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 17
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Joseph Righton, his mother's grandfather, was born in the Bermuda Islands, September 9, 1762, and died at Charleston, January 7, 1847. He served in the Revolutionary army; and he, also, is buried in the Old Circular churchyard at Charleston. He had been a prisoner on board the British prison-ship Forbay, of Charleston.
His mother's brother, Gen. William Duncan Smith, was a graduate of West Point, served in the Mexican war, and, like so many other graduates of West Point, he was made a brigadier- general in the organization of the Confederate army. He died at Charleston early in the first year of the war.
Born in the country, passing his early life in a village, fond of athletic sports, and particularly of baseball, tennis, and fox hunting, he early learned to work on a farm regularly. He writes: "I have worked on a farm the greater part of my life; in early years at set tasks, and in later life as the owner and manager of a farm; and the effect has been to teach me faith- fulness to duty and independence in thought and action."
He feels himself most deeply indebted to his parents for a strong and enduring influence upon his intellectual, moral and spiritual life. He attended preparatory school at Liberty Hill, and entered Bingham's school at Mebane, North Carolina; but for family reasons his presence at home was needed, and he did not complete a course of a desired study.
In 1884, at the age of nineteen, he began the "active work of life for himself by taking the management of a farming and stock-raising interest at White Oak, Kershaw county. The "desire to be of service to his state and county," which his home training had made a controlling desire in his life, led him to plan in his manhood to devote himself to advocating and enforcing measures which should advance the interests of education and of agriculture in South Carolina.
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Farming has always been his chief occupation, and stock- raising in connection with farming. A Democrat by conviction, and wishing to secure legislation which should give better educa- tional facilities in the farming regions of the state and should result in a more thorough scientific training for farmers, he early began to give attention to party organization and to legislative measures which favor schools and agriculture. He was elected a magistrate of Kershaw county and served for eight years before his first election to the house of representatives. He has been a member of five Democratic state conventions; member of the state Democratic executive committee for six years, and in 1907 he is vice-president of the Democratic party of the state.
In 1898 he was the Democratic nominee for the house of representatives of his state, and he was triumphantly elected. Four times since he has been reelected, twice without opposition in his party. The nine years already passed in the legislature have been marked by the advocacy of many measures to improve the schools and to help the farmers of the state.
The bill to exempt the graduates of the Medical college of Charleston from examination by the state board, he introduced, and, after a four years' struggle, carried through to enactment as a law. To the bill to give agricultural scholarships at Clemson college and at Winthrop Normal and Industrial college, and to the bill to build and equip better rural school houses, reference has been made. His determination to do what he can as a member of the house to help schools and farming has led him twice to decline honorable and lucrative positions in connection with the state government, in order that, as a legislator, he might continue to work for what he has most at heart. In 1905 he was elected a member of the board of visitors for Clemson college, and in 1907 he was reelected.
In his church relations he is with the Presbyterian church- the church of his fathers. He has served as a deacon and is now a ruling elder of the church at Liberty Hill.
In 1893 a company of the South Carolina militia, known as the "Liberty Hill Rifles," was organized at Mr. Richards' resi- dence, and he was elected captain of the company. This position he filled until 1907. In 1907 he was unanimously elected by his fellow-officers major of the First regiment, infantry, of the National Guard, South Carolina. Governor Ansel named Mr.
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Richards upon his military board and he still holds that position. Governor Heyward appointed him a member of the Jamestown Exposition Commission for South Carolina.
On the 12th of June, 1888, Mr. Richards was married to Miss Bettie Coates Workman, daughter of W. H. Workman, Esq., a prominent lawyer of Camden. Of their nine children, eight are living in 1907.
Mr. Richards attributes "to the influence of his early home, more than to all other causes," the success he has won in life; and it is interesting to see how the religious teaching and the Christian principles of the home of that faithful preacher and pastor, his father, have worked themselves out in the practical, public-spirited, useful and honorable life of the legislator who was trained in the Christian home.
