USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 62
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William G. Sirrine spent most of his boyhood in Greenville where he had among early advantages attendance at the public schools, also Greenville Mil- itary Institute, and Furman University, and later the University of South Carolina. In 1889 he en- gaged in newspaper work at Philadelphia, and from 1890 to 1894 was on the city staff of the New York Evening Post. Returning to Greenville, he studied law until his admission to the bar in 1895. He has always felt that much of his success as a lawyer has been due to the opportunity he had for association as a student with the eminent men comprising the law firm of Cothran, Wells, Ansel & Cothran. Judge J. S. Cothran was one of the best lawyers of the state, had filled an office on the bench and had been a member of Congress. Governor Ansel, is still of Greenville. Capt. G. G. Wells was a prominent Baptist layman, president of the board of trustees of Furman University and of the Greenville Wom- an's College. T. P. Cothran, a leading lawyer of the state, is the speaker of the House of Representa- tives.
A busy lawyer engaged in a growing volume of professional duties, Mr. Sirrine has also been asso- ciated with many movements vitally connected with the public welfare. He is a former president of the Municipal League and as president of the Green- ville-Henderson Highway Association has been a leader in the good roads movement in his section of the state. He wrote and compiled the present primary law of South Carolina, the measure as drafted by him having been adopted by the Demo- cratic State Convention in 1914.
The son and grandson of Confederate soldiers, lie has performed his duty in a patriotic sense. He was with the Greenville Guards when they were called out during Governor Tillman's administra- tion to preserve order in the Darlington riots. In the Spanish-American war he raised a company, Company B, in the Second South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, and was with his regiment ten months. He had a prominent civilian part in the recent war. Early in 1918 he volunteered for service in the United States Housing Corporation, which had charge of the immense program for industrial hous- ing and transportation required by the exigencies of war. Mr. Sirrine was made district manager of the Hampton Roads District, with supervision over the housing program for workers at the naval and shipping centers of Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth. He served in this position from Oc- toher, 1018, to March, 1919.
Mr. Sirrine married in 1902 Miss Mary Anna Mc- Leod, who has since been prominent in social and charitable work in Greenville.
WILLIAM WELLS SIMPSON was one of the founders and upbuilders of the thriving Town of Woodruff in Spartanburg County. For many years he was active as a merchant and cotton factor there and is now living retired.
He is a member of one of the most distinguished families of South Carolina and was born at Laurens in 1849, a son of J. Wister and Annie Patillo (Farrow) Simpson. He is a descendant of Col. John Simpson, a native of Belfast, Ireland, and of Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. Col. John Simpson was given a fair education and married at Belfast Mary Wells, who was of English birth. About the close of the American Revolution Colonel Simp- son came to America and invested his money in a plantation in Laurens County, giving his home the name of Belfast. He became a merchant as well as planter and acquired a large fortune for his day. He was also honored with public office, serv- ing in the State Legislature and as a colonel of militia. Colonel Simpson died in 1818. He was the father of three sons W. W., John W. and Richard F. All of them became men of more than ordinary prominence in the state.
John Wells Simpson, grandfather of William Wells, became a planter and slave holder at the old Simpson home on the extreme eastern border of Laurens County. He was educated in South Carolina College, was a graduate of Jefferson Medi- cal College of Philadelphia, and for a number of years practiced medicine at Belfast. He died in 1886 at the age of eighty-four. His first wife was Elizabeth Scatterwhite of Virginia. She was the mother of two sons, J. Wister and William Dunlap.
Something should be said of the career of Wil- liam Dunlap Simpson, an uncle of the Woodruff merchant. He was born in Laurens County, October 27, 1823, and his brother J. Wister was born in 1822. They were graduated from the South Caro- lina College, the older brother in 1842 and the younger in 1843. Both then went North and entered the law school of Harvard University and became students under the eminent Joseph Story and Simeon Greenleaf. J. Wister Simpson was graduated the following year, and his brother on account of illness attended but one session. William D. Simpson finished his legal education in his home state, began practice in 1846, and soon became prominent in politics being a member of the State Senate when South Carolina seceded. He entered the Confederate army at the beginning of the war and afterwards was elected major of the Fourteenth South Carolina Regiment in General McGowan's Brigade. He was also elected a member of the Confederate State Congress. After the war he re- turned to Laurens County ruined in fortune and resumed practice with his brother J. Wister. He was elected to Congress in 1868, but was refused a seat in that body. Without his knowledge he was nominated for lieutenant-governor in 1876, and was closely associated with Gen. Wade Hampton in the campaign and work of restoring white rule. When Governor Hampton resigned early in his second term to enter the United States Senate Lieutenant-Governor Simpson succeeded him as governor in 1879, but in that year he was elected
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Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court and re- signed as governor in 188o. Ile was re-elected Chief Justice in 1886 and honored that office until his death.
