USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 40
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W. J. a. Theard
Asha J. Jamison
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uralization papers in South Carolina were dated 1808. Ile was one of the early merchants in the southern part of Anderson County, opening a conn- try store a mile west of the present site of Moffetts- ville. This establishment he conducted until his death, and was succeeded by his son Thomas Alex- ander Sherard. The son built a new store at the present Village of Moffettsville more than forty . years ago and sold general merchandise from that point until his death, when members of the third generation, his son William Thomas Alexander, and two younger sons took up the work, and the store is still continued by the two younger brothers. Thus a business established more than a century ago is still rendering service. Thomas Alexander Sherard as well as his father farmed, and Iarming has been an important interest of the family to the present time. Thomas A. Sherard was a Confed- crate soldier for a brief period, and in every way patriotic, was a stanch friend of education and a generous supporter of a high grade school con- ducted at Moffettsville.
Virginia C. Baskin Sherard, who died in 1917, at the age of seventy, was a daughter of William Stuart Baskin, a granddaughter of James Hall Baskin, who in turn was a son of William Baskin, Jr., and a grandson of William Baskin, Sr. This is a very historic family. William Baskin. Sr .. came to Abbeville County from Augusta County, Virginia, and was a pioneer settler on Rocky River. Ilis sons, William, Ilugh and James were officers in the Colonial army during the Revolution, Will- iam being a lieutenant. Toward the close of the war William, Jr., was made a captain because of his exploit in capturing single handed thirty Tories, who by reason of his clever stratagem thought he had a strong force behind him.
William Thomas Alexander Sherard had a liberal education preparatory to his business career, at- tending Erskine College, and the University of South Carolina. His chief occupation has been farming and merchandising. His farm land consti- tuites a generous estate of 2,000 acres, and under his ownership have been improved and de- veloped into one of the most productive farms in this section of the state. He is thoroughly pro- gressive in the matter of farming, and is a leader in the new agriculture of South Carolina. Recently he moved from the farm to a residence in Iva.
Mr. Sherard is president of the Bank of Iva, succeeding the late Thomas C. Jackson in that posi- tion. He is also president of the Iva Drug Com- pany. He had charge of the local campaigns for raising funds and selling Liherty Bonds during the war, and has all the patriotism for which his family in the different generations has been noted. Hle is a Master Mason and Knight of Pythias and a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Sherard married Miss Juanita Shumpert in 1008. She is a daughter of J. Fred Shumpert, of Newberry, South Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Sherard's four children are Alice Virginia, Juanita, Laura and Ethel.
LEWIS AUGUSTUS BROCK. Probably no one now living has memory of a time when the Brock family was not identified with business and mercantile affairs
at Honea Path. One of the oldest merchants of the town is Lewis Augustus Brock, son of a pioneer merchant there. Mr. Brock is a man of affairs, has that peculiar ability of handling more than one enterprise successfully, and is a banker as well as a merchant and interested in a number of enterprises that give special character to the commercial life of Honca Path.
He was born at Honea Path July 21, 1861. His father was Andrew Jackson Brock, a native of An- derson County, and one of the first to become identi- fied with the new community of Honea Path. He was one of the first merchants, and left his business to enter the Confederate army. He died at Honea Path in 1866, soon after the war. His wife was Ann Kay.
Lewis Augustus Brock grew up in his native town and at the age of eighteen had to give up his in- tention of acquiring an education higher than that afforded hy the common schools in order to aid in supporting his widowed mother and a sister. Until 1881 he was clerk in the mercantile store of his brother M. I. Brock of Honea Path. Then with his cousin, T. H. Brock, he set up in merchandising in- dependently. Their associations continued until 1898, since which time Mr. Brock has conducted his mercantile affairs independently. He has long held leadership among the business men of the town. He started with limited capital, the chief source of his obligation for his early beginnings being his brother J. A. Brock, who supplied him with $500 when he started business.
In the fall of 1900 Mr. Brock was a leading spirit in the organization of the Citizens Bank of Honea Path, and since its organization has been its presi- dent. This is a sound and substantial financial insti- tution of Anderson County. He is a director of the Chiquola Manufacturing Company, of the Bank of Donald. the Honea Path Lumber "Company, and a stockholder in the Bank of Honea Path and the Honea Path Oil Mill. He has also acquired some valuable farm lands.
