USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 47
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JESSE W. BOYD, who was admitted to the bar in 1907, has achieved well deserved prominence in his profession at Spartanburg, and for eight years he continuously represented his home locality in the State Legislature, and was one of the most useful men in the Lower House.
Mr. Boyd was born near Clinton in Lanrens County, South Carolina, June 20, 1883, a son of W. D. and Sallie (Wallace) Boyd, of Clinton. His great-grandfather James Boyd was born at Belfast, Ireland, and in 1820 located in Laurens County. He married Abigail Hunter. Their son Capt. James H. Boyd was captain of a company of South Carolina Militia in ante-bellum days. W. D. Boyd, who is still living at Clinton, went into the war with the "18" boys as a member of Company E, First South Carolina Cavalry, and served with that branch of the Confederate army from the summer of 1863
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until the close of hostilities. He took part in many of the great battles of Virginia during the last two years of the war. Sallie ( Wallace) Boyd is an aunt of Dr. David Duncan Wallace, professor of his- tory in Wofford College at Spartanburg, and a schol- ar who has done much original investigation and contributed a number of volumes to South Carolina historical literature, some of them being the last word on many phases of the state's history.
Jesse W. Boyd received his college training at Wofford College, graduating in 1905. The following year he remained as assistant professor of mathe- matics, and then for one year was principal of one of the city schools of Spartanburg. In the meantime he was diligently prosecuting the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1907. Since then he has pursued his career with uninterrupted success, and though a busy lawyer has found time to cultivate many interests and associations in the affairs of his city and state.
Mr. Boyd began his service in the Legislature with the session of 1911, having been elected in 1910. He was re-elected and served in the subsequent ses- sions including 1918, at which time he voluntarily retired, not allowing his name to be used as a candidate. During his last two terms he was chair- man of the judiciary committee of the House, a great and important committee, and it was his en- viable distinction to have been the youngest man ever so honored by that body.
Mr. Boyd is a member of the Methodist Church, a very active layman, has been a delegate to the Annual Conference, and has served as district steward, steward of the local church, member of the board of trustees, and superintendent of the Sunday school. He married Miss Ollie Davis of Newberry, South Carolina. They have two daughters, Marian Davis Boyd, and Carolyn Felder Boyd.
FESTUS TOMBS CURRY, a business man of Gray Court, has had a career that is a stimulating example of good courage, perseverance and a determination to win out in spite of handicaps and obstacles.
Ile was born on a farm near Gray Court in Lau- rens County, October 6, 1873, son of William Col- lier and Martha Malanie ( Yeargin) Curry. The parents spent all their lives in Laurens County, as substantial farming people and consistent Metho- dists, his father being now sixty-eight and his mother sixty-nine years of age. Four of their six chil- dren are living.
Festus T. Curry grew up on the farm and had a common school education. At the age of sixteen he was stricken with a fever, and after a long illness was left an invalid, and for twelve years had little or no use of his legs and most of the time was spent in bed. He maintained a cheerful spirit, grad- ually regained his health, and when strength made it possible lie engaged in business. For nine years he was a merchant at Gray Court and now does an extensive business buying and selling truck, collect- ing it by his wagons which cover a large country district. He is also a buyer of cotton and cotton seed, his partner in that enterprise heing Thomas Willis. Mr. Curry is also president of the recently organized People's Bank of Gray Court.
He is a prosperous citizen, built and occupies a
finc home in Gray Court, and is devoted to family, home and church, being a consistent member and supporter of the Methodist Episcopal faith. In 1908 he married Miss Ida May Easterling of Ben- lettsville. They have a daughter Mavis Clare.
FRANK EDWIN BRODNAX is one of the men of most versatile ability and prolific energy in insurance cir- cles of South Carolina. He took up insurance work soon after leaving college and has realized his am- bition to promote some of the best insurance com- panies in the southern states.
Mr. Brodnax was born in Georgia June 25, 18So, a son of Thomas E. and Sarah ( Selman) Brodnax. His father was a merchant and planter. The youth spent his boyhood days at Conyers, Georgia, where he attended the public schools and in 1900 graduated from the University of Georgia with the degree of A. B. He had formed broad conceptions of the use- fulness of life insurance and he determined to con- tribute his individual efforts and success to the up- building of some southern company. He there- fore became one of the organizers and acted as su- perintendent of agencies from 1906 to 1916 of the Southern States Life Insurance Company, of At- lanta. He resigned this office to become general agent with the Volunteer State Life Insurance Company, of Chattanooga, making his headquarters at Columbia as state agent for South Carolina.
