USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 3
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Of the many tributes paid his memory at the time of his death perhaps the one most expressive in briefest form is found in the editorial columns of The State: "Iacob T. Barron, who died yesterday. was a man who stood out among his people as one beloved and his people lived in every part of South Carolina. His friends were those whose friendship is most sought and prized and Mr. Barron among them was one in whom the affections of thousands centered. Asking no public office, attending with
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care and diligence to the duties of a lawyer of large practice, responding with alacrity to calls for his services when they are needed in any worthy charit- able or social cause, he has lived here an upright life and contributed always by his influence to the good- ness and elevation of the community and added to the pleasure of a wide circle of home friends.
"Mr. Barron was a devoted Mason, prominent in the order throughout the country because he was a profound and intelligent student of its literature and principles. In the Grand Lodge of South Caro- lina he will be sadly missed, at the moment perhaps there is none of his Masonic attainments to take his place, and, besides, sorrow will be everywhere be- cause of the regard in which he was tenderly held."
CHARLES HENRY BARRON, senior member of the law firm of Barion, Mckay, Frierson & McCants of Columbia, is a son of the late Jacob Thomas Barron sketched on other pages, and has exempli- fed many of the distinguishing qualities which made his father one of South Carolina's most eminent lawyers.
He was born at Columbia September 16, 1880, and received his early education in the grade schools of the city. On completing the ninth grade he entered the University of South Carolina and continued in the academic department two years. For a year he was out of school on account of an attack of typhoid fever. He resumed his studies in the law school of the university and graduated LL. B. in 1902. Im- mediately upon his admission to the bar he began practice as a member of the firm Barron & Ray, composed of his father, Jacob T. Barron, David C. Ray and Charles H. Barron. Later Mr. Ray with- drew and the firm was Barren & Barron. Mr. M. H. Moore, then professor of law in the University of South Carolina, entered the partnership, the name being changed to Barron, Moore & Barron. In 19to after the death of the two senior partners. the fim became Barron, Mckay, Frierson & Moffatt, and on the first of January, 1910, the present asso- ciation was formed. Nothing need be said of the evident high standing and talents represented in this frm They are attorneys in South Carolina for the Pullman Company, the Southern Express Com- pany. now the American Railway Express Company. the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Association of life Insurance Presidents, the Liberty National Bank and other corporations.
Mr. Barron is a director in the Union National Rank and is president of the Carolina Bond and Mortgage Company. The latter organization acts as leading agents for a large number of life insurance Companies and for the New England Savings Bank in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Mr. Barron like his father has never put himself in the way of the honors and responsibilities of po- Itical office, and has never been a candidate. How- «ve". for five years he was clerk of the Judiciary " tumittee of the House of Representatives of the forral Assembly and was then appointed assistant arney-general by Governor D. C. Heyward, upon the recommendation of Mr. Duncan C. Ray, his former law partner.
Mr Barron during the period of the war gave practically all his time to local war activities. At the " ; of the first Liberty Bond issue the Columbia Bankers nominated as the Central Liberty Loan Com-
mittee for South Carolina Edwin W. Robertson, J. Pope Matthews and Charles H. Barron. Mr. Bar- ron has served on this committee for all issues of Liberty loans, and has also taken an active part in the local organization for Columbia and Richland counties in connection with the Liberty Loan and other war movements, serving as state chairman dur- ing the Victory Loan.
He is democratic in politics and is affiliated with Richland Lodge No. 39, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Columbia Chapter No. 5. Royal Arch Ma- sons; Columbia Commandery No. 2, Knight Tem- plars. but the only office he has held in Masonry is as a member of the Governing Board Omar Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. He was one of the organizers of the Richland Country Club, and is a charter member. He is a member of the Co- lumbia and Metropolitan clubs and has continued since their consolidation as a member of the Colum- bia Club. Mr. Barron is affiliated with Trinity Church at Columbia.
At Acton, Richland County, at the home of Col. Richard Singleton, known as "Kensington" on April 23, 1007, he married Miss Eliza Singleton, daughter of Richard and Eliza (Green) Singleton. Mr. and Mrs. Barron have four children :. Eliza Singleton, Charles Henry, Jr., Mary Lowndes and Jacob Thomas Barron.
