USA > South Carolina > History of South Carolina > Part 8
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On February 24. 1880. Mr. Kohn married Mary Elizabeth Birge. of Prosperity, a daughter of John S. and Isabella B. (Spence ) Birge, and to them have been born five children: Erin, Arthur Hart, Ernest Samuel, Louis Hamilton, and Nellie Elizabeth.
:
Davison Mc Dowell Douglas,
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
The son, Arthur Hart, is associated with his father in business as cashier of the Carolina Life Insurance Company. Ile married Rath Gandy and they have one child-a son.
Louis Hamilton Kohn served with honor in the World war, resigning his position as general man- ager of the Dixie Stamp and Stationery Company, to. enter the service of his country. He served as first sergeant in the Headquarters Company, of the Fifty-Ninth Infantry Brigade, Thirtieth Division with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. He took the officers' course of instruction and train- ing in the "University in Khaki" in France and on March 16, 1919, was commissioned second lieutenant. Honorably discharged from the service, September 23, 1919, at Camp Dix, New Jersey, and is now a resident of Newberry, South Carolina. November 27, 1917, he married Verna Summer, of Newberry.
It is not the province of the biographer to attempt to draw final conclusion. His duties end with the recording of the narrative and the facts, leaving unto others the discernment of the lesson conveyed. However, this brief review justified the deduction that the life portrayed has been a busy one, measur- ing well up to the standard set by the philosopher when he said, "'Tis not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to others through us, that constitutes the true measure of human worth."
CAROLINA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. One of the institutions that have added much to the prestige of Columbia as a commercial center in addition to its honors as a capital, is the Carolina Life Insurance Company.
The history of this concern began with the estab- lishment of the Carolina Insurance and Casualty Company, organized in May, 1902. Since January I. 1903, the business of the company has been under its present management. In April, 1910, the company was reorganized and the name changed to the Caro- lina Life Insurance Company. The original capital stock of $25.000 was increased from time to time. Now the paid in capital is $100.000 and the author- ized capital $250,000. The business of the company at the start was health and accident insurance. At the reorganization a life insurance department was added, both industrial and old line, contracts up to $10,000 being written.
The present management owning all the stock consists of : P. H. Haltiwanger, president; A. B. Langley, vice president and general manager ; A. H. Kohn, secretary and treasurer; Ames Haltiwanger, assistant treasurer and auditor. The premium in- come during the past five years is shown by the fol- lowing figures :
1915
$308,395.14
:1916
359,645.41
1917
421,316.37
1918
609,051.23
1919 Over 1,000,000.00
The company's operations at present are in the four states of South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. In the near future according to the plans now developed the company's business will he ex- tended to North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas and other southern states.
DAVISON MCDOWELL DOUGLAS, D. D., has been a prominent figure in the Presbyterian Church of the South for a number of years, and comes of a family that has supplied many stanch Presbyterians to South Carolina. For the past eight years Doctor Douglas has been president and active head of the Presbyterian College of South Carolina at Clinton.
He was born at Blackstock in Fairfield County. this state, June 20, 1869, a son of Rev. James and Margaret ( McDowell) Douglas. His great-grand- father, Alexander Douglas, was born in Ulster, Ire- land, and came to America in 1790, settling soon afterward at a place six miles west of Winnsboro, South Carolina. At his death he was buried in the Lebanon Presbyterian Cemetery near his old home. More than a century and a quarter has passed since he came to South Carolina, and through several generations the Douglas name has furnished stal- wart men and high minded women to their various spheres of duty and responsibility. Doctor Doug- las' grandparents were John and Grace Jane (Brice) Douglas, also natives of South Carolina. Rev. James Douglas, his father, was born in Fairfield County March 10, 1827, and died August 21, 1904. He graduated with first honors from Davidson Col- lege in North Carolina in 1849, and later graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary. For a num- ber of years he was president of York Female Col- lege of this state, and did active duty as a pastor of various churches in Fairfield County for a quar- ter of a century. His wife was a daughter of Davison and Catherine (McCrea) McDowell. Her maternal grandfather, Thomas McCrea, was a na- tive of South Carolina and went with the South Carolina troops as a soldier in the war of the Revo- lution. This revolutionary patriot married Cath- erine DuBois thus introducing a strain of Iluguenot blood into the family. The DuBois family came from France in 1678.
