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Biographies
Bamberg County - South
Carolina Genealogy Trails
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REV. PAUL K. RHOAD
Rev. Paul Kistler Rhoad, son of Mr. Nathaniel
Byrd Rhoad and Mrs. Selina Catherine (Smoak) Rhoad, was born
in Bamberg County, S. C., January 16, 1873. After his training
in the common schools he attended the Carlisle School at
Bamberg, S. C. He then attended Wofford College,
Spartanburg, S. C, for some time.
While in college, Mr.
Rhoad felt called to preach, but resisted for a period of ten
years. At last, the call became irresistible and he
yielded.
He was licensed to preach by the Charleston
District Conference, on June 8, 1908. He was received into the
South Carolina Conference on trial, in December, 1909. He was
ordained Deacon by Bishop John C. Kilgo, at Bennettsville, S.
C, December 3, 1911, and was ordained Elder by Bishop A. W.
Wilson, at Rock Hill, S. C, November 30, 1913.
He has
served the following charges: Hendersonville, 1909;
Antreville, 1910-13; Turbeville, 1914.. On December 24, 1903,
Mr. Rhoad was happily married to Miss Marie Folk, of Bamberg
County, S. C. They have three children-Kistler Edward, Harriet
Selina and Miriam Elizabeth. Mr. Rhoad is named for Rev. Paul
F. Kistler, one of the real heroes of South Carolina
Methodism, and his friends expect to see him honor the name he
bears. He has entered hopefully and zealously upon his
ministerial career.
[Source: Twentieth Century
Sketches of the South Carolina Conference, M. E. Church, South
By Watson Boone Duncan] |
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REV. GEORGE TILLMAN RHOAD
 Rev. George Tillman Rhoad, son of
Mr. Daniel Byrd Rhoad and Mrs. Johnnie Ella Durr Rhoad, was
born at Wassamasaw, in Bamberg County, S. C, July 10, 1883. He
attended the public schools of the country until he was
fifteen years old, when he entered the Carlisle School at
Bamberg, S. C, and remained there until he was compelled to
return home on account of sickness. This was in March before
his graduation in June. He then spent one year in the
Theological Department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
Tenn. In his boyhood days Mr. Rhoad felt an impression that he
would be called to preach the Gospel. And although he went
astray and became an ungodly young man, he never got away from
this impression. At the age of twenty-five years, the call was
renewed, with such emphasis that ho could no longer
resist. He was licensed to preach by the Licensing
Committee of the Charleston District, September 30,
1908. It was after being licensed that he went to
Vandorbilt. He was received into the South Carolina Conference
on trial, at Abbeville, S. C, December, 1909. Bishop A. W.
Wilson presiding. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop J. C.
Kilgo, at Bennettsville, S. C, December 3, 1911, and was
ordained Elder by Bishop A. W. Wilson, at Hock Hill, S. C,
November 30, 1913. He has served the following charges:
Gaffney Circuit, 1910; East Lancaster, 1911-12; Timmnonsville
Circuit, 1013-14. He bad two years' experience in teaching in
the public schools. Mr. Rhoad thoroughly prepares his
sermons and delivers them with much effect upon the
hearers. He preaches without notes. On December 5,
1910, he was happily married to Miss Mary Ellen LeMaster. They
have two children-Margaret Elizabeth and Daniel LeMaster. Mr.
Rhoad has entered most promisingly upon his work as an
itinerant and his friends are expecting a career of great
success.
[Source: Twentieth Century Sketches of the South
Carolina Conference, M. E. Church, South By Watson Boone
Duncan]
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REV FRANCIS ELDON DIBBLE
Within recent years the South Carolina Conference has
received into its membership a great many young men, thoroughly
equipped intellectually and thoroughly consecrated spiritually, who
have entered hopefully upon their great work and give every promise
of most successful careers. To this class belongs the subject of
this sketch, Rev. Francis Eldon Dibble. He is the son of Judge
Andrew C. Dibble and Mrs. Mary J. (Clark) Dibble. He was born at
Bamberg, South Carolina, November 23, 1875. His preparatory
education was obtained at the Sheridan Classical Institute,
Orangeburg, S. C, and the Charleston High School. After this
splendid preparation he entered Wofford College from which
institution he graduated in the class of 1895. Trained in a home
with such an atmosphere as that in which he was reared, it was
perfectly natural that his life should be under the influence of
religious ideals. It is not at all surprising that he was called to
preach. Mr. Dibble was licensed to preach at Greenville, S. C,
October 19, 1907, and was admitted on trial at the session of the
Conference held at Gaffney, S. C, December, 1907, Bishop Henry C.
Morrison presiding. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop A. W. Wilson,
at Abbeville, December, 1909, and was ordained Elder by Bishop J. C.
Kilgo, at Bennettsville, December, 1911. He has served the following
charges: Cokesbury Circuit, 1908-10; Ninety-Six Circuit, 1911-14.
Mr. Dibble has had several years' experience as teacher. He taught
in Laurens County three years, in the Carlisle School at Bamberg for
three years, in Columbia College one year, and as superintendent of
the Blacksburg schools for two years. On July 7, 1902, he was
happily married to Miss Nevia B. Patton, of Gray Court, South
Carolina, who is indeed a help-mate for him in his great work. Mr.
Dibble is diligent and systematic in all his work and is very
popular as a pastor.
