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 21
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
On December 14, 1865, he married Anna Heyward, daughter of Nathaniel Heyward and his wife, Eliza Barnwell Smith. They have had eight children, of whom six are now living.
Since the above sketch was written Dr. Taylor died of pneumonia, contracted by getting wet while on a professional case, on December 27, 1905.
ROBERT ANDERSON THOMPSON
T HOMPSON, ROBERT ANDERSON, editor, lawyer, sol- dier and legislator, was born in Pickens district, South Carolina, June 13, 1828. On account of the poor school facilities in the section in which he lived his early education was very much neglected. While only a boy he entered the printing office of Messrs. Symmes and Bridewell, publishers and proprietors of the "Pendleton Messenger," then issued at Pendleton, South Carolina. Later he was employed by the owners of the "Laurens- ville Herald," published at Laurens, South Carolina, but for nearly three years, commencing in 1849, in connection with the Honorable Frank Burt, he edited and published the "Pendleton Messenger." In 1853 he purchased the "Keowee Courier" at Pickens court-house. After the division of the Pickens district the office of the paper was removed to Walhalla, but Mr. Thomp- son continued with the paper, principally as owner and editor, for forty consecutive years after it came into his possession.
He was appointed, in 1853, commissioner in equity for Pickens district and was reelected to the same office by the legis- lature every four years until 1870, when the office was merged into the court of common pleas. For a number of years he held, without compensation, the honorable and responsible positions of commissioner of free schools and commissioner of public build- ings. In 1860 he was elected a member of the convention which passed the ordinance of secession, for which he voted. Imme- diately upon the adjournment of the convention he commenced raising troops for the war, and soon formed Infantry Company B, Second regiment of rifles, Jenkins' brigade, Longstreet's corps. Mr. James W. Crawford, of Cold Spring, Pickens district, con- tributed one thousand dollars to uniform and equip this com- pany. After the second battle of Manassas Mr. Thompson was promoted lieutenant-colonel of his regiment and served in that capacity until near the close of the year 1863, when failing health compelled his retirement from the army.
After the war Mr. Thompson, who had previously studied law, was admitted to the bar by Judge James L. Orr, of the circuit court, and practiced his profession successfully with
361
ROBERT ANDERSON THOMPSON
General Samuel McGowan, who was later promoted to the bench of the Supreme court of the state; Colonel James L. Orr, Jr., R. T. Jayne, and others. For several years he held the offices of commissioner of internal revenue and register and referee in bankruptcy for Oconee county. In 1900 he was elected a member of the state legislature, in which position he rendered valuable service.
For more than fifty years Colonel Thompson has been prom- inent in the political affairs of his state. The struggles of his early life, when he was a printer with hard work and little pay, fitted him for the greater conflicts that were to come in later years. For a large part of the time the path has been rugged and progress has been slow. The war with its inevitable calamities, followed by the reconstruction period of eight years of depression and disaster, made effort for improvement hard and often unavail- ing. But during all this time, and the years that have intervened since the state government was reestablished, he has worked steadily and faithfully for the best interests of the people of his county and the commonwealth. Looking back over a long life he can feel that he never injured anyone, and that he has tried to advance the interests of all with whom he has come in contact. And in his latest years he can enjoy the peace and happiness that comes from the consciousness of a well spent life.
Colonel Thompson is a clear thinker, a fluent writer, and in all of his career has been noted for the lucidity and force with which his views have been expressed. The record of his life is full of encouragement to the young who are ambitious to rise in the world and who are willing to pay the price of integrity, honesty, and wisely directed intelligence for success.
The postoffice address of Colonel Thompson is Walhalla, Oconee county, South Carolina.
JOHN WILLIAM THURMOND
T HURMOND, JOHN WILLIAM, of Edgefield, ex-member of the house of representatives for Edgefield county, and ex-solicitor of the fifth circuit in South Carolina, was born May 1, 1862, at Skipper's Georgia, Edgefield county, South Carolina. His father, George W. Thurmond, was a farmer, of vigorous constitution, great energy and will-power, and cour- ageous patriotism, who served through the Indian war of 1836, and throughout the War between the States without once being in hospital for any cause. His mother, Mrs. Mary J. (Felter) Thurmond, in her son's opinion was "the most important of all the factors" which helped his intellectual and moral life, acting systematically as his teacher in his early boyhood, and impressing herself upon her son in every way. His earliest known ancestors in America came in colonial days from England and France.
