USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 67
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In 1867 he married Miss Sarah E. McLean, a daughter of Dr. Murdock Mclean of Cheraw, a physician and a man of scholarly attainments. Of this union there are six living children, namely: David Gardiner Coit engaged in the lumber business at Jacksonville, Florida; John McLean Coit, patent attorney of Washington, District of Columbia; James Campbell Coit of Jacksonville, Florida; Miss Mary E. Coit of Washington, District of Columbia ; Mrs. W. Howard Cross of Marion, South Carolina ; and Mrs. Robert E. Coker of Washington, District of Columbia.
In 1900 Mr. Coit removed to Washington, District of Columbia, where the remaining years of his life were spent. He was a consistent and loyal member of the Presbyterian Church, holding the office of ruling elder, both in South Carolina and after his removal to Washington, in the Central Presbyterian Church of that city. He died in Washington April 11, 1908, and was buried in old St. Davids Cemetery in Cheraw, South Carolina.
WILLIAM COWAN ARMSTRONG for many years was an honored resident, a successful farmer, and a citizen and neiglibor of the finest qualifications in Anderson County.
He was born in Abbeville County April 26. 1849. and died at his old home near the City of Anderson
February 24, 1910. His parents, William and Eliza- beth ( Robinson) Armstrong, were natives of Abbe- ville County, and his paternal grandparents were John and Isabella Armstrong. William and Eliza- beth Armstrong had the following children: Jane, Martha Ann, Isabella F., Manda C., Scna E., James A., William Cowan, Ilugh J. and Mary M., all of whom grew up on their father's farm in Abbeville County.
William Cowan Armstrong in 1877, when twenty- eight years of age, married Miss Essic Elizabeth Robinson. Mrs. Armstrong, who survives her hus- band and lives on the old home place near Anderson, was born in Abbeville County December 21, 1853, a daughter of Hugh and Mary Crayton (Clink- scales) Robinson. Her father was a son of John Robinson and spent his life in Abbeville County, where he was born October 22, 1818, and died April 4. 1896. Mrs. Armstrong's mother was born in Abbeville County September 1, 1827, and died Sep- tember 20, 1857. Her children were named John A., Elizabeth A., Benjamin M., Jasper Newton, Mary J., Essie E., Margaret A. and Lawrence O. Hugh Robinson married for his second wife Mary Jane Callahan, and to that union were born children named Sariah C., Martha A., Samnel B., Nancy Eldora, Robert L., William W., Elmina, Marcellus E., Emma T., Oscar C., Bertha E., Ida L., Gertrude, Hugh. Webster and Helen. Mrs. Armstrong's father was therefore the parent of twenty-four children. His second wife was born in Abbeville County, August 2, 1841, and died in 1914. Hugh Robinson was a farmer and merchant, and during the war between the states rose to the rank of captain in the Confederate army.
Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong had ten children, two of whom died in childhood, and those to reach mature years are named Mary E., Claudie A., Jeter C., Paul R., John J., Crayton C., William H., and Jennie E. The son William H. was in the National Army from August 5, 1917, to March 25, 1919. Six months were spent in France in the Seventy-Fifth Coast Artillery, R. A. R.
The late William Cowan Armstrong gave all his life to farming, an occupation which rewarded him with ample success. For many years he lived on his farm east of Anderson. He was an exemplary member of the Baptist Church and his widow is of the same church faith.
WILLIAM WIGHTMAN SMOAK. It is a well recog- nized fact that the most powerful influence in shaping and controlling publie life is the press. It reaches a greater number of people than any other agency and thus has always been and always will be a most important factor in moulding public opinion and shaping the destiny of the nation. The gentleman, to a brief review of whose career the following lines are devoted, is prominently connected with the journalism of Southern South Carolina, and at the present time is editor and publisher of The Press and Standard, the only newspaper of Colleton County, comparing favorably with the best local sheets in this section of the state in news, editorial ability and mechanical execution. The cominunity recognizes in Mr. Smoak not only a keen newspaper man, but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that affects the general welfare has been of
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such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people.
