USA > South Carolina > Men of mark in South Carolina; ideals of American life: a collection of biographies of leading men of the state, Volume I > Part 11
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THEODORE DEHON JERVEY
J ERVEY, THEODORE DEHON, son of Theodore Dehon Jervey and Anne Hume Simons, his wife, was born August 19, 1859, at Charleston, South Carolina. His father was a factor, banker, and, for a time, collector of customs of the port of Charleston. He was noted for his liberality and devotion to duty.
The earliest known ancestor of the family in America was David Jervey, who emigrated from Bathgate, Scotland, in 1738, and in 1740 settled in Charleston. Thomas Jervey, son of David, was, in 1778, captain and deputy muster master in the Fifth Continental line, Colonel Huger's regiment. As a boy, Theodore Jervey was especially interested in books, though otherwise he was of an indolent disposition. He was graduated in 1879 from the Virginia Military institute. His active life work began at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1879, where he began the pro- fession of law, a work to which he was drawn by his own tastes and native bent. From 1881 to 1886 he was in partnership with and assisted the solicitor of the first judicial district of South Carolina; and, in 1888 and 1891, he was editorial writer on the "Charleston World." Mr. Jervey has been a vestryman in St. Philip's church; from 1891 to 1895 he was chairman of the city Democratic Executive committee, and in 1892 he was a delegate to the National Democratic convention.
Mr. Jervey has also given some attention to literature, hav- ing written "The Elder Brother," a novel. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party. In religion he is a Protestant Episcopalian. His chief relaxation is trout-fishing.
Mr. Jervey confesses to lack of application as his besetting sin. He commends to all young people the open profession of the Christian religion. He believes, moreover, not only in spir- itual health, but in physical; the latter constituting the founda- tion upon which the former may be built. He, therefore, advises the observance of rational diet and systematic daily exercise in the open air.
Mr. Jervey has never been married. His address is Charles- ton, South Carolina.
Agn of Mars Publishing Co Washington DC
yours very Sincerely Throw Jury
Men of Mark Pub, Co. Washington , D.C.
/ B. Johnson.
DAVID BANCROFT JOHNSON
J OHNSON, DAVID BANCROFT, LL. D., educator, was born in La Grange (West Tennessee), January 10, 1856. His father founded, and, until his death, was president of the La Grange Female college. In a direct line he is descended from John Johnson, who came to America from England with Winthrop, the first governor of the colony of Massachusetts. He worked his way through the University of Tennessee at Knox- ville, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. with the highest honors of a large class in 1877, and immediately took up the profession of teaching as first assistant of the boys' high school at Knoxville. In 1879 he was awarded the degree of A. M. by his alma mater, and in 1905 the degree of LL. D. by the South Carolina college. After some service in the University of Tennessee as assistant professor of mathematics, and having developed qualities which demanded a larger sphere for their full exercise, he entered upon his life work. His rare talent as an organizer was recognized, and by his masterful application of the true principles of teaching, he infused new life into the system of public instruction, and a spirit and enthusiasm among the teachers, which prepared the way for his remarkable success. He organized graded schools at Newbern, North Carolina, and so marked was their success as to attract the attention of educators in that and adjoining states. Having demonstrated his executive ability and his thorough grasp of school organization and man- agement, when the system was adopted by the city of Columbia, South Carolina, in 1883, Professor Johnson was called to organize it, and in the course of a few years, under his superintendence, out of the crude material of the old common school a system of public instruction was evolved which is an honor to the state, and has become an example after which many of the larger towns and cities of the state have modelled their schools. To meet the requirement for better teachers to introduce these better methods, Professor Johnson, aided by the Peabody board, established in 1886 the Winthrop Training school for teachers. The legislature of South Carolina provided a permanent appropriation for the maintenance of one beneficiary in the institution from each
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county in the state, at a cost of one hundred and fifty dollars each per session, and afterward made it a full state institution under the name of Winthrop Normal college, of which Professor Johnson is president. This training school was at the time the only one for white teachers in the section embracing the states of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida. Its graduates are teaching successfully throughout South Carolina and adjoining states. Professor Johnson has served as an instructor in successive state normal institutes, and was presi- dent for several years of the State Teachers' association, which he reorganized and placed on its present satisfactory basis in 1888. He organized, in 1889, the State Association of School Superintendents, of which he was president for some years. He organized the Columbia, South Carolina, branch of the Young Men's Christian association, and was its president for years, and he was also chairman of the State Executive committee of the organization. He is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian church of Rock Hill, South Carolina. He is vice-president of the National Educational association, a member of the National Council of Education, of the National Geographic society, of the National Civic league, the South Carolina Historical society, the South Carolina Audubon society, and the South Carolina Agri- cultural and Mechanical society.