He spent his boyhood on a farm, as he says, "doing farm labor which I believe gives common sense, breadth of mind, health and patience as does no other calling." Such sports as were open to country boys, he thoroughly enjoyed. But he "worked his own way" through preparatory schools and one year of college. For some years he walked six miles to and from school. "Not more than fifty dollars was paid for my education beyond what I earned myself," he says.
His mother was his earliest and best loved teacher. He attended the Curryton high school for several years. Entering South Carolina college, he had completed the work of the sopho- more year when he was compelled by circumstances to commence teaching. He has felt that the studies he pursued by himself at home were of more benefit to him than the courses he took at college, because he "took much more time to think over what he thus studied," and to make it wholly and intelligently his own.
He began to teach school at Flat Rock, Edgefield county ; and for several years he continued to teach. While still teaching, he began to read law in the spring of 1887, and in January of the next year he was admitted to the bar, after but three months in a lawyer's office. His own wishes and the desire of his parents led to the choice of this profession. Home influences and private
363
JOHN WILLIAM THURMOND
study he feels have done most for him, in shaping his life and in securing for him in his profession the good measure of success which he has attained.
In December, 1888, he was elected attorney for Edgefield county. In 1893 he was appointed supervisor of registration for his county. In 1894 he was chosen to represent Edgefield in the South Carolina house of representatives; and on the completion of his first term, he was (in 1896) elected solicitor, being reelected in 1900, and then voluntarily retiring from office.
A Democrat by political convictions and party preference, he has always acted with his party, and he was elected chairman of the State Democratic convention in 1906.
He is a member of the Baptist church, having joined it when a young man of sixteen. He is a Knight of Pythias, a Woodman of the World, and an Odd Fellow.
His favorite forms of exercise for recreation are "bird-shoot- ing" and directing his farming operations.
In 1902, Mr. Thurmond was a candidate for congress. There were three candidates, Croft, Ballinger, and Thurmond, with a difference of only about two hundred votes between the highest and the lowest vote polled by the candidates. Colonel Croft, however, was elected.
Mr. Thurmond in December, 1898, was married to Eleanor Gertrude Strom, and they have four children.
In the hope to contribute something to aid boys who are planning and being planned for, Mr. Thurmond offers these sug- gestions: "For boys: Let them plow! Stint them until they know the value of money. Encourage them to have a religious creed. Teach them to rely on themselves. Let them mingle with others enough to learn human nature. And impress it upon them that to succeed in their profession, they must know more about it than do their competitors."
WILLIAM DUNLAP TRANTHAM
T RANTHAM, WILLIAM DUNLAP, lawyer, editor, farmer, twice member of the state legislature of South Carolina, a resident of Camden, was born November 11, 1847, in Kershaw county, South Carolina.
From his earliest years he felt the influence of a public- spirited and broad-minded father, John Isaac Trantham, M. D., a physician and planter, whose keen sense of humor and domina- ting personality made him a marked character in his county. His mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Angeline (Drakeford) Trantham, had a poent influence in her son's moral and spiritual develop- ment. Both his father and his mother were descended from good colonial families. His father's grandfather, Martin Trantham, came to South Carolina from Virginia soon after 1700. His mother's grandfather, Richard Drakeford, came from Fairfax county, Virginia, before the Revolutionary war; and both he and John Trantham, William Trantham's paternal grandfather, served in the colonial army during the struggle for national inde- pendence.
Fond of good literature even in his early boyhood, but enjoying, too, all out-of-door sports and occupations, he passed his early years in the country in robust health, working on his grandfather's farm. As he grew older he found farm work very tiresome; and the advice of his family friends, as well as his own preference led him to prepare for the study of the law.
