USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 51
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JOSEPH WARREN SHELOR has practiced law at Wal- halla nearly forty years, and has achieved most of the honors and successes enjoyed by the abler mem- bers of that profession. He is a lawyer representa- tive of an old and prominent family of Oconee County, where the Shelors have been settled for over a century.
He was born at South Union in that county, March 29. 1853, a son of Thomas R. and Susan (Stribling) Shelor. His great-grandfather Law- rence Shelor was a native of Germany and on com- ing to America lived for a time in Maryland, but spent his last years in Virginia. The grandfather Jacob Shelor was a native of Maryland and came to South Carolina in 1818, buying a large tract of land in Oconee County. In 1821 he and his family took possession of this farm and he lived there until his death at an advanced age. Jacob Shelor married Betsie Ryland, of an old and prominent Virginia
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family. They had two sons, Thomas Ryland and Joseph Ryland, Sr., and one daughter Sarah Shelor. Thomas K. Shelor, father of the Walhalla law- yer, was born in Mecklenburg, Virginia, and mar- ried Susan Stribling, a native of Oconee County, South Carolina. Her father, Jesse Stribling, also a native of South Carolina, married Elizabeth Sloan, daughter of David Sloan, of an old and prominent South Carolina lineage. Jesse Stribling's father was Thomas Stribling, a native of Virginia and of Welsh lineage.
Gordon County, Georgia, where he spent the rest of his life. Joseph Warren Shelor received his early education in the old field schools of Oconee County and attended high school in Georgia. In 1878 he was graduated from Adger College at Wal- halla. For three years previously he had carried studies at Newberry College. He studied law under Judge J. J. Norton of Walhalla and in January, 1880, after examination before the Supreme Court was admitted to the bar. Since that date his work as a sound and able lawyer has been conspicuous in Walhalla, and during that time he has served an increasing and profitable clientage. For eighteen years he was county attorney, for twenty-six years United States commissioner, for twenty-nine years attorney for the Southern Railroad, and in 1916 was elected to honors which he enjoys at present, as a member of the State Senate. He is a Baptist and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.
His first wife was Miss Lou Neville of Walhalla. She was the mother of one daughter, Sallie, now Mrs. C. P. Walker. His second wife was Miss Liz- zie Hix of Fair Play. She died the mother of two children, Hattie, now deceased, and Thomas B. He married for his third wife Katie Harris of Staun- ton, Virginia.
EDMUND LEE HERNDON. The bar of Oconee County need fear no comparison with other sections of the state, and it is significant that the members of that bar have been recruited largely from within the borders of the county, and from the county the reputations of not a few of Oconce attorneys have spread at least statewide.
One of these older members of the Walhalla bar is Edmund Lee Herndon who was born about eight miles northwest of Walhalla June 16, 1864. He is a son of Sampel G. and Rhoda ( Billingsley) Hern- don, the former a native of Anderson County. The grandfather Edmund Herndon was a native of Vir- ginia where was born also his father, George Hern- don. The Herndons are an English family origin- ally. Edmund Herndon came to South Carolina at the age of twenty-one and spent the rest of his life in Anderson and Oconce counties. He became quite prominent in public affairs, serving as a mem- ber of the South Carolina State Constitutional Con- vention in 1885 and represented his district in the State Legislature for two terms in the 'zos.
Samuel G. Herndon and Rhoda Billingsley were married in South Carolina. The latter was a daugh- ter of Andrew Billingsley, a native of Georgia, son of James Billingsley and of Irish ancestry. When the war came on Samuel G. Herndon was a merchant at Tunnell Hill in Oconee County. He volunteered
his services on the call of his state for volunteer troops enlisting in Company A of Orr's Regiment of Rifles. He was wounded at Gaines Mill, Virginia, in June, 1862, losing his left arm. Aiter leaving the hospital in the following October he received an honorable discharge because of physical disabil- ity. On returning home he was elected tax col- lector for the old Pickens district, then comprised of what is now Pickens and Oconee counties. This position he held until displaced by the carpet-bag rule. After that he lived on his farm about ten His wife survived him many years until 1916, and was seventy-five at the time of her death.
In 1872 Thomas R. Shelor and family moved to . miles northwest of Walhalla and died there in 1876.
