USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 41
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
James Dickson McElroy grew up on his father's farm and acquired a good common school education, and since boyhood farming has been his regular vo- cation and through it he has achieved a more than ordinary , success. He has been devoted to his farm, is a democrat, but never mingles in political affairs, and has sought to do his duty by his family, his com- munity and his state. He is a member of the Ma- sonic Order. In 1891 Mr. McElroy married Miss Carrie Watkins, a daughter of Thomas Watkins.
JOSEPH BENJAMIN DOUTHIT. While Mr. Douthit has lived close to the soil all his life, and most of his years have been spent in practical agriculture, he is also the leading business man of the Sandy Springs community in Anderson County.
He represents an old and prominent family of upper South Carolina, and was born in Garvin Town- ship, Anderson County, December 21. 1855, a son of James G. and Elizabeth ( Watkins) Douthit, his father also a native of Anderson County. His grand- parents were Benjamin and Desdemonia (Gambrell) Douthit, the former a native of Anderson County and a son of James Douthit, a native of Virginia. James Douthit was one of the early itinerant Metho- dist ministers in South Carolina, and he also ren- dered service as a tax collector in Anderson County. James G. Douthit, while always living on a farm and having to do with agriculture, was best known as a gifted teacher of vocal music. He was also a Con- federate soldier. He and his wife had two children, Joseph Benjamin and Rebecca Jane. The daughter is the wife of David A. Taylor and lives at the old Donthit homestead.
Joseph Benjamin Douthit grew up on a farm and had a common school education, supplemented by seven months in Newberry College at Walhalla. In 1887 he married Miss Mary Watkins. Her father, Col. Thomas Watkins, was killed while serving in the Confederate army. Mr. Douthit still lives on the farm which he cultivated for many years, but its management is now in the hands of his own son Joseph Benjamin, Jr. His enterprise at Sandy Springs shows a profitable business as a dealer in fertilizer and cotton seed products.
Mr. Douthit has been a prominent figure in state affairs for a number of years. In 1896 he was elected a member of the state board of control under the old dispensary system, and filled that office for three terms. Then for two years he was a state commis- sioner, resigning that position to give his time to his private affairs. He is a democrat, and is one of the citizens still living who had an active part in the cam- paign for the restoration of white rule in 1876. Mr. Douthit is affiliated with the Knight of Pythias and the Masonic Order and for seven years was worship- ful master of his lodge. He and his wife are Metlio- dists.
They have six children: Maude, wife of Joe T. Bell; Claude; Leora, Mrs. Charles P. Manship; Carre, wife of Dr. J. J. Glen; Mary Gertrude, Mrs Fred Patterson; and Joseph Benjamin, Jr. The sons are graduates of Clemson College.
JOHN RIVERS. One of the distinctive features of the business life of Charleston is that so many of the leading men that represent it are natives of the city. This wonderful city, one of the oldest in the
country, is yet so modern and important that it keeps its young men as well as those of an older generation, other localities having nothing superior to offer them. One of these native sons is John Rivers, whose commercial abilities find expression in handling the great southern staple, cotton, his operations in this line being conducted upon an ex- tensive scale.
John Rivers of the fifth generation of his family in South Carolina was born at Charleston, Decem- ber 12, 1860, a son of Elias L. Rivers, and grandson of John Elijah Rivers. The Rivers family origi- nated in England, but its representatives came to the American Colonies at a very early day, and, select- ing South Carolina as a permanent place of location, have been very prominent in its development to the fifth generation in South Carolina. Both John Elijah Rivers and his son, Elias L. Rivers, were born at James Island, South Carolina. Elias L. Rivers mar- ried Cornelia Seabrook, a daughter of W. B. Sea- brook, born on James Island, of English descent, and belonging to another old South Carolinian family.
One of a family of eight children, John Rivers was reared, with them, at Charleston, which city furnished him with excellent educational advantages, and he was graduated from the high school course at the age of seventeen years. Entering by choice up- on a commercial career, Mr. Rivers has devoted himself to handling cotton, although in later years he has also become a stockholder and official in several other enterprises, including the Sea Island Oil Company, of which he is president, and the Dill-Ball Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer.
