USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
Mr. Watkins at once formed a partnership with Maj. E. B. Murray, of Anderson, under the name of Murray & Watkins. This firm continued until the death of the senior partner in 1894. Since then Mr. Watkins has been in partnership with Gen. M. L. Bonham, under the name of Bonham & Wat- kins. This partnership has continued an uninter- rupted and congenial relationship for a quarter of a century. In 1907 Thomas Allen was added to the firm, the present style heing Bonham, Watkins & Allen. Few law firms in the northwestern part of the state enjoy a larger or more important practice. Mr. Watkins was one of the organizers and di-
-------
.
جديد
23
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
rectors of the Savannah River Power Company, served as a director and vice president of the Ander- son Water, Light & Power Company, and was in- terested in those enterprises until they became con- solidated with larger electric power companies. He is a director in the Belton Savings & Trust Company of Belton, the Brogon Mills at Anderson, and is vice president and director of the Peoples Bank of Anderson.
Outside of his profession and business his most active interest has been in education. He served on the first hoard of trustees of the Anderson Graded School, was for several years trustee of Furman University, the Greenville Woman's College and Connie Maxwell's Orphanage. At the organiza- tion of Anderson College in 1911, he was elected president of the board of trustees, and has served in that capacity ever since. He is also trustec of the Anderson County Hospital Association, the Anderson Library Association, and is a member of the board of education of the State Baptist Con- vention of South Carolina. Although never a holder of political office he has rendered a great deal of real public service. For four years, 1902 to 1906, he was chairman of the democratic party of Ander- son County, and for another four years, 1906 to 1910, was state executive committeeman from this county. He was presidential elector in 1904. and in 1908 delegate at large to the National Democratic Convention, He volunteered for service in the Spanish-American war in 1898, and was captain of Company C, of the First South Carolina Regiment. In 1002 Governor Heyward appointed him quarter- master general on his staff, and he filled that posi- tion four years. He was appointed federal judge of the Western District of South Carolina in July, 1919, which position he now holds, having heen qualified July 28th and succeeding Joseph T. John- son.
Mr. Watkins was chairman of the advisory board of the State Fuel Administration, and served the board as its attorney. He assisted very materially in all the beneficial activities of the war, and his services were always rendered free of charge.
Mr. Watkins married Mande Wakefield in 1892. She is a daughter of John A. and Caroline Harkness Wakefield, of Anderson County, and has member- ship in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, her eligibility being based upon her de- scent from three Revolutionary soldiers, Capt. Thom- as Ayer, Michael McGee and Patrick Norris.
Mr. Watkins for one year was vice president for South Carolina in the American Bar Association, and is also a member of the State Bar Association, the American Historical Association, the Anderson Rotary Club. and is a Knight Templar Mason and a Knight of Pythias.
JOSEPH SUMTER RHAME, M. D. The physician of today is not only a highly trained man whose every faculty has been brought to the greatest perfection, but he is also one whose vast experience with people and affairs enables him to act with the efficiency of a really first-rate man, and to energize all those with whom he comes in contact. He does not work for spectacular results, but sane, sound progress not only in his profession but in other directions. To
him and his associates belongs the credit for prac- tically all the advancement made in civic sanitation and the obliteration of many dread diseases which were formerly deemed incurable. As is but natural for a city of its importance, Charleston is the home of some of the most eminent practitioners of the medical profession in the state, if not in the South, and one whose deserts entitle him to mention in a work of this high character is Dr. J. S. Rhame, one of the native sons of South Carolina.
Doctor Rhame was born at Camden, South Caro- lina, January 1, 1885. He is the son of Joseph S. Rhame, grandson of George Sinkler Rhame, who served as lieutenant in Company G, 20th South Carolina Infantry, Confederate States Ariny. His great-grandfather was John Rhame. Three genera- tions of the family were born in Sumter County, South Carolina, the family being one of the very old ones of the state. His mother is Margaret Caroline Keesler, the eldest daughter of the late Samuel G. Keesler and Sara Elizabeth Caston of Rock Hill, South Carolina. His grandfather, the late Samuel G. Keesler. served in the First Bat- talion, N. C. Regiment, Confederate States Army.
