USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 4
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
of his son Judge Prince at Anderson, where he died February 20, 1900. Washington L. Prince had five children, two daughters and three sons, Judge Prince being the second and the oldest son.
Judge Prince was fourteen years old when his parents removed to Williamston. Most of his early associations were with the farm and farm duties were the industrious background of his early edu- cation. For generations the Prince family has pro- duced farmers and a steady and successful race of farmers. Judge Prince was the first in a long line to choose a profession. He was liberally edu- cated, attending Wofford College, from which he received the A. B. degree in 1876. Subsequently by a special court and under examination he was awarded the Master of Arts degree in 1879. Later for fourteen years he was a trustee of his alma mater, resigning that office when elected to the bench. Following his graduation as an honor student and valedictorian of his class, he engaged in teaching for several years, first being connected with the male academy at Union, then the high school at Easley, and for three years an instructor in the fe- male college at Williamston. In the meantime he was strongly attracted to the law, studied in the office of Wells & Orr, at Greenville, and in 1881 was admitted to the bar at Columbia. He remained a law clerk with the firm of Wells & Orr until 1882, and in August of that year located at Anderson. Then followed busy years in which he was estab- Ishing a reputation and a large, clientage and eventually found time to participate in broader pub- 1. affairs. Judge Prince was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1895. He represented his county in the State Legislature in 1899, 1900, 1001 and 1902. After an interval of two years he was again elected and served in the session of 1904- 05. Among other work of that Legislature the Tenth Judicial Circuit was created. By appoint- ment Mr. Prince was made the first judge of the circuit, beginning his duties February 17, 1905. More than fourteen years have passed since he took his seat on the beach, and his repeated re-elections are of themwives the highest testimonial to the impar- tial and dignified administration and management of the office. Judge Prince is a Royal Arch Mason and Knight of Pythias, and with his wife is a faith- iut member of the Methodist Church and has reared his sons in the same faith.
January 24. 1878, Judge Prince married Miss Mat- tie MePh. Lander. She is a daughter of the late Krv. Samuel Lander, a prominent Methodist min- ister and former president of the Williamston Fe- male College. Five children were born to Judge Prince, the oldest dying at the age of five years and the second passing away in California in 1918. The third is Samuel L., a rising young lawyer and mem- for of the Anderson bar. John L. and George E.' Prince were both soldiers in the late war, though they were never ordered for overseas duty. The · #s are graduates of Wofford College.
William TURNER LOGAN, former corporation . . 1 of the City of Charleston, has been a law- wer fer twenty-five years, and during the greater f -!! of that time has wielded a significant influence ; bties and public affairs in his home city and
He was born at Summerville, South Carolina, June 21, 1874, a son of Roswell T. and Alice ( Plow- den) Logan, natives of South Carolina. He is de- scended from Col. George Logan, who came to South Carolina in 1690 and was prominent in the Colonial Legislature. His grandfather, Rev. George C. Logan, was a Presbyterian minister, for many years pastor of a church at Winnsboro. Roswell T. Logan was for over thirty years editor of the News and Courier at Charleston, and lived to be seventy-one years of age. The Plowden family were among the early settlers of Williamsburg, South Carolina.
William Turner Logan was the fourth in a fam- ily of seven children who reached mature years, and all of them are still living. He was educated in the Charleston High School, and graduated A. B. from the College of Charleston in 1895. He studied law at the University of Virginia and in the office of Brawley & Barnwell, the senior member of the firm being William H. Brawley, congressman from the First District of South Carolina and afterwards United States District Judge. The junior member was Joseph W. Barnwell, for years a state sen- ator and one of the ahlest lawyers in the state. In 1898 Mr. Logan engaged in an individual practice. From 1900 to 1904 he was a member of the Legis- lature, and in 1905 he formed his present associa- tion with John P. Grace, now serving his second term as mayor of the City of Charleston. They have an extensive practice, and is one of the well known firms of the city.
Mr. Logan served as corporation counsel of the City of Charleston from 1914 to 1918. From 1911 to 1913 he was county chairman of the democratic party and in 1919 was elected chairman of the city democratic executive committee of the City of Charleston. He has been active in politics more than twenty years. He is president of the Hi- bernian Society, a member of the Charleston Yacht Club. Charleston Country Club, and is a member of the Masonic Order.