As noted above the career of J. Wister Simpson was closely associated with that of his distinguished brother for many years. A paralytic affliction caused him to retire from his profession after 1875. The wife of J. Wister Simpson was Annic Patillo Farrow, a daughter of Col. Patillo Farrow, a promi- nent lawyer of Laurens and descendant of Rev. Archibald Stobo of pre-revolutionary days in South Carolina. She was a sister of the mother of Admiral Sam McGowan of Laurens.
A brother of William Wells Simpson of Wood- ruff was the late Stobo Simpson of Spartanburg, a prominent lawyer and at one time a partner of the late Congressman Evins. His youngest brother is Dr. Frank Farrow Simpson, a physician and surgeon whose name is spoken with respect in scientific circles far beyond the borders of his native state. Since the beginning of the war with Germany he has been engaged in important professional work of an advisory nature both in this country and in France.
William Wells Simpson has lived in Woodruff since 1883. For thirty years he was actively en- gaged in the mercantile and cotton business, and was also vice president and director of several banks and cotton mills. Mr. Simpson married Miss Frances Jane Kilgore, a daughter of Dr. Ben- jamin F. Kilgore of Spartanburg County, and a sister of S. M. Kilgore of Woodruff. Mr. Simpson had the great misfortune to lose his wife by death in the latter part of June, 1919. She was long prominent in the varied activities of the Presby- terian Church at Woodruff.
CAPT. WILLIAM W. RICHARDS. As the army de- velops the highest degree of efficiency in the dis- cipline and action of large bodies of men, so also it is a well known fact that the science of sanitation and public health has attained its highest state of perfection under military conditions. One of the most beneficial results that can follow the great war will be the education and enlightenment of civil communities to the same standard of sanita- tion which prevailed in the army.
Greenville was one of the first cities in this state to profit by these facts when the municipal admin- istration secured the services of Capt. William W. Richards as city health official. Captain Richards has been connected with the American army and foreign service for twenty years, and served with the rank of captain at Camp Sevier until he resigned and accepted his present post.
Captain Richards was born near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1866, son of George R. and Eleanor (Wil- son) Richards. He received a good education in the splendid local schools of Canada, and when still a young man went to the western United States, engaging in the lumber business on the Pacific Coast, mainly in California. On returning to Canada he entered the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, where he was graduated in 1807. He then practiced his profession in San Diego, California, for a time and in Spokane, Washington, but in 1899 went
to the Philippines as quartermaster veterinarian with the Third Cavalry horses, for over ten months. He was then appointed assistant veterinarian for the City of Manila and later city veterinarian, a position he held for 312 years. The first part of this civil service was under the United States military regime and later under the Philippine com- mission headed by Governor William Il. Taft, and was blanketed into the civil service of the Philippine Islands at that time. He continued the private prac- tiee of his profession at Manila for twelve years. It was work which brought him execeptional oppor- tunities to perfect himself in all branches of the sanitary science. On leaving the Philippines he spent a year or so in Australia and after an absence in the Orient for seventeen years returned to the United States in 1917.
He then took up contract service as veterinarian with the United States army, attached to the quar- termaser's department and assigned to duty at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. Early in 1917 he received a commission as second lieutenant, in July 1917, was promoted to first lieutenant, and in the latter part of 1917, was commissioned captain with duties as veterinarian. Early in 1918 Captain Richards came to Camp Sevier at Greenville as senior veterinarian of Auxiliary Remount 310. In Janu- ary, 1919, he received an honorable discharge from the army and early in February, 1919, was elected city health officer of Greenville to succeed Dr. H. F. White of the United States Public Health Service, who had been acting city health commissioner for some time.
Captain Richards married in Manila, Philippine Islands, Miss May Williams of Melbourne, Aus- tralia. They have one son, William George Richards.
