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 7
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At the breaking out of the war with Spain, in 1898, Governor Evans was commissioned major in the United States volunteer service. He served on the staff of Major-General Keifer. Transferred to Havana, on the staff of Major-General Ludlow, he was placed in charge of the city government of Havana. He organized the first court after the American order in those islands. He was commissioned May 12, 1898, and was mustered out in May, 1899.
He is a member of the Democratic party. He has been for years a director of the Bank of Aiken, and a director of the Carolina and Georgia railway.
He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a Woodman of the World, and a member of the Order of Red Men. In college he was a member of the Delta Phi fraternity; and he is now a member of the Union College Alumni club, of the Delta Phi club, of the Waterbury club, and of the South Carolina Historical society. He is an attendant upon the services of the Episcopal church. His favorite modes of exercise and amusement are fish- ing, horseback riding, and planting and gardening.
Governor Evans places the influence of his early home first in importance in shaping his later life. He says: "I came in contact there with men in active life who stimulated my ambi- tion, and with women who were proud of my successes. Private study was made necessary, and furnished the weapons for later contests." Questioned as to the source of his first strong impulse to win political prizes, he writes: "I was always ambitious. I entered politics from a deep sense of the injustice done my uncle, M. W. Gary, by the ring of politicians in South Carolina; but afterwards I became deeply interested in the problems which concerned us in our state."
Governor Evans was married on December 15, 1897, to Miss Emily Mansfield Plume, daughter of David Scott Plume and Abbie Cameron Plume, of Waterbury, Connecticut. They have had one child.
Their residence is Spartanburg, South Carolina.
CLAUDIUS CYPRIAN FEATHERSTONE
F EATHERSTONE, CLAUDIUS CYPRIAN, lawyer, and in 1898 candidate for governor of South Carolina, was born at Laurens, South Carolina, December 1, 1864. His father, J. C. C. Featherstone, was an attorney at law and a member of the legislature of South Carolina; and his son speaks of him as characterized by "thoroughness and conscientiousness."
The earliest American ancestors of the family were two brothers Featherstone, who emigrated from London to Virginia, settling in Culpeper county.
His early years were passed in Anderson, South Carolina. In his boyhood he was trained to the performance of certain regular tasks which involved manual labor. His opportunities for study in school were restricted. He was compelled to leave the high school before graduation and to engage in work for self-support. When he was sixteen he entered a printing office and spent a year in learning that trade, but the fact that his father was a lawyer, and the vivid impression made upon him by scenes which he witnessed as a boy in the county court-house while court was in session, inclined him strongly to the study of the law.
After a year in the printing office he became a clerk in a mercantile establishment, engaging in that occupation from the time he was seventeen until he was twenty. The study of law then engaged his attention and filled his time; and after he was admitted to the bar he took up the practice of law at Laurens, South Carolina, in 1887.
Mr. Featherstone has never held political office. He was a trustee of the graded schools of Laurens for a number of years, and in 1898 he was a candidate for governor of South Carolina. He failed of election by less than four thousand votes.
In his political convictions and relations he has always been identified with the Democratic party, giving his hearty allegi- ance to the measures and the candidates of that organization.
He is a member of the Methodist Church, South, and is steward of the Methodist church at Laurens, and superintendent of the Sunday school of that church.
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On October 10, 1903, he married Miss Lura Lucretia Pitts. They have had three children, all of whom are living in 1907.
Mr. Featherstone is a Mason, and a member of the Knights of Pythias. He finds amusement and exercise in horseback riding, hunting, and fishing. As suggestions to young Ameri- cans designed to promote their true success in life, he writes: "Honesty and perseverance and hard work are the requisites to success in life. My advice to young men is, be sober, honest and industrious. This will insure you true success. Without these virtues, success is not possible."
The address of Mr. Featherstone is Laurens, South Carolina.
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JOHN FREDERICK FICKEN
F ICKEN, JOHN FREDERICK, the only son of John Frederick and Rebecca (Beversen) Ficken, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, June 16, 1843. His parents were natives of Hanover, Prussia, who settled in Charleston early in the nineteenth century. His father was a merchant, who was highly successful, his probity and ability justly securing him universal esteem.