Busy with the varied affairs, Mr. Brock has found no time for politics, though he is deeply interested in everything that concerns the welfare and progress of his home community. He is a Baptist and for several years has served as deacon of his church.
May 29, 1000, he married Lillian H. Mattison. Their five children are named Inez, Leon, Carl, Eva and Albert.
REV. ATHA THOMAS JAMISON. His ordination as a minister of the Baptist Church in 1895 was the signal for the beginning of a career of crowded usefulness, and for twenty years Rev. Mr. Jamison has been one of the leading men in the ministry of the church in South Carolina.
He is a native of Tennessee, born in the historic city of Murfreesboro March 5. 1866, son of Robert D. and Camilla (Patterson) Jamison. His father was a teacher and held such offices as county super- intendent of education and principal of the Mur- freesboro High School during the early youth of Atha T. Jamison.
The latter grew up on a farm, and had a sound training at home and in local schools. Most of liis broad literary education was acquired by follow-
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ing the Chautauqua courses of reading for eleven years. In 1885 he was appointed secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association at Charleston, South Carolina, and held that office until 1804. In September of that year he began to qualify for the ministry, a vocation for which he felt a special call, and was a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky, from October, 1894, until June, 18)5. At the latter date he was ordained by The Citadel Square Baptist Church at Charleston and in July began his duties as pastor of the church at Camden. He quickly acquired a well earned popularity justified by his splendid talents as a preacher and his influence as an organizer and co-worker, especially among the younger people of the church community. When the Baptist Young People's Union of South Caro, lina was organized at Orangeburg he was elected president and was re-elected at other meetings at Greenville, Batesburg and Columbia. For a number of years he edited the Baptist Young People's Union Department in the Baptist Courier.
The institution that has most greatly benefited by Rev. Mr. Jamison's abilities and work has been the Connie Maxwell Orphanage at Greenwood. He was made superintendent and treasurer of this in- stitution in 1900. He is an ideal administrator of such an institution as an orphanage, his personal qualities endearing him to his little charges, while his business abilities are all that are required for the management of the finances and other problems directly connected with such an institution.
Mr. Jamison married Miss Emma C. Caldwell on October 3, 1889. She died December 17, 1900. On June 7, 1904, he married Mrs. Margaret Wallace Caldwell.
JOUIN ALLEN MARTIN, a prosperous and successful farmer of Anderson County, has lived in this locality all his life and his name serves to recall one of the most prominent characters of the county.
His grandfather, Col. John Martin, was born in the Ebenezer neighborhood of Anderson County September .1, 1793. Later Martin Township in that county was named in his honor. His father was James Roddy Martin, a native Virginian, and Colonel Martin was the only child of his marriage to a widow Taylor. Both parents had been married pre- viously and had children. Col. John Martin grew up on the old plantation and spent practically all his days there. He died December 29, 1880, at the age of eighty-seven. When about nineteen years of age he had volunteered in Captain Thompson's Company for service in the War of 1812. As a soldier in that war he drew from the Federal Government for many years a pension. In 1816, not long after that war, he married Cynthia Rutledge, a daughter of Jesse Rutledge. They were the parents of sixteen children, thirteen sons and three daughters.
Colonel Martini was elected a member of the Legislature in 1832 and in 1836 was chosen ordinary of his county. He was elected sheriff in 1846 and again to the same office in 1854. Five or six years later he was a delegate from Anderson County to the state convention that passed the ordinance of secession. He was at that time upwards of seventy years of age, but when troops were called out he
volunteered in Captain Anderson's Company and went with it to Columbia, carrying his old trusty rifle, which he called "Okl Friday." He was sincere and determined in his enthusiasm to fight for the cause of the South, but while his act was an inspira- tion to patriotism his friends prevailed upon him to return home. He had been a great hunter and his old riffe, which he cherished as one of his dearest possessions, is still carefully preserved and in the possession of his grandson John Allen Martin. Colo- nel Martin was a hatter by trade, though through the greater part of the years he was a farmer. He was thrifty, and though he lost three fortunes by trusting his friends too implicitly, he rebuilt and recovered them and died leaving a good estate. He was a Methodist in church affiliation.
