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 14
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Senator McLaurin's most important speeches while in the senate were his deliverances on "The Philippine Islands," Feb- ruary 28, 1900, and on "The Repeal of the Ten Per Cent. Tax on State Banks of Issue," January 16, 1900. These speeches, especially the one on the Philippine policy of the country, were marked by careful preparation, cogent reasoning, and a broad view of public policy, although they were the chief offenders against the more provincial sensibilities of the South.
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JOHN LOWNDES M'LAURIN
On July 11, 1902, President Roosevelt tendered Senator McLaurin the position of judge of the United States court of claims, which he declined, and at the expiration of his term as senator he returned to the practice of law.
Before entering congress, Mr. McLaurin was, for some time, chief of ordnance on the staff of Governor B. R. Tillman, with the rank of colonel, and was also captain of a volunteer company of militia known as the Gordon Rifles.
On February 19, 1883, Mr. McLaurin married Nora Breeden, daughter of Thomas J. and Sallie Helen Breeden, of Marlboro county, South Carolina. They have had six children, all of whom are now (1907) living.
His address is Bennettsville, Marlboro county, South Caro- lina.
AMOS McMANUS
M cMANUS, AMOS, of Lancaster, South Carolina, ex-sheriff of Lancaster county, ex-member of the legis- lature of his state, a veteran of the Mexican war, captain of a company in the Confederate army for thirteen months, 1861-1862, in the War between the States, was born at Lancaster on May 15, 1826. His father was a farmer of sterling character, John McManus. His great-grandfather came from Ireland to Virginia in colonial times; and his grandfather removed from Virginia and settled in the western part of Ches- terfield county on Lynch river.
Born on a farm and the son of a farmer, he early determined upon farming as his own life occupation. He attended the com- mon schools of his county, meanwhile having excellent health, and doing such "chores," and such kinds of more regular and more severe work on a farm as his strength and youth permitted. He had access to few books besides school text-books and the Bible; but he learned to love to read the Book of Books.
At the outbreak of the Mexican war he joined the army and for nineteen months, in 1846, 1847, 1848, he was with the United States forces on the border and in Mexico.
In 1861 he was elected sheriff of his county, serving for three years, after he had served as captain in the War between the States for one year.
In 1880 he was chosen as the representative of Lancaster county in the house of representatives of South Carolina, serving two years, 1881 and 1882.
He was postmaster of Taxahaw, Lancaster county, South Carolina, for four years, 1886 to 1890.
Connected early in life with the Democratic party, he has not, at any time, found reason to swerve from his allegiance to that organization, but he has supported its measures and its candidates.
He has been twice married: to Martha Ann Hough on December 18, 1849; and a second time to Rebecca Jane Roberts on March 31, 1864. By his first wife he had a daughter.
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AMOS M'MANUS
In his religious belief and worship he is identified with the Baptist church.
A veteran of two wars, an octogenarian who has always proved his public spirit by his deeds, he feels that he owes much of his outlook upon life and his interest in public affairs to the stirring scenes in which he had a part, in 1846-1848, and 1861- 1865; and to the men in public life with whom he has been associated. Many well-wishers in his county and state hope to see Mr. McManus live out a full century of useful life.
His address is Lancaster, Lancaster county, South Carolina.
JOHN McSWEEN
M cSWEEN, JOHN, of Timmonsville, South Carolina, president of the John McSween company, is a business man who by his energy, perseverance and probity, has built up in a comparatively small place a business such as would deserve and command attention in any city of the South. Born in Argyleshire, Scotland, December 21, 1847, and entering a store in Glasgow, Scotland, as messenger boy, when he was but four- teen, he has steadily won his way by industry and fair dealing; and now, for thirty-three years a merchant, and for fourteen years a banker, his success in business life entitles him to be ranked among South Carolina's "men of mark."
His father, John McSween, was a Gaelic school-teacher, a man of piety and character, who did necessary religious mis- sionary work while he taught among the Scotch highlanders. Both he and his wife, Mrs. Catherine McSween, had a decided and deep influence for good upon the character of their son, who was the second of the family to come to America.