The son, after having the advantages of the best private schools of his native city, matriculated as a student in the College of Charleston. The momentous struggle of the South for constitutional rights began during his collegiate course, and he was soon enrolled in the Confederate States army in the defence of his section, serving efficiently when needed at various times in the vicinity of Charleston and Georgetown, on Sullivan's Island, and at Fort Johnson in Charleston harbor. He subse- quently became a member of the German artillery, Company B, under command of Captain Franz Melchers, and served with that company at Battery White, near Georgetown, South Caro- lina. By a special order of the secretary of war, he, and other members of his college class, were for a few months detached from service in the field to enable them to complete their college course, being momentarily subject to recall. In the meanwhile they performed garrison duty in Charleston as occasion required. He was graduated from the College of Charleston with the degree of A. B., in 1864, and at once rejoined his command at Battery White, but his health from childhood being delicate, gave way, and he was detailed for duty at the headquarters of Major-General Samuel Jones, commanding the department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and served in this position continuously under the several department commanders until the dissolution of the department by the conclusion of hostilities.
The pious counsels of his devoted mother had a potent influ- ence with him in directing his energies. He was a close student, and fond of reading, his preference being for works of history. He early decided upon the profession of law, and after the close of the war he entered upon its study in the office of the late
Man of Mark. Publishing Company.
Washington D C
Jours truly Ino. F.
ficken
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Colonel John Phillips, in Charleston. In 1869 he went abroad and took a course in civil law in the University of Berlin; returning to Charleston in 1870, he commenced the practice of law. His alma mater, the College of Charleston, conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts the same year.
In politics Mr. Ficken has been a consistent Democrat and constant in his advocacy of the best interests of his native state, his party, and his country as he held each. In 1877 he was elected a member of the house of representatives of the state of South Carolina, in which he served continuously and acceptably until his resignation, in December, 1891, to enter upon the duties of mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, to which he had been elected for the term of four years, at the conclusion of which he declined to become a candidate for reelection. His administra- tion was a progressive one, his final review presenting the city as materially prosperous and in an improved financial condition.
He has been a consistent member of the Lutheran church, with which his ancestors were identified.
Of a social nature, he has cheerfully given his influence for good when he deemed it opportune. He is a member and an ex-president of the German Friendly society of Charleston, South Carolina, a time-honored organization founded in 1766. He is also prominent in the Masonic fraternity, having attained the thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite. His determination, as he states it, "to be true to his own manhood, honest in all his dealings with others, and to strive for thoroughness in every work undertaken," has secured the legitimate result-success and the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He has served as a member of several State Democratic conventions, and was a member of the National Democratic convention which met at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876, and which body nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency of the United States. Mr. Ficken is president of the board of trustees of the College of Charleston, a trustee of Newberry college, of South Carolina, and of the Medical college of South Carolina.
In 1902 he accepted the presidency of the South Carolina Loan and Trust company, which financial position he still (1907) holds, and also continues in the practice of his chosen profession as a member of the law firm of Ficken, Hughes & Ficken.
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Mr. Ficken has been twice married; first, on May 30, 1871, to Margaret B. Horlbeck, daughter of Henry Horlbeck, Esquire, of Charleston, South Carolina. She died in 1873, leaving one child, Henry Horlbeck Ficken, who is now associated with his father in the practice of law. Mr. Ficken married second, on January 12, 1887, Emma Julia Blum, only daughter of the late Colonel J. C. Blum, of Charleston, South Carolina.
His address is 94 Rutledge avenue, Charleston, Charleston county, South Carolina.