Edmund Lee Herndon was one of five children, all of whom grew up on a farm in Oconee County. He overcame various difficulties in the way of se- curing a liberal education and after the common schools spent 21/2 years in Adger College at Walhalla, and finished his literary training at The Citadel at Charleston, though he never graduated. For one year he taught school, and studied law in the office of Keith & Verner at Walhalla. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1888, and has since had a busy professional career. After holding several minor offices he served four years as judge of pro- bate and then one term of four years as state sena- tor.
Mr. Herndon married June 27, 1900, Miss Clara Virginia Platt of Aiken County, South Carolina.
JOSEPH FRANKLIN FREEMAN came to manhood in upper South Carolina, and for many years has been a busy and influential factor in the Taylor commun- ity of Greenville County, where he is a merchant planter, hanker and is also one of the leading citi- zens of the county.
The history of the Freeman family has been studiously traced out by one of its members, and the record published under the title "Mark Freeman and his Descendants." Mark Freeman was grandfather of the Taylor planter and banker. Mark Freeman was born May 14, 1795, and was a son of Needham Freeman, Sr., who was one of six brothers who came to the American colonies from England. Needham Freeman settled in Pendleton District, South Caro- lina, and hecame a large land owner. He had mar- ried in North Carolina, Martha Moore of Wake County.
Mark Freeman's lifetime was chiefly identified with the locality in Pickens County just south of Hickory Nut Mountain. He lived the quiet life of a planter, was active in the Cross Roads Church, and was strictly temperate in his habits. He married for his first wife Elizabeth Fowler, while his sec- ond wife was Jane Wimpic.
One of the children of his first marriage was Thomas Linnard Freeman, who was born near Hick- ory Nut Mountain in Pickens County, December 7, 1829. He lived on a farm that was part of his father's estate until the close of 1871. During the war be- tween the States in 1863 he responded to a call for old men and was assigned to Company E of the Sec- ond South Carolina Rifles, Jenkin's Brigade. He was deaf and was not assigned to duty in battle, serv- ing his company as cook. In 1871 he moved to the Turner Farm on the Saluda River at the mouth of
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George's Creek and at the close of 1874 moved to a farm he had bought near Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Greenville County. After the death of his wife on February 26, 1902, he built a house in the Town of Taylor and lived near his sons Joseph and Richard until his death, February 9, 1909. On March 2, 1854, he married Susan Clarentine Smith, who was born April 15, 1833, daughter of John Smith of Greenville County. One of her children paid her the following tribute : "Mother was a very quiet woman, and not easily excited. I do not re- member to have ever heard her murmur or utter words of discouragement. She left the management of affairs almost wholly to my father, and her fru- gality and industry made her a valuable help-meet to him in building up his comfortable country home. In my early childhood when dry goods were hardly to be had and ready-made clothes were almost un- known, she and her daughter Nancy spun the wool and wove the cloth for the children's clothes. She was a consistent member of the Brushy Creek Bap- tist Church and lived a beautiful Christian life."
The children of Thomas L. Freeman and wife were Nancy Jane, Daniel Richard, William Mark, Theresa Emeline, Thomas Sloan, Joseph Franklin, John Landrum, David Columbus, James Earle, Zach- ariah Benjamin and Robert Lee.
Joseph Franklin Freeman was born at the Hickory Nut Mountain Farm in Pickens County, January 30, 1863, and was about eight years of age when his parents moved to Greenville County. His opportun- ities were largely limited to a country district until he was past twenty-one, when he attended high school and Furman University. At the age of twenty-four he engaged in merchandising at Taylor, and has been one of the merchants of that thriving and prospering town for thirty years. He is also vice president of the Citizens Bank of Taylor, is a trustee of the North Greenville Academy, and for many years has been a deacon of the Taylor Baptist Church. Dur- ing the war he was a member of the Greenville County Council of Defense.
Mr. Freeman married Mary Elizabeth Lathem, daughter of Washington Lathem of Pickens County. Mrs. Freeman is now deceased. They had no children of their own, but reared four adopted children, Lillian, B. Frank, Julian J. and Nannie May Morgan, whose parents were Doctor and Mrs. Morgan, the former a brother of Hon. J. H. and B. A. Morgan of Greenville.
RICHARD HENRY ALEXANDER is the present treas- urer of Oconee County, had a successful record as a farmer and merchant as an important qualifica- tion to his present public duties, and throughout his active career has practiced the old rule of doing well everything he undertakes.
