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 20
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He has all his life been very strongly impressed with the conviction that children should pass their lives until they are nearly twenty in the healthful surroundings of the country; and during their years of schooling should be taught gardening, farm work, and other useful out-of-door occupations. He holds it "self-evident that the city is no place for a boy." He advocates systematized efforts, on the part of parents who live in cities, to organize schools for their little ones in country places, and even at the cost of separating children from their parents, he advises the training of all city children in country schools.
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CHARLES PINCKNEY TOWNSEND
T OWNSEND, CHARLES PINCKNEY, lawyer, legislator, jurist, was born in Bennettsville, Marlboro county, South Carolina, July 1, 1835, son of Mekin and Rachel J. (Pearson) Townsend. He is descended from a long line of American ancestors of English and Welsh blood on the paternal and maternal sides of his family, respectively. His paternal grandfather was Jabesh N. Townsend, who married Elizabeth Spears. His maternal grandfather, Lamb Pearson, married Miss Mary David. Moses Pearson, his great-grandfather, was an officer in the War of the Revolution, and subsequently served as county judge.
Mekin Townsend, father of Charles P. Townsend, was a prosperous merchant, characterized by good judgment, great energy and commendable foresight. He was the owner of the Marlboro factory, located near Bennettsville, the first cotton fac- tory of consequence in the state of South Carolina, which unfor- tunately was burned about the time of his death and never rebuilt. It was operated by water power, and its output attained large proportions. In the year 1838 he was elected sheriff of Marlboro county, and died in December, 1852, at the early age of forty-five years.
Charles P. Townsend inherited a robust constitution and was reared amid exceptionally wholesome surroundings. His mother wielded a strong influence on his moral and spiritual nature, and his father early inculcated habits of industry. Up to the age of sixteen his time was divided between going to school and clerking in his father's store. While still a clerk in his father's employ, his desire for a more complete education was stirred by a Fourth of July address delivered by a graduate of South Carolina college in his native town, and he determined, if possible, to secure it. His father being at the time in far from affluent circumstances, approved his wish, but was unable to help him. He succeeded, however, in negotiating a loan from Colonel W. T. Ellerbe, an opulent and public-spirited citizen, to further his ends, which he paid back by teaching school. With the money thus secured he entered Bennettsville Male academy, and subsequently South
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Carolina college, from which he received the degree of A. M. in 1854. During this period, and, indeed, throughout his entire career, he read widely in general literature, and the works of Shakespeare, Plutarch, Rollin, Gibbon, Hume, and, above all, the Bible, became his companions and inspiration.
Mr. Townsend read law in the office of C. A. Thornwell, Esquire, of Bennettsville, and was admitted to practice before the old court of appeals of South Carolina in 1858. In the same year he opened an office in Bennettsville, and for almost half a century he has been a prominent representative of the South Carolina bar and the recipient of many public honors.
Previously, however, in 1856, after his graduation from col- lege, and while teaching school in Clarendon county, the South called for volunteers to go to Kansas in an endeavor to create a slave state out of that commonwealth. In companionship with Colonel Wilkes, John Buchanan and others, Mr. Townsend joined in the movement. After the futility of attempting this object had been demonstrated, he remained at Leavenworth, Kansas, and was admitted to the bar, but was soon after compelled to return home on account of sickness.
In 1858, and following, Mr Townsend served three terms as a member of the general assembly of South Carolina; from 1865 to 1868 he was commissioner in equity for Marlboro county; from 1872 to 1878 he was circuit judge for South Carolina; from 1872 to 1877, was assistant attorney-general of the state; and from 1900 to 1904, was assistant United States district attorney for South Carolina. During the War between the States he served four years in the Confederate army, and was mustered out of the service as captain of Company G, Eighth South Carolina regiment.
For more than forty years he has been a member of Marlboro lodge, A. F. M., Number 88. Politically he is a stanch Democrat and has taken an active and influential part in state politics. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Townsend's career is illustrative of the steady rise of a young man from comparative obscurity to a place of honor and distinction in the state. His ambition in early life was to become a good and successful lawyer, and the numerous recognitions that have come to him at the hands of the people attest in an emphatic way his ability and capabilities. In many respects he is a good
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living example of his own philosophy that "unflinching honesty, incessant work and study, sound ideals, and unvarying fidelity to moral and exemplary habits," will, if persevered in, lead to a higher order of success in life.