[Source: Twentieth Century Sketches of the
South Carolina Conference, M. E. Church, South By Watson Boone
Duncan]
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REV. Elzie
Myers
Rev. Elzie Myers is of German and English
descent. His father, Mr. William Myers, was of German descent,
while his mother, Mrs. Martha Myers, was English.  He was born on his father's farm, in what
is now Bamberg County, S. C, on February 16, 1887. He attended
the common schools of the country until he was fifteen years
old. Having felt called to preach the Gospel, he determined to
obtain an education. He attended the Carlisle School in
Bamberg, S. C, for two years, then part of a year at Wofford
College, Spartanburg, S. C. From there he went to Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, Tenn., for one year. When a little boy,
Mr. Myers would use a chair for a pulpit, and preach to his
companions. He joined the Church at the age of eleven years,
but did not fully realize a thorough conversion until he was
sixteen years old. At the age of fourteen, however, he felt
the Divine call to preach. He was licensed to preach at
Ehrhardt, in 1906, and was admitted into the South Carolina
Conference on trial, at the session held in Bethel Church,
Charleston, December, 1910, Bidhop E. R. Hendrix presiding;
Rev. George K. Way joining at the same time. He was ordained
Deacon by Bishop John C. Kilgo, at the session of the
Conference hold in Anderson, S. C, December, 1912. He has
served the following charges: Supply, Cordesville Mission,
1906; supply, Manchester Mill, 1907; supply, Mt. Pleasant,
1908; supply, York Circuit, June to December, 1910; Buffalo
and Green Street, 1911; Enoree, 1912; Clifton, 1913; Central,
1914. On February 22, 1910, Mr. Myers was married to Miss
Annie Thomas, of Yorkville, S. C. They have one child-Martha
Calla, born November 7, 1911.
[Source: Twentieth
Century Sketches of the South Carolina Conference, M. E.
Church, South By Watson Boone
Duncan] |
George Alexander
Jennings
The present county treasurer of Bamberg
County, is an honored resident of that locality and a man who for
his advancement in the world has depended almost entirely upon the
virtues of hard work and an honest and straightforward
character.
Mr. Jennings was born in Orangeburg County,
January 22, 1854. Three months after his birth his father, George
Jennings, was accidentally killed. George Jennings was a farmer and
a son of John Jennings, a native of Orangeburg County. This branch
of the Jennings family was established in South Carolina, coming
from England, about 1737. The mother of George Alexander Jennings
was Harriet L. Moody, who was born in Orangeburg County, a daughter
of John Moody.
She was the mother of five children, George
Alexander being the youngest.
The latter lived on a farm in
Bamberg County from the age of thirteen and had a common school
education, supplemented by advanced training in a military academy
at Charlotte, North Carolina, and at Porter Military Academy at
Charleston. After completing his education he held positions as
bookkeeper for such prominent men as Col. John F. Folk, Rice Coplin,
H. C. Folk and General Bamberg. He was with General Bamberg at the
time of the latter's death. After that for some years Mr. Jennings
represented the Simmons Hardware Company until he was elected county
treasurer of Bamberg County in 1912. He has had no opposition for
that office and has given a faithful and efficient administration of
its affairs. Mr. Jennings has been active politically and for
several terms was secretary of the County Democratic Club. He was a
member of the city council for two terms. He is member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South, and fraternally is affiliated with
the Knights of Pythias.
November 22, 1876, Mr. Jennings
married Miss Julia Slater, a native of Bamberg County, and daughter
of John D. Slater. The Slaters are an old South Carolina family of
Revolutionary stock and English descent. Mrs. Jennings is a niece of
Gen. F. M. Bamberg, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work.
Mrs. Bamberg is the elder sister of Mr. G. A. Jennings. Mrs.
Jennings is an aunt of the Slater brothers of Orangeburg. Mr. and
Mrs. Jennings have two children: Allie Aleen, wife of A. M. Denbow,
of Bamberg, president of the Peoples Bank; and John S., of St.
George, South Carolina.
[History of South Carolina, Volume 5,
Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed
by AFOFG]
William Elliott
Spann
Those who note the notable figures in Bamberg
County agriculture have no hesitation in pronouncing William Elliott
Spann one of the most enterprising factors and one of the ablest
cotton growers in the state. It is said that Mr. Spann had only
seventy-five cents to his name when he came to Bamberg County, and
he has used his opportunities and abilities so wisely as to
accumulate a large plantation and has been one of the premier cotton
growers of the county for a number of years.
He was born near
Leesville in Lexington County, South Carolina, November 29, 1859.
His grandfather was Henry Spann, a native of South Carolina, and one
of the early circuit rider Methodist preachers of the state. His
father was Philip C. Spann, who served as a Confederate soldier
during the war and otherwise spent his time as a farmer. He married
Jane Steadman, of Lexington County.
William Elliott Spann is
the oldest of a family of nine children, all of whom are still
living. He grew up on a farm and was twenty-two years of age when he
came to that portion of old Barnwell County now Bamberg County. He
soon distinguished himself by his ability to make a farm produce
maximum crops of cotton and grain, and has greatly extended his
possessions until he now has about 1,200 acres, mostly all of which
is devoted to cotton, corn and tobacco. In several different years
he has gathered 350 bales of cotton from 350 acres of land. Mr.
Spann is a leader in agriculture, has considerable interests in
local banks, and is known to have invested a large sum in Liberty
bonds.