Mr. Alexander was born in Pickens County No- vember 20, 1875, a son of Joseph Carson and Sarah Elizabeth (Mckenzie) Alexander. His father was born in Greenville County June 17, 1845, was left an orphan in early childhood and was reared by an aunt until about sixteen years of age. He then en- tered the Confederate army and served four years. After the war he married Sarah Elizabeth Mcken- zie, who was born at Charleston, South Carolina, a daughter of Francis E. Mckenzie. Her mother was
a member of the Simmons family of Charleston After his marriage Joseph C. Alexander lived on a farm in Pickens County, and soon afterward moved to Oconee County, where he still resides and where he has been a prosperous farmer for half a century. While living in Pickens County he rep- resented his district in both branches of the Legis- lature. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention from Oconee County in 1895, and sub- sequently was elected and served with credit one term in the State Senate. His farm and home are six miles east of Walhalla. He has long been a deacon in the Baptist Church and for many years superintendent of the Sunday school. His wife who died more than thirty years ago was the mother of ten children, nine of whom are still living.
Richard Henry Alexander grew up on his father's farm and contented himself with the advantages afforded by the common schools, though his prac- tical education has been continuous. He remained at home to the age of eighteen and then took up the battle of life for himself. For four years he clerked 'in a company store at Enorce in Spartan- burg County. He then resumed farming and mer- chandising at Sencca in Oconee County, his home being on his farm four miles above Seneca. In the midst of his duties as a farmer and merchant he was clected in 1912 as county treasurer, and the record of his first term brought him re-election in 1914 and again in 1916. He still owns his farm and has considerable real estate.
In 1897 Mr. Alexander married Emma Elizabeth Knox of Oconee County. They are the parents of nine children. Mr. Alexander is a Methodist, a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Wood- men of the World.
JACOB ADISON STECK. Some of the ablest news- paper men and public leaders in the State of South Carolina have been connected at some time or other with the Keowee Courier at Walhalla, and a worthy successor of these distinguished men is the present editor Jacob Adison Steck.
Mr. Steck who has spent most of his life at Wal- halla was born at Springfield, Ohio, November 3, 1875. a son of Rev. Jacob Steck, D. D. and Carrie (Garver) Steck. Rev. Jacob Steck was born on a farm near Hughesville, Lycoming County, Pennsyl- vania, January 15, 1825, and was of German ancestry. He was liberally educated, attending the public schools of his native state, and graduated from the Lutheran Theological College at Gettysburg. Penn- sylvania. He also did post-graduate work in Witten- berg College in Pennsylvania. At the age of twenty- six he was ordained a minister of the Lutheran Church and for several years was pastor of churches in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. In 1881 he came to South Carolina, was pastor of the Lutheran Church at Newberry, and in 1884 accepted the post of presi- dent of the Walhalla Female College. He directed that institution for three years, then resumed the work of the ministry. He died at Walhalla No- vember 26, 1905, having been practically retired from the ministry for several years. He was a man of splendid character and his influence made his name and services appreciated in many parts of the state. His widow is still living, past the age of eighty-
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seven, and six of their eleven children still sur- vive.
Jacob Adison Steck was six years old when he came to South Carolina, and had only the advan- tages of the common schools. At the age of thir- teen he began attending a great practical university, a printing office, and after four years' apprentice- ship became a journeyman printer. He worked in the offices of newspapers at Charleston and Colum- bia, and in 1896 hought an interest in the Keowee Courier. He is editor and manager of this old and prominent journal. Mr. Steck is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. He married Ethe LaPonte of New Orleans in 1905.
ROBERT JAMES STODDARD. For more than three years Robert James Stoddard followed the flag of the Confederacy during the war between the states, and though more than half a century has passed since the close of that great conflict, he still retains an active part in and leadership in the affairs of his home community at Owings in Laurens County.
He was born in that county July 29, 1842, a son of David and Hannah (Taylor) Stoddard. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather bore the Christian name of David. His great-grandfather was born in Ireland and was an early settler in Laurens County.
Robert J. Stoddard grew up on his father's farm and still owns the old homestead. He was about nineteen years of age when in August, 1861, he en- listed in Company E of the Fourteenth South Caro- lina Regiment and was with that company until the close of the conflict. He then returned home and began the task of restoring the productiveness of the home farm which was greatly neglected during the war. For many years he pursued farming, and for the past twenty years has been a merchant and a citizen of Owings. He still retains some extensive farming interests.
