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 23
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JOHN HENRY WHARTON
In 1898 he was again elected to the legislature, "at the head of the ticket." He was chairman of the committee of agriculture when Clemson college was established; and the bill for founding that institution was referred to his committee. He was active in promoting the measure. In 1908 he was elected, on the prohibi- tion ticket, a member of the state senate from Laurens county for a term of four years.
In 1900 he was elected a railroad commissioner, and he is chairman of that board. He is chaplain of the Charles Rutledge Holmes Camp No. 746 of United Confederate volunteers. He is also on the staff of General B. H. Teague with the rank of major, and on the staff of General Zimmerman Davis with the rank of colonel, and he takes an active part in all the reunions of the United Confederate volunteers.
By conviction a Baptist, he is a deacon and the clerk of the Waterloo Baptist church; and his denomination has availed itself of his executive ability by making him moderator of the union of the third section of the Laurens association for the last twenty years; and for several years moderator of the Reedy River asso- ciation. For more than thirty years he has been the superinten- dent of the Sunday school of his church.
All his life interested in agriculture and in the improvement by breeding of the live stock of South Carolina, Colonel Wharton has been master of the grange, and also president of the Farmers' alliance of Waterloo.
For six years he served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Waterloo high school. He is a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Woodmen of the World.
After a life of varied activity, broad in its sympathies, Colonel Wharton gives this advice to the young people of South Carolina : "Be honest, sober and industrious. Do not hesitate to take a definite position upon one side or the other of every public question which comes before your community ; and be sure that you are always on the moral side."
BENJAMIN STUART WILLIAMS
W ILLIAMS, BENJAMIN STUART, planter, president of the Cotton Growers' association for Hampton county, ex-member of the South Carolina legislature, residing at Brunson, Hampton county, South Carolina, has been all his life identified with the state of South Carolina; but during a visit paid by his mother to Savannah, Georgia-a visit unexpectedly prolonged-he was born at Savannah, Georgia, on the 25th of June, 1843. His father, Gilbert William Martin Williams, was a physician and a preacher, a member of the Secession convention of the state of Georgia (to which he had removed in 1858), the organizer of, and the colonel commanding, the Forty-seventh regiment of Georgia infantry, who entered the Confederate army in 1861 and gave his life to the cause. He is remembered for his wisdom in council, for his eloquence on the rostrum and in the pulpit, and for his gallantry on the field of battle. The ancestors of the family were from England and Wales, coming to South Carolina in colonial days and serving conspicuously in the Revo- lution, the Mexican war and the War between the States.
His early home was in South Carolina. In his early boyhood his health was delicate and his physique slender. But his parents trained him early in out-of-door exercise, especially on horseback, and in his boyhood he was quite as noted among the boys of his neighborhood for his feats in horsemanship as for his love of reading, especially of reading history. His boyhood was passed on a plantation in the country. When he was fifteen his father purchased lands and established a new home for his family in Mackintosh county, Georgia.
His son was preparing for college in Johnston academy, Georgia, but abandoned his course of study to enter the service in the Confederate army, becoming a non-commissioned officer in the infantry, and later in the artillery and the siege artillery. He was promoted lieutenant in the infantry, became adjutant of his regiment, and served as assistant adjutant-general of his brigade with the rank of captain and later of major. He was in the Confederate service for three years and nine months, from 1861 to 1865.
July Viry
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BENJAMIN STUART WILLIAMS
Of the books which have had the most influence in shaping his life, he writes: "For a most important period of four years of my young life, 'Hardee's Tactics'; afterward, settling down to quiet home life in agricultural pursuits, I read the Bible, Shake- speare, Plutarch, law, medicine, materia medica, and the best general literature of the time and of all times so far as it came within my reach."
Immediately after the war he took up the life of a planter for a time in Georgia. But in 1869 he returned to South Caro- lina, bringing with him not only his wife but his mother and his two younger brothers. He has always regarded South Carolina as his home.
On the 7th of November, 1867, he married Miss Josephine Richardson, daughter of James Cameron Richardson and Hen- rietta Richardson, of Hampton county, South Carolina. They have had eight children, six of whom are now living.