William Wightman Smoak is a native son of the state still honored by his citizenship, having been born in what is now Orangeburg County on January. 4, 1877. He is the son of W. W. and Jane C. (Pagett) Smoak, the former of whom was born in Barnwell County, South Carolina. He was a farmer, but was chiefly noted as a teacher, which vocation he followed with marked success for over thirty years. His father, William Smoke, as the family name was then spelled, was also born in Barnwell County, where he was a prosperous farmer. His father, Michael Smoke, was probably a native of England and is supposed to have been one of three brothers who emigrated to America, two locating in South Carolina and one in Alabama. The sub- ject's mother, who bore the maiden name of Jane C. Pagett, was the daughter of Jocl Pagett, of Smoaks, South Carolina, and whose family was of French origin.
William W. Smoak was reared on the paternal farmstead, where he carly learned the worth of labor. He secured his elementary education in the common schools of his home community, completing his studies in The Citadel, at Charleston, where he was graduated in 1900. During the following two years he was engaged in teaching school in this state, but in 1902 he became cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Walterboro, holding that position for four years. In 1906 he bought The Press and Standard, the leading newspaper at Walterboro, and from that time devoted himself to that enterprise. An old adage says that newspaper men are born, not made. If that be true, Mr. Smoak must have been born with the journalistic germ in . his system, for he has from the inception of his connection with the business demonstrated his ability as a journalist. He has continued his con- nection with this enterprise continuously since with the exception of about two years, spent in Madison- ville, Kentucky, and Anderson, South Carolina, where he was connected with leading newspapers.
The Press and Standard, under the control and direction of Mr. Smoak, has consistently stood for the best things in the life of the community and has been progressive in its advocacy of public improve- ments. Personally, Mr. Smoak has been found in hearty support of all laudable local enterprises and, because of his public spirit and strong personality, he has won the unreserved confidence of the people. Through the columns of his paper he speaks to the majority of the homes in the community and, be- cause of his keen, forceful style, his utterances are always given a hearing. Mr. Smoak has been finan- cially successful and is the owner of a fine farm of 200 acres, whichi he devotes to general farming and the raising of live stock. For a time he was president of the Southern Carolina Association, a developing organization, including in its operations Colleton. Hampton, Beaufort and Jasper counties. He is also secretary of the Colleton County Fair Association and in the developing and furthering of these enterprises he has taken an active and influen- tial part.
On January 6, 1904, Mr. Smoak was married to Anne W. Weston, the daughter of Bentley and Alice
(Ward) Weston, and they are the parents of four children, namely: William W., Jr., Alice, Pauline and Elizabeth.
Fraternally, Mr. Smoak is a member of the An- cient Free and Accepted Masons and the Knights of Pythias, and has served as a chancellor commander in the latter organization. Ile is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically a demo- crat, Mr. Smoak has taken an active part in political affairs and was a member of the State Legislature during the sessions of 1916-18. He served several terms as first vice-president of the Association of Graduates of The Citadel at Charleston and is now a member of the Board of Directors. Genial and unassuming in manner, Mr. Smoak possesses to a marked degree those personal qualities which win friendships and he is a popular member of a large social circle.
Is now in an up-to-date hrick building, modern in every respect. The ground floor is occupied by The Press and Standard plant and the upper floor is devoted to offices. Mr. Smoak. owns the building. He has new equipment and the paper has been en- larged from six to seven columns and a fine new press has been installed.
Mr. Smoak at last election was chosen as mayor and assmined office June 1, 1920.
HUGH RUTLEDGE TISON, M. D. The work and re- sponsibilities of a competent and high minded phy- sician and surgeon have engaged Doctor Tison at his native Town of Allendale for the past fourteen or fifteen years. Upon the organization of the new County of Allendale in February, 1919, he was hon- ored by being elected first president of the Allen- dale Medical Society.
Doctor Tison was born at Allendale October 23, 188t. son of Perry H. and Sarah Elizabeth (Allen) Tison. His mother, still living, is a daughter of Paul H. Allen, for whom Allendale was named in the manner recounted in later paragraphs. The Tisons are an old time family of Lower Carolina, their ancestors on coming from England settling at Charleston, Doctor Tison's grandfather and great- grandfather were born and lived in Hampton County and were successful planters.
