USA > South Carolina > Men of mark in South Carolina; ideals of American life: a collection of biographies of leading men of the state, Volume II > Part 16
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The address of Mr. Plonk is Cherokee Falls, South Carolina.
NELSON CARTER POE
P OE, NELSON CARTER, of Greenville, South Carolina, merchant, director in banks and cotton mills, and vice- president of the F. W. Poe Manufacturing company, was born in Montgomery county, Alabama, on the 7th of November, 1851. His father, William Poe, was a bank president, a man of business integrity and executive ability. His mother was Mrs. Ellen Cannon (Taylor) Poe, daughter of Joseph Taylor, of Anderson county, South Carolina. The earliest known American ancestor of the family was John Poe, who came from Ireland about 1745 and settled in Baltimore. John Poe's son (General) David Poe, was the grandfather of Edgar Allen Poe, the poet and man of letters; and William Poe, the youngest son of John, was the grandfather of Nelson Carter Poe. On his mother's side, a great-grandfather, Col. Samuel Taylor, served in the Colonial army during the Revolutionary war.
His early life was passed in the village of Pendleton. He was trained in his boyhood to familiarize himself with "any kind of honest work" which needed to be done about the home; and the discipline which he received from early familiarity with manual labor he regards as of life-long value to him. He was especially fond of reading in his boyhood. To his mother he owes much for intellectual impulse and moral influence in his character-building.
He attended the village academy of Pendleton, after some years in the village primary schools; but he did not undertake a course of study at college. When eighteen years old he took a place as clerk in a hardware store at Columbia, South Carolina. Becoming thoroughly familiar with the hardware business in all its branches, he removed to Greenville, South Carolina, in 1877, and soon became an active member of the hardware firm of Wilkins, Poe & Company. As director in several banks, cotton mills and various other business enterprises, he has done his full share in developing the commercial interests of the town; and he has not been lacking in public-spirited interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community.
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He is a member of the Democratic party, and has always voted for the candidates and the principles of that party.
By religious conviction he is identified with the Presbyterian Church, South.
During the administration of Governor Ansel he was appointed one of the five commissioners "to wind up the dispen- sary system in the state"; but he declined to serve on this com- mission.
On the 12th of May, 1880, he married Miss Nannie Crawford, daughter of James W. Crawford, of Pendleton, South Carolina. Of their five children, three are living in 1907.
STEWART WYLIE PRYOR
P RYOR, STEWART WYLIE, M. D., was born in Spartanburg county, South Carolina, January 29, 1864. His parents were Stewart Love and Susan Catherine (Haynes) Pryor. They removed from North Carolina to Spar- tanburg county, South Carolina, about 1860, and some twenty years afterward settled in a section of Union county which is now a part of Cherokee county. The father was a skillful machinist and millwright. He held no public office except in connection with local schools, but he was a man of kindly disposition and was highly esteemed by those who knew him. The mother, now (1907) eighty-two years of age, is a woman of fine mind and most excellent character. The ancestors of the family in this country settled in Virginia and North Carolina. Some of the members on the maternal side were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and their families, as well as themselves, suffered greatly at the hands of the British and Tories.
The years of boyhood and early youth of Stewart Pryor were passed in the country. His health was good. He enjoyed outdoor sports and pastimes, but was especially fond of reading. The schools near his home were poor, but he attended them in term time and made good use of such opportunities as they afforded. When not in school he performed the tasks on the farm which usually fall to a boy of his age. In 1881 he became a clerk in a store in Gaffney, South Carolina. The following year he took a course of study in a business college in Baltimore, and 1883-85 he was employed as a bookkeeper in Gaffney. His professional education was completed at the Atlanta Medical college, from which he was graduated in 1887. Later he took fifteen post-graduate courses, one annually for fifteen years, at the New York Polyclinic.