Strong and healthy as a boy, making good use of the limited opportunity for an elementary education, which was open to him in a Scotch country school, John McSween laid the foundation of a business education in the public school at Port Ellen Islay, Scotland. The "Lives of Eminent Scotchmen," and other biog- raphies, early stirred his ambition; and as he met with or read of men who had succeeded in life, he says: "I determined, if hard work could accomplish it, to succeed, myself." His own choice led him toward a mercantile life; and at fourteen he became errand boy in a Glasgow store.
In 1868 he came to South Carolina, and he established him- self at Timmonsville soon afterward. In 1873 he began an independent business there, on his own account. It has grown under his management until it has become the important corpo- ration known as "The John McSween Company, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in General Merchandise," whose spacious building is one of the marked features of Timmonsville, while the trade of the company is widely distributed through all that section.
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Mr. McSween is president of the company. He is also president of the Bank of Timmonsville. He was one of the com- missioners to look after the construction of the public buildings when Florence county was established. He is a member of the Commercial club and of the St. Andrew's society of Charleston.
In his political associations he is a Democrat. Born of a Christian mother, whose religious beliefs and Christian life impressed her son deeply, and having a devotedly pious father, he early became by conviction and choice identified with the Presbyterian church. "The influence of home was paramount in my life," he says, "and association with clean companions, and good reading," helped to form sound principles and high ideals of business life.
On March 12, 1882, he married Miss Kate Keith; and they have two children.
This successful and honorable merchant, whom all Caro- linians who know him would gladly enroll among the natives of South Carolina if they might, writes for young men of his adopted state this brief advice: "The young man who would succeed must be willing to pay the cost of success. He must apply himself in earnest. He must use self-denial. He must have high ideals of life. He must dare to do right."
His address is Timmonsville, Florence county, South Caro- lina.
RICHARD IRVINE MANNING
M ANNING, RICHARD IRVINE, son of Richard Irvine Manning and his wife, Elizabeth Allen Sinkler, was born at Homesley plantation, Sumter county, South Carolina, August 15, 1859. The father, a man of equable tem- perament and gentle and unobtrusive in manner, was noted for his excellent judgment and scrupulous uprightness in life. He impressed all as an honorable and just man, and his opinion naturally, in matters of moment, was often sought. He was a successful planter, and served acceptably in the state senate of South Carolina.
His paternal ancestor, Laurence Manning, was born in Ire- land, and emigrated thence prior to the American Revolution and settled in Craven, subsequently Clarendon, county, South Carolina. He married a daughter of Richard Richardson, a distinguished patriot, born near Jamestown, Virginia, 1704, where he had been a land surveyor. He removed to Craven county, South Carolina, where he engaged in farming. During the Indian border wars he commanded a regiment; was a member of the council of safety at Charleston in 1775; and for his services in quelling a dangerous loyalist revolt in the "back country" received the thanks of the provincial congress and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. He was a member of the legislative council of 1776, and in the provincial congress of South Carolina assisted in forming the state constitution. Lord Cornwallis made fruitless efforts to gain him over to the royal cause. Made prisoner at the capture of Charleston, he returned from the prison of St. Augustine and died in a few days near Salisbury, North Carolina, in September, 1781. His eldest son, Colonel Richard Richardson, commanded the right wing of General Francis Marion's army at the battle of Eutaw, and was wounded. Another son, James B. Richardson, was governor of South Carolina, 1802-1804.
The same Laurence Manning, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a Revolutionary soldier, and was distinguished for his intrepid courage and imperturbability of demeanor in moments of great peril, instances of which are
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RICHARD IRVINE MANNING
narrated in "Garden's Anecdotes." He was the first adjutant- general of the state of South Carolina.
His son, Richard Irvine Manning, was born in Sumter dis- trict, May 1, 1789; was graduated from South Carolina college in 1811; served in the war of 1812; was a member of the South Carolina legislature 1822, and governor of South Carolina 1824- 1826; was state senator, and was elected a member of congress from South Carolina in 1834, and died during his term, in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1836.
The early years of the subject of this sketch were passed upon the plantation of his father, and he grew up a healthy and active lad, fond of horseback riding and fox hunting. His father dying when he was only two years of age, the responsible care of the plantation and of his mother and sisters fell upon him when he was a mere lad. His training was of great value to him. It necessitated daily intercourse with his neighbors in varied matters of business and impressed him with the value of the golden rule in all his transactions as well as accustoming himself to self-sacrifice.