After attending the grammar and high schools of Camden, Doctor Rhame prepared himself for entrance at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, matriculating in 1904, and graduat- ing from that institution in 1908. He received the appointment as chief of staff of Roper Hospital, Charleston, serving in this capacity for one year. In 1909 Doctor Rhame spent some months in L rope, visiting the Clinics of Italy, Switzerland, Aus- tria, Germany, France, England and Scotland. On his return home in 1910 he engaged in practice a- Charleston, where he is still located. During the great war Doctor Rhame, like so many of his pro- fession, volunteered for service in the Naval Med- ical Reserve Corps and was commissioned a lieu- tenant and ordered to active duty on September 18, 1918. at the Naval Hospital at Charleston and assigned to the contagious division as chief of the section. On February 28, 1919, he was detached and relieved of active duty and returned to his pri- vate practice. Doctor Rhame is a member of the Medical Society of South Carolina. The South Carolina Medical Association, Tri-State Medical Association of the Carolinas and Virginia, the Southern Medical Association, and a Fellow of the American Medical Association. He is one of the charter members of Tau Chapter Phi Chi Mfed- ical Fraternity and is assistant professor of surgerv in the Medical College of the State of South Caro- lina. He is also a Mason, Shriner, Knights of Pythias and a member of the New England Society of Charleston.
On October 17, 1914, Doctor Rhame was married to Willie Marshall Brown, a daughter of William Kirkby Brown, deceased, and Mrs. Lula S. (Brodie) Brown of Charleston.
Doctor Rhame has returned to private life with renewed enthusiasm for his profession and interest in its development. As a man and a citizen he measures up to the highest standards of American manhood and is one of the city's honored physicians and surgeons.
24
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
JOHN B. MARSHALL was a practicing lawyer when he came to Greenville, but in that city has been prom- inently identified with the business and industrial development for many years, still has extensive financial interests, and has a record of public spirited participation in community affairs. While he was mayor of Greenville he worked successfully to bring about some of the improvements which are now looked upon with most pride hy the community.
Mr. Marshall was born in Abbeville County, South Carolina, April 4, 1853, son of Dr. S. S. and Anne (Barrett) Marshall. Ilis maternal grandfather was Doctor Barrett of English birth and was noted as a scientist, as a student and collector. Through his mother John B. Marshall is a cousin of Gen. M. C. Butler, South Carolina's famous statesman and soldier.
The Marshall family has long been one of dis- tinction in Abbeville County. They refugeed to Greenville in 1862 on account of the war, and re- mained there after the conflict was over. Mr. Marshall's grandfather, Samuel Steen Marshall, was a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to South Carolina when a young man, settling in Abbe- ville County. Dr. S. S. Marshall was born in Abbe- ville County, spent his active lifetime as a hard working physician, and was a surgeon in the Con- federate army during the war between the states, his service being chiefly given in Florida.
John B. Marshall was about seven years old when the family removed to Greenville, and grew up in that city. He was educated in Kings Mountain Mil- itary Academy, in Furman University at Greenville, and finished his law course in the University of Vir- ginia. . Coming out of the University at the age of twenty-one, he practiced his profession for several years at Madison, Florida. Then returning to Greenville, he went into business as a merchant. and has been one of the city's real builders. He promoted and erected four ice plants, which later he sold to the Carolina Public Service Company, now the Greenville Ice and Fuel Company. He remained with the corporation as manager, an office from which he retired in 1918, though still retaining his financial interest in the industry. Mr. Marshall is a director of the First National Bank of Greenville.
While never a politician, pride in his home city has led him to promote many years to its welfare and betterment. For about twelve years he was a member of the board of aldermen, and for four years was the city's efficient and popular mayor. When lie first entered the city council, Greenville did not have a foot of paving. When he retired as mayor, the city had carried out a program of pav- ing which has made Greenville the leader in the mat- ter of improved highways in the state. Under his leadership were also effected a number of modern municipal improvements. It was through his untiring efforts that the beautiful concrete bridge was built across the Reedy River, connecting the city north and south and this today is Mr. Marshall's pride, because of the great prejudices he had to overcome.