The aim of his life-work has been "to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before." During the stirring term of Governor Wade Hampton he served as first auditor of Hamp- ton county, from 1878 to 1880. He was elected to the South Carolina house of representatives in 1886, serving for two years until 1888, when he retired from the turmoil of politics and since then has held no public office.
In politics he is a Democrat; and he says: "While I have never changed my party allegiance, at times I have been inclined to do so because of the glaring assininity of our party leaders." He writes himself down as not identified with any religious denomination or ethical society. His favorite forms of sport and amusement have been "exercise with horse, dog and gun in the field and woods, with an occasional trip to the mountains or to the sea."
To the young people of his state he commends: "The study of the Gospel of Christ and of the constitution and laws, federal and state, with a careful reading of history, and the strict observ- ance of the golden rule which will contribute immediately to the maintenance of sound and lofty ideals of life."
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ROBERT WILSON
W ILSON, ROBERT, D. D., Protestant Episcopal clergy- man, physician, author, and inventor, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, October 28, 1838. His father, James Mazyek Wilson, was one of Charleston's leading merchants for years; his mother, Ann Isabel Gibbes, died when he was a child. He comes from one of the oldest and most dis- tinguished colonial families, his blood being a blend of Scotch, English, and French. Its founders in America were Governor Robert Gibbs, who came from England in 1670 to be royal governor of the province; Isaac Mazyek, who came from France in 1685 and established an international mercantile enterprise that grew to be one of the largest in the colonies; and Doctor Robert Wilson, who came from Scotland in 1750, and became one of Charleston's famous physicians.
Robert Wilson attended two private schools and the College of Charleston, at home, and the University of Virginia; but, having decided to become a physician, he left the latter and went to the Medical College of South Carolina, from which he was graduated M. D., in 1859. He at once took up the practice of medicine in Pineville, South Carolina, later removing to Camden. At the beginning of the War between the States he was appointed assistant surgeon in the Confederate States army, and served until 1864. During this service as surgeon he became so deeply inter- ested in theology as taught by the Protestant Episcopal church that he decided to prepare himself for the ministry, and with that end in view he entered the Theological seminary, Camden, South Carolina, and was graduated therefrom in 1863. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him in 1883 by Washington college, Chestertown, Maryland.
After entering the ministry he became rector of Claremont parish, Statesburg, South Carolina; going from there to St. Paul's, Kent, Maryland; thence to St. Peters, Easton, Maryland, where he remained thirteen years, after which he returned to his native city and became rector of St. Luke's parish, which exercises jurisdiction over St. James, Santee, Messiah, North Santee, and
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ROBERT WILSON
St. Albans, Kingstree. There he has been for twenty years, and there he will probably remain.
In addition to his membership of various diocesan boards, he has been vice-president of the Church Home for twenty-one years. He is president of the Charleston Library society; president of the Huguenot society of South Carolina ; colonel of the Charleston regiment United Confederate Veterans; commander Camp Sum- ter, United Confederate Veterans; chaplain St. Andrews society; member of Phi Kappa Psi; of Huguenot society of America, and of the Huguenot society of London, England.
He published "Confirmation Lectures" in 1870, and "The Sower" in 1883, and has been, during his entire career, a con- tributor to periodical literature, both religious and secular.
With all his other work he has managed to find time to be an inventor. In 1869 he was granted a patent for a butter churn, and in 1870 for a revolving table.
He says he belongs to no political party, but has always voted with the Democrats, except once, on a local issue, in Maryland.
Doctor Wilson's name is a household word in Charleston, where he is always found on the fighting line whenever there is a struggle involving the public welfare, and where his private worth is known to all.
He has been married twice. First, to Mary Susan Gibbes, November 22, 1859; second, to Ann Jane Shand, April 22, 1862. Eight children have been born to them, three of whom are now (1909) living.
His address is 75 Coming street, Charleston, South Carolina.