Davison McDowell Douglas was liberally edu- cated, graduating A. B. from Davidson College in North Carolina in 1805 and studying for the min- istry in Louisville Theological Seminary during 1895-96 and in 1899 receiving his Bachelor of Di- vinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary. The University of South Carolina gave him his Master of Arts degree in 1899, and during the fol- lowing year he was a student in Princeton Univer- sity and Theological Seminary, while in 1004-06 he did post-graduate work in Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore.
Doctor Douglas, who was awarded his Doctor of Divinity degree by Davidson College in 1912, was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry in 1900, and during the following four years was pastor at Bre- vard and Davidson River, North Carolina. From 1904 to 1911 he was pastor of the Maryland Ave- nue Church in. the City of Baltimore. Doctor Douglas came to his present work as president of the Presbyterian College of South Carolina in June, IQII. /
September 16, 1003, he married Miss Lydia A. Welch. daughter of James H. and Elizabeth ( Mof- fat) Welch. Her father was a manufacturer at Beaver, Pennsylvania. Doctor and Mrs. Douglas have two daughters, Elizabeth Moffat and Margaret McDowell Douglas.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MAJ. E. S. HAMMOND, whose home is at Black- ville, where he still owns extensive planting interests, is one of the surviving officers of the Confederacy and is a son of one of South Carolina's leading statesmen, J. H. Hammond, who in 1842-1844 was governor of the state, and in 1857 to 1800 was United States Senator, resigning when the war broke out.
Ilis father, Elisha Hammond, was a native of Massachusetts, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and an intimate classmate of Daniel Webster. Ile was a prominent educator, was at one time principal of the Mount Bethal Academy in Newberry County. South Carolina, and was an active influence in pro- moting higher education. He was a professor in the South Carolina College.
James Henry Hammond was born in Newberry District, South Carolina, November 15, 1807, and was graduated from South Carolina College in 1825. He was admitted to the bar in 1828, and at once became an ardent ally of South Carolina's great statesman, John C. Calhoun. In 1830 he became editor of the Southern Times at Columbia. In 1834 he was elected a member of Congress, but on account of ill health returned early in 1836. For nearly two years he sought health and strength in Europe. He was elected and served as governor of the state from 1842 to 18.44, and in that office he made his influence felt toward the military organization of the state. He was also a patron of the sciences and agricul- ture.
After his term as governor he abandoned the . practice of law and devoted his time primarily to his extensive planting interests. In 1856 he was elected United States Senator to fill the place vacated by A. P. Butler. He served in the Senate from December 7, 1857 until November, 1860. In the Senate he became one of the leading defenders of the South's social and industrial systems. He re- signed when South Carolina adopted the ordinance of secession and resumed his life on his plantation. He died November 13, 1864. Governor Hammond married Catherine E. Fitzsimons, a native of Charles- ton, daughter of Christopher Fitzsimons, a native of Charleston, daughter of Christopher Fitzsimons, a ·native of Ireland, who settled at Charleston at the age of eighteen and became a highly successful business man. Mrs. Hammond's sister became the wife of Gen. Wade Hampton.
Maj. Edward Spann Hammond was third in a family of eight children and was born in Barnwell County, South Carolina, June 20, 1834. He was reared near Silver Bluff on the Savannah River. until he was sixteen. He entered the University of Georgia where he graduated in 1853 and in 1855 graduated in medicine from the University of Penn- sylvania. Later he was admitted to the South Caro- lina bar, hut never practiced his profession. His business time and energies have been almost entirely devoted to planting.
During the war between the states he served as staff officer and was active in the war from beginning to end. In 1858 Major Hammond was elected a member of the Legislature and has enjoyed other official honors. He still owns a fine plantation near Blackville, but has long since given over the active responsibilities of business to other hands.
