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 16
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Mr. Morgan is unmarried.
His address is Georgetown, South Carolina.
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Men of Mark Publishing Co Washington, D.C.
Sincerely yours It. It. newton
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HOPE HULL NEWTON
N EWTON, HOPE HULL, of Bennettsville, South Caro- lina, lawyer, six years solicitor of the fourth circuit. ex-member of the legislature, was born on February 6. 1845, in the county in which he still resides. His father, Cornelius Newton, a planter and a local.prescher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, sonth, was a man of great energy of mind and rody, supramely deinted to duty, self-denying and benevolent generous in gift of time and money to the service of others umane to his héros and an ardent lover and student of books to he year of by death ut the age of eighty-one. His mother, Mrs. Doreny (Pummel) Newton, was a devout woman and a devoted nohor, sredstvog har son in his studies and molding his char are top for assume and her words. Mr. Newton's ancestors in und Iras -sam lion England to Virginin early in the eighteenth . Faw great grandfather, Giles Newton, came from Him- pry, Vuginis, and seddled before the revolution in what .Markovo cobar, South Carolina. His son. Younger www. grandfather of che sije t of this sketch, served both in
feslibr and wrong in lue hayheed, which was passed in the Hope Hull Newton värty learned to work wpon the farm. - Mi Tolker compelled me to work at intervals along die dans on the farm. It was not a necessity in the family ból Bố Tailor regarded it as a necesary part of my ung fee ble: and I wwe thes taught how form. work should , soit s the soo tumme. I developed a line physique." ig to read and write ab Bre, he began The study of Latin - wall Greek at Twelve .Books were his greas delight in aral besides the.classes, which be enty fourmed ts with avidity Ne Melomeal bank- which were to bife father's library - the world of Dick, Wesley, and
jaspired for college at the Polmetto agadory, near yhage; and, after four ruårs al Wofford college, ho L. B. in 1800, receiving los Master's degree two
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HOPE HULL NEWTON
N EWTON, HOPE HULL, of Bennettsville, South Caro- lina, lawyer, six years solicitor of the fourth circuit, ex-member of the legislature, was born on February 16, 1845, in the county in which he still resides. His father, Cornelius Newton, a planter and a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was a man of great energy of mind and body, supremely devoted to duty, self-denying and benevolent, generous in gifts of time and money to the service of others, humane to his slaves, and an ardent lover and student of books to the year of his death at the age of eighty-one. His mother, Mrs. Dorcas (Purnell) Newton, was a devout woman and a devoted mother, stimulating her son in his studies and molding his char- acter by her example and her words. Mr. Newton's ancestors in direct line came from England to Virginia early in the eighteenth century. His great-grandfather, Giles Newton, came from Hen- rico county, Virginia, and settled before the revolution in what is now Marlboro county, South Carolina. His son, Younger Newton, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, served both in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812.
Healthy and strong in his boyhood, which was passed in the country, Hope Hull Newton early learned to work upon the farm. He said: "My father compelled me to work at intervals along with the slaves on the farm. It was not a necessity in the family economy, but my father regarded it as a necessary part of my training for life; and I was thus taught how farm work should be done, and, at the same time, I developed a fine physique." Learning to read and write at five, he began the study of Latin at ten, and Greek at twelve. Books were his great delight in childhood; and besides the classics, which he early learned to enjoy, he read with avidity the theological books which were to be found in his father's library-the works of Dick, Wesley, and other noted writers.
He was prepared for college at the Palmetto academy, near his native place; and, after four years at Wofford college, he was graduated A. B. in 1869, receiving his Master's degree two years later.
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Before he entered college the War between the States had made its appeal to the young men of his state. When but sixteen years old, in January, 1862, he enlisted in Company E of the Fourth regiment of South Carolina cavalry; and he served until May 28, 1864, when he was badly wounded at Haw's Shop. The war destroyed his father's estate; and Mr. Newton met and man- fully overcame serious difficulties in securing the means with which to complete his preparation and take a college course.