ALFRED HARRISON FOSTER
F OSTER, ALFRED HARRISON, merchant and planter, was born in Union county, December 7, 1835, the son of Joseph Foster and Minerva Margery (Means) Foster. His father's occupation was that which the son has followed, merchandising and planting. The earliest known ancestor of the family in America was Reginald Foster, who came from England and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, about 1638. One of his descendants, Abiel Foster (the grandfather of the subject of this sketch), was a graduate of Harvard college and a member of the house of representatives, and later of the senate of New Hampshire, and president of the senate; a member of congress from New Hampshire for several terms, and distinguished by the close personal friendship of General Washington. Abiel Foster was present when Washington resigned his commission in 1783, and his face is depicted in Trumbull's picture in the rotunda of the capitol at Washington. His great-grandson is now in possession of an exceptionally fine miniature of President Washington, which was given to Abiel Foster by General Wash- ington in token of esteem and friendship.
Born in Union county, and passing his early life in village or country, Alfred Foster's education began at home and con- tinued in the country schools within his reach, was completed, so far as schools have educated him, by attendance upon the village academy of Spartanburg. He then became a clerk in his father's store and engaged with his father in the business of planting as well as store-keeping.
When he was twenty-six the outbreak of the War between the States appealed strongly to his love of his own common- wealth; and he promptly volunteered (April 13, 1861), serving for a year as captain of Company F, Fifth South Carolina volunteers. He was then elected captain of Company D, Pal- metto sharpshooters, and served as such during the remainder of the war. He took part in the first battle of Manassas, 1861, and in all the principal engagements of the Army of Northern Virginia excepting Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He was with General Longstreet in his East Tennessee campaign. At
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Appomattox, April 9, 1865, at the time of the surrender, he was in command of his regiment.
Three years after the war he began, in 1868, the business of merchandising at Union, South Carolina, which he has continued until the present time (1907). He has also been a planter during most of these years.
He votes and acts with the Democratic party. By education he affiliates with the Presbyterian church.
On August 31, 1876, he married Miss Hettie V. Brandon. They have had four children, of whom three are living in 1907.
His address is Union, South Carolina.
HUGH WILSON FRASER
F RASER, HUGH WILSON, of Georgetown, South Caro- lina, constructing civil engineer, since 1903 cashier of the Peoples Bank of Georgetown, and since January 1, 1906, mayor of Georgetown, was born June 30, 1872, in the city where he still resides. His father, Samuel Sidney Fraser, was for years identified with the fire insurance business of that city, and served as chairman of the Democratic County committee in 1876, and was county treasurer from 1877 to 1882. His mother was Mrs. Sarah McLeod (Wilson) Fraser. His father's family was descended from John Fraser, who emigrated from Scotland about 1730 and settled in the Sumter district. The earliest known American ancestor of his mother's family was Hugh Wilson, a Huguenot exile from France, who settled in the Charleston district.
Mr. Fraser is one of the group of well-educated young South Carolinians who, through their love of mathematics and out-of- door life, and their perception of the growing possibilities of commerce and manufacture in the South, have been led to choose the work of practical constructing engineers in helping to develop the natural resources of the New South. His early life was passed in the village of Georgetown, where the opportunities afforded by good schools were open to him; and from his very earliest boyhood he was exceptionally fond of reading. He attended the South Carolina Military academy, and was grad- uated in 1891 with the degree of Bachelor of Sciences, having done his best work as a student in mathematics, engineering and history. At once he took a place as rodman on the survey of the Norfolk, Wilmington and Charleston railway in North Caro- lina. As constructing engineer, he was engaged on the Florida Central and Peninsula railroad at Savannah, from 1893 to 1894. In 1895-96-97 he was engaged upon drainage work in Florida. During 1898-99 and 1900 he was in the United States Engineer service. From 1900 to 1903 he filled a position in railroad work in Georgia and Tennessee.
On the 18th of April, 1900, Mr. Fraser married Miss Kathe- rine Parkhill, daughter of R. C. Parkhill, of Monticello, Florida.
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They have had three children, all of whom are living in 1907.
In 1903 he determined to establish himself at Georgetown, South Carolina, and he was elected cashier of the Peoples Bank of Georgetown, a position which he still fills. The people in his native town have shown their confidence in his ability and their kindly feeling toward him by electing him mayor for a term of two years from January, 1906.