He has been twice married: First, on October 1, 1860, to Amanda McConnel, daughter of Andrew and Mary McConnel, of Columbia, South Carolina; second, on October 16, 1887, to Nannie Henley, daughter of Stephen Henley and Eleanor Henley, of Chatham county, North Carolina. By his first marriage he had eight children; by his second marriage three children, Charles P., William B., and Eleanor.
His address is Bennettsville, South Carolina.
WILLIAM HAY TOWNSEND
T OWNSEND, WILLIAM HAY, lawyer, was born January 9, 1868, in Barnwell, Barnwell county, South Carolina. His father, William Hutson Townsend, lawyer and insur- ance agent, who died at the early age of thirty-one, was a man of fine business capacity ; his mother, Harriet Ford (Hay) Town- send, a woman of high intellectual attainments, was naturally everything in his life,-she molded his character, nourished his budding intellect, and encouraged and spurred his ambition. His blood is English, Scotch and Irish; one of his double great-grand- fathers, Reverend William Hutson, was pastor of the Circular church, in Charleston, South Carolina, prior to the War of the Revolution; another, Colonel Ami Hawks Hay, of Westchester county, New York, was commander of the Fourth regiment West- chester militia in the War of the Revolution, and his grandfather, Colonel Frederick Hay, removed from New York to Barnwell county, South Carolina, soon after the Revolution. Other ances- tors, from England, Scotland and Ireland, were in New York, Virginia and South Carolina prior to the Revolution.
His early life was passed in the village of Barnwell and the town of Aiken. As a boy he was studious, and especially fond of history. He received his academic education in the local schools and by private tutors. At the age of eighteen, lacking the means to go to college, he began to read law in the office of Hon. James Aldrich, a lawyer of high standing, and studied so faithfully that, in 1889, when he was admitted to the bar, not long after his twenty-first birthday, he was better qualified to practice than many men with diplomas from colleges and law schools. His whole heart was in his work, and, with confidence in his ability to do so, he determined to win success in the profes- sion he had chosen, solely because it was his personal preference.
Immediately following his admission to the bar he formed a copartnership with Colonel William Elliott and began the prac- tice of law in Beaufort, South Carolina, remaining there and steadily growing in repute as a lawyer, until 1894, when he removed to Barnwell. He was solicitor of the second judicial circuit, 1898-1900; and code commissioner of South Carolina,
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1900-1903, during which period he compiled and edited the "Code of Laws of South Carolina," published 1902. Since 1903, when he accepted the position of assistant attorney-general of South Carolina, which was tendered him solely on his professional merit, he has resided in Columbia and has continued to gain in profes- sional reputation.
His career is a striking illustration of what a young man with sufficient pluck and industry and fixedness of purpose can do for himself. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. In 1895 he was elected elder of the Barnwell church. In politics he is, and has always been, a Democrat.
His address is 915 Barnwell street, Columbia, South Carolina.
MILTON PYLES TRIBBLE
T RIBBLE, MILTON PYLES, farmer and legislator, was born in Laurens county, South Carolina, August 27, 1840. His parents were John Allen and Susan Elizabeth (Pyles) Tribble. His father was a farmer, an energetic and industrious man, of stern appearance, but indulgent to his children. The first paternal ancestor to settle in this country was Ezekiel Tribble, of Scotch-Irish blood, who came from Ireland, located in Vir- ginia, and about 1790 removed to South Carolina. The mother of the subject of this sketch was descended from Doctor Abner Pyles, of French Huguenot extraction.