November 16, 1900, he married Louise G. Lesesne, daughter of James P. and Harriet K. (Hunter) Lesesne. Her father was a former consul general to Australia. Mrs. Logan was born in Charleston. They have one son, William Turner Logan, Jr.
LAWRENCE LEGARE HARDIN, one of the youngest bank presidents of South Carolina, has neverthe- less had a long experience both in banking and man- ufacturing, beginning when he was a small boy.
He was born at Batesburg in Lexington County, South Carolina, April 24. 1878, son of Dr. Edward King and Ida (Clinkscales) Hardin. His father, a native of Chester County, South Carolina, was for many years an active physician.
Lawrence L. Hardin had a public school educa- tion and at the age of fourteen found employment in the bank at Batesburg, remaining there three years and gaining much valuable experience. He afterward attended Wofford College at Spartan- burg, graduating in 1900. For several years he lived in North Carolina, was connected with a cotton manufacturing concern at Gastonia and for three years was cashier of the Planters Bank at Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He then resumed cotton
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
manufacturing at Gastonia, where he was a resident for another five years.
Returning to his native state in 1912 Mr. Hardin became cashier of the Bank of Columbia and since September, 1916, has been president and directing head of this institution. He is also president of the Perpetual Building & Loan Association.
Mr. llardin is a past president of the Columbia Rotary Club, is a member of the Ridgewood Club, and is a Chi Phi college fraternity man. He served as a member of the board of trustees of Columbia College and is active in Y. M. C. A. work. He has also been active as chairman of the board of stewards of the Washington Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and superintendent of the Sunday School.
August 25, 1904, Mr. Hardin married Miss Ad- dria Chreitzberg, daughter of Rev. Hilliard F. and Mr. and Mrs. Hardin have three children: Lawrence Legare, Jr., born October 9, 1906; Addria Aston, Addria (Kirby) Chreitzberg. Her father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. born April 19, 1911; and Hilliard Francis, born De- cember 12, 1917.
LOUIS PINCKNEY WILSON. It cannot be other than interesting to note in the series of personal sketches appearing in this work the varying condi- tions that have compassed those whose careers are ontlined, and the effort has been made in each case to throw well focused light onto the individual and to bring into proper perspective the scheme of each respective carcer. The banks of Barnwell County have ever maintained a high standing, and among the ahle workers in this field of endeavor is Louis P. Wilson, cashier of the First National Bank of Barnwell. With a natural predilection for this vocation and endowed with an analytical mind and ready faculty of assimilation, he has demon- strated the possession of qualities which eminently qualify him for his work which have won for him the confidence and good will of the entire com- munity.
Lonis Pinckney Wilson was born in Lincoln, Ala- bama, on the 19th day of August, 1885, and is the son of J. C. and Margaret (Nichols) Wilson, who were born in Georgia. After completing his pre- liminary studies in the common schools Mr. Wilson became a student in Emory College at Oxford, Georgia, where he was graduated in 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Immediately thereafter he began his active business career as a clerk in the Fourth National Bank of Atlanta, Geor- gia, where he remained about three years, the greater part of the time in the capacity of bookkeeper. From there he went to Ocala, Florida, where he became cashier of the Munroe and Chambliss National Bank, remaining there for five years. In August, 1917, he came to Barnwell, South Carolina, as cashier of the First National Bank, in which position he is still serving. Since coming to the locality Mr. Wil- son has made a very favorable impression on the citizens of this community, and is numbered among the representative and enterprising business men of this thriving section of the state.
In 1912 Mr. Wilson was married to Anna Man- ville Walker, the daughter of N. G. W. and Mar-
garet (Holman) Walker, of Barnwell. To this union has been born a son, Nathaniel Walker. The qualities of keen' discrimination, sound judgment and executive ability enter very largely into Mr. Wilson's make-up and have been contributing elements to the success which has accompanied his efforts.
FOUNTAIN FOX BEATTIE. In its handsome home of brick and stone the First National Bank of Green- ville has every outward aspect of the modern twen- tieth century spirit, and in the breadth and fullness of its service as a bank there is nothing offered by a modern banking institution which cannot be duplicated by this organization. At the same time in its history the bank reflects to an unusually inti- mate degree the life and progress of upper South Carolina from the time Greenville was a village through all its stages of progress to a modern and wealthy industrial city and center of first importance. In practically every step of this progress the First National Bank has been of some vital service.