James Roddy Martin, a son of Col. John Martin, was born in Anderson County August 6, 1841, and died April 6, 1885. He was a soldier in the Con- federate army, and throughout his active life fol- lowed farming. He lived at home with his parents, looked after the comfort of his father, Colonel Martin, for many years. September 12, 1868, James Roddy Martin married Miss Lucinda Teressa Me- David, a daughter of Allen and Teressa Caroline ( Acker) McDavid, of Greenville County. Of their ten children seven survive: John Allen, Cynthia Teressa, Katy Lucinda, Reuben Mack, Van Buren, Vernie and Dora N. After the death of James Roddy Martin his widow became the wife of James William Keaton, who died in 1900, at the age of fifty-five. Mrs. Keaton is still living, and has long been a member of the Methodist Church, as was her first husband.
John Allen Martin was born in Anderson County May 15, 1869. Since boyhood he has made farming his regular vocation. In I911 he married Mrs. Annie (Elliott) MeDavid. They are the parents of four children.
WINFIELD KENNEDY SHARP, M. D. For thirty years Doctor Sharp practiced medicine at Towns- ville in Anderson County. That long professional career entitles him to deserved prominence in that community. For the past fifteen years he has enjoyed the ownership and possession of a fine country estate near Pendleton, and is still active in the management of his extensive affairs.
Doctor Sharp was born near Walhalla, Oconee County, December 28, 1847, a son of John and Catherine (White) Sharp. His father was born in Orange County, North Carolina, a son of John Sharp, a native of Germany who came to America at the age of twelve years. John Sharp, Jr., moved to Oconee County at the age of eighteen, and mar- ried Catherine White in that county. Her father, Alexander White, was from Abbeville County and an early settler and farmer and tanner in Oconee County. Doctor Sharp's mother was horn in Oconee County. A curious fact regarding Doctor Sharp's parents is that both were born in the same year, and both died on the same day at the age of seventy- nine and were buried in the same coffin. They were the parents of fourteen children, thirteen of whom reached mature years, Doctor Sharp being the last survivor.
Doctor Sharp lived on his father's farm in Oconee
Wic Shart
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County and acquired a common school education. lle studied medicine under Dr. L. B. Johnson of Walhalla and in 1874 graduated from the Louis- ville Medical College in Kentucky. He at once began practice at Townsville in Anderson County, and was a popular and much esteemed physician and surgeon there for thirty years. When he re- tired from active practice in 1904 he bought the well known plantation Rivoli, the old Adger home- stead, and there he enjoys every comfort to make life congenial and happy. He has always had some farm interests. Dostor Sharp is a Master Mason and a member of the Presbyterian Church.
In 1870 he married Mrs. Maria ( Ledbetter) Alex- ander, a daughter of Daniel Ledbetter. They have nine living children, and one other died at the age of thirteen. Their sons Frank Augustus and Joseph Newton Sharp were both soldiers in the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Their son Win- field Kennedy Sharp, Jr., is now connected with the United States Public Health Service.
JOHN CALVIN OWINGS. This is one of the oldest names in business affairs at Laurens, where John Calvin Owings has been a merchant and business man for over thirty years.
Ile was born on a farm in Laurens County Oeto- ber 24, 1859, son of Jonathan Hellams and Nannie Mary (Stoddard) Owings, also natives of the same county, representing old families of the state. Jona- than H. Owings was a farmer, served in the Con- federate army and lived a life of commendable in- dustry and honor. John Calvin Owings spent his early years on a farm, and as those years were con- current with the period of the war and reconstrue- tion, his advantages away from home were limited. He is a product of the old field schools. He spent a number of years as a farmer and in 1887 became a member of the mercantile firm of Orr, Owings & Bobo at Laurens. One year later he and Mr. Bobo bought the interest of the senior partner, and for ten years Owings & Bobo conducted a general mer- chandise business of increasing volume and profit. In 1898 they sold out their merchandise business to T. M. Barksdale, and has since continued as a firm handling fertilizers and farm supplies and con- ducting a restricted banking business. Mr. Owings has prospered as a business man and has invested much of his surplus in farm lands and has done much to promote agricultural activity in Laurens County. He served three years as mayor of Lau- rens, but has never been a seeker for public honors. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church and he is a deacon of his church at Laurens.