He married Miss Minnie Hutto, now deceased, and she
was the mother of three children, Elliott I.eland, Eva May and
Blanche. Mrs. Spann came from one of the old South Carolina
families.
The Spanns are an old South Carolina family and
besides his father, the subject had three uncles in the Confederate
army, one of whom lost his life in one of the engagements. The
family is of old Revolutionary stock and of English descent. At an
early age William E. Spann had to start in to make his own way, as
the war had destroyed the wealth of the Spann family. He is a member
of the Knights of Pythias fraternity.
[History of South Carolina,
Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 –
Transcribed by AFOFG]
Albert Murray Denbow
While he has lived in the state only a comparatively
few years, Albert Murray Denbow is widely known as a financier and
as an executive officer in half a dozen banks and business
corporations in the southern part of the state.
Mr. Denbow,
whose home is at Bamberg, where he is president of the Peoples Bank,
was born in Canandaigua, New York, April 12, 1884, third among the
five children of Alfred and Cora (Howard) Denbow. The parents are
both natives of England and immigrated (sic) from Devonshire in
1870, first settling at Canandaigua, New York. Alfred Denbow spent
his active career as a banker. He was active in New York politics,
and was prominent in the financial world. He died in
1890.
Albert Murray Denbow was educated in New York State,
and at the close of his schooling located in Richmond, Virginia. He
was engaged in the banking business in Richmond with John L.
Williams & Sons, bankers. In 1908 he located at Aiken, South
Carolina, where he became assistant cashier of the First National
Bank. His home has been at Bamberg since 1912. He served
successively as cashier, vice president and since 1916 as president
of the Peoples Bank at Bamberg. He is also president of the
Commercial Bank of Blackville, which he organized in 1917; is
organizer of the First National Bank of Barnwell, which was
established in 1917, and is organizer and vice president of the
Citizens Bank of Aiken. He organized and is active head of the
Denbow Tobacco Warehouse of Bamberg, and was one of the organizers
and is a director of the Bankers National Life Insurance Company of
Orangeburg.
Mr. Denbow is prominent in Masonry, being
affiliated with Orangeburg Commandery of the Knights Templar and a
member of the Scottish Rite Consistory of Charleston. He is a member
of Omar Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, South
Carolina. He is also an Odd Fellow and is district deputy of the
Third District, Knights of Pythias of South Carolina. In 1916 Mr.
Denbow married Mrs. Allie Jennings O'Hern, daughter of George A. and
Julia Jennings, of Bamberg. Mrs. Denbow is a member of one of the
oldest South Carolina families, which contributed much to the
history of the state in the past. Several members of her family took
part in the Confederate struggle. She is also a niece of the late
Gen. Francis Marion Bamberg.
[History of South Carolina, Volume
5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 –
Transcribed by AFOFG]
Francis
Fisk Johnson
Francis Fisk Johnson found his real
vocation when a young man, and though he allowed his energies to be
diverted by a professional career for a few years, he then returned
permanently to the business of planting and agriculture, in which he
is one of the leading exponents in Bamberg County.
Mr.
Johnson was born in Orangeburg County, not far from the scene of his
present activities, on December 28, 1860. He is a member of a family
that has been in South Carolina from Revolutionary times. Both his
father, Alexander Hamilton Johnson, and his grandfather, Dr. W. S.
Johnson, were successful physicians and surgeons and practiced for
many years in the old Barnwell District. Dr. Alexander Hamilton
Johnson married Addie Powers Hays, who was born in the present
Bamberg County section of Barnwell County, her father being a native
of Ireland.
Francis Fisk Johnson was the third in a family of
seven children, and was educated in the private and public schools
of Bamberg. He began farming when a boy, but later studied dentistry
and practiced that profession about eight years. Since then he has
given his entire attention to farming. He has about 1,000 acres,
most of it under cultivation. He is one of the largest cotton
growers in Bamberg County. Mr. Johnson is affiliated with the
Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias.
[History of South
Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner
Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
John Elbert
Steadman
Iis a young lawyer of Denmark, a community in
which he has spent practically all his life, and in which he is
highly esteemed as a citizen.
He was born there August 9,
1891. The Steadmans came to South Carolina during the Revolutionary
war. His grandfather was a native of Lexington County, and he took
part in the War Between the States. His father is John E. Steadman,
who was born in Lexington County and was a merchant and died in his
seventy-seventh year. He was a second lieutenant in the War Between
the States, and was wounded. The mother, Sarah Merritt, was born in
Lexington County and is still living, a resident of Denmark. Her
parents were from Alabama.
John Elbert Steadman was the sixth
child and third son in a family of eight children, all living. He
has three brothers in Denmark. Boyce, and Elmore were in the World
War, Elmore a finance officer at El Paso, Texas, and Boyce was in
the quartermaster's department at Bordeaux. Gordon is with the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. He was well educated, spending one
year in Clemson College and taking the law course in the University
of South Carolina, where he graduated in 1915. He was admitted to
the bar in June of the same year, and at once opened his office at
Denmark, specializing in commercial law. In addition to his growing
and substantial law practice he represents some of the leading fire
insurance companies, and is also owner of a farm in Bamberg County.
In 1919 he married Miss Dessie Hungerpiller, a daughter of
J. E. Hungerpiller, of Elloree, South Carolina. They are planters
and South Carolinians.
