USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 7
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After retiring from the army in the spring of 1919 Colonel Pressly located at Greenville, where he is now engaged in private practice. In April of that year he received a high and significant honor when elected president of the South Carolina State Med- ical Association at Florence. The Journal of the association spoke of him as follows: "Dr. Pressly lias been one of the most active members of the organization, filling a number of positions of honor. He is especially well known as a brilliant speaker and has charmed the State Association frequently by his eloquence."
Colonel Pressly married Miss Harriet Louise Smith. of Clover. They have two children living, Jean and Elsie.
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WARING FAMILY. Benjamin Waring and his wife, Elizabeth, with one child, came to the Carolinas in 1683, and were founders of this now widely dis- tributed and prominent family. From the state records of Columbia is taken the following evidence of the above fact: "You are to cause to be ad- measured unto Benjamin Waring seven hundred and sixty acres of land, it being due him for the arrival of himself, wife and one child and thirteen other persons whose names are here recorded in the secretary's office the 11th day of May, 1683."
Benjamin Waring, according to historical records, was a member of the House of Commons in the Assembly in 1685, a member of the Assembly from Berkeley County in 1093, served from 1703 to 1711 as commissioner of taxes.
Thomas Waring, son of Benjamin the immigrant, first married Anne Alexander, and for his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth Slann. Thomas Waring was a member of the House of Assembly in 1717, and signed a petition to the king to take charge of the colony in place of the Lord Proprietors, whose rule had become oppressive. Other historical facts con- cerning him are that he was a member of Governor Moore's Council in 1720, in 1730 was appointed a member of His Majesty's Honorable Council for South Carolina, and while still with that body his death occurred in 1739. On June 11, 1711, he re- ceived a grant of land known as "Pine Hill," a prop- erty that is still owned by his descendants.
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Benjamin Waring, second son of Benjamin and Elizabeth, the immigrants, married Anne, daughter of Thomas Smith, Landgrave and governor of South Carolina. Benjamin served as commissioner of taxes in 1711, in 1720 was a member of the As- sembly. in 1735 is mentioned as Col. Benjamin War- ing, and in 1734 was commissioner of the peace in Berkeley County.
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Richard. third son of Benjamin and Elizabeth, married Florence Beamor, daughter of Col. John Beamor.
The third generation of the family in South Caro- Ina contained Thomas Waring, a son of Thomas and lizabeth (Slann) Waring. He married Mary I'Mher and bad a son Thomas, who married Martha Waring, a cousin. This Thomas was distinguished by the title "Thomas of Pine Hill" and was a mem- Mar of the Constitutional Convention in 1788, his brother Morton also serving as a member of the same body.
Benjamin Waring, a son of Benjamin Waring and Anne Smith, married a cousin, Florence Waring, and their son Benjamin also married a cousin, Anne Waring. He settled in Columbia and with his son Richard established a mill to extract oil from cotton seed. He also established a paper mill at Granby near Columbia, and during the years 1806 to 1810 sent their products to Charleston by water.
Thomas Waring of Pine Hill and his wife, Martha Waring, had three sons: Joseph, who married Martha Waring, his first cousin, and was a planter and inheritor of the Pine Hill property; Daniel Jennings Waring, a lawyer, who married Constantia Wigfall; and Richard George Waring, a cotton merchant of Charleston, who married Jane Farr. Richard George was the father of Thomas Richard Waring, a foriner well known banking official in Charleston, who married Anna Dayton Perry.
The children of Thomas R. and Anna D. Waring were: William Hayne Waring, who married Esther Dawson; Jane Ladsner Waring, who married John I. Ancrum, M. D .; Eliza C. Waring; Edward Perry Waring, who married Anna T. Waties; Anna Perry Waring; Clarence C. Waring, who married Anne de Zeng, of Germantown, Pennsylvania; Joseph Ion Waring, who married Emina Thomson Taber. Ed- ward l'. Waring and Anna T. Waties are the parents of Thomas R. Waring, editor of the Charleston Evening Post; Edward P. Waring of Jacksonville, Florida; J. Waties Waring, assistant U. S. district attorney, and Margaret B. Waring, wife of Wilson G. Harvey. Joseph lon Waring and Emma F. Taber are the parents of Joseph lon Waring, Jr., and Dorothy Thomson Waring.
