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 2
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Doctor Bates passed his boyhood, in which he did not have robust health, upon a farm in the country. He was "fond of farming and of country scenes and sports." In answer to the question, "Did you have in your early life regular tasks which involved manual labor?" Doctor Bates replies in a few sentences which are sure to commend themselves as truthful to very many men who have realized in later life the happy results of such an intimate knowledge of plants and animal life as can only be gained by a boyhood passed in the country, on a farm, with eyes open to the meaning of the daily tasks that keep one close to nature. He says: "I was required to assist in tending the farm animals, and also in field work. My physical health was benefited thereby, and I acquired a practical knowledge of the business of farming. I learned the value of money, the use and wisdom of economy, self-denial and energy. I learned to love plants and flowers and animals; and I learned how to care for them. As I am now growing old, I find that this knowledge is useful, pleasurable and profitable to me." The strong influence of his mother's example and teaching has always been felt in his life. While he was a boy, Shakespeare and the Bible became his favorite books.
In 1864, while he was but sixteen, he entered the Confederate army. Later he attended the Pine Grove academy, preparing there for the South Carolina college; and in 1868 he was grad- uated from that college with the degree of M. D. He took post- graduate courses at the Bellevue Medical college, New York city, 1868 to 1869, and again in New York city hospitals in 1883. While he continued in active practice he was not satisfied unless
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WILLIAM TERTIUS CAPERS BATES
he made a constant effort to keep abreast of the later discoveries and literature in his profession.
He began the practice of medicine, in May, 1869, at St. Matthews, South Carolina. In his choice of this life work he was largely influenced by the wishes of his parents. He con- tinued the practice of medicine until 1886. In 1881 he located in Columbia, South Carolina, and made a specialty of diseases of the mind and nervous system. He was unanimously elected president of the Richland County Medical society. His health failing, he gave up practice, returned to his old home in 1886, and the following year became president of the Bank of St. Matthews. He was the state treasurer of South Carolina for three terms, from November, 1890, to February, 1897-the most critical and difficult period in the history of this office. He has long been a trustee of the South Carolina college. Three times he has served as intendant of St. Matthews. On December 23, 1872, he married Miss Mary B. Wannamaker.
At college he was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity. He is a Knight of Pythias. In politics he is a Democrat. Doctor Bates has always had at heart the improvement of the physical condition, the business enterprises and the moral tone of his town. He attends the Methodist church. Throughout his life his health has been far from robust, and his early retirement from the active practice of his profession was due in large part to his health. Many of his fellow-citizens of South Carolina would say of Doctor Bates as Doctor Bates has written of his own father, that he was a man of "strong will-power, uncompromising and deter- mined in his stand for principles of righteousness and justice, and of untiring energy."
The address of Dr. Bates is St. Matthews, South Carolina.
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GEORGE DUNCAN BELLINGER
B ELLINGER, GEORGE DUNCAN, son of John A. and Ann P. Duncan Bellinger, was born November 4, 1856, at Barnwell, South Carolina. His father was a lawyer, a man of amiability and courage; he was lieutenant in Lancaster's company, Brown's regiment, and, in 1863, was killed at James Island, South Carolina, being but thirty years of age.
The Bellingers are descended from the Bellinghams, of Bellingham, in Northumberland, and have kept their identity separate and distinct since 1475, when Walter Bellinger was created Ireland King at Arms, and granted the coat-of-arms "Argent, a Saltire engrailed sable, entre four roses, Gules." The earliest known ancestor in America of the family, Edmund Bellinger, of Westmoreland county, England, settled on James Island in 1674. He was commander of the ship Blake, Royal navy, in 1697; April 1, 1698, he became surveyor-general of the Carolinas; and on May 7, 1698, he was created landgrave.
Mr. Bellinger's grandfather, Edmund Bellinger, Jr., lawyer and legislator, was, by order of the legislature, author of "Bellinger on Elections"; he was also a member of the celebrated Nullification convention of 1832.
