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 20
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"I would suggest," he once said, "to every young man starting out in life that the first necessary thing is to have a well-defined purpose. Your vocation once selected, stick firmly to it, and give it your time, your energy, your best abilities. Improve your education, cultivate a pleasant demeanor, be truthful and honest in all things, industrious, frugal in your expenditures, and asso- ciate with men of honorable life and refined tastes. Don't neglect details."
Mr. Seignious has been twice married. First, November 19, 1868, to Christiana H. Pelzer, daughter of Francis J. Pelzer, of Charleston, South Carolina. She died in 1889, after having borne nine children, four of whom-Eva Antoinette, wife of Vanderhorst B. Murray; Mattie, wife of Joseph L. Barry; and one daughter and one son unmarried-are now (1907) living. His second marriage was to Esther Barnwell Heyward, daughter of Honorable Nathaniel B. Heyward, of Beaufort, South Caro- lina, to whom he was married in 1891.
His address is Charleston, South Carolina.
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CHARLES JOHN SHANNON, JR.
S HANNON, CHARLES JOHN, JR., merchant, planter and banker, was born at Camden, Kershaw county, South Carolina, July 1, 1863. His parents were Charles John and Mary (Ancrum) Shannon. His father was a physician and surgeon, a man of good judgment, fine intellectual attainments, and who served as a surgeon in the Confederate States army. His mother was a woman of fine qualities of mind and heart and exerted a strong and enduring influence for good upon her son. The earliest paternal ancestors of the family to settle in this country were Charles John Shannon, who came from the north of Ireland about 1780, and Joshua English, who came from England in the early part of the eighteenth century. Two of the maternal ancestors, George Ancrum from England, and Isaac Porcher from France, also came over early in the eighteenth century. These families have been noted for culture and char- acter for two centuries.
In childhood and youth the subject of this sketch enjoyed good health. He lived in a town of about three thousand inhab- itants, and his tastes and interests were those of the average boy of that time. His father died when he was but seven years of age, and from that time he felt that he must do all that was in his power for his mother and sisters. As he was obliged to commence work at an early age, it was impossible for him to take a course of study at a college or university, which he would have been glad to have done, but for several years he studied at night under the direction of his mother. His favorite books at this time were mathematics and history, and to these studies he gave more attention than to others. After a time he was able to attend the private school of F. Leslie McCandless in Camden and completed its course of study, but he was never able to obtain a liberal education.
He began the active work of life as clerk in a shoe store in his native town. His preference would have been for profes- sional life, but as circumstances were such that he could not properly equip himself therefor, he decided upon a line of work in which he could do credit to himself and benefit his employer.
Very truly yours Q. J. Shannon f.
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He was ambitious to rise in the world, and by faithful attention to his duties he obtained a good reputation and soon fitted himself for a higher position. He advanced rapidly, and in 1889 he became a member of the large cotton, banking and mercantile firm of Springs, Heath & Company. Two years later the firm name was changed to Springs, Heath & Shannon, and in 1900 to Springs & Shannon, which name it still retains. Mr. Shannon is president of the Commercial bank, of Camden; president of the Shannon-Stevens-Boykin company, at Cheraw; a director in several corporations, and since 1894 he has been president of the Camden board of trade. Several years ago he engaged in the production of cotton, and is now probably the most extensive planter in Kershaw county.
Mr. Shannon traces the first strong impulse to strive for the prizes of life to self-respect, pride in his family, and a desire to regain its fortune. Estimating the relative strength of certain influences which have helped him in preparing for and carrying on the work of life he names home as by far the greatest; private study as the next in importance, and then contact with men in active life. He is fond of all athletic sports, but has been too busy to devote any time to them. As all the exercise required is found in supervising the operations of his cotton plantation, no attention has been given to any system of physical culture. He is a Mason, and is a member of several social clubs. In politics he has always been a Democrat. His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal church, and he has held the office of vestryman in the church at Camden since 1889. On April 30, 1895, Mr. Shannon was married to Emily Jordan Nesbit. They have had two children, both of whom are living in 1907.
