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 3
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In December, 1883, Mr. Brice was married to Miss Sallie L. Miller, youngest daughter of the Reverend Doctor John and Mrs. Sarah (Pressly) Miller, of Camden, Alabama. She is a woman of highly cultured intellect, varied accomplishments and untiring energy. Adding to these a happy disposition, she has proven a true helpmeet to her husband, and is the center of a circle of helpful services in the social and church life of her adopted city and state.
By nature and disposition Mr. Brice has never been an active politician, but he has always voted and acted with the Democratic party. In 1892, without solicitation on his part, he was elected to the legislature from his county. He served in the regular sessions of 1892 and 1893, and then in January, 1894, resigned his office, for the reason that holding it interfered with his privileges as general counsel of a railway company, which position he had recently accepted. In the fall of 1894 he was strongly solicited to stand for reelection, but declined to be a candidate. In Novem- ber, 1906, he was again elected a member of the state legislature.
Mr. Brice has always been an active advocate of free common school education. He has served for many years on the board
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of school trustees in his city, and for the most of the time as its chairman. He has shown a sincere interest in the elevation and education of the colored race. Without solicitation or suggestion from himself, he was elected by the legislature one of the trustees of the Industrial and Mechanical college for negroes when it was organized in 1896, and has by reelection since served on this board.
Like many people of Scotch-Irish descent, Mr. Brice was reared in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church. He has long been a member and officer of that body, and after the death of his father, in 1878, he was elected to succeed him as treasurer of the synod, and up to the present time he has managed the general and home mission funds of that body with marked success. While loyal to his church and her institutions, he has always recognized the full equality and fraternity of all other evangelical churches, and is catholic and conservative in his views of religion. He has a clear and logical mind and a sound and discriminating judgment; is conscientious, careful and pains- taking in all his work; and is recognized by the bar as a safe and strong lawyer. He is a man of decided character, and he stands for law and order in all things. In disposition he is retiring and modest, but he is firm and courageous in the perform- ance of every duty. Strict morals, plodding industry, practical economy and an abiding faith are the elements that lie at the foundation of the success he has made of life.
The address of Mr. Brice is Chester, South Carolina.
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JAMES ALBERT BROCK
B ROCK, JAMES ALBERT, son of Andrew J. and Eliza- beth Ann Brock, was born in Anderson county, South Carolina, February 11, 1847. His father was a merchant, characterized by generosity, fair dealing, and a disposition to oblige.
Mr. Brock's paternal great-grandfather, Reuben Brock, migrated from Scotland to Virginia in the seventeenth century, moving later to South Carolina. Mr. Brock's maternal grand- parents also came from Virginia.
Albert enjoyed a normal boyhood, the first seven years of his life being spent on a farm, the next ten in a village. He was healthy and strong. His reading was directed by his mother, by whom his attention was early turned to the Bible. Her influence on his life, intellectual, moral and spiritual, and especially on the latter, was strong and helpful.
Young Brock obtained an education only through difficulties. The war came at the time when the youth should have been in school; and the absence of the father and older brother in the army required that Albert should help support the family. His active life work began in 1860, when he became clerk to a mer- chant in Honea Path, South Carolina. In entering upon this work he was not following a special bent, but simply accepting what offered. In 1866 he began bookkeeping in Anderson. In 1869 he accepted the position of auditor and paymaster of the Greenville and Columbia railroad, removing to Columbia. He was elected cashier of the bank in Anderson in 1872; eighteen years later he was made president of the bank. In 1889 the Anderson Cotton mills were organized, and he was elected presi- dent. In 1903 he was elected president of the Brogon mills, and in 1904 was made president of the Anderson Traction company, organized at that time. He was also president of the Anderson Oil and Fertilizer company for sixteen years until its absorption, in 1901, by the Anderson Phosphate and Oil company.