[History of South Carolina, Volume 5,
Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed
by AFOFG]
Leroy
Wilson
Leroy Wilson has been a resident of Allendale
nearly all his life, and for over twenty years has been an effective
and public spirited factor in the advancement and upbuilding of that
city not only as a commercial center but as the seat of justice of
the recently organized Allendale County. Mr. Wilson was one of the
leaders of the new county movement.
Mr. Wilson, who is
president of the Citizens Bank of Allendale, was born in Bamberg
County, South Carolina, in 1876, son of Capt. LeRoy and Mary E.
(Brabham) Wilson. Both the Wilson and Brabham families are of Scotch
ancestry, and the Brabhams have long held a high place in the
history and social affairs of Bamberg County. Capt. LeRoy Wilson was
a native of Barnwell, now Allendale County, and lived in Allendale
from 1878. He was a planter and merchant, conducted a farm in the
neighborhood of Allendale and was a noncommissioned officer in the
Confederate army. The Wilsons are of an old South Carolina family,
antedating the Revolutionary period and coming from England. Mr.
Wilson took part in the Red Shirt brigade during the reconstruction
period. He was active in Masonry during his younger days, and died
at the age of eighty-four in February, 1911.
The family moved
to Allendale in 1878, and here LeRoy Wilson was reared and educated.
As a youth he chose commercial pursuits, and the accrued wisdom and
experience of passing years has given him a dominating position in
the community. The Citizens Bank was organized in 1909. Under the
presidency and active management of Mr. Wilson this is a strong
financial institution, and has furthered in many ways the expansion
of his home community. The bank has a capital stock of $30,000,
surplus and undivided profits of about $13,000, and deposits
aggregating about $350,000.
In November, 1919, Mr. Wilson
organized the Allendale Grocery Company, with capital of $50,000,
engaged in the wholesale grocery business. This institution has
already served to emphasize Allendale's position as the center of an
important and flourishing trade territory. Mr. Wilson is president
of the company. The new County of Allendale, in the creation of
which Mr. Wilson had a creditable part, comprises territory
originally in Bamberg and Barnwell counties. Mr. Wilson was also a
leader in the various patriotic movements in his locality during the
World War.
He married Miss Ge Delle Brabham, of Bamberg
County, daughter of H. J. Brabham, of Bamberg. They have two
children, Mary Adele and LeRoy, Jr.
[History of South Carolina,
Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 –
Transcribed by AFOFG]
Hon. James Benjamin
Black
While he has had half a century in which to do
the work of his life, few men employed their years and talents and
opportunities with better distinction than Dr. James Benjamin Black
of Bamberg. Until recent years he was engaged in the practice of
medicine.
He is one of the prominent physicians of South
Carolina. Many business affairs have also presented themselves to
his attention, and for a quarter of a century he has been a potent
figure in the politics of the southern part of the state. The state
as a whole knows him through his long service in both the House and
Senate, where his influence has been exerted in helpful ways in
behalf of an enlightened program of constructive
legislation.
Doctor Black was born in Colleton County July
19, 1849. His father, Robert Black, who was of English and Irish
descent, served as captain in the State Troops during the war
between the states, and while a farmer and planter he also became
prominent in county politics, serving as sheriff for twenty years
and also as county treasurer. Robert Black married Elizabeth
Caldwell, who was born in Colleton County, while her father came
from Ireland.
James Benjamin Black though reared in the
impoverished period of the war and reconstruction times, acquired a
liberal education, attending the common and high schools of his
native county, took one course of lectures in the South Carolina
Medical College and finished his medical education in the University
of Maryland at Baltimore. In 1872 he began practice in Colleton
County, and after seven years moved to Bamberg, where he continued
to employ his strength in meeting the heavy demands made upon his
professional talents until about five years ago, when he retired
except for office and consultation work. In the meantime many other
interests have developed. For forty years he has conducted a drug
store on one spot in Bamberg. Farming on a modest scale has also
been one of his interests, and for a quarter of a century he was
associated with his brother Thomas Black in the livestock
business.
On the death of Thomas Black in October, 1918, Dr.
Black's son C. E. Black took the active management of this business.
Doctor Black also has stock in the Bamberg Banking Company, in the
Enterprise Bank, recently changed to the First National Bank of
Bamberg, is a former president of the Bamberg Bank and now a
director in the two institutions.
Doctor Black has given an
almost continuous service in the Legislature for a quarter of a
century. He was in the House eight years and has been in the Senate
for sixteen years. Some of the causes with which his work in the
Legislature has been especially identified are prohibition, good
roads, education and public health. He is chairman of the Senate
committee on medical affairs, and for several years has been one of
the trustees and vice president of the Medical College of the State
of South Carolina. His home locality has long considered him the
chosen leader in the Democratic Party, and he has served as chairman
of the Central Committee and chairman of the Bamberg Democratic
Club. He is also a former mayor, of Bamberg. Fraternally Doctor
Black is a past master of Lodge No. 38. Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, is a past district deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge, a
York Rite Mason and Shriner. He is also a past chancellor of the
Knights of Pythias and a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and Woodmen of the World. Doctor Black is a deacon in his
home Baptist Church and for over thirtv years has been a teacher in
the Sunday school. He served as moderator of the Barnwell Baptist
Association for several years and as president of the County Sunday
School Convention also for a number of years. When he was a young
man and doing his first work as a physician in Colleton County .he
received a commission from Governor Wade Hampton as captain of a
local cavalry company.