In reply to a request that he would say something in the way of suggestion that may help in their efforts the young Americans who read his biography, Mr. Shannon says: "I consider short cuts to success very dangerous. They are likely to lead to much trouble and disappointment." He lays great stress upon "a determination to attain some object so fixed as not to be turned aside by disappointment or failure. The 'get up and try again' spirit is essential to a young man's success. To this must be added rigid honesty, clean personal habits, and self-respect."
The home of Mr. Shannon is at Camden, Kershaw county, South Carolina.
CHARLES UPHAM SHEPARD
S HEPARD, CHARLES UPHAM, M. D., of "Pinehurst," Summerville, Dorchester county, South Carolina, chemist to the state board of agriculture, expert upon phosphatic deposits, tea planter and special agent for tea culture, United States department of agriculture, is the son of a noted miner- alogist and chemist, and was born at New Haven, Connecticut, October 4, 1842.
His father, Professor Charles Upham Shepard, filled the chair of mineralogy and chemistry at Yale college, and at Amherst college, Massachusetts, and also at the South Carolina Medical college, at Charleston, South Carolina. He was one of the most noted of the early American mineralogists. His collec- tion of minerals was world-famous; and he had a keen perception of the properties of minerals, which enabled him to discover more species than has any other mineralogist, except Breithaupt. His father's ancestors were among the earlier English settlers in New England. For several generations most of the men of the family have been lawyers, ministers, physicians, or professors in institu- tions of learning. As a family, they have held higher ideals in life than the mere attempt to make money.
The early life of the son was passed partly in the town and partly in the country; and while he was still a boy he made several trips to Europe with his father. He writes of his boy- hood: "I was always glad to do any out-of-door work. While this was not necessary, I enjoyed it; and it is probably this love of out-of-door work which has brought me in second childhood to the tillage of mother earth." "No, I had no difficulties to overcome in acquiring an education; the difficulties were for my teachers; I was fond of the usual boy's books, but I disliked Latin grammar at ten years of age." His classical studies were completed at that celebrated classical school, the Phillips academy, of Andover, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated in 1859. Entering Yale college at once, in 1863 he was graduated with the degree of A. B. Several years of study at German universities followed, and in 1867 he received from the University of Göttingen the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Several years later he studied agriculture at the University of Halle, Germany.
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Returning to America in 1867, he became assistant professor of chemistry at the Medical college of the state of South Carolina, at Charleston, South Carolina. His first and strongest impulse to strive for academic honors and a place in the annals of science came, he says, from "my father's unflagging application to science." The wish of his father, as well as his own preference and choice, led to his association with his honored father in the work of the chemical class room and laboratory of the Medical college at Charleston. Throughout his life he has found pleasure and relief in constant occupation in professional work.
For years Doctor Shepard served as chemist to the board of agriculture of South Carolina. As an analytical chemist and an expert upon phosphates, he has rendered great public service to his state and to the country at large by his professional work in discovering and developing the phosphate deposits and fertilizers which have enriched South Carolina. He has also been deeply interested in experimenting in the field and in the factory upon the culture of tea. For years he has been a tea planter at "Pine- hurst," Summerville, in Dorchester county. He has been for years the special agent for the United States department of agriculture for tea culture, and so persistent have been his inquiries and investigations and so unflagging his correspondence in the interest of tea culture in the United States, that the tea planters of India and Ceylon have dubbed him "that pertinacious tea pioneer." So enthusiastic an advocate of tea culture is Doctor Shepard, that he regards the title thus bestowed on him as his most highly valued "honorary degree."
During the Prusso-Austrian war of 1866, Doctor Shepard served as a volunteer surgeon in the Hanoverian army. He has made various inventions in chemistry, and in processes of curing tea and preparing it for the market. He is the author of many reports and scientific articles, privately and publicly printed. Future reports of his upon tea experimentation are awaited with interest.
