USA > South Carolina > Men of mark in South Carolina; ideals of American life: a collection of biographies of leading men of the state, Volume IV > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
RALPH NESBIT
N ESBIT, RALPH, a captain and colonel in the Confed- erate army during the War between the States, and since 1866 settled at Georgetown, South Carolina as a rice planter and an interested student of all that concerns the improvement of rice culture in South Carolina, was born at Georgetown, on the 3d of January, 1840. His father, Robert Nesbit, also a rice planter, married Miss Mary Hamilton, and is well remembered in his section of the state for his firmness of pur- pose and his strict honesty. The family trace their descent from Dr. Robert Nesbit who in 1792 or 1793 came from Berwick-on- Tweed, Scotland, and settled in Georgetown county, South Caro- lina. Born, and passing his boyhood, on a plantation in the country, having an excellent constitution and even in his child- hood taking a keen delight in the pleasures of country life, he grew up fond of planting and of the varied interests of the plan- tation, and delighting in the sport and recreation of hunting, boating, and out-of-door sports generally.
He was not trained to any tasks of manual labor; but he was early accustomed to taking an intelligent interest in the business of his father, and to assisting in the management of that business.
There were no especial difficulties in the way of his securing a thorough education. From the schools within reach in boyhood he passed to the South Carolina Military academy, The Citadel, at Charleston, South Carolina, from which institution he was graduated in 1861. It was inevitable that he should feel himself drawn at once into the War between the States, and he served in the Confederate army, first as captain and later as colonel.
Soon after the war he took up in Georgetown county the busi- ness of a rice planter, establishing himself on the Waccamaw river. For forty years he has been actively and intelligently interested in the practical problems of rice planting in South Carolina, and especially interested in improving the seed rice- the "gold seed" of his state, as he believes.
Colonel Nesbit was married on the 7th of March, 1870, to Miss Cora Jordan, daughter of Colonel D. W. Jordan. They have had five children, of whom three are living in 1908.
267
RALPH NESBIT
Led by his political convictions to membership in the Demo- cratic party, he has never departed from a loyal allegiance to the principles and the nominees of that party. He is connected with the Protestant Episcopal church. Throughout his life he has found his favorite exercise and recreation in deer hunting. To the young of South Carolina he says, "Success is to be gained by strict integrity and unabating perseverance in all your pursuits."
Colonel Nesbit's address is Waverly Mills, Georgetown county, South Carolina.
-
WILLIE PRESTON NESBITT
N ESBITT, WILLIE PRESTON, was born June 8, 1866, in the lower part of Greenville county, South Carolina. His parents were Cyrus D. and Mary Sue Blakely Nesbitt. His father was a merchant and farmer, and a captain in the Confederate army. He was characterized by firmness, unvarying kindness, and good, sound, common sense. While none of his ancestors of the family in America attained to special dis- tinction, they all possessed good business ability and high moral character.
Willie Nesbitt was delicate in health in youth. He passed his early life in a country town, amusing himself with outdoor sports and playing with the animals. He was also taught to perform regular work as a part of his business training. This work has, in his later life, proved of great benefit to him.
Like many others, Mr. Nesbitt owes much to the influence, upon both his moral and spiritual life, of his mother. His reading lay in the lines of scientific works; at the same time he has always, from early childhood, been a diligent student of the Bible. He attended the Grove Station academy in preparation for college, and, in 1889, he was graduated from Davidson college, North Carolina, with the degrees of A. B. and A. M. In the last years of this course he specialized in mathematics and other sciences.
Mr. Nesbitt's choice of a profession was determined primarily by circumstances. He has always tried to make the most of his opportunities. In the fall of 1889 he aided in surveying a route for a railway from Chester to Blacksburg, South Carolina. From 1890 to 1895 he was a member of the firm of Nesbitt, Trowbridge and company, Piedmont, South Carolina. From 1895 to the present time he has been a member of the firm of Nesbitt and Son, Cedrus, South Carolina, and from 1900 to the present time he has been president and treasurer of the Fork Shoals Cotton mill, at Fork Shoals, South Carolina.
