USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 46
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In 1891 Mr. Cook married Miss Ella McGee, a daughter of the late William T. McGee of Ander- son County and a granddaughter of Elias McGee, one of the pioneers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Cook had five children: Mrs. Mary Evans, Clara, Essie, Alfred and Edward.
ROBERT GEORGE WITHERSPOON, M. D. For forty years the interesting community of Anderson Coun- ty known as Holland Settlement, near Shiloh
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Church, was the scene of the public spirited activi- ties and professional work of Dr. Robert George Witherspoon, whose life as a physician, farmer, soldier and citizen deserves the following tribute and record.
He was born at Aiken, Aiken County, South Carolina, October 16, 1846, of Scotch ancestry, son of Robert M. and Susan ( Hammet) Witherspoon, a grandson of George White Witherspoon and great-grandson of James Witherspoon. The With- erspoons came from Scotland about 1725 and were early colonial settlers in South Carolina.
Doctor Witherspoon had a good education, but before he was eighteen years of age, on April 1, 1864. enlisted in Company B of the Twenty-ninth Georgia Battalion. He saw hard fighting during the following months, and on December 21, 1864, was captured and remained a prisoner of war until June 22, 1865, when he was paroled. Following the war he took up and pursued with characteristic diligence the study of medicine and in 1875 grad- uated from the Baltimore Medical College at Balti- more. Thoroughly trained, with natural talents for his chosen vocation, he achieved an enviable repu- tation as a skillful physician, and it is a tribute to his high character that he chose always to be identi- fied with a country community rather than gain greater reputation in a city. He became one of the best country doctors in Anderson County, and for years rode horseback in all kinds of weather, at- tending his patients, and underwent many hardships. He was a member of the Anderson County Medical .Society, the State Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
He was a good business man, and that quality was exemplified in the way he managed his farm. He accumulated a good estate and at the time of his death on June 9. 1916, it was the general tribute that his life had been one of exemplary conduct and of extreme usefulness to all with whom he came in contact. He was publie spirited and generous in behalf of every movement in his community requir- ing his support.
November 5, 1879, he married Eugenia E. Ander- son. She died October 27, 1892, the mother of two sons, Robert H., born November 26, 1880, and John K., born August 11, 1892.
On March 28, 1804. Doctor Witherspoon married Alberta Margaret Holland. She was born at Hart- well, Georgia, January 14. 1872, but came with her parents to Anderson County when 2 years old. She is a daughter of Thomas J. and Susan E. ( Reeder) Holland, and a granddaughter of Asbury Morgan Holland, better known as Berry Holland, and his wife, Margaret (Sherard) Holland. The Hollands are a numerous Anderson County family. Their original point of settlement is in the vicinity of Pendleton. Berry Holland founded Holland's store, was a merchant for many years and also a farmer, and reared a large family, named as fol- lows : Thomas J., William Y., Wayman A., B. Mack, Cora, who became the wife of J. E. Brownlee, Lil- lian, who married Miles N. Sitton, Minnie, wife of A. M. Erwin, and Ida, who married J. Lang Ander- son.
Mrs. Witherspoon, who survives her honored hus- band and occupies the fine old home, is the mother
of five children. Thomas Crawford Withersoon, the oldest, entered the United States service in July, 1918, was sent overseas in September with the Eighty-Fourth Division, and was in the Signal Corps while in service and until the close of the war. He was born January 15, 1895. The four younger chil- dren are: Mattie Sue, born September 24, 1897; Al- berta Margaret, born December 6, 1899; James Har- vey, born May 1, 1903; and Lulu Ruth, born Au- gust 28, 1906.
WILLIS MCGEE. While the MeGees as a family have been long and favorably known in Anderson County, the extensive farming and plantation inter- ests associated with the name, particularly with that of Willis MeGee, has been the fruit of about half a century of work and management on the part of the family. Willis MeGee has some of the most extensive farm interests in Anderson County.