WILLIAM ANSON ROGERS
R OGERS, REV. WILLIAM ANSON, A. B., was born in Bishopville, Sumter county (now Lee county), South Carolina, September 29, 1849. He was the son of Wil- liam Rogers, a native of Connecticut, and his wife, Annie Jane McCollum, born of Scotch parentage in Robeson county, North Carolina. His father was a man of marked intelligence, of ster- ling character, diligent and practical in business affairs, gentle in manner and firm in his adherence to principle and duty. He came to the South in early life, and at once established himself in the regard of his neighbors, whose esteem grew yearly with increasing knowledge of the worth of the man, and his death was deplored as a public loss. He was a zealous Christian and filled many official positions in the Methodist Episcopal church. He was highly successful, both as a merchant and farmer. Mrs. Rogers, the mother, was a woman of great strength of mind, of broad views, liberal culture, and gentle and unassuming in manner. Her chief aim was to order her household aright and to train her children in all the attainable graces of Christian character. According to well-authenticated information trans- mitted in the family, they were of the descent of John Rogers, the martyr who was burned at the stake at Smithfield, England, February 4, 1555.
The earliest ancestor in America was Hope Rogers, who settled in Connecticut about the year 1700.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest of six children. His early life was spent in the quiet of a country village, and he grew up a healthy and vigorous lad, assisting his father in the store and having at times the oversight of some of the slaves on the farm contiguous. He was of studious habits and enjoyed a wide range of reading, including fiction, history, poetry, and works of a more serious character. He expressed the special delight which he took in boyhood in the books of DeFoe, Poe, and Augusta J. (Evans) Wilson.
He reverently testified to the directive influence on his spir- itual life exercised by his excellent and deeply pious mother.
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His preparatory education was in the village of his birth at Bishopville academy. The War between the States, 1861-65, interrupted his studies. In 1867 he went to Washington and Lee university, then under the presidency of General Robert E. Lee, and spent there one year. Whilst there he was initiated into the Alpha chapter of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. In October, 1868, he entered the freshman class in Wofford college, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Mr. Rogers was president of the Calhoun Lit- erary society, and was the founder and first G. M. of Delta chapter of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, the first secret order established at Wofford college. From this institution he was graduated A. B. in June, 1872, delivering the valedictory of his class.
From personal preference and a conviction of duty he deter- mined upon the ministry as his life-work. In December, 1872, he was admitted on trial in the South Carolina conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which body he was ever a faithful and efficient member. His first charge in the ministry was Lynchburg, South Carolina. He afterward served as pastor at Greenwood, Marion; Trinity, Charleston; Central, Spartan- burg; Buncombe Street, Greenville; and Orangeburg, and for a short time as presiding elder of the Spartanburg district. He also served as the financial agent of his alma mater, Wofford college; as one of its trustees from 1886 until his death in 1906, and as assistant editor of the "Southern Christian Advocate."
He married, March 22, 1876, Miss Annie Maria Anderson, daughter of the Rev. Edmund Anderson, of the Presbyterian church, and a native of Dallas county, Alabama. Her grand- father was Robert Anderson, a son of Colonel Robert Anderson, of the Revolutionary war, who was subsequently made general of the state troops, and after whom Anderson county, South Carolina, is named. Of their seven children, five are now (1907) living.
Loyal to the state of his birth and the best interests of the South, Mr. Rogers was constant in his allegiance to the Demo- cratic party. As a pastor, Mr. Rogers was sympathetic, tender, faithful; as a friend, true to the core; as a man among men, a gentleman. As a preacher he was logical and direct, and being of a poetical temperament, this imparted a chaste glow to his periods; but he never sacrificed truth to rhetoric, nor the teach-
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ings of the Gospel to the beauties of expression. Fidelity and modesty were his marked traits; sympathetic and wise in counsel, his friendship was a boon.
He enjoined upon all young Americans who would achieve true success in life to decide conscientiously upon some course of usefulness, to pursue it constantly and with the entire strength of their being, striving ever for higher and greater fullness of attainment.
