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 19
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On the 8th of December, 1858, he married Miss Jane Owen Noble. They have had four children, three of whom are living in 1908.
He was loyal to the state of his love and adoption, and served in the ranks of his country's defenders as a Confederate soldier in Company C, Second regiment of artillery.
In his political relations, Mr. Scovill is a Democrat.
He is identified with the Presbyterian church.
In his business life Mr. Scovill has illustrated the practical business virtues and business habits of the New England stock from which he is descended, and of the early training in business habits which he received in New York and Connecticut. The confidence with which he has been regarded by his fellow towns- men in Orangeburg through the half century of his residence there is evidence that the same business habits, the same essential
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loyalty to local associations and local surroundings, and the same business standards and family ideals which are cherished in the North, when embodied in fifty years of conscientious and kindly life in South Carolina, endear a man to his fellow townsmen there, and win for him their confidence and respect.
WILLIAM LEEVIN SEABROOK
S EABROOK, WILLIAM LEEVIN, pastor of the (Luthe- ran) Church of the Redeemer at Newberry, South Carolina, and author of "Immortality-a Message of Comfort," was a lawyer for ten years before he became a minister of the gospel. The record of his subsequent life seems to vindicate the wisdom of his choice of the ministry of the word.
Born November 15, 1856, at Frederick, Maryland, he was the son of William L. W. Seabrook, an editor who had for twelve years held the office of commissioner of the land office, and for twenty years was United States weigher, measurer, and gauger for the port of Baltimore, Maryland. His mother's maiden name was Harriet Thomas; and her character was such as has left a strong influence upon the morals and the life-work of her son.
His great great-grandfather, Rev. William Seabrook, origi- nally a clergyman of the Church of England, unwilling to accept the act of uniformity, became a dissenter; his estates were con- fiscated, and leaving England, accompanied by several of his brothers, he came to Maryland about 1720, his brothers settling in South Carolina. The determination to follow religious princi- ple at the cost of worldly prosperity is not a new thing in the history of this family.
His boyhood was passed at Annapolis, Maryland. At the Frederick academy, at Westminster, Maryland, in the prepara- tory department of Western Maryland college, and at St. John's college, Annapolis, he was prepared for admission to Pennsylva- nia college at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1877, receiving the degree of A. M. in 1880.
Two years of study in the law department of the University of Maryland at Baltimore led to the degree of L.L. B., and in 1879 he began at Westminster the practice of the law. He won success. For four years, 1884-1888, he served as deputy attorney- general of Maryland. There were many considerations which would have led him to continue the practice of this profession. But he writes of this turning-point in his career: "While a
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student in college, my impulse was toward the ministry of the Gospel as my life work; friends and instructors urged me into that course; the high esteem in which I held the office of the ministry and the sacredness of the calling, with a feeling of my own unworthiness, led me to adopt the law as my profession, intending to give as much time as I could to religious work. After the first two years I found my time was so taken up with the duties of my profession that I was compelled to drop almost every form of religious activity. Finding it necessary to give up one or the other, I abandoned the profession in which I had been very successful, and entered the ministry, with its larger oppor- tunities for helping my fellowmen."
Returning to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for a course in theology, he received the degree of B. D. from the Lutheran sem- inary in 1888. He gave six years to the home missionary work of the church at Due West, at Wichita, Kansas, 1889-1890; and at Abilena, Kansas, as pastor of Trinity church, 1889-1894. From 1895 to 1902 he was pastor of Grace church at Winchester, Vir- ginia, and since 1902 he has been pastor of the Church of the Redeemer at Newberry, South Carolina.
Mr. Seabrook married Myra Phelps Buehler, November 9, 1881. They have had three children, all of whom are living in 1909.
As one of the leading clergymen of the United synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church in the South, he has served as a member of the executive committee of the board of missions of that body, and as secretary of the board; as chairman of the board of missions of the South Carolina synod; chairman of the United synod's publishing board; and in many other positions of honor and importance.
Those who know best the work of his ministry feel that it has been especially rich in Christian comfort. The volume by Mr. Seabrook upon "Immortality" is spoken of by the "Herald and News" as "a veritable lamp of comfort, hung by loving hands in 'the valley of the shadow' to cheer the hearts of sorrowing ones and guide their feet through the gloom to the brighter light beyond."
