiable man.
He was sober and temperate in all things; was a firm, con- scientious man, a good officer and citizen, a faithful and devoted husband, an affectionate father, and, in all the other relations of life, above exception.
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N. L. GRIFFIN.
Nathan Lipscomb Griffin, the son of Richard and Mary Griffin, was born in the neighborhood of White Hall, Abbe- ville District, on the 9th of February, 1803. He had the benefit of a good academical education, principally obtained at Church Hill, in the lower part of his native district.
He began the study of the law in the office of Judge Whit- ner, at Cambridge, (formerly old Ninety-Six.) In the year 1823, he removed to Edgefield, and placed himself in the office of A. P. Butler, Esq. In February, 1824, he was ad- mitted to the Bar, and established himself, as a practicing lawyer, at Edgefield. On the 18th of May, 1824, he was married to Miss Anna Butler, a daughter of Stanmore Butler, Esq. About the year 1826, he entered into co-partnership with his legal instructor, Mr. Butler, and so continued until the elevation of the latter to the Bench of South Carolina. He subsequently formed a partnership with Armstead Burt, Esq., which continued until Mr. Burt became a Member of the House of Representatives, in Congress. Mr. Griffin then did what he ought to have done before, relied on his own powers, and showed that he was not only an office lawyer, but capable of managing and arguing his cases in Court. His friend, who pens this memoir, heard him first, with great de- light, in a capital case, which he had much at heart, and in which he saved his client from a conviction of murder, by a verdict of manslaughter. Ever after that he maintained a standing, fully equal to that of the first, at the Edgefield Bar: success generally attending him.
In August, 1831, he joined the Baptist Church, at Edge- field, and was soon after set apart as one of the deacons. His walk and conversation, as a Baptist, was of the most exem- plary character.
He joined, also, the ranks of the Tetotallers, and as a tem- perance man, illustrated the example of total abstinence favorably before the people.
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In 1838, he was first elected to the House of Representatives, in the General Assembly. His course, as a legislator, was one which challenged the respect of every other member.
In 1846, he was elected Senator, from Edgefield, and in 1850 he was re-elected. In this high legislative position he was an uniformly active and useful member.
As a church member, he made himself particularly useful, by taking charge of the negroes, for which purpose the church, at his suggestion, was opened every Sunday after- noon. This duty he cheerfully, nay, even gladly performed. For he often said, that he experienced more pleasure from it than from any other duty which devolved upon him.
Thus honored and useful, his life drew early to its close. On the 16th of February, 1853, having, by a few days, com- pleted his fiftieth year, he died, leaving a widow and eight children. The annunciation of this sad event created more general and heartfelt sorrow than is usual. High and low, rich and poor, bond and free, united in the universal wail. For he was loved and honored by all who knew him.
After a lapse of six years, and turning back over his life, little can be found to blame, and much, very much to praise. As a lawyer he triumphed, by untiring industry, over a de- fective education, and by a punctuality, which was unwaver- ing, and a devotion to business, which was unceasing, he obtained, and held to the day of his death, the confidence of a larger number of clients than any member of the Edgefield Bar.
As a man, he had the respect of all who knew him. For his word was truth, and his life honesty itself. As a citizen, he might have been carried forward by a party to the adoption of mistakes in politics, but yet his forbearance made him not even obnoxious to violent party condemnation. No one ever doubted the purity of his principles, and the patriotic devo- tion of his heart.
As a husband, father, and master, none but those who knew him in that sacred circle of home can form a just esti- mate. It may, however, be said, that, weighed in the balances, he was not found wanting in any of these respects. His
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noble, high, and spiritually-minded widow, still lives, and cherishes his memory with that enduring affection which looks forward, evermore, to that blissful re-union beyond the grave, to which he pointed on his dying bed.
In fine, as a friend and brother, I would say of Nathan L. Griffin, few men deserved more of the affection of men here ; and few could look forward beyond the grave with a more certain hope of everlasting happiness.
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B. F. PORTER.
This gentlemen was born in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, in September, 1808, two doors north of Market- Street, on the west side of Meeting-Street, where, in 1850, Miller's bakery was standing. He was a weak and sickly child from his birth, and grew up without any education, except such as his mother could give.
He was the son of Benjamin R. Porter and his wife, Eliza- beth Fickling. His father was born in Bermuda, and at the age of ten years, ran away from his grandfather, Benjamin Richardson, of Hamilton, Bermuda, and hid himself, with a stock of bread and cheese, under the yawl of a Yankee vessel bound for Charleston. He made the voyage successfully, and on his arrival, found a friend in Mr. Marshall, a cabinet ma- ker, to whom he bound himself as an apprentice, and served out his full time.
Judge Porter's paternal grandfather, Colonel John Porter, married Alice, the daughter of Mr. Benjamin Richardson. He was an Irishman, and removed from Pennsylvania to Poughkeepsie, New York, thence to Charleston. After the death of his first wife, he was married a second time to Miss Cox, and with her he lived at Mar's Bluff, till his migration to the west. One of his daughters married Dr. Haynesworth, of Sumter ; and a son, John, was killed at the battle of New Orleans.