Mr. Marshall is a charter member of the Lodge of Elks at Greenville and has twice served it as exalted ruler. In 1918 he purchased and with his family occupies a beautiful new home, known as Tyrone Terrace, situated on the Buncombe Road about
three miles from the city. It is such a home and estate as constitutes a thriving ambition in the minds of many successful business men. The home is surrounded by a farm of 103 acres, part of it being devoted to orchards. The residence is a cominodious brick structure of two stories and basement, built and finished with the best of materials without regard to expense, and of architectural de- sign and arrangement that satisfies the most exacting artistic sense. The home is equipped with every modern convenience. "Tyrone Terrace" is right at the foot of Paris Mountain and on the famous "Ridge" that extends north and south through the Piedmont region of the Carolinas and Georgia. The setting is beautiful and picturesque in the extreme.
Mr. Marshall married Miss Sallie R. Bythewood. They have a charming family consisting of J. Bar- rett, Bythewood B., Alfred, Frances W., Sarah and Dan H., who is attending Clemson College. Ann B., now deceased, was the wife of Wilson Glover. Frances W. married Charles W. Withington. Sarah married November 29, 1919, Albert M. Rickman.
JOHN GRIMBALL. After a long and varied career, during which he served in several callings and two professions, Jolin Grimball is now living in the re- tirement he has so fairly earned, and enjoying the respect of his fellow citizens of Charleston. He was born in this city on April 18, 1840, a son of John B. and Margaret ( Morris) Grimball. John B. Grimball was also born at Charleston, in 1800, a son of John Grimball, who, too, came into the world at Charles- ton. The Grimball family was founded in the Amer- ican colonies by Paul Grimball, who came to them in 1680 from England and located at Charleston, so that it is one of the very first families of the city. Margaret Morris was born on the way from New York City to Charleston in ISto, while her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Morris, were on their way south. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, representing New York in the mo- mentous conference which produced that document.
John Grimball was reared at Charleston until he was fourteen years of age, at which time he en- tered the United States Naval Academy, and was there from 1854 to 1858, being graduated in the latter year, in his class being a number of men who later became distinguished, among them Admiral Dewey. For the subsequent two years Mr. Grimball was on the Mediterranean Sea, when, returning home on December 20, 1860, he resigned from the United States Navy and entered that of the Con- federacy. His first ship was the "Lady Davis" and his last was the "Shenandoah" while it was cruising in the Arctic Ocean after American whalers. In Oc- tober, 1865, this vessel returned to Liverpool, Eng- land, and was surrendered to the English govern- ment. From England Mr. Grimball went to Mexico, and was on a ranch for about a year, when he re- turned to Charleston and studied and practiced law for a short period. He then went to New York City and carried on a general law practice in that metropolis for about sixteen years. His heart turned toward Charleston and he came back and for a few years was engaged in rice planting along the Pon Pon River. When he retired from this undertaking he felt that he had earned a little
:
"1
.
ماشف مالح
John B. Marshall
H.E. Walker astracker 1.7 Walker W. L. Walker
25
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
leisure, so took up his permanent residence in the city of his nativity, where he still lives.
Mr. Grimball was twice married, first in 1875, to Miss Catherine Moore, of Huntsville, Alabama, who died in less than a year without issue. In 1886 Mr. Grimball was married to Mary G. Barnwell and they became the parents of the following children: Wil- liam Il., who is a lawyer, belongs to the firm of Whaley, Barnwell & Grimball of Charleston; Ar- thur, who is a cotton exporter, belongs to the firm of Boykin & Grimball, Inc., of Charleston ; John B., who is a cotton merchant of Charleston, and George E., who is a lawyer, with offices on Broad Street, Charleston. Three of Mr. Grimball's sons served the government, John B. as a captain of the field ar- tillery; George E. held similar rank in the same branch of the service, while Arthur followed his father's example and was an ensign in the United States Navy. After proving as brave and gallant
as he had been, these loyal sons of a patriotic father, having received their final papers and been inus- tered out of the service, have resumed their former vocations. Mr. Grimball is a member of Camp Sumter Confederate Veterans and the Graduating Association of the United States Naval Academy. The Episcopal Church holds his membership. A dignified gentleman of the typical southern culture, Mr. Grimball receives wherever he goes the respect his prominence in his community entitles him, and his fellow citizens are proud of him and of his gal- lant record, especially on the "Shenandoah," of which he was third in command.