JAMES V. CROSKEYS is a lawyer, and represents the old historic Croskeys family of South Carolina, and now resides in the City of Greenville, where his father's family removed nearly thirty years ago.
His original ancestor was John Croskeys, who with his brother Joseph came from England to Charleston soon after the founding of that city. These two brothers are mentioned in Colonel Mc- Grady's History of South Carolina and in other his- torical documents as having built and resided in one of the first four houses in Charleston. They were men of culture and wealth, and they became largely engaged in planting and exporting enterprises and they contributed in no small degree to the character and distinction of Charleston among the most aristo- cratic cities of the South. The Croskeys brothers were among the founders of the Charleston Library and the name in fact is associated with every enter- prise of distinction in the early life of the city.
James V. Croskeys of Greenville is a grandson of James Croskeys and a son of the late Jamies M. Croskeys, who was born at Walterboro in Colleton County, and in 1890 established his home in Green- ville. James M. Croskeys was for many years a prominent figure in the commercial fertilizer industry in South Carolina. It was his interest in that in- dustry that brought him to Greenville, where he became one of the founders of the Greenville Fertil- izer Company in 1890. He continued in that busi-
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ness until it was sold to the Virginia Chemical Com- pany.
James V. Croskeys was born during his father's residence at Walterboro, in Colleton County, in 1869, being a son of James M. and Elizabeth ( Verdier) Croskeys. His paternal great-grandmother was a Teasdale, member of the noted Charleston family of that name, distinguished as founders of the cotton planting and cotton exporting business at Charleston and lower Carolina.
Elizabeth Verdier Croskeys, who is still living, was born in the ancient South Carolina City of Beau- fort, and is descended from an old French Huguenot family of that city.
James V. Croskeys received his early education at Summerville and under private tutors and at Charles- ton He studied law at Greenville and since his ad- mission to the bar in 1897 has enjoyed a successful practice and a growing influence in the professional and civic life of that city. Mr. Croskeys married Miss Mattie de Veaux of Charleston. Her lineage is that of a distinguished French family in South Carolina's metropolis.
DR. JOHN PARKER CARLISLE, of Greenville, is a man of state prominence in his profession of den- tistry, a work to which he has devoted the best of his talents for over thirty years. He is almost equally prominent as a leading official in the orders of Odd Fellows and Red Men.
He was born at Greenville in 1862, a son of James H. and Mary Vance (Parker) Carlisle. This is an opportunity to refer to one of the ablest educators upper South Carolina ever had in the person of his father. He taught school a total of fifty-seven years. A native of Lancaster County, this state, he was one of the early attendants of Furman Uni- versity at Greenville, and before the war taught private schools at Williamston, Pendleton and Pick- ens Courthouse. But the memories of his school work are richest at Greenville, where he was an educator for many, many years. He taught in private schools, and when the public school system was founded he was largely instrumental in making it effective and continued his work in the public schools. Many of his former pupils have become eminent, and as long as they live his fame as a school man is secure.
Through his. mother, Doctor Carlisle is related to the Parkers of Charleston, where she was born, and also to the historic Moultrie family of that city. Doctor Carlisle was born and is still living in the house on Buncombe Street where his father lived. He was educated in private schools and in Furman University, and prepared for his profession in the dental school of the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, where he was graduated with the class of 1885. He returned to his native city to begin practice. His first and last location has been in the offices over Bruce & Doster's drug store, corner of Main and Washington streets, in the heart of the city, to which point a whole generation of patients have repeatedly found their way and have given him a business that for many years has taxed his strength. A man of high professional standards. he has been honored with the office of president of the South Carolina Dental Society.
For many years he has been a prominent figure in Odd Fellowship both in his home city and state. He is now grand master for South Carolina, and previously filled the various chairs in the order. He is also chairman of the board of trustees of the Odd Fellows Home, a state institution located four miles west of Greenville.
In the Improved Order of Red Men he is past great sachem for the state, and on several occasions has been representative to the great council of the United States. Doctor Carlisle is also a Royal Arch Mason, an Elk and a member of the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He married Miss Amanda Louise Boatwright, daughter of Doctor Boatwright of Aiken, South Carolina.
CLARENCE M. WORKMAN, M. D. In the little community where he was born and reared in Spar- tanburg County Doctor Workman chose the scene of his professional labors as a physician and sur- geon, and has made himself an honored as well as useful factor in that locality.