Mr. Brock is also a director of the Bank of Anderson, the Citizens bank of Honea Path, the Anderson Cotton mills, the Brogon mills, the Toxaway mills, the Charleston and Western
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Carolina railroad, the Baltimore Mutual Fire Insurance company, the Anderson Phosphate and Oil company, the Anderson Traction company, the Anderson Real Estate and Improvement company, the Anderson Real Estate and Investment company, the Acme Drug company, the Anderson Water, Light and Power company, and the Standard Warehouse company.
For years Mr. Brock has been prominent in business circles of his state. Under his able management the National Bank of Anderson enjoyed remarkable success, attaining third rank among the banks of the South and seventh in the United States as to the book value of its stock. His business career has been marked by unusual activity and success, and his life characterized by integrity and usefulness in every sphere of duty, his church, the Baptist, of which he is an active and official member, not excepted. In politics he is a Democrat. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. His advice to the young is: "Be religious; acquire good habits, and deal uprightly always, as the merited good opinion and confidence of leading men in a community is most helpful to young men in life's battle."
Mr. Brock has been twice married: first, in 1873, to Miss Copeland, who died eighteen months later; second, in 1881, to Mrs. Davis, née Reed. One child was born of each marriage; both are now (1907) living.
Mr. Brock's address is 708 McDuffie street, Anderson, Ander- son county, South Carolina.
PAUL THOMAS BRODIE
B RODIE, PAUL THOMAS, A. B., B. S., educator, and civil engineer, was born near Leesville, Lexington county, South Carolina, January 11, 1866, the son of T. F. Brodie and Claudia Quattlebaum. His father was an enterprising and successful business man, and at the time of his death, in 1871, was senior member of the firms of T. F. Brodie & Company, lumber manufacturers and dealers, and Brodie & Company, cotton factors, in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. His marked characteristics were gentleness and a retiring manner, coupled with soundness of judgment, steadiness of purpose, and a personal integrity that gained him recognition, wherever known, as the "soul of honor." Before his death, however, he was led to make business connections so unfortunate that, after his demise, his family suffered the loss of almost all of the estate he had formed. The paternal ancestors were Scotch, of the Brodie clan; the maternal, German. The paternal great-grandfather left his home in Scotland about 1780 and settled in Charleston, South Carolina. The maternal great great-grandfather settled in North Carolina before the Revolution. The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, General Paul Quattlebaum, was an officer in the Florida war, was a signer of the ordinance of secession, and was for many years prominent in state affairs. He died in 1890. Owing to the losses referred to, young Brodie suffered embar- rassments in acquiring an education and establishing himself in life. But his love of knowledge was decided; and the influence of a noble mother, glad to make every sacrifice for the good of her children, was an unfailing source of inspiration and encour- agement. After the death of the father the family made their home with the grandfather Quattlebaum at his country residence near Leesville, South Carolina. Here young Brodie gained much practical information. He learned to do mending in the black- smith shop at pleasure, acquired skill in working machinery in the flouring and saw mills, and early became interested in elemen- tary hydraulics and other engineering, all of which were to his taste. His grandfather, though self-educated, was a practical engineer in good standing, and before going to college young
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Brodie acquired considerable technical knowledge by association with him, both in the field and in the office. His uncle, Colonel P. J. Quattlebaum, of the United States corps of engineers, also favored him with aid and encouragement.
After studying at home for some years he won, by competi- tive examination, a cadetship in the South Carolina Military academy. But lacking the advantages of good health and ade- quate preparation, he soon left the military academy and entered with zeal upon a course of systematic study in Stuart's Classical academy, at Charleston. Later he entered Furman university, at Greenville, South Carolina, and in 1887 was graduated with the degrees of A. B. and B. S., having devoted special attention to the study of mathematics under the noted Dr. C. H. Judson. Choosing teaching as a profession, he first accepted the principal- ship of the Lewiedale high school. After a year's service there he was elected superintendent of the Lexington graded schools, serving in that capacity for four years. In June, 1891, he became superintendent of the Spartanburg city schools, remaining there from 1891 to 1895. While engaged in school work he devoted himself earnestly to the study of higher mathematics and civil engineering, spending the vacations in post-graduate work in the higher universities. In December, 1895, he was elected assistant professor of mathematics in Clemson college; in 1897 he was placed in charge of the civil engineering course; and in 1899 he became professor of mathematics and civil engineering, which position he now (1907) holds. His success he modestly ascribes in a considerable measure to the generous help accorded him by his grandfather Quattlebaum; by Doctor C. H. Judson, who was to him an unfailing source of inspiration while a student at Furman university, not forgetting the skilful instruction afforded him by Dr. W. M. Thornton, of the University of Virginia, and others, while devoting his energies to the work of a preparation for his chosen profession.