He was born in the county August 2, 1867, son of Jesse and Mary Elizabeth (Chamblee) MeGee and grandson of Willis MeGee. His grandfather was a pioneer on the Savannah River in the southern part of Anderson County. He died on his Anderson County farm March 2, 1815, he married Mary Li- dell, who was born in 1776 and died in 1848. Willis and Mary McGee had the following children, whose names and dates of birth are: Elizabeth, November 7. 1815; Jesse, June 2, 1817; Savanna, June 12, 1819; Elias, June 5, 1823; Ruth Ann, June 26, 1825 ; Childs, December 1, 1827; Mary Ann, June 7, 1830; Jo- seph, June 3, 1832; Willia J., September 19, 1834; Martha, July 2, 1836; Watt T., September 5, 1838; and William Andrew, June 5, 1843. The sons Jesse, Elias, Joseph and William were Confederate sol- diers. All the children were born and reared on the old homestead on the Savannah River in Ander- son County.
Jesse McGee, who, as noted, was born in 1817, was generally called Col. Jesse McGee, deriving that title from service in his early life in the State Mil- itia. In the Confederate army he gained the rank of captain. At the close of the war and at the time of his marriage he settled on a farm three miles south of Starr. His first home was a log cabin, and he and his wife began with a very meager equip- ment and little capital. He had a great fund of energy, was a good manager, and in time became owner of a large tract of land, built a handsome brick residence, and at his death May 17, 1884, left a valuate estate. He was a member of the Presby- terian Church, while his wife was a lifelong Baptist. Jesse McGee married in 1865 Mary Elizabeth Cham- blee. She was born in Anderson County February 27, 1840, and is still living, in her eightieth year. Her parents, James and Nancy (Watson) Chamblee, were natives of Anderson County and represented two old and respected families of that vicinity. Jesse McGee and wife had the following children: Willis; Lawrence, who was born December 23, 1869, and married Lillie Holland; Maggie, born January 9, 1872, became the wife of Claude F. Martin; Elias, born January 21, 1874, married Sallie MeGukin; and Pearl, born June 21, 1881, married Fuller Whorton. Willis MeGee grew up on the home farm and was given the advantages of the common schools. His life for thirty years or more has been devoted to
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farming with gratifying success. He owns and op- erates 1,000 acres of land sitnated about four miles south of Starr. In its development he has rendered a real service to his county and state. He has lived a quiet and effective life, without participation in politics, though a stanch democrat. He is a Master Mason. Mr. McGee married Icy Jones, who died not long after their marriage.
HORACE L. BOMAR. For over forty years the name Bomar has been a distinguished one in the bar of Upper South Carolina. Horace L. Bomar is un- doubtedly one of the ablest lawyers in the state, and his own career supplements that of his father, the late Maj. Johir Earle Bomar. In Spartanburg County the Bomar family has had their home for a century or more, and has contributed men of prom- inence to many lines of endeavor.
Horace L. Bomar was born at Spartanburg in 1874, son of Maj. John Earle and Louisa N. (Bo- mar) Bomar. His parents were distantly related. The first of the Bomars to settle permanently in Spartanburg County were in the maternal branch of the family. This pioneer was Edward Bomar, who located on North Tyger River near the Town of Fair Forest, not long after the Revolutionary war. The Bomars came to South Carolina from Virginia, and during their sojourn in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, one of the family served as captain and another as lieutenant in the Continental army. Louisa N. Bomar was a daughter of John Bomar Jr., whose father was Edward Bomar, the latter a son of John Bomar.
Maj. John Earle Bomar, who was born at Spar- tanburg Village, July 29, 1827, was a son of Elisha Bomar, grandson of William Bomar, and great-grandson of Edward Bomar of Essex County, Virginia. Major Bomar's mother was Amaryllis Earle, daughter of John and Rebecca (Berry) Earle. The Earle family is also identified with the pioneer settlement of Spartanburg County. In this connec- tion it should be noted that Louisa N. Bomar's mother was a daughter of James Vernon, whose father Alexander Vernon was connected with the early days of Spartanburg County.
Major Bomar had a really distinguished career. He attended local schools, later 'Erskine College, and prior to the war was an instructor of South Carolina militia. At the time of the war he was editor of the Carolina Spartan. He was elected cap- tain of Company C, Holcombe Legion, and was sent to the coast and served a little less than a year, when on account of erysipelas he had to return home and was disqualified for further field service. He was elected ordinary or probate judge of Spartan- burg district and later a member of the Legislature. After his admission to the bar he became a partner with Col. John H. Evins, who later served in Congress. The firm of Evins & Bomar subsequently received a junior member in the person of Hon. Stobo J. Simpson, and the name Evins, Bomar & Simpson was a notable one in the bar of Upper South Carolina. Colonel Evins died in 1884.