THOMAS SIDNEY SEASE
S EASE, THOMAS SIDNEY, lawyer and circuit judge, was born August 25, 1867, on a farm in Newberry county, South Carolina. His father, John Leonard Sease, farmer, was noted for energy, industry, careful attention to preservation of health and business and love for his children; his mother, Martha (Fike) Sease, was a good woman and well fitted for her place in life.
He worked on his father's farm until he was grown, when not at school, and has never regarded it as a hardship; it developed his physical strength and laid the foundation for the robust health he has since enjoyed. Quite early in life he chose, without influence or pressure from any quarter, the law for a profession. But getting the necessary education was by no means easy, owing to the financial condition of his family. He had grit and determination, however, and where they exist much greater obstacles than the lack of a few hundred dollars can always be overcome. After attending the common schools of the county he went to the high school in Prosperity. From there he went to Newberry (South Carolina) college, and thence to South Caro- lina college, where he was graduated A. B. in 1890. Then fol- lowed a year of farm work and private law study at night. In 1892 he studied law at South Carolina college, and the same year was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in New- berry. He was at once made clerk and attorney of the county board of commissioners; was master in equity for Newberry county 1895-96, and in 1897 became solicitor for the seventh South Carolina circuit and removed to Spartanburg, where he has found a wider field for his private practice. In 1908 he was reëlected solicitor, but early in 1909 he resigned because of his election by the general assembly to the office of judge of the seventh judicial circuit, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Daniel E. Hydrick, who had resigned in order to take a place on the supreme bench of the state. Mr. Sease was also elected, without opposition, to a full term as judge of the seventh circuit. His commission as judge was dated April 15, 1909.
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Judge Sease is widely known and much esteemed both as a lawyer and as a man; is quiet and unostentatious in tastes and habits, and fond of home life. He is a Mason, a Red Man, and a member of the Knights of Pythias. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church, of which he is a member. In politics he is a Democrat.
On July 18, 1893, he married Lula Caughman.
His address is 68 Alabama street, Spartanburg, South Caro- lina.
Vol. IV-S. C .- 18.
JOHN CALHOUN SELLERS
S' ELLERS, JOHN CALHOUN, of Sellers, Marion county, South Carolina, ex-member of the legislature, is a farmer by persistent choice who read law and was admitted to the bar, but preferred planting and stock-farming, and after a year of the practice of law, gave himself heartily and entirely to farming as his life-work. He was born in Marion county, South Carolina, November 8, 1847.
William Sellers, his great-grandfather, of Scotch descent, came from Tarboro, North Carolina, about 1750, and settled at Seven Banks, North Carolina, where he became the father of six sons from whom most of the families of their name in the Caro- linas are descended. Jordan Sellers, his grandson, was a soldier in the Continental army, at seventeen, and took part in the battle of Eutaw Springs. His mother's grandfather, John Bethea, settled near Latta about 1750 and became the owner of several thousand acres of land and of great herds of cattle. He was the son of John Bethea who came to the Carolinas from England, although the name (originally Berthier) indicates a French origin.
His father, William W. Sellers, was a lawyer who served as solicitor, fourth circuit, from 1876 to 1880,-a man whose "phenomenal memory, untiring industry and energy, indepen- dence and sturdy honesty, made him a marked personality." His mother, Mrs. Martha A. (Bethea) Sellers, had a strong influence upon the moral and spiritual life of her son who was deeply impressed by her impulsive and outspoken nature contolled by a Christian devotion which made her an example.
A boyhood passed in the country, and in robust health, gave him early familiarity with farm work, and a fondness for it. He was especially fond of dogs, horses, chickens, and caring for farm-stock. He says, "I plowed, when I was fourteen. A hun- dred pounds of cotton was my task on Saturdays, and I usually finished it by dinner time. My work made me love farming, and I have never had any difficulty in directing others how properly to do all kinds of farm work."
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The way to a course at college was made easy for him. He studied at the Hofwyl academy; in 1864 he was at the arsenal at Columbia; and he attended school at the citadel until the cadets were ordered into service, in December, 1864, where they remained until the close of the war, when at Greenville, May 1, 1865, "they were given a twenty days' furlough, and have not reported yet."