Though engaged principally in teaching, Professor Brodie has done considerable engineering work of merit. He has also served as a member of boards of education, as instructor in teachers' institutes, as professor of mathematics in the state sum- mer school, and as state director for the National Educational association. His writings have been chiefly in the form of brief articles on mathematical and engineering subjects. He is a
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member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, engineering section. He was president of Clemson College Science club, and of the South Carolina State Teachers' association, in 1905. He is a member of the Baptist church. In politics he is a Democrat.
He was married, June 30, 1891, to Miss Isabel Bradford. They have one son, Oren B. Brodie, aged fifteen, and an infant daughter, Isabel, living in 1907.
The address of Professor Brodie is Clemson College, South Carolina.
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN
B ROWN, GEORGE WASHINGTON, of Darlington, South Carolina, was born in Lancaster, July 22, 1857. His father, Daniel W. Brown, was a planter, a man of gen- erous and sympathetic nature, and open, frank disposition, quick to resent, and quick to forgive. The earliest one of Mr. Brown's known paternal ancestors in this country was Michael Hamilton, of the Scottish clan of the McDonalds of Glencoe, who settled in Massachusetts in 1712. Daniel McDonald removed from Massachusetts to South Carolina in 1720, and took land on both sides of the Catawba river, at a place which has been known for generations as Brown's Ferry. One of his sons, William, was a sergeant in the Colonial army in the War of the Revolution. From another son, Middleton, George W. Brown is descended; his family being thus of Scotch-Irish extraction.
On his mother's side, Mr. Brown is descended from English ancestry through the Barnes family which settled in Massachu- setts in 1630, just ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims. The Southern branch of the family settled in Maryland in 1700, and furnished names which were conspicuous on the rolls of honor in the Revolutionary and the Mexican wars. Mr. Brown's uncle, Honorable Dixon Barnes, represented Lancaster county in the state senate, was colonel of the Twelfth South Carolina regiment in the War between the States, and was killed in the battle of Sharpsburg in 1862.
Enjoying fairly robust health in his youth, George W. Brown entered heartily into such outdoor sports as hunting, riding and fishing, and had the healthy boy's love of books of adventure. Most of his time during these years was spent at his home in Lancaster, until in 1872 he entered Wofford college, from which he was graduated four years later with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Mr. Brown feels that he owes much of the best inspiration of his life's achievement to the professors under whom he studied in Wofford college, and especially to the two college presidents there, Dr. A. M. Shipp and Dr. James H. Carlisle. The influence of men like these deeply influenced his life and character, while contact with men of prominence in active business and profes-
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sional pursuits since his youth has acted as a stimulus to personal ambition. But back of the influences of college days was the enduring power of the pure and wholesome surroundings of his home and his early school. In Mr. Brown's view, it is ultimately the influence of home which is predominant and ineradicable.
After graduating from college, Mr. Brown studied law at intervals, as he had opportunity, under W. A. Moore, of Lan- caster, and A. C. Spain, of Darlington. While studying law, he was at the same time acting as principal of the school at Timmonsville (1877-78). In September, 1878, he removed to Darlington, and for a year acted as deputy clerk of court, in the meantime pursuing his legal studies. After September, 1879, he devoted his entire time to the study of law until his admission to the bar in May, 1880. Four years previously, when he was nineteen years of age, though at the time neither a candidate nor an aspirant for public office, he had spoken upon every political platform in the county of Lancaster in furtherance of the great movement for good government in 1876. After his removal to Darlington, in 1878, Mr. Brown for many years was secretary and treasurer of the county executive committee of the Demo- cratic party, until, on the retirement of Mr. John W. Williamson as chairman of the executive committee, Mr. Brown succeeded him in that office, which he held until 1886.
