USA > South Carolina > Men of mark in South Carolina; ideals of American life: a collection of biographies of leading men of the state, Volume III > Part 14
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Mr. Harley became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, when he was a boy. For many years he has held the office of steward in Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal church of Orangeburg. He is a liberal supporter of the church and of various charities outside of his church. He is a Free Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Woodmen of the World, a member of the Knights of Honor, and of the National Union.
The success in business life which has come to Mr. Harley he accounts for in these sentences, which he offers as suggestions to his young fellow-citizens: "I have tried to be honest and truthful. I have tried to cultivate high ideals. I have avoided drink and other evil habits. When I have had a bargain in prospect I have kept my own counsel about it; and I have paid strict attention to the business I had in hand and have vigorously prosecuted it to the finish; and back of all these principles has been God and the Bible, and the influence of my grandmother, Mary Bullock."
The address of Mr. Harley is Orangeburg, South Carolina.
JOHN J. HEMPHILL
H EMPHILL, JOHN J., lawyer, was born in Chester, Chester county, South Carolina, August 25, 1849. His parents were James and Rachel Elizabeth (Brawley) Hemphill. His father was a successful lawyer in Chester. For several years he was commissioner in equity, and although he was not inclined to political life, he served at various times as member of the South Carolina house of representatives, and also of the state senate. Reverend John Hemphill, of Scotch- Irish descent, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came from the north of Ireland to Philadelphia in 1783. He was graduated from Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1792, in a class of thirty-three members.
After attending the schools at Chester, John J. Hemphill entered South Carolina college and was graduated from that institution with the degree of A. B. in June, 1869. He studied law in the office of his father, and, admitted to the bar in October, 1870, he commenced the practice of law in Chester, where he soon won recognition and success.
He was a member of the South Carolina house of represen- tatives 1876-1882. He took an active part in reorganizing the state government and institutions which had just been wrested from "carpet-bag" rule.
In 1882 he was elected to congress from the fifth district, and by reelection he was continued in this office for ten years. He became one of the leaders of the Democratic party in the house. In 1885 he opposed the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1; and he was at all times an active and earnest worker for a reduction of the tariff. He also led the fight, on behalf of the Democrats, against the "Force Bill," introduced and advo- cated by Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts. During eight years of his service in congress he was a member of the committee on the District of Columbia, and for four years its chairman. During this time he secured the passage of the bill establishing in the district Rock Creek park of twelve hundred acres, one of the finest parks in the world. He also led the movement which, by act of congress, provided a permanent system of highways
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under which the entire area of the District of Columbia will eventually be laid out in conformity with the plan of the city of Washington.
Since 1893 Mr. Hemphill has had a large and profitable practice, principally in Washington, though, with his brother Paul as his partner, the firm of Hemphill & Hemphill is still maintained in Chester, South Carolina.
As classes of books which have helped him most he names works of history and biography which show what individual effort has actually accomplished in life.
Mr. Hemphill is the author of a "Sketch of Reconstruction in South Carolina," published in 1890. He is a member of the Metropolitan and the Chevy Chase clubs of Washington, District of Columbia, and of the Commercial club of Chester, South Carolina. In politics he has always been a Democrat. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church.
On December 23, 1891, Mr. Hemphill was married to Eliza- beth S. Henry. They have one child.
The address of Mr. Hemphill is 2108 Bancroft Place, Wash- ington, District of Columbia.
JOHN KYLE HOOD
H OOD, JOHN KYLE, city attorney of Anderson, state senator 1902-1906, and a lawyer with a large general practice, was born at Due West, South Carolina, March 29, 1868. His father, William Hood, was state treasurer of South Carolina for three years, from 1865 to 1868; was a member of the Third South Carolina regiment, Kershaw's brigade, in the War between the States; a member of the legislature, Wallace house, 1876-1877; a member of the state bond commission; several times intendant of the town of Due West, and for many years a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church, and a professor in Erskine college for nearly a quarter of a century, and sub- sequently taught in Washington city and in Florida. To his mother, Mrs. Martha (McCaughrin) Hood, her son attributes a strong influence for good upon his entire life. She was of Scotch-Irish descent, her family having settled in Newberry, South Carolina, in the first half of the last century.
