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 7
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His address is Spartanburg, South Carolina.
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PRESTON SAMUEL COOPER
O OOPER, PRESTON SAMUEL, president of the Bank of Tampa, Tampa, Florida, and of the Merchants and Planters bank at Mullins, South Carolina, formerly a wholesale merchant and mayor of Mullins, was born at Cool Spring, Horry county, South Carolina, on the 10th of March, 1870. His father, Noah Bryant Cooper, was a man of wide acquaintance, who, as state tax collector, as treasurer of Kingston parish, South Carolina, from 1861 to 1865, as probate judge of Horry county, South Carolina, as member of the South Carolina house of representatives, and as mayor of Mullins, made a reputa- tion for honesty, perseverance and faithfulness to duty which is an inheritance prized by his sons. Eleven of his grown children came together at the old homestead in August, 1906, to honor the memory of their father; they gathered around the table of their mother and assured her of their loving respect. She was Mrs. Lucinda (Jenerette) Cooper, descended from one of the families of French Huguenots whose exile from their native land did so much to impoverish France. Her ancestors fought in the Revolutionary army. Elias Jenerette, who came to Virginia in 1755, was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. His paternal great-grandfather was John Cooper, who, with his son, Ezekiel, came from Wales in 1761, and both father and son fought in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war.
Reared in the country, Mr. Cooper writes of his boyhood: "I loved flowers, dogs, horses, trading and dreaming." He was taught to do his share of the work about home, in his early boy- hood cutting and carrying the wood, feeding and caring for the stock. He attended the elementary schools within reach of his home; but he did not attempt to prepare himself for a college course.
While still a boy he took a place in the mercantile life of Mullins in 1885. His father's business gave him good opportu- nities to develop that aptitude for trade which he seems to have inherited, and he soon became president of the Cooper & Cooper Wholesale Grocery company, of Wilmington, North Carolina. Later he was chosen cashier of the Bank of Mullins, South Car-
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olina. Since 1900 he has been president of the Merchants and Planters bank of Mullins. In July, 1907, he organized the Bank of Tampa, Tampa, Florida, and was made cashier. This position he filled until January, 1908, at which time he was elected president of the bank.
His fellow-citizens recognized his enterprise, good judgment and public spirit by electing him mayor of Mullins.
On the 25th of May, 1897, Mr. Cooper married Miss Lela Madge Smith, daughter of B. G. Smith, of Mullins, South Car- olina. They have had five children, of whom three are now living.
Brought up in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Mr. Cooper has been heartily identified with the life and work of that church in his native town, and for some years has been superintendent of the Sunday school of the Methodist Episcopal church of Mullins, and is now a steward in the Hyde Park Meth- odist church at Tampa.
In his political relations he acts and votes with the Demo- cratic party. His favorite forms of amusement and exercise are walking and swimming.
He is a member of the Damascus lodge of Masons; he is treasurer in the Knights of Pythias lodge; he is an Odd Fellow,- a member of the Enterprise lodge of Mullins, South Carolina.
His address is Tampa, Florida.
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JOHN WITHERSPOON CORBETT
C ORBETT, JOHN WITHERSPOON, physician, ex-mayor of Camden, ex-president of the Kershaw County Medical association, was born at Cheraw, Chesterfield county, South Carolina, March 3, 1863. His father, the Rev. William Bell Corbett, after graduation from the Charleston Medical col- lege, practiced medicine for two years and then became a minister of the Presbyterian church. Of him his son says: "He was a hard, systematic student to the day of his death; marked by devotion to duty and system; and he made it a rule never to get into debt." His mother, Sarah Elizabeth Witherspoon, was born in Yorkville, South Carolina. Her son feels that her influence upon him was very strong, morally and intellectually. The Witherspoons were of Scotch descent, and settled in South Caro- lina about 1750. Several of his ancestors served in the colonial wars with the Indians and in the Revolutionary war, as well as in the Confederate army. His namesake, the Rev. Alfred John Witherspoon, was killed in the War between the States. Captain James H. Witherspoon served with Marion in the War of the Revolution.