The interests of Major Bomar were far too broad to be included entirely within his profession. He was one of the promoters of Converse College, and held the position of trustee until his death. He was
one of the organizers and a member of the first board of trustees of the Kennedy Free Library, was a trustee of Limestone College, and gave his time and means generously to all worthy enterprises in his home city and state. He was a prominent Bap- tist, serving his church as deacon for many years, and for several times was moderator of the Spartan- burg Baptist Association.
Major Bomar and wife had ten children, five sons and five daughters. All of the sons have had suc- cessful careers. Elisha, the oldest, was a merchant and died in Igto. Rev. Edward E. Bomar, D. D., is a prominent Baptist minister at Hendersonville, North Carolina. Rev. Paul V. Bomar, D. D., is pres- ident of Judson College in Alabama. Rev. John Bo- mar is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charles- ton, South Carolina.
Horace L. Bomar graduated from Wofford Col- lege in 1894 and studied law in the office of his father. He was admitted to practice in 1895 by the Supreme Court of the state and has since been ad- mitted to practice in the District and Circuit courts of the United States and also the United States Su- preine Court. For a brief time he practiced as a partner with Judge Thomason, who had just retired from the office of judge of the Probate Court. Later he became a member of the firm Bomar & Simpson, and upon the death of his father the firm title was changed to Simpson & Bomar. After the death of Stobo J. Simpson Mr. Bomar practiced alone for some time, and since then his partner has been Mr. H. K. Osborne, under the name Bomar & Osborne. Mr. Bomar's talents have been most conspicuously. displayed as attorney representing many of the larger industrial enterprises and corporations of his county and state. He is attorney for the Central National Bank and has handled a great volume of complicated litigation that came for final review before the Supreme Court of the United States, rep- resenting the Manufacturers Power Company, the Blue Ridge Power Company and the Blue Ridge Interurban Railway Company, affiliated interests that have expended a large amount of capital in de- veloping water power and building hydro-electric plants on Green River in North Carolina for the purpose of supplying power to electric railways, cotton mills and other industrial enterprises in the Piedmont section of North and South Carolina. These companies not only had great natural diffi- culties to contend with in carrying out their plans, but were also constantly beset and harassed by ob- structive tactics on the part of rival interests. It was to give the company a clear field that Mr. Bo- mar as their attorney rendered such signal service. For several years he was burdened with the re- sponsibility of solving abstruse legal problems and presenting clients' interests before the highest courts of the state and nation. It is a tribute to his solid talents and attainments as a lawyer that he won the issues against a brilliant array of the shrewd- est and ablest lawyers that the opposition could en- list.
Mr. Bomar has continued many of the outside interests which distinguished his father, and suc- ceeded Major Bomar as trustee of Converse Col- lege, of Limestone College and of the Kennedy Free Library, in all of which institutions he takes an
Vorace x. Roman
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active part. But he doubtless regards as his greatest contribution to the social welfare of his generation the work he has done on behalf of Spartan Academy of which he was one of the organizers and of which he is chairman of the board of trustees. Spartan Academy, twelve miles west of Spartanburg, is con- ducted for the special benefit of the poor and il- literate people of the Piedmont region, who under its plan have opportunities to get their education in return for work. Numerous examples could be cited of young men coming to this school, some of them after they were married and had children, and through it getting a fresh hold on life, learning useful occupations and professions, and developing into men of real power and influence, freed from the handicaps of ignorance and poverty. . An in- spiring thing about the school is that many of the pupils, notwithstanding that they are the offspring of several generations of illiteracy, are really of the purest Anglo-Saxon stock, and when their latent talents are hrought to the surface they become ideal American citizens.
Mr. Bomar is a trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky, and for ten years was superintendent of the Baptist Sunday school and represents South Carolina as a member of the executive committee of the Interna- tional Sunday School Association. He is also presi- dent of the South Carolina State Sunday School As- sociation, and is a teacher of the Men's Bible Class of the Spartanburg Baptist Church, of which he is also a deacon. Mr. Bomar married Miss Mallie Brown, daughter of J. Fleming Brown, a Spartan- burg merchant. They are the parents of six chil- dren: Mallie, Eleanor, Horace, Jr., Fleming, Lou and John Earle.