COL. JAMES HENRY RION. Both as a lawyer and as a private citizen South Carolina is under a con- tinning debt to the character and influence of Col. James Henry Rion, who was a member of the bar of this state for over thirty years. His professional character may be said to be represented today, since his grandson Charles H. Barron, is head of one of the most conspicuous law firms of Columbia. For a satisfactory review of the career of Colonel Rion this publication is largely indebted to a sketch writ- ten by D. W. Richardson and published in the David- son College Magazine of 1899.
Within the last quarter of a century, says this writer, the death of no man has perhaps been more deeply felt by the State of South Carolina, and most especially by the County of Fairfield, than that of Col. James Henry Rion which occurred at Winns- boro on the 12th of December, 1886.
Colonel Rion was born at Montreal, Canada, April 17, 1828. of English parents, his father being an of- ficer in the English army. Coming to South Carolina while quite young, he was educated for the most part at Pendleton, and was for many years an inmate of the family of John C. Calhoun. Although under the patronage of John C. Calhoun and William C. Preston, he worked out his own successes, exhibit- ing a perseverance and determination fully in keep- ing with his great intellect.
In his studies he always stood at the head of his classes. When twelve years of age he had gone through algebra and geometry, and at fourteen had completed the entire mathematical course with the exception of calculus, having studied analytical and descriptive geometry in the French language. He was prepared to enter West Point in 1846, but after- wards decided to enter South Carolina College. He graduated from that institution in 1850 as first honor man in his class, his competitor being that brilliant intellect Prof. R. W. Barnwell. Jr. Colonel Rion was anniversary orator of the Clariosophic Literary
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Society, and in May, 1850, at the request of the students, was appointed by the faculty to deliver a eulogy on Jolin C. Calhoun.
In 1851 he was offered the chair of mathematics in the Mount Zion Institute of Winnsboro, and held the chair several years. In 1854 he was admitted to the Winnsboro bar as a practicing lawyer, and from that year his home was at Winnsboro, where he gained for himself an abiding place in the hearts of all with whom he was associated.
In 1858 he was elected colonel of the Twenty- Fifth Regiment, Militia; in 1859, president of the Planters Bank of Fairfield; in 1861, colonel of the Sixth Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers. He resigned in June of the same year and in September raised a command for the war, there being at that time no volunteer company in the state for over twelve months. Five companies being organized, P. M. Nelson was elected major of the battalion. Other companies joining Major Nelson became lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Rion, major. Colonel Nelson was killed June 24, 1864, and his command was at once assigned to Colonel Rion, who had been promoted for gallantry on the eighteenth of the same month by the recommendation of the presi- dent, confirmed by the Confederate Senate.
Having successfully led a night attack on Mor- ris Island, in which he received a bayonet wound, he was complimented in general orders by General Beauregard on July 14, 1863. Several times after- wards he was specially complimented by general officers in reports of many battles. While major in 1863, the Secretary of War offered him the com- mand of the Twenty-Second Regiment, which he declined. Upon Colonel Dantzler's death in Vir- ginia, the colonelcy of that regiment was again offered to him, and he again declined. After the battle of Bentonville, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, on the authority of the Secretary of War, offered him a commission as temporary brigadier general. This is generally thought to be the only case of its kind which occurred during the war; neverthe- less he declined. Taking the sixty days' fighting at Petersburg as one battle, Colonel Rion was in twenty-one battles during the war.
After the surrender he returned to Winnsboro and resumed the practice of law in May, 1865. Colonel Rion was never before the people as a candidate for any office. Though often urged to do so, he never accepted any civil office with pay. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1865 and to all subsequent state conventions of the conservative and democratic parties. He was elected member of the National Democratic Exec- utive Committee for South Carolina in 1876. In 1877 with General Kershaw and others he was sent to Washington as a member of the Hampton Committee. For a long time he was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mount Zion Institute and a member of the Board of Trustees of South Carolina College.
In Masonry he was worshipful master of the Grand Lodge and high priest of the Chapter and thrice illustrious grand master in the Council, was also Knight of the Red Cross, Knight of Malta, and Knight Templar, and once deputy district grand master of Odd Fellows.
He was general counsel of the Charlotte, Colum- bia & Augusta Railroad, general solicitor of the
Wilmington, Columbia & Augusta Railroad, and advising counsel of several railroad companies ; solicitor of the National Bank of Winnsboro and attorney of the Town Council of Winnsboro.