His early life was passed partly in the city and partly in the country. He had perfect health as a boy, and early became the systematic assistant of his father in the culture of bees, in the care of the garden, and in duties connected with the care of horses, etc. He feels that the systematic inculcation of a sense of responsibility for daily "chores," as well as his father's accurate habits of observation in matters of agriculture and gardening, gave him an early training in system which has been of great value to him in his medical studies and in the practice of his profession. His education was well begun at home, chiefly under the tutelage of his father. He was an omnivorous reader. Before entering the Medical college at Charleston, South Carolina (from which he was graduated in 1884), he had studied at the schools kept by S. M. Banks and by Stephen Lee, at Asheville, North Carolina, and by A. R. Banks, at Fort Mill, South Carolina.
After his graduation from the medical college he took courses in postgraduate medical schools and in hospitals in New York
Men of Mark, Publishing [. Washington, DC.
four cores.
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city; and at various times since he began the practice of medicine he has kept himself in touch with the later methods in surgery and the practice of medicine by some months of study at post- graduate schools of medicine. He began to practice at Camden, South Carolina, in April, 1884. In November, 1885, he married Miss Retta M. Burnet. Of their two children, one-a daughter born in 1899-is living in 1908. He served as warden of Camden, South Carolina, from 1888 to 1890; and he was mayor of Camden from 1890-1892, heading a strenuous movement which resulted in a better system of paving for the city. He has served for several years first as secretary and then as president of the Kershaw County Medical association. He has written occasional papers upon medical subjects. He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Camden Commercial club and of the Camden Country club. He is a member of the American Medical asso- ciation, and of the Association of Seaboard Air Line Surgeons. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He found exercise and relaxation in his earliest manhood in baseball, and later in bicycling and automobiling. His advice to young Amer- icans is: "Systematic work at something-anything. Mind your own business, and do not always be paying attention to popular opinions."
The address of Doctor Corbett is Camden, Kershaw county, South Carolina.
THOMAS BISSELL CREWS
C REWS, THOMAS BISSELL, for over forty years editor of the "Laurensville Herald," was born at Ruther- fordton, Rutherford county, North Carolina, on June 7, 1832. His father, Thomas Crews, was a cabinet-maker and wheelwright, well known for his honest industry and morality, and, like his father, David Crews, who had served in the War of 1812, he was a native Georgian. His mother, Mary Patterson Crews, was the granddaughter of John Patterson, of Protestant Irish descent, who served in the Revolutionary army, and settled in Virginia in 1791. Her son has always felt that the influence of his mother has been strong on his intellectual and his moral life.
In his boyhood he was early accustomed to manual labor, and his educational advantages were limited. He says: "I really began the active work of life before I was nine years old." In his reading as a boy he had always felt himself strongly attracted by the biographies of men who by their own exertion had risen from obscurity to prominence and usefulness. The influence of his early home life tended strongly to fix him in habits of industry, morality, and piety.
In February, 1849, when he was seventeen years old, he removed from Georgia to Laurens, South Carolina, where he became clerk in a dry goods store. A few months of this occu- pation convinced him that he could never find satisfaction in mercantile life. With the hearty approval of his parents, he began to learn the printer's trade in October, 1849. After a term of apprenticeship, he worked several years as a journeyman printer, a part of the time at Savannah, Columbia, and Atlanta. Perhaps it is indicative of an inborn love of justice and freedom that in his early manhood he should have found himself strongly appealed to by the hope to relieve the oppressed Cubans from the Spanish yoke. In the spring of 1851 he volunteered for the Cuban expedition, which was led by the ill-fated Lopez,-its purpose to liberate the oppressed people of the island of Cuba. For several months this company of nearly a hundred volunteer filibusters, commanded by Captain Bob Young, of Cartersville,
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Georgia, made vain efforts to reach New Orleans, in order that they might sail to Cuba from that port. Discouraged in their attempts, they were temporarily disbanded at Burnt Fort, on the coast of Georgia, under instructions to hold themselves ready to move again at short notice. Orders from the Cuban Junta com- manding them to report again at a point on the Florida coast had just reached them when a telegram brought news that Lopez, who had sailed from New Orleans early in August, had been captured near Cardenas, with fifty of his men, and had himself been garrotted, while the fifty men were shot.