In country schools near his home, and at King's Mountain Military academy, he was prepared to enter Wake Forest uni- versity, North Carolina, from which institution he was graduated A. B., in 1871. But his school days had been interrupted by an experience in army life exceptional even among the patriotic boys of South Carolina. He entered the Confederate army in 1861, when only fourteen years of age, serving in Company A, Second South Carolina volunteers, Kershaw's regiment. Discharged from hospital on account of sickness and youth, he reentered the army at seventeen, and continued in active service to the end of the struggle. Then he took up as he could his interrupted studies.
365
WILLIAM DUNLAP TRANTHAM
After his graduation from college he studied law in the office of Captain James W. Davis, at Camden, South Carolina, where he has since resided; and he was admitted to the bar on October 2, 1872, beginning to practice January 1, 1873. For several years (from 1873 to 1878) in partnership with J. T. Hay, he owned and edited the "Camden Journal"; and he assisted in forming and starting the South Carolina Press association, August 5, 1875.
A Democrat in politics, he had taken an active part in several campaigns, especially in those of 1876, 1878 and 1880. In 1878, and in several subsequent years, he was chairman of the Demo- cratic county committee of Kershaw county. From 1878 to 1880, and again from 1888 to 1890, he represented his county in the state legislature. Except for his attention to politics, to his work as an editor, and to the duties of judge of probate for Kershaw county, which office he resigned in 1908 on account of ill-health, his time and attention have been given to the practice of law and to his own farm.
He is a Mason. In church relations he is a Baptist.
He married Mamie E. Simons, eldest daughter of Prof. W. J. Simons, LL. D., of Wake Forest college, North Carolina, on February 1, 1877. They have had twelve children, of whom seven are now (1909) living.
CRAIG C. TWITTY
T WITTY, CRAIG C., prominent among the successful men who are identified with the more recent development of South Carolina in the manufacturing of cotton fabrics, for the last ten years, of Hartsville, Darlington county, South Carolina, organized in 1900 the Hartsville Cotton mill with thirty thousand spindles and a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, of which he was the first and has been the only president and treasurer; while in 1906 he was elected, entirely without solicitation on his part, to the office of treasurer and general manager of the Darlington Manufacturing company of Darling- ton, South Carolina, which has fifty-two thousand spindles and a capital of one million dollars.
Craig C. Twitty was born in Spartanburg county, South Carolina, on the 6th of February, 1859; and is still to be ranked among the youngest of the successful presidents and managers of great cotton manufactories. His father, Dr. L. Twitty, was a physician whose character endeared him to many, and whose love of books and of flowers are vividly remembered; while his execu- tive ability was such as to lead to his filling for years the posi- tion of intendant of Spartanburg. The earliest known ancestor of the family in America was Innis Craig, who came from Scot- land to Virginia in 1780 and served with honor in the battle of King's Mountain. His boyhood was passed in his father's home at Spartanburg; and he had a genuine boy's interest in horses and dogs, while he still reserved from sports sufficient time for study and reading. The only difficulty he experienced in acquir- ing an education came from rather delicate health for several years; for his father's circumstances were such as to open the way for him to good preparatory schools near his home, where he was fitted for college. He was graduated from Wofford col- lege in 1876; and he at once entered upon mercantile life at Spartanburg. For two years he was engaged in the general mer- chandise business. From 1878 to 1896, he traveled widely through the Southern and Western states representing a business house and making wide acquaintance among business men.
367
CRAIG C. TWITTY
Convinced that the question of a successful future in busi- ness for his native state turned upon South Carolina becoming a manufacturing state, Mr. Twitty determined to ally himself with the plans which were working for a new industrial South through the building up of cotton mills in the Southern states. He pro- jected and built the Hartsville Cotton mill with its thirty thou- sand spindles; and becoming its president and treasurer on its organization, he has filled that office to the present time. The success which marked Mr. Twitty's management of the Harts- ville Cotton mill led to his election in 1906 as treasurer and gen- eral manager of the Darlington Manufacturing company, with its capital of a million dollars and its fifty-two thousand spindles. In the management of these companies his business ability and his executive capacity have been proved to the entire state.