ROBERT I. WOODSIDE. Some of the most important business interests of the Greenville district are rep- resented by members of the Woodside family. Rob- ert I. Woodside, president of three of the leading banks and trust companies of Greenville, is a young banker, but widely known as a financier of unusual attainments and also a most public spirited and pro- gressive citizen, identified with every worthy move- ment in behalf of his home locality.
He was born at Woodville in Greenville County, a son of Dr. John L. and Ellen Permelia (Charles) Woodside. Both the Charles and Woodside families have been members of the Greenville community for many years. Dr. John L. Woodside, who was born in 1836 and died in 1897, served as a surgeon in the Confederate army, and gave the rest of his life to the ardnons duties of a country physician to the locality named Woodville. In a day when success is too often measured by the easy standard of money accumulations, the life of Doctor Woodside stands out in rich contrast and is deserving of every honor that can be paid his memory. He lived with the people and for them, worked patiently and uncom- plainingly in a time when the physician had to under- go many severe hardships, and with little thought of wealth he gave all his means and the riches of his character to his community and to the rearing of a large family of children.
Robert I. Woodside, who is a younger brother of John T. Woodside, president of the Woodside Mills, grew up at the family home in Woodville and con- tinued his education beyond the local schools in Clemson College, and took a course in business practice and banking in Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York.
All his adult life since leaving college has been given to banking. For six years he was cashier of the Chicora Savings Bank at Pelzer. South Caro- lina. He was then assistant cashier of the American National Bank of Spartanburg and assistant secre- tary of the Southern Trust Company. In 1907 Mr. Woodside established the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Greenville, of which he is president and active executive head. This bank has enjoyed a most successful and prosperous career. It has always ap- pealed to the substantial interests of the community and while no efforts have been made to attract busi- ness merely for the sake of volume, the quarters and facilities of the bank have long been taxed. In January, 1919, the Woodside brothers completed
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plans for erecting a sixteen-story bank office build- ing and banking home which in beauty, elegance and utility will stand as a classic example of bank architecture. in South Carolina. The new building will be erected entirely for banking and offce pur- poses, in the classic design of architecture, finished in handsome marble, with fireproofing construction, and with every attention paid to the details of safe- ty, convenience and service.
A new building will also provide quarters for the Home Building and Loan Association of Greenville, which Mr. Woodside organized in January, 1919. This company has an authorized capital stock of $3,000,000. Mr. Woodside is president and has a board of directors and officials including some of the most active spirits in Greenville's business life.
In October, 1919, plans were approved at Wash- ington for the organization of a new Greenville bank known as the Woodside National Bank. This institution began with a capital of $200,000, and is under the active management of Mr. Wood- side as president and John L. Williams as vice pres- ident and cashier. The new bank is located near the corner of Main and Washington streets, in the building formerly occupied by the Fourth National Bank of Greenville. Mr. Woodside is also president of the Citizens Bank of Taylors, South Carolina, and president of the Bank of Woodville.
Mr. Woodside has served on a number of im- portant committees of the American Bankers Asso- ciation and the State Bankers Association, and was a member of the American commission sent to Eu- rope to investigate the rural banking systems of the old countries.
He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of many clubs and social organizations. He is president of the Thirty-Nine Club and a deacon of the First Presbyterian Church. -
THOMAS C. HAMER, clerk of court of Marlboro County, has a long record of public affairs and as a prominent lawyer of Bennettsville, South Caro- lina.
He was born at Bennettsville January 23, 1868. His grandfather, Alfred Hamer, was of English ancestry and married a Martha Wallace, of Scotch descent. The father, Benjamin F. Ilamer, was a Marlboro County farmer and at one time county commissioner. Benjamin F. Hamer married Susan Davis Cook. Her father, Thomas Cook, was an early Methodist minister, and her mother, Loretta Pearce, was a descendant of Capt. Daniel Sparks of Revolutionary fame.