WILLIAM ABNER CLINKSCALES, M. D. It very often happens that men whose influence and work are of the greatest benefit to humanity spent their lives inconspicuously, known only to their immedi- ate community. That was true of the late William Abner Clinkscales, who was a kindly and capable country doctor, a farmer and a high-minded citizen in Savannah Township of Anderson County.
He was born in that locality June 13, 1848, and by preference never regarded any other locality as his home. He died June 1, 1907. His parents were Abner and Rebecca (Tucker) Clinkscales, his father a native of Abbeville County. His grand- parents were John and Frances (Pyles) Clink- scales. John Clinkscales, a native of Abbeville Connty, near Due West, was one of the earlier mem- bers of a family which played a prominent part in the affairs of western North Carolina since colonial times. This family came to South Carolina from Virginia, and was established in America by immi- grants from Scotland.
Abner Clinkscales settled in Savannah Township of Anderson County about 1830 and lived there until his death in 1862, at the age of fifty-two. He and his wife had the following children: Alkanza, who married Dr. A. G. Cook; Essie, who became the wife of Samuel Wharton; John B., who was killed in the battle of Fredericksburg in the war between the states: James, who lost his life in the battle of Peachtree Creek during the Atlanta campaign; Sallie
F., who was married to Prof. William Hamilton; Reuben, who died at Anderson; William Abner ; and Lawrence Sebastian Clinkscales, who married Mamie L. Dean and is now the only survivor of his hrothers and sisters. All these children except two sons killed in the war reared large families and lived in the vicinity of the parental home in Sa- vannah Township.
Doctor Clinkscales spent nearly all his life in sight of the house where he was born. He attended rural schools, but the war interrupted his education and at the age of sixteen he enlisted and was a Con- federate soldier during the last year. After the war he made use of such opportunity to attend school as existed amongst the unsettled conditions, and soon took up . the study of medicine under the di- rections of his brother-in-law, Dr. A. G. Cook of Moffettsville. On 1874 he graduated from the Medi- cal College at Charleston, practiced two years with Doctor Cook at Moffettsville, and then located near his birthplace and was well content with the role of a country physician, serving friends and ac- quaintances he had known as a boy, and among thein he earned a degree of love and esteem that is one of the finest rewards of good character and good work. He also gave some of his time to the supervision of his farm and enjoyed the success rep- resented by material accumulations. He was a mem- ber of Anderson County Medical Society, the State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. The only time he was deeply aroused by political events was in the period of reconstruc- tion, when he lent his influence and personal support to the "Red Shirt Campaign," which redeemed South Carolina from the negro and carpet bag rule.
On March 8, 1877, Doctor Clinkscales married Mary M. Freeman. She is still living, at the old home, and by her own character has made herself greatly beloved in that community. She was born April 25, 1854. at Dalton, Georgia. She is the mother of six children. Jesse Augustus, the oldest, married Letitia Grant, of Walhalla, and lives on the home place with his mother and is a farmer. Charles Abner married Lillie Simpson. Samuel Wharton married Mattie Bargainier. The three younger chil- dren are William Hamilton, Mattie Varnell and Thomas Preston Clinkscales. All the sons are ener- getic farmers. The late Doctor Clinkscales was for many years a ruling elder in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, with which his wife and chil- dren have all become identified. His son Jessie Au- gustus is now ruling elder in the church. Dr Clink- scales' life was one of remarkable purity of thought and habit, and it may be appropriately recalled that he never used strong drink and in every other way was thoroughly temperate.
RICHARD PRESTON BLACK. That agriculture can be made one of the most agreeable and satisfying occupations of human life, that industry and good judgment and perseverance transforms one's dreams into realities, and that honesty and fairmindedness are among the most useful of human assets, are facts emphasized in the life of Richard Preston Black, whose career has been identified with An- derson County for many years, and who as farmer and public-spirited citizen has extended an influence
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second to none of the upbuilders of. Rock Mill Township.