In 1902 he organized the South Carolina Woman's associa- tion for the improvement of rural schools, which is expected to accomplish great things for the country schools of the common- wealth. He is a member of the Educational Campaign committee for South Carolina, appointed at a convention of representative educators in 1903, to labor for the improvement of rural schools and the advancement of education in the state. The governor of the state, in recognition of his ability and his high educational record, appointed him a member of the state board of examiners, and also a member and chairman of the special commission of three to make an investigation, and report to the legislature for action, on the subject of the establishment by the state of a normal and industrial college for women. The admirable report of this commission led the legislature to found the Winthrop Normal and Industrial College of South Carolina, which in com- pleteness of plant and character of work is the equal of any
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institution of its kind in the country. Much of the honor of the general adoption and success of the graded school system in South Carolina may be justly accorded to Professor Johnson.
His postoffice address is Rock Hill, South Carolina.
IRA BOYD JONES
J ONES, IRA BOYD, the son of Charles Milton Jones and Mary Jane (Neel) Jones, was born December 29, 1851, at Newberry, South Carolina. His father was a cabinet maker, who, in later life, conducted a carriage and blacksmith shop and livery stable in combination. Charles Milton Jones was a modest man, actuated by a high sense of honor and duty. To him, his word was his bond. Withal, he was prompt and industrious, and, in all material matters in the control of his family, he was firm in discipline.
The earliest known paternal ancestor in America was Ira Jones' grandfather, John Jones, a French Huguenot, who came to Colleton county. On his mother's side, the oldest was James Neel, a Scotch-Irishman, who emigrated from the north of Ire- land to Newberry county.
Ira Jones was strong and robust in youth, and passed his early life in the village of Newberry. Good educational advan- tages were always provided him by his father. He attended the Lutheran college at Newberry, from the primary through the sophomore class, and then entered as a junior in Erskine college, Due West, South Carolina, from which he was graduated in 1870.
After leaving college, Mr. Jones taught school in Edgefield and Newberry counties. From his earliest years, however, he had been possessed of an ardent ambition to enter the profession of law. While teaching school, he gave close attention to legal studies, and, in 1873, was admitted to the bar at Newberry. He practiced law in Newberry county from 1873 to October, 1875, when he moved to Lancaster, South Carolina, where he continued to practice law until he was elected associate justice.
Aside from minor offices, including those of magistrate, intendant, county chairman, and chairman of the congressional committee, Judge Jones was elected to the legislature in 1890, became chairman of the Ways and Means committee, was elected speaker at the close of the term of 1890, and was successively elected speaker until January, 1896, when he was elected associate justice of the supreme court. He was also vice-president of the Constitutional convention of 1895.
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Judge Jones is a Democrat and a member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church. For amusement and relaxation he resorts to chess, novel reading and driving.
On January 21, 1875, he married Rebecca Wyse. Of this marriage seven children have been born, five of whom are now (1907) living.
His address is Lancaster, South Carolina.