His boyhood was passed in the little college town of Due West. He had regular tasks, such as working in the garden, cultivating the flowers in the yard, and working on the farm. He attended school at Due West, and, entering Erskine college at that place, he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in June, 1887. His own choice and the wishes of his parents led him to the study of law, and in 1891 he began to practice at Anderson, South Carolina. From 1891 to 1896 he was city clerk and treasurer of Anderson. He served for two years as mayor of Anderson, from 1898 to 1900. From 1900 until the present time he has been city attorney; and he has served one term as state senator.
Identified with the Democratic party from his earliest youth, and now county chairman of his party in Anderson county, he has never changed his party allegiance. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, South. He belongs to the Masonic order and is a Knight of Pythias.
He finds relaxation and exercise by working in his garden and cultivating fruits in garden and orchard.
He married Miss Sarah Kennedy, of Due West, on December 17, 1895. Of their six children, five are now (1908) living, three boys and twin girls.
His address is Anderson, South Carolina.
MADISON PEYTON HOWELL
H OWELL, MADISON PEYTON, lawyer, attorney for several railroads, from 1882 to 1890 state senator, and a leader in the effort to break up "radical rule" in the state of South Carolina in the years 1876 to 1878, was born near St. George, in Colleton county (now Dorchester county), South Carolina, April 23, 1851. His father, J. S. A. Howell, was a farmer and miller, a magistrate from 1865 to 1868-a man of strong convictions, great energy and unswerving determina- tion, who took a lively interest in all the public affairs of his community and his state.
He was born in the country ; his health as a boy was robust. He early showed a taste for reading, especially upon questions of politics and history, and he was especially fond of out-of-door sports, hunting, fishing, etc. In his boyhood and youth he became practically acquainted with the details of farming, and worked at running a water-mill, etc. He says: "Such work gave me a strong constitution and taught me to rely upon my own strength and exertions in later life."
While his father and his brothers were in the Southern army in the War between the States, he acted as head of the family, although he was but ten years old when the war began. He attended only the common schools and "the old Saint George's academy."
When twenty-three he began the study of law, in 1874, at Orangeburg, in the law office of William J. DeTreville. His own personal preference led him to the choice of this profession. He has been trial justice at Saint George's; has served as local attorney for the Charleston and Savannah Railway company; attorney for the Eutawville Railroad company; attorney for the Green Pond, Walterboro and Branchville Railroad company ; attorney for the Walterboro Loan and Savings bank; attorney for the Colleton Cotton mills; attorney for the Walterboro and Western Railroad company; attorney for Colleton county ; attor- ney for the Charleston Lumber company, etc.
He has been unswerving in his allegiance to the Democratic party. From 1878 to 1905 he was county chairman of Colleton
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county ; he was a member of the state executive committee from 1884 to 1886. Elected state senator in 1882, he was four times reelected, serving until 1890. In 1895 he was a member of the South Carolina constitutional convention, and he took an active part in the debates which shaped the amended constitution of the state. He feels that the principal service which he has rendered his state and the country was "aiding in the redemption of the state from radical rule in 1876, 1877, and 1878." He was appointed on the staff of Governor Thompson, with the rank of major. During the War between the States, in 1864, he went out with the militia and served for five or six months, although he was then but thirteen years old.
He is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
While a state senator he introduced the bill designed to remedy what he felt to be the evils of the application of the "civil rights" laws and rulings of congress. He also opposed, earnestly and effectively, proposed legislation designed to weaken the marriage law and to sanction divorce under certain circum- stances.
He has been twice married: First, to Miss Sallie R. McBryde, of Hampton county, who died within a few months. He was married a second time, to Miss Miltie H. Foreman, daughter of Doctor Isaac Foreman, of Silverton, Aiken county, April 27, 1882. They have had ten children, of whom six are now living.
The friends of Mr. Howell feel that he suffered much and suffered unjustly when in 1882 he was indicted in the United States court, and, with other prominent citizens of his county, was taken to Charleston "for trial before a partisan judge and a packed jury." The opinion of his fellow-citizens was plainly shown by his election that same year to the state senate, and in 1895 to the constitutional convention. He says: "The highest honor that has ever been mine, and the one which I desired more than all others, is the love and confidence of my people."