Thomas Cook Hamer spent his boyhood days on a farm, had the usual recreations of a boy of his time in the country and also had many culti- vated influences of home life, particularly from his mother. He attended the Hebron School and Bennettsville Male Academy and was graduated from the South Carolina College of Law in 1&1. While devoted to his profession he also acquired interests as a planter and for nearly thirty years has been actively engaged in farming and in public affairs. For several years he was one of the cler- ical officials of the General Assembly, and in 1809 was elected chief elerk of the House of Represen-
tatives, which position he held until he voluntarily retired. He has attended various local and state conventions of the democratic party, and for years was secretary of the State Democratic Convention, and was also chairman of the Local Exemption Board of Marlboro County during the World war. He is a member of the South Carolina Club, is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, a Knight of Pythias, Woodman of the World and an Odd Fellow. Ile holds the office of trustee and is on the Board of Stewards in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
January 5, 1904, he married Miss Martha Blanche Gibson, a daughter of Francis B. and Edith Moore Gibson, of North Carolina. They have one daugh- ter, Blanche Isadora Hamer, and one son, Tom C. Hamer, Jr.
MISS MARY POPPENHEIM. The quality of exalted service rendered by the women of South Carolina could not possibly be better exemplified than through some brief record of the activities of Miss Mary Poppenheim, who shares with her sister Miss Louisa the honor of being one of the best known of South Carolina women.
She and her sister ocenpy the old Poppenheim residence at 31 Meeting Street in Charleston. This residence for many years has been a source of many of the beneficent influences that have radiated to enrich and improve the community of Charleston.
Her father, Christopher Pritchard Poppenhein, was born December 10, 1839, at "Gallant Hill," his father's plantation in Charleston, now Berkeley, County. He was a son of Dr. John Frederick and Aphra Ann (Pritchard) Poppenheim. Dr. John Frederick was a son of John Poppenheim, a planter. and Mary Bouknight. John, the planter, was a son of Lewis Poppenheim, a soldier of fortune in the British army which occupied Charleston in 1780.
On November 26, 1864, Christopher Poppenheim married a daughter of William Bouknight. She was born at Mount Willing, on her father's plantation, in Edgefieldl County Octoher 6, 1837. William Bou- knight, of Bouknight's Ferry in Edgefield County, married Nancy Huiet. William Bouknight was a son of Daniel and Mary (Derrick) Bouknight, whose names appear in the first United States census taken in 1790. Mary Derrick was born in Lexington County. Daniel Bouknight was a son of John and a grandson of George Bouknight.
Christopher Poppenheim and his wife had four daughters, all of whom were educated in the private schools of Charleston and all were graduates of Vas- sar College. The records of that famous woman's college indicate that this is the only family of four daughters who have graduated from this institution. The daughters are Mary Barnett, Louisa Bouknight, Ida Huiet, wife of Daniel Ravenel, and Christie Hamilton, wife of Hugh Miller, of Richmond, Vir- ginia.
Miss Mary Poppenheim has made her brilliant qualities of mind, her affections and her many ad- vantages at home, in college and abroad, a means of blessing and service to her native state. In 1896 she became one of the first hundred members of the Charleston Chapter, United Daughters of the Con- federacy. While treasurer of that chapter she or-
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ganized the historical department and served as state historian nine years, resigning to become president of the State Division, United Daughters of the Con- federacy. As state historian she collected and helped edit two volumes "South Carolina Women in the Confederacy." Hers was the second division to in- augurate Historical evenings at the state convention. As president she instituted the educational work in her State Division. Miss Mary Poppenheim became chairman of education in the General United Daugh- ters of the Confederacy, and had charge of that work for nine years, until she resigned in 1917 to become president general Before resigning her previous office she inaugurated the plan for an educational endowment of $50,000, the interest of which should be used for scholarships for worthy veterans' de- scendants. As president general her official work fell within the period of the great World war, and she was responsible for turning the resources of the organization to relief work. In one year the United Daughters endowed seventy beds at the American Military Hospital No. I, at Neuilly, France, at an expenditure of $42,000 a year; they made 3,000,000 Red Cross garments : 2.500,000 Red Cross surgical dressings; 93,000 Red Cross knitted articles; gave $82,000 to Red Cross Chapters; and supported 800 French and Belgian children at a cost of $82,000 a year.
Miss Mary Poppenheim is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a charter member of the Young Women's Christian Associa- tion, the Century Club, the Civic Club, the Intercol- legiate Club, of which she was president for nine- teen years, a member of the South Carolina His- torical Society, being one of the first three women elected to membership in that society, was for nine- teen years secretary of the Ladies Benevolent Society of Charleston, a member of the Vassar Alumnae Historical Society, a member of the Board of the Woman's Exchange, former vice president of the student body of Vassar, and chairman of the litera- ture committee of the General Federation of Wom- en's Clubs.