He was born at Cross Anchor in Spartanburg County in 1890 son of James and Nancy Mary (Watson) Workman, and a grandson of James Workman. His grandfather was a Confederate soldier and was killed during the seven days fighting around Richmond. James Workman, Sr., was born in Laurens County, and from there moved to Cross Anchor, Spartanburg County. The Workman fam- ily has for a number of generations been identi- fied with South Carolina. They came originally from Dublin, Ireland, landing at Charleston and one branch of the family went to Upper South Carolina, and the other to Virginia.
Clarence M. Workman graduated from Furman University at Greenville in 1909. He completed his work in the medical college of the State of Caro- lina at Charleston in 1912, and has since done post- graduate work in Tulane University at New Orleans and Georgetown University at Washington. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations.
In the fall of 1918 Doctor Workman while carry- ing the burdens of an exceptionally heavy practice became victim to the influenza, and as his recovery was very slow he determined to retire temporarily from active practice. During the greater part of 1919 as a temporary occupation he was acting as cashier of the Bank of Cross Anchor.
Doctor Workman married Miss Lillian Wilson, a daughter of Mr. aand Mrs. L. H. Wilson of Cross Anchor. They have two children, James Workman and Clarence M. Workinan, Jr.
EDWARD PERCY LONG. Several of the most prom- inent of South Carolina families are included in the family record of .Edward Percy Long, a well known Greenville merchant and business man. His grand- father David Long came to Greenville in 1821 or 1822 from Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, his birth- place. He acquired some property at Greenville, including the southeast corner of Main and Wash- ington streets, where the People's National Bank now stands, and extending back as far as Irvine Street. comprising over two blocks in what is now the heart of the city.
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1
The family also owned property on West Wash- ington, where the Wallace Building now stands. David Long built the original house on the southeast corner of Main and Washington streets, and this for several years was a tavern and quite a noted center of public entertainment.
David Long married Emily Monroe Goodlett. Her father, William Goodlett, was a son of Robert Good- lett of Virginia who brought his family to the pres- ent site of Greenville prior to the Revolutionary war. William Goodlett's name is a noted and hon- ored one in the annals of the Revolution in South Carolina. He entered the Continental army when only seventen years old and served for seven years. He was at the battles of Musgrove's Mill, Rich Hill, King's Mountain, "Blackstock, Mudlick, Abbeville, Brier Creek Bridge and Cowpens, and also took part in the capture of two British forts. William Good- lett married Nancy Hooper, who was born in Meck- lenburg County, Virginia, whence her parents emi- grated to what was then known as the Spartanburg District, South Carolina, both the Hoopers and Goodletts being among the early pioneers of that section. Nancy Hooper Goodlett was a notable pio- neer woman of the finest type and many descendants are proud to number her among their ancestors.
Dr. Rudolph Dickenson Long, a son of David and Emily Monroe Goodlett Long, was a distinguished citizen of Greenville for many years. He was born in the house at the southeast corner of Main and Washington streets above mentioned, in 1829, and died at his home in this city August 17, 1886. He was a graduate of Charleston Medical College and took up the active practice of his profession in Greenville in 1850. Throughout the war between the states he served in the Confederate army as assistant surgeon of Brook's Cavalry in Hampton's Legion, and was present at many of the greatest battles fought on Virginia soil. After the war he continned a busy practicing physician almost to the time of his death, and both as a citizen and a doc- tor he was a man greatly beloved by the people of a wide section of upper South Carolina. Before the war he had acquired large property interests and much wealth, all of which was swept away in the cataclysm of war. For two years he was mayor of Greenville.
Doctor Long married Emily Parker, who was born at Charleston, a daughter of Robert Daniel Parker. Robert Daniel Parker was a son of Jolin and Martha (Daniel) Parker. Martha Daniel was a daughter of Robert Daniel, whose father was Governor Daniel, a Colonial Governor of South Carolina by appointment from the British Crown. Mrs. Emily Long is still living. She is the mother of four children, two sons, now deceased, having been Thomas Crayton and John Randolph. A daughter still survives, Miss Vance, and the only son is Edward Percy Long.