In childhood and youth Milton Tribble lived in the country. He was healthy and strong and was fond of outdoor life and work. One of his special tastes was the care of domestic animals. He attended the "old field" schools for a while, but was not able to enter any higher institution of learning. At a comparatively early age he had to take his place as a regular farm hand. This work gave him physical vigor, and he improved his mind by observation of natural phenomena and by reading after the work of the day was done. He was especially interested in historical literature, and the information obtained therefrom, with the mental discipline which came with its acquirement, proved of great benefit to him in later years. In April, 1861, in response to the first call for volunteers in the War between the States, he enlisted in an infantry regiment. In the following year he was transferred to a cavalry regiment and served as a scout until the surrender at Appomattox. Soon after the close of the war he removed to Anderson county and commenced the active work of life as a farmer. This business he carried on without interruption until 1876, when the peaceful revolution, known as the "Hampton Movement," for the purpose of redeeming the state from carpet- bag and negro rule, was started. Mr. Tribble was so popular in the community in which he lived that he was elected colonel of a "red-shirt" regiment, a volunteer organization that extended over the state and contributed greatly to the success of the movement. His course in this matter was so efficient as to greatly increase his popularity, and in 1880 he was elected treasurer of the county.
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At the end of his term of two years he was reelected and served until 1884, in which year he was elected clerk of the court of common pleas and general sessions for Anderson county. This office he held for two terms-until 1892. Two years later he was appointed postmaster of the city of Anderson and served until 1898. In 1902 he became a member of the state legislature, and was reëlected in 1904. The editor of a prominent newspaper in the state, writing of "two stalwart members" of the legislature whom he describes as "a little gray with years creeping on, who belong to that fast disappearing generation that may never be equalled for noble virtues, perhaps, and who bring to mind the proudest days of South Carolina," said: "One of these is a Lau- rens man, native to the manner born, and though he represents Anderson now, Laurens has a right to be proud of him and is proud of him. His name is M. P. Tribble-'Mit' Tribble, his old friends call him. He was a soldier of gallantry, he was a Demo- crat when it cost most to be a Democrat, and he is and always has been a man-every inch of him."
Of the various influences which have helped him greatly in preparing for and carrying on the work of life, he names as most. important the example and teaching of his mother and contact with men in active life. The occupation of his early manhood was determined by circumstances beyond his control. The first strong impulse to strive for the prizes of life came to him during the war, when he felt a desire to be "something more than a drone." After the close of the war this impulse was strengthened by the awakening of an ambition to win regard as an honorable man. He has never taken a course of physical culture, and from his observation that "boys who went to school and took life easy stood service in the army better than those who had to work regularly," he infers that such courses are unnecessary. In reply to a request that if any partial failure had been made he would, for the benefit of his readers, state the cause of the same, he says that he had "too much confidence and trust in other people-by which I lost all the accumulations of my labor in life." And in response to a request for suggestions which may help young people to attain true success in life, he says: "Guard against associations with such as will give you no credit and from whom you can secure no benefit."
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On October 28, 1868, Mr. Tribble was married to Mary Eliza- beth Young. Of their six children, three are living in 1907.
Mr. Tribble is a prominent member of the Baptist church, but is friendly toward other denominations, and is interested in every good work. He has served his country faithfully in war and peace and has richly deserved the honors which have been awarded him. In his quiet home he enjoys the society of his family and friends, and he has the esteem of a large number of acquaintances throughout the state.
He resides at 321 Fant street, Anderson, South Carolina.
JOHN DAVID VERNER
V ERNER, JOHN DAVID, was born July 12, 1844, at Retreat, Oconee county, South Carolina. He was the son of Samuel Johnson and Malinda Crawford Verner. His father was a farmer, and for a time served on the board of county commissioners. Samuel Johnson Verner was a man of strong will-power, yet at the same time marked by liberality. He was a great church worker, industrious, economical, and a man of unusual strength of character.
His earliest known ancestor in America was John Verner, Sr., of Pennsylvania, who in the middle of the eighteenth century moved to Abbeville county, South Carolina. John Verner, Jr., was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and, for the remarkably long period extending from 1787 to 1853, was a magistrate.