While his purposes and ideals in life
have been expressed in a large degree of individual service and
achievement, Doctor Black has every reason to be proud of the family
of children who have grown up in his home. He married in Barnwell,
now Bamberg County, August 1, 1872, Miss Hattie Ayer, a daughter of
Charles F. Ayer. Her father was a grand-nephew of General Ayer, a
distinguished character in the military affairs of the early state.
Ten children were born to Doctor and Mrs. Black, seven of whom are
still living: Mary Elizabeth, now deceased, was the wife of Col. F.
N. K. Bailey, who conducts the well known military school at
Greenwood, South Carolina; J. Benjamin, who died in infancy; Miles
Jackson, a traveling salesman; Minnie Quincy, wife of Fred W. Free,
of Bamberg; Doctor Robert, a practicing physic1an at Bamberg; Doctor
Thomas, a dentist at Bamberg; Dr. Charles F., who also qualified as
a physician and practiced until his death at Bamberg; Clarence
Ervin, an attorney by profession, but, as mentioned above, is now in
charge of his father's stock business; Miss Ethel, a teacher at
Estill, South Carolina; and Miss Urma, a music teacher at Bamberg.
[History of South Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden
and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
Lee A. Klauber
Members of the
Klauber family have been prominent in mercantile and banking circles
in the southern part of the state for over forty years. His life and
services well entitled Lee A. Klauber to the rich esteem and
veneration in which his name is held and his memory
cherished.
He was the founder of the family in South
Carolina. Born in Bohemia, he located at St. George in Dorchester
County in 1877. His initiative and public spirit proved a valuable
addition to the resources of that community. He was a merchant and
banker, and found many opportunities to express his generous ideals
of service to his community and his fellow men. He was president of
the St. George Cotton Seed Oil Manufacturing Company, and personally
controlled about 2,000 acres of land at St. George, some of it in
timber and the rest in cotton and corn. For a number of years he
operated a large sawmill a mile and a half from St. George and cut
great quantities of lumber for the South Carolina and Georgia
Railroad.
Lee A. Klauber was a member of the Masonic lodge
and a member of the Jewish Synagogue at Orange, New Jersey, where he
had a brother living. A sister, Mrs. Louisa Plodkin, is now living
at Atlanta, Georgia. Lee A. Klauber died September 1, 1919. His
character and his generosity made him greatly beloved by all classes
of people, both white and black. Many times he was known to have
befriended, in a way that amounted to a studious and customary
practice, poor women and their families. It is said that on the day
of his death probably 500 negroes, stricken with grief at their
loss, came to his home.
Lee A. Klauber married Sarah Alice
Harbeson, member of an old South Carolina family of English and
Scotch-Irish ancestry. She was an active member of the Methodist
Church. Her father, William I. Harbeson, of St. George, served four
years as a member of the Confederate cavalry during the war, part of
the time under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. He was also prominent in his
section during the reconstruction period and served as a member of
the "red shirt" brigade.
Two sons of the late Lee A. Klauber
are successful South Carolina bankers. One, Robert Lee Klauber, was
born at St. George October 19, 1884. He was educated in the local
public schools, attended The Citadel two years, and also spent two
years, 1901-02, in South Carolina Military Academy. He finished his
education in Sullivan, Creighton & Smith's Business College,
Georgia, in 1903, and at once returned to St. George and joined his
father in the mercantile business. He is now president of the L. A.
Klauber Company, a concern whose assets are rated at over $125,000,
and is also president of the Bank of St. George, the oldest bank in
the community. He is a director in the Farmers Bank & Trust
Company of St. Matthews, is connected with the Liberty Bank of
Charleston, and operates a thirty horse farm near St.
George.
At St. George Robert L. Klauber married Emily A.
Howell. Her father, John J. Howell, was for a number of years editor
of the Dorchester Democrat and later served as county superintendent
of education. Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Klauber have two children,
Katherine and Vivian. Mr. Klauber is a Mason, and while never active
politically served a term as a member of the Town Council. Fishing
and hunting are his favorite recreations and he is a great lover and
a judge of dogs and for several years has maintained a fine
kennel.
William Adolph Klauber, the other son, who for the
past eighteen years has been a banker and merchant at Bamberg, was
born at St. George February 17. 1882. He was liberally educated,
attending the common schools and the St. George High School, and
graduated from South Carolina's famous military school The Citadel
with the class of 1902. Soon after completing his education he came
to Bamberg and engaged in merchandising, and is still active head of
a large business in that line. On January 28, 1920, he bought the
interests of the former president of the Enterprise Bank of Bamberg,
and at once reorganized, taking in a number of prominent men of
Bamberg as his associates and securing a new charter under the name
of the First National Bank of Bamberg. The change in name and
management became effective May 7, 1920. The officers of the bank
are: W. A. Klauber, president; Dr. Robert Black, vice president; W.
D. Coleman, cashier; while the directors are Aaron Rice, Dr. George
F. Hair, C. J. S. Brooker, Dr. Robert Black, G. A. Ducker, Dr. F. B.
McCracken, W. D. Coleman. D. C. Crum, J. D. Copeland, W. E. Free,
Dr. J. B. Black and W. A. Klauber - all men of the highest standing
in that community.
Mr. Klauber is also a director in the Bank
of St. George and is vice president of the Citizens Building and
Loan Association and a director in the Bamberg Realty
Company.