He was a member of the South Carolina house of represen- tatives from 1884 to 1886. He served as state senator for two terms, from 1898 to 1902, and again from 1902 to 1906. In connection with his senatorial duties he was a member of such important committees as the judiciary committee, and the com- mittee on education, of which latter he was chairman. While in the senate he was an ex officio trustee of South Carolina college and of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial college. He was elected major (line officer) of the Fourth regiment of South Carolina militia, and later was lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment, until his resignation in 1890.
Mr. Brown has always retained his interest in such active, outdoor sports as hunting and fishing. His genial disposition and social qualities have led to his membership in many fraternal organizations, including the Free Masons. He has been twice married : in 1881, to Minnie Caldwell Lawrence, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and September 14, 1892, to Harriet McIver Ervin.
His address is Darlington, South Carolina.
RANDOLPH RIDGELY BROWN
B ROWN, RANDOLPH RIDGELY, manufacturer, and man of affairs, was born April 14, 1847, near the site of Pacolet mills, in the county that has always been his home; the son of William P. and Milbry (Jones) Brown, and grandson of John Brown, who came from England to Virginia and removed to Spartanburg county at the age of fourteen. William P. Brown was a man of strong Christian character, a close student of the Bible, a hard and constant worker, and it was natural that the son should be trained in habits of faithful industry. At the same time, the mother's influence was most marked in his intellectual as well as moral and religious develop- ment. To these home influences, which have remained with him through his later life, he attributes his success, especially as manifested in his repeated appointment to positions of honor and responsibility.
As the War between the States called for renewed sacrifices by the citizens of the state, he joined a number of other young men and gave a year of service in the army, first as private, then as corporal. When mustered out, in common with others, he faced the general destitution; but, with high ambition, he set himself to contribute his share to the solution of the hard problems with which his people had to deal. He had always had a taste for mercantile life, and entered upon it in Union county in 1868. He now began to reap the advantage of his reading on agriculture and manufacturing. Turning his attention to the manufacture of cotton goods, he occupied successive positions, of increasing responsibility, successfully, and since 1890 he has been president and treasurer of the Cowpens Manufacturing company. He is also vice-president of the Merchants and Planters bank, Gaffney, South Carolina, and director of the First National and American National banks, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Broadened by contact with men in active life, he has taken a deep interest in public matters, and has been repeatedly called to the mayoralty of his native city, furnishing a notable illus- tration of the type of man to whom South Carolina owes much.
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RANDOLPH RIDGELY BROWN
He is a member of the Baptist church. In politics he is a Democrat.
He was married April 14, 1874, to Louisa H. Wood. They have had six children, of whom four are living in 1907.
The secret of his own success is found in his counsel to young men, "to seize every opportunity by the forelock; closely apply themselves to duty; lead Christian lives, and use every moment to some benefit."
His address is Cowpens, Spartanburg county, South Carolina.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER BROWN
B ROWN, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, planter, legislator, and member of the state board of education, was born in Marion, South Carolina, the son of Travis Foster Brown, a farmer, "public-spirited, religious, very successful, and a lover of education." His mother, Martha Baker Brown, died while he was an infant. Her ancestors, coming from England, were among the early settlers in Marion county. His great-grand- father, William Baker, served as colonel in the Revolutionary war.
Since Mr. Brown is best known throughout his native state as an advocate of the best attainable public schools for all the children, and has done much to influence the public sentiment of his state in favor of compulsory education, and of the provision of uniform text-books (free to needy children) in all the public schools, and in favor of centralizing country schools and trans- porting children to such schools in wagonettes-it is interesting to see how important was the part played in his own boyhood by determined effort to secure an education, and how steadily his father and the boy himself made the attainment of an education for the young a consideration of the first importance in all their plans.