June 20, 1861, he married Miss Marcella C. Mor- born to their union the only one now living is Bessie. ris. She died June 9, 1878. Of the four children wife of A. E. Willis of Rock Hill, South Carolina. On October 12, 1882, Major Hammond married Laura IL. Dunbar, widow of Hayward Brown and daughter of William P. Dunbar. They have two sons, O. Dunbar, a physician at Blackville, and James H., a lawyer of Columbia. Mrs. Hammond also has a daughter by her first marriage, now married and living at Pensacola, Florida.
THOMAS GREEN LEGARE. The production of cotton has always been one of the leading industries of the South, and within the past few years the demand for this staple has so increased as to make the grow- ing of it not only profitable but a patriotic duty. One of the men who is operating upon an extensive scale as a cotton grower is Thomas Green Legare of Yonges Island, where he devotes his large plantation to it and general farming. Mr. Legare was born in South Carolina, April 7, 1869, a son of Sidney A. Legare, and grandson of James Legare, the latter heing a native of James Island, South Carolina. The mother of Thomas G. Legare was prior to her marriage, Emily S. Green, and she was born in Vir- ginia, a son of Thomas Green of Washington, Vir- ginia. Sidney A. Legare was born at Charleston where his parents located after their marriage. Of the seven children born to his parents, Thomas G. Legare was the fourth.
After attending the public schools, Thomas G. Legare was given the advantages afforded by Por- ter Military Academy, following which he engaged in railroad work for a time, and then was connected with the iron industry. In 1899 he located on his present plantation which comprises 700 acres of land, and he is increasing its productiveness and value each year.
In 1914 Mr. Legare was united in marriage with Regina Margaret Allston, and they have three chil- dren, namely : Regina A., Thomas Green, Jr., and Frances Allston. Through the medium of the Epis- copal Creed Mr. Legare finds expression for his re- ligious faith, and he gives the local church his hearty support. Upright, capable and public-spirited, Mr. Legare deserves to be numbered among the repre- sentative men of his state.
HON. THOMAS HAY PEEPLES. Seldom in any state have the larger honors and responsibilities of high public office and leadership come upon a man so young in years and yet mature in abilities as Thomas Hay Peeples, former attorney general of South Carolina, and unquestionably one of the ablest men in the state whether as a lawyer or leader in public affairs.
His rise to prominence has been the result of sound ability plus an unlimited determination to succeed. He was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, August 4. 1881, son of Benjamin Franklin and Leila ( Ifay) Peeples. His ancestors were among the oldest settlers of South Carolina, and his re- mote family connections are traced to the noble families of England and Scotland.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Mr. Peeples was reared with the disadvantages incident at the time to a farmer's boy. ffe secured an education as circumstances would permit, at- tending local grade schools and the Welsh Neck High School at Hartsville, South Carolina. He read law at South Carolina University and was admitted to the bar in December, 1907. He began practice the following year at Blackville.
He was soon called from the quiet routine of a lawyer into public affairs. He was elected to the General Assembly at the head of the ticket from Barnwell County in 1910, serving in the sessions of 1911-12. Then in 1912, at the age of thirty-one, he was elected attorney-general of South Carolina, taking office in January, 1913. He was re-elected in 1914 and 1916, his third and last term expiring il January, 1919. He was commissioned Major Judge Advocate U. S. A. on April 24, 1919, and as- signed to duty in Judge Advocate General's office at Washington. Later he was transferred and as- signed as chief counsel for the War Department board of appraisers. In 1918 Mr. Peeples was a candidate for the United States Senate for the short term to succeed the late Benjamin R. Tillman. He was defeated for this office in a second primary.
A distinguished personal honor that was also an honor to his state came when he was elected vice president of the National Association of Attorneys General in their meeting at San Francisco in 1915. At the Chicago convention in 1916 he was elected president of the association, and not being eligible for re-election was chosen in the 1917 meeting at Saratoga Springs as chairman of the executive committee. He was the youngest attorney general and the only Southerner who ever held the high position of president. When he retired from the office of president at Saratoga Springs in December, 1917, he delivered an address which at that time was regarded as a significant expression of Ameri- can loyalty and even now it stands as one of the best expressions of the kind delivered during the war. The concluding salient paragraph of that address may properly be quoted here :
"We realize now that we are participating in the greatest war in human history, and for a purpose most vital, and that each American is called upon to do his share, to respond with blood and treasure, to bring victory and an honorable peace to all na- tions and individuals, and give liberty to those now oppressed and prostrate, and we must accomplish and safeguard what we demand, not only abroad, but we must preserve and protect the rights of the people at home that the laborer, the ploughman, the peasant, or whatever he may be, may feel and better know that the well-being of him and his posterity is as sacred as that of the prince or yeo- man, for this is the principle of the sacred heritage of our fathers, paid for in blood and sacrifice.