After graduation in 1869 he taught school (at the same time studying law) until July 4, 1870, when he removed to Bennetts- ville, where he has since resided, and on September 19, 1870, he was admitted to the bar. His first strong impulse to strive for the prizes of life, he writes, "I owe to the encouragement of my father in holding up high ideals for my admiration and imita- tion." Home influence first, then school rivalries, and finally the contests and rivalries of his professional career, have been his strongest incentives to effort, and he estimates their relative influence in the order in which they are named.
In January, 1883, Governor Thompson appointed him solici- tor for the fourth circuit, to fill an unexpired term. In 1884 he was unanimously nominated for the full term, in which he served his state acceptably for four years more. He was elected member of the house of representatives of South Carolina, for Marlboro county, for the sessions of 1880 and 1881. He secured the passage of the stock law for his county in 1880, and in 1881 the Marlboro act, thus secured by him, was adopted for the whole state, save a few small excepted portions. He was also active in legislation affecting railroads; and he was a member of the committee of the house which sat during recess and suggested needed railroad legislation for the session of 1881. He advocated railroad com- missioners with plenary power to compel railroads to comply with their regulations; but "plenary power" was not given them.
He has had extensive business experiences, especially in manufacturing, banking, and farming. His earnest efforts to improve agricultural conditions by inducing farmers to abandon the old system of exclusive cotton culture and diversify their operations by raising live stock, and growing grains and fruits, while keeping a limited area for cotton, has been productive of great good. His own farm shows the benefits of the course which he advises others to pursue. He built the first cotton oil mill
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erected in his county, managed it for a time, but at length resigned his position as president of the company because he was overworked. He has been a director in several banks and is now (1907) president of the Union Savings bank, of Bennettsville, a young and prosperous institution.
Mr. Newton has been for years a member of the Marlboro county board of education; and he has shown a deep and intelli- gent interest in all that looks to the improvement of the educa- tional system and the school work of his county and of the state. The veterans of the War between the States have had in him an earnest advocate of all measures for their relief and for the care of their dependent families.
A Democrat, Mr. Newton was a member of the straight-out Democratic convention of August 15, 1876. He has repeatedly served as chairman of the county Democratic conventions of Marlboro county.
Identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he was a lay delegate to its general conference at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1882, and again to the conference at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1894.
He has been three times married. In 1872 he married Martha Johnson, daughter of A. G. Johnson, Esquire, of Ben- nettsville; and their son, H. H. Newton, Jr., is now living. His second marriage was to Mary E. McRae, daughter of John A. McRae, Esquire, of Bennettsville. Of their three daughters, two are still living. He was married to Kate McCall Monroe, in 1888, and of their six children, five are living in 1907.
Mr. Newton has found his favorite relaxation and exercise in horticulture, and especially in viticulture, of which he has made a scientific study.
The suggestion which he offers to the young people of South Carolina is deserving of especial attention, because one seldom hears such a caution to the young from a man whose own pro- fessional career has given evidence of so much hard work. He writes: "I have failed lamentably to accomplish the good I had hoped to do in life; and because of too much of slavish devotion to my office and my secular engagements. If I had my life to live over again, I would do less professional work and would seek more the companionship of others, to receive and to try to do good. For many years I thought that life meant merely work,
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work, work! But life means rational devotion to professional work, with ample time reserved daily for recreation, and specific good works-for reading good books, meditation, prayer, and for human-hearted association with others and particularly with one's family. 'Our young people should not overwork themselves, and should not be overworked by their employers.'"
His address is Bennettsville, South Carolina.
ALLAN NICHOLSON
N ICHOLSON, ALLAN, journalist, was born in Union, Union county, South Carolina, August 1, 1875. His parents were William A. and Rebecca E. Nicholson. His father, who came from Scotland in 1857, was a banker, a man of firmness, fearlessness, and strict integrity, whose high character and influence caused him to be chosen a member of the Constitutional convention in 1895. The mother of Allan Nicholson is a woman of fine qualities of mind and heart, and has exerted a powerful and an enduring influence for good upon her son.