In 1867 he married Miss Frances D. Dupree, a native of Newberry County. Seven children were born to their marriage, one David Dupree Stoddard dying at the age of forty-five. Those still living are : . John T., a business man and farmer at Owings; Sallie H., wife of R. M. Bryson, associated with the Stoddard business at Owings; Jasper F., a practicing physician in Greenville County; James Alexander who is state high school supervisor living at Colum- bia; Robert Adger, associated with his father in business; and Carrie E., who has never married and is the devoted companion of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard are faithful members of the Presbyterian Church in which their children were also reared.
WILLIAM HAYNSWORTH LYLES, only son of Wil- liam Strother Lyles and Sarah Haynsworth Lyles, was born on his father's plantation in Fairfield County, July 1, 1853. He is a descendant of several of the pioneer families of the state, his great-grand- father, Col. Aromanus Lyles, having been the first white child born in Fairfield District, and he num- bers among his ancestors prominent Revolutionary heroes. His father later on was an ardent secession- ist, a member of the convention and a signer of the Ordinance of Secession.
Growing up immediately after the war, Mr. Lyles' educational opportunities were necessarily limited. He attended Furman Fitting School for one year and spent two years at Mt. Zion Institute in Winns- boro, where he read law in Colonel Rion's office. He has worked hard and his record stands out more conspicuously for that reason.
Mr. Lyles opened a law office in Columbia in 1875 and took an active part in the redemption and re- construction of his state and ever since has been prominent in the leading enterprises for the up- building of Columbia.
He was one of the promoters and builders and original directors of the Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railway, the Columbia Street Railway, the Granby and Olympia system of cotton mills, The State newspaper, and the first suburban development company, the Columbia Land & Investment Company. He was at one time president of the old Commercial Bank, and later organized the Palmetto Bank & Trust Company-now the Palmetto National Bank, and remained its president for several years. As a lawyer, he has been engaged in mnuch of the most important litigation in the state and is now associated with his son J. B. S. Lyles, as senior member of the firm of Lyles & Lyles. They are general coun- sel of the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railway, district counsel of the Seaboard Air Line Railway and general counsel of the Columbia Electric Street Railway.
Mr. Lyles married Miriam Mays Sloan of Ander- son, and they have six children: Mary Earle Lyles, Mrs. Frances R. Boyd of Boston, Massachusetts, Jo-Berry Sloan Lyles, William H. Lyles, Jr., Pres- ton Earle Lyles, and Mrs. J. Sprole Lyons, Jr., of Atlanta, Georgia. Mrs. Lyles is a daughter of Lient. Jo-Berry and Mary Earle Sloan. Lieutenant Sloan was killed while leading his company into action at the battle of Fredericksburg.
LEWIS MARTIN MAHAFFEY. The work of Lewis Martin Mahaffey as a fariner, teacher and surveyor constituted a highly important service in Anderson County, where he has spent his life and where his name is known and respected in many communi- tics.
He was born near Townville, March 27, 1866, a son of Pleasant Shaw and Catherine ( Pitts) Mahaf- fey. His parents were born and reared in Laurens County, where Mfr. Mahaffey's grandfather, Lewis Mahaffey, was also born. His great-grandfather Martin Mahaffey was a native of Ireland, an early settler in Laurens County, and with his two brothers, Hugh and Alexander, fought on the American side in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Mahaffey's maternal grandfather, John Belton Pitts, was a native of Lau- rens County and of English lineage, his wife of the family name Pinson, being of Scotch-Irish descent. Pleasant Shaw Mahaffey served as a Confederate soldier and also followed the vocations of farming and school teaching. He is still living on his farm near Townville and has reached the age of eighty- six. His wife, who died many years ago, was the mother of ten children.
Lewis Martin Mahaffey grew up on a farm and re- ceived a good literary education, finishing the high school course in Townville and later attending Fur-
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man University. For thirty-one consecutive years he has taught in the public schools of Anderson County. Nineteen of these years he had charge of the Hopewell schools. For sixteen years he served as a member of the Anderson County board of edu- cation. Under his direction and influence hundreds of boys and girls have been prepared for the serious responsibilities of life. His success has been equally noteworthy as a farmer. In connection with farming and teaching he has also done much survey- ing of farm lands, being a practical surveyor and civil engineer.