While this company of filibusters was dodging about to avoid arrest by United States officials, Lopez had once visited them while they were bivouaced at Cassidy's Station, twenty miles above Savannah. And on this visit Lopez was accompanied by Gonzales, whose sons have since become famous in the history of Cuba.
The march of more than a hundred miles across the sands of Georgia in this expedition had taught young Crews and his companions something of what campaigning and soldiering means. Soon after the outbreak of the War between the States, in July, 1861, Mr. Crews entered the Confederate service as first sergeant of Company A, First South Carolina cavalry, Hampton's brigade, J. E. B. Stuart's corps. In the fall of 1862 he was promoted third lieutenant; subsequently he became first lieutenant, and served as such to the close of the war, during the last year of the war commanding his company. He was engaged in the battles of Brandy Station, June 9 and August 1, 1863; he fought at Gettysburg, Funkstown, Upperville, Hanover, and in many smaller engagements, and he was once slightly wounded.
At the close of the war he turned his attention at once to journalism. In October, 1865, he revived the "Laurensville Herald," which had been discontinued, and for forty-one years he has been its editor and publisher.
In 1882 he was elected to the house of representatives of South Carolina, serving one term, and later he represented his county for two years as state senator. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland postmaster for Laurens, South Carolina, serving for four and a half years. He has been twice elected mayor of his town. The esteem in which he is held by his brother editors is illustrated in the fact that he served for seven
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consecutive terms as president of the South Carolina State Press association, declining to be reelected again at the expiration of the seventh year. He has been a member of the Methodist church for forty-three years. For over fifty years he has been a Free Mason.
Always identified with the Democratic party, and never especially ambitious to make money or to secure position for himself, he has made it his purpose to forward the best interests and the material prosperity of his county and his state.
On October 26, 1856, he married Miss E. Eugenia Hance. Some three or four years after her death he married a second time, Miss Cecelia R. Ballew. Of his five children, four are now living.
His address is Laurens, South Carolina.
STEPHEN STANLEY CRITTENDEN
C RITTENDEN, COLONEL STEPHEN STANLEY, of Greenville, South Carolina, for ten years consecutively, from November, 1870, to November, 1880, a member of the legislature of South Carolina, six years in the house of repre- sentatives and four years in the senate, and from 1885 to 1890 postmaster of Greenville, was born in the town where he still resides, on the 22d of February, 1829.
His ancestors are of English descent and came to America and settled in Connecticut at the close of the seventeenth century. His grandfather, Nathaniel Crittenden, of Hartford county, Con- necticut, with five brothers, served in the War of the Revolution, and he was a lieutenant in the Continental army. The family were "all plain people, farmers and mechanics," Col. Crittenden writes. His father, John Crittenden, M. D., was a physician as well as a merchant and farmer,-a man of marked influence in his community, widely known for his "independence, integrity, and championship of the rights of the poor and of the plain people." He was one of the original vestrymen of Christ church, Greenville, South Carolina.
In his boyhood Colonel Crittenden knew the vigorous and excellent health which has been his with hardly an interruption until he is well past three score years and ten. The first twenty- five years of his life were passed in the town of Greenville; from twenty-five to fifty-five he was a farmer; and for the last twenty- three years he has resided in the city of Greenville. At the age of fourteen he passed a year in working upon his father's farm, and for the next two years he was a clerk in his father's store. In early boyhood he attended such primary schools as were within reach of his home; and his academical education was acquired at the old Greenville Male academy, and by two years' attendance at a school in New Jersey. In his youth he developed a marked fondness for reading works of history and biography; and throughout his life this interest has continued and deepened, while he has always read widely and closely upon the current events of the time.
Placed in charge of the store of his father when he was but eighteen, he continued for about seven years in mercantile business.