It was the first bank to be organized in Green- ville County and one of the older financial institu- tions in that section of the state. When it was organ- ized in 1872 by the late Hamlin Beattie it was known as the National Bank of Greenville. For over forty- five years this bank has also expressed the indi- vidual integrity and the high financial genius of members of the Beattie family. It was organized with a capital stock of $100,000, and for a number of years was the only bank in the county.
Hamlin Beattie, who was president from 1872 until his death in 1914, was born in Virginia in 1837 and was brought to Greenville, South Carolina, about 1840. Ever since that date the Beatties have been a dominating family in the industrial and financial life of the city. Hamlin Beattie was a merchant for some years, but after the founding of the National Bank of Greenville gave to it all the resources derived from his experience and personal character.
A son of Hamlin Beattie is Mr. W. E. Beattie, now vice president and chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank. However, he is better known for his prominent connection with the great textile industry of the Piedmont region. He is head of the Victor-Monagan Mills corpora- tion, the capital stock of which is $7,000,000. The corporation owns and operates seven large cotton mills in Greenville and vicinity. W. E. Beattie is also head of the Piedmont Mills at Piedmont, South Carolina.
Upon the death of Hamlin Beattie he was suc- cecded in office as president of the First National Bank hy his brother, J. E. Beattie, who, up to that time had been vice president. J. E. Beattie was born in Greenville and had a long and active busi- ness connection with his native city. He was pres- idlent of the First National two years until his death in 1916. He married Mary Mays, who is still living.
Since 1916 the president of the First National Bank has been Fountain Fox Beattie, son of the late J. E. Beattic. He was horn in Greenville in 1878, was educated in local schools, in Furman University, University of Michigan and in George Washington University at Washington, D. C., where he studied law and received his degree with the class of 1902.
Fountain Fox Beattie
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In the same year he began his professional work at Greenville and practiced actively for several years. From 1906 to 1908 he was a member of the State Legislature. He married Miss Janell Arnold of Greenwood, South Carolina. Their three children Mays Beattie.
are Fountain Fox, Jr., Janell Arnold, and Dannitte . planter. Mrs. Trotti was educated in the schools
LAURIE SWEAT TROTTI, whose mature life for thirty years has been devoted to banking, represents a distinguished family name that has been identified with the southern colonies and states for more than two centuries.
His first American ancestor was Gasper Trotti, of Italian descent and native of Switzerland. About 1700 he landed at Symina, Florida, later moved from Florida to Charleston, and served in the Revolu- tionary war. He was highly educated, being master of seven different languages. After the Revolution he became an extensive planter on the Edisto River. Gasper Trotti married Therasa Koroneas, daughter of a Grecian historian. They had two sons, Law- rence and Frank, both of whom became extensive planters, one on the Savannah River and the other on the Edisto. Lawrence Trotti was the father of three children, Gasper Joseph, Samuel Wilds and Harriet. Samuel Wilds Trotti acquired the rank of colonel as an aide on the Governor's staff of South Carolina, and afterward represented a District in Congress.
Gasper Joseph Trotti, who achieved distinction as a lawyer at Barnwell, served with the rank of brig- adier general in the Seminole Indian war, and died near the beginning of the war of typhus fever. His children consisted of one son and three daughters, the only son being Samuel Wilds Trotti, father of Laurie Sweat Trotti.
Samuel Wilds Trotti was born at Charleston in 1836, attended school at Charleston and The Citadel, and was a captain in the Confederate army. His occupation before and after the war was that of planter. Capt. Samuel W. Trotti married Caro- line Virginia Hatfield, who was of English family and was born at Augusta, Georgia, in 1838. Capt. S. W. Trotti is still living, at the age of eighty-four.
Laurie Sweat Trotti was born at Barnwell Septem- ber 28, 1867, and during his boyhood attended the schools of Barnwell County, growing up on the family plantation near Williston in that county. In 1886 he entered The Citadel, the famous mili- tary school where his father was a student before the war. He graduated with the class of 1800 and at once began his career as a banker. He entered the Peoples Bank at Denmark, serving as cashier two years, for two years was cashier of the St. Mat- thews Savings Bank, now the National Bank of St. Matthews, and for eight years cashier of the Peoples Bank of Aiken. He then established and for two years was cashier and vice president of the Peoples Bank of Ridge Spring.