In 1898 Mr. Rivers was united in marriage with Eleanor Whaley, a daughter of Francis M. and Caroline (Scabrook) Whaley. Mr. and Mrs. Rivers have three daughters, namely: Lillie, Elizabeth and Eleanor. Mr. Rivers is a Mason. He belongs to St. James Episcopal Church of James Island, which he is now serving as vestryman. His present prosperity is but the logical outcome of intelligent application to business. Personally he is a sincere and unselfish, patriotic and courageous man, whose standing in his community is unblemished, and whose record is in accord with the history of his family during the several generations it has been established in South Carolina. As a citizen Mr. Rivers is recognized as useful and competent, and while he has not desired public preferment, he has given a conscientious serv- ice to his city by supporting the measures he believed would ultimately result in its further progress.
HENRY B. MALONE, M. D. In the ten years since he graduated from medical college and has engaged in practice at Chester, Doctor Malone has won a secure position in his profession, has gained recog- nition for expert ability, and is favorably known by his professional brethren over the state at large.
He was born at Morganton in Burke County, North Carolina, in 1880, a son of Albert W. and Mamie (Bettis) Malone. Doctor Malone received most of his literary education at Asheville, North Carolina, and took his medical work in Charlotte, graduating from the North Carolina Medical Col- lege in 1909. A few months later he came to Chester and soon became associated with the eminent Dr.
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S. W. Pryor, and was one of the younger men re- garded by Doctor Pryor as worthy of complete con- fidence. Ile was closely associated with Doctor Pryor in the Pryor Hospital until the death of the founder of the hospital in December, 1918. Doctor Malone does a general practice but specializes in diseases of women and children.
He is local surgeon for the Southern and Seaboard Air Line Railroad, is examining surgeon for several life insurance companies, is examining surgeon for the government in the war risk insurance, is chair- man of the Chester Board of Health, a member of the County, State, Tri-State and American Medical Associations, and is a man of large acquaintance and friendship over the state.
For six months, from July to December, 1918, Doctor Malone was enrolled with the United States Army with the rank of captain in, the Medical Reserve Corps. During that time he was attached to General Hospitals Nos. 8 and 16 in New York State. Doctor Malone is a member of the Masonic Order and is a Shriner.
He married Miss Leila Bleccker. Mrs. Malone was born at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, of Canadian parentage, and of the same ancestry as the noted Holland-Dutch Bleecker family of New York. They have two children, Leila Bleecker and Henry B., Jr.
CLAUDE JACKSON GASQUE has been engaged in the general practice of law at Florence for ten years, and his clientele and all around ability give him a high place in the bar of the state.
He was born in Florence County January 6, 1881. a son of Wesley and Martha Washington (Kirton) Gasque. His father was a merchant and farmer, and the son received good advantages at home and in the public schools, later attending the law de- partment of Wake Forest College in North Carolina and is a graduate with the class of 1910 from the University of South Carolina.
Early in his law practice Mr. Gasque entered poli- tics and was elected a member of the Legislature for 1913-14. Since 1918 he has held office as local magistrate at Florence. May 14, 1914. he married Miss Bessie Aycock, of Wedgefield, South Carolina. They have one son, Claude Jackson, Jr.
SANBORN CHASE is a son of the long prominent business man of Florence, Jerome P. Chase, and on his own account has successfully handled many important business affairs in his native city.
James Walter Kelly grew up on his father's farm and had a high school education and also a course in bookkeeping. While he entered upon his business career at a more auspicious epoch than his father did and perhaps with more influence and slightly more capital, he has really earned his own advance- ment and present position. For four years he kept books for Geer Brothers, merchants at Belton, and then entered the cotton mill business, first at Trion, Georgia, then at Pelzer and still later at Cateechee in this state. At Cateechee he was overseer of spinning in the mill. He then returned to Trion, Georgia, and held a similar position. For a number of years he has been a resident of Pelzer, where he was overseer of the spinning department and after three He was born at Florence October 5, 1860, and was . years was appointed superintendent of No. 4 mill educated in private schools and spent three years in the University of Georgia. After leaving college he was junior partner of the firm of Jerome P. Chase & Son, and in 1907 bought the business and has since conducted it as Sanborn Chase, Real Estate and Insurance. Mr. Chase is a recognized authority in real estate matters at Florence. He is now developing what is known as the Suburb Beautiful, in aiding home purchasers in securing homes in this beautiful subdivision, which will be a great addition to the resident section of the city. He is also president of the Commercial Trust Company. director of the First National Bank, a director of the Bank of Florence, the United Grocery Company, the Florence Dry Goods Company, and the Palmetto
Construction Company. For two years he served as a trustee of the graded schools of Florence.