In recent years he has also taken much part in local
and state politics, and was one of the leading supporters of
Governor Manning's aspirations for the gubernatorial office. He
served four years on the staff of the governor as lieutenant
colonel. Fraternally he is affiliated with Ornan Lodge No. 38, Free
and Accepted Masons.
February 22, 1903, Mr. Klauber married
at St. George Murchy Judy, a native of that community. Her father is
Dr. Perry M. Judy, of St. George, of an old colonial family of
English and Irish descent. Her grandfather was a surgeon and
lieutenant colonel in the Confederate army. Mr. and Mrs. Klauber
have three children, Louis A., Perry McSwain and William A.,
Jr.
[History of South Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden
and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
James Hayes Roberts, M. D.
The
veteran physician and surgeon of Ehrhardt is Dr. James H. Roberts,
who began practice there nearly thirty years ago. He has had much to
do with the professional, business and civic life of this
community.
Doctor Roberts was born at Allendale in old
Barnwell County March 2, 1863. His grandfather, Richard Roberts,
according to the best information obtainable, was a native of
France. The father, Dr. Richard Creech Roberts, was a native of
Barnwell County, was reared and educated there, and for fifty years
practiced dentistry.
He served as a lieutenant of cavalry in the
Confederate army and was at one time a member of the Legislature and
in other ways prominent in local affairs. He was a major in the
State Militia. He died at the age of sixty-nine.
His wife was
Sarah Emily Dunn, of Barnwell County. Her father was born in Ireland
and came to Barnwell County when a young man and was a contractor
and built many of the early houses in that county.
Dr. James
Hayes Roberts was the second in a family of six children, five of
whom reached mature years and two are still living, the other being
Boyce H.
Doctor Roberts was liberally educated, attending the
Porter Military Academy and The Citadel at Charleston, and
graduating from the South Carolina Medical College on March 4, 1887.
For three years he practiced in his native town of Allendale, and in
1890 located at Ehrhardt. During 1906-07 he was in practice at Great
Falls, but then returned to Ehrhardt. He is a member of the Bamberg
County Medical Society, the State Medical Association, is vice
president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Ehrhardt, and is
affiliated with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the
Woodmen of the World.
February 25, 1891, Doctor Roberts
married Lottie O. Barber. She died July 18, 1895, the mother of two
children: Sarah Elizabeth, wife of B. D. Carter, a Bamberg attorney,
and Lottie, who died at the age of nine months. October 9, 1901,
Doctor Roberts married Laura Dunbar, widow of James Dunbar. They
have had seven children: James Heyward, Richard C, Furman,
Catherine, Lucile, deceased, Louise and Carlisle.
[History of
South Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner
Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
George Felder Hair
The Hairs are an old and
prominent family of the old Barnwell district. While farming has
always been a dominant interest in the family, the present
generation is numerously represented in the professions, several of
the sons having been physicians or dentists, including Dr. George
Felder Hair, who for twenty years has been a resident of Bamberg and
is a former president of the State Dental Society.
The remote
ancestry of the Hairs is German, though members of the family have
lived in the South since colonial times. The late Judson E. Hair was
born in Barnwell County June 30, 1847, and died June 16, 1919. He
was a student in the University of Georgia at Athens when the War
Between the States broke out, and he and the other members of his
class volunteered and went to Charleston to enter the Confederate
service. He was with Lee's army for eleven months, and was a
musician in the hand. His mature years were spent as a farmer and
merchant in and around Blackville. He was one of the prominent
Baptist laymen, being one of the founders and leaders of the church
at Blackville and a deacon. Judson E. Hair married Maggie Capres
Felder, who was born near Branchville, South Carolina, in 1850, and
is still living at Blackville. When she was a small girl her father
died as a result of hardship and exposure endured while a
Confederate soldier. The family of Judson E. Hair and wife comprised
twelve children, seven of whom are living: Lorena Blanch, who was
married to Thomas J. Martin, of Anderson, in 1886; Dr. George F.;
Arthur B., a hardware merchant and farmer at Blackville; John
Pinckney, deceased; Joseph Roger, deceased; Dr. Isaac Murray Hair, a
dentist at Spartanburg; Dr. Harry B., also a dentist practicing at
Columbia; Mary E., deceased; Mrs. D. D. Walters, of Columbia; Mrs.
Maggie E. Still and Mrs. Abigail Sanders, of Blackville; and Dr.
Judson E., deceased. Of the younger generation some mention should
be made of the two sons of Mrs. Lorena Blanch Martin, of Anderson.
These sons, Haskell Hair and Rhett Felder Martin, are both married,
but when the war came on and they were called in the draft they
claimed no exemption. The older went overseas as a lieutenant, and
saw much of the front line service with the Expeditionary Forces. He
was at Chateau Thierry and other historic points on the French
front. He is now practicing as an architect at Greenville. The
other, Rhett Felder Martin, who is in the coal and wood business at
Anderson, was on a transport bound for France when the armistice was
signed, and the boat was then turned about and landed him in
America. Earl Walters, a son of Mrs. D. D. Walters, of Columbia, was
a volunteer at the age of eighteen in the World war and was overseas
with the first forces sent to France and remained throughout the
war. He was a sergeant and participated in all the important
engagements of the Expeditionary Forces. Like all the others he had
many narrow escapes from death, but he escaped without a
mark.