After graduation, Doctor Pryor practiced a few months at Cherokee Springs, near the paternal home. He then removed to Chester county, and after a few months at Lowryville, began his practice in the town of Chester. Here he had to "start at the bottom" and work for success in competition with physicians of more than ordinary skill. As he demonstrated his ability, the
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demand for his services rapidly increased. He developed special skill in surgery, and feeling the want of accommodations for his patients, who were coming from a widening circle, he built, about 1884, a combined residence and hospital. This was designed to be of ample capacity, but as his reputation extended it proved to be inadequate, and in 1904 the Magdalene hospital was erected at Chester with modern equipment, including electrical and X-Ray apparatus. It was expected that this would for a long period meet all requirements, but it was crowded almost from the first, and in less than two years after its establishment it was materially enlarged. In this hospital a free bed is maintained for the poor by benevolent people in the city.
In the choice of an occupation he felt free to follow his own inclination. This, from childhood, was very strong. He delighted to "play doctor," and for most of his reading he pre- ferred books relating to medicine and surgery. Occasionally he enjoyed a humorous work, but he never cared for novels. His home life was pleasant, and his mother exerted a remarkably strong influence upon him for good.
Doctor Pryor was called upon at different times to prepare papers on special subjects for the associations of which he was a member, as also articles for prominent medical journals. He was president of the Chester County Medical society, vice-president of South Carolina Medical association, member of Tri-State Medical association, chief surgeon of the Lenoir and Chester and Chester and Northwestern railway companies, chief medical adviser of the Mutual Benefit association of South Carolina, and examiner for many other insurance companies. He is a member of the Chester Social Medical club and the Mercantile and Manufacturers' club. His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
On February 14, 1888, Doctor Pryor was married to Miss Carrie Magdalene Tinsley, daughter of Rufus Waring and Sallie Rogers Tinsley, of Union, South Carolina. In the community, as in the home, her influence for good is strong and constant. She takes commendable pride in the success of her husband, and to her no small part of it is due. For her the Magdalene hospital was most appropriately named. They have six daughters living in 1907.
The family residence is at Chester, South Carolina.
HENRY EDMUND RAVENEL
R AVENEL, HENRY EDMUND, lawyer, business man, and author, was born September 3, 1856, on Seneca plan- tation, Oconee (then Pickens) county, near Seneca city, South Carolina. His father, Henry Edmund Ravenel, cotton exporter, was a fine business man and a cultivated gentleman of the old Southern type; his mother, Selina E. Ravenel, was a woman of marked culture and refinement. His descent on both sides is Huguenot. His first American ancestor, René Ravenel, came from Vitré, France, in 1686, and settled in South Carolina, near Charleston. Shortly afterward he married Charlotte de St. Julien, who, like himself, was driven from France by the religious persecution of the period.
The subject of this sketch spent his childhood in the country and there received his primary education. Later he moved to Charleston and became a student at Charleston college, where he was graduated A. B. in 1876 and A. M. in 1878. While pursuing his post-graduate studies he also studied law with Simonton & Barker, a prominent Charleston firm, and immediately after his graduation he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Charleston. A few years later he removed to Spar- tanburg.
His practice was from the first largely along commercial lines -was intentionally made so by him-and it was not long before he was not only attorney for a number of prosperous business corporations, but a considerable owner of stock in them. He is a director of and attorney for the Saxon Cotton mills; a director of the Tucapau Cotton mills; director of and attorney for the Spartanburg Home Building and Loan association; a director of the Spartanburg Savings bank; president of the Ravadson Trust company, and has other important business interests in the town and near by, and also has a large and lucrative law practice.
He occupies a position in the front rank of the wide-awake, progressive, public-spirited citizens of his town, is a participant in every movement for the betterment of the people of town or state; has been for nearly twenty years a trustee of the Spar- tanburg public schools, and a deacon of the First Presbyterian
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church for about the same length of time. He is president of the corporation of the French Protestant church in Charleston.
He was joint author, with C. A. McHugh, of "Ravenel and McHugh's Digest of South Carolina Reports," published 1880, in Charleston, and author of "Ravenel Records," a history of the Ravenel family, published 1898.
He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is, and has always been, a Democrat. His favorite recreations are horseback riding and boating. As a man he is approachable, genial, courteous and well liked. His chart of life for the young is short and pointed: "First, do not mistake character-building for the religious life; second, study the constitution of the United States; third, obey and uphold the law personally."