Owing to failing health, Mr. Rogers withdrew from active ministerial work in December, 1901, and located in Spartanburg. He died there on the 29th of September, 1906, the anniversary of his fifty-seventh year.
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EDWIN GRENVILLE SEIBELS
S EIBELS, EDWIN GRENVILLE, son of Edwin Whipple Seibels and Marie J. (Smith) Seibels, was born at Colum- bia, South Carolina, in September, 1866. His father was a general insurance agent, noted for firmness of character and a practical temper.
Mr. Seibels' great-grandfather, John Jacob Seibels, emigrated from Elberfeldt, Germany, to Charleston, South Carolina, about 1760. His great-grandmother, Lady Sarah Temple, lived in Boston, Massachusetts; she was the daughter of William Temple, brother of Sir John Temple, of England. Among his ancestral connections, Mr. Seibels counts Robert Emmett, the Irish patriot.
Mr. Seibels' early years were passed chiefly in Columbia. Life was care-free. His college course cost him little struggle, although he paid his own way. He was fond of reading, and covered a wide range, including, first and last, almost all of the standard authors of ancient and modern times. His mother's influence upon his life was marked. Later forces that affected his character were the example and standing of others ahead of himself.
Mr. Seibels' first schooling was obtained under Mrs. Frank Elmore; later he attended Thompson's academy; his course here he followed with a course in South Carolina university, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of B. E. in 1885. The serious work of life began for him when in Septem- ber, 1886, he assumed charge of his father's insurance office. His original desire was to be an engineer. Work was offered him in connection with the Panama railway, but circumstances took him instead into insurance. Since that time he has been constantly identified with this business. From September, 1886, to January, 1887, he was special agent for a fire insurance company; in the Southern field from 1887 to 1888 he was a member of the firm of E. W. Seibels & Son; from 1888 to 1892, special agent of various companies; from 1892 to 1898, general adjuster of fire losses; in 1898 he became Southern manager of the Glens Falls Insurance company; in 1900 he was appointed joint manager of the Rochester German and New Hampshire Insurance company,
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with the Glens Falls company. Since that date he has also had the management of the Milwaukee Mechanics, the American Insurance company, of New Jersey, and the Royal Exchange Assurance corporation; he also manages a large foreign marine insurance business. In addition, Mr. Seibels has held the office of president of the tree and park commission of the city of Columbia. He is president of South Carolina college alumni association and promoted the movement for the establishment of an endowment fund for the college by the alumni association, and is the president of the board of trustees of the alumni fund. He was elected president of the Clariosophic society of South Carolina college in his junior year. He has held various social positions, is president of the South Carolina club and of other clubs; he is also a Mystic Shriner in the Masonic order, a member of the S. A. E. fraternity, the Columbia club, and the Metro- politan club, and was president of the general convention of the S. A. E. fraternity in 1884.
Mr. Seibels is a Gold Democrat, and an Episcopalian.
The fact that, though defeated in his original purpose to become an engineer, he nevertheless has succeeded in the business which circumstances thrust upon him, may be, he thinks, a source of encouragement to young people who, like himself, have been unable to follow their native bent into their chosen pursuit. His advice to young Americans is : "Be straightforward. Help others whenever an opportunity presents itself. Don't tell your business to people, but never do anything in business you could not tell."
On February 25, 1892, Mr. Seibels was married to Miss Dorothy Newton, granddaughter of Commodore John Thomas Newton and of Commodore Eben Farrand, of the Confederate navy.
The address of Mr. Seibels is Columbia, South Carolina.
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JOHN CALHOUN SHEPPARD
S HEPPARD, JOHN CALHOUN, lawyer, banker and statesman, was born in Edgefield county, South Carolina, July 5, 1850. His parents were James and Sarah Louisa (Mobley) Sheppard. His father was a farmer, a man of integ- rity, sobriety and industry, who was prominent in the community in which he lived and was a member of the state legislature for several terms. The mother of the subject of this sketch was a woman of fine character, and her influence upon the moral and intellectual life of her son was strong and permanent.