The late Perry H. Tison spent practically all his life in that section of Barnwell County that is now Allendale County. After having been honorably discharged from the army on account of physical disability he offered himself for any duty he might perform and was put in the conscript burean, where he served the Confederacy until about a year before the close of the war, when he was compelled to retire on account of ill health.
In writing of Perry Hamilton Tison for the Con- federate Veteran, Col. W. R. Darlington, Sr., has to say : "He was born in old Beaufort District, South Carolina, May 2, 1839, and died in Allendale, Barn- well County, November 18, 1918. IIe entered the Confederate army thoroughly equipped, having been educated at the State Military Academy of Charles- ton, but on account of physical disability he was forced to take an honorable discharge soon after going into service. He served as major in the 12th Regiment, South Carolina State Troops, under his
Hugh R. Dison.
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brother, Colonel Jolin A. Tison, who commanded the regiment.
"In his death is recognized the loss of a devoted and affectionate husband and father, an exemplary citizen of the old type, and a loyal friend. No truer heart ever beat for the cause of the Southern Con- federacy, and through the long years of his life he adhered to his allegiance. Ile was always true to a principle and his name and honesty were synony- mous.
"It is comforting to his friends and loved ones to know that he is free from the physical suffering he endured so many years and is now in communion with those that have gone before in an eternal reunion.
"He is survived by his wife, who was Miss Sallie E. Allen, of Allendale, and by three daughters and one son, namely : Mrs. Lucy A. Tison, Mrs. J. Gail- lard Stoney, Miss M. Agnes Tison and Dr. Ifugh R. Tison, all of Allendale, the county scat of the new County of Allendale."
Hugh Rutledge Tison attended the graded schools .of Allendale, graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1901 from Clemson College, and took his medical work in the University of Georgia at Augusta, receiving his M. D. degree in 1904. Hc was valedictorian of the medical class and was also one of the ten founders of the Chi-Zeta Chi medical fraternity, organized in Augusta in the fall of 1902. He is at the present time state regent for South Carolina for this fraternity. Another honor Doctor Tison greatly appreciated was when he was called upon to deliver the alumni address at the Clemson Agricultural College in 1913.
For a year he was senior interne in the Augusta City Hospital, and after about one year of residence and practice in the Town of Denmark he returned to his native town and has found abundant oppor- tunities to prove his abilities and secure a substantial reputation as a physician. He also owns valuable farming interests in Allendale County. Doctor Tison is a member of the State and American Medical Association, a Methodist, a Royal Arch Mason and a past master of Allendale Lodge .No. 109, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is past chancellor of Allendale Lodge No. 60, Knights of Pythias, and past consul commander of the Woodmen of the World.
November 23, 1904, at Allendale, Doctor Tison married Miss Edith Stoney, daughter of Dr. J. S. and Mrs. Laura (Allen) Stoney, of the prominent Charleston family of that name. They have three children, Perry H., Agnes and Hugh R., Jr.
ROBERT EMMET ALLEN. Reared and educated and given his early training as a banker at Greenville, Mr. Allen after serving nearly two years in France, determined to locate and grow up in the heart of the nation's financial life in New York City, and is one of the younger sons of South Carolina who has made his mark in the great city.
Mr. Allen was born at Greenville February 26, 1890, and is a most loyal son of the state. His parents are Henry W. and Mamie Irene (Menden- hall) Allen. His father was born in Abbeville County, a son of William and Martha (McClure) Allen. William Allen was a native of County
Antrim, Ireland, of Scotch parentage, and came to America in his youth, his people settling in Abbc- ville County. Henry W. Allen has been a resident of Greenville since 1880, and is one of the promi- nent business men of the city. He founded and is owner of the Eagle Roller Mills.
Robert Emmet Allen finished his education in Furman University at Greenville, receiving his A. B. degree in 1909. In 1914 the university conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.