On April 14, 1886, he married Agnes Moffett Adger, daugh- ter of William Adger and Margaret H. (Moffett) Adger. Of their four children, all are now (1907) living.
His address is Spartanburg, South Carolina.
RICHARD CLARK REED
R EED, REV. RICHARD CLARK, D. D., was born in Harrison, Hamilton county, Tennessee, January 24, 1851. He is the son of Rev. James L. Reed, of the Presbyterian church, and his wife, née Elizabeth Jane McRae. The marked characteristics of the father were a strong will, persistent energy, with an uncompromising fidelity to his convictions of right and duty.
An early ancestor in America on the maternal side was the Rev. Thomas Craighead, who was born in Scotland and studied medicine there, but soon became a minister of the Gospel and was settled for ten or twelve years in Ireland. His name appears first in this country in 1715 among the ministers of New England. Mather, in instructing the people at Freetown, about forty miles south of Boston, to encourage Mr. Craighead in his work describes him as "a man of singular piety, meekness, humility and industry in the work of God." Removing to Pennsylvania in 1733, he became a member of Donegal Presbytery, which had a peculiar love and veneration for him and always spoke of him as "Father Craighead." He was very active in planting and building up churches in that region. On the 17th of November, 1737, he accepted a call from the people of Hopewell, whose place of meeting was at the "Big Spring" near Newville. His pastorate there was brief. He had become an aged man, though his earn- estness and power remained unabated. Under his impassioned discourses his hearers were often melted to tears Near the close of April, 1739, while pronouncing the benediction in the pulpit, he waved his hand, exclaimed "Farewell ! Farewell !" sank down and expired. His remains are said to lie, without monument, under the cornerstone of the present house of worship at New- ville, Pennsylvania
Rev Alexander Craighead, the fourth son of Rev. Thomas Craighead, removed from the Presbytery of Donegal to Augusta county, Virginia, from whence he was sent by Hanover Presby- tery to Rocky River, North Carolina, in 1757, to labor among the Cherokee Indians. A monument has recently been erected to his memory in Charlotte, North Carolina, on one face of which is
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inscribed: "Inspirer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence." Others of the family in blessed labors in the Pres- byterian ministry have been Rev. Thomas B. Craighead, son of Rev. Alexander Craighead; Rev. John Craighead, and Rev. James Geddes Craighead, D. D.
In childhood and youth the physical condition of the subject of this sketch was always good. His early life was passed in the country, on the farm of his grandfather, in Tennessee on the Tennessee river. He records that he "kept the lead in the field" when a boy, and that he spent all his leisure hours in the river. He formed habits of industry and correct ideas of manual labor; developed his physical constitution, and, he says, learned how to wait on himself. His mother dying when he was only two years old, he was reared in the family of his maternal grandfather.
The War between the States, coming when he was a lad, closed the country schools, and lack of means and poverty deprived him of a good preparation for college. He did not neglect books, however, and those which he found most helpful in fitting him for his work in life were the standard English poets, which exer- cised much influence on his early life in kindling the imagination and in stimulating worthy aspirations. Since then theology and history have been his principal studies.
He attended King college, Bristol, Tennessee, and was grad- uated therefrom, in 1873, with the degree of A. B. He subse- quently took a course of professional study at Union Theological seminary in Hampden-Sidney, Virginia, and was graduated in 1876. He married, October 19, 1876, Miss Mary Cantey Venable, daughter of Thomas F. and Mary P. Venable, of Virginia, of the highly distinguished family of the name. To this union have been born seven children, of whom six are living.
He determined on the Gospel ministry as his life-work through personal preference. Innate ambition to excel made him the oratorical medalist and valedictorian in college. In the more serious contests of life a sense of duty has been the impelling motive to the success which he has attained, since directed always by the "sense of God in heart and conscience."