Mr. Brown says of himself: "There has been nothing striking or unusual in my life. It has been one of constant labor. Early in life my father taught me to employ all my time in doing some- thing." "I was about fourteen years old when my father went into the army. A younger brother and myself were the only members of the family at home. With a trusty old negro, whom my father had employed, I managed the large farm and about fifty negroes. When my father was not in the war it was my almost daily occupation to take an old gray mule and buggy and carry a part of their journey soldiers who were on their way home or who were returning to the army. At the close of the war we were almost broken up; but my father never became discouraged. He went to work, and we helped him. My father and I worked and denied ourselves that I might attend college. He was anxious and determined, above all else, to educate his
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children. I went to the Marion high school for a few months, and then to Wofford preparatory school for one year, and then to Wofford college, from which I was graduated in June, 1874, receiving from my class the honor of delivering the valedictory. During the entire four years at college I did not miss a single roll call or chapel service.
After leaving college, Mr. Brown taught for two years, intending to take up the study and practice of medicine. Health failed him. He began farming, "with the poorest sort of a prospect of success." He says : "I bought an old mule for forty- five dollars, did my own ploughing, made eight bales of cotton. From this I began to enlarge my farm, and every year made something clear." In 1880 he was elected to the legislature, serving two years; and he was elected again in 1884. In 1892 he was elected to the state senate, and in 1896 he was reelected senator.
He married Miss Eliza Clark, November 27, 1889. They have four children living in 1907.
He served for four years on the state board of education. While in the state senate he was for six years chairman of the senate committee upon education.
He is a member of the Methodist church. He is identified with the Democratic party. He attributes his early determina- tion to succeed in life more to the example of his father and to close intercourse with him than to any other source.
Among the citizens of South Carolina who have seen most distinctly that the best interests of the state they love require a thorough system of public schools with the best facilities, sup- ported by a law enforcing compulsory education, Mr. Brown has taken a most honorable place.
Asked to suggest to his young fellow-citizens of his state methods and habits which in his belief will contribute to the strengthening of sound ideals in American life, he says: "Have a purpose in life, and work up to it. Industry and temperance are essential. Be patient in working and waiting for results. Do the right always, and never compromise with wrong or evil."
His address is Marion, South Carolina.
JOHN GENDRON CAPERS
C APERS, JOHN GENDRON, United States commissioner of internal revenue, was born at Anderson, South Caro- lina, April 17, 1866. His father, the Right Reverend Ellison Capers, is the Protestant Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, who served as major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general in the Confederate States army, and was severely wounded in several engagements, was secretary of the state of South Carolina from 1867 to 1868, and entered the Protestant Episcopal ministry in 1867. His mother, Charlotte Rebecca (Palmer) Capers, was a collateral descendant of General Francis Marion. On his father's side he numbers Captain Wil- liam Capers and Bishop William Capers of the Methodist Church, South, among his ancestors and kinsmen.
His boyhood was passed in the town of Greenville, South Carolina. Under the strong and loving influence of a mother whose touch upon his moral and spiritual life he has always felt, and a father who seemed to his son, as he expresses it, "a man of great wisdom and loving kindness in dealing with his fellowmen, of the highest integrity of character and of patriotism and courage, both moral and personal," the years of his boyhood were passed in study, with a great fondness from the first for history and particularly for biography; while a genuine boy's interest in the green things growing in the garden, and in the horses and the life of the place generally, at home, prevented studies from filling the whole horizon of his life, and early taught him to do some things with his own hands. He studied at Professor Mazyck's school, at Greenville; at Captain Patrick's military school, and at Doctor Porter's school (the Holy Communion Church institute), and the Citadel academy, in Charleston. He was graduated in law at Columbia, South Carolina, and was admitted to the bar before the supreme court in 1887. He was superintendent of education for Greenville county from 1887 to 1889. In 1893 he acted as editor of the Columbia "Daily Journal." For seven years, from 1894 to 1901, he was assistant United States attorney at Washington, District of Columbia, and in 1901 he was appointed United States district attorney for
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