In childhood and youth John C. Sheppard was strong and active. He had a marked taste for books, but after he was ten years of age, at which time he removed from the village to the country, he also took great pleasure in hunting, fishing and in outdoor life in general. His primary education was obtained in the schools of his neighborhood. Later he studied at Bethany academy under Professor George Galphin. When he became large enough to work he had regular tasks to perform after the hours of school, and for two years subsequent to leaving the academy he performed all kinds of labor incident to farm life in order that he might obtain means with which to attend a higher institution of learning. He spent three years at Furman university, and in 1871 he was admitted to the bar and immedi- ately entered upon the practice of his profession at Edgefield, where he has remained until the present time. His choice of the law as a profession was due to a strong inclination which he had cherished from very early days. He writes: "I can remember as well when I learned to walk as I do when I first entertained the purpose of devoting myself to the law."
Had public affairs been in a settled condition, it is probable that he would have devoted his life entirely to the practice of his profession; but in 1876 the political conditions in his section had become so intolerable that he felt compelled to make an effort to help redeem the state from the condition which had been brought about under the regime which followed the War between the States. He had been a close student of public affairs from the beginning of the Reconstruction period and had not only
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witnessed but had suffered from the wrongs perpetrated upon the people by the administrations of governors forced upon them, and he entered eagerly and actively into the organization which was then being formed for the purpose of securing a government of their own choice. From the date of the May convention to the day of election his whole time was given to the work of this campaign. During the same year he was nominated and elected a member of the South Carolina house of representatives, and participated actively in the organization of the "Wallace house." In December, 1877, Speaker Wallace having been elected judge of the seventh judicial circuit, Mr. Sheppard was elected speaker in his stead. In 1878 and also in 1880 he was reelected member and speaker of the house. In 1882 he was elected lieutenant- governor on the ticket on which Hugh S. Thompson was elected governor, and they were reelected in 1884. In July, 1886, Gov- ernor Thompson having been appointed by President Cleveland for service in the national government, Mr. Sheppard became his successor and discharged the duties of the office until the inauguration of Governor John Peter Richardson in December of the same year. Upon the expiration of his service as governor, Mr. Sheppard resumed the practice of law and devoted himself exclusively to the duties of his profession until 1892, in which year the conservative element of the Democratic party nominated him as their candidate for governor, in opposition to the reëlec- tion of Governor Benjamin R. Tillman. The campaign which followed was one of the most memorable in the history of South Carolina, and while it resulted in the reëlection of Tillman, the conduct and bearing of ex-Governor Sheppard was such as to win for him the respect and admiration of friends and foes alike. After the election of 1892 he again resumed the discharge of his professional and business duties, in which he continued until 1895, when he became a candidate for the Constitutional conven- tion, which had been called to assemble in August, and although he conducted no campaign, and made only one speech before the people (which was made when the campaign party addressed the people of the village in which he lived), he was elected a member from Edgefield county of that great convention. Regarding the value of his services in the convention, the records afford ample evidence. Suffice it to say that he measured fully up to the lofty
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standard of honor, patriotism and unselfish public service which he had set for himself in the early part of his career.
In 1898 he was a candidate for an unexpired term of two years in the state senate, and after a canvass in which his opponent was the Honorable Thomas H. Rainsford, and in which every inch of the ground was hotly contested, he was elected by an overwhelming majority. In 1900 he was reelected to the senate for a full term without opposition. Upon the expiration of this term, in 1904, he was urged to again be a candidate, but he declined to do so in order that he might devote his entire time to his affairs as lawyer and banker, together with the onerous and important duties of supreme dictator of the Knights of Honor, a position to which he had been elected in 1903 and held until June, 1907, when he declined reelection. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, and has been connected with many other social, literary and fraternal societies, in some of which he has held important offices. In 1890 he became president of the Bank of Edgefield, a position which he still retains.
He is a member of the Baptist church, and is prominent in all that makes for the social, educational and religious advance- ment of his community, contributing liberally of his means to charity and all public movements for the betterment of the town in which he lives, as well as assisting in the promotion of all its enterprises, and exhibiting in all the relations of life the public spirit and broad-minded generosity which ever characterize the man who endeavors to live up to the best that is in him and to discharge with fidelity all the obligations of good citizenship and right living.