Since about 1892, Mr. Nesbitt has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. For two years he was a trustee of Davidson college. He is, and for the past three years he has been, a trustee
269
WILLIE PRESTON NESBITT
of Chicora college, Greenville, South Carolina. He has been influential in furthering the good roads movement, and in advancing the moral and religious education of the illiterate. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World. In politics he is a Democrat. As a relief from the ordinary duties of life he enjoys horseback riding.
Referring to successes and failures, Mr. Nesbitt says: "I have found that patience in the face of all discouragements, and a determination to overcome difficulties, generally leads to success." To the young he commends honest principles, system- atic methods, and regular and temperate habits, together with general knowledge and practical training in real work.
On August 29, 1900, he married Mary M. Grant. They have had one son, who is now (1909) living.
His address is R. F. D. No. 3, Fountain Inn, Greenville, South Carolina.
Vol. IV-S. C .- 15.
WILLIAM GORDON NEVILLE
N EVILLE, REVEREND WILLIAM GORDON, D. D., LL. D., pastor and preacher, and since 1904 president of the Presbyterian College of South Carolina, at Clin- ton, South Carolina, was born near Walhalla, in Oconee county, South Carolina, on the 2d of July, 1855. His father, Captain John Coffee Neville, was a merchant and farmer, a man of marked decision, steadfastness of purpose and integrity in business life, who commanded Company K, Twelfth South Carolina volun- teers, in the War between the States. His mother, Mrs. Julia (McFall) Neville, was of Scotch-Irish descent, her ancestors having come to this country from Ireland in colonial days, and one of them, a tailor by trade, having the distinction among his fellow-craftsmen of making a coat for President George Wash- ington. Her father, Samuel R. McFall, although by age exempt from service, entered the Confederate army in the War between the States, and with one of his sons was killed in the battle of Gaines's Mill. Jesse Neville, great-grandfather of President Neville, was born in Virginia, served as a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War, fighting at King's Mountain, and survived to a good old age as a Revolutionary pensioner. On both sides, Dr. Neville's ancestors have been people of industry and integrity.
In boyhood he gave evidence of possessing a good, healthy physical constitution; and he felt from his earliest youth "a burning desire and ambition to secure an education." He was taught to work on his father's farm and he learned to do various forms of labor which were helpful about the farm and in his father's business as a merchant. His father's circumstances were not such as to open the way for a liberal education without effort on his own part; but he does not count this fact a disadvantage. He says, "I did not have money enough to pay for many things which would be considered necessaries, and I seldom had 'pocket money.'" Prepared for college at the high school at Hayesville, North Carolina, he spent the first three years of a college course in Newberry college; and he completed his course at Adger col- lege, from which institution he was graduated in 1878, with the degree of B. A.
271
WILLIAM GORDON NEVILLE
Two years were then spent in study at the Columbia Theo- logical seminary in South Carolina, and one year at Princeton Theological seminary in New Jersey, where he completed his course in 1881. In common with many young men who were college and seminary students forty years ago, he has felt throughout his life a strong influence from his study of "Butler's Analogy."
He began his professional work as pastor of "Ninety-Six" and "Cokesbury" churches in Abbeville county, South Carolina, in 1881. In his choice of a professon he was decisively influenced by "a deep-seated feeling in his early youth that he was divinely called to the work of the Gospel ministry"; and he adds, "this faith has never been shaken." The early influence of a Christian home, the friendships made at college and in the seminary, private study continued through later years, and contact with men in active life, have been the influences which he feels have been strongest in shaping his character and conduct.
Continuing in the pastoral work in Abbeville county until 1885, in that year he accepted a call to the Concord Presbyterian church in Fairfield county, South Carolina, filling that pastorate until 1890. The Southern Presbyterian church at Frankfort, Kentucky, claimed his services from 1890 to 1893. In 1893 the First Presbyterian church of Yorkville, South Carolina, called him to become its pastor; and he served in that capacity until 1905. These twelve years were marked by a growing influence in his denomination, in the town where he resided, and throughout the state, and in 1904 he was elected president of the Presbyterian college of South Carolina, at Clinton, South Carolina, the duties of which important office he discharged to the gratification of all the friends of the institution.