DR. NEWTON FARMER WALKFR. While the caste of trade or occupation is not looked upon in America as in older nations, it is frequently true that one's profession, line of business or occupation attracts the greater number of men in successive generations of the same family. For all that there is a distinc- tion attaching to the Walker family such as is prob- ably not shared by any other family in the country. The Walkers, at least for the last two or three gen- rations, have been pre-eminently devoted to the service of humanity as teachers of the deaf and the bhad. At least half a dozen members of this family at the present time are engaged in that great work, than which perhaps no service could offer greater opportunities for doing good and at the same time be less attractive to men and women with a normal ambition for money making and the selfish comforts of existence.
The present South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind was founded by the late Rev. Newton Pickney Walker in 1849. He was born in Spartan- burg County in 1816 and died in 1861. He was a Baptist minister by early vocation. Through the deafness of a brother-in-law, he hecame interested in the education of the deaf. His researches and studies made him a pioneer in the South in this particular science of education. During the forties he visited and spent some time in a small school for the deaf at Cave Spring, Georgia, perhaps the only one in the South at that time. When in 1849 he established a school at Cedar Spring in Spartanburg County, it was a private institution, but the fame of its founder and his methods gradually spread, and in time the state took over the school and made it a
permanent institution. for the education of the deaf and . the blind.
The present superintendent of this state school is Dr. Newton Farmer Walker, son of Newton Pickney and Martha Louise ( Hughston) Walker. He was born in Spartanburg County January 12, 1845, and his life for over half a century has been centered about the school founded by his father. He was a youthful soldier of the war between the states, enlisting in August, 1861, in Company K, Spartan Rifles, in the Fifth Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers. He served with that organiza- tion until honorably discharged in April, 1862. In 1866, five years after his father's death, he assumed the superintendency of the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind, at Cedar Spring.
A remarkable and unique testimonal to his life of good work came in 1912 when by concurrent reso- lution of the General Assembly of South Carolina the honorary degree of Doctor of Philanthrophy and Charity was conferred upon him. It is said that this was the only degree up to that time conferred by a State Legislature. All the honor signified by this act of the Legislature has been abundantly de- served.
For many years Doctor Walker was extensively interested in farming in Spartanburg County. He is at present a member of the state board of pension commissioners for the county, is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and has long been prominent in Masonry, being affiliated with both the Scottish Rite and Knights Templar and York Rite Masons. He is a past grand commander of the Knights Templar of South Carolina." He was formerly chair-, man of the democratic committee of Spartanburg County, and is a life trustee of Converse College. In 1909 the University of South Carolina bestowed upon him the degree LL. D.
January 22, 1867, Doctor Walker married Virginia E. Eppes of Laurens. Doctor Walker has four chil- dren : Horace F. Walker, who graduated from the South Carolina State University and is now head of the Tennessee State School for the Deaf. Albert H. Walker, also a graduate of the State University is head of the Florida State School for the Deaf and Blind. William Laurens Walkers, a graduate of Wofford College, is associated with his father in the South Carolina institution, and Virginia, one of the first graduates of Converse College at Spar- tanburg, is the wife of R. M. Hitch of Savannah, Georgia.
Doctor Walker's niece, Miss Pattie Thomason, is also prominent as an education of the deaf and blind and is present principal of the North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morgantown, North Caro- lina, while his nephew, Frank Thomason is a teacher in the New York State School for the Deaf.
THOMAS WRIGHT BACOT has had those associations with the community of Charleston due a man of high social standing, thorough scholarship, and the finest abilities of the legal profession.
He was horn at Charleston April 14, 1849. His father, Robert Dewar Bacot, was a cotton merchant and a rice planter. The first member of the Bacot family, Pierre Bacot, who came to the Carolinas in the latter part of the Seventeenth century, was a
26
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
native of Tours, France. Thomas W. Bacot's mother was a Huger, and in that line his ancestor, Daniel Huger, also came from France and was an early colonial settler in South Carolina, founding a name that has long been distinguished in this state.