His address is Walterboro, South Carolina.
Vol. III .- S. C .- 13.
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WILLIAM HARLESTON HUGER
H UGER, WILLIAM HARLESTON, M. D., in 1854 elected by the city council of Charleston physician of the Charleston orphan house and successfully filling that position for over half a century, by his long and useful professional service fulfilled the promise of his first year of professional life when in 1852 he organized, equipped and most successfully managed a large hospital for yellow fever patients during the severe epidemic of that year.
Of French Huguenot descent, he was born in Charleston, May 20, 1826. His father, Benjamin Huger, M. D., was a prac- titioner of medicine and a rice planter, whose high character and considerate regard for the feelings of others made him many friends and won their general esteem, while he was also energetic and successful in attending to his own business affairs. His mother, Mrs. Sarah Hazel (Harleston) Huger, impressed herself deeply upon the intellectual and moral life of her son, and inspired him early with the wish "to be worthy of the respect of his friends and associates."
Daniel Huger, the first of his known ancestors in America, was born in Loudun, France, April 1, 1651, and emigrated to South Carolina in 1685, the year of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which cost France so many hundreds of thousands of her most useful and intelligent citizens. Among the descendants of Daniel Huger, ancestors or kinsmen of Doctor William H. Huger in colonial and revolutionary days, were Isaac Huger, a general in the Revolutionary army; John Huger, a member of the council of safety in 1776; Benjamin Huger, a major in the Revolutionary army, who was killed on the lines at Charleston, May 11, 1779; Daniel Huger, a member of the commons house in 1779; and Captain Francis Huger, who was on duty in Fort Moultrie at the time of the battle there, who died in August, 1800.
William Huger's boyhood was passed on his father's plan- tation. His health as a boy was sound, and he was very fond of out-of-door amusements, particularly of hunting and fishing. He attended the schools at Charleston kept by Mr. Christopher
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Coates and Mr. J. P. Allen. He was graduated from South Carolina college in 1846, and after three years of study at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina he was graduated from that institution in 1849. He then spent two years in Paris, France, and six months in Dublin, Ireland, in the study of his profession at the universities and in hospitals. He received a diploma from the Rotunda hospital, of Dublin, at that time, authorizing him to practice in any part of the possessions of Great Britain.
On January 13, 1852, he began the practice of medicine in Charleston, drawn to this profession by his own strong personal preference. He writes: "Perhaps the most important act of my life, in my own estimation, and one which certainly had consid- erable influence in advancing me in professional standing, was this: In the summer of 1852 a severe epidemic of yellow fever raged in Charleston. The city hospital was inadequate to meet the demands. The city council decided to open a temporary yellow fever hospital, to be in charge of some young man who would serve gratuitously; and the position was offered to me by the city registrar, the late Doctor John L. Dawson. I was directed to open a floor in the Roper hospital, then nearing its completion. I organized a hospital, and was ready to receive patients within twenty-four hours. My wards filled up rapidly. I had been absent from the city for several summers, and my acclimation was supposed to be lost, which rendered me very liable to contract disease, but I determined to live in the hospital, although my friends advised me against it. I slept in the hospital every night, and was called up frequently to see the fever patients, and never went regularly to bed. In fact, I did not leave the hospital except to get my meals. At the end of the epidemic I closed the hospital, having met with as much success as was attained in the general hospital. These facts gave me a professional standing in the community which has been a material advantage to me. I enjoyed perfect health during the epidemic; and two summers afterward I was a volunteer to go to Norfolk, Virginia, where yellow fever was raging. After two months' labor there, I returned in health; and I have never contracted the disease, though I have been frequently exposed to it."