Mr. Black was horn at Abbeville, Abbeville Coun- ty, South Carolina, August 2, 1864, a son of Squire James William and Mary ( McLees) Black. The Black family of South Carolina is one of Irish ex- traction and was founded in America about 1784 or 1785, old Col. John Logan Black, of Greenville, having been a member of this family. The pa- ternal grandfather of Richard P. Black was John B. Black and the great-grandfather Joseph A. Black. Dr. Pickens Black, a native of York County, South Carolina, and for years a successful practicing physician of Abbeville County, was an uncle of Richard P. Black. The maternal grand- father of Mr. Black was Andrew McLees, whose ancestors had come from County Antrim, Ireland, in 1787, and settled in Newberry County, South Carolina, in which Andrew McLees was born. On coming to Anderson County he settled on the farm now owned by his grandson, which was a part of a land grant issued to one Crosby, a Revo- lutionary soldier who first settled on the land. It was on this farm that Mary McLees, the mother of Richard P. Black was born. Squire James William Black was born in Abbeville County, and there passed his entire life in the pursuits of agriculture. He was married three times, and had children by his first two wives.
Losing his mother when he was a small boy, Rich- ard P. Black was reared in the home of his maternal grandfather, under the guidance of two worthy maiden aunts, and received his education in the local district schools. His training was all along ag- ricultural lines, and when he made a choice of voca- tions it was only natural that he should turn to the soil, in the cultivation of which he has passed his entire career. He still owns the original Crosby grant, his farm consisting of 301 acres, a fine tract under a high state of cultivation, upon which are to be found modern buildings of substantial char- acter and attractive architecture, while his equip- ment and improvements bespeak his penchant toward progressiveness. Local historical interest attaches to this farm because of the fact that it was formerly the site of the village of an Indian tribe, and because it is the burial place of one of the old chiefs of the Cherokee Indians, who, dying in Georgia, made the request that his body be laid to rest in the commun- ity which had witnessed much of his former glory.
Mr. Black was married May 21, 1901, to Eva Mar- tin, the eldest daughter of J. J. Martin, of Rock Mill Township, Anderson County, and they are the par- ents of the following children: James Louis, Mary McLees, Sarah Louise. Janie Ruth, Susan Edna, Joseph Henry, Richard Milton and Frances Eva. During his long and active life Mr. Black has lived close to high ideals, and his citizenship has imparted strength and substantiality to all undertakings in which his ability and work have been enlisted. Hav- ing abundant means at his disposal, he has distrib- uted them with great wisdom and generosity, and has supported in a practical manner schools, churches, mills and other upbuilding enterprises and institutions. In the past he has splendidly stood the tests which have been made, and the present finds him in accord with its aims, purposes and inexhaust-
ible opportunities. He and Mrs. Black are faithful members of the Presbyterian Church.
THOMAS ALLISON SMITH, superintendent of the public schools of Oconce County, is a veteran educa- tor, and at the same time he is a man of progressive ideals, and is in full accord with the progressive movement by which the public school system of the state is being constantly transformed for the better to meet the increasing demands made upon the sys- tem.
Mr. Smith was born in Franklin County, Georgia, August 27, 1872, but has spent most of his life in South Carolina. His parents Elijah W. and Eliza ( Norris) Smith were natives of this state, the for- mer of Greenville County and the latter of Pickens County. Several years after their marriage they moved to Franklin County, Georgia, and were living there when the war broke out. Elijah Smith served as a Confederate soldier. After the war he moved his family back to South Carolina and settled near Fairplay in Oconce County. He was a carriage maker, a trade he had learned in youth, and coll- ducted a buggy shop at what is now Lavonia, Georgia, and also one in Oconee County, looking after the shop in addition to farming. He was wide- ly known by the familiar title of "Buggy Smith." He and his wife were highly respected people.
Thomas A. Smith acquired his early education in the common schools and finished the eleventh grade in the Lavonia School in Georgia. He was also a student for two years in Waleska College in Cherokee County, Georgia. He taught his first terni of school in a country district of Georgia in 1892. He put in seventeen years in the school room, both in Georgia and South Carolina, and his work for sixteen years was consecutive. At different times he also did some farming and was bookkeeper for mercantile establishments at Westminster R. F. D. and Fairplay. His many qualifications as an edu- cator were the recommendations upon which he was elected county superintendent of Oconee County in 1912. He has been in this office since July, 1913, having been re-elected in 1916.
Mr. Smith married in 1900 Miss Writie Walters of Fairplay. They are members of the Baptist Church and he is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias.
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