Those who have watched his pastoral work write of him as one especially gifted in remembering names, affable and winning in manner, prudent and wise in conversation and instructive and sympathetic in his preaching which is intensely practical but is founded upon sound Biblical doctrine. His interest in domestic missions has been deep and marked, and many of the feeble churches in South Carolina bear witness to the zeal and love of preaching which has led him, after preaching to a large congre- gation in the morning, to drive long distances to meet little hand-
272
WILLIAM GORDON NEVILLE
fuls of people in churches where people without a pastor in the work for Christ needed his encouragement and teaching. His interest in foreign missions has been no less marked ; the Yorkville church has for many years supported one missionary in the foreign field, and under his leadership supplemented this amount for many years.
He was moderator of the South Carolina presbytery in 1883; of the Louisville presbytery in 1892; of the Bethel presbytery in 1896; and in 1899 he was chosen moderator of the synod of South Carolina.
As a trustee of Davidson college, 1893 to 1901; a director of the Columbia Theological seminary since 1897; secretary of the board of directors of that institution since 1904; trustee of Chicora college since 1906; commissioner to the Presbyterian general assembly at Houston, Texas, in 1884, and to the general assembly at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1887, and again to the general assembly at Macon, Georgia, in 1893; and to the general assembly at New Orleans in 1898; as a member of the Pan-Presbyterian council at Washington, District of Columbia, in 1899, and at Liverpool, England, in 1904; as chairman of the committee of missions of the synod of South Carolina from 1896 to 1899; as chairman of the committee of the "Twentieth Century fund" since 1900 and as chairman of the executive committee of Columbia Theological seminary since 1905,-Dr. Neville has filled almost every position of honor in his church to which the confidence and esteem of his fellow-ministers and of the people of the churches could advance him.
To his other qualifications for leadership in the church he adds a certain quick sense of humor and keenness of wit which he owes to his Irish and Scotch ancestry.
In 1904, Davidson college conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. In January, 1905, South Carolina college gave him the honorary degree of LL. D.
On the 7th of November, 1883, he was married to Miss Virginia Aiken, daughter of Honorable D. Wyatt Aiken, of Cokesbury, Abbeville county. They have had eight children, all of whom are now living.
273
WILLIAM GORDON NEVILLE
Dr. Neville commends to the young people of his state who aim at true success in life these cardinal virtues : "Truthfulness, decision, application, perseverance, constancy and integrity."
Since the above sketch was written Dr. Neville died sud- denly, on June 8, 1907, at his home in Clinton, South Carolina.
JAMES STANLEY NEWMAN
N EWMAN, JAMES STANLEY, was born December 11, 1836, in Orange county, Virginia. His parents were James and Mary Scott Newman. His father was a farmer, for many years a member of the executive board of the Virginia State Agricultural society. He was a student of scien- tific agriculture, and an enterprising pioneer in agricultural experiments and practice.
The first American ancestor of his family, an Englishman named John Newman, arrived in this country in April, 1636, and settled near Jamestown. He died in 1677 in what is now known as Richmond county, leaving three sons. One of these, Alexander, was an ancestor of James Newman. The great-grandfather of James Newman came to Culpeper county and removed thence to Orange county, where the old home, "Bloomfield," still stands. The father of James Newman, of the seventh generation, married Mary Scott of Orange county. Two of the ancestors were in the Revolutionary army ; one was a member of the house of burgesses. Many of them were prominent agriculturists.
John Scott, the first American ancestor of the family on the maternal side, settled in King William county, married there, and then removed to Orange county. After several generations another John married Jane Todd of King and Queen county ; and to him a grant of land was given from the crown of England. He was a member of the legislature in 1784. He was born in 1731 and died early in 1800. He was a member of the house of burgesses, and of the committee of safety, and he was a captain in the Revolutionary army. All the ancestors were farmers of note.
As a boy James Stanley Newman enjoyed perfect health. He passed his early life on the farm and was devoted to agricul- ture. He attended a private home school, and his studies were interspersed with labor in horticulture, agriculture, stockhandling and dairying.
The influence of his mother upon him was noteworthy. He speaks of her as "in every particular an angel of light."
