USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 2
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In recents years rice planting to a great extent has been abandoned on the south Atlantic coast, and Governor Heyward is now one of the most promi- nent men engaged in a great reconstruction task for the rehabilitation of former rice land so as to change their physical condition to make them cap- able of raising other crops. In recognition of his work in this directon a certificate has recently been conferred upon him by the faculty of Clemson Ag- ricultural College.
Governor Heyward has long been prominent in the Knights of Pythias in South Carolina, hav- ing been elected grand chancellor for the state in 1807, holding that office until May, 1898. In 1901 he was chosen supreme representative. He is also a Mason and a member of the Episcopal Church.
February 11, 1886, at Lexington, Virginia, he married Mary Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of Alexander D. Campbell of Rockbridge County, Vir- ginia. They have four children: Katherine Bay- ard, unmarried; Mary Campbell Ileyward, wife of Irvine F. Belser; Duncan C., Jr., and Alexander C. Heyward.
CHARLES BURWELL BOBO, for many years actively identified with the commercial affairs of the City of Laurens, is one of the most prominent Baptist laymen in South Carolina.
He was born on a farm in Spartanburg County February 11, 1864, son of Charles Burwell and Lu- cinda Keran (Drummond) Boho. His grandfather was Pinckney Bobo. The father was also a native of Spartanburg County, and early in the war be- tween the states became a lieutenant in the Eight- eenth South Carolina Regiment. He was killed at the battle of Clay's Farm May 20, 1864, only a few weeks after the birth of his son Charles B. He also left an older son, W. E. Bobo, a well known farmer of Laurens County. His widow afterward became the wife of Milton Augustus Knight and died in 1896, at the age of fifty-six. She was a consistent member of the Baptist Church all her life.
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Charles B. Bobo grew up on a farm, but at the age of eighteen became clerk in a store at Laurens and acquired his early merchandising experience there. In 1885 he completed a course in the South- ern Business College at Louisville, Kentucky, and the following two years was bookkeeper for J. H. Morgan & Brother at Greenville.
He then became a member of the newly estab- lished firm of Orr, Owings & Bobo, general mer- chants at Laurens. A year later Mr. Orr sold out and the firm of Owings & Bobo continued as gen- eral merchants until 1898, when they sold the larger part of their business to Mr. T. N. Barksdale. How- ever, the firm of Owings & Boho is still in existence, and does a large business in farm supplies and fer- tilizer and also conducts an investment banking busi- ness, though not accepting deposits.
. Mr. Bobo has achieved a gratifying success in business. He started with limited capital, and it is his sincere belief that "the Lord blessed his en- deavors," and that sincerity has been thoroughly
tested by his liberality and devotion to the cause of the church. He has been a prominent worker both in local and larger bodies of the Baptist de- nomination. He has been signally honored by his denomination. He is now serving his second term as president of the South Carolina State Baptist Convention, his third year as a state member of For- eign Mission Board, his second year as trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his sixteenth year as trustee of the Connie Maxwell Orphanage, and his eleventh year as moderator of the Laurens Association. He was also one of the Commission of Fifteen to plan and carry out the $75,000,000 cam- paign for the Southern Baptist Association. In his home church at Laurens he has been for many years deacon and treasurer. His wife has been equally zealous with him in church work. Mr. Bobo mar- ried Miss Martha Banksdale in 1887.
WILLIAM PRIESTLY CONYERS, a member of the state board of pardons, is one of Greenville's well- to-do and most enterprising business men and cit- izens. He trained himself for the law, practiced a brief time, but for over a quarter of a century has been active in the real estate business, and sev- eral of Greenville's most substantial buildings in the business district have been built or owned by him.