Professor Shepard is not identified with any one of the political parties; indeed, he is so far from taking the American view of the necessity and the importance of "parties," that he declares: "I never found any material difference among them, except that between the 'ins' and 'outs.'" When asked "What is the sport, amusement, form of exercise, or mode of relaxation
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which you enjoy and find helpful ?" he replies: "Charity schools for both races (separate)." For physical culture, he recommends farming.
Speaking seriously of the possibilities of partial failures, he writes: "My life has not lacked disappointments, which have taught me to endeavor to wear my harness with contentment, in the wish to better the condition of my fellow-men."
Doctor Shepard was married, January 18, 1872, to Ellen Humphrey, daughter of the late Honorable James Humphrey, of Brooklyn, New York.
In reply to the request that he offer a suggestion to the young people of his state which may help them to attain true success in life, he offers this: "I regret to write that the average young American might profitably entertain more respect for parental and governmental law than is usually the case. By so doing, he would suffer no loss of self-respect, but advance his own happiness and the welfare of the community."
BENJAMIN SLOAN
S LOAN, BENJAMIN, LL. D., son of Thomas Majors Sloan and his wife, Nancy Blassingame, and grandson of David McCurdy Sloan and his wife Susan Majors-the former born in Ireland and the latter in England-was born near the village of Old Pendleton, Oconee county, South Carolina, April 15, 1836. His father was a successful farmer and eminent for varied usefulness to the community in which he lived, and was not only deservedly held in high regard by his neighbors and friends, but widely in his state, in the legislature of which he served acceptably and efficiently for a number of terms.
He grew up a strong and vigorous youth, inured to outdoor exercise, as his father required of his sons their aid on his farm, entrusting chiefly to them the care of the farm stock-cattle and horses. Naturally young Benjamin was fond of horses and all outdoor sports, but he was also of studious habits, fond of general reading, with a bias for the study of ancient languages.
His mother was a woman with the highest virtues of her sex, a model as wife and mother, and she exercised a potent influence in molding his character for usefulness in life, and he gratefully records: "My mother was of the salt of the earth."
His education was commenced in Pendleton academy, which he attended until 1849; he was then a student at the Citadel academy, Charleston, South Carolina, from 1852 to 1854. He entered West Point Military academy, July 1, 1855, and was graduated from that institution in the class of July 1, 1860. Among the members of his class were Generals Wesley Merritt, James H. Wilson, A. C. M. Pennington, and Horace Porter, of the United States army, and General Stephen D. Ramseur, of the Confederate States army, and many men who became distin- guished in civil life. He was appointed lieutenant of dragoons and served on frontier duty at Albuquerque and Taos, New Mexico, in 1860. He resigned, March 2, 1861, to enter the Confederate States army. He served first as adjutant in Orr's South Carolina rifles, and subsequently as captain and major of ordnance, gallantly and faithfully throughout the war. He was
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appointed superintendent of the Columbia and Greenville rail- road in 1866, and so continued until 1868, when he relinquished the position and engaged in farming until 1872. He then became the manager of the Pendleton Cotton mill, which position he held until 1878, when he engaged in teaching. He was professor of mathematics in Adger college from its establishment until 1880, when he was elected professor of applied mathematics in South Carolina college. He became president of the college in 1902. His course of study was selected with the advice of his relatives and friends, and his strong desire has ever been to perform to the best of his ability the duties of life as they arose, choosing as models and standards of excellence the best citizens in the several communities in which he has lived and served.
He advises all young men who earnestly desire to succeed in life to be truthful in all things, faithful in every performance undertaken, loyal ever to their community, their state and their country, and, above all, reverential of the laws of the land.
In recognition of his abilities and his services in the cause of education, the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Wofford college in January, 1904.
He was married December 1, 1862, to Annie Moore Maxwell, daughter of Captain John Maxwell and Elizabeth Earle. They have had two children, neither of whom is now living. They have one grandson, Benjamin S. Beverley.