In 1888 Mr. Owings married Miss Elizabeth Ifughes. Nine children were born to their mar- riage, John Earle, Thomas C., Roy B., Brucie, Mar- tha, John Ralph, died when about one year old, Mary, Ada Catherine and Edwin. The three oldest sons were in the World war and served in the navy. John Earle entered the service in December, 1917, and was stationed in the pay office in the Naval Training Station at Norfolk, Virginia. Thomas C. joined the colors in May, 1918, and was in the Hospital Corps, serving in the Hospital Training School and after- wards stationed at Newport, Rhode Island, then at New London, Connecticut and finally at Norfolk, Vol. III-11
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Virginia. Roy B. Owings entered the service in June, 1918, as a radio electrician, spending most of his time on Virgil Island at Charleston. The two older sons received their honorable discharge soon after the close of the war.
CHARLES MANLY WATSON. Belonging to that class of workers whose practical education, quick perceptions and great capacity for painstaking labor have advaneed them to positions of prominence for- merly occupied hy men many years their seniors, Charles Manly Watson, while representing the vig- orous and resourceful present of Anderson County, gives promise of participating in its more enlight- ened future, particularly in the vicinity of Anderson, where he is engaged in extensive agricultural opera- tions.
Mr. Watson was born April 15, 1884. in Anderson County, a son of the late Dr. Daniel Sanford Wat- son, a complete review of whose brilliant and sue- cessful career will be found on another page of this work. Charles M. Watson's education was primarily secured in the local publie schools, following which he pursued a course of study and training at the Pat- rick Military Academy, and was reared on the home farm, where he inaugurated his independent career when he reached years of maturity. He has always made his home on the parental place, the superin- tendency of which he assumed at the time of his father's death, in 1909. He has the 350 acres under a high state of cultivation, is shrewd and far-sighted, and has a thorough knowledge of agriculture in all its phases, being known as one of his locality's most successful younger farmers. The material and social success of Mr. Watson has been aided by that spirit of kindliness which makes the whole world kin, which appreciates merits in others, and which recog- nizes the value of taet and consideration in dealing with the problems of life.
Mr. Watson was married November 9, 1909, to Mfiss Lena MeGee Prior, who was born at Fayette- ville, North Carolina, a daughter of Warren S. Prior. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have two daughters: Corrie Elizabeth and Lois Prior. The family holds membership in the Baptist Church.
JOSEPH L. McGILL. Among the farmers of rec- ognized moral and material worth whose labors have largely helped to develop the interests of Anderson County is Joseph L. McGill. Mr. McGill is a member of the class which typifies some of the best agricul- tural material in the state, exemplifying traits of self-made manhood that cannot help but be encour- aging to the youth of the land who are struggling to gain a start without special advantages, influential assistance or financial aid. From obscurity and humble surroundings he has worked his way steadily to a place of importance in the community and to the ownership of 650 acres of land, and is now ae- counted one of the most modern and progressive farmers of the county.
Mr. MeGill was born February 17, 1872, in Ander- son County, South Carolina, a son of Samuel and Eliza Eugenia (Hall) McGill, also natives of this county, whose other children were: William Sanford, Joseph L., Charles H., Maude, John A., S. Foster, Lillie, Adolphus and Annie. The children were
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reared on the farm, and in the faith of the Baptist Church, to which the parents belonged for many years.
Joseph L. McGill remained with his parents and assisted his father on the home farm until the time of his marriage, in 1893, when he began the battle of life on his own account, with only a common school education and his own ambition to aid him. By working hard and managing his farming inter- ests well, he became the owner of property of his own, and as he has prospered has added to his holdings from time to time, not being afraid to go into debt for the purchase price where his faith has been strong in the value of his property. He is now the owner of a magnificent tract of 500 acres in his home farm, a property that is improved with fine buildings and up-to-date machinery, improve- ments and equipment, in addition to which he has another farm of 150 acres situated in the neighbor- hood of Dean Station. Mr. McGill has been identi- fied with the best interests of his community since he entered upon an independent career. He has given his children a thorough mental training and fitted them for useful and honorable lives. He is a thorough, systematic and successful farmer, and is truly typical of the most worthy and substantial agri- cultural element in Anderson County. In 1893 Mr. McGill was married to Miss Macie I. Hall, a daugh- ter of John W. Hall, and to this union there have been born six children, as follows: John Harold, Jo- seph Malcolm, Frank Lewis, Lizzie, Ruth and Joe. Mr. and Mrs. McGill are members of the Baptist Church and have reared their children in that faith.