In 1892 Mr. Mahaffey married Miss Lena Robin- son. She died in 1895 leaving one son Lenas Clayton Mahaffey. In 1897 Mr. Mahaffey married Miss Ruby Newell. They have three children, Gladys, Sadie and Lewis Neal Mahaffey. Mr. and Mrs. Mahaffey are members of the Baptist Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Woodmen of the World.
MOSES CHAPPELL. HEATH, one of the leading cotton merchants of South Carolina, has had a practical business experience covering this and other fields for nearly thirty years.
He was born at Camilla, Georgia, December 20, 1870, son of John P. Heath, a cotton merchant. With a public school education Mr. Heath came to South Carolina in 1886 at the age of sixteen and for four years was elerk in a general merchandise store. Then for three years he was a general merchant at Albany, Georgia, and Abbeville, South Carolina, and for eight years was a cotton and merchandise broker. For a time he was also a merchandise brok- er and cotton buyer and since 1901 has concentrated his energies upon the cotton industry, and is now head of the widely known firm of M. C. Heath & Company of Columbia, Mr. Heath is a member of the Carolina Club.
October 17, 1900, he married Elizabeth Bond Ten- nent. They are the parents of two children, Eliz- abeth Tennent and Catherine Tennent.
MAJ. THEODORE CROFT STONE, a well known phy- sician and surgeon of Greenville and Aiken, was one of the American medical men who achieved real distinction in the great war. For nine months he was on active and almost continuous duty on some of the battle fronts in France.
He was born at Greenville in 1874, a son of Eu- gene E. and Floride Lydia (Croft) Stone. His par- ents were natives of Greenville and the Stone family have lived in that county for nearly 140 years.
Major Stone was educated in the public schools of Greenville, in Patrick's Military Academy, and in 1894 graduated from South Carolina's great military school The Citadel at Charleston. Later he took his course in the Medical College of the State of South Carolina at Charleston, graduating in 1903, and fol- lowing that had an extensive hospital and post-grad- uate experience. Ife spent one year in Roper Hos- pital in Charleston, a year and a half in Kingston Avenue Hospital in Brooklyn, and also in the Wil- lard Parker Hospital of New York, and the New York Lying-in Hospital. Doctor Stone was suc- cessfully engaged in a general practice as a physician
at Aiken until the early months of America's partic- ipation in the war with Germany.
July 23. 1917, he was commissioned captain in the Medical Reserve Corps, Regular United States Army, and stationed at Camp Oglethorpe. Subsequently le was assigned to the Seventeenth Field Artillery, and was with that regiment at Sparta, Wisconsin. prior to the date of sailing for France. He went overseas in December, 1917, and for two months was intensively trained at one of the camps in that country. Major Stone was with the famous Second Division. He went into action at the front March 15, 1918, in the trenches at Verdun. He was with the command in the prolonged battle of Chateau Thierry and also in the operations about Soissons and participated in the San Mihiel offensive. He also went with his division to the aid of the French in the Champagne sector. For his services at the battle of Mont Blanc he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre by order of the marshal of France, commander-in-chief of the French armies of the East. The citation for this French war cross reads as follows: "During the operations of Blane Mont he insured the working of the first aid stations of three groups of the regiment. Moreover, he estab- lished a post which he personally directed, dressing the wounds of a large number of French and Amer- ican men."
His last service was in the Argonne Forest, where he was on duty at the time of the signing of the armistice in November. He also accompanied his di- vision to the Rhine with the Army of Occupation. After a brief service there he was granted a leave of absence and returned to his home in Aiken. He re- ceived his honorable discharge in February, 1919. Major Stone had been on the firing line continu- ously for nine months without leave of absence or relief from his duties. The Second American Di- vision lost 25,470 men. Before his discharge he was promoted from captain to major.
On his return from abroad Major Stone resumed his residence in Greenville, where he interested him- self in the improvement of some business property. .Major Stone married Mrs. Agnes (Olwell) Phil- bin of New York City.
WILLIAM JOSEPHI HUNTER has been a resident of Owings thirty-one years, was one of the early mer- chants of that town, and still maintains a useful and dignified position in the community.
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