January 15, 1913, he married Miss Kloo Catharine Glenn, a native of Florida. They have one son, Sanborn, Jr., born January 5, 1919.
JAMES WALTER KELLY is widely known as a cotton mill superintendent, a man of long and practical ex- perience in the operation of mills, and while thor- oughly familiar with the complicated progress of cot- ton manufacture is also classed among the leading farmers of his home County of Anderson.
Mr. Kelly, who is superintendent of the Pelzer Manufacturing Company, was born in Anderson County, March 8, 1876, a son of John Joseph and Caroline (Johnson) Kelly, also natives of Anderson County. The grandfathers were Harvey Kelly and Willis Johnson, both farmers in Anderson County. John Joseph Kelly when sixteen years of age, toward the close of the war between the states, enlisted in the Confederate army. When the war was over he had to start life with a poverty of individual fortune corresponding to that of the state, but used his opportunities and worked so effectively that at his death, at the age of sixty-one, he was owner of one of the finest farms in Anderson County, comprising about 1,000 acres of land. He led a consistent Christian life as a Baptist and owed much of his happiness as well as success to the fact that he was extremely fortunate in both of his marriages, his wives being women of great nobility of heart and of Christian character. His first wife was Caroline Johnson, who was the mother of ten children, all still living. His second wife was Maggie Crawford, who survives him and became the mother of eight children.
and two years later superintendent of all the mills of the Pelzer Manufacturing Company. These re- sponsibilities have kept him very busy since 1916 and they also comprise the duties of superintending the extensive farming interests of the Pelzer Manu- facturing Company in Anderson County.
Mr. Kelly has had some farm interests of his own. He is a member and deacon of the Baptist Church.
In 1902 he married Miss Donie Copeland, daugh- ter of Joseph J. Copeland and sister of the late Rev. O. J. Copeland. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly had seven children. Mrs. Kelly. died July 24, 1919.
CLARENCE LEE GUYTON, M. D. In the old com- munity of Williamston, where many prominent South
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Carolina families have lived, Clarence Lee Guyton lias performed the able services of a physician and surgeon for a number of years, and his professional life has been largely spent amid the scenes with which he became familiar as a boy.
He was born in Anderson County February II, 1869, a son of Aaron M. and Nannie J. (Williams) Guyton. His parents were also natives of Anderson County. The paternal grandfather Gen. John W. Guyton, a native of South Carolina whose fore- fathers had come to this state from Virginia was at one time sheriff of Anderson County and a well known planter of that locality. The father of Doc- tor Guyton was also a farmer and for a number of years kept a store at Piercetown. He was in the Confederate army four years, was wounded at Spott- sylvania and received a severe injury in the thigh at the battle of Ox Hill. Nevertheless he sur- vived the injuries and hazards of the war for over half a century and died in 1916 at the age of seventy- six. His wife passed away aged fifty-seven.
Doctor Guyton only child of his parents grew up on a farm and at the age of sixteen went to work in his father's store. His literary education was ac- quired in the common schools. After three years as clerk for his father he left home to begin the serious preparation for his professional career. He graduated in medicine from Vanderbilt University in 1803 and immediately on his return home began practice at Piercetown, the little community where he was born and reared. Besides his large private practice Doctor Guyton owns a good store at Wil- liamston conducted under the name Guyton Drug Company. He has farm interests to the extent of 527 acres including the old homestead of his ma- ternal grandfather Micajah Williams who in his time was one of Anderson County's best farmers and best citizens and was a native of Greenville County.
Doctor Guyton is a member in good standing of the County and State Medical societies and the Amer- ican Medical Association, also the Southern Medical Association, and is a Royal Arch Mason, Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias and Woodman of the World and Red Man. He is a deacon in the Baptist Church and is a church clerk.