George Duncan Bellinger's early life was passed in a village; as a boy he was not robust. No regular duties were required of him; but he was allowed to spend his time practically in accordance with his own wishes. He early developed a taste for scientific subjects, especially those pertaining to physics and psychology.
At the age of four years he suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his mother, and, as stated, at six that of his father. The chief influences in molding his life have been the school and contact with the active world of work. He was fortunate in the possession of educational advantages, the means to complete a college course being furnished him by a distant relative. On the 14th of June, 1879, he was graduated from Furman university with the degree of A. B. The subjects which most interested him during his student life were mental philosophy, biology and sociology. Following his college course, Mr. Bellinger entered
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GEORGE DUNCAN BELLINGER
upon the study of law under the direction of Judge J. J. Maher, finishing in 1880. His active life work began in December, 1880, when he began the practice of law in Barnwell, South Carolina. Here he continued until January, 1903, when he removed to Columbia.
In 1882, Mr. Bellinger became a member of the legislature of South Carolina; from 1883 to 1892 he was master for Barn- well county; from 1892 to 1898 he was solicitor of the second circuit; from 1898 to 1902, attorney-general of the state; in 1903 he was made special circuit judge; in 1904 he became trustee of Clemson college; in 1895 he was a member of the Constitutional convention of the state; from 1883 to 1890 he was mayor of Barnwell; from 1890 to 1892, secretary of the State Democratic executive committee, and, until recently, chairman of the execu- tive committee of the Democratic party of Barnwell county.
Mr. Bellinger may, with justice, be styled one of the makers of the state of South Carolina; in the Constitutional convention of 1895 he was chairman of the committee on jurisprudence, and was the author of the entire article VI, sections 2, 4, 5 and 6 being without precedent. In the convention he introduced an ordinance to prevent lynching and to punish by removal and disfranchisement sheriffs, constables and other officers who per- mitted lynching to occur. This ordinance was emasculated and changed to what now appears as section 6 of article VI. During the last twelve years Mr. Bellinger has also participated in some of the most important criminal prosecutions in his state. He conducted the prosecution of the Broxton Bridge lynchers at Walterboro and Aiken in 1896; was leading counsel in the prose- cution, in 1904, of James H. Tillman for the murder of Editor Gonzales, and also in the prosecution and conviction, in 1901, of W. A. Neal, superintendent of the South Carolina penitentiary. He is now practicing his profession at Columbia, South Carolina, with R. H. Welch, the firm being Bellinger & Welch.
Mr. Bellinger is a chapter Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Odd Fellows, the Elks, and the Commercial club at Charleston. He has also held the position of first chan- cellor commander of Lodge No. 16 of the Knights of Pythias. As indicated, Mr. Bellinger is a Democrat, this party having, from the beginning of his voting, claimed his allegiance and
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GEORGE DUNCAN BELLINGER
suffrage. In religion he is a Baptist. His rest and recreation he finds in reading, gardening and the raising of chickens.
A sketch of Mr. Bellinger appears in "Eminent Men of South Carolina," and also in the book published by J. C. Gar- lington. Further data regarding his life and work may be found in the files of "The News and Courier" and "The State" and "Register," and in the proceedings of the Constitutional conven- tion of 1895, the records of the Broxton Bridge trial in the spring of 1896, the history of the memorable campaign of 1896, and in the records of the second trial of the Broxton Bridge case, at Aiken, in November, 1896.
On June 7, 1881, Mr. Bellinger married Miss Fannie J. O'Bannon. They have had seven children, five of whom are now (1907) living.
Mr. Bellinger's address is "Shandon," Columbia, South Caro- lina.
JOSEPH HUIET BOUKNIGHT
B OUKNIGHT, JOSEPH HUIET, since 1891 president of the Bank of Johnston, was born on Mt. Willing planta- tion, Edgefield county, South Carolina, November 25, 1840. His father, William Bouknight, was a planter, a man of fine public spirit, "punctual and energetic, patient and amiable, and generous to a fault," who held no public offices, but in the conduct of his own affairs showed marked executive ability. His mother, Nancy Huiet, died while he was very young; and he has always felt keenly the loss which left his boyhood without a mother's influence. The ancestry of his father and mother was German. John Bouknight and Jacob Huiet emigrated from Germany, and before 1775 settled in Lexington county, South Carolina.