"For nearly three years America withstood the inevitable. She listened in silence to the untiring waves that heat upon her shores bearing from suf- fering men and women and children across the sea a supplication, until they re-echoed the voices of our own murdered women and children from the unfathomed deep. In response, we see today our young manhood proudly marching away in the great army of freedom to do and to die for the Vol. III-3
eternal right that mankind may forever hereafter live in peace under the flag of liberty and democracy. Today as we pait my well-wishes are with you and each of you, that you will find none other than peace and accord in your everyday duty of life, and that ere again you assemble in this cause, the dark clouds of war and strife will have forever passed from the world, driven away by the ascending sun of a new era that will shed bright rays of peace and kiss away the bloodstains of war from the hearts of our people.
"We are living in a solemn age. Human blood is flowing; far-flung are the battle lines; the civi- lized world is at war; every second of every day women are widowed and children are orphaned; mingled with the groans of the dying are the prayers of people all over the earth descending to the throne of a pitying God. What the end will be I do not know, except that I believe that America's battle for democracy will be triumphant, and that from the gloom which now enshrouds us will emerge a nobler civilization, bringing us yet nearer to
"That one far off divine event To which the whole creation moyes."
Mr. Peeples, who is unmarried, is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Improved Order of Red Men, Ju- nior Order of United American Mechanics, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Methodist Church.
HORACE GIRARDEAU LELAND, one of the extensive planters of his part of the state, owns and operates 3.400 acres of valuable farm land near Mcclellan- ville, and is a native son of South Carolina, having been born in Greenwood County, October 8, 1860. His father, Horace Wells Leland, was born at Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, a son of Rev. Aaron W. Leland. The latter was born in Massachusetts and settled in Christ Church parish, South Carolina, in 1808. He was a minister of the Presbyterian Church and for a number of years was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston, and also was a professor of the Columbia Theological Seminary. When he died, his remains were interred in the churchyard connected with the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia. The Leland family is an old one in both this country and England, a John Leland of the reign of Henry VIII being a profes- sor of Oxford and antiquary to the King. The mother of Horace G. Leland, before her marriage was Eugenia Rebecca Griffin, a daughter of Col. Richard Griffin of Abbeville County. Horace Wells Leland and his wife had eleven children, of whom Horace G. Leland is the ninth in order of birth.
Growing up at Abbeville, Horace G. Leland at- tended the schools there and at Mcclellanville, and deciding upon an agricultural life, bought a planta- tion in the vicinity of the latter place, to which he has added acreage until he has now a large property and employs a number of people upon it. At differ- ent periods he has been interested in the sawmill and turpentine industries, but has rather concen- trated upon farming, his interest being deeper in that than any other undertaking. A man of strong per-
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
sonality, he has been active in public matters, and for four years was police magistrate, and six years ago was elected to the State Assembly as a repre- sentative from Charleston County, and is still hold- ing that office. Having been in the Legislature dur- ing the period this country was at war and during . the months immediately succeeding the armistice when local matters required so much attention, Mr. Leland has rendered a very important service, and is associated with some constructive work.
In 1893 Mr. Leland was united in marriage with Gertrude Skipper, only daughter of Arthur M. Skip- per, and they have four children, namely : Arthur M., who is a graduate of Clemson College; H. G., Jr., who is also well educated; Mildred A., who is a student; and Hilda H., who is at home. Mr. Leland is a Knight of Pythias. Through the medium of the Presbyterian Church, Mr. Leland finds expression of his religious faith, and he is active in promoting the undertakings of the local body of that denomination. inheriting his inclination for its creed from his father and grandfather. A man of ample means, he has given much of his time and money to his com- munity, and during all of his mature years has striven to reach the best in human nature and to bring it forth for the betterment of mankind.