Miss Poppenheim with her mother and sister Lonisa have been extensive travelers, and several times resided in Europe for periods of six months or less. The beloved mother died September 8, 1915.
Miss Louisa Poppenheim was born December 13, 1868. She has also been distinguished for her ver- satile gifts of intellect and heart and her deep and vital interest in movements of a social, economic and educational nature. Either of the sisters had they felt they could best serve the world in that way might have gained a high place among the literary women of America. They managed and edited the Keystone, a monthly magazine devoted to women's organizations, for thirteen years. Miss Lonisa was chairman of, the first municipal play- grounds in Charleston, founder of the City Federa- tion of Women's Clubs and its president for nine years, one of the organizers of the Civic Club, presi- dent of the Century Club for five years, a charter member of the Young Women's Christian Associa- tion, the South Carolina Audubon Society, the cor- responding secretary of the Society of Pioneer Workers, an honorary member of the Society of
American Women in London, a member of Rebceca Motte Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, the Charleston Chapter of the United Daugh- ters of the Confederacy, the Vassar Alumna, His- torical Association, Ladies Benevolent Society, Caro- lina Art Association, Charleston Country Club, was president in 1900-02 of the South Carolina Federa- tion of Women's Clubs, from 1902 to 1001 was cor- responding secretary of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and president of the Students As- sociation, of Vassar College in 1889, the highest honor in the gift of the college, and marshal for Vassar Commencement, 1914. She has contributed a number of short articles to different publications. As a result of her untiring and persistent efforts a white matron was installed in the police station and in Charleston County Jail.
Both sisters are active and faithful members of the Episcopal Church.
ROBERT ELLISON DENNIS. Robert Ellison Dennis began the practice of law at Bishopville, where since 1904 he has been associated with former Lieutenant- Governor MeLeod in the firm of MeLeod & Dennis. Mr. Dennis has played an important part in public affairs. He was elected to the Legislature in 1914 and served two terms. He is also a former city attorney. Out of his profession a great deal of his time has been given to his duties as a member of the County Board of Education for Lee County.
Mr. Dennis was born at Bishopville, October 12, 1881, the son of Dr. Robert Ellison Dennis and Mary (Green) Dennis. His father was a surgeon in the Confederate army and for many years carried the heavy burden of physician and surgeon in his community. He was a son of Dr. John Edward Dennis, of Charlotte County, Virginia, who made his home at Bishopville in 1824. The mother of Mr. Dennis was a daughter of Rev. Henry D. Green, one of the signers of the secession ordinance. Mr. Dennis was educated in the public schools and graduated with the degree of A. B. from the Uni- versity of South Carolina in 1902. Two years later he completed his work in the law department of the University of Virginia with the degree of LL. B. At South Carolina University he won the Roddey medal for the best debater, and was an active mem- ber of the Euphradian Literary Society, of which he was a president.
During the World war he assisted in Liberty Loan and Red Cross campaigns. He and his partner spent more of their time assisting in patriotic causes than in the private law practice.
Mr. Dennis is affiliated with several fraternal orders and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
CHARLES JONES COLCOCK. Some of the master minds of this age have devoted themselves to edu- cational work, and because of their labors in behalf of their pupils and their community have passed to another world while yet in the prime of life. The late Charles Jones Coleock, of the Porter Military Academy of Charleston, was one of the men whose heart and energies were eentered upon his work, and who, dying, left behind so powerful an example of upright living that his influence remains and is shaping the characters of those who were formerly his pupils and fellow citizens. He was a son of
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Charles Jones and Frances ( Horton) Colcock, na- tives of Charleston and Huntsville, Alabama, re- speetively.
Charles Jones Colcock attended the Holy Com- munion Church Institute, now Porter Military Acad- emy, from which he was graduated. He then was a student at the Charleston College, and still later at Union College, and following his graduation from the latter institution he became an instructor of mathematics there, but was forced to resign on ac- count of ill health of his father. The young man went home and assumed charge of his father's large plantation, and conducted it until his father recov- ered, when he felt free to resume his scholastic duties, associating himself with his old school, Porter Military Academy, with which he was connected for thirty-four years. On the death of Doctor Porter, Mr. Colcock was elected acting rector, without his knowledge or consent, and resigned at the close of the second year, feeling that he could serve better as head master.