Mr. Allen acquired his early knowledge of bank- ing in The Norwood National Bank of Greenville. Ifis experience was broadened by connection with the Newberry Savings Bank and with the National Bank of Commerce of Baltimore. After serving for two years at the Faculty of Chicora College for Women in Columbia he went to New York and volunteered his services in the war with Germany. He enlisted with the Post Graduate Hospital Unit which became Base Hospital No. 8 and went over- seas to France almost at once in August, 1917. His entire service was with Base Hospital No. 8 at Savenay in Loire-Inferieure. Beginning as a pri- vate he was promoted to first lieutenant and put in charge of the food purchasing staff for the group of hospitals centered at Savenay. In addition to this, Mr. Allen was food inspector for the Center and mess officer for Base Hospital No. 8. Mir. Allen returned to America in March, 1919, and was discharged soon afterward.
For over a year Mr. Allen has been connected with the Central Union Trust Company of New York, one of the city's leading financial institu- tions, located in the heart of the financial district at So Broadway. His first work was in the credit department. His ability was soon recognized and he has since been promoted and given charge of the new business department of the company. This de- partment is becoming increasingly important to the bank's work, and offers fine promise for a young man whose financial talents have already been dem- onstrated.
November 5, 1919, Mr. Allen married Miss Ellen Douglas Boykin, and this marriage gives him a further tie with South Carolina. Mrs. Allen was born at Camden, South Carolina, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas (Ancrum) Boykin. The Boykins are one of the oldest families of historic Camden. Miss Boykin was a popular member of society there and was educated at Chicora College for Women in Columbia and at Converse College in Spartanburg. Camden was the home of Mr. Allen's maternal grandmother, Mrs. James Kirk (Nettles) Menden- hall.
WILLIAM HENRY WALLACE. While he has never had any aspirations for the public honors that are the object of ambition for so many men, and has been exceedingly modest about his professional career as a teacher and editor, William H. Wallace. has achieved the real dignity of long continued usefulness and service in his home state.
He was born in Newberry County, November 4, 1848, son of John and Martha (Adams) Wallace. His parents were Scotch-Irish, his paternal ancestors coming from Scotland and settling in Albemarle County, Virginia, a short time before the Revolu-
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tion. Members of the family were Revolutionary soldiers, some of them achieving distinction.
William Henry Wallace attended private schools during his youth, and was a private in the state militia from the fall of 1861 until the surrender of Johnston's armies at the close of the war. He was then a boy of sixteen. He graduated with the A. B. degree from Wofford College in 1871, and two years later received the Master of Arts degree from the same institution.
Ilis chief professional interest for the next ten years was teaching. From 1873 to 1876 and nearly twenty years later, from 1893 to 1895, he taught in Columbia College at Columbia. For five years he was also superintendent of the Newberry City schools. He left that position to become editor of the Greenville News, but ill health compelled him to resign a few months later. He then returned to Newberry and resumed his work with the Observer. which he had founded in 1883, and which he had edited except for the years he was engaged in school work as noted above. From 1883 to 1901 he con- ducted the Observer as a weekly newspaper and since then as a semi-weekly. During that time he has had numerous invitations to join the editorial staff of daily newspapers, but his health was not equal to the strennous routine required on a morning news- paper. Nevertheless he has become widely known among the newspaper men of the state, and through his profession he has served the best interests of the state and community to the best of his ability and ideals and that fact undoubtedly constitutes a greater satisfaction than the accumulation of wealth, which is hardly what might be expected from the owner and editor of a country newspaper.
Mr. Wallace has always been a democrat, and is a man of conservative views on most questions. He became a member of the Kappa Alpha Society during his college days. During the summer of 1875 he traveled over a large portion of Europe with Charles Forster Smith, who for many years after- ward was head of the Greek department of the University of Wisconsin, and is now a professor emeritus in that institution. Mr. Wallace has been a member of some of the literary clubs -of Newberry and in 1900-01 was a member of the Thirty-Ninth Club of Greenville. He is a Methodist.
At Spartanburg, December 26, 1872, he married Alice Lomax, daughter of Lucien Lomax of Abbe- ville. Mrs. Wallace from childhood lived with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. David Duncan, of Wofford College. She passed away on the 25th of September, 1920. The only living child of Mr. Wal- lace is David Duncan Wallace, Ph. D., professor of history and economics at Wofford College. Profes- sor Wallace married Sophie Willis Adam, of Spar- tanburg.