In private life Colonel Rion was quiet, liberal and charitable. Many of the Confederate widows and orphans were grateful recipients of his liber- ality and kindness. In his business life he was sys- tematic and punctual with a somewhat reserved disposition. Shortly after his graduation he mar- ried Miss Weir, a daughter of Samuel Weir, an old Columbia journalist. Colonel Kion was sur- vived by five daughters and three sons.
JOHN BOMAR CLEVELAND. It is only repeating a long current popular tribute to say that John Bomar Cleveland is Spartanburg's most distinguished busi- ness man. It is a very enviable distinction, and re- sults from a half century of strenuous business ac- tivity and participation in enterprises that for the most part have had a quasi-public interest and a bear- ing directly upon the general welfare and improve- ment of Spartanburg and all the surrounding terri- tory.
Mr. Cleveland who was born at Spartanburg in 1848, is of an old and prominent family. In re- mote generations the Clevelands derived their name from a tract of country in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, still known to this day as Cleve- land. One branch of the family went to New Eng- land, and from it was descended the Moses Cleave- land, founder of the City of Cleveland, Ohio, and also the late President Grover Cleveland was of the same branch. In Colonial times another member of the family was John Cleveland of Prince William County, Virginia. He had several sons, among them being Gen. Benjamin Cleveland, who lives in his- tory as one of the heroes of the battle of King's Mountain, for whom Cleveland County, North Caro- lina, was named. Another son of John Cleveland was Robert Cleveland, captain of a company under his brother at King's Mountain. Two of the sons of Robert Cleveland were Jeremiah and Jesse Cleve- land, both of whom settled in Greenville County, South Carolina. Jesse Cleveland, grandfather of John Bomar Cleveland, was born in Wilkesbarre, North Carolina, and in early days removed from Greenville to the adjoining County of Spartanburg. He became a great merchant and for many years was one of Spartanburg County's wealthiest and most prominent citizens. His wife was Mary Blas- singame.
Dr. Robert Easley Cleveland, father of the Spar- tanburg business man, was born at Spartanburg January 6, 1822. Graduating from Charleston Medi- cal College in 1843, he hegan his professional work in Spartanburg the same year and soon had an exten- sive practice calling him to adjoining counties and also to North Carolina. After retiring from the prac- tice of medicine in 1870 he gave his attention to his extensive private affairs. He was a man of great progressiveness and public spirit and his far vision brought him a connection with many enterprises out of the ordinary scope of the individual. He became interested in railroad building in Upper South Carolina, and was a leader in the building and successful operation of Spartanburg & Asheville Railroad and the Air Line Railroad. Doctor Cleve-
AB. Langley
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land married Elizabeth Bomar, daughter of John Bomar. This is another old family of Spartanburg County, coming here from Virginia.
John Bomar Cleveland graduated from Wofford College in the class of 1869, then studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and for ten years was a success- ful lawyer of his native city. Most of his modern contemporaries, however, know him hardly at all as a lawyer. From the law he entered banking and the cotton mill business and his enterprises have comprised a large group in commerce, finance and industry in this section of the state. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Spartanburg and has been first vice president for many years. This bank' was organized in 1871. Of those who were the original stockholders and di- rectors or had anything to do with the organization, Mr. Cleveland is the only survivor. . For twenty- seven years he was president and treasurer of the Whitney Manufacturing Company Cotton Mills, and for twenty-five years was receiver and president of the Charleston & Western Carolina Railway. A list of the corporations and industrial and commercial enterprises of which he has been either the pro- moter or a heavy financial supporter would almost make a directory of the business interests of Upper South Carolina. With the wealth that fortune has favored him as a just reward, Mr. Cleveland has been foremost in upbuilding the business and in- dustrial resources of Spartanburg County. Many of his friends and business associates are aware of the great volume of acts and influences that have eman- ated from him actuated by the spirit of true char- ity, but on this phase of his life Mr. Cleveland is exceedingly reticent.
He served one term in the South Carolina Legis- lature during the session of 1880. He was a dele- gate to the National Democratic Convention at Chi- cago, which nominated Cleveland for his first term in 1884. For many years he was a member of the board of trustees of Wofford College and is now chan man of the board of trustees of Converse Col- lege. Mr. Cleveland is a member of the Episcopal Church.
November 4, 1871, he married Miss Georgia Al- den Cleveland of Bedford County, Tennessee. They are the parents of seven children: Jesse F., Henry M., Van Noy Vernor, Mrs. Frederick L, Sereven, Mrs. A. A. Towers, Mrs. Alice Reynolds and Mrs. Jesse Cleveland, Jr.