Since becoming a resident of the Palinetto State, Mr. Brodnax has continued that measure of activity evidenced elsewhere and which has brought to him descrved prominence and recognition as one of the best known insurance men of the South. He is vice president of the National Association of Life Un- derwriters, and president of the South Carolina Association of Life Underwriters. His activities have not been limited to professional effort alone, but he has likewise been active in municipal and public affairs. During the war with Germany Mr. Brodnax gave much of his time to various war movements : He was city chairman for Columbia. in the second and third Liberty Loan campaigns; was division chairman for the fourth loan; was chief of teams during the Red Cross drives, and county chairman for the United War Work campaign. He is secretary and treasurer-and representative for the Seventh Congressional District-in the Good Roads Association, the object of which association is to promote a state system of state highways con- necting every county seat with hard surfaced roads. In this latter work he has been instrumental in drafting, formulating and securing the passage of the needed legislative measures to make the move- ment effective.
In social affiliations Mr. Brodnax is a member of Alpha Tau Omnega, a college fraternity; a member of the Ridgewood Country Club, Columbia Club, Cotillion Club, and of the Columbia Association of Commerce.
November 12, 1912, he married Miss Kate Stack- house Montgomery, of Marion, South Carolina. She is a daughter of William Joseph and Anna (Stackhouse) Montgomery and her father is a well known lawyer and banker of the state.
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MAJ. WILLIAM ANDERSON CLARKSON has been a practicing lawyer at Columbia since 1908, with the exception of a year and a half he spent with the Na- tional Army, and as part of the Thirtieth Infantry, Third Division in France; he was promoted from captain to major and was cited for unusual bravery on the fighting front.
Major Clarkson was born in Richland County in 1886, son of Alex J. and Emily Barnwell ( Heyward) Clarkson. His father is living on a plantation in the lower part of Richland County and is a son of the late William Clarkson, one of the early planters in that section. Mr. Clarkson through his mother is connected with the historic Heyward family of Charleston.
He received a liberal education, graduating A. B. from the University of South Carolina in 1905, and taking his law degree from the same institution in 190S. Prior to his graduation he had stood the bar examination and was licensed. Major Clarkson served four years as county attorney of Richland County. He had built up a clientage before he en- tered the army and has resumed his profession with increased prestige.
He enlisted in June, 1917, in a battalion of Engi- neers which subsequently became the First Battalion of the One Hundred and Seventeenth Engineers un- der command of Colonel Johnson of Marion. The organization was mustered into the regular army July 27, 1917. In the latter part of August of that year William A. Clarkson entered the Officers Train- ing Camp at Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia, and was commissioned captain in November, 1917. He was then returned to duty with the Thirtieth Infantry of the. Third Division and stationed at Camp Greene, Charlotte, North Carolina. He was in training dur- ing the winter and in March, 1918, went overseas with the Thirtieth Infantry, reaching France the first part of April. As an officer of the Thirtieth Infantry he participated in four major operations on the front in France: The Aisne-Marne defensive, the Champagne-Marne offensive, the San Mihiel and Argonne-Meuse drives. From the 30th of May he was in continuous active service with the Third Di- vision until the signing of the armistice. His pro- motion to the rank of major came during the Ar- gonne-Mense drive. Later he was stationed with the Army of Oceupation at St. Goar on the Rhine and Mayen. He reached home in April, 1919, was honorably discharged same month and soon there- after resumed his place in his law offices at Colum- bia.
Col. John M. Jenkins, a South Carolinian of splen- did record in the war, made the recommendation upon which Major Clarkson received the citation for unusual bravery at Bois de Buge near Mont Fau- con, (where the Crown Prince had his observatory). Major Clarkson without receiving order to do so voluntarily accompanied his lieutenant colonel in locating the front line of the enemy. The citation came from General Pershing.