During his college course Mr. Fraser was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He belongs to the Associated graduates of the South Carolina Military academy, and is a member of the Engineers' Association of the South. He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In his political party relations he is a Democrat. His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal church. He finds healthful exercise and recreation in walking and playing golf. He gives to young Americans as the keynote of success: "Work! The majority of the younger gen- eration do not seem to understand that work is necessary."
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JOSEPH JOHN FRETWELL
F RETWELL, JOSEPH JOHN, son of Joseph Y. and Nancy Louisa Russell Fretwell, was born at Anderson, South Carolina, March 21, 1849. His father was a farmer, a captain in the state militia prior to the war, and a man noted for honesty and truthfulness.
In boyhood Joseph Fretwell was blessed with perfect health. He passed his early life in the country, amusing himself with outdoor sports, hunting, fishing, and riding, and also assisting in feeding stock on the farm and often working as a hand. He had little time for reading, but biographies of great men inter- ested him most. He attended an "old-field" country school, and later took a business course at Bryant and Stratton's college in Baltimore, graduating about 1874.
After the close of the war, Mr. Fretwell's father, then over sixty years of age, turned over his farm to his son of sixteen, placing upon him the responsibility of making the crop with the help of three or four hands. He made and gathered two crops and was well contented with his work. But one day, while in the field gathering corn with a negro boy, a buggy drove up and he was summoned to Anderson, a village of less than two thou- sand inhabitants, to clerk in a store. Upon his arrival he was employed as a helper in a general merchandise store, conducted by Mr. Sylvester Bleckley. Nothing was said about salary, but the youth entered upon the work before him with great interest and enthusiasm, working day and night with the determination to succeed.
Five years later Mr. Bleckley made partners of three of his clerks, including young Fretwell. From that time the business flourished, and in the three years following the partners made considerable money. In the meantime Mr. Fretwell had mar- ried Miss Mary Catherine Bleckley, the second daughter of his former employer. He now asked for an increased share in the business, and from that time on the firm was composed of Messrs. Sylvester Bleckley, Elijah W. Brown and Mr. Fretwell, all equally interested. Fifteen years of business success followed, the trade becoming very large, when Mr. Brown withdrew from
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the firm, leaving Messrs. Bleckley and Fretwell in charge. They now discontinued the sale of general merchandise, taking up live stock, vehicles and harness. For thirty years Messrs. Bleckley and Fretwell were in business together, their relations being most harmonious. Mr. Bleckley was a man of strong impulses, gen- erous, but a strict disciplinarian, hewing to the line. Coming from ancestors who were alike rigid in their ideas and honesty of purpose, Mr. Fretwell easily fell in with the business views of his senior partner; and, since the death of the latter, has tried to follow, in every respect, his teaching and example.
At the death of Mr. Bleckley, Mr. Fretwell, who was made his executor and the trustee of the Bleckley estate, bought out the interest of his deceased partner and continued in business. He organized the Peoples Bank of Anderson with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and was made its president. He is president of the Anderson Hardware company; a director of the Peoples Furniture company of Anderson, and of the Isa- queena Cotton mills at Central, South Carolina; president of the Peoples Oil and Fertilizer company, the Fretwell-Hanks com- pany, the Oconee County Railway company, and of the Anderson Guaranty and Trust company, which he has recently organized.
With one exception, Mr. Fretwell has taken an active part in promoting all the mills that have been organized in and around his city, subscribing to their capital stock and giving them encouragement in other ways. The first cotton mill built in Anderson, the Anderson Cotton mill, was largely indebted to the interest taken by Mr. Fretwell's firm, and he was one of eight committeemen who laid the plans by which the mill was organized in one day's time.
Mr. Fretwell has assisted many young men in taking part in different enterprises of his city and county, and is proud of their success. He has also assisted in all public enterprises of his town and county. He is not a club man, neither is he an officeholder, except that, in 1876, he was captain on Governor Hampton's staff.
He owns the old homesteads of his father and grandfather, on one of which he is maintaining in comfort the old slave who "toted" him in childhood.