Perhaps nothing else he has done has so much potential value as an example and standard of possi- bilities in agriculture in upper South Carolina as the farm which Mr. Conyers has developed, operates and owns in partnership with Mr. T. C. Gower. It is by competent judges pronounced the finest farm in Greenville County, comprising 400 acres situated on the Laurens Road two miles east of Green- ville. While they have spared no expense in making the farm what it is, it is by no means a rich man's hobby, and for years has paid its way and justified every expense and care bestowed upon it. They carry out a system of crop rotation, which has achieved the finest results. This rotation is corn, followed by wheat and oats, and then cotton. Mr. Conyers is committed by experience to liberal ex- penditure for fertilizer, and after that he depends on thorough and scientific cultivation to get results. One hundred and thirty-six bales of cotton was produced in 1919 on seventy-five acres on this farm. For a number of years he has taken state prizes on wheat and other products on his farms. The live- stock feature is also giving the place a well deserved fame. They have a herd of thoroughbred registered Hereford cattle, and thoroughbred Duroc hogs. In effect it is a private demonstration farm, and the experiments worked out there are of the great- est value to Greenville County and have already done a great deal to elevate the standards of agricul- ture in that section.
Mr. Conyers was born in Clarendon County, South Carolina, in 1871, a son of Samuel E. and Mary (Oliver) Conyers. His mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty years. His father, the late Captain Conyers, served with the rank of captain in the Confederate army, was an extensive planter and land owner in Clarendon County, and was of Eng- lish ancestry. The Conyers family has lived in Clarendon County, formerly Sumter district, since prior to the Revolutionary war.
William P. Conyers attended local schools, the
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Sumter High School and the Florida Military Academy at Gainesville, where he was graduated with the class of 1888. After a year of school teaching he came to Greenville in 1890 and began the study of law in the office of his half-brother Hon. H. J. Haynsworth. Admitted to the bar in IS92, at the age of twenty-one, he practiced for only a short time and then gave practically all his at- tention to the real estate and loan business. Mr. Conyers is senior member of the firm of Conyers & Gower. Of late years he has handled his own prop- erty, doing no brokerage business.
His business ability has made him a very suc- cessful man. He is an extensive owner of valuable city and country property. Mr. Conyers built and is the owner of the building occupied by the Southern Public Utilities Company, at the corner of Wash- ington and Laurens streets, owns other business and residence property, and built the Mills Build- ing and the Conyers-Gower Building, which he later sold.
Governor Cooper honored him with appointment to the state board of pardons in April, 1919, of which he is chairman. Mr. Conyers is a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church. He married Miss Marie Gower, daughter of the late T. C. Gower. Her father was Greenville's most noted pioneer business man, being founder of the firm of Gower, Cox & Markley. Mr. and Mrs. Conyers have three chil- dren named Mrs. Sarah Westervelt, William Priestly, Jr., and Mary Oliver Conyers.
William P. Conyers, Jr., was a student in the Uni- versity of North Carolina when at the age of nine- teen and- upon the declaration of war with Ger- many, he came home, volunteered, and almost im- mediately was sent overseas to France. All through the war he was with the headquarters troops of the Thirtieth Division in the Second Army Corps. He received his honorable discharge and returned home in April, 1919.
PAUL HAZELIUS HALTIWANGER. One of South Carolina's citizens longest and most continuously identified with business affairs and whose rise from a humble clerkship in a country store to executive of one of the state's leading corporations has been most conspicuous is Paul Hazelius Haltiwanger, president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Haltiwanger was born in Lexington County, South Carolina, July 21, 1848, son of George and Elizabeth Ann (Dreher) Haltiwanger. His father was a Lutheran minister. His early education was acquired in private schools, and when he was thirteen years old his parents moved to Edge- field County. He acquired his first business train- ing there as clerk in a general store. During 1871-72 he managed to get a little more education while attending Newberry College, and on leaving that school again resumed work in a store.
Mr. Haltiwanger came to Columbia in 1875. For several years he continued as a clerk, and from 1878 to 1802 was in the general merchandise busi- ness for himself. In the latter year he organized the Farmers Mercantile and Manufacturing Com- pany, and was one of the active executives in the business until 1904. In 1002 he purchased an interest in the Carolina Casualty and Insurance Com- pany, and soon afterward reorganized it as the
Carolina Life Insurance Company, of which he has since been president. Mr. Haltiwanger is a member and elder in St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Columbia.
December 30, 18So, he married Miss Nancy Cath- crine Bouknight, of Lexington County. They are the parents of four children: Ames, the oldest, is assistant cashier of the Carolina Life Insurance Company. He married at Abbeville, October 23, 1907, Mary Lucia Cheatham, and they have three children, Evelyn Cummings, Frances Catherine and Edith. Carrie, the second child of Mr. Halti- wanger, is the wife of C. Henry Wiesepape, a jeweler and optician at Columbia. The two younger chil- dren are Laura and Deems. The latter served in the United States Merchant Marine Service, and is now assistant manager of the Rieliland Shale Prod- ucts Company, of which his father is president.