HENRY KEITH TOWNES, a prominent member of the Greenville har, represents the third generation of the Townes family in Greenville County, where the family was founded a century and a quarter ago, and through all the years has furnished some of the
most potent personal influences to the life and de- velopment of that community.
The grandfather of Henry K. Townes was Sam- tiel A. Townes, a native of Virginia. He located on the old Townes plantation three miles southwest of Greenville in 1792. That was five years before the founding of the Village of Pleasantburg, which was the original name of the present City of Green- ville. Samuel A. Townes was a son of Samuel Allen Townes, a wealthy Virginia planter. This Virginian, though he never lived in South Carolina made occasional trips to his son's home on horse- back.
Colonel Crittenden's history speaks of Sammel A. Townes as "one of a remarkable group of strong men" who located in the immediate neighborhood of Greenville at the close of the eighteenth century. He owned large tracts of land, and was enterprising and succeessful in handling a number of business interests. He married Miss Rachel Stokes, daugh- ter of Jeremiah Stokes.
Col. George Franklin Townes, son of Samuel A. and Rachel (Stokes) Townes, was born at Greenville in 1809. He spent his entire life in Green- ville, where he died in 1891. He studied law and was a contemporary lawyer with many of the cele- brated ante-bellum lawyers and statesmen of South Carolina. Several times he represented his county in the House and the State Senate, and for several years was editor of the Mountaineer, Greenville's first newspaper. Through the law, his participation in public life, and through his newspaper he wielded an immense influence all over upper South Caro- lina. He possessed a breadth of character and a loftiness of outlook which made him well fitted for such responsibilities, and he left a permanent im- press on his generation.
An editorial review of his life and services pub- lished at the time of his death said: "Colonel Townes' public labors and services were not con- fined to official life. He was a long time one of the leading lawyers of this bar, having begun prac- tice in 1837 and continued it about thirty years, and was before the war commissioner of equity, an office corresponding to Probate Judge. In 1849 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, but in 1851 was defeated on the co-operation issue by the union men under the leadership of Governor Perry. He was a member of the first State Senate after the war, and in 1867 drew and succeeded in passing a bill defining the property rights of mar- ried women, the first law of the kind placed on the statute books of this state.
"Most of his work in public affairs was done with his pen. Ile was a close, deep and independent thinker and through all his life took much interest in all issues pending before the people, especially in Federal politics. He was one of the earliest edi- tors of the old Mountaineer and was regarded by Mr. Calhoun, who was his close personal friend, as the ablest editorial exponent of his doctrines in the State and probably in the country.
"He wrote and spoke very clearly and vigorously, but with notable courtesy and fairness. He seemed to make it a rule of his life never to speak ill of others and many who have known him well for years can not recall an instance of his saying anything
مطدا خـ
جديلة
Very
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likely to wound the feelings of any man. For all that, however, he was fearless and strong in express- ing his sentiments. He fought issues and not men and wielded a powerful influence on that line. Of late years he has been especially interested in the question of Federal finances. Colonel Townes was' a man of high tone, of noble purposes and of pure life. He was above the cheap arts and petty tricks of politics. He sought to sway men by their rea- sons and gave little attention to small questions and minor issues. Ile was one of a generation of big men-men big in brain and objects-and his habits of thought and life were in harmony with theirs."
Colonel Townes was married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth Sloan, who died in 1852. She was a woman of splendid intelligence and of great depth of heart and character, attested to by Dr. James C. Furman. Her father, Alexander Sloan, was one of Greenville's earliest merchants and largely instrumental in establishing the Green- ville Academy, which subsequently became Green- ville Female College.
Colonel Townes by his marriage to Elizabeth Sloan was the father of the late Alexander Sloan Townes, one of the most distinguished educators in the South. He was born at Greenville in 1842 and died November 26, 1909. He graduated from Furman University in 1861 and June 13, 1861, enlisted in Hampton's Legion, Gary's Brigade, as a private sol- dier. From first to last he was in many of the great hattles of the war, including some of the earlier Vir- ginia campaigns, the battles around Chickamauga and Chattanooga and later in the defense of Rich- mond. He did not surrender at Appomattox, but escaped to his home and was the first to bring the tidings of Lee's surrender. He accepted in good faith the result of the war and then took up the broken threads of life as best he could. He taught school, spent eighteen months abroad in study at Leipzic, Germany, and several years later hecame president of the Cherokee Baptist Female College at Rome, Georgia, now Shorter College. In 1878 he was called to the presidency of the Greenville Female College in the founding and financing of which both his grandfather, Alexander Sloan and his own father Colonel Townes, had rendered such conspicuous service. In a few years he had placed that insti- tution as one of the first in the South for the higher education of women, and gave to it not only his time and energies, but spent much of his private means on equipment. During his presidency, nearly 300 young women were graduated and approximately 3.000 students were enrolled. He resigned in 1894 and then organized and presided over the College for Women until 1008.