Mr. Twitty, on the 7th of June, 1892, married Miss Mary H. Evins. They have had two daughters, both of whom are now living.
At college Mr. Twitty was a member of the Chi Phi frater- nity. In his church relations, he is a communicant of the Pro- testant Episcopal church. It is hardly necessary to say that in politics he has uniformly been a Democrat. His favorite form of amusement and relaxation from business has been the reading of general literature, as well as of special reading which bears upon his chosen line of work.
To the young men of his native state who are anxious to succeed in life, Mr. Twitty offers this brief suggestion: "Be faithful to every duty. Always and everywhere avoid all neces- sity of explanations by absolute truthfulness."
Vol. IV-S. C .- 20.
JOHN SAMUEL VERNER
V ERNER, JOHN SAMUEL, lawyer, was born May 14, 1849, in Retreat, Oconee county, South Carolina. His father, Ebenezer Pettigrew Verner, merchant and planter, was an active, industrious and energetic man and a strict but just parent; his mother, Emily (Foster) Verner, a woman of refine- ment and culture and of earnest piety, was a strong influence on all sides of his life. His ancestry is Irish; the founder of the American family, John Verner, his great-grandfather, and his wife, Mary (Pettigrew) Verner, emigrated, about the middle of the eighteenth century, from County Tyrone, Ireland, to Penn- sylvania, thence to South Carolina, and he and his three sons, James, David and John, were soldiers in the Continental army during the War of the Revolution.
He was reared in the country; was strong and healthy and fond of the usual sports of a country boy, and at an unusually early age was devoted to reading good literature, a taste he has retained, and he was ambitious. He thinks the best thing he did as a boy was two years of field work on the plantation, a task imposed upon him by his father as punishment for an act of dis- obedience at school; it taught him several lessons which proved both useful and valuable in after life. He was educated at John L. Kennedy's school, in Anderson county, an institution that was long famous in that section; at South Carolina college, Columbia, and at Davidson college, North Carolina, but took no prescribed course at either college.
After leaving college, having of his own volition chosen the law for a profession, he read law with Hon. W. C. Keith, and after his admission to the bar, in 1873, became his partner and practiced with him fifteen years in Walhalla, Oconee county. He was for a number of years county attorney for the old Rich- mond and Danville Railroad company, now a part of the South- ern Railroad company's lines ; represented the county in the state legislature from 1876 until 1884, and was a prominent and popular member of that body. He was inspector-general, with rank of colonel, on the staff of Governor Wade Hampton, and
369
JOHN SAMUEL VERNER
major on the staff of General J. D. Kennedy. In the late eighties he moved to Columbia, and for twelve years (1895-1907) he was master in equity of Richland county, an exacting position, which he filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of those having business with his office. Since 1907 he has been a prac- ticing attorney in the city of Columbia.
Home has been the strongest influence in his life. He is, as his parents were, a devout Presbyterian ; he served as a deacon in Walhalla and he is an elder in the First Presbyterian church in Columbia. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and in politics is and has always been a Democrat. His favorite recreation is walking, and he makes it a point to do a certain amount of it daily.
On January 15, 1873, he married Mary C. Phillips. Nine children have been born to them, seven of whom are now (1909) living.
His address is East Senate street, Columbia, South Carolina.
ANDREW GEORGE VOIGT
V OIGT, ANDREW GEORGE, D. D., since 1903 dean of the Lutheran Theological seminary at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and since 1902 vice-president of the United synod of the Lutheran church in the South, is a Pennsyl- vanian by birth and training, but is actively identified with the interests of South Carolina through his relations with one of her important institutions of the higher learning.
Born in Philadelphia, January 22, 1859, he is of German descent, his father having come from Germany to settle in Phila- delphia in 1844. His mother died when he was but three years old. As a boy he was fond of reading; and he had robust health. His boyhood was passed in a city, and the only tasks set him to do, were school tasks of study and composition. He became a diligent and loving student of the classics of German literature, in his youth; and he feels that those classics and the histories of literature have had a stronger influence on his life than anything else in his early studies and reading.