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WILLIAM CHEVALETTE WOLFE
W OLFE, WILLIAM CHEVALETTE, lawyer, writer and banker, was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the 2nd of February, 1871. He is the oldest son of William C. Wolfe, a well-known physician of that county, and Mrs. Julia C. (Rumph) Wolfe. His ancestors were German and Swiss. On the maternal side he is the great-grandson of General Jacob Rumph, of Revolutionary fame; and he is a grand nephew of General David Flavel Jamison, president of the secession convention. He also numbers among his ancestors the Rowes and Chevalettes.
His boyhood was spent upon his father's farm; and he became familiar in his boyhood with such tasks of farm work as fall to boys, early in his youth learning how to do a full day's work in the fields. The delicate constitution with which he began life, he believes has been strengthened by out-of-door work and exercise.
Three months at the country school near his home, seven months at Sheridan's high school, and less than a year at Wofford college, make up the record of his systematic schooling. Although he passed but one session at Wofford college, during that time he ranked first in a class many of whose members have since become distinguished in life. Mr. Wolfe has never ceased to regret his lack of the systematic educational training of which he was deprived in his boyhood and youth, but by diligent application and by the habit of systematic and careful reading, he has become familiar with the classics, and has read more widely in natural science than have most of the college-bred men of his time.
For some years after he came of age, he conducted a farm. In 1893 he was elected to the legislature, but after one term of experience there, he voluntarily withdrew from politics. During that term in the legislature he had drafted and secured the passage of the resolution which called the constitutional conven- tion that ordained the present state constitution of South Caro- lina. Mr. Wolfe was also most prominent in securing the passage of the public cotton weighers' act.
Men of Mark Puntos Washington
Yours truly fr & Wolf . .
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WILLIAM CHEVALETTE WOLFE
In his early years, too, he did reportorial work for several of the daily papers of the state for a time; and he became one of the editors of "The Cotton Plant," a well-known agricultural journal. Throughout his life he has frequently contributed articles to the press, generally writing over an assumed name which is not known even by his closest friends.
In 1894, Mr. Wolfe began the study of law. He read law at his country home, without assistance or instruction; but when he offered himself for examination he was at once admitted to practice by the supreme court. He had now found his calling. He comes of a race of lawyers. Judge Rumph, a near relative of his, had presided over the first court held in Orangeburg after the Revolution; and his grandfather, Colonel David Jamison Rumph, a colonel in the War between the States, was also a lawyer; while his grand uncle, General D. F. Jamison, and his uncle, Charles Wesley Wolfe, were lawyers of distinction.
Taking for his own motto, "The client without a fee is also welcome," Mr. Wolfe began work with the determination to create a place for himself, and to win success. Constantly in attendance at his office, a diligent reader, courteous to all clients and faithful to every trust imposed in him, he made his way to the position of a leading lawyer in his county. From year to year his practice has grown until it is now reported to be one of the largest in the state. He practices in all parts of South Caro- lina; and sometimes in adjoining states. He has defended over one hundred capital cases; and more than three-fourths of the clients whom he has defended have been acquitted. But he does not rest his reputation upon his work as a criminal lawyer alone. During his fourteen years at the bar, he has conducted hundreds of cases, criminal and civil; and with such success that he is seldom seen in the appellate courts. In addressing the court and jury Mr. Wolfe cultivates a quiet conversational tone and manner. His friends feel that he has no superior in the state in the exam- ination of witnesses. He is the senior member of the firms of Wolfe and Berry, of Orangeburg, and Wolfe and Connor, of St. George, Dorchester county.
His executive ability and his knowledge of business law have made him very prominent in the management of the business interests of his community. He is president of the Planters bank.
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WILLIAM CHEVALETTE WOLFE
He is a director in and a solicitor of five other banks in his county. He is president of five of the mercantile and manufacturing enter- prises of Orangeburg; and he is a director in as many more.
In 1893, Mr. Wolfe married Miss Alma Sawyer. They have had seven children, six of whom are living in 1908. Mr. Wolfe attributes much of his success in life to his wife. In religion he is a Methodist.
While he is too busily engaged in professional work to take much time for amusement, he is fond of out-of-door sports. He has large farming interests; and the oversight and direction of these farms give him the opportunity to enjoy out-of-door life.
His address is Orangeburg, South Carolina.