The second wife of Col. George F. Townes was Miss Johnson, a daughter of Dr. William B. John- son, a prominent Baptist minister and educator of South Carolina.
The third wife of Col. George F. Townes was Miss Mary Keith of Pendleton. Her father the late William Keith was Clerk of Court for old Pendleton district for thirty years.
Henry Keith Townes. a son of Hon. George Franklin and Mary (Keith) Townes, was horn in Greenville in 1877. He graduated from Furman University with the class of 1897, studied law in the
office of Shuman & Mooney, and taught school while a student of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1900. Since then, for nearly twenty years he has been engaged in a busy general practice and handles cases in the county, state and Federal courts. Mr. Townes is a member of the Baptist Church. He married Miss Ellen Hard, daughter of Maj. C. F. Hard, of Greenville. Their four children are: Mary, Ellen Hard, Henry Keith, Jr., and Charles H.
ALBERT CRESWELL TODD, a lawyer who has prac- ticed at Laurens, his native city, for the past eight- een years, is junior member of the law firm of which the head is present United States Senator Dial.
Mr. Todd represents one of the old and promi- nent families of South Carolina. He was born An- gust 20, 1880, son of John Wells and Harriet (Garl- ington) Todd, who were married in 1879. His grandparents were Samuel R. and Margaret Jane (Boyd) Todd. The former was twelve years old when he came from County Antrim, Ireland, his birthplace, to South Carolina, grew up in Laurens County where he became a man of prominence and influence.
John Wells Todd who was born in Laurens Au- gust 27, 1856, was first a merchant, then a banker and farmer, and lived a life of great usefulness and honor. He and his wife were early united with the Presbyterian Church and reared their family in that faith. Their children were: Al- bert Creswell, Elizabeth. John Wells, Jr, and James C. Todd. Harrict Garlington, their mother, was born in Laurens County, daughter of Cres- well Garlington, a native of the same county and a granddaughter of John Garlington who served as clerk of courts for half a century, and several of whose sons including Creswell won distinction as Confederate soldiers. Creswell Garlington was edu- cated in the University of Virginia, practiced law in early life and later followed farming, being suc- cessful in both vocations.
Albert Creswell Todd grew up at Laurens, at- tended public schools, and took both the academic and law courses at South Carolina College, now the University of South Carolina, receiving his degrees A. B. and LL. B. in 1901. He at once returned to his native city to engage in his profession, and rap- idly won advancement and reputation as an able lawyer. He has been junior member of the firm Dial & Todd for several years. He was city attor- ney for Laurens four years and five years served as a member of the state board of law examiners. Dur- ing the war period he was chairman of the war ex- amining board, chairman of the Red Cross organiza- tion and an active worker in behalf of the various Liberty Loans and auxiliary campaigns.
Mr. Todd is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and he and his wife are Presbyterians. He is ruling elder of his church at Laurens.
He married Miss Eva Brownlee in 1908 at Albany, Georgia. She is a native of Mississippi and a dangh- ter of Rev. J. L. Brownlee. Mr. and Mrs. Todd have one daughter, Harriet.
HERBERT WILLIAM GASQUE has proved his worth in the service of an educator. He has heen con- nected with the schools of several communities and
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is now superintendent of the city schools of Lau- rens.
Hle is a son of Eli H. and Sarah (Foxworth) Gasque. Both his father and his mother's names are old and prominent ones in South Carolina. The Gasques were originally French Huguenots, who settled in South Carolina in Colonial days. The Foxworths are of English and of equally long asso- ciation with South Carolina affairs. At several points in these pages reference is made to various members of these families. Eli H. Gasque was a lieutenant in the Confederate army, was three times wounded, and for many years was a successful and honored merchant in the City of Marion. He died at the age of seventy. Sarah Foxworth was a daugh- ter of William Capers and Serena (Gregg) Fox- worth, and was a connecton of the noted Bishop Gregg family.