In response to a request that, from his own experience and observation, he would offer suggestions as to the means which will most help young people to attain success in life he says: "If a young man adopts the principles of integrity, veracity and sobriety, and adheres to the methods of industry and economy, and practices the habits of prudence, patience and politeness, he will succeed."
On May 22, 1879, he was married to Miss Helen Wallace, daughter of Judge William H. Wallace, of Union, South Caro- lina. Of their eight children, seven are now (1907) living. These devoted parents have earnestly and conscientiously endeavored to
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provide for the physical, moral and spiritual welfare of their children, who have not only been trained in the Christian virtues at home, but have also been given excellent advantages in schools of high grade.
His address is Edgefield, South Carolina.
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CHARLES CARROLL SIMMS
S IMMS, CHARLES CARROLL, was born at Woodlands, near the town of Midway, in Bamberg county, South Carolina, October 20, 1862. He was the son of William Gilmore Simms, LL. D., and Chevillette Eliza (Roach) Simms. Doctor Simms was an author, historian, poet, novelist, and biog- rapher. He represented Barnwell county in the legislature of South Carolina. He was intensely patriotic, entirely loveable in his domestic life, impulsive, courageous, true, generous to prodi- gality in all things, and in all things a man. Governor James H. Hammond testified of him that he had met all the great men of America, including her leading statesmen, but that Doctor Simms was intellectually the greatest man he ever met.
The grandfather of Charles Carroll Simms was William Gilmore Simms. The great-grandfather bore the same name; he was Scotch-Irish, and was in the Coffee brigade under Jackson. He was a poet, and from him William Gilmore Simms inherited the poetic gift.
As a child the subject of this sketch was in delicate health ; later, however, he developed a strong constitution. He was inter- ested in reading, and from this exercise derived much of his early education. His youth was passed in the country near Woodlands, in Barnwell county, near Midway, and in Charleston, where he went to school.
Young Simms was early trained to work. He performed farm labor, of a more or less exacting character, and served as outdoor clerk, first for George W. Williams & Company, and afterward for Norwood & Coker; both firms doing business in Charleston. He also clerked in a country store in Barnwell, South Carolina.
When but eleven months old, Charles Carroll Simms suffered a great loss in the death of his mother, and when but eight years old his father died, in 1870. His early educational advantages were slight. The war having left his father's family in an impoverished condition, he was compelled to leave school when less than fourteen years of age and go to work. Nevertheless, he continued his reading, confining this largely to standard works,
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and avoiding the sensational and inferior literature upon which the time of many young people is wasted, or worse. Such schooling as he received was obtained at the schools of the Misses Roach and Professor Sachtleben in Charleston.
Mr. Simms's active life work began in December, 1883, when, at twenty-one years of age, he was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of South Carolina. The forces which have impelled him onward have been self-respect and determination. The success he has attained he attributes chiefly to private study, contact with men of prominence, and travel. He has held no offices of influential character, save that of chairman of the board of trustees of the graded schools of Barnwell. In his legal prac- tice he has been brought, in a limited measure, into contact with corporations for which he has at times served as counsel. Since 1887 he has practiced law at Barnwell in copartnership with the Honorable George H. Bates.
The chief public service rendered by Mr. Simms has, in his judgment, been the opposition which, in behalf of the conserva- tive wing of the Democratic party in his state, he has offered to the policies of Benjamin R. Tillman, first governor, and now United States senator. In this work he three times stumped his section of the state, the second district, and, though his wing of the party was in a hopeless minority, he was always treated with respect and consideration by his political opponents and voters, a fact largely due to his systematic effort to allay bitterness and establish harmonious relations between the two factions of the party. He congratulates himself that he has lived to see an end of factional strife and antagonism and the consolidation of all elements of the Democratic party in his district. For this happy condition he believes that his efforts and influence have been in some measure responsible.
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