JOHN THOMAS WOODSIDE
W OODSIDE, JOHN THOMAS, president of the Wood- side Cotton mills of Greenville, South Carolina, was born at Woodville Postoffice, in Greenville county, fif- teen miles south of the city of Greenville, on the 9th of May, 1864.
His father, John Lawrence Woodside, M. D., a man warmly remembered for his generosity and his kindly helpfulness to others, was long a favorite physician in his part of the country, and was a surgeon in the Confederate army during the War between the States. Always a public-spirited man, Dr. Woodside labored for the upbuilding of his county, and held for many years the offices of county commissioner and magistrate.
Mr. Woodside's paternal ancestors came from County Antrim, Ireland, in 1798, settling first in Charleston, South Caro- lina, afterwards in Mississippi, but finally settling near Fairview church, in the lower part of Greenville county, South Carolina. His mother, who was Miss Ellen Pamelia Charles, was of Scotch descent, a woman of large heart and great intelligence, and an ideal mother to the large family of children (nine sons and four daughters), the subject of this sketch being the fifth child and third son.
During his infancy and boyhood John T. Woodside was of so frail constitution that it was thought he would not live to man- hood, but he early began to share with his older brothers the duties and cares of farm life-duties and cares which the war left to all the sons of the Southland. The circumstances of his early home life necessitated economy, but he, with his brothers, feel that they owe a great debt of gratitude to their parents for the duties prescribed and the principles inculcated by them in the years of childhood.
His opportunities for an education from books were limited to attendance at the country school for a few months of each year. At the age of nineteen he left home to assist in teaching a large village school, and while doing this he pursued a systematic course of study at night. His start in life consisted of a silver
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JOHN THOMAS WOODSIDE
dollar given him by his father on his leaving home at nineteen years of age, and nineteen years from that day he became presi- dent of the Woodside Cotton mills.
From his earliest recollections he was fond of the use of tools and greatly interested in the study of machinery. This interest probably led him to enter, in 1884, the employ of the Reedy River Manufacturing company, a cotton mill seven miles from Greenville. For seven years, with the exception of eight months spent in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was engaged as sales- man in a general merchandise store, and for awhile in the employ of a railroad, Mr. Woodside remained with this company; and these seven years of business training laid the foundation for that thorough knowledge gained in his later vocation, which so well qualified him to take the presidency of the large manufacturing enterprise which is now under his management.
In the spring of 1892, he, with two others, established a mer- cantile business at Pelzer, South Carolina. In the fall of 1893 he sold his mercantile interest and moved to Greenville city, and the following spring established a retail grocery business in which he remained until 1902.
The Woodside Cotton mills, of which he is president, were chartered September 12, 1902, and have been phenomenally suc- cessful. Their capacity has been increased from eleven thou- sand to forty-five thousand spindles, and additions are now being made which will give a total of eighty thousand spindles and two thousand looms. When these additions are completed the plant will represent an investment of more than a million and a half dollars, and it will be the second largest cotton mill in the South. Besides being president of the Woodside Cotton mills, Mr. Wood- side is treasurer of the Fountain Inn Manufacturing company, a cotton mill representing an investment of approximately half a million dollars; secretary of the Simpsonville Cotton mills, a quarter of a million dollar plant; and a director of the Farmers and Merchants bank of Greenville. Three of his younger broth- ers are presidents respectively of the two mills last named and the bank.
By political convictions and party association, Mr. Woodside is a Democrat, In his religious convictions and profession he is a Presbyterian. He became a member of the church early in life and
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JOHN THOMAS WOODSIDE
is a deacon in the First Presbyterian church of Greenville, having been elected to that office in 1894. Though not a zealous lodge man, he has at different times been a member of the Order of Red Men and of the Knights of Pythias. At fifteen years of age he became a member of the order of Good Templars and he has never tasted any intoxicant.
Mr. Woodside was married April 25, 1893, to Miss Lou A. Carpenter, whose father, Dr. F. G. Carpenter, was a physician of note in Anderson county, South Carolina, where he practiced for many years.
In reply to the question, "What is the sport, amusement or mode of relaxation which you enjoy and find most helpful ?" he writes that he enjoys overcoming difficulties more than anything else, and is inclined to the belief that a change of work is more beneficial than complete cessation from work.