AMES HALTIWANGER is one of the young and prominent financial and business leaders at Columbia, and since 1903 has been actively identified with the affairs of the Carolina Insurance Company and shares in the credit for the creation and upbuilding of that splendid South Carolina institution.
Mr. Haltiwanger was born at Columbia February 4, 1884, being a son of Paul Hazelius and Nancy Catherine IIaltiwanger. The career of his father is sketched on other pages. The son Ames attended the grade schools of Columbia, spent two years in the University of South Carolina, and finished a business course in Draughon's Business College. As a very young man he was given the responsibilities of assistant paymaster and afterwards paymaster at two of the cotton mills in Columbia, the Richland Cotton Mill and the Capital City Mills.
In 1903 he became a stockholder and director in the Carolina Life Insurance Company. For several years past he has been assistant treasurer and audi- tor of the company.
While his time has been pretty completely taken up by these duties. Mr. Haltiwanger served as treas- urer for the National Lutheran Commission for the Soldiers and Sailors Welfare and for the National Lutheran Council during the period of the war. He is a prominent Lutheran layman, being a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church at Columbia, a mem- ber of its board of deacons and assistant superin- tendent of the Sunday school. He is a democratic voter, but has never participated in practical poli- tics.
October 23. 1007, in the Lebanon Presbyterian Church in Abbeville County Mr. Haltiwanger mar- ried Mary Lucia Cheatham, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John T. Cheatham and a native of Abbeville County. They have three children. Evelyn Cummings, Fran- ces Catherine and Edith Haltiwanger.
VICTOR MOSS MONTGOMERY. The fortunes of the Montgomery family in its various generations might well deserve a volume for the telling. Even in South Carolina they have been important personages, contributors to the sound traditions of civic and so- cial life, patriots, and energizers of the business re- sources of their respective communities. Apparently all the sturdy elements in the characters of his for- bears have been combined in Vietor Moss Mont- gomery, president of the South Carolina Cotton
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Manufacturers' Association, and head of some of the greatest cotton mills in and around Spartanburg. Some of the carls, lords and baronets in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, from whom his family descends, have not been dishonored by the achieve- ments of the South Carolina branch of the family. The first Montgomery was Roger de Montgomerie of Northern France, who was "Count of Mont- gomery before the Coming of Rolle" in 1612. Later members of the family were American patriots in the Revolution and the War of 1812, including the gallent Gen. Richard Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, and Gen. John Montgomery of New Hampshire, who during the second war with Great Britain defended the harbor of Portsmouth against the attack of the enemy.
The first of the family to settle in Spartanburg County was John Montgomery, who emigrated fromn the North of Ireland to Pennsylvania and came to South Carolina in 1785. He married Rosa Roddy. A great-great-grandson of this pioneer was the late Capt. John Henry Montgomery, whose life de- serves more than passing mention. He was born De- cember 8, 1833, on the Montgomery plantation four- teen miles from Spartanburg, son of Benjamin and Harriet (Moss) Montgomery. He grew up in the atmosphere of a southern plantation of ante-bellum Ifies, attended good schools under competent teach- or; and in 1852 went to work as clerk in the country stone of John Nesbitt at $5 a month and board. A year later he was clerking in the store of Robert Brice at Columbia, and in IS52 formed a partner- ship with his brother-in-law Dr. E. R. W. McCrary, in the general mercantile business at Hobbyville. In 1855 his parents and all his brothers and sisters and his brother-in-law moved to Texas, leaving him the sole member of the family in South Carolina.