The address of Doctor Sloan is University of South Carolina, Columbia, Richland county, South Carolina.
Men at Mack Publishing Company Washington, D C
Very tuy yrs. fallen Smith
JOEL ALLEN SMITH
S MITH, JOEL ALLEN, banker and financier, son of William Joel Smith and Ione Allen Smith, was born at Abbeville, South Carolina, March 4, 1856. His father was a planter before and a merchant after the war. He was a colonel on the staff of General A. M. Smith, of the State militia, before the war and served faithfully throughout the War between the States. He never sought but persistently declined all other public offices. He was characterized by firmness, concentration of purpose and a marked ability to give close attention to detail.
The great-grandfather of J. Allen Smith, William Smith, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, November 5, 1762, and married Lucy Wright, of the same state. He was a planter and slave owner. He settled in South Carolina, in 1794, at Stony Point, Abbeville county, now Greenwood county. Joel Smith, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the most successful men of his day. He was a prime mover in inaugu- rating and carrying to a successful issue the building of the Greenville and Columbia railroad, one of the first built in the United States. He was a director of the same, and was also a leading spirit in building the Graniteville Cotton mills, near Augusta, Georgia. He was for years a member of the legislature from Abbeville county, was an elder in the Presbyterian church and esteemed for his high integrity and uprightness of character.
Young Allen Smith was a robust, healthy and active boy, fond of outdoor exercises and athletics. His early life was passed in the village, with vacations spent in the country, at the old homestead at Stony Point. His parents, having ample means, required no manual labor of their son. The influence of his mother was especially strong on the ethical side of his nature. He was rather fonder of reading than of hard study, and read much of history, general literature, and biography, especially delighting in the latter. The influence of home, of school and early companions tended largely to form his disposition and to develop the amiable and softer side of his nature, thus serving as a check against too great sordidness. From private study he obtained his ideals, these rather tending to hero worship and
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the romantic. The character of Julius Cæsar was his youthful beau-ideal, the genius, daring and personal magnetism of the Roman hero taking strong hold of the boy's youthful heart and imagination ; and many a youthful escapade received its inspira- tion from this source. The expression "Always I am Cæsar," borrowed, perhaps, from Shakespeare, and the motto, "Every day begin again," have exerted no small influence throughout his whole life, but it was from contact with men in active life that the sterner and no less necessary traits of character were developed, which have entered very largely into the degree of success he has attained. He feels that he has had little to do with results, these having come to him unknowingly while his attention has been confined to matters in hand.
Educational advantages came to Allen Smith with no material difficulty. He attended the celebrated school of Mr. Edward R. Miles and King's Mountain Military school. After- ward he attended Washington and Lee university at Lexington, Virginia, and studied law privately. Though never admitted to practice, he found the knowledge and training thus gained of great assistance in the work of life.
In choosing a pursuit, Mr. Smith's preference was for the law; circumstances, however, led him into banking. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits and banking at Abbeville, South Carolina, from 1876 to 1906; was president and treasurer of the Abbeville Oil and Fertilizer company, president and treasurer of the Enterprise Ginnery company, president of the Upper Long Cane society, president and treasurer of the Athens Oil and Manufacturing company, of Athens, Georgia, and president of the National Bank of Abbeville from 1889 to the present time (1907). He has always manifested much interest in education and was a member of the county board of education, and was a trustee of Abbeville graded school and of the Presbyterian college of South Carolina. He was first a deacon in the Abbeville Presbyterian church, and afterwards an elder in the same. In addition, he has joined the following associations: The Sons of Confederate veterans, and chosen commander of the local camp; also the society of the Sons of the Revolution. In college he was a member of the Delta Psi fraternity, in which he was gradually advanced to the highest positions. In politics he has always been a Democrat, and, though esteeming the game of politics the
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most engaging, scientific and intricate of all games, Mr. Smith has never sought or held a political office; though in each genera- tion some member of his family has represented the state in the general assembly. His relaxation is found in reading, traveling, and association with kindred spirits; he has also constantly, throughout life, indulged much in outdoor exercises and in the use of the free arm movements, finding them of great benefit.