In 1866 he entered the University of South Carolina; and he was graduated in 1868. The next year he taught school, read- ing law at the same time under the direction of his father. He was admitted to the bar in 1870; and out of deference to his father's wishes he practiced law for a year; but in 1871 he formally renounced the profession and took up farming, his first and last choice as a life-work. For thirty-six years he has been a land surveyor, doing much of that kind of work in Marion county and in the adjoining counties.
As clerk of the board of selectmen in 1868 he held his first public office. From 1870 to 1872 he was a member of the house of representatives of his state. He has been chairman of the board of trustees of the Pine Hill school for over thirty years. He was postmaster at Sellers, South Carolina, from April, 1888, until he was again elected a member of the house in 1904. He served as captain of the Jenkins guards from 1876 to 1878.
He is a Mason; a member of the Grange; and a Knight of Pythias; and he has filled advanced positions in Masonry. In his political relations he is a Democrat. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for over forty years. His favorite forms of exercise and recreation are fox and deer hunting. He keeps good dogs, and loves these sports.
Mr. Sellers married Maggie Mace December 23, 1869. She died April 26, 1888. He married Jaqueline Oliver in 1898. Of his twelve children, eight are now (1909) living.
Mr. Sellers urges upon the people of his state the absolute necessity of controlling and checking the sale of intoxicants. He writes: "I am anti-saloon, anti-dispensary, anti-liquor-in-any- form; and I sincerely believe that prohibition is the only sensible treatment of the question. We have tried free whiskey, high license, and the dispensary, and all have been miserable failures. Why not treat this admitted evil as other serious evils are treated, prohibit it by law."
EDWIN BOINEST SETZLER
S ETZLER, EDWIN BOINEST, professor of English and French at Newberry college, Newberry, South Carolina, is a good type of the scholarly younger men, orators as well as scholars, trained in modern methods of study and research at Southern institutions, who are filling, in larger numbers each year, important chairs in the Southern colleges and seminaries which have trained them, "since the war."
He was born at Pomaria, Newberry county, South Carolina, June 28, 1871. His father, George Adam Setzler, was a physician whose character as man and as practitioner was marked by energy, sobriety and integrity. On his father's side he is of Ger- man extraction; while his mother's family were of Scotch-Irish descent. The mingling of these two strains would seem to account in part for the patient research and scholarly investiga- tions which are evident in Professor Setzler's university work and published books, and the keen delight in oratory and debate which showed itself in the rather remarkable list of prizes and honors won in oratorical contests in his undergraduate and uni- versity days.
A healthy boyhood passed in the country gave him familiarity with such forms of farm work as usually fall to the lot of a boy reared on a South Carolina farm. He was fond of sports; he early became an exceptionally studious reader for a boy; and he did good work as a boy-student in the country schools near his home.
His undergraduate college course he pursued at Newberry college, receiving the degree of A. B. in 1892, and that of A. M. twelve years later, in 1904. He had already become deeply inter- ested in the study of early English and Anglo-Saxon; and when he decided to take post-graduate work at the University of Vir- ginia for the degree of Ph. D., this line of study engrossed his time, and of course led to wide and varied reading of British authors, growing into a broad acquaintance with English and American poets.
The work of his chosen profession, teaching, he began as principal of the Zion academy at Pomaria, South Carolina, in the
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summer of 1892. He was principal of the Jewell academy at Jewell, Texas, for the year 1892 to 1893. From 1894 to 1897 he was professor of Latin and Greek in the North Carolina college at Mount Pleasant, North Carolina; from 1898 to 1906 he filled the chair of English and the modern languages at Newberry college, except for a year's leave of absence, 1900 to 1901, to con- tinue post-graduate work at the University of Virginia in courses of study which he had begun at that institution in the year 1897 to 1898. During the session of 1906-1907 he was adjunct profes- sor of Teutonic languages in the University of Virginia. He then returned to Newberry college, where he is now professor of Eng- lish and French.