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On the 17th of May, 1855, he married Miss Eliza J. Lynch, who died on the 29th of March, 1869. They had six children, of whom three daughters and one son were living in 1907.
About the time of his marriage he established himself as a farmer, and the next thirty years of his life were passed in the business of agriculture, except the years from 1861 to 1865. In February, 1861, he was elected first lientenant of a volunteer company which was enlisted under the call of Governor F. W. Pickens, and went into the Confederate service as Company G, Fourth South Carolina volunteers, in May, 1861, Captain James G. Hawthorne commanding. The Fourth South Carolina, with Wheat's Louisiana battalion, opened the first battle of Manassas, checking General McDowell's forces for two hours until his reinforcements arrived. Lieutenant Crittenden was near General Bartow, of the Eighth Georgia volunteers, when he fell in this battle, and detailed two members of Company G to help carry General Bartow from the field. General Samuel Wilkes, adjutant of the regiment, being killed in that same battle, Lieutenant Crittenden was on the next day appointed to his position, con- tinuing to act as adjutant until the reorganization of the regiment near Yorktown, in 1862; and after the reorganization serving as adjutant of the battalion until the battle of Seven Pines, when he was wounded in the breast by a minnie ball. While on a furlough, occasioned by that wound, Governor F. W. Pickens appointed him lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth regiment of South Carolina reserves, then forming for coast defense. He served with this command until its term of service expired, when he joined the mounted regiment of Colonel M. W. Gary, then on its way to Virginia; and he served with that command in the battles around Richmond until the close of the war, a portion of the time in charge of Gary's ordnance, and for a short time on his staff. He was at Greensboro, North Carolina, serving in the trenches against a threatened raid, when news came of the surrender of General Lee; and the next day he witnessed a meeting of Presi- dent Davis and Vice-President Breckenridge and several members of the cabinet around a camp fire.
At the close of the war he returned to his farm. Elected to the legislature of his state, he served for six years in the house of representatives, from 1870 to 1876, and in that year he was elected to the senate of South Carolina, where he served after
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reelection until 1880. President Cleveland appointed him post- master of Greenville; and from the 5th of May, 1885, to the 4th of March, 1890, Colonel Crittenden served effectively in that capacity.
From his youth Colonel Crittenden has written frequently for the local newspapers upon current political and social events, and in more recent years upon historical themes, often giving reminiscences from his own experience. In 1900 he wrote the "History of Christ Church, Greenville," which was published by the vestry of the church, and a synopsis of it was read before the diocesan council of the state at the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of that church. In 1902, Colonel Crittenden published "One Hundred Years' History of Greenville, South Carolina," which has been most favorably received by people of the town and the state, and has elements of abiding historic value. He is at present (1907) engaged in writing a "History of Old Flat Rock and Hendersonville, North Carolina."
On the 19th of October, 1870, Colonel Crittenden was a second time married, to Mrs. Sarah A. Bedell, of Columbia, South Carolina.
He writes: "I belong to no organization except the Episcopal church and the United Confederate veterans. I am connected with no corporations."
In politics Colonel Crittenden is allied with the Democratic party, and he says: "I have never changed my political faith."
The almost perfect health which he has enjoyed during the seventy-eight years of his life he attributes in large part to his having taken systematic exercise, and avoided excess of every kind. Throughout his life he has found amusement and exercise in hunting, riding, and in military duties. He was captain of a uniformed company, the Greenville riflemen, and a lieutenant- colonel of South Carolina militia, in 1854.
Advice to his young fellow-citizens from one who looks out upon life from so wide and prolonged an experience is of especial value when it comes from a man who has always retained the esteem of his fellow-citizens. Colonel Crittenden writes: "Culti- vate a high sense of honor. Let conscience in every situation of life decide your course of conduct. Be courteous and thoughtful of others, with a fraternal and helpful feeling for all your fellow- creatures; for life holds no higher happiness than that derived from promoting the happiness of others."
Vol. III .- S. C .- 7.