Along with his store he operated a small tannery until the outbreak of the war. In December, 1861, he volunteered as a private in Company E, Eight- eenth South Carolina Infantry. Upon the organiza- tion of the regiment he was made commissary with the rank of captain, in 1863 became assistant com- inissury of the brigade, and in 1864 assistant division commissary. On his return home in 1865 a small stock of leather from his tannery was the only prop- erty available for immediate use in recuperating his shattered fortunes. He had a farm, and in this connection he deserves special recognition in South Carolina agriculture as the first to employ commer- cial fertilizer. The abundant crops he raised by this means attracted wide attention and did more than all argument and theoretical demonstration to point the way to a new agriculture. He himself became
the selling agent of fertilizers, and built up a large . be a calm man indeed who could survey the devasta- and prosperous business and at the same time con- tinned the educational propaganda in behalf of its
In1 1874 Captain Montgomery became a member ~! the firm of Walker, Fleming & Company, who «! ! a cotton fertilizer business, and in 1874 he moved his business and home to Spartanburg. This . (m) in 188t bought a water-power site on the Pacolet River, known as Trough Shoals. A cotton mill 4 jt bok, and to operate it was organized the Pacolet Mintfacturing Company with Captain Montgomery as president and treasurer. By 1804 this plant had :: rased its facilities to 57,000 spindles and 2,200
looms, with an annual consumption of about 30,000 bales of cotton. In 1917, it may be noted by way of showing the continued growth of the industry, it had over 70,000 spindles and was operating on a capital of $3,000,000.
The same interests next organized the Spartan- burg Mills at Spartanburg, of which Captain Mont- gomery was also president and treasurer, and under his able direction this industry enjoyed prosperity only second to the Pacolet mills. Captain Mont- gomery, who died October 31, 1902, was one of the real captains of industry in the formative period of upper South Carolina. In ISS8 he became chairman of the board of trustees of the Cooper Limestone Institute, later known as Limestone College, at Limestone Springs, and this was only one of many causes and movements which he aided during his lifetime. In 1857 he married Miss Susan A. Hol- combe, daughter of David A. Holcombe, a native of Union County, who settled in Spartanburg County in 1845.
Vietor Moss Montgomery, second son of Captain Montgomery, was born in Spartanburg County May 13, 1861, and has been a resident of Spartanburg since 1875. His education was acquired in Wofford College at Spartanburg, Kings Mountain Military School at Yorkville, and Richmond College in Vir- ginia. For one year he clerked in the store of J. H. Morgan & Company at Spartanburg, and was then in business for himself two years. Selling out he became the manager of the mercantile department of the Pacolet Manufacturing Company, and gradually familiarized himself with all the technical details of cotton manufacture. His appointment as assistant treasurer in 1897 brought him an active share in the management of the Pacolet Company, and in May, 1903, he was elected president and treasurer to suc- ceed his father. About the same time he succeeded his father as president and treasurer of the com- pany's mill at New Holland, Georgia, and as treas- urer of the Gainesville Cotton Mills at Gainesville, Georgia.
Successful management of the business which his father had founded would be in itself highly com- plimentary, but the new executive soon was over- whelmed with disasters and problems far outside the ordinary routine of management. It was his conduct of affairs at this critical period that gives Mr. Montgomery his particular distinction among the industrial leaders of the state.
Cyclone and flood in quick succession practically destroyed the mill at New Holland, and partially wrecked the plant at Trough in Spartanburg County, the loss running literally into the millions. It would tion and see the dawn of a new and better day be- yond the ruins. Mr. Montgomery though his tenure of office had been brief had made a fine showing of the company's properties, and the disaster was no reflection on his personal reputation as a practical mill man. He accordingly sought help in the finan- cial centers of the New England textile industry, though without much hope that his name would have the needed weight there. It must have been one of the moments of his greatest satisfaction in his life when three of the greatest men in the textile industries of the East, Mr. S. M. Milligan of New York, Governor Draper of Massachusetts, and F. J.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Hale of Boston supplied him with all the financial backing needed to rehabilitate his properties.
Following the disasters of 1903 the stock of the Pacolet Manufacturing Company was reduced in value very much below par, since it was based on physical properties that had been all but destroyed. In 1919 this stock was worth four for one, book val- ue, and the Pacolet Mills are among the soundest 'in- dustries of the state. This is not only a reflection of the able management under Mr. Montgomery, but even more it is proof of the value of a man's char- acter, since it was nothing else that procured the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to restore the business. A better illustration could scarcely be found of the important part the human equation plays in the world's affairs.