John David Verner was strong and vigorous in youth; he was interested in stock raising, agriculture, and farm work in general. His early life was passed in the country and on a farm near Retreat, South Carolina. His life made it possible for him to receive effective instruction in business and training in the habits of industry and economy. The strongest of the influences affecting his early life was that of his mother, which, in things both of mind and heart, was potent. His education was inter- rupted when he was but seventeen years of age by his call to the army. Afterward he found it possible to attend Retreat academy. The end of the war, however, left him in such circumstances that it was necessary for him to put forth every effort to provide means to educate and support five brothers and sisters, and to support his mother. He first began work on the farm. His incli- nations, however, drew him toward merchandising, upon which he first entered in Walhalla, South Carolina, in 1871. Afterward he became connected with the banking business at the same place. In addition, he has been intendant, warden, and mayor of the town of Walhalla for a number of years; president of the board of trustees of Adger college, Walhalla, South Carolina, for the five years from 1895 to 1900; president of the Walhalla Cotton mill, and, for a time, president of the Bank of Walhalla.
Men of Mark Publishing Saranno Washington, DC
yours truly l. O Vener
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JOHN DAVID VERNER
He is a member of the Knights of Honor, Walhalla lodge, in which order he has held the rank of dictator. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has also been a representative in the grand lodge of the Knights of Honor.
Politically, he has through life been a Democrat. Relief from the confinement of his urban life he finds in looking after his farms.
On January 2, 1872, he married Mary J. Lovinggood. Of this marriage seven children have been born, six of whom-three sons and three daughters-are now (1907) living.
His address is Walhalla, Oconee county, South Carolina.
JOSEPH GEORGE WARDLAW
W ARDLAW, JOSEPH GEORGE, financier, and manufacturer, was born April 4, 1859, in Abbeville, Abbeville county, South Carolina. His father, Joseph James Wardlaw, M. D., physician and surgeon, member of the state legislature, 1858-59, and of various state conventions, was noted for courtesy, intelligence and integrity; his mother, Mary Ann (Witherspoon) Wardlaw, a refined and highly cultured woman, was, jointly with his father, the most potent influence on all sides of his life.
His blood is Scotch, and his ancestry carries many distin- guished names,-among them, on the paternal side, Sir Henry Wardlaw, archbishop of St. Andrew's and founder of the Uni- versity of St. Andrew's, Scotland, and Reverend Ralph Wardlaw, D. D., a famous Scotch preacher; on the maternal side it can be traced back to King Robert, "The Bruce," and one of the family married a granddaughter of John Knox, the famous reformer and Presbyterian; the maternal great-grandfather, James With- erspoon, was a captain in the Revolutionary war. The founder of the American family, on the paternal side, Robert Wardlaw, born about 1675 in Scotland, came to America about 1725. His son William settled in Virginia, near Alexandria, and his son Hugh moved to Abbeville county, South Carolina, was captain in the War of the Revolution, judge of the county court of Abbe- ville, 1797-1800, and died in 1802. His son James (grandfather of the subject of this sketch) was for forty years clerk of the county court of Abbeville, and he and his son held one ecclesi- astical office for ninety-five years. On the maternal side, the American founder, John Witherspoon, born in 1670 in Scotland, moved to County Down, Ireland, 1695, came to South Carolina, 1734, and settled in Kingstree, Williamsburg county, where he died in 1737. His double great-grandfather, Major Robert Crawford, of the Waxhaws, Lancaster county, South Carolina, equipped a company for service in the War of the Revolution at his own expense, commanded a brigade in the battle of Hanging Rock, and was especially commended by General Marion for gallantry and faithfulness; his grandfather, Colonel James H. Witherspoon, of
Asf. Lars Publishing Et
Washington, D.C.
Yours truly I.G. Wardlaw
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JOSEPH GEORGE WARDLAW
Lancaster county, was lieutenant-governor of South Carolina, 1826, and in 1842, at the time of his death, candidate for congress and his election almost assured.