He knew a healthy and vigorous boyhood; and his interest in all out-of-door sports, and especially in hunting, was keen. His early life was passed on his father's plantation, where he was not charged with any special cares or responsibilities save in his studies and in the full development of all his physical powers. He was a student at the Lutheran college at Newberry, and at the Arsenal in Columbia, and he "was graduated at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, with the class of 1864." He has served in the battalion of Citadel cadets for one year. At the close of the War between the States, in 1865, he became the manager of his father's plantation in Edgefield county, his own personal preference as well as the wishes of his father leading him to this choice of a life work.
While Mr. Bouknight has devoted himself steadily to the duties of business life, he has taken a broad interest in the public affairs of his community, and not only in the conduct of his own business, but in his relations to the business of other men, through his position as president of the Bank of Johnston since 1891, and as a director of the Bank of Edgefield since 1890, he has contributed in many ways to the advancement and prosperity of his county and state.
On October 23, 1889, he married Miss Emma Bettis, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Bettis, of Edgefield county. They
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have four children-three sons and one daughter. In tracing the influences which have contributed to his own usefulness in life, Mr. Bouknight places first "the home, and especially the influence of my father"; then he mentions the acquaintance and the influ- ence of "The Citadel" at Charleston, and contact with men in active life, as inspiring and determining influences in his career. His life as a planter and farmer led him to take an early interest in the development of the agriculture of his state. He is a life member of the South Carolina Agricultural society. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party. In religious convictions he is with the Methodist church. He has been fond of exercise on horseback; and he also finds relaxation and amusement in driving, and in reading current literature.
If he were asked to suggest to the boys and young men of his state the two qualities which would most certainly contribute to their success in life, he would name "honesty and punctuality."
The address of Mr. Bouknight is Johnston, South Carolina.
yours truly
DAVID FRANKLIN BRADLEY
B RADLEY, DAVID FRANKLIN, editor of the "Pickens Sentinel," member of the house of representatives of South Carolina from 1874 to 1878, and of the senate of South Carolina from 1878 to 1882, has been actively identified with the development of the material interests and the social and political welfare of his county and state for the last forty years. He was born at Pickens, on the 5th of September, 1842, the son of Joel Bradley, a farmer, captain and major in the state militia, a man remembered as "scrupulously honest, and charitable." His great-grandfather, Asa Bradley, was of English descent and had settled in Virginia before the Revolutionary war.
Reared on a farm, early learning to do all kinds of work usually required of a farmer's boy, in his boyhood he had good health, and he found his strongest interests (apart from farm work) in reading and hunting. His mother, whose influence on his moral and spiritual life has always been strong, early imparted to him a love for the Bible and an interest in reading history. His opportunities for study in school were few, and his education he acquired chiefly through private reading, and later by himself teaching school; but he feels that the most valuable part of his education has come to him through his experience as an editor in publishing a newspaper. His work as a man he began as school commissioner of Pickens county, and a little later as the founder and subsequently the editor of the "Pickens Sentinel." He entered the Southern army soon after the outbreak of the War between the States, and served from 1861 to 1864, as private, orderly sergeant, and lieutenant. He was in many engagements, and he was wounded three times. He lost his left arm in the battle of the Wilderness.
After the war, the breadth of his interest in all that con- cerned his community and his county is shown in the fact that he was not only farmer, school commissioner, and publisher and editor of a newspaper, but he also represented his county in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1874 to 1878, and in the state senate from 1878 to 1882. He was for six years a director of the penitentiary of the state; he was collector of
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internal revenue during Cleveland's first administration ; he has long served as school trustee; he is a director in the Easley cotton mill, and was formerly president of a cotton and oil mill, as well as director in other corporations. He is a member of the Pres- byterian church, and a ruling elder in that body. He finds his amusement and relaxation in reading and in social intercourse with his neighbors. From his earliest manhood he has been identified with the Democratic party, as citizen and editor. He has felt it his duty to "contribute what influence and ability he possessed in helping to rid the state of carpet-bag and negro domination, and in shaping legislation for the upbuilding of the state after the white people had gained the ascendancy again."