Judge Porter states he was admitted to the Bar, in Charles- ton, in 1826, through the influence of the Hon. William Crafts, Jr. On referring to the rolls, in Charleston, I find that B. F. G. Porter, whom I suppose to be the same person as Judge Por- ter, was admitted to the Bar, 22d November, 1825. He was then only in his eighteenth year, but he states he was under the belief that he was of full age. His mother had concealed his age from him.
In the year 1826, he lost his father, and to support himself,
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his mother and sisters, he wrote in the office of George B. Eckhard, Esq., till the fall of 1828, when he took his budget on his back, and started for Chesterville. " Years," he says, " will not efface that first parting from home, humble as it was, when my dear pious old mother concealed, in broken accents, her grief; and my two sisters, (one of whom I was destined to see no more,) seized my hair, and cut two locks from it to remind them of the absent only son of the household."
In Chester, he became the partner of Robert Clendenin, Esq., and practiced there till the fall of 1830, when he removed to Monroe County, Alabama. Just before his removal, he mar- ried, Eliza, the daughter of Captain John Kydd, of Beckhams- ville, in Chester District.
On his removal to Alabama, he had, he says, " fifty cents in his pocket. He had previously studied medicine, under Dr. Thomas Legaré, of Charleston," and finding this the only means of obtaining a living for his family, he obtained a license as an M. D., and practiced for a year.
In 1831, finding a South Carolinian indicted for murder, at Claiborne, he volunteered for his defence. James Dellett, Esq., an eminent lawyer, heard Mr. Porter's speech, and at its close, came to him and said : " Throw your pill-boxes to the devil, and come into my office." He did so, and continued with him until he removed to Tuscaloosa, in 1835, after his election as Reporter of the Supreme Court.
In 1832, he was elected to the Legislature, from Monroe County, and served as such until his election as reporter, in 1835. In 1840, he was again a member, I presume from Tus- caloosa, when he was elected a Judge. Heonly retained this office until the end of the year, when he resigned in conse- quence of " some doubts," as he says, " of the constitutionality of his election, he being, at the time of his election, a Mem- ber." He was a Whig, and the objection was less for the in- tegrity of the Constitution, than his politics. " After my resignation," he says, "a subservient Supreme Court over- ruled its own decision, and declared my election void. It was a sacrifice to the rancor of political rage."
Judge Porter says, that in 1838, he had saved ten thousand
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dollars, which he invested in the Planter's and Merchant's Bank of Mobile, and lost it all. In 1848, on his way to Washington, he had his leg badly broken, and in consequence of that injury, remained at Cave Spring, Georgia, until 1850. He was advised by his friends to return to Charleston, which he did. In May, 1850, I came to know Judge Porter. He was one of those concerned in the defence of Davenport, charged with the murder of a lady, by the administration of ergot to produce abortion. He made the second speech for the prisoner, and it seemed to me to be fully equal to what The might have been expected, from his great reputation. evidence was wholly insufficient to convict the prisoner, and after a tedious trial, he was acquitted. At the same term, and subsequently, at the January term, 1851, of the Court of Ap- peals, Judge Porter, with his friend, Mr. Yeadon, argued the case of the State ex relatione, Ravenel, Brothers & Co., James Welsman, James Chapman, Gourdin, Matthiessen & Co., vs. the City Council, 4 Richardson, 286. Here, again, both on the circuit and in the Court of Appeals, his arguments were every- thing which could be said, in a case, where the law was plainly against him.
I believe these two cases were the only occasions in which I ever had the opportunity of hearing and knowing Judge Porter, of whom I then formed a high opinion, both as a lawyer and gentleman. I then hoped he might find it to be his interest to make Charleston his permanent home, but it seems that his friends had promised more than they could effect. The business promised and expected did not come. His means were not sufficient to justify him in remaining in the city of his birth, and he returned to Alabama, where he has since been successfully pursuing his profession.
"The fourteen volumes of Alabama Reports," which he says, he " prepared in manuscript himself," are a work of which any man may be proud.
The Judge is very much a self-made man. He says, " in the intervals of professional employment, I have studied every branch of the sciences and philosophy. I have become a fair Latin, and a good French scholar. Taking a fancy to this
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Civil Law, I have explored it from the earliest fraginents, through Paul, Ulpian, the Institutes, Panderts, Novels, and Code, to the Spanish and French law, and in it found the true source of the principles of jurisprudence."
" By temperance and industry, I have found time to spend many hours to the advocacy of education, and every means of improving this country : to write occasionally for the papers and magazines, and to prepare works on the law, &c., which may one day find their way to the press. I have pre- pared a translation of 'Heinnecius Elements of the Insti- tutes.' ""
"In 1834," the Judge says, "he removed his mother and sister, with her children, and one child of a deceased sister, Mrs. Jenkins, to Alabama. All, with the exception of a niece, the wife of the Rev. Richard Furman, and a nephew, are dead."