His mother was highly educated and refined, a sincerely pious woman of deep religious faith in whom all considerations of selfish comfort and pleasure were always subservient to her duty to God, to the cause of humanity and the good of her country. The special lines of reading which young Manning found most helpful in fitting him for his work in life were, primarily, the Bible, with the biographies of men famous in the world's progress. After attending the primary schools in the vicinity of his birth, he was for two years a student at the Ken- more University high school of the late H. A. Strode, in Amherst county, Virginia, and later at the University of Virginia, which he left in 1879 before completing the course of study.
He commenced the active work of his life in Sumter county, South Carolina, as a farmer in 1880.
On February 10, 1881, he married, at Richmond, Virginia, Lelia Bernard Meredith, daughter of Honorable John A. Mere- dith and Sarah Anne Bernard, his wife. Judge Meredith was a descendant of Colonel Elisha Meredith, of the American Revo- lution. Two brothers of Mrs. Manning, Messrs. Charles V. and Wyndham Robertson Meredith, of Richmond, Virginia, are prominent members of the Virginia bar. The first choice of
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RICHARD IRVINE MANNING
young Manning was for the profession of law, but his eyesight being threatened, he abandoned the study.
He was elected a member of the house of representatives of South Carolina in 1892, and in 1894, although he declined the nomination, he was reëlected to the house. In 1898 he was elected a member of the state senate of South Carolina, was reelected in 1902, and served as president pro tempore of that body in 1905. He was also chairman of the finance committee, a member of the sinking fund commission of the senate, and a member of the Wade Hampton Monument commission. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor of South Carolina at the Democratic primaries in 1906, but failed of success, after a hotly contested campaign, in spite of his confessedly greater popularity than that enjoyed by his winning competitor.
Besides developing his planting interests, Mr. Manning has proved himself in many ways a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and has been influentially connected with various business and other enterprises. Among his trusts have been president and treasurer of the Masonic Temple association, president of the Sumter Compress company, president of the Sumter Cotton Warehouse company, president of the Home Building and Loan association; director in the Bank of Sumter, in the Sumter Tele- phone Manufacturing company, Sumter Telephone company, Sumter Machinery company, Sumter and Wateree Railroad com- pany, and president of the Bank of Sumter. He has also been connected with other enterprises tending to the improvement and development of his community and state. In his party affiliation he has been a consistent Democrat, and has always aided in every effort to purify elections-"the ballot being the foundation stone of republican institutions." He believes that "effort should be made to rid elections of fraud; that they should be protected from the exercise of undue influence so as to arrive at a free and untrammeled expression of the popular will." He introduced in the house of representatives, in 1894, a rigid Australian ballot bill, but it was defeated. He has always taken an active part in all legislation touching the assessment and taxation of property, and in everything promoting the educational interests of South Carolina. He has actively worked for the development of the common school system, as well as for the thorough equipment and the broadening of the sphere of the institutions of higher
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learning. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, is chairman of the vestry of the church at Sumter, and its treasurer, and is also treasurer of St. Mark's church at Clar- endon, South Carolina. He is a member of the standing com- mittee of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of South Carolina, chairman of the finance committee of the diocese of its board of missions, and of the executive committee of the Young Men's Christian association of North and South Carolina. He served in the state militia of South Carolina, 1876-78. He is a member of the following fraternities: A. F. and A. Masons, the Delta Kappa Epsilon, and the Knights of Pythias. He has found healthful relaxation from the duties of his busy and useful career in driving, riding, occasional hunting, and travel when time and opportunity have admitted.
He believes that the principles, methods and habits which will prove most helpful to our young people in attaining true success in life are: "A regular reading and study of the Bible, the study of history and the biographies of those characters whose lives and achievements appeal to the student, and, above all, to ever aim at the attainment of the highest ideals of citizen- ship, with purity of morals and uprightness in character in the daily walks of life; to feel it a duty to take interest in and to create, foster and direct a healthy public sentiment in all public questions, and to be ever ready to sacrifice private inclination, personal comfort, and pecuniary interests, in the discharge of duty to God and to fellowmen, with the paramount ambition to be useful and valued members of the community."