In 1894 he married Miss Addie Duckworth, daugh- ter of Samuel J. Duckworth of Anderson County. Doctor Guyton and wife have good reason to be proud of their splendid family of children, seven in number, noted briefly as follows: Aaron Ralph, who is a graduate of the South Carolina Medical College and is practicing medicine at Piercetown; Clarence Lee, Jr., a student in the College of Charles- ton ; Edith Williams, Joe Curtis Tribble, Walter Ru- ford Williams, John Mark Sullivan and Addie Lou Guyton, the five youngest being still members of the home circle.
A. FRANK MATTISON is president of the Bank of Honea Path. In a community where he has spent most of his life he has steadily earned those promo- tions which are the mark of honest and effective effort, and is a deservedly prominent and popular leader among the citizens of Anderson County.
He was born on a farm near Shady Grove Church in Anderson County June 14, 1872, son of William
Holbert Mattison, a native of the same county, and grandson of William and Elizabeth (Acker) Matti- son, early settlers of Anderson County. His grand- mother, Elizabeth Acker, was a daugliter of Rev. Alexander Acker, who did a prominent part in the extension of the influence of the Baptist Church in early days. William Holbert Mattison has spent practically all his life in the vicinity of Honea Path. At one time he was a merchant at Shady Grove, but with that exeception and the time spent as a Confed- erate soldier he has been a practical and progress- ive farmer near Honea Path.
A. Frank Mattison grew up on his father's farm and for a number of years attended the local schools nearby. He left home at the age of twenty and during the next six years was a hard working clerk in the general store of the late R. M. Shirley of Honea Path. Without changing his home town he transferred his services to J. W. Brock, another well known merchant, and was in his employ for seven years. Mr. Mattison became a bookkeeper in the Bank of Honea Path in 1905. In fourteen years he has become the chief director of that institution. He was promoted to assistant cashier, then cashier, on the death of Mr. R. M. Shirley, the president, in 1918 succeeded to the vacant post.
June 21, 1905, Mr. Mattison married Anna M. Brock. Their two daughters are Eleanor and Lou- ise. The family are members of the Baptist Church.
A. FLETCHER SPIGNER, whose position as solicitor of the Fifth Judicial Circuit is one of prominence and responsibility, has been a successful member of the Columbia bar for many years and always active in public affairs.
Mr. Spigner was born at Lykesland, South Caro- lina, January 26, 1879. a son of Prescott B. and Emily C. (Turner) Spigner. His father, a farmer and planter, is especially well known for his record of sixteen years service in the office of county treasurer of Richland County.
A. Fletcher Spigner was educated in the public schools, and spent four years in the University of South Carolina, graduating from the law depart- ment in 1903. He at once engaged in general prac- tice and had acquired a large business as a lawyer before he entered public life. Mr. Spigner was elected and served as state senator from 1913 to 1918. He was chosen solicitor for the Fifth Ju- dicial Circuit on November 5, 1918. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Woodmen of the World, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Improved Order of Red Men and Knights of Pythias, but outside his profession gives his time and attention chiefly to his home life and family.
January 16, 1907, he married Anna Mav Cain of Eastover, South Carolina. She died May 10, 1007. On February 26, 1914, he married Elise Tiller of Orangeburg, daughter of Rev. Dove and Anna Lizzie (Jones) Tiller, the former a promi- nent Methodist minister, and the latter the daughter of W. W. Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Spigner have two sons, A. Fletcher Jr., born May 6, 1916, and John Prescott, born August 31, 1919.
IOF M. H. ASHLEY, son of the late Hon. Joshua Ashley, whose career as one of the most rugged and
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influential figures in state politics has been sketched elsewhere, has many of his father's abilities as a leader of men and practical business executive.
He was born on his father's farm near Honca Path March 6, 1878, spent his boyhood on the farm and was educated in the schools of Honra Path, and for twenty years has been vigorously and suc- cessfully identified with agriculture in his home lo- cality.
In 1912 Mr. Ashley was elected sheriff of Ander- son County. He entered upon his duties January 7, 1913, and before the close of the first term was re- clected in 1916. He was in the sheriff's office just six years, when he resigned in order to return to his farm and business interests at Honea Path. Mr. Ashley is one of the most extensive farmers in the county and is also a member of the automobile firm of Ashley & Pearman at Anderson.
He is a stanch democrat, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America and Improved Or- der of Red Men. He is a Baptist.