He commenced the active work of his life as a minister in the Presbyterian church in Somerville, Tennessee, in 1876. He then served successively as pastor in Smithville, Virginia, 1877- 85; in Franklin, Tennessee, 1885-89; in Charlotte, North Caro-
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lina, 1889-92; in Nashville, Tennessee, 1892-98, and in 1898 was elected professor of church history in the Presbyterian Theologi- cal seminary, of Columbia, South Carolina, which chair he con- tinues to fill. For some years he was associate editor of the "Presbyterian Quarterly," the leading journal of the Presbyterian church in the United States. At present he is associate editor of the "Presbyterian Standard," published in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The honorary degree of D. D., in recognition of his attain- ments, was conferred on him by King college in 1891, and that of LL. D. in 1906. In 1907 he was elected to membership in the American Society of Church History. His written and published works are held in high esteem. They are: "The Gospel as Taught by Calvin," 1897; "History of the Presbyterian Churches of the World," 1904; "John Knox-An Address Before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States," delivered at Fort Worth, Texas.
He would commend as most helpful to young Americans as the principles and habits most highly contributive to the strength- ening of sound ideals of American life and which will most help young people to attain true success in life: "A definite aim, a worthy aim, and earnest consecration to that aim; temperate habits; methodical habits; industry; perseverance; pluck; put- ting supreme value on character; recognizing that true success is rather a condition of the inner than the outer life."
His address is Columbia, Richland county, South Carolina.
JOHN SCHREINER REYNOLDS
R EYNOLDS, JOHN SCHREINER, son of George Norton Reynolds, Jr., and Susan Eliza (Schreiner) Reynolds, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, on September 28, 1848. His father was by occupation a carriage maker and dealer. He represented the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael in the house of representatives of his state; his character was marked by energy and vivacity, which accounted for his suc- cess in life. William Reynolds, great-grandfather of John S. Reynolds, came to Yorktown, Virginia, from England. He was distinguished only for energy, probity, and patriotism, yet this should be distinction enough for any man. George N. Reynolds, son of William Reynolds, born in Yorktown, Virginia, removed to Charleston, South Carolina, early in the nineteenth century, where he engaged successfully in the carriage business. His son, George N. Reynolds, Jr., was the father of the subject of this sketch. John Henry Schreiner, his maternal grandfather, was a native of Hamburg, Germany, and the son of a Lutheran clergy- man. He came to Charleston early in the nineteenth century and there successfully engaged in business as a merchant. He was a man of the highest integrity and considerable scholarship.
In childhood John S. Reynolds was handicapped by frail health. Because of this, he took little interest in outdoor sports; neither was he habituated to regular physical labor. Reading was his chief enjoyment, and the chimney-corner and his books occupied much of his time. Until fourteen years of age his life was spent in the city of Charleston; from that time until he was twenty years of age he lived at Winnsboro. The influences which most affected his early career were private study, contact with men in active life, early companionship, and home. His mother was a woman of strong character, and her influence was in all respects excellent and most effective in shaping the tastes and directing the tendencies of her son. His first strong impulse to make his life something worth while he attributes to her counsels.
Young Reynolds found no royal road to culture; various difficulties beset his pathway. Reading, however, filled what might otherwise have proved serious gaps in his early education.
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He was devoted to history, political writings, and books of law; and he made the English language a subject of special study. His schooling was acquired in the common schools of Charleston until 1862. Next he studied at Mount Zion institute in the years 1863 and 1864. He left school in November, 1864, to enter the Confederate army, and resumed his studies in September, 1865. In October, 1867, he entered the University of South Carolina, from which institution he was graduated in 1868. In the univer- sity he graduated with distinction in Latin and belles lettres, and received the junior certificate of distinction in French and in mental and moral philosophy. Though disappointing at the time, events have proved that the break in his college course was not an unmixed evil.
Mr. Reynolds' active life-work began in a store in Winns- boro, South Carolina, on the 10th of September, 1868. From this date until January, 1869, he was a clerk in Winnsboro; in 1869 he taught a country school in Marion county; from 1870 to 1875 he was instructor in history and belles lettres at King's Mountain Military school, Yorkville, South Carolina. He was admitted to the bar at Winnsboro, January, 1876, having acquired his legal knowledge while teaching. Until January, 1887, he occupied himself with the law and journalism, being connected with the Winnsboro "News and Herald." Removing to Columbia in Janu- ary, 1887, he was at different times connected with "The Record," "The Register" and "The State," meantime looking for an oppor- tunity to practice the profession of his choice. From the time that opportunity came he practiced law in Columbia until August, 1902, when he was appointed supreme court librarian, a position which he still holds, and in connection with which he continues the practice of his profession.