Joseph G. Wardlaw spent his early life in the village in which he was born. He was robust, loved all kinds of athletic sports, and had a strong taste for biography and history. He had no home tasks involving manual labor, and regretted it later in life, when experience had caused him to believe that every boy should have them as a part of his training. He was educated in the excellent private schools in Abbeville, and in the King's Mountain Military school, Yorkville, South Carolina, where he completed the junior course in 1879. The death of his father and loss of means somewhat disarranged his educational plans. He read a course of medicine; also some law, but abandoned the idea of practicing either, and, partly from personal preference and partly from force of circumstances, entered upon a business career. He was bookkeeper for Hunter & Oates, Yorkville, July, 1879, to October, 1883; head accountant and paymaster of the Clifton Manufacturing company, Clifton, South Carolina, Octo- ber, 1883, to December, 1894; secretary of the Gaffney Manu- facturing company, Gaffney, January, 1895, to September, 1904, and of the Orient Manufacturing company, Charlotte, North Carolina, January, 1900, to September, 1904, and was vice-presi- dent of the Cowpens Manufacturing company and of the Gaffney Building and Loan association for several years. Since 1897 he has been vice-president of the Gaffney National bank; from December, 1904, to October, 1905, president of the Orient Manu- facturing company, Charlotte, North Carolina, and since April, 1905, president of the York Cotton mills, Yorkville, South Caro- lina.
He modestly declares that he has "failed to accomplish much," but the dates in the record of his career show that there has been steady progress and accomplishment; there have been no spectacular bounds up the ladder of success, such as men are sometimes enabled to make by a combination of fortuitous circum- stances. From the bookkeeper's desk to the leading position he now holds in the highest financial and manufacturing circles of his own and the adjoining state he has gone step by step, and owes his rise to hard work and intelligent comprehension of all duties entrusted to him-in other words, to personal merit. He
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has only applied the principles of true success which he once suggested for the benefit of young men, "hard work, persistence, and reliability," and he has been duly rewarded.
The taste for military affairs he acquired in school has always been retained. He has served in the state militia for about twenty-five years, filling every position from corporal to colonel, and still finds his most enjoyable recreation in military exercises. He commanded a regiment during the riots in Darlington in 1894, and was highly commended for the speedy manner in which he brought order out of the ugly situation that confronted him when he arrived with the troops.
From 1888 to 1895, in addition to his private business duties, he was trial justice in Clifton; chairman of the board of school trustees, and for two years, 1890-92, chairman of a Democratic political club. Since 1900 he has been an elder in the Presby- terian church, and in 1902 was a commissioner to the general assembly. He was president of the Gaffney Library association, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and has been chancellor commander and member of the grand lodge, and is a member and has been commandant of a camp of United Sons of Confederate veterans.
He thinks the strong influences in his life have been, in the order named, home, early companionship and environment, and contact with noted good and prominent men and relatives in Abbeville; that natural aspiration and pride gave him his first strong impulse to strive for success, and that the books most helpful in fitting him for his career were histories and those per- taining to manufacturing, though his medical and legal reading was of service in broadening his mind and his outlook.
On May 23, 1893, he married Sallie F. Carroll, of Aiken, South Carolina; and on December 20, 1900, Emmie D. Sams, daughter of Professor R. O. Sams, of Gaffney, South Carolina, who died in 1906. Of their two children, one, Joseph George, Jr., is now (1907) living.
The address of Mr. Wardlaw is Yorkville, York county, South Carolina.
HENRY HITT WATKINS
W ATKINS, HENRY HITT, lawyer, was born in Waterloo township, Laurens county, South Carolina. June 24, 1866. His parents were Henry H. and Han- nah Elizabeth (Culbertson) Watkins. His father was a farmer who was noted for his liberality, hospitality, his enjoyment of argumentative discussions, and his pride in and self-sacrifice for his children. He was a man of powerful physique and great strength of character. He never held or sought a public office, but served as captain of a militia company before the war and was a lieutenant in the Confederate States army during the con- flict between the states. The earliest known paternal ancestor of the family in this country came from Wales and settled in Vir- ginia sometime prior to the Revolution. His descendants, with a company of Scotch-Irish settlers from that region, removed to Laurens county, South Carolina. On the maternal side, the first ancestor in America was Robert Culbertson, who came from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania several years before the Revolution. His son, James Culbertson, removed to Caswell county, North Carolina, and thence to Laurens county, South Carolina, where he remained until his death. Neither these immigrants nor the majority of their descendants were specially prominent in public affairs, but they were well represented in the Revolution and in the War between the States.
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