On November 3, 1865, he married Miss Mary Barbara Breazeale.
His life illustrates the wide reach of influence for good which is possible for the editor of a newspaper who will devote himself in all right ways to the public service.
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Very Respectfully Four Porcedam
PETER LINDSY BREEDEN
B REEDEN, PETER LINDSY, merchant and planter, of Bennettsville, Marlboro county, South Carolina, was born in that county on November 24, 1832, the son of a planter, Lindsy Breeden, who was county commissioner, school trustee, etc., and in his private business had uniformly shown himself public-spirited, energetic and practical. His ancestors had come from England and settled in Maryland and Virginia in ante- Revolutionary times.
Of delicate health in his boyhood, he felt from his earliest years an interest in "trade and all things that pertain to trade." He says that his early life was passed "in the country, working on a farm, where I did any and everything that came to hand except ditch and split rails, and I guess it was the making of me." His schooling was limited to two or three months in each year, in a poorly taught country school. But he qualified himself to become (in 1853) the teacher of a country school. He feels that home, industry, and contact with energetic, successful and honor- able business men, have been the strongest influences in his life.
In 1855 he became clerk in a general merchandise business at Bennettsville. At the outbreak of the War between the States he entered the Southern army and served for four years. He was captain of Company E, Fourth South Carolina volunteers, cavalry, and was wounded at Hawes Shop, Virginia, May 28, 1864. Returning to Bennettsville, he engaged again in trade; and he has been identified with many of the most important business enterprises of his town and county.
With others he contributed money to organize and start what is now the graded school of Bennettsville. In 1883 he was elected president of the South Carolina Pacific railroad. The ground had not been broken. Nothing had been done. He conducted negotiations with the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley railroad; closed contracts and went to work; and by the end of 1884 he had the road ready for business. He was a stockholder and director of the first oil mill in Bennettsville. He contributed to the capital of the first cotton mill, assisted in its organization, and was a director from the time it was started until the merger
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PETER LINDSY BREEDEN
of cotton mill interests in 1903. For the last twenty years, and since its organization, he has been a director and stockholder in the Bank of Marlboro, and he is now vice-president of that bank. He has also served as county commissioner ; he has been mayor and alderman of his town in past years, and has declined to serve again in these positions, believing that it is wiser to "make way for younger and more active men." He has never been a candidate for a place in the state legislature, but has declined repeatedly when solicited to accept a nomination, and once, when without his consent he had been nominated for the legislature, he refused to run.
He believes in "doing his part in a quiet way" for the public welfare and the political interests of his town and county.
Connected with the Democratic party; a Mason for forty- three years; and inclined by religious conviction to the Methodist church; he has found his exercise and relaxation in riding, driving and "looking after his business and his surroundings."
The degree of success which he has attained as a business man and a public-spirited citizen should command attention to this advice which he offers to young Carolinians: "Be honest and truthful; keep sober; be ambitious to excel; practice economy ; cultivate energy; and give your entire time and thoughts and strength to your undertakings; if you do this, and are helred by a little common sense, I guarantee success in whatever line choose. Always keep good company."
His address is Bennettsville, Marlboro county, South Caro- lina.