His reading lay in the lines of general standard literature and works relating to agriculture. His first strong impulse
275
JAMES STANLEY NEWMAN
toward what has proved to be his lifework was received when, as a boy on the farm, he worked under the direction of his father, a highly educated and skilful agriculturist.
James Newman prepared in this private school for the Uni- versity of Virginia. He was graduated in some of the schools, but took no degree. His studies covered the years of 1855 to 1859 inclusive.
From 1859 to 1865, except while he was in the Confederate army, in which he served for two years as a member of the Thirteenth Virginia regiment and from which he was discharged because of the failure of his health, Mr. Newman taught school. From 1865 to 1875 he farmed and taught; from 1875 to 1883 he was employed in the state department of agriculture of Georgia, preparing publications, collecting agricultural statistics and directing experiments. From 1883 to 1892 he was professor of agriculture and director of the experiment station of the Alabama Polytechnic institute and for three years president of the Ala- bama State Agricultural society. For twenty-five years he has been a life member of the American Pomological society; from 1892 to 1894 he was professor of agriculture in Clemson college; from 1894 to 1897 he was a truck farmer near Atlanta; from July, 1897, until he resigned, July, 1905, he was professor of agriculture and director of the agricultural department of Clem- son college, agriculturist and vice-director of the state experi- mental station, and for three years director of the farmers' institutes. He is author of "The Southern Gardener's Practical Manual," and of several other useful works on agriculture and livestock.
In 1906 Professor Newman was awarded a pension by the trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in consideration of his long and successful service as a teacher of agriculture and for service rendered in the application of chemical science to the promotion of agriculture. At the age of seventy-two he is still engaged in studying and practicing agri- culture, horticulture and fruit-growing and is teaching by prac- tical demonstration and correspondence.
In politics Professor Newman is a Democrat. In religion he is an Episcopalian. For recreation he engages in hunting and fishing.
276
JAMES STANLEY NEWMAN
He advises the young to study carefully their tastes and talents, choose a definite object in life and bend every energy to accomplish it. Reflecting upon the past he says: "The chief gratification in my old age, and the pride of my life, comes from the consciousness of having furnished so many real men from my pupils and from the service I have rendered the tillers of the Southern soil."
On August 3, 1863, Professor Newman was married to Alberta Lewis. They have four children now (1909) living: C. L. Newman, professor of agriculture and head of the agricul- tural department of the North Carolina State Agricultural college; W. H. Newman, in the United States army for thirteen years; C. C. Newman, for eight years professor of horticulture in Clemson college and horticulturist of the experiment station ; and Mary S., wife of Professor Ernest Walker of the University of Arkansas.
The address of Professor Newman is Walhalla, South Caro- lina.
GEORGE MANLY NORRIS
N ORRIS, GEORGE MANLY, planter, of Vance, Orange- burg county, South Carolina, was born in that county on the 27th of March, 1848. His father, George Norris, was a farmer and planter, "a man of the strictest honesty and of most persistent determination to succeed in his chosen pursuit." His grandfather, Patrick Nash, came to Fairfield county, South Carolina, from Ireland, a little before the outbreak of the War of the Revolution; and he served in the Revolutionary army during that struggle.
Born and reared on a farm, from early boyhood he found himself taking the keenest interest in all that pertained to agri- culture, and thoroughly enjoying farm work and farm life. He was but thirteen years old when the War between the States began, and in the troubled years that followed he had little opportunity to attend school regularly. During the last year of the war, although he was but sixteen years old, he served for six months as second lieutenant of Company F, of the Second regi- ment of South Carolina junior troops. After the war, he attended a good private school, where he prepared for the University of South Carolina; and in the fall of 1868 he entered upon a two years' course of study there, and was graduated in 1870. He has all his life been a constant and careful reader of the literature of scientific agriculture; and he takes a warm practical interest in all that concerns the improvement of agricultural methods and the dissemination of information about agriculture among the people of South Carolina.
From 1873 to 1875 he acted as superintendent of a large turpentine farm which was owned by his brother, Colonel D. K. Norris. But the strong inclination which he had always felt toward the pursuit of agriculture proved decisive in his choice of a life-work, and in 1876 he began to manage a farm for himself. He has continued a practical agriculturist since that time. He is also interested in the rapidly developing manufactures of his state; and since its organization in 1898, he has been a director in the Norris Cotton Mills company. For the last twenty years
278
GEORGE MANLY NORRIS
he has been chairman of the board of school trustees for his district.