George Felder Hair, who was born at Blackville October
31, 1870, was liberally educated, attending the common and high
schools of his native town, graduated in a business course at
Newark, New Jersey, in 1888, and during the following year was
employed by the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company at Staten
Island, New York. This experience aroused his interest in the dental
profession and he entered the oldest dental college in the world,
the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, where he was graduated with
the class of 1892. Doctor Hair practiced at Anderson for ten years,
and since 1901 has been busy in his profession at Bamberg. He has
filled all the important offices in the State Dental Society,
including the office of president, and is now a member of the State
Board of Dental Examiners. He is also affiliated with the National
Dental Society. Doctor Hair is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner,
also a member of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, Woodmen of the World and Improved Order of Red Men. He has
never been active in politics, and is a leader in the Baptist Church
at Bamberg, being a deacon and a teacher in its Sunday school. On
May 5, 1892, he married Miss Leila E. Boylston, of Blackville. Her
father is a veteran ex-Confederate soldier, George W. Boylston, for
many years a prominent citizen of Blackville. Doctor and Mrs. Hair
have two children. Blanche, the daughter, is the wife of J. J. Cudd,
a financier and farmer at Spartanburg. The son, P. Belton Hair,
received his A. B. degree from Furman University at Greenville, and
while there served as a volunteer for three months in the Students
Army Corps until the signing of the armistice. He is now in his
third year of the Atlanta Dental College of Georgia, preparing for
the profession in which his father and some of his uncles have done
such distinguished work.
[History of South Carolina, Volume 5,
Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed
by AFOFG]
William Elijah
Free
Began the practice of law at Bamberg in 1908, and
has a substantial general practice and also a good business in real
estate at Bamberg.
He was born in Bamberg County July 31,
1876. His people have lived in that section of the old Barnwell
District, now Bamberg County for several generations. His
grandfather, Jacob E. Free, was a native of Barnwell County, served
as a Confederate soldier, and before the war was a planter and slave
holder. His wife. Elizabeth (Dowling) Free, was a daughter of
William B. Dowling, who was the son of Elijah Dowling, the
grandfather of Ellen E. (Dowling) Cox so that Mr. W. E. Free's
greatgreat-grandfather on.both his father's and mother's side was
both one and the same man. Both the Free and the Dowling branches of
the family are of Revolutionary stock, the former being of Irish
descent and the latter of Scotch descent. A brother of Elijah
Dowling settled in the pre-Revolutionary. period in what is now
Darlington County. Elijah Dowling was a lieutenant in the
Continental army.
The late Charles Benjamin Free, father of
the Bamberg lawyer, was owner of extensive planting interests,
employing many people. He was born July 6, 1852, and died December
24. 1914. He was the first clerk of court of Bamberg County,
beginning his official duties in 1897 and holding the office
uninterruptedly until his death. He never had opposition in election
after the first time. His wife was Sallie Dowling, a native of
Barnwell County, and a daughter of A. J. and Ellen E. (Dowling) Cox.
She was born in 1856 and died in 1896, the mother of four sons and
two daughters. Charles B. Free was three times married. His second
wife was Amanda R. Stephens, who became the mother of two children,
while his third marriage was to Lizzie M. Jenkins. To the third
union were born two daughters. Of these ten children in all nine
readied mature years and are still living.
William Elijah
Free was educated in the high school at Bamberg, attended Furman
University at Greenville for three years and studied law in the
office of the late John R. Bellinger. He was admitted to the bar in
January, 1908, and since then has been busily engaged at Bamberg.
For seven years he was a member of the law firm of Mayfield &
Free, since which time he has practiced alone. He also operates in
real estate and loans and is a stockholder, director and counsel for
the First National Bank of Bamberg, and a stockholder in the Bamberg
Banking Company.
June 17, 1909, he married Miss Birdie Gill,
daughter of W. T. and Senie (Brown) Gill of Bamberg, one of the old
and original South Carolina families. He has two sons, William E.,
Jr., born July 17, 1911, and Joseph D., born July 13, 1915. Mr. Free
is a trustee and treasurer of the Baptist Church, and a member of
the Executive Board of the Barnwell Baptist Association.
[History
of South Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry
Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
J. Arthur
Wiggins
Active vice president and manager of the Bank
of Denmark, first identified himself with that community of Bamberg
County in the capacity of an educator. For a number of years he was
head of the Denmark schools, finally resigning to take up
banking.
He was born at Holly Hill, South Carolina, July 26,
1871. He is of English ancestry, the family coming to America in the
1600's and taking part in the Revolution. His grandfather, James
Wiggins, was a farmer, while his father, James B. Wiggins, is a
successful physician and surgeon. Dr. J. B. Wiggins was a surgeon in
the Confederate army, taking an active part throughout the struggle,
and was prominently identified with the famous "red shirt" brigade
during the period of reconstruction. He was active in the political
world, in which he exercised a wide influence. He was called upon
several times to serve in public office and filled the offices of
county treasurer and county auditor. In addition to his professional
and political duties he owned and operated about 4,000 acres in what
is now Orangeburg County, cultivating what is known as a twenty-plow
farm. He was prominent in the Methodist Church at Holly Hill, in
which he was a steward. He died in 1910. Doctor Wiggins married Mary
C. Brownlee, a native of Holly Hill. Both the Brownlee and Wiggins
families were early settled in South Carolina.