ARTIJUR BUIST LANGLEY, vice president and gen- eral manager of the Carolina Life Insurance Com- pany of Columbia, South Carolina, has been prom- inent for a number of years in insurance and bank- ing circles, and is one of the business leaders of the state who developed their talents and capacities from boyhood on a farm.
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Ife was born March 2, 1879, in Barnwell County four miles west of the courthouse at the old Lang- Iry homestead where his father was born and reared. In March, 1862, at the age of sixteen his father ran away from school and entered the Confederate Army, joining Company G, Second South Carolina Artillery and was later transferred to Colcock's Cavalry, there serving until the end of the war. Arthur R. Langley is the second son of Christopher Henry Langley, Jr. and Susie Carolina (Green)
Langley. His father was the son of Christopher Henry Langley and Sarah Rebecca ( Harley) Lang- ley. His grandfather, Christopher Henry Langley, was born in Colleton County, but at an early age came to Barnwell where he later met and married Sarah Rebecca Harley, who came from an old South Carolina family of large landowners and slave holders. His mother, Susie Carolina (Green) Langley, was born in Colleton County near old Dorchester, the daughter of Joel Washington Green and Mary Anna ( Marvin) Green. Her father was a planter and slave holder.
Arthur B. Langley received his earlier education in the public schools and by a private teacher in his home and later went to the Barnwell High School, afterward taking a short business course. Just before reaching the age of twenty years he entered the insurance business and has been active in it for a little more than twenty years. In Feb- ruary, 1904, he moved to Columbia and became associated with the Carolina Insurance and Casualty Company as vice president and general manager, which position he has held continuously since. This company changed its name in 1910 to the Carolina Life Insurance Company. It was organized with $25,000 capital, but as its business grew gradually increased its capital until it is now $100,000. It has been making rapid progress having grown since 1904 from an income of less than $10,000 in premiums to more than a $1,000,000 in 1919.
Mr. Langley was one of the organizers of the Peoples National Bank in 1912 and was made vice president at its orgnization and later succeeded to the presidency. He is now a director in the Home- stead Bank and the Liberty National Bank, is vice president of the South Carolina State Agricultural and Mechanical Fair Association, is a Knight Templar, Mason and Shriner, a past grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and now grand representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge. He is a Presbyterian, having served for a num- ber of years as deacon in the Arsenal Hill Presby- terian Church and still actively performs the duties of this office, and has been serving for the past two years as a member of the Investment Com- mittee of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Columbia. Mr., Langley served as a member of the Legislature from Richland County in 1918. For three years he served as a member of the Govern- ing Board of the Columhia Chamber of Commerce. He also served as president of the Southern Indus- trial Insurance Conference, an organization em- bracing within its membership the leading indus- trial and commercial insurance companies in the territory from Washington, south and west as far as Texas, and is at present a member of its Exec- utive Committee.
November 13, 1890, he married Genevieve Robin- son, of Waycross, Georgia, a daughter of Dr. Fer- nando S. and Catherine (Adams) Robinson. Doc- tor Robinson was reared in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, and there received his medical education. After practicing for a time he came South and met and married Catherine Adams, of Thomasville, Georgia. Her mother is the daughter of Thomas and Georgia (Everett) Adams, who were among the earlier settlers of South Georgia owning large landed interest in the ante bellum period.
They have two children, Arthur Fernando, born
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September 5, 1900, and Genevieve Catherine, born December 13, 1902.
JOHN F. LIMFHOUSE. The gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph is one of the worthy native sons of South Carolina and is deemed eminently worthy of representation along with the best and most industrious citizens of the locality of his resi- dence, owing to the fact that he belongs to the ener- getic and enterprising class that are contributing to the later-day success if this favored section of the state. He enjoys distinct prestige in farming and business circles, his practical intelligence, mature judgment and sound business sense winning for him the confidence and good will of all with whom he has come in contact.