At the academy of the Protestant Episcopal church in Phila- delphia he pursued his preparatory studies; and entering the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1876 he was grad- uated in 1880 with the degree of A. B. At once he began a course of professional study in the Theological seminary of the Lutheran church, the Mount Airy seminary, from which he was graduated in 1883. Two semesters of special study at the University of Erlangen, Germany, he took later in life, but without trying for an academic degree there.
His first pastorate was at Mount Holly, New Jersey, where he was settled in 1883, immediately after completing his course in theology at Mount Airy seminary. His choice and his love of study and teaching pointed to a professor's chair; and in 1885 he was appointed professor of theology at Newberry college, South Carolina. Here he taught with success until he was elected (1889) professor of languages at Thiel college, Pennsylvania. After two years he was induced to return to Newberry college where he was again professor of theology, from 1891 to 1898.
371
ANDREW GEORGE VOIGT
For the five years from 1898 to 1903 he was pastor of the Lutheran church at Wilmington, North Carolina. Since 1903 he has been dean of the Lutheran seminary at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
He contributed several important articles to the Lutheran encyclopedia in 1899. He was also a contributor to the "Lutheran Commentary on the New Testament," published in 1896.
In recognition of his services to his church and to the country, as pastor, preacher, professor and author, Roanoke college in 1894 conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Dean Voigt is married. To the young people of his state he suggests as most helpful toward success in life: "The principles of Christianity; methods of systematic work, and habits of frugality and contentment."
His life-work for good scholarship, Christian ideals and sound character, is another illustration of the debt which our developing American life owes to true-hearted Americans of German descent with German ideals of manly earnestness and high scholarship.
C. IRVINE WALKER
W ALKER, C. IRVINE, merchant, soldier, and author, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, February 14, 1842. He is the son of Joseph Walker and Cornelia Marston Walker. His father was a merchant. His earliest known ancestor in America on his father's side was John Walker, who, in 1774, came from Kenmore, Scotland, to this country. Repre- senting his mother's side was John Teasdale, who came to America before the war of the Revolution. Still another ancestor was Verree, a Huguenot. John Teasdale was distinguished for having made the first shipment of cotton from America.
Young Walker's early life was passed uneventfully in the city of Charleston. It was unmarked by the storm and stress which have shaped the early years of some, being free from manual labor and from difficulties often encountered in acquiring an education. In April, 1861, he was graduated from the South Carolina Military academy at the head of his class.
But war called him from home and study to the strenuous duties of camp and field; and here, during the times that tried men's souls, he took his four years post-graduate course. Entering the army as a private soldier, he was at once made a drill master; in the same year he was advanced to the rank of captain and adjutant of the Tenth South Carolina regiment. In 1863 he was made captain and adjutant-general, and, in 1864, lieutenant- colonel of the Tenth South Carolina regiment, commanding the regiment during the last year of the war, except when absent. because of wounds.
At the close of the war, oppressed by poverty, and appreciat- ing his father's need of assistance, young Walker joined him as partner in mercantile business. In 1868 he entered the newly organized firm of Walker, Evans and Cogswell as partner and general manager. The business of this firm, at first merely local, he built up until, by the time of his retirement in 1900, it covered the entire South.
General Walker has held no political office, but is a life-long and consistent member of the Democratic or "White Man's"
373
C. IRVINE WALKER
party. He was prominent in the Rifle club organization of Charleston, which during the reconstruction era was the sole protection of the white race against negro encroachment. During the campaign, which culminated in the restoration of white supremacy, he was president of the largest and leading Rifle club, the Carolina Rifle club, and rendered most valued aid to the movement. In religion he is an Episcopalian. His public ser- vices, outside the army, have been general in character, but in all he has striven to do his full duty, and the judgment of his friends testifies to his success.
He was the mover and leading spirit in the reestablishment of his alma mater, the South Carolina Military academy, and served on its board of visitors for several years.
General Walker is the author of a "Sketch of the Tenth South Carolina Regiment," and also of a "History of the Carolina Rifle Club"; he is a member of the order of United Confederate Veterans, in which he holds the office of lieutenant-general com- manding the army of the Northern Virginia department.
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.