Mr. Fretwell warns the young men of the South to avoid the use of whisky and tobacco in every form, and the practice of
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JOSEPH JOHN FRETWELL
lying. These three evils he regards as the curse of the country. "If," says he, "our Southern young men want to forge to the front in agriculture and manufacturing, they must learn to load light and come often." He advises close application to business, punctuality, honesty, and temperance. The liberation of the slaves meant, in his judgment, the liberation of the South.
Having already accumulated more than a hundred thousand dollars, and being in a fair way to become a millionaire in the next ten years, Mr. Fretwell takes a pardonable pride in the degree of success he has achieved, and believes that, being the husband of a contented and happy wife, with a family of eight happy children, he can easily take the first place among his neighbors in true happiness.
Mr. Fretwell is a Democrat in politics, and a Baptist in religion.
His address is Number 737 Church street, Anderson, South Carolina.
CHARLES MANNING FURMAN
F URMAN, CHARLES MANNING, soldier, planter, teacher, lawyer, and since 1893 professor of English literature in Clemson college, South Carolina, was born at Society Hill, Darlington county, South Carolina, July 8, 1840. His father, the Reverend James Clement Furman, D. D., one of the most widely known Baptist ministers of the South, was president of Furman university, and was a member of the Seces- sion convention of his state. The earliest known ancestor of the family in America was John Furman, who came from England with Endicott and settled at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1628. Among his distinguished descendants, kinsmen of the subject of this sketch, may be named Richard Furman, D. D., 1755-1825, the first president of the triennial Baptist convention, a leader in denominational education; and James Kincaid, the great- grandfather of Professor C. M. Furman, of Scotch-Irish descent, who settled in South Carolina before the Revolutionary war, served as captain under General Marion; and after the war became a well-known planter and merchant, erecting the first cotton gin in South Carolina.
To his mother, Harriet E. (Davis) Furman, he owes much, intellectually and spiritually. He writes: "She died when I was nine; she trained me very carefully in the practice of the duties of religion." His first nine years were passed in the country, then for three or four years he resided at Charleston; and afterward at Greenville, South Carolina. The circumstances of his father's family were such as to make the acquisition of an education easy for him; and the traditions of the family were in favor of scholarship. He "never did a day's work with his hands, until he entered the army." In his boyhood he was fond of reading, and he has read widely all his life. Hunting had an engrossing interest for him in childhod and early manhood.
He studied at the High school of Charleston, from 1851 to 1853; and he was graduated from Furman university in 1859. Choosing the profession of law, he read with the law firm of Whaley & Lord, at Charleston, until the war interrupted his studies. He entered the army, May 9, 1861, as a private in the
Men of Mark . Wishing Company WashingtonDC
Sincerely yours C. In. Fuma
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CHARLES MANNING FURMAN
Palmetto Guards, the Second South Carolina regiment, in which he served until January, 1863, when he was transferred by exchange to Earle's Light battery on the South Carolina coast. In July, 1863, he was elected lieutenant in Company H, Six- teenth South Carolina volunteers; and shortly afterward he was promoted to the captaincy of the same company, remaining with that company until he was paroled after Johnston's surrender.
After the war he was a farmer from 1865 to 1868; then as professor of mathematics at Bethel college, Russellville, Ken- tucky, he taught from 1868 until 1877. From 1878 until 1892 he practiced law in Greenville, South Carolina. He was assistant United States attorney for South Carolina from 1886 to 1889. In 1893 he was elected professor of English literature at Clem- son college, South Carolina; and he still (1907) fills that chair.
He has always been identified politically with the Demo- cratic party. In college he was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity. His denominational relations are with the Baptist church. His favorite forms of sport and relaxation are bird- hunting and trout-fishing.
Professor Furman married Miss F. E. Garden, in February, 1864; and of their six children, four are now (1907) living. He married a second time, December 23, 1887, Miss Sallie Villi- pigue; and they have three children.
Professor Furman, in suggesting to young Americans such views of American life as may be helpful toward success, writes: "I do not think that American life is different from any other, except that there are greater opportunities for making money. I think that dishonesty is our national sin. The two things all young men should guard against are 'graft' and drunkenness."
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