EDWARD SOUTHEY JOYNES
J OYNES, EDWARD SOUTHEY, for more than fifty years prominently connected with the work of higher education in the South; from 1866 for several years professor of modern languages and English in Washington college, now Washington and Lee university; from 1875 to 1878 filling the same chair in Vanderbilt university at Nashville, Tennessee; from 1878 to 1882 professor of modern languages in the Uni- versity of Tennessee; since 1882 to 1888 professor of German, French, and Spanish, in South Carolina college at Columbia, South Carolina, where he still resides; was born on the 2d of March, 1834, in Accomac county, Virginia. His father, Thomas Robinson Joynes, of the Ninth Virginia regiment in the Revo- lutionary war, had married Miss Anne Bell Satchell, daughter of Christopher and Anne Satchell. His grandfather was Colonel Levin Joynes, of the Ninth Virginia regiment in the war of the Revolution ; his eldest brother, Judge W. T. Joynes, of the court of appeals of Virginia, and Dr. Levin S. Joynes, professor of medical physiology in the Medical College of Virginia, have been prominent in their respective professions. The family is of English descent, and among its members who were prominent in the colonial history is Tully Robinson, a member of the Virginia house of burgesses at various times from 1702 to 1723. Thomas Robinson Joynes was admitted to the practice of law September 24, 1810; in 1811 was elected to the house of delegates; in 1813 served as lieutenant of a company in the Second regiment of the Virginia militia, and was later promoted captain. He served as master commissioner in chancery in the county court of Accomac; as commonwealth's attorney in the supreme court; as clerk of that court in 1828; as a member of the State convention to revise the constitution in 1829; and has left an honorable record as a public-spirited lawyer of high character, and of remarkable gifts of eloquence. A memorial volume to Thomas R. Joynes was edited by the late Dr. Levin S. Joynes, and revised and reedited by Levin S. Joynes, Jr., and Edward Southey Joynes, the subject of this sketch.
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The early life of Edward Southey Joynes was passed in the country, a hearty and healthy boy, fond of hunting, riding and boating, yet giving a fair share of his time to reading and study. He had the advantages of home instruction given him by his father; he attended the "old field schools" and Concord academy in Virginia, Delaware college, and the University of Virginia; and from the last named institution he was graduated in 1852, with the degree of B. A., receiving the degree of M. A. in 1853. From 1856 to 1858 he studied at the University of Berlin, Ger- many, hearing, among others, Boeckh, Haupt, Bopp and Benary.
Although his father had hoped that the son would follow the profession of the law, it soon became evident that the work of a teacher was to be his life occupation. His first college appointment was to the position of assistant professor of the ancient languages in the University of Virginia, under Doctor Gessner Harrison, from 1853 to 1856, before his study at the German university. After his return from Europe he was made professor of Greek and German at William and Mary college, Williamsburg, Virginia, serving here from 1858 to 1861.
At the outbreak of the war, as William and Mary college was closed, he became chief clerk in the Confederate States War department, serving with Secretaries Walker, Randolph, Benja- min, and Seddon, an experience to which he owes prompt and accurate habits of business and well-developed power of organiza- tion. From 1864 to 1865 he was instructor of modern languages in Hollins institute, one of the best Southern schools for women, where he developed a deep interest in the study of English and of the modern languages; and in 1866 he was made professor of modern languages and English in Washington college, now Washington and Lee university. This recognition of the study of English, in a college professorship, was perhaps its earliest recognition as a distinct branch of collegiate study instituted in the Southern states. From 1875 to 1878 he filled the chair of English and modern languages at Vanderbilt university, Ten- nessee, and from 1878 to 1882 the same chair at the University of Tennessee, on the organization of the first faculty of that institution. From 1882 to 1888 he was professor of modern languages and English in South Carolina college at Columbia. The department prospered under his charge and was divided in 1888, since which year he has been professor of modern languages,
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including French, German, and Spanish. For more than fifty years a teacher, perhaps there are few men in our country who have taught a larger number of college students. A Virginian by birth, he has always loved everything Virginian. He is thankful for what he has been permitted to know and teach, and he is growing old slowly by keeping himself in sympathy with the life and aspirations of youth.
He is the author of several text-books used in schools and colleges, and he is now engaged in the publication of still other text-books.