Mr. Norris was married on the 22d of April, 1875, to Miss Henrietta H. Connor. They have had eight children, seven of whom are now (1909) living.
A Democrat by conviction, Mr. Norris has always supported the platform and the nominees of the regular Democratic organi- zation. He is identified with the Baptist church.
Actively interested in the recent and promising development of more intelligent agricultural methods and of more enterprising business methods in commerce and in manufactures, Mr. Norris is a representative of the growing body of scientific agricultural- ists, public-spirited, and active for the welfare of their community and their state, who are doing good work for South Carolina.
Men of Mark Publishing Co Washington,D.C.
Jours Anarchy James boston
JAMES NORTON
N ORTON, JAMES, statesman, merchant and farmer, was born October 8, 1843, on a farm, in Marion county, near Mullins, South Carolina. His father, John Norton, farmer, was a profoundly pious, industrious and persevering man, characteristics transmitted to the son; his mother, Pennsy (Lewis) Norton, a refined woman of strong religious convictions, was a powerful influence in his life-in youth she formed his moral and spiritual character, in early manhood prevented his taking up the study of law, and when he returned home after the close of the War between the States, discouraged with the outlook and determined to go West, she, with cheerful words, persuaded him to remain in his native state. His blood is English-Irish. His first paternal American ancestor, James Norton, came from England to Massachusetts, then to Alexandria, Virginia, and finally settled in Georgetown, South Carolina; his first maternal ancestor in America came from the north of Ireland and founded the widely-known Lewis family in Virginia, one of whom became governor of the state.
He was reared on a farm and was a typical, robust, romping country boy ; did all kinds of farm work when not in school; and was fond of hunting. In 1861, when only a little more than seventeen years old, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army and served creditably as such throughout the war. He was wounded several times, once so severely as to partially cripple him for life. His only academic education was obtained in the schools in his home town, but he got all they had to give. He has been a hard student-"day and night for forty years," he says-and is more widely read and better informed than many holders of college degrees. His first strong impulse to strive for success was given him, when in school, by an old man's com- mendation of another boy, and resulted in his succeeding in heading all his classes and in inspiring him with confidence in his own capacity to win.
The year immediately following the war he worked on a farm. In 1866 he began to teach school in Mullins, and continued
282
JAMES NORTON
teaching until 1870, when he returned to farming, which he con- tinued for some years, and did some merchandising. He has always been more or less active in politics, as a Democrat, of course. He served as school commissioner for Marion county, 1870-72; was a member of the state legislature, 1886-87 and 1890-91; assistant comptroller-general of the state, 1890-94, and comptroller-general, 1894-97, and was representative in congress from the sixth South Carolina district, two terms, 1897-1901. His career in congress was not spectacular, but as a hard-working, productive member his record will compare favorably with that of any of his colleagues; he made one speech, in reply to unjust criticism of the South in congress and in the Northern news- papers, which attracted wide attention and was most favorably commented on throughout the South.
He has been and is prominent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he has been a working member the greater part of his life; he has been steward since 1867; was dele- gate to the annual conferences of 1876, 1878, 1880, 1881 and 1884, and was Sunday school superintendent for some years. He is a Mason. He finds his most enjoyable outdoor recreation in looking after his farm; indoors, in reading; he is partial to his- torical works, especially those dealing with early Christianity and with America. As opportunity occurs he is gathering data to be used in bringing W. W. Sellers' history to date.
If true success be making a good name and gaining and hold- ing the respect and esteem of the community in which he has spent his entire life-men of philosophic turn of mind say it is- he has attained it, though he has not amassed a great amount of money. Of his own career he has said: "As I look back all life is a blunder and partial failure; yet, hard work and never, never ceasing effort could accomplish no more. I did my best for my people as a public official, and have been as helpful to my fellow- men as means, ability and opportunity would permit." He thinks young men, especially those contemplating public life, would be benefited by reading and studying the life of Daniel, as set forth in the Book of Books.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.