He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1902. For two years, from 1895 to 1897, he was also professor of German in the Mount Amoena Female seminary at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In the summer of 1905 he attended Sauveur's school of languages at Amherst, Massachusetts, and in the summer of 1908 he did a term's graduate work in the University of Chicago.
Professor Setzler has published two books: "Notes on Eng- lish Grammar," 1902; and "On Anglo-Saxon Versification," 1904. The volume on versification has been very favorably criticised by professors of English in various colleges and universities.
His record for prize-winning at college and university is deserving of mention, and is as follows:
He was awarded first honor, and gold medals in history, Greek and mathematics at Newberry college. At the University of Virginia he was awarded the Harrison trophy as the best debater in the inter-society debate in 1898; the gold medal as best orator in the Washington Literary society, 1901; decision as the best orator in the inter-society oratorical contest, 1901; gold medal as best orator in the Virginia state oratorical contest, 1901, where he represented the University of Virginia; and a gold medal as prize for translations from the Anglo-Saxon and Middle English, in the "University Magazine," 1900-1901.
From 1903 till his removal to Virginia, in 1906, Professor Setzler served as a member of the Cecil Rhodes scholarship com- mittee for South Carolina.
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He is identified with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. His favorite form of exer- cise and relaxation is tennis; and he enjoys most thoroughly watching a good game of baseball, although his interest in that game is only the interest of a spectator who rests in the open air while he watches others who play the game.
He was married on February 19, 1902, to Una Lake. They have two children now (1909) living.
JOSEPH WARREN SHELOR
S HELOR, JOSEPH WARREN, was born March 29, 1853, in Oconee county, South Carolina. His parents were Thomas Ryland and Susan Ann Stribling Shelor. His father was a farmer of considerable financial ability, exceedingly business-like in his habits. By his own efforts he accumulated quite a fortune, most of which, however, he lost as a result of the war. Joseph Shelor's earliest known ancestor was Lawrence Shelor, a German, his great-grandfather. His grandfather, Jacob Shelor, married Elizabeth Ryland.
Until twenty-two years of age Joseph Shelor's health was quite delicate. His youth was passed in the country on a farm. He early possessed an ardent desire for an education. At the age of fourteen he went on the farm to work; here he labored dili- gently for seven years, all the while devising ways and means to induce his father to send him to college. This manual labor gave to him a strong constitution which has served him well through life. His mother's influence inspired in him the desires that intel- lectually and spiritually have made him what he is. Her early admonition to him was, "Succeed and I rejoice." To attend school he found it necessary to borrow money with which to defray expenses. Among the books which shaped his intellectual char- acter were Shakespeare, the biography of Patrick Henry, and Stephens' "Constitutional View of the War between the States." He attended the preparatory school at Sanora, Georgia, and was graduated from Adger college with the degree of A. B. Acting on the advice of Justice Samuel McGowan, which coincided with his own preference, he next took up the study of law, working in the office of Judge J. J. Norton. In January, 1880, he was admitted to practice by the supreme court of South Carolina, and on the twentieth of that month began the practice of law at Walhalla. Since that date he has continued the practice of his profession. For eighteen years he was attorney for the Southern railway; for the same period he was attorney for the county of Oconee; and for fifteen years he was United States commissioner. He is vice-president of the Seneca bank. For six years he was a trustee for Furman university ; and, from 1882 to 1890, he was a
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delegate to every Democratic convention in Columbia. Mr. Shelor is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows, in which organizations he has held every official position which a local lodge can give. Through life he has been a Democrat. He is a member of the Baptist church. Speaking for himself, he says, "My success, whatever it may be, is due to undying devotion to the right, and working with a settled method, always main- taining sobriety, never surrendering the ship, selecting an ideal and working steadily toward it."
Mr. Shelor has been twice married; first to Lou Neville, on November 7, 1880; second, to Lizzie J. Hix, on February 27, 1883. One child was born of the first marriage, and two have been born of the second, all of whom are now living.
His address is Walhalla, Oconee county, South Carolina.
CHARLES PINKNEY SIMMONS
S IMMONS, CHARLES PINKNEY, of Greenville, South Carolina, merchant and farmer, and 1903-1907 president of the Loan and Exchange bank of Greenwood, was born in Laurens county, South Carolina, on the 28th of February, 1853. His father, James A. Simmons, was a farmer. His mother was Mrs. Mazy (Medlock) Simmons. The earliest known American ancestor of his family settled in Laurens county about 1763.