Professor Joynes has made many addresses upon educational subjects, several of which have been published. He was closely connected with the Rev. Dr. Barnas Sears, the first general agent of the Peabody board, and accompanied some of the early tours with that eminent gentleman. Thus inspired, he became deeply interested in public school work in Virginia, and later in Ten- nessee, where he aided in conducting the teachers' institutes. He has lectured to many teachers' institutes in South Carolina. He was one of the founders of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial college for women at Rock Hill, and he is still a trustee of that institution. The United States Commission of Education, in its "Report" for 1897-1898, included the report made by Professor Joynes, after a visit to Germany in 1895, on the industrial edu- cation of women in Germany. This report has received wide attention.
A transplanted Virginian, an apostle for general enlighten- ment, he feels a passionate interest in the creation of the Uni- versity of South Carolina, in behalf of which he addressed a cogent and elegant pamphlet to the last legislature of South Carolina.
On December 14, 1859, Professor Joynes married, at Wil- liamsburg, Virginia, Miss Eliza Waller Vest. They have had five children, four of whom are living in 1907. Professor Joynes is identified with the Democratic party, but reserves the right of private judgment in passing on its platforms and its candidates. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church.
To the young of his state and of the country, to whom so much of his life work has been given, he offers these suggestions: Assiduous application; faithfulness in details of work; integrity
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in all things, with sympathy for the struggles and aspirations of your fellows; seek to live, so far as possible, with and for others; and know that selfishness is the bane of life, and the root of all evil.
Professor Joynes' address is University of South Carolina,
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HEIMAN KAMINSKI
K AMINSKI, HEIMAN, merchant, was born in Posen, Prussia, May 24, 1839. His parents, Joel and Hannah Kaminski, were highly respected by the people among whom they lived.
Until he was fifteen years of age, Heiman Kaminski lived with his parents. From very early years he was obliged to work hard in order that he might not be a burden to others. He was willing to work, but, being ambitious, and seeing very little prospect of advancement in his native land, he became anxious to get to America, in hope that here he would find a more favor- able environment. When he was fifteen years of age the matter was thoroughly discussed in the family circle, and it was decided to allow him to emigrate to the United States.
He landed at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1854. Here he maintained himself for two years, meanwhile attending the high school. In 1856 he was obliged to leave school and enter upon the active work of life. He became clerk in a mercantile house in Georgetown, South Carolina, where he served for a year, when his employer sent him to Conway, South Carolina, to work in a branch house which had been established there. He remained at that place until the spring of 1861, when, on the opening of the War between the States, he promptly enlisted in Company B, Tenth South Carolina volunteers, Confederate States army. It was soon seen that he had an unusual aptitude for organization and remarkable executive ability. Because of the possession of these qualities, he was detached from his company and placed first in the commissary department, and later was promoted to the position of regimental commissary. In this position he dis- tinguished himself by devotion to duty, which was manifested by his untiring efforts to supply not only the necessities but as: far as possible the comforts of life to the troops. He continued with his command until the surrender at Greensboro, North Caro- lina, in 1865. When the army was disbanded, his pay amounted to one dollar and ten cents in silver, and with this sum for his: cash capital he started for home to again begin his business life. In the fall of 1865 he entered a Georgetown, South Carolina,
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business house in a subordinate capacity, but in 1867 he withdrew therefrom and began business on his own account. By honest dealing, industry and enterprise, he was enabled to rapidly build up a business which has now reached very large proportions.
Mr. Kaminski has been twice married; first, in 1866, to Miss Charlotte Virginia Emanuel (a descendant of the Gomez family, who were among the early settlers of this country), who died in 1880; and second, in 1885, to Miss Rose Baum, whose ancestors took an active part in the Revolutionary war. His children, four by the first wife and one by the second, are all living in 1907.