To the young he commends "faith in a Supreme Being- the only living and true, Triune, God; great reverence for and unremitting study of the Bible (with a good commentary), which aside from its immeasurable religious benefit, is the most inter- esting of all books; as much and as accurate an acquaintance with history and general literature as is possible; lofty and true ideals, eliminating, as much as possible, the selfish, and encouraging patriotism, especially love of one's own state." He advises, also, "the cultivation of the ability to write essays, and to speak one's thoughts forcibly while standing before an audience. As for the rest, I should say it is all contained in the words: concentrate, concentrate, work, work."
Mr. Smith has been twice married: First, in early life, to Rebecca, daughter of the late Judge James S. Cothran, of Abbe- ville, South Carolina, of which marriage were born three children, all of whom were living in 1907; second, to Mary Baker, daughter of the late Judge Edward J. Harden, of Savannah, Georgia; five children were born of this union, all of whom are living in 1907.
His address is Abbeville, South Carolina.
HENRY NELSON SNYDER
S NYDER, HENRY NELSON, LL. D., educator, was born January 14, 1865, in Macon, Bibb county, Georgia. His father, Henry N. Snyder, was a business man and merchant of sterling honesty and unfailing high-mindedness, and served through the War between the States as captain in the Confederate army; his mother, Anne (Hill) Snyder, was a woman of strong intellect and piety, and decidedly influenced his life on its intel- lectual and moral sides. His early American ancestors were from Holland, England and Scotland, and he is related to the well- known Powell, Hill, Taliaferro, Harrison and Robertson families of Virginia. One of the latter, General James Robertson, was one of the first settlers in middle Tennessee and the founder of the city of Nashville.
The subject of this sketch passed his early life in the city, and, though active in every form of outdoor sport, was always somewhat "bookish." He received his primary and academic education in private schools, and the Edgefield (Tennessee) high school. At the age of fourteen he went to work as clerk in a book store in Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained eight years (counting his college vacations as years), and learned lessons of business which have been invaluable to him in his career. After careful consideration of his tastes, inclination and fitness, he decided to devote his life to educational work in the South. With that purpose in view, he, in 1883, entered Vanderbilt university, Nashville, from which institution he was graduated A. B. in 1887, and A. M. in 1890. He remained at the university as instructor in Latin until the fall of 1890, when he became professor of English language and literature in Wofford college, Spartanburg, South Carolina. After serving the college in this capacity for twelve years he became its president, which position he still (1907) holds. He was lecturer on English literature in the South Carolina summer school for teachers, 1896-1898; in the summer school for the South, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1903-04; and at Chautauqua, New York, and the University of Chicago, 1906. He is a member of the board of education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the term 1898-1910; a member of
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the joint hymnal commission of the Methodist church, 1903-04, and of the Inter-church Federation congress, 1905. He took a special post-graduate course of one year at the University of Göttingen, Germany. The South Carolina college has conferred upon him two honorary degrees, Litt. D. in 1902, and LL. D. in 1905.
He is one of the leading educators, not only of South Caro- lina, but of the South, and is one of the highest authorities on English literature in the United States. His lectures and writings are marked by purity and beauty of language, clearness of diction and thorough knowledge of the subject-matter. As a college president, he has been so successful that greater things are confi- dently expected of him. He has not consciously striven for any prize, as such, but has simply worked hard on the task in hand, from a sense of duty, and with the steadfast purpose of always doing his best. He rates as the three strongest influences in his life, in the order named, home, contact with a few great teachers and scholars, and private study. He thinks the requisites for true success are training, thoroughness and accuracy; fixedness of purpose; unselfish devotion to the work in hand for its own sake, and, above everything, sound morals, based upon intelligence.
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