Of his own family, he says, "I have nine children, who have received, and are receiving, a fair education. At fifty- one years of age, I feel as energetic as I did at twenty, and can labor with any young man in the country. I attribute my youthful energy to extreme temperance in eating and drinking, to regular hours and cold water." True, most true, my experience of sixty-six years fully coincides with Judge Porter. Although I have reached that period of life, when ." the windows are darkened," " when the almond tree flourishes," and when usually " the grasshopper is a burden," yet have I found that a life of twenty-five years of total absti- nence has enabled me to do and bear more than younger men can.
The Judge says, " of my disposition and capacity I will not speak. I am satisfied, so far as success in life is con- cerned; I have two great defects of character-too much openness of conduct, and too little care of money. I have the satisfaction of feeling that I have never ground the face of the poor, nor refused the defence of the oppressed, nor taken a fee to prosecute against truth and justice."
Judge Porter's life shows that his disposition is kind. He has fulfilled to the utmost the duties of a son and brother.
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His capacity, who can doubt, after what he has achieved. He is, indeed, now to be ranked amongst the first in literature and law. All this he has achieved by untiring industry.
In every department of life-as a man, a citizen, a husband and a father-none better deserves the plaudit, " well done." It is to be hoped that his country will yet amply reward him, and crown him with the honors to which he is eminently en- titled.
We append an interesting extract from one of Judge Por- ter's letters, and an extract from the "Law Reporter."
" When I went to Mobile, as Judge of the Tenth Circuit, there were six thousand cases on the docket, and it had not been cleared in two years. The jail was full, and as the yellow fever was approaching, I resolved to clear the prisons. The Sheriff was required by me to furnish a list of every per- son in jail. I held Court till June. On the evening of the. last day of Court, I had gone to my hotel, worn out. A com- pany of sea-captains were abusing the law of Alabama, and several who had been in the jail, to look after their men, put in under a law of Congress, for fear of desertion, spoke of the prisoners in jail. The Sheriff, that day, had declared, in open Court, that no prisoners were in jail. It was then dark; I went, without eating my supper, to the State's Advocate, and getting the Sheriff, went to the jail. There I found the dun- geons full of sailors, and State's witnesses, who had not been able to give surety. In one dungeon, I found a woman, with a dozen men, about giving birth to a child. In another, I found a mother, with a child in rags, in a raging fever. I turned them all out of jail; giving the women and sick money, and providing a carriage for those unable to walk.
" On one occasion, I was requested to watch over the case of two fine young negroes, indicted for burglary. The Attorney- General requested me to submit the case, as there was no hope of saving them. I refused; insisting on a regular trial. The evidence took till night. It was positive. I went home; could not sleep. Got up at midnight, and went to my office, where I sat up till day-light. The idea struck me, which is stated in the within note, published in the " Boston Law Re-
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porter." I went into Court. The Jury turned their backs to me, as did the Judge, as I rose to speak. They were vexed at my taking the time of the Court when there was so much to do. As I opened the point, the Judge turned towards me, and as he saw the point, told me he would direct an acquittal. The negroes fell on my neck, and cried aloud."
"Larkin and Henry, two negroes belonging to Mr. Marr, were charged with having broken into a dwelling-house, not then inhabited, and stolen goods to the amount of more than twenty dollars, during one Saturday night. The goods were found in their possession, and they had fully confessed the facts charged. Indeed, the case was considered so clear, that it was proposed to submit the facts proved without argument. This, however, was declined by Judge Porter, who took the fol- lowing ground: That, by the laws of the State of Alabama, as they now stand, supposing the facts to be all proved, the prison- ers had not committed the crime of burglary. It seems, that burglary is adopted by its generic name into the Alabama penal code. Not attempting to define it, it must be held to be the offence defined under that name by the common law, (State vs. Absence, Porter's Reports, 401,) namely: ' breaking into a dwelling-house, in the night-time, with intent to commit a felony.' The question now arises, therefore, what is a felony by the laws of the State of Alabama. This the State code has not left to the common law definition, but has undertaken to define as follows: 'The term felony, when used in any sta- tute, shall be construed to mean any offence, for which the offender, on conviction, shall be liable by law, to be punished by death, or for which imprisonment in the penitentiary is made the appropriate punishment.'-Ala. Digest, Penal Code, chap. viii. sect. 8. If, therefore, the above facts had been proved against any white person, or free person of color, it would have been a case of burglary; as stealing from a dwel- ling house, above the value of twenty dollars, is a penitentiary offence, and, therefore, a felony. But, by the laws of this State, this offence is only punishable, in slaves, by whipping. Hence, he contended, that the offenders did not intend to com- mit a felony according to the law, as it now stands in the
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