Herbert William Gasque was born at Marion May 13, 1884. and was educated in the schools of his native city. He graduated in 1905 from the Uni- versity of South Carolina, taking his A. B. degree and since then has devoted his time and his am- bitions to education. He taught in the rural schools of Marion County three years and one year in Flor- ence County. For nine years he was superintendent of the city school system of Walhalla and from there came to Laurens in 1919. Mr. Gasque is a member of the State Teachers Association. and has taught in summer schools and in Anderson Col- lege. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1915 he married Irene White, daughter of Ofdridge W. White of Walhalla. They have one son Herbert Wesley.
DAVID DORROH PEDEN is postmaster of Gray Court, was formerly a merchant in that village, where his father kept a store for many years, owns some val- nable farming interests in the vicinity, and he and his wife also afford a much appreciated service in maintaining the only house of public entertainment in Gray Court.
Mr. Peden was born on a farm in Greenville Coun- ty April 1, 1876. He is a son of John Thomas and Mary (Dorroh) Peden, who were married in 1875. He is a descendant of John Peden, a native of Ire- land, who brought his wife and five children to America in colonial times. Twenty-two descendants of John Peden were participants on the American side in the winning of the war of independence. John Thomas Peden, a native of South Carolina and one of the sons of John Peden, was father of David Martin Peden, grandfather of David Dorroh Peden. David Martin Peden was a Confederate soldier. He married Caroline Harrison, a native of Green- ville County and daughter of Thomas and Laura (Baker) Harrison, the former a native of Eng- land.
John Thomas Peden was born on a farm near Fountain Inn in Greenville County January 25, 1853, and was one of the early merchants of Gray Court. He was in business there from 1888 to 1006. Since then he has given his time chiefly to his farming interests. His wife Mary Dorroh was born in Lau- rens County, a daughter of David and Susan (Lewers) Dorroh, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. John
Thomas and Mary (Dorroh) Peden had four sons and two daughters. Their son Thomas Eugene Peden was the first Lauren County boy killed in France in the war with Germany. He was a cor- poral in Company K of the Twenty-eighth Infantry in the First Division of the American Army and was killed in action May 29, 1918.
David Dorroh Peden acquired a common school education, and for several years was associated with his father in business at Gray Court. For the past two years he has filled the office of postmaster. He is a deacon in the Presbyterian Church, his father being a ruling elder in the same church. He is also a Royal Arch Mason.
In 1902 Mr. Peden married Miss Louise Meredith. They are the parents of three children.
AUGUSTUS WARDLAW SMITH is one of the com- manding figures in the textile industry of South Carolina, though he began his career as a merchant. and in that line gained the initial resources which he had used so successfully in developing his cot- ton mills. He is now controlling owner in two of the greatest mills at Greenville, Brandon Mills and Poinsett Mills.
While a practical man of modern affairs, Mr. Smith has every claim to the best traditions of the older order in the South. His great-grandfather William Smith, of Scotch ancestry, moved from Vir- ginia to Stony Point in Abbeville County, South Carolina where his son Joel Smith, whose home was also at Stony Point, developed many sided business interests as a merchant, contractor, fand owner and planter, and in ante-bellum days was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in the state.
Cof. Augustus M. Smith, father of the Green- ville manufacturer, was born in Abbeville County and before the war was a successful merchant, con- tractor and planter. He went into the Confederate army as a major in the First South Carolina (Gregg's) Regiment, and upon the promotion of Colonel Gregg to brigadier general, became lieuten- ant colonel of the regiment. He was acting as such when he was mortally wounded at the battle of Gaines' Mill in the seven days fighting around Rich- mond. He died a day later. Maj. J. F. J. Caldwell in his History of McGowan's Brigade, of which the First South Carolina was a part, pays a glowing trib- ute to the valor and soldierly qualities of Colonel Smith, as well as to his high standing as a South Carolinian of most lofty civic and private char- acter.
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