In the fall of 1907 Mr. Trotti founded the Brook- land Bank of New Brookland, and has capably guided the affairs of that institution as president from the beginning. He is very active in'the com- munity life of New Brookland, served as chairman of all the Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives in his town during the World war, and is a member and Vol. III-2
for a number of ycars has served as deacon of the Baptist Church.
At New Brookland June 28, 1911, Mr. Trotti mar- ried Rosabelle Wessinger, daughter of Paul J. and Sallie (Gable) Wessinger. Her father was a of New Brookland and is a graduate of Columbia College with the class of 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Trotti have one son, Wyman Wessinger Trotti, born at New Brookland October 22, 1917.
MILLEDGE LUKE BONHAM, who was South Caro- lina's principal war governor, holding the office of chief executive of the state during 1863-64, achieved his first distinction as a soldier in the Florida In- dian wars of 1836, and as a soldier, lawyer and states- man was conspicuous and a beloved leader in his state for more than half a century.
He was born in Edgefield District in South Caro- lina, December 25, 1813. The family tradition is that three Bonham brothers came to Virginia from England between 1625 and 1640. One, Hezekiah, was a ship builder and sailing master, trading in his own vessels along the coast as far north as Massachusetts. After sailing on one of these expe- ditions he was never again heard of. His son fre- quently accompanied him on his voyages, and is be- Jieved to have settled in Massachusetts. At Barn- stable, Massachusetts, there was living between 1658 and 1665 Nicholas Bonham. Nicholas married Han- nah Fuller, a descendant of one of the signers of the Mayflower compact. Nicholas Bonham was a disciple of Roger Williams, and on account of his religious principles was banished from Massachu- setts about 1669-70 and went to New Jersey, where he acquired a tract of land and founded the Village of Bonhamton.
Hezekiah Bonham, one of the eight children of Nicholas, married Mary Dunn. Their son Nehemiah married a Miss Martin. The next generation was represented by Malachi, who became a Baptist preacher of the sect known as the Seventh Day Bap- tists. He and his wife, Jemima Harker, had num- erous children, including Absalom Bonham. Ab- salom at the time of the Revolution was living at Frederick City, Maryland. He returned to New Jersey and enlisted in the "Establishment" of the colony, and as a soldier attained the rank of cap- tain and at the close of the war was a brevet major. He was a member of the Society of Cincinnati. He married his cousin, Jemima Harker, and of their three children the youngest was James Bonham, who was born in Frederick City, Maryland, and as a boy of fifteen participated in the siege of Yorktown at the close of the Revolution.
James Bonham after the death of his mother and the second marriage of his father came to South Carolina about 1786 and settled near Jacksonboro, Colleton District. He married Hannah Witsell, and after her death in 1795 moved to Edgefield District, settling near Red Bank Church, where Saluda Court House is now. In 1798 he married Sophie Smith, daughter of Capt. Jacob and Sallie (Butler) Smith. Sallie Butler was a sister of Capt. James Butler, who, with his son James and some thirty others was massacred at Cloud's Creek, Edgefield District, by "Bloody Bill" Cunningham, a notorious Tory leader
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
of the Revolution, after Butler and his companions had surrendered upon the condition that they would be treated as prisoners of war. James Bonham and Sophie Smith had eight children : Sarah Marcy, Jacob Absolom, Simeon Smith, Malachi Mark, James Butler, Elizabeth Jemima, Julia Ann Rachel and Milledge Luke Bonhamn.
Milledge Luke Bonham was two years old when his father died. He owed much of his training and upbringing to his good mother. He attended the old field schools, academies at Edgefield and Abbe- ville, and in his twentieth year graduated from South Carolina College with the second honors of his class. He was a student of law at Edgefield when the Seminole Indian war broke out in Florida. He enlisted in the local company of Capt. James Jones, was made orderly sergeant, and later became bri- gade major under General Bull, that being the South Carolina Brigade. At the close of the war he resumed the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He soon achieved prominence as a lawyer at Edgefield and honors and responsibilities crowded rapidly upon him. He was elected to the State Legislature, served successively as captain of the Edgefield Huzzars, as brigadier and major general of militia, and in 1846, at the heginning of the war with Mexico, was appointed by President Polk lieutenant colonel of the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry. He become commander of the regiment upon the death of Colonel Wilson, and was a part of the brigade commanded by Gen. Franklin Pierce, afterward president. General Pierce highly com- mended Colonel Bonham for his conduct and gal- lantry in one of the battles of the war.