The latter was born at Greenville and for many years has been a factor in local business affairs. He attended private schools including the splendid mili- tary school conducted by the late Captain Patrick. At one time he was connected with the mercantile firm of Stradley & Barr, and then for a number of years was a member of the firm Barry Gry Goods Company, which liquidated its affairs late in 1918.
Mr. Long has served a term as member of the city council and for several years was a member of the board of fire commissioners.
BEN P. WOODSIDE. The name of hardly any one family is more prominent in the history of manu- facturing and other industrial affairs in upper South Carolina than that of Woodside. Ben P. Woodside of Greenville, who is still in his twenties, has made a record that is distinctly creditable to the family history as a whole. A few years ago, qualified by previous experience and in the natural genius of the family, he set out as an independent manufac- turer and has developed one of the distinctive industries of Greenville.
He was born at Pelzer, South Carolina, in 1890, and is a son of J. H. and Anna (West) Woodside. His mother is a daughter of the late Dr. Ben Perry West, a well known physician and citizen in the lower part of Greenville County. J. H. Woodside, who has long been prominent as a merchant, banker and farmer at Woodville in Greenville County, is a brother of Mr. John T. Woodside of Greenville, a business man and industrial leader whose career is sketched on other pages of this work. The Wood- side brothers have contributed a notable part to the business and industrial history of upper South Caro- lina.
Ben P. Woodside received his early education in the schools of Greenville County and in Davidson College in North Carolina. However, before enter- ing Davidson College he was employed as a clerk in the law office of Mr. W. G. Sirrine of Greenville, and on leaving college he resumed the same employ- ment. He may have had a passing fancy to become a lawyer himself, but the urge of industrial work was too strong within him. About that time he be- canie associated with the Nuckasee Manufacturing Company of Greenville, manufacturers of athletic underwear, and was made secretary of the firm. He gained some valuable experience there, but he could not resist the impulse to start out as a manufacturer on his own account. With only such qualification as a young man of twenty-four could possess, he estab- lished in 1915 the National Garment Mill at Green- ville, and was its sole proprietor and owner until November 1, 1919, when he accepted a position with the Woodside Mill as purchasing agent.
Mr. Woodside married Miss Corinne Goodlett of Greenville County. Her grandfather was the late Colonel Crittenden, long prominent in this section of the state and author of the most complete and an- thoritative history of Greenville County. Mr. and Mrs. Woodside, who are members of the First Pres- byterian Church, have a little daughter, Jane Crit- tenden Woodside.
WILLIAM ARTHUR MCMURTRY ERWIN. One of the most interesting landmarks of Abbeville County, known to people for miles around, is Er- win's Mill, which, founded soon after the close of the war between the states performed its service for many years and reflected in many ways the es- sential character and ability of its builder and owner.
Its builder was the late Malcolm Erwin. He was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and as a
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young man came to America and worked four years in South Carolina as a millwright. He then went back to Ireland to marry his sweetheart, Maggie McMurtry, and their honeymoon was the voyage to America. After landing they went im- mediately to Abbeville County. Malcolm Erwin was a skilled mechanic, had the old fashioned in- dustry, and was a thorough business man. His enterprise led him to purchase an old and dilapi- dated mill on the Saluda River. In 1867 he built on the site a brick mill, the brick being made on the ground. That is the mill today and for half a century known as Erwin's Mill. Malcolm Er- win operated it until he died. Its customers came from miles around in adjoining counties, and its product was noted and its service was unexcelled. It was profitable from a business standpoint. The owner as he acquired additional capital invested in land, and his possessions finally totaled about twelve hundred acres. All of that land is today owned by his son William Arthur MeMur- try Erwin. Malcolm Erwin also operated a cot- ton gin. Everything he constructed was substan- tial. The splendid home he built near the mill site is still standing as a monument to his work- manship. He had all the elements described in the phrase strength of character. He was plain spoken, never failed to make himself understood, and as he hated pretense and sham, people al- ways trusted him. Malcolm Erwin was born May 15, 1825, and died March 25, 1888. His wife, whose qualities of heart and mind were of the same sterling stuff as his own, was born June 18, 1833, and died July 11, 1908. Both were active members of the Presbyterian Church. Their chil- dren were three daughters and one son, The daughters were: Sallie H., born November 13, 1866, widow of the late R. M. Shirley; Jennie, born April 17, 1868, unmarried; and Mary Jane, born August 28, 1870, wife of J. W. Brock.
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