When the South Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association in 1918 made Mr. Montgomery their president the members took an opportunity not only to get a forceful executive but pay honor where honor is due. During the war Mr. Montgomery was member of the war service board aiding the price-fixing committee regulating the prices of cot- ton piece goods. For several years he has been chairman of the committee to place bonds for the building of manufacturing industries in Spartanburg. He also keeps up the interest of his father in Lime- stone College, being chairman of its board of trus- tees.
December 20, 18So, he married Mary L. Griffith, daughter of Professor H. P. Griffith of Limestone College. The era of business misfortune seemed to extend to his domestic circle, since in the two years 1905 and 1906, death took away his wife and three of their four children, Marie, John F., and Lucile, leaving Lois, who is the only surviving child by this marriage. April 17. 1907, Mr. Montgomery married Lillian M. Earle, daughter of the late Sen- ator Joseph H. Earle and Annie (Wilton) Earle, of Greenville. Of this marriage there is one son, Vic- tor M., Jr., who is now (1919) eleven years old. The last wife was claimed by death April 7, 1919.
JACOB THOMAS BARRON. The South Carolina bar during the last half century probably produced no lawyer whose numerous distinctions were better earned or better deserved than the late Jacob T. Barron. Mr. Barron practiced law at Columbia thirty years, and in that time he also became one of the most prominent Masons in the state.
He was born in Edgecombe County, North Caro- lina, May 20, 1854. and died suddenly at Kansas City, Missouri, where he was temporarily sojourning, September 16, 1910. He was of English and Scotch- Irish descent and a son of Bolin B. and Amanda (Thomas) Barron. He acquired an education suit- able to his talents, attending Bingham Military School at Mebane, North Carolina, and in July, 1875, graduating from the Virginia Military Insti- tute at Lexington. He then came to South Carolina to prenare himself for his chosen profession, but from September to December, 1875, was tutor in a private family at Kittrell, North Carolina. He en- tered the office of an eminent South Carolina lawyer, Col. James H. Rion. of Winnsboro, and was admit- ted to the bar by the Supreme Court in 1870. In the same vear he began practice at Columbia and from the first made a specialty of corporation law.
He was appointed attorney for the Atlantic Coast Line Railway Company in 1879, and his connection with that corporation was continuous and marked by unswerving devotion. The late Warren G. El- liott, general counsel of the Coast Line, was once quoted as saying: "Barron loses us less money than any other counsel with the same amount of terri- tory." Mr. Barron's practice was not altogether confined to law cases. He was frequently employed in other fields and three years before his death was selected to be general counsel for the Columbia Street Railway, Light and Power Company. Obvi- ously his practice was seldom of the commonplace or routine character.
He enjoyed a high reputation among his fellow lawyers, and even in the heat and rivalry of the court room when important interests were at stake, he never lost the courtesy which was one of his especial characteristics. At different times he was a member of the following firms : Rion, Lyles & Bar- ron; Rion & Barron; Barron & Ray, and finally Barron, Moore & Barron.
Considering his success in his profession, it is not strange that he had a very brief political record. For two years he was alderman of the Second Ward in the city council, and was also chairman of the board of city schools. To any public cause in which he was engaged he gave the same interest and en- thusiasm which the greatest of law cases provoked.
Outside of his profession he was doubtless most widely known for his Masonic worl :. A brief ac- count of his affiliations and honors in that order is as follows: Past master and life member of Rich- land Lodge No. 39, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons ; past high priest and life member of Colum- hia Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons; past thrice illustrious master and life member Union Council No. 5. Royal and Select Masters ; past eminent com- mander and life member of Columbia Commandery No. 2, Knight Templars; past grand master and grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of South Caro- lina ; past grand high priest and grand secretary of the Grand Chapter of South Carolina; past most illustrious grand master of the Grand Council, Royal & Select Masters of South Carolina; past grand commander of the Grand Commandery of South Carolina; past potentate of Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine and high priest and prophet in Omar Temple: oriental guide in the Imperial Council, Mystic Shrine of the United States; and K. C. C. H. of the Scottish Rite.
December 11. 1870. Mr. Barron married Floride Calhoun Rion of Winsboro, danghter of Col. James II. Rion Mr. Barron was as happy in his home and private life as he was successful in his profession. . He was survived by his wife and five children : Charles H. Barron of the Columbia bar ; Mrs. Flo- ride C. DePass: Jacob T .; Elizabeth K .; and Jane Fisher Barron.
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