Then followed a period of twelve or thirteen years of busy law practice at Edgefield. He was elected solicitor of the Southern Circuit and in 1857 was chosen to Congress to fill the unexpired term of. Preston S. Brooks. He was elected to Congress in 1858 and again in 1860. He was a member of Con- gress from December 7, 1857, until with other mem- bers of the South Carolina delegation he withdrew December 21, 1860, the day after passage of the ordinance of secession.
The convention having authorized the governor to raise an army of 10,000 men for the defense of the state, Governor Pickens appointed General Bonham commander in chief of this army, with the rank of major general. He played his part as a military or- ganizer with characteristic energy and ability. After the Confederate government had been constituted and General Beauregard put in command of its pro- visional army, General Bonham cheerfully waived questions of rank and served with General Beaure- gard at Morris Island. - In April. 1861, he was ap- pointed brigadier general in the provisional army of the Confederate States, being the fourth appointed to that rank. He went with the First Brigade of South Carolina Volunteers to Virginia, these being the first troops to reach that state for the defense of Richmond. He was especially commended for his skill and ability in the movements culminating in the first battle of Manassas.
President Davis and the War Department con- strued an Act of the Confederate Congress relating to the rank of officers of the United States army who had resigned their commissions and were re-
commissioned in the Confederate army, to mean that such officers ranked as of the date of their original commission. This was manifestly unjuist to the vol- unteer officers, since a lieutenant of the old army who had been appointed a brigadier general in the . Confederate forces would thereby become senior in rank to the volunteer officer of the same grade. This happened in the case of General Bonham, and being unable to sceure redress of the injustice he resigned his commission in July, 1862.
In the fall of 1862 he was elected a member of the Confederate States Congress and in December of the same year was chosen governor of South Caro- lina. He held that office during the trying years of 1863-64, when he was constantly burdened with ef- forts to provide for the state troops, for internal defense, and to maintain the morale of the people in the critical struggle in which they were engaged.
In February, 1865, after retiring from the govern- or's chair, he was appointed by President Davis brigadier general of cavalry and assigned to duty with Gen. Joseph E. Jolinston's army. He was with that army until the surrender. General Bonham, after the war resumed practice at Edgefield, and in 1865 was elected a member of the Legislature. In 1868 he was chosen a delegate to the National Dem- ocratie Convention. Though for ten years he suf- fered with other good citizens the disability to hold public office, he did a good citizen's part in maintain- ing order, was a member of the famous Tax Payers' Convention, and was also a member of the delega- tion of prominent South Carolinians who went before President Grant and reported the conditions in the "Prostrate State" as South Carolina was called. He was also a recognized leader in Edgefield during the "Red Shirt Campaign" of 1876, when white rule was finally restored under the leadership of Gen. Wade Hampton.
General Bonham was appointed to the newly cre- ated office of railroad commissioner in 1878. When that commission was increased to three members he was chosen chairman, and the usefulness of the commission was largely a result of his wise direction. He was continned in that office until his death Au- gust 27, 1800. General Bonham died suddenly while visiting Hayward White at Sulphur Springs, North Carolina. As his long public record indicates, he was one of the most popular men of his state and he kept a strong hold upon the affections of the peo- ple, though in every sense he was a man of the strongest convictions and never wavered from his allegiance to the principles of honor and right.
Governor Bonham married November 13, 1845, Ann Patience Griffin, daughter of Hon. Nathan Lips- comb Griffin. a prominent lawyer and politician of Edgefield. To their marriage were born fourteen children. Of these Sallie died at the age of fifteen, and Nathan, Mary and an unnamed infant died soon after birth. The other children were Richard Grif- fin. Sophie Smith. James. Milledge Lipscomb, Annie Elizabeth. Tulia Fllen, William Butler. Thomas Sey- mour, Patience Griffin and Frank Pickens Bonham.
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