FREDERICK GARLINGTON BROWN. While the late Frederick Garlington Brown died in the prime of his years, he had performed a conspicuous serv- ice in the business affairs of Anderson County, and his destiny had been well fulfilled, though there was a widespread sense of regret and foss that his years might not have been lengthened in good purpose and efficiency.
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He was born in Anderson County, October 2S, 1861, and died at his country home five miles south of Pendleton, April 12, 1912. His grandparents were Samuel and Helena ( Vandiver) Brown. the latter a daughter of Rev. Sanford Vandiver, one of the early Baptist ministers of Anderson County. Samuel Brown was a planter in Anderson County. The parents of Frederick G. Brown were John Peter and Julia (Reed) Brown, the former a na- tive of Anderson County. John Peter Brown was a graduate of the University of Virginia and spent the greater part of his life on a farm near Town- ville.
In that community Frederick G. Brown passed his childhood and early youth, attended the local schools and later the Ligon Military Institute at Anderson. As a means of acquiring his own education he taught school, and later was clerk in a well known mercantile house at Anderson of which the late Sylvester Bleckley was the head. He made him- self so useful that he was taken in as a partner, the firm being Bleckley, Brown & Fretwell. Later he was senior member of Brown-Osborne Company, cotton buyers. Later he organized, incorporated
and built the Anderson Fertilizer Mill, and was its active manager as president until he was striel:en with paralysis, which ultimately brought about his death.
Hoping to regain his health Mr. Brown moved to the plantation home where his wife's parents had lived. Notwithstanding his ill health he organized the Brown Loan & Realty Company of Anderson and was instrumental in making it a successful con- cern. He also superintended a thousand acre plan- tation. Thus in the midst of activities death found him in his fifty-first year. He should be remem- bered as one of the real progressive leaders and builders of the City of Anderson.
He was a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, and a communicant in the Episcopal Church. In 1887 Mr. Brown married Miss Mamie Mccrary, daughter of Edmund Morton and Jane Frances (Harris) Mccrary. Her mother was a great- granddaughter of Gen. Andrew Pickens. The Mc- Crarys, of Scotch ancestry, came to South Carolina from Virginia, were settlers in Laurens County, and afterward moving to Anderson County, when it was a part of the old Pendleton district. Mrs. Brown's grandparents were Henry and Marjorie McCrary, the former being the original settler of the plantation known as the McCrary homestead five miles south of Pendleton. Here Mrs. Brown's father was born and reared and spent his life. The plantation is one of the most fertile and beautiful country places in South Carolina. The residence is an old colonial home still in a fine state of preservation and situated on a hill in the midst of a beautiful grove. It was in this home that Mrs. Brown was born and reared and is living today.
JAMES DICKSON MCELROY, of Sandy Springs, is the inheritor of a very interesting family history, and for fully a century and a quarter part of that family history has centered about the farm where he lives and where he was born July 24. 1856.
The history of the McElroys in this country begins with Archibald McElroy, his great-great-grandfather. A native of County Down, Ireland, and of Scotch ancestry, on coming to America he first settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and from there moved to Virginia. His son, also named Archibald, was an early settler in Union County, South Carolina. He identified himself with the patriot cause in the strng- gle for independence and was killed in the battle of Cowpens. When he fell his son Archibald was a small child, and after growing to manhood and after his marriage to Martha Craig he settled in Anderson County and acquired the land which for a century and a quarter has been in the McElroy family and is now owned by his grandson, James Dickson Mc- Elroy
The latter is a son of Samuel R. and Mary M. (Dickson) McElroy, his father also a native of An- derson County. His father was a soldier of the Confederacy and died while on sick leave. There are many military traditions in the McElroy family. The heads of nine generations of the MeElroys were either killed or died while in military service. James Dickson McElroy and his grandfather were either too young or too old to serve as soldiers in our na- tional wars.
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