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In 1854, Doctor Huger was elected by the city council of Charleston physician of the Charleston orphan house, a position which he held up to the time of his death, December 17, 1906. By political conviction he was allied with the Democratic party. He was a member of Saint Michael's Episcopal church. For years he was manager of the Saint Cecilia society and steward and vice-president of the South Carolina Jockey club. Throughout the War between the States he was a surgeon in the Confederate army. He was a member of the South Carolina Medical association; of the Medical Society of South Carolina ; of the Medical Society of Philadelphia; of the American Acad- emy of Medicine, and of the alumni of South Carolina college. He was married, May 10, 1865, to Sabina Huger Lowndes.
EDWARD WALTER HUGHES
H UGHES, EDWARD WALTER, lawyer, was born in the town of Summerville, in the state of South Carolina, April 21, 1864. His parents were Edward T. Hughes and Anna Gaillard (White) Hughes. His father was a bank officer. His ancestors came from England and France; several of them served in the Revolutionary army. As a boy Edward T. Hughes had good health and delighted in all athletic exercises. His home was in Charleston, where he attended prep- aratory schools, going later to the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. S. He studied law at the University of Virginia and was graduated from that institution in the year 1885. He began the active work of life in the year 1886 as a lawyer, and practiced his profession in Charleston, where he still resides. He was attracted to the law by personal preference. Much of his success he attributes to maternal influence. He has pursued the practice of his profession with marked success. He also served in the South Carolina legislature from 1888 to 1894, as assistant United States attorney from 1894 to 1898, and as referee in bankruptcy from 1898 to the present time (1908). He has always been a Democrat. His favorite amusements are riding, driving, and lawn tennis. During his college days he gave much attention to athletics.
Mr. Hughes married, on the 20th of February, 1890, Miss Virginia Randolph Pinckney.
His address is Number 17 Broad street, Charleston, South Carolina.
FREDERICK HARGROVE HYATT
H YATT, FREDERICK HARGROVE, of Columbia, South Carolina, general manager of the Mutual Life Insurance company, of New York, for the state of South Carolina, was born in Anson county, North Carolina, on the 14th day of June, 1849. His father's name was David Hyatt, and his mother's, Louisa Pumbleton Hyatt. His father was a farmer and manufacturer, earnest in all his undertakings and marked through all his life by strong religious convictions. His father was of German ancestry, his mother of English. Among his distinguished relatives on his mother's side was Bishop R. K. Hargrove, of the Methodist church.
Mr. Hyatt was brought up on his father's farm and habit- uated to physical work of the hardest kind, which taught him to value the laborer wherever he finds him. He turned early to the study of mathematics and commercial law. He obtained his education at the "old field schools," the Andersonville academy, and Rutherford college, acquiring through his own exertions a fair education in these schools and colleges of his native state.
On August 12, 1874, he married Lena S. Kendall. They had eleven children, eight of whom are living in 1908. Mr. Hyatt. was married, the second time, to Miss Daisy Bartlett Kistler, at. Columbia, on April 13, 1908.
In 1884 he became superintendent of the agents of the Valley Mutual Life Insurance association, of Virginia. He at once began the systematic study of the whole subject of life insurance. Having satisfied himself that the assessment plan was not the one which commended itself to his judgment as sound and satis- factory, he resigned his position with the Valley Mutual, and accepted a sub-agency with the New York Life Insurance com- pany, which he held for about two years. Subsequently he
resigned that position to become a district agent with the Mutual Life Insurance company, of New York. He has remained with that company ever since. In 1892 he was appointed general manager of the Mutual Life for the state of South Carolina ; and he fills this position with great credit to himself and entire satisfaction to the company.
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Mr. Hyatt was president of the Columbia and Eau Claire Street Railroad company from 1894 to 1896; was a director of the National Loan and Exchange bank; of the Columbia Loan and Trust company; vice-president of Public Service company; treasurer of Southern Cotton association, of South Carolina; secretary of Hyatt Brick company, and president of the South Carolina Marble works. He has laid out and developed "Hyatt Park," a suburb of Columbia; and he holds large real estate interests. He has one of the finest dairy farms in South Carolina.
He has served as president of the Young Men's Christian association since 1896; he has been superintendent of Washington Street Methodist Sunday school since 1900; he was president of the State Sunday School association from 1894 to 1895; and he is a member of the board of trustees and of the executive com- mittee of Columbia college, South Carolina.