DRAYTON MARGART CROSSON
C ROSSON, DRAYTON MARGART, M. D., physician, planter, and state senator, was born in Prosperity, New- berry county, South Carolina, September 29, 1858
His great great-grandfather, Alexander Crosson, came from Ireland and married a Miss Steele. His grandfather, James Crosson, was a merchant and planter and magistrate. His grand- father, John Cook, was a large and wealthy planter. His grand- mother Crosson was of the great Halfacre family, and his grand- mother Cook was a sister of Senator John C. Hope. All were of Newberry, South Carolina. His father, John Thomas Pressley Crosson, was a planter. His mother, Rosa Catherine (Cook) Crosson, exercised a strong formative influence upon her son in his studies and in the development of his moral and spiritual life.
He grew up in the country, and working upon his father's farm, he early developed a strong physique.
Good books were always at hand, so that physical and mental development could go on together. Even in his boyhood he began the study of medicine, and when he entered on the work of preparing for college, it was with the distinct purpose of practicing medicine as a life-work.
He attended Prosperity academy, working during vacations to earn the means to continue his studies the following year. His collegiate course was begun and pursued for three years at Erskine college. In his junior year (1879) he left that college and entered South Carolina Medical college, where he studied for two years, graduating with the degree of M. D., from the medical department of the University of Tennessee, at Nashville, in 1883. He at once entered the active practice of his chosen profession in Lexington county, South Carolina.
Since 1883 he has practiced medicine and surgery. He has been active in county and state medical associations; and he has served as president of his county medical society for years.
Always interested in farming, he is at present the largest planter in Lexington county, South Carolina.
He has been active in political life, interesting himself in county politics, and serving frequently as county chairman. In
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1900, he represented his county in the state senate, having been appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Colonel D. J. Griffith.
He has been a leader in numerous lodges, and is a member of the following fraternities: Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and Woodmen of the World. In his religious affiliations he is a Methodist.
In 1883 he married Miss S. C. Bodie. Five of their seven children are now (1908) living, three boys and two girls.
His address is Leesville, Lexington county, South Carolina.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN CUMMINGS
C UMMINGS, WILLIAM FRANKLIN, manufacturer, banker, and since June, 1902, president of the Carolina and Western railroad, was born in Barnwell county, South Carolina, October 18, 1852. His father, William Cum- mings, was a farmer who never held or sought to hold public office, and was characterized only by the steadfast and common- place virtues which make up the strength of American citizen- ship. His father's father came from Scotland, and in 1819 settled in Beaufort district, South Carolina. His mother was Olive (Rentz) Cummings.
A strong and vigorous boyhood, passed in the country, gave him a sound physical constitution and good health for his life work. He attended, in his boyhood, the country schools nearest his home, and he never had any other opportunities for systematic and continued study. The only especial interest which may be said to have signalized his boyhood was a very keen and continu- ous interest in whatever bore upon machinery and manufacturing. From early boyhood he was accustomed to regular tasks involving manual labor day by day, and to this early training he attributes the habits of industry and of assiduous application to business which have marked his later life. In January, 1873, he began an active connection with the manufacture of lumber, which has engaged much of the business energy of his mature life. Working as an ordinary laborer in a sawmill at Almeda, South Carolina, he not only became practically familiar with the work of manufacturing lumber, but he mastered all the details of conducting the management of such a business, purposing early in his connection with it to make his way to the position of a successful manufacturer on a large scale. Much of the business success he has won he attributes, "first, to a practical education, then to choosing an occupation and sticking to it, and to retiring early at night and rising early in the morning, taking as much out-of-door exercise as possible."
The intimate dependence of railroads, during the period of their construction, upon the lumbering business led to the second large business interest with which Mr. Cummings has been
you very genly W. H. bununnings
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identified. After he became a manufacturer and mill-owner he began to interest himself in the construction of railroads and in the management of railroad affairs. Since June, 1902, he has been president of the Carolina and Western railroad.
Like other men who manage their own affairs with a good degree of success, Mr. Cummings has been in demand by his neighbors and fellow-citizens as a business man whose experience qualified him to plan for the business interests and to look out for the business affairs of others as well; and since 1891 he has been president of the Bank of Hampton.
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