The subject of this sketch has had many difficulties to over- come in the struggle for success. From his birth he has been heavily handicapped, which necessitated the attendance of a body servant whenever he wanted to move about. In childhood and youth he was fond of books. He also enjoyed being in the open air and spent a considerable part of the time that could be spared from study in riding and driving, which, with attendance at baseball games, are still his favorite diversions. His physical disability prevented his attendance at a school of any kind, but his mother, who was well qualified for the task, superintended his reading and study, and, with her assistance, he obtained an excellent working education.
The active work of life was commenced, when he was only twenty years of age, as a partner in the firm of Smith & Nich- olson, booksellers. In the following spring he purchased the interest of his partner and continued the business in his own name. About a year later he added a printing plant, which soon grew to such proportions that its patronage extended beyond the bounds of the state. In February, 1900, he became publisher of a newspaper known as "Progress," and six months later, on account of circumstances which had not been foreseen, he became the editor and the sole owner of the paper. From early years he had felt a strong inclination for literary and journalistic work, and his connection with the paper has enabled him to develop his talents in these directions. It is fortunate for the community that in the position which is occupied by Mr. Nicholson it has a
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man of lofty ideals and the highest principles, who consecrates his talents to the upbuilding of his town and state, not only in what pertains to material prosperity, but also in all that makes for the social, moral, and religious uplifting of the people.
In politics Mr. Nicholson is a Democrat. His religious affili- ation is with the Presbyterian church, and for many years he has been an active worker in the religious field. For eight years he was the secretary and treasurer of the South Carolina Christian Endeavor union, and from 1900 to 1904 he was superintendent of the Sunday school at the Excelsior Knitting mills. In 1897 he was elected deacon of the First Presbyterian church in Union.
In addition to his literary work on his paper, Mr. Nicholson is a frequent contributor to the secular and religious press of the South and the North.
His manners and cheerful disposition have caused him to be admired and beloved by a large circle of friends, and his genial humor, quick wit and kindly consideration for others, make him a welcome member of any group of his acquaintances. In the opinion of many of his friends he is, so far as Union is concerned, entitled to be described by the words used by President Roosevelt in speaking of his friend, Jacob Riis, "useful man Number One." Mr. Nicholson believes, and he puts this belief into practice, that. work should be faithfully performed not merely for the accumu- lation of wealth, but in order that the worker and the world in which he works may be made better thereby.
The postoffice address of Mr. Nicholson is Union, Union county, South Carolina.
Mon of Mark Publishing Company Washington, D. C.
Sincerely yours
JAMES CORNELIUS OTTS
O TTS, JAMES CORNELIUS, a prominent and rising young lawyer and politician, of Gaffney, South Carolina, was born in Pinckney township, Union county, in the same state, June 27, 1869. His father was James Dabney Otts, a teacher by profession, who served the Confederacy as a soldier under Robert E. Lee. His health was shattered by the hardships he underwent while in the army, and he died of consumption, in Florida, in 1875. His mother was Ellen Gault, and her paternal grandfather, who came from Ireland, was a soldier of the Revo- lution and was captured by the British at the battle of Camden. Her father was a local Methodist preacher, noted for his piety. Her grandmother was a member of the Page family, of Virginia. His father's brother, Reverend J. M. P. Otts, D. D., was a noted Presbyterian preacher, who filled important pulpits in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and was the author of several books, mostly on travel and religious subjects.
Like many other young men of the South who were brought up in the period following the great War between the States, James C. Otts had to contend during his childhood and early youth with poverty and privation. The death of his father, which occurred when he was a child six years of age, leaving his mother practically nothing, necessitated the removal of the family, which now consisted of his mother, himself and two younger brothers, one of them a mere baby, to a small farm in Union county owned by his mother's father. On this farm his time was spent, until at an early age, by reason of the responsi- bilities placed upon him by circumstances, his boyhood merged into manhood. As a boy he was blessed with a strong physique, which was developed by outdoor life and labor on the farm, the management of which soon devolved upon him, and, aided by his brothers and a hired hand, he succeeded in making the farm provide a living for himself and the other members of the family.