Jolin F. Limehouse, planter and store keeper on Johns Island, was born at Summerville, South Caro- lina, on June 13, 1876. He comes of a long line of sterling ancestry, his forebears having had a proni- inent part in the development of this section of the country. Thus it is a matter of record that his great-grandfather Limehouse was one of the pioneers of Charleston, and that in his honor a street in that city is named. His son, Robert Ilder- ton Limehouse, was a native of Charleston, and among the latter's children was M. M. Limehouse, father of the subject of this review. M. M. Lime- house was born in Summerville, became a planter, and at the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted, though but sixteen years of age. He served through- out that struggle and lived to the age of sixty- seven years. He was prominent in the public affairs of Dorchester County, and served a term of four years as county sheriff. The subject's mother, whose maiden name was Christiana Brown, was born and reared in Summerville and was the daughter of Isaac T. Brown, a native of England, who for many years ran the Brown Hotel at Summerville. She lived to the age of sixty-three years. To M. M. and Christiana Limehouse were born thir- teen children, of whom the subject is the fourth in order of hirth. Eleven of these children grew to maturity and ten are still living.
John F. Limehouse remained under the parental roof until nineteen years of age, receiving a good practical education in the public schools. He then left home and went to Georgetown, where he for five years was employed in a machine shop. Be- cause of an accident, by which his left arm was crippled, he then returned to Summerville, where he remained until recovered. He then went to Wad- malaw Island and entered the employ of W. P. Har- rod as manager of a saw-mill, retaining that position from June to August, 1892. He then went to Johns Island and opened a store, which he has continuously conducted since that time, enjoying a good patron- agc. He also conducts a good truck farm, where he raises all the main vegetable crops common to this locality and in which he has been successful. He is also running a cotton gin. In all his enter- prises Mr. Limchouse has been actuated by the highest of business principles, so that all with whom he has had dealings are loud in their praise of his sterling qualities.
Mr. Limehouse has been twice married, first, on April 12, 1894, to Wilhelmina O'Brien, to which
union were born two sons, John P. and William D., the latter being now deceased. The mother of these children died in 1897 and on May 2, 1898, Mr. Lime- house was married to Daisy E. O'Brien, a sister of his first wife. To this union have been born four children, Albert J., deceased, Harry B., Wilbert T. and Daisy E.
Mr. Limehouse has taken an active interest in local political matters, and at one time served as county dispenser. During the World war he threw himself into the cause of the war with every ounce of his energy and gave his full support to every war activity, particularly in the interest of the Red Cross, Liberty Bonds, War Savings Stamps and other measures for the aid of the Government.
Religiously he is a member of the Johns Island Presbyterian Church. His fraternal relations are with the Lodge No. 42, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Charleston, and Georgetown Lodge No. 26, Enights of Pythias. Mr. Limehouse has never sought to be a leader in the affairs of his locality, merely striving to live up to the stand- ard of good citizenship, yet his actions have been so ordered as to win the approbation of his fel- low citizens, among whom he is deservedly popular.
GEORGE EDWARD PRINCE, who was the first and has been the only judge of the Tenth Judicial Cir- cuit, began the practice of law over thirty-five years ago, and as a lawyer, jurist and citizen is one of the eminent men of the state. He was for twelve years chairman of the board of trustees of the graded schools and led the fight that established the schools. He has taken great interest in edu- cation ever since he has been on the bench, and this interest is recognized as one of his fads.
He was born on his father's farm in Diamond Hill Township, in Abbeville County, January 24, 1855, son of Washington L. and Martha E. (Clink- scales) Prince. He is a lineal descendant of Edward Prince, a native of England, who settled in Vir- ginia in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury. Some of his descendants later left Virginia and pioneered to the Spartanburg district of South Carolina prior to the Revolutionary war. . From that point of the state the family found its way into Edgefield and Abbeville district. Hugh M. Prince, grandfather of Judge Prince, was born in Edge- field district, while his wife, Polly Black, was a na- tive of Mecklenburg, North Carolina. Washing- ton L. Prince, who was born in Abbeville County, April 23, 1826, acquired and managed extensive farming interests in Abbeville, and lived on his estate in Diamond Hill Township until 1869, when he moved his home to Williamston, Anderson Coun- ty, though continuing his active work as a farmer. During the war he had rendered a creditable serv- ice as a soldier, being a member of Company G of the Nineteenth South Carolina Regiment. Most of his service was in the Army of the West, but he participated in the very last battle of the war at Bentonville. Though he returned from the war to find his personal affairs largely disorganized, he reconstructed his own fortune, and made ample provision for his family. He and his wife were active in the Methodist Church. His wife died at Williamston, and he spent his last days in the home
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