CLAUDIUS BISSELL JENKINS, president of the Gen- eral Asbestos & Rubber Company and of the Cameron & Barkley Company, is one of the really eminent business men of South Carolina. To his own stalwart Americanism many ancestors have con- tributed. These ancestors were among the first set- tlers of America. Those in direct line have been residents in South Carolina since 1706 and probably before that date. Many branches of the family have remained in the locality of their first settlement to the present day, still finding it good to be there.
Originally the name Jenkins was an adaptation from John, one of the oldest and best names in ex- istence. The appendix "IN" or "ING" applied in the sense of little, develops Jenkins, little son of John, just as Atkins comes from little Arthur or Deering from little deer. Variations in spelling are found in Jenkinson, Jenks and the like. In America for some unknown reason the letter "s" is usually added to the English form Jenkin, while in Wales the name is spelled Jenken.
The ancestors of some of the Jenkins in America came to this country from Wales, but the earliest foundation of the family was in England, where many fine estates and castles are today the homes of prominent men of the name, and where for hun- dreds of years they have been allied with other ancient and distinguished families. Sir Leonine Jenkins was a noted statesman. A certain Judge Jenkens of Wales was distinguished for loyalty to Charles I. One of the Presbyterian remonstrants against the king was William Jenkins, a brilliant man who lost his freedom for his opinions. and died at last during banishment.
Among the makers of America have been repre- sentatives of the different branches of the Jenkins family, and they have welded many links in the vast steel-like network of Americanism. As to the individual motive of those who sought the new world, some were driven by necessity, some by the
spirit of adventure, and some by the sheer love of nature and the newness of things.
In Virginia Thomas Jenkins and his wife, Joanna, established their home in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. The year 1646 found the home of Edward Jenkins already established in Massa- chusetts. Also in Massachusetts at the same time Joseph Jenkins received public recognition during the struggle of the young nation. Another Joseph settled in South Carolina and a certain David lo- cated in Pennsylvania. A son of this David became widely known and left to posterity both wealth and repute in the Windsor Iron Works, which he es- tablished and which was probably the foundation of the great iron industry of Pennsylvania. All through the years of American history men of the Jenkins name have been quick to answer the call to arms in defense of the country. They have fought in every contest and their name is found on every roster. John Jenkins of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, John, his son, and David, third from the pioneer, were officers in the Continental Army.
The ancestry of Mr. Claudius Bissell Jenkins is known without break in this country since the year 1706. But previous to that time the line has not been clearly connected. At the date mentioned Jolin Jenkins had residence on Edisto Island. His exact age was not known, but supposedly he was born about 1685. Neither is it known when he settled on the island, though there are records showing that he owned lands there. He was also a landholder in Charleston. John Jenkins was married twice. By his first wife he had four sons, William, John. Joseph and Christopher. Each of these sons lived to maturity, married and left descendants.
The second wife of John Jenkins was Elizabeth Capers, widow of David Adams, to whom he was married in 1727. Through this marriage Claudius B. Jenkins is descended from Richard Capers, the first of his name who settled on the coast of Caro- lina. The Capers family were quite prominent in the early period of the colonies and have been prominent ever since. Among one of the several descendants was the late beloved Bishop Ellison Capers of the Episcopal Church. John and Eliza- beth (Capers) Jenkins had five children, two of them, Richard and Benjamin, leaving descendants. Richard's two sons, Benjamin and Richard, served in the Revolutionary war, and General Micah Jen- kins, who was conspicuous in the Confederate serv- ice during the Civil war, was in the direct family line. Benjamin, the second son of John and Eliza- beth Jenkins, was born about 1735 and died about 1782. He was prosperous and prominent, his pos- sessions including several plantations situated on the islands Edisto and Wadmalaw, the latter being known as "The Rocks." Besides these he owned land in Charleston, on Church Street, and near Broughton's Bastion, now known as the Battery. The property in Charleston had been a gift to him from his mother, Elizabeth Capers. She had it from her father, Richard Capers, and it was known as "Caper's Land." The records of the year 1760 show that Benjamin was justice of the peace, and it is also recorded that from the year 1775 to 1776 he was a member of the First Provincial Congress of South Carolina.
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