Passing his early life in the country, he learned as a boy to work on the farm. He studied at home as best he could; but he had no good school facilities in his early youth, although in later life he secured for himself a year of study at a high school.
In 1878 he became a clerk in a firm which conducted the busi- ness which he afterward purchased, being received as a partner in 1880, and in 1883 buying the entire business. In 1884 he became a partner with his brother, Oscar B. Simmons, in a gen- eral merchandise business which the latter had purchased at Hodges, South Carolina. In 1888 the firm established a merchan- dise business at Laurens, South Carolina. Business was carried on at both these places until 1895, when the partnership was dis- solved and Charles P. Simmons became sole proprietor of the establishment at Hodges, of which he is still the owner and man- ager. He also has considerable farming interests in Hodges. In 1902 he removed to Greenwood, South Carolina, where he organ- ized and became president of the Loan and Exchange bank of that place. Three years late. he located in Greenville, South Carolina. In May, 1907, the bank at Greenwood was consolidated with the First National bank of Greenville, and Mr. Simmons became, and has remained, a director in the last-named institu- tion.
On the 2nd of May, 1882, Mr. Simmons married Miss Mary E. Mathis, daughter of James L. and Susan Mary Mathis of Edgefield, South Carolina. They have had three children, two of whom are living in 1909.
His address is Greenville, South Carolina.
THOMAS GRANGE SIMONS
S IMONS, THOMAS GRANGE, son of Thomas Grange Simons and Mary Ann (Bentham) Simons, was born May 10, 1843, in Charleston, South Carolina. His father was a rice factor and real estate agent. For a time he was also an alderman of the city of Charleston. He was marked by strict integrity and the maintenance of principle, fealty to friends and devotion to the state and city of his birth. The earliest known ancestor of the family in America was Benjamin Simons, who came from France shortly after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Keting Simons, great-grandfather of Thomas G. Simons, was chief-of-staff and intimate friend of General Francis Marion. Other of his ancestors on both sides were engaged in the Revolu- tionary war.
As a boy, the subject of this sketch was healthy, fond of outdoor life in the country, and interested in the study of natural history and of flowers. His time was passed in the city and country. At the early age of seven he was deprived, by death, of his mother, yet her teachings still abide with him. The rudiments of educa- tion were acquired by him without hardship. These he obtained in William M. Rivers' school and Charleston college. The latter institution he attended until 1861, by which date he had reached the junior year. From Charleston college he entered the Con- federate army. The war stripped him of his means of support and rendered the acquirement by him of a professional education a matter of much difficulty. From early life, however, his one earnest desire had been to study medicine, and after the close of the war he entered the Medical college of the state of South Car- olina, graduating in 1867 with the degree of M. D.
The requirements of the life of a physician compelled the attention of Doctor Simons and fired him to the highest effort to prepare himself for a work of such influence and responsi- bility ; but only by rigid economy and self-denial was he enabled to complete his course. His active life work began shortly there- after, when he entered the Charleston city hospital as interne in the dispensary service. Doctor Simons has occupied the positions:
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of demonstrator of anatomy; professor of the practice of medi- cine and clinical medicine in the Medical college of the state of South Carolina; dispensary physician to the city of Charleston; member of the state board of medical examiners; member and chairman of the state board of health for twenty-three years; medical director (pro tem.) of the Howard association medical corps in the yellow fever epidemic of Memphis of 1878; member of the board of yellow fever experts of Montgomery, Alabama, in 1880; president of the state medical association of South Caro- lina; and chairman of the commission that introduced the sani- tary sewerage system into Charleston, and for fourteen years he was a member of the board. For four years, during the term of service of Mayor John F. Ficken, Doctor Simons was also a member of the city council. He is physician to the Charleston Orphan home, and for some years he has been chairman of the board of commissioners of the Roper hospital and chairman of the board of health of the city of Charleston. For a long period he has been greatly interested in modern sanitation in quaran- tine measures, and in the improvement of civic and state sanitary laws.
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