Mr. Kaminski is now president of the Kaminski Hardware company; of the Willow Bank Boat Oar company; of the Pee Dee Steamboat company; of the Taylor-Dickson Medical dis- pensary, a charitable institution; vice-president of the Bank of Georgetown and of the Georgetown board of trade, and a director in the Georgetown Rice Milling company, and in several other local enterprises. Mr. Kaminski has never held or desired public office, though he has taken a deep interest in current affairs and has held important positions in various civic and mercantile bodies. He is a director in the Country club, and has been a member of all the social organizations of Georgetown. He has always been aligned with the friends of good government, and he has been liberal with time and money to aid movements and enterprises which had for their end the advancement of the best interests of his adopted city and state.
The address of Mr. Kaminski is Georgetown, South Carolina.
JOHN PATTERSON KNOX
K NOX, JOHN PATTERSON, Associate Reformed Pres- byterian clergyman, was born October 19, 1860, on a farm near Davidson college, Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. His father, Samuel W. Knox, a plain, honest, and energetic farmer, and brave soldier throughout the War between the States, in General A. P. Hill's corps, with which he laid down his gun at Appomattox, was fond of reading stories that taught good lessons and was a faithful follower of Christ; his mother, Sarah (McAuley) Knox, a truly pious woman, alive and well at seventy-four, has been and is the mightiest influence in his life, and he gladly gives her the credit of making him what he is. His blood is Scotch-Irish; the line of descent on the paternal side is through his great-grandfather, Robert Knox, from Scotland (probably a connection of John Knox, the great reformer), who came to America about 1770 and settled in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, and his grandfather, James Knox, who spent his life in the same county; on the maternal side, through his great-grandfather, Daniel McAuley, of Irish descent, who came from Scotland and settled in Mecklenburg county, North Caro- lina, prior to the war of the Revolution, and his grandfather, Hugh McAuley, who was widely known as a surveyor. He is connected with President James Knox Polk, whose mother was Jane Knox.
He was reared on a farm; was robust and healthy, fond of all outdoor sports, and a hard worker at all kinds of farm labor. This gave him good health, with admiration and respect for toilers, and taught regular habits so well that he was never late at college. His first strong impulse to strive for success was caused by his desire to please his parents; his choice of the ministry for a profession was due to the wishes of his parents and his own inclinations and circumstances. His record so far, and he is still comparatively young, has demonstrated the wisdom of his choice.
He is self-educated; that is, he had to work between sessions in order to make the money to pay for all he got, except the primary portion, which he obtained at the public school of the
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county; he was prepared for college at Huntersville (North Carolina) high school, under Dr. W. W. Orr, going thence to Erskine college, South Carolina, and was graduated in June, 1887. Later he spent two years in Erskine seminary, and in 1890 completed his course in Allegheny seminary. During vacations from 1881 to 1888 he taught school.
He was elected elder in the Huntersville Associate Reformed Presbyterian church in 1882, and began his career as a minister in April, 1890, soon after his ordination, in Rockbridge county, Virginia, having three churches, Broad Creek, Bethel and Ebe- nezer; in 1891 he became pastor of Hickory Grove and Smyrna churches, in York county, South Carolina, remaining there eight years. Since 1889 he has been pastor of the Centennial church, Columbia, South Carolina, which he built at a cost of $8,000, and where he has achieved a marked success in all lines of minis- terial work, and has won the respect and esteem of the entire community.
Since 1897 he has been chairman of the board of regents of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian orphanage, Hickory Grove, which he organized, bought the property, and opened on his faith in the members of the church and in God who gives all things. Since 1894 he has been a trustee of Erskine college, and in 1892-94 he was chairman of the board of trustees of Hickory Grove high school.
He thinks that next to the Bible, which he read from child- hood with his mother and received her explanations, the books most helpful in fitting him for his life work were history and biography, especially the biographies of self-made men. He has said of the influences in his life: "Home started me; school encouraged me; early companionship helped me; private study determined me, and contact with men in active life literally inspired me to do as they were doing." He believes young men should know themselves; that they should have a definite aim in life and a clearly marked plan to reach it; and that they should recognize the rights of others and stick to an honorable profession.
During his school and college days he was an enthusiastic baseball player, and it remains one of his most enjoyable outdoor recreations; the others are hunting and fishing. He says he has failed in some things, but has ever tried to turn failure into a
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