Mr. Reynolds' political activities have included, in addition to his newspaper work, attendance upon the Democratic state convention of May, 1876; county conventions in Fairfield; active participation in the campaign of 1876, and attendance upon the county conventions of Richland and the state Democratic con- vention in 1896. Mr. Reynolds was elected a member of the house of representatives of South Carolina, from Richland, in 1896, and served one term. His principal service in this legis- lative session was the introduction of and successful fight made by him for the Reynolds printing bill, which provided that the
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public printing be biennially let to the lowest responsible bidder. He has held office in local Democratic clubs for nearly thirty years. He served in the Confederate army, in the state troops, from November 30 to December 26, 1864, and was a member of the arsenal corps of the state cadets from December 26, 1864, to May 5, 1865. He has also given attention to literature, having written "Reconstruction in South Carolina," a work which was published in 1905, and which has been very favorably received.
Mr. Reynolds attends the Protestant Episcopal church. In politics he is a life-long Democrat.
In his own view, Mr. Reynolds' life has not been an unquali- fied success. His early and constant ambition has been to be a lawyer. Circumstances, however, over which he apparently had no control, hindered him from devoting himself closely and continuously to the practice of his profession.
His advice to the young is to select the work of life early, and give persistent, unflagging attention thereto, and he regards as essential elements of success, honesty, sobriety, fidelity to friends, respect or veneration for parents, devotion to wife, and justice and tenderness to children.
Mr. Reynolds was married on the 9th day of December, 1880, to Miss Susan Gadsden Edwards. Seven children have been born to them, of whom five are still (1907) living.
His address is 1403 Pendleton street, Columbia, South Caro- lina.
JOHN GARDINER RICHARDS, JR.
R ICHARDS, JOHN G., JR., of Liberty Hill, South Caro- lina, planter and stock-raiser, for five consecutive terms elected from Kershaw county a member of the South Carolina house of representatives, where he has served as chair- man of the committee on public schools and of the committee on ways and means; the author of the law appropriating money to build and equip better school houses in the rural districts; of the law establishing a model school building in connection with Winthrop Normal and Industrial college for women, and of the law providing free scholarships at that institution; and of that part of the Clemson college scholarship law that provides schol- arships for boys who expect to make agriculture their life-work, is the name-sake and son of an honored father who has long preached the Gospel in South Carolina, and has made his father's name still better known by reason of the son's devotion to the educational and agricultural interests of the state.
Born on Sunday, September 11, 1864, at Liberty Hill, he is the son of Rev. John Gardiner Richards and Sophia Edwards (Smith) Richards. His father, a graduate of Oglethorpe univer- sity and of the Theological seminary at Columbia, South Caro- lina, has been in the active ministry of the Presbyterian church for over fifty years; and, as moderator of the synod of South Carolina, for twenty years a member of the board of directors of the Theological seminary of Columbia, and a successful and beloved pastor and preacher, he has enjoyed the honor and loving esteem of his colleagues in the ministry and of a host of his fellow-citizens. He was chaplain of the Tenth South Carolina regiment, and served in the Confederate army throughout the War between the States; while two of his brothers were also officers in the Confederate army.
Mr. Richards' maternal ancestors were English settlers in the colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, before the Revolution. John Fullerton, his great great-grandfather (born in Scotland, 1734; died at Charleston, 1779; buried in Old Circular church- yard, Charleston), was commissioned captain of the Indian Field company by the council of safety of South Carolina, December
Very handy games
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1, 1775. A nephew of David Hume, the great philosopher and historian, he was disinherited by his father and rebuked and reproached in a letter from his uncle, David Hume, for his "rebel- lious spirit and actions in vigorously supporting the cause of independence for the colonies." He died from the results of a severe cold taken while directing the work of his company in erecting Fort Johnson as a defence for Charleston against the anticipated attack of the British fleet and army.
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