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HENRY HOLMES WOODWARD
W OODWARD, HENRY HOLMES, of Conway, South Carolina, lawyer, since 1899 proprietor of the "Horry Herald," and from 1898 to 1903 a member of the legis- lature of South Carolina from Horry county, was born in that county on the 3d of June, 1874. His father, William Decatur Woodward, was a farmer, whose ancestors came from England and settled several generations ago in Virginia. His mother was Mrs. Pauline Elizabeth Woodward.
Passing his boyhood on his father's farm he knew excellent health, and he was taught early to work, becoming familiar with all kinds of labor which are practiced on a South Carolina farm. The circumstances of his family were such as to make it necessary for him to overcome serious difficulties in securing an education. For the most part he supported himself by his own labor, during the years of study at school and college. In 1898 he was grad- uated with the degree of LL. B., from South Carolina college. He had supported himself by teaching school during the years while he studied law.
Establishing himself at Conway, South Carolina, in July, 1898, he began the general practice of law. In 1899, he became the owner of the "Horry Herald," a successful county paper.
The people of his county chose him, in 1898, as their repre- sentative in the legislature of the state; and he continued to hold that office until 1903. As a member of the South Carolina legisla- ture he was especially interested in advocating local option with the dispensary system, and he was identified with many measures of public importance.
Mr. Woodward was married, on the 25th of June, 1901, to Miss Grace Dusenbury, daughter of U. A. Dusenbury of Todd- ville, South Carolina. They have had three children, all of whom are living in 1909.
Mr. Woodward is a Mason; a member of the Woodmen of the World; and a member of the Commercial Law League of America. He has been for some years commander of his camp of the Woodmen of the World.
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HENRY HOLMES WOODWARD
By political conviction he is a member of the Democratic party and he has never failed to support its principles and its candidates.
By religious conviction, Mr. Woodward is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Vol. IV-S. C .- 22.
MALCOLM GRAHAM WOODWORTH
W OODWORTH, MALCOLM GRAHAM, professor of English and history in the Presbyterian college of South Carolina, at Clinton, Laurens county, South Car- olina, was born in Burlington, Mineral county, West Virginia, on the 28th of February, 1870. His father, Reverend Malcolm W. Woodworth, was a minister of the Presbyterian church, a man of scholarly tastes and of ability as a preacher and pastor. His mother was Mrs. Susan E. (Streit) Woodworth. His family on his father's side is of English descent; while his mother's ances- tors (among them Reverend Christian Streit, one of the pioneers of the Lutheran church in Virginia) came from Holland.
His boyhood was passed in a village. His mother died while he was still a young boy. His father opened the way for him to excellent private schools and to a college course. Fitted for col- lege at private schools, he entered Hampden-Sidney college, Vir- ginia, and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1892. Four years later he completed the theological course of the Union Theological seminary of Virginia.
He began the work of the active pastorate by taking charge of the Presbyterian church at Hat Creek, Virginia, in 1896. It was his personal preference and his sense of duty which led him to choose the work of the ministry. But calls to the teacher's profession, and the friendly judgment of those whose duty it was to select teachers for the positions he has filled, have led him to give most of his time since graduation to teaching in Christian institutions rather than to preaching. He says, "The atmosphere of a minister's home and the example of an earnest, studious and kindly father led me to choose the profession which I have fol- lowed."
From 1902 to 1904 he was professor of English and history in the Presbyterian college of South Carolina, at Clinton, South Carolina. But from 1904 to 1906 he resided at Elkins, West Vir- ginia, having accepted a call to the professorship of English in the Davis and Elkins college of that place. Recalled to his
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MALCOLM GRAHAM WOODWORTH
former position in the college at Clinton, he has filled the chair of English and history in that institution since 1906.
Professor Woodworth has never married.
At college he was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity. He is a Knight of Pythias. By political convictions and preference he is allied with the Democratic party.
Many of his former students and a large circle of those whom he has made his friends look with warm interest to the future of Professor Woodworth. His work as a teacher leads them to hope that he will have a long and useful professional career.
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