JAMES CALHOUN HARRIS, M. D. A physician and surgeon whose experience covers more than thirty- five years, Dr. James Calhoun Harris has practiced at Anderson for over a quarter of a ceutury, and is one of the leading men of his profession in the state.
He was born at Honea Path, South Carolina. November 29, 1859, son of Ezekiel and Adaline (Armstrong) Harris. His mother was a native of Abbeville County and member of an old South Caro-
lina family. His father, who was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a farmer and millwright by trade, and moved to Anderson County in 1852, locating near Honea Path. He served as a Con- federate soldier.
Doctor Harris, only son in a family of three children, grew up on a farm and had the experience of a country boy in that poverty stricken era of the South after the war. He attended the schools of Honea Path, the Greenville Military Institute, and in 1883 graduated in medicine from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. For ten years he prac- ticed at Belton, and in 1893 removed to Anderson, where he has had a busy general practice. Always seeking to give larger and better service, he has done post-graduate work in various institutions, and for ten years has been a member of the surgical staff of the Anderson County Hospital. He is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, is a Master Mason and a deacon of the Presbyterian Church.
In 1885 Doctor Harris married Annie McFall, who is now deceased, she was the mother of three. sons and four daughters. All three sons of Doctor Harris were in some branch of the army during the World war. These sons are Herbert H., Claude E. and James C., Jr. Herbert is a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia at Richmond, left his practice in association with his father to enter the army, and was a lieutenant in Base Hospital No. 52 in France. Claude E. served as a sergeant in the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Ambulance Train connected with the Thirtieth Division during his French service. James C. 'had the disappointment shared in by so many thousands of young Americans who had the training of our army camps but never went overseas.
JAMES F. MACENROE is the resident manager of the Ware Shoals Manufacturing Company. Those who have at heart the industrial welfare of South Carolina have derived a great deal of satisfaction and encouragement from the model plant at Ware Shoals. The industry and the Village of Ware Shoals represent many of the idcals instead of being exactly typical of southern industrial management. The thoroughly businesslike scheme of industrial development and community life has been carried out and always with a complete adjustment between the interests and the welfare of both the employes and the employers. Probably the state does not have within its borders a more beautiful and better kept inill village. The village is on the Saluda River in Walnut Grove Township of Greenwood County. The company's lands embrace nearly 1,900 acres. There are two cotton mills of the most modern design and equipment, with over 70,000 spindles. The output is sheetings, drills and shirtings. The cotton mills are capitalized at $1,300,000, while the other industries and enterprises bring the total in- vestment up to about $3,000,000. In fact the com- pany's enterprises make this an almost self-contained community. There are oil mill, ice plant, grist mill, cotton gin, laundry, large store, bank, finc dairy farm, with registered dairy cattle. The company also built and operates a railway five miles long connecting the Shoals with the Southern Railway at Shoals Junction. The village has electric light, modern
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sewerage plant, waterworks, fine graded streets and cement sidewalks. The power is derived from a dam on the Saluda River built for the company and capable of producing 4,800 horse power. All the machinery of the mills and other plants are electrically driven.
For the sole benefit of the village inhabitants the company built and maintains a fine public school system. Ware Shoals has the enviable distinction of being the first town in South Carolina to adopt the provision of the recently enacted compulsory school law. The main feature of the community center is the splendid Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation Building known as "Katherine Ilall," named in honor of the daughter of Mr. Ben D. Riegel of New York. The building cost $40.000. It is three stories high, brick, of pleasing architectural design, has a gymnasium, reading and recreation rooms, and an auditorium with 500 opera chairs. Without fur- ther description it is evident that the material foundation has been laid for an ideal industrial com- munity. Of the atmosphere and the spirit pervading the whole, it is difficult to speak in descriptive terms. However, that spirit, one of genial good will, and contentment, is immediately sensed by a stranger and even an adverse critic, on arriving and spending any time within the community limits.
Ware Shoals while it has made its greatest con- tribution to South Carolina as a modern industrial unit and community, it is also a place of historic interest. It lies on one of the famous old Indian trails, and not far away in aboriginal times was an Indian village. More than 100 years ago the water power was developed by William Ware for the operation of a grist mill, and it is from this fact that the Shoals gets its present name.
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