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ASHBEL GREEN BRICE
B RICE, ASHBEL GREEN, lawyer, was born in Chester county, South Carolina, April 7, 1854. His parents were Robert Wilson and Anna M. (Steele) Brice. His father was a minister of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, a man of strong mind, excellent judgment and high character, a leading minister of the section and highly esteemed not only by his congregation but also by all who knew him. His mother, a graduate of the Female seminary, Washington, Pennsylvania, was a woman of excellent qualities of mind and heart, who exerted a strong influence for good in the community in which she lived. The earlier ancestors of Mr. Brice were of Scotch- Irish blood. Several of them settled in the upper part of South Carolina, and were influential in the early days of the state. His paternal great-grandfather emigrated from County Antrim, Ireland, and settled in Fairfield county about 1780. He was a tailor by trade and became a large land owner. He married Jane, a daughter of Robert Wilson, who was then living in the vicinity and was said to belong to the family of Wilsons who came from Ireland in 1733 and settled in Williamsburg county. Robert Wilson was an earnest patriot. He was so severely tor- tured by the Tories that the scars which resulted from his injuries remained until his death.
The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was born in 1791; married Margaret Simonton, whose father came to South Carolina from Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary war, intending to join the Continental army under General Greene, but instead he joined the command of General Sumter, and took part in the battle of Brattonsville and other engagements in the state. He had twelve children, all of whom lived to maturity and left descendants. The father of Ashbel Brice was born July 2, 1826, was graduated from Erskine college and studied theology at Erskine seminary and at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He was married, March 4, 1850, to Anna M. Steele, whose father, the Reverend John Steele, was a noted minister of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church.
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ASHBEL GREEN BRICE
Ashbel Brice spent his childhood and youth in the country and on a farm. In accordance with the custom of the time, his father, though a minister, was also a farmer, as the meager salary paid in those days was not sufficient to enable the preacher to support a family. Ashbel was one of ten children and from very early years was engaged in the work that falls to a boy on a farm. In his eleventh year the war closed, and as the negroes had been made free, he was obliged to take up a regular course of farm work. He paid special attention to the care of live stock, and worked in the garden, but in his sixteenth year he took his place as a full plough hand in the field. He had little time for social enjoyment, and, as the neighborhood was sparsely settled, he had very few companions of his own age. He was taught by his mother and did not attend school until after his sixteenth year, when he began to prepare for college. The particular pleasures of his boyhood he mentions as going to singing school after the summer crops were laid by, attending an occasional wedding, and the infrequent gatherings of the younger people of the com- munity. At this time he read but few books, but was deeply interested in the daily papers. He studied for awhile in the neighborhood schools, and in the autumn of 1872 he entered the sophomore class of Erskine college. In the sophomore and junior years he stood first in his class, and in the senior year he won three of the five medals that had been offered to the class. After he was graduated he taught school one year in Newberry county. In December, 1876, he began the study of law in the office of Colonel James H. Rion, at Winnsboro, South Carolina. The following year he was admitted to practice and opened an office in Winnsboro, but his father's health having failed, he soon returned to the old home, where he remained until his father's death, in March, 1878. He managed the farm during most of that year, but in November he commenced law practice in Chester, and in January, 1879, he permanently located in that town.
Mr. Brice never sought practice in the criminal courts and has appeared in only a few cases in the court of sessions, pre- ferring to give his time and attention to civil cases. He was of a quiet and somewhat retiring disposition, but he soon gained the confidence of the community and there was only a brief period of waiting for clients. During the last twenty-five years he has appeared in a large proportion of the most important civil cases
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ASHBEL GREEN BRICE
tried at the Chester bar, and, either alone or in connection with local counsel, he has taken part in the trial of many cases in the courts of neighboring counties. From December, 1893, to January, 1900, he was general counsel of the Carolina and North- western railway. During this time he planned and secured the reorganization of the old Chester and Lenoir railroad, now the Carolina and Northwestern railway, and thereby enabled the home people who had built the road to save most of the money which they had invested therein. He was counsel in matters pertaining both to the reorganization of the company and to the operation of the road, and, with the assistance of local counsel, had charge of all the litigation for and against the company in South and North Carolina. He was one of the original directors of the Exchange bank, of Chester, and for most of the time from its organization to December, 1899, was its legal adviser. On the date last named he was elected president of the Commercial bank, of Chester, which had just been organized, and he retains this position at the present time (1907). He has been a director in several other business and manufacturing corporations in or near Chester, and has also maintained his legal practice.
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