His address is 421 North Main street, Sumter, Sumter county, South Carolina.
PATRICK HUES MELL
M ELL, PATRICK HUES, Ph. D., was born in Penfield, Greene county, Georgia, May 24, 1850. He is the son of Patrick Hues and Lurene Howard Cooper Mell. His father was a Baptist minister and teacher; from 1842 to 1856 professor of ancient languages in Mercer university; from 1856 to 1878 professor of ethics at the University of Georgia; and from 1878 to 1888 chancellor of the University of Georgia. He was a colonel in the Confederate army, and president for many years of the Southern and Georgia Baptist conventions. He was the author of a valuable work on parliamentary law, and of several books on religious subjects. He was pastor of several churches, serving one for thirty years, and his section of the country was known as "Mell's Kingdom." He received the degrees of D. D. and LL. D. He was a powerful, logical, intel- ligent, and profound reasoner, strong-willed, yet ever gentle and courteous, possessing great self-control and personal dignity; a born ruler and leader of men.
Among the early ancestors in America should be noted the following: John Mell, who emigrated from England in 1677 and settled near Charleston, South Carolina; Patrick Hues, an Irish patriot, who was exiled from Ireland and in 1772 settled in St. Matthew's parish, South Carolina. The Summer, Andrew and Baker families, of English descent, removed from Massachusetts to Dorchester, South Carolina, in 1696. They were also ancestors of Patrick H. Mell. Reverend Wilson Connor, of Irish descent, born in 1756 in Marlboro district, South Carolina, was the great- grandfather of Patrick H. Mell.
In childhood and youth the subject of this sketch was "just an ordinary boy; healthy, full of play and mischief." He was always interested in mechanics and science, possessing, at the same time, much love for art and literature. He was city bred. His boyhood and youth fell in the War between the States and Reconstruction period. At this time all Southern youths had to work. Doubtless this necessity developed in the boy habits of industry, patience, and self-denial.
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PATRICK HUES MELL
His mother was a woman of culture and Christian character, and her influence upon him was, in every way, for good. The precepts and example of his father have also proved to him through life an inspiration. He was prepared for college by his father. In 1871 he was graduated from the University of Georgia with the degree of A. B. In 1873 he received from the University of Georgia the degree of C. E. and M. E .; later he received from the same institution the honorary degree of Ph.D., while the South Carolina college bestowed upon him the degree of LL. D.
In 1873, Doctor Mell assumed the duties of mining engineer for a copper mine in Georgia. The professional work of Doctor Mell has been in the geological, botanical, and meteorological sciences. From 1873, when he commenced his professional duties in Georgia, he was for many years a mining engineer. During 1877-78 he was mining expert for companies in Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. From 1874 to 1877 he was state chemist of Georgia ; from 1878 to 1902 he was professor of natural history and geology in the Alabama Polytechnic institute. In 1887 he was elected botanist to the Alabama Experiment station. In 1880 he was elected a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, but resigned ten years later. From 1884 to 1893 he was director of the Alabama Weather service; and from 1898 to 1902 director of the Alabama Experiment station. In 1896 he was made chairman of the section on botany and horticulture of the American association of agricultural colleges and experiment stations; in 1898 he was elected vice-president of this body, and also director of the Alabama Experiment station. In 1902 he was made president of Clemson Agricultural college, and con- tinued as director of the experiment station.
Doctor Mell has, from time to time, declined important positions, including the chairs of geology in two leading institu- tions in neighboring states in 1890, and the presidency of Mercer university in 1893.
For several years Doctor Mell was president of the Baptist Young People's union of Alabama; from 1899 to 1902 he was a member of the Baptist State Mission board.
Doctor Mell is a voluminous writer. His productions include many important papers published in scientific journals, in the transactions of scientific societies, and by the United States
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PATRICK HUES MELL
Department of Agriculture, together with a very large number of experiment station reports and bulletins on agricultural and kindred subjects. He has also written a "Life of Patrick Hues Mell, State Chancellor of the University of Georgia" (1895), has revised "Mell's Parliamentary Law" (1902), and also revised White's "Gardening for the South." He invented the present system of local weather signals. This, at first, was known as the "Mell" system, and later as the "Alabama" system. It is now adopted and used by the United States Weather bureau.