Mr. Colcock was married in 1883 to Patti Lee Hay, a daughter of Judge Samuel J. and Susan (Hay) Hay. of Barnwell, South Carolina. They had two children, namely: Samuel Hay, who died in in- fancy; and Erroll Hay, who is at home. Mr. Col- cock died on March 31, 1919. A particularly touch- ing appreciation of the life and work of Prof. Charles J. Colcock was written by the Right Rev. Harry J. Mikell, D. D., Episcopal bishop of Georgia, himself formerly rector of Porter, as well as rector of the Holy Communion Episcopal Church. In part he said :
"During these years as a teacher, head master, as rector for some time, he has rendered the Porter Academy a splendid service; he has given to the generations of students as they passed under his influence an example of high thinking and noble living which has left an indelible mark upon their characters. Many men living in many states, in every walk of life thank him for some of the finest inspirations in their life and rise up and call him blessed. To touch men's lives at a formative period and to touch only to uplift; patiently day by day to give of his own strength to strengthen weak characters; to give of his own inspiration to spur on bright ambitions; to share of his ripe knowledge and wise experience; and teach not only by word, but by the daily example of a pure, fine life, that is to render a supreme service to men, to country and to God, and that is the life service of Charles J. Colcock. 'Whosoever shall do one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven'"
ARTHUR HAYNE KONIN. It has been said that his- tory is but the epitome of biography-the composite result of individual effort, and the story of the lives of successful men who influence and mold events, is always interesting and instructive, becoming doubly so when it presents in combined view the elements of material success harmoniously blended with com- pleteness of moral attribute.
Arthur Hayne Kohn, secretary and treasurer of the Carolina Life Insurance Company, also a di- rector and vice president of the Liberty National Bank, at Columbia, has a long and enviable record
in business affairs in his native state, and is one of the most prominent laymen in the Lutheran Church in the South.
Mr. Kohn is a native son of the Palmetto state, having been born in Newberry County, September I, 1858, a son of A. Hamilton and Martha Elizabeth (Feagle) Kohn. His father, serving as a member of Company II, of the Third South Carolina In- fantry, was wounded in the battle of Deep Bottom, and died from his wounds August 4, 1861. On the maternal side, he is a lineal descendant of William Frederick Houseal who served in the Revolutionary war as a captain in the cavalry forces from South Carolina, with the Continental army. The son spent his carly boyhood days upon his father's farm with the usual rural environment, while the high school at Prosperity afforded excellent educational advan- tages. After the completion of his studies there, he engaged for a year and a half as a teacher in the public schools of the state. He had, however, de- cided upon a business career and obtaining a posi- tion as a clerk in a general merchandise establish- ment he devoted the following five years in this capacity. It was here that he made his initial step in the business world and acquired a knowledge and experience which with the passing years, have brought substantial pecuniary reward and honorable competence, for he later engaged in merchandising upon his own account and for more than a quarter of a century was a successful merchant at Prosperity.
Mr. Kohn first became a resident of Columbia in 1903, remaining there four years as general man- ager of the dry goods department of the Farmers and Mechanics Mercantile and Manufacturing Com- pany. He then returned to Prosperity, resuming his work as a general merchant there.
In 1908, Mr. Kohn again located in Columbia, since which time he has maintained his home there. He served as secretary and treasurer of the Carolina Insurance and Casualty Company, which, in 1910, was reorganized and hecame the Carolina Life In- surance Company. Mr. Kohn took an active part in the reorganization and has held the official posi- tion of secretary and treasurer of the new company since the date of its inception.
.Although he has been an active figure in general business affairs, Mr. Kohn has always found time to devote to the advancement of the educational and moral welfare of his community and state, and has contributed liberally of his means and personal serv- ice in the cause of the common good. He is a member of the board of trustees, of Newberry Col- lege, also a trustee of the Lutheran Seminary. He is a trustee of the Lutheran Board of Publications ; and a member of the board of publications of the Lutheran Church of America. He is a member of the executive board of the Lutheran Synod, and is chair- man of the finance committee of the Lutheran Synod of South Carolina. His personal membership is with the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, at Columbia, where he serves as vice president of the congregation, and as a member of the finance and building committee.
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