Mr. Hyatt has been prominently identified with the good roads movement in the South, and with the work of the Southern Cotton association. He is a member of the Democratic party. He is fully identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He holds firmly to the principles of temperance in the broad sense of the term. Lessons of temperance, and promptness in meeting all financial obligations, are commended to the youth of the land as the surest foundation to success.
His address is Columbia, South Carolina.
AUGUSTUS SALLEY HYDRICK
H YDRICK, AUGUSTUS SALLEY, M. D., for the last thirty-five years a practicing physician at Orangeburg, South Carolina, was born in Orangeburg county on the 11th of November, 1849.
His father, Jacob H. Hydrick, was a farmer, physically strong and exceptionally vigorous, a very positive and determined man. He was major of the Lower battalion of the Fifteenth regiment of South Carolina militia. He had married Miss Margaret Hildebrand. The ancestors of Mr. Hydrick's family came from Germany to the Carolinas several generations ago.
As a boy, Augustus S. Hydrick was a healthy and hearty lad, growing up on a farm, "more fond of books than of any- thing else"; but when not in school he was taught, from his earliest boyhood, to be engaged in work on the farm, "for no loafers were allowed on my father's farm," he says. His mother was a woman of deep piety, and in her intellectual attainments was far above most of the women of her section. Her son writes of her: "I owe more to her than to any other influence in my life."
He attended the country schools near his home, and these schools were decidedly better than the average of the country schools in South Carolina in the years before the war. Among them was a high school, which deserved the name, at which he studied Latin, Greek and French. By his studies at this high school and at home he fitted himself to enter the medical depart- ment of the University of South Carolina, from which he was graduated in 1873 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He had before this time tested himself in business as a clerk in a store at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, for two years, 1868-1869; but after 1873 he devoted himself entirely to the practice of his profession, to which he had been drawn by a strong personal preference. While his home life in his father's family was "in many of its features ideal," and to it he feels that he owes much of what is best in his life, Doctor Hydrick has always been studious in his habits; and to private study, not only in his youth, but since he
yours truly A. S. Hy urick
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began the practice of his profession, he ascribes the chief part of such measure of success as he has attained.
While the life of a physician in active practice is from the very nature of his duties constantly a life of public service, Dr. Hydrick has taken time for the discharge of certain special public and civic duties. By political convictions he is identified with the Democratic party, and he has regularly supported its principles and its nominees. From 1884 to 1900 he was county chairman of the Democratic party for Orangeburg county. In 1896 his fellow-citizens chose him an alderman of the city of Orangeburg, and he discharged the duties of that office for eight years, until 1904.
On the 21st of January, 1874, Doctor Hydrick married Miss Henrietta Livingston, daughter of John H. Livingston, of Orangeburg county. They have had seven children, of whom five are now living in 1908.
Doctor Hydrick is a Royal Arch Mason. He is vice-president of the Orangeburg County Medical society. Throughout his life he has found his favorite form of exercise and sport in hunting.
His address is 258 East Russell street, Orangeburg, South Carolina.
WILLIAM PLUMER JACOBS
J ACOBS, REV. WILLIAM PLUMER, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian church, at Clinton, South Carolina, one of the founders of the Presbyterian college, at Clinton, and of the Thornwell orphanage, often a commissioner to the general assembly of his church, and for twenty-five years presbyterial clerk,-a preacher and pastor known and loved by hundreds who as young people at college or in the orphanage, have come within reach of his helpful influence,-was born at Yorkville, South Carolina, March 15, 1842. His father was the Rev. Ferdinand Jacobs, D. D., president of Laurensville college, and of the Lucy Cobb institute, at Athens, Georgia,-a minister whose persistent devotion to duty and unswerving fidelity to every trust committed to him won him many friends and admirers and made his life an inspiration to his son. Mrs. Mary (Redbrook) Jacobs, his wife, died when their son William was not quite three years old. The Jacobs family were among the earliest settlers of Maryland, coming from England about 1646. Thomas Jacobs, the great- grandfather of Doctor W. P. Jacobs, was killed in the battle of Germantown.
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