Doctor Mell is a member of the Southern Historical society, the South Carolina Historical society, the Alabama Historical society, the Kappa Alpha college fraternity, and the Sons of Veterans. He is a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, and of the Geological Society of Amer- ica, and a member of the National Geographic society, and of the International Congress of Geologists. Doctor Mell is also commander of the Sons of Veterans in Alabama. In boyhood he was fond of outdoor sports, and as a man he is deeply inter- ested in athletics. In politics he has always been a Democrat; in religion he is, as has been indicated, a Baptist.
On June 15, 1875, he was married to Miss Annie Rebecca White.
His address is Clemson College, Oconee county, South Caro- lina.
5
Quand Memmingen
ALLARD MEMMINGER
M EMMINGER, ALLARD, M. D., was born September 30, 1854, in Charleston, South Carolina. He is the son of Christopher Gustavus Memminger and Mary Wilkinson Memminger. His father was a lawyer and was the first secretary of the treasury of the Confederate States of America. He was noted for lucidity and intenseness in expres- sion. Doctor Memminger's most distinguished ancestor was his paternal grandfather, Christopher Godfrey Memminger, who was an officer in the Austrian army which fought Napoleon at Wag- ram. It was due to injuries received in this battle that he finally died. Allard Memminger's mother was descended from English ancestors, and his grandfather on this side of the house was a physician.
In youth, Allard Memminger was rather delicate. He was reared in city and country. Manual labor was not demanded of him; he was, however, required to apply himself closely to his books. The influence of his mother upon his character was strong in every way.
Allard Memminger was educated at a private school for boys taught by Doctor Henry M. Bruns, in Charleston. From this institution he went, at the earliest age at which matriculation was permitted, to the University of Virginia. Here he took an academic course of three complete sessions. After graduating, he went home, but afterward returned to the university and took a special course in the department of chemistry. He was grad- uated in all the schools of chemistry, and then returned to his native city and began business as an analytical chemist. In 1878 he entered the Medical College of the State of South Carolina as a student of medicine, continuing meanwhile his business in analytical chemistry, and graduating from that institution in 1880 as a doctor of medicine and surgery. After this he went abroad, visiting the hospitals in Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Vienna, with a view to perfecting himself in the knowledge of medicine and surgery. With the same object, he also visited the Pasteur institute in Paris. While pursuing the profession of an analytical chemist, he became chemist for a number of fertilizer
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manufacturing plants, constructing for them, in many instances, the acid chambers required in the factories. He conducted, at the same time, a very large analytical business, and was appointed chemist for the state of South Carolina. He was also offered, but declined, a like position in the state of North Carolina.
He is now professor of chemistry, hygiene and clinical, urinary diagnosis in the Medical College of the State of South Carolina; professor of general applied chemistry in the College of Pharmacy of South Carolina; one of the visiting physicians in the city hospital of Charleston; member or ex-member of state, national and international medical, pharmaceutical, scien- tific and hygienic societies; and corresponding honorary member of the Academie Parisienne Francaise des Iwoens. He has been a member of the state board of pharmaceutical examiners of South Carolina and of the Charleston city board of health. To obtain hygienic data for the governments of the United States and France, he made an examination of the water used by the city of Charleston, a laborious and highly scientific undertaking. He is an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical association of South Carolina. He is author of "Diagnosis by the Urine" (second edition published in 1902) ; "Qualitative Chemical Analysis," a brief work (second edition issued in 1904) ; and "Science in the Field," a brochure published by the News and Courier Publishing company, of Charleston. He has written many articles of scien- tific and medical interest on the subjects of water, climate, and disease of the kidneys; these articles have appeared in many of the leading journals of this country. He has also published a special article on "The true Function of a State Medical Exam- ining Board," which led to a considerable change in the medical laws of South Carolina. The law now in force was, in great measure, drawn from this original article, and was framed by Doctor S. C. Baker, of Sumter, member of the examining board, and Doctor Allard Memminger, of the Medical college.
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