In the circumstances, his opportunities for securing an edu- cation were necessarily very limited, but at an early age he developed a fondness for reading, which fortunately was nurtured upon such books as Scott's Novels and Franklin's Autobiography.
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This kind of reading, together with studies in American history and such schooling as he was able to obtain at the common schools of his county, during the brief periods when he was able to attend school at all, furnished him with a fair groundwork of an education. To this he added private study, which gave him a cultured and well-stored mind. His inability to obtain a colle- giate education was the bitterest disappointment of his life, but notwithstanding this disadvantage, he persisted in carrying out his youthful purpose to become a lawyer. By reading Blackstone and other legal works at home, and through the inspiration he derived from reading the life of Charles O'Conner, the great New York lawyer, which deepened his determination, he prepared himself for examination, and in 1897, at the age of twenty-eight, he was admitted to the bar and opened an office at Union. Before that time, however, while still a farmer, he had entered public life through the door of politics. The early nineties were stren- uous years in South Carolina. The Farmers Alliance was in full swing then, and Mr. Otts identified himself with it and became prominent in its councils. This resulted in his being sent as a delegate to the Farmers convention in 1890, which suggested Mr. Tillman for governor. From that time on he was prominent in Union county politics, and was made a member of the State Democratic committee in 1892, and in the next year or two was a delegate to several state conventions. In 1894 he was elected to the house of representatives from Union county at the head of the ticket. During this term he framed and introduced the first separate coach bill to be acted upon acceptably by the house, but the bill did not pass in the senate. In 1895 he was elected to the Constitutional convention and took a prominent part in the fight for smaller counties. While a member of this convention he became acquainted with Colonel George D. Tillman, an elder brother of the redoubtable Benjamin, and a strong friendship sprang up between them. Colonel Tillman, who manifested a deep interest in him, advised him to carry out his long-cherished ambition to become a lawyer.
After his service in the Constitutional convention he gave up farming and moved to Gaffney, in Cherokee county, devoting the next six years of his life to the practice of law, a pursuit in which his strong character, energy, ability, and determination have brought him gratifying success and vindicated the wisdom
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of his choice of a vocation. In 1904 he again entered the political arena, and although in his previous legislative career he had advocated the dispensary system, he was now of a different mind and made the race for the legislature as a Prohibitionist. After a bitter fight he was again elected to the house, once more leading the ticket and receiving the largest majority ever given a candi- date for the legislature in Cherokee county up to that time. In the legislature of 1904 he was appointed on the steering committee in charge of the Morgan local option bill, and on the committee of free conference on the part of the house to confer with the committee from the senate. He also served on the judiciary and military committees of the house, and, with Messrs. Nash and Hemphill, prepared and engineered the ten judicial circuit bill through the asembly, a work which he considers his most impor- tant public service. In 1906 Mr. Otts was a candidate for state senator. Like himself, his competitor was opposed to the state dispensary, and was a worthy man, but Mr. Otts was elected by about six hundred majority. In the senate he has been very efficient in various lines and was the recognized leader in the fight against the state dispensary system for the sale of liquors, which was abolished at the 1907 session.
Of a strong athletic build, one of his favorite modes of relaxation has been to participate in the great national game, baseball. He has also evinced a strong predilection for military service, and organized the Pea Ridge Rifles, a company of which he was captain from 1890 to 1897. He was also captain of the Limestone Guards, at Gaffney, during the period including 1903-1905.
As a man of recognized success, though young in years, he would urge upon all who desire to attain true success in life the value of temperance, of truth, of earnestness of purpose, of manly independence. He advocates helpfulness to others, and would impress by both precept and example the gospel of right living and sober, honest, faithful effort, and diligent perseverance.
His address is Gaffney, South Carolina.