Thomas W. Bacot grew up in Charleston and the country districts, took keen delight in the sports and pastimes of the day, and was encouraged likewise in studious pursuits. He attended public and private schools in Charleston and in Society Hill, South Carolina, was graduated A. B. and second honor man from the College of Charleston in 1870, studied law with MeCrady & Son, and was admitted to the bar in 1871 and began practice the first of the fol- lowing year as a member of the firm of Walker & Bacot, afterward becoming a member of the firm of MeCrady, Sons & Bacot. He was admitted to the United States Supreme Court on the 11th of March, 1889. He has shared in much of the important litigation in South Carolina courts during the past half century and is a recognized authority on rail- road, corporation and real estate-law and in equity. From 1892 to 1902 he was member of the Legisla- ture and the last four years chairman of the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives. He was for a time first assistant United States attor- ney for the District of South Carolina at Charleston. He has been a trustee of South Carolina College, was a lay deputy from the Diocese of South Carolina to the Triennial General Convention of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church at Boston in 1904, and has been such a deputy ever since, as well as having been for many years and still being a lay deputy , from St. Philip's Parish to the Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina. He was a vestryman of St. Philip's Church at Charleston for several years and is the solicitor of the church corporation. He is a member and the president of the old St. George's Society of Charles- ton and also of the Huguenot Society of South Caro- lina, is a member of the Commercial Club and the old South Carolina Society, and in many ways has used his influence to promote what he considers the best interests and welfare of his home city and state.
April 18, 1877, he married Miss Louisa de Ber- niere MEcCrady. To their marriage were born seven children, six of whom are now living, to wit: Robert Dewar Bacot, Mrs. Thomas E. Myers, Mrs. Samuel E. Elmore, Miss Louisa de B. Bacot, Miss Ellen M. Bacot and Mrs. Kenneth S. Tanner.
LIEUT .- COL. EBENEZER W. PRESSLY, M. D. Many young physicians have found the army medical corps an opportunity for experience and enhanced pres- tige, but to Lieutenant-Colonel Pressly, of Clover, York County, it presented chiefly an opportunity for patriotic service, since he has been securely estab- lished in the esteem and confidence of his home community for thirty years, and even out over the state his name has been associated with the best attainments in the field of medicine and surgery.
Colonel Pressly performed the arduous and exact- ing duties of an army physician and surgeon at the Camp Sevier Base Hospital at Greenville for nearly two years, from August, 1917, to May, 1919, and in 1918 he was promoted to commanding officer of the base hospital with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
He is a native of South Carolina, having been born in Anderson County November 20, 1863, son of Rev. William L. and Frances E. ( Wideman) Pressly. His mother was a native of Abbeville County, member of a family containing several Rev- olutionary soldiers. Rev. William L. Pressly, a na- tive of Anderson County, was for a long period of years a minister of the Associated Reformed Pres- byterian Church in South Carolina, and achieved almost equal prominence as an educator. He served during the war between the states as chaplain of a South Carolina regiment, and soon afterward located at Due West, South Carolina, where he spent the rest of his life. For fifteen years before his death he was president of the Theological Seminary of Erskine College at Due West.
Lieutenant-Colonel Pressly grew up and received his early education at Due West, graduating from Erskine College with the class of 1883. He then entered the University of Maryland at Baltimore, taking the medical course and graduating M. D. with the class of 1887. In the same year he located for practice at Clover, in York County, and for many years his services were in demand all over York County. For a number of years he was a member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, and one of the best known members of the South Carolina Medical Association. He is also a niember of the Tri-State and Southern Medical Association.
Dr. Pressly built up a great practice and repu- tation in his home county, and all this he willingly surrendered to accept the opportunity to give his professional services to the country in its time of need. His first patriotic service was as medical member of the local exemption board No. 2 in York County. He then volunteered for the Medical Corps and was commissioned first lieutenant and assigned to the Camp Sevier Base Hospital. There his abilities and wide experience found recogni- tion in several promotions, until he succeeded Lieut .- Col. T. E. Scott as commander of the hos- pital. Colonel Pressly was with the army almost twenty-one months. During that time he won the lasting esteem and affection of many thousands who came under liis care, and the genuine character that brought him thousands of friends in York County has also won him esteem in the army. After his discharge Lieutenant-Colonel Pressly received the appointment of lieutenant-colonel of the United States Medical Reserve Corps, which is his present title.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.