Mr. Ashley married Miss Annie Ricketts in 1900. She died in 1906, the mother of two children. In 1907 lie married Miss Mina Belle Darby.
ROBERT BOLT DAY, M. D. A little more than twen- ty years ago Doctor Day began practice at Pendle- ton, and in this time he has achieved success in his profession and has contrived to find time and ener- gies to support and serve in many ways the pub- lic welfare. He served five terms as mayor of Pen- dleton.
Doctor Day was born at Easley in Pickens County, South Carolina, January 17, 1874, a son of Elias and Jane (Bolt) Day, the former a native of Pickens County and the latter of Laurens County. Doctor Day grew up on his father's farm near Easley. The first stage of his education was completed in the Easley High School. He also attended Patrick's Mil- itary Institute at Anderson, and is a graduate in medicine of the Barnes Medical College at St. Louis with the class of 1897. He at once returned to South Carolina and began practice at Pendleton. He is a member in good standing of the Anderson County, South Carolina State and American Medical Asso- ciations.
In July, 1918, Doctor Day was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps and assigned to service at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louis- ville, Kentucky, where he remained on duty in the medical department until discharged in December, 1918. Doctor Day is also a successful business man, owning the Rexall drug store and a garage at Pendle- ton. He is a democrat in polities, a member of the Baptist Church and a Master Mason.
In 1897, the year he graduated in medicine, he married Kate Eskew, a danghter of S. L. Eskew. of Pendleton. They have four children, Robert Eu- gene, Elias, Nancy and Katharine. Both sons are now students in Clemson College. Robert Eugene, the older son, was inducted into the army in October, 1918, but after less than two months of training re- ceived his discharge in December of the same year.
MARION M. MATTISON, of Anderson, has devoted his active career to the insurance business, and is one of the veteran men in that field.
Mr. Mattison was born on a farm in Abbeville County, South Carolina, November 12, 1868, son of John W. and Sarah ( Barmore) Mattison. His father, who was a Confederate soldier during the war, afterward engaged in farming and later was a merchant at Donalds, South Carolina.
Marion M. Mattison spent most of his boyhood at Donalds, attended the public schools there and finished his education under Prof. W. J. Ligon of Anderson. He had some experience as a clerk at Anderson, but in 1892 hegan soliciting life insurance. Seven years later, in 1899, he was made general agent for the state of South Carolina of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey. He has represented that company twenty years, with offices at Anderson.
In 1889 Mr. Mattison married Miss Clara Sharpe of Abbeville County. He is a Knight Templar Ma- son and Shiriner and a member of the Presbyterian Church.
BAXTER HARDEY SADLER. A resident all his life of Anderson County, Baxter Hardey Sadler is wide- ly known as a banker, being cashier of the Bank of Pendleton.
He was born on the farm near Iva in Anderson County, January 20, 1879, son of David F. and Vir- ginia B. (Speer) Sadler. His parents were natives of Georgia, his father of Hart County. Soon after they were married in that state they located on a farm in the southern part of Anderson County, South Carolina, where David Sadler worked and ac- cumulated a considerable degree of prosperity for a period of many years. He brought up his family of eight sons and two daughters on the farm, and though never assuming an important role in public affairs he made a worthy contribution to the world and society. Toward the close of his life he moved to the Town of Iva, and died there in 1916, at the age of eighty-four. His wife passed away at the age of seventy-six.
Baxter H. Sadler had a farm environment during his youth. He attended the "old field" schools and in 1903 graduated from the Presbyterian College at Clinton, South Carolina. The two following years were spent teaching school and in 1905 he was chosen to his present office as cashier of the Bank of Pendleton. He is a man of great popularity, has a thorough knowledge of banking, and has made many friends and contributed much to the prosper- ity of the institution which he represents and serves.
In 19OS Mr. Sadler married Miss Ella Holines Sit- ton, a daughter of Henry P. Sitton, widely known as a prominent merchant of Pendleton. Mr. and Mrs. Sadler have four children. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, as were Mr. Sadler's parents.
JOSEPH LAWRENCE NETTLES. The legal associa- tion of Nettles & Tobias is widely and favorably known throughout the South, especially as regards the practice of corporation law, and the success achieved in this particular branch of legal work, as well as in a general civil practice, has brought to the individual members of the firm a justly merited recognition.
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