LEWIS WARDLAW PARKER
P ARKER, LEWIS WARDLAW, lawyer and manufacturer, was born at Abbeville, South Carolina, July 11, 1865. His parents were William Henry and Lucia (Wardlaw) Parker. His father was a lawyer and banker, who was master in equity of Abbeville county from 1856 to 1866, code commis- sioner of South Carolina in 1884, and from 1880 to 1888 was a member of the state legislature. He was one of the foremost citizens of the state, and by all who knew him he was respected for his fine qualities of mind and heart. He died in 1905. The first paternal ancestors in this country came from Jamaica and landed near Charleston about 1730. On the maternal side the ancestors settled in Pennsylvania, and removed first to Virginia, and thence, about 1750, to Abbeville, South Carolina. Among the prominent ancestors of the subject of this sketch were William Henry Drayton, chief justice of South Carolina and a member of the colonial congress; Governor Bull, the first colonial execu- tive of the state; and David Lewis Wardlaw, of the state supreme court.
As there was a large family, and his father's means were limited, Lewis Parker had some difficulties to overcome in secur- ing an education. In his earlier years he attended the public schools of Abbeville, but at the age of fifteen he entered a mer- cantile establishment in his native town as clerk and served in that capacity two years. Later he took the academic course in South Carolina university, which he completed in 1885, obtaining the B. A. degree with high honors. He then entered the law department of the same institution, from which he was graduated two years later with the degree of LL. B. While in the law school, and for a short time after his graduation, he taught school in Columbia and Barnwell. In 1888 he removed to Greenville and commenced the practice of law. From the first he was suc- cessful. He was in partnership at different times with Honorable J. A. Mccullough and H. J. Haynsworth, Esquire, two of the most prominent attorneys of that city, but Mr. Parker withdrew in 1897 in order that he might enter the comparatively new and very promising field of cotton manufacture. He was confident
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that in this way he could serve his state, and his own interests, better than he could as a lawyer. The results of the change have fully vindicated his clear foresight and his discriminating judgment.
On his withdrawal from the practice of law, Mr. Parker continued to look after certain bank affairs in which he had become interested and took the management of the Victor Manu- facturing company, of Greer, South Carolina, which had been organized a short time before. The Victor mills were prosperous from the start, and the plant is now twelve times the size it was when he became connected with it. Mr. Parker was also one of the organizers of the Monaghan mills, located at Greenville, South Carolina, and from the first he has been vice-president and treasurer of the corporation. Both mills have model villages, with schools, libraries, and places of entertainment for the opera- tives. When it became necessary to reorganize what was known as the "Whaley group" of cotton mills in Columbia the parties in interest made careful inquiry in order to find a man of high character and proved ability who would accept the positions of president and treasurer of the corporations. After careful inves- tigation they selected Mr. Parker. He accepted the positions with the distinct understanding that this new undertaking should in no wise interfere with proper attention to the management of the mill properties in and around Greenville with which he was connected. The conditions at the Whaley mills were bad, and, on account of the financial and other troubles in which the busi- ness was involved, the outlook was discouraging. But by means of his knowledge, skill, and efficiency, Mr. Parker solved the difficult and complex problems and in a comparatively short time put the mills on a paying basis. One of these mills, the Olympia, contains 100,320 spindles and is the largest cotton factory in the United States under one roof.
It was a very common custom of young lawyers in his day to seek public office, but Mr. Parker did not follow this course. He is a Democrat, and has always been willing to aid his party, both in local and in state affairs, but he has never desired public office. In 1896 and 1900 he did not vote for the presidential candidate of the Democratic party on account of the free silver issue. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and a deeply interested and a very helpful member of the Historical Society
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of South Carolina. His religious affiliation is with the Protes- tant Episcopal church.
The life of Mr. Parker is a marked illustration of the great change which has occurred at the South during the past few decades. The development of the cotton manufacturing interest has drawn many men of ability from professional life to the management of cotton factories and the development of other industries. Mr. Parker was a leader at the bar when he left it, and as a mill manager he now has more spindles under his direction than any of his associates. His success is due to his natural ability, his legal training, and, in a great degree, to the choice of wise methods and close and constant attention to all that has to do with his chosen field of activity. The achievements of his administration of the mills under his control have made him one of the commanding figures in the industrial life of the South.
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