J. Arthur Wiggins
was reared and educated in his home community and received his A. B.
degree in 1895 from Wofford College at Spartanburg. He spent ten
years as superintendent of the high school at Denmark, and in 1906
accepted the post of cashier in the Bank of Denmark, and since 1915
has been its active vice president and manager. He exercises a wide
influence in financial matters of the district. The bank is one of
the strong ones of Bamberg County, and has a capital of $50,000, and
belongs to the State and National Banking Associations. D. N. Cox is
president.
Mr. Wiggins takes an active part in the work of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, being a steward and trustee.
He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias
and the Woodmen of the World.
In 1896 he married Miss Mattie
Connor, a native of Holly Hill and a daughter of Fred Connor, a
farmer of Holly Hill. The Connors are an old South Carolina family
of Revolutionary stock. Fred Connor was a soldier in the Confederate
army and served until the close of the war. He was a man of sterling
character and was an ardent supporter of all measures looking toward
the general welfare of the community. He became one of the
wealthiest and most prominent men of the Holly Hill section. He died
in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins have four sons and four daughters:
Reynold, Vera, Martha, James, Fred, Grace, Frances and
Hugh.
Reynold C. Wiggins is auditor of the Edisto National Bank
at Orangeburg. He married Ruth, a daughter of Capt. J. B. Guess of
Denmark, one of the most prominent farmers in this section of the
state. The Guess family is of Revolutionary stock.
[History of
South Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner
Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
G. Frank
Bamberg
The Bambergs are one of the oldest families of
South Carolina. They were transplanted from Germany to the Carolina
colonies about 1700. For two centuries they have been prominent
planters, business men and citizens in the southern part of the
state.
G. Frank Bamberg of Bamberg is owner and director of
some of the largest plantations in the southern part of the state
and is also a leading banker at Bamberg. He was born in that city
October 8, 1873. His great-grandfather was John George Bamberg, a
native of Lexington County, South Carolina, a minister of the
Lutheran Church. He died in 1800. The grandfather, John Frederick
Bamberg, was a native of that portion of Barnwell County now
Bamberg. The father of the Bamberg banker was Francis Marion
Bamberg, who was born in what is now Bamberg County and was a
prominent banker, stock farmer and planter. He was a member of
Hart's Battery, Hampton's Legion, during the Confederate struggle,
and served throughout the war as a lieutenant. During the
reconstruction period of 1876 he was a prominent figure among the
"Red Sh1rts," and although a natural leader among men, he never
aspired to political honors. The Town of Bamberg was named for his
uncle, W. C. Bamberg, while the county was named in his honor. The
United Daughters of the Confederacy also named their chapter in
Bamberg in his honor. He was a rugged, fearless American whose
unwavering kindness endeared him to all. He helped every one he
could and would buy any honest man a farm to start him right. At the
time of his death, which occurred in his sixty-seventh year, he left
$300,000 in mortgages with instructions to his son to never
foreclose one of them, an order which the latter, G. Frank Bamberg,
has never violated. Mr. F. M. Bamberg was affiliated witl1 the
Masons. He married Mary Ann Jennings, who was of English ancestry.
The Jennings family was established in South Carolina in 1737. She
was a daughter of George P. and
Harriet Ann (Moody) Jennings and
a granddaughter of John Jennings, a native of Orangeburg County.
G. Frank Bamberg was the third in a family of eight
children. He was educated at Wofford College in Spartanburg, and at
the age of twenty began business for himself as a livestock dealer
and planter. Today he owns 2,500 acres, with about 1,500 acres under
cultivation, being one of the largest producers of cotton in the
southern counties of the state. Mr. Bamberg is president of the
Bamberg Auto Company, and of the Bamberg Banking Company, which
operates on a capital of $55,000. He is vice president of the B. E.
& W. Railroad. Mr. Bamberg is a member of the Masonic
order.
In 1896 he married Nell Elizabeth McGee, a daughter of
J. B. and Mollie (Cobb) McGee. They have two sons and one daughter:
Francis Marion, Joseph McGee and Nell Jennings.
[History of South
Carolina, Volume 5, Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner
Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
Jesse Francis
Carter
After working his way through school, paying
expenses of his living and of his education and with the aid of his
versatile and brilliant talents, Jesse Francis Carter has won an
enviable position as a lawyer at Bamberg.
He was born near
the little town of Lodge in Colleton County, September 12, 1873. His
father, Miles McMillin Carter, was a native of the same county and
spent his active life as a farmer. He is of an old South Carolina
family of English descent. He married Janie Irene Kinard, a native
of Barnwell County, and daughter of Jacob Francis Kinnard, also an
old South Carolina family of Scotch-Irish descent. Miles Carter
after his marriage moved to a plantation in Colleton County where
his six sons were born, all of whom are still living, named: Jesse
Francis and Bert Dean Carter, attorneys at law in Bamberg under the
firm name of Carter, Carter & Kearse; Joseph Edgar Carter of
Wilmington, North Carolina; Alonzo B. Carter of Maxton, North
Carolina; Wilbur Lee Carter of Greensboro, North Carolina; and Miles
J. Carter of Florence, Alabama, all of whom are engaged in some
phase of insurance work, Wilbur Lee and Miles J. owning controlling
interests in the business which they conduct.
Jesse Francis
Carter as a small boy had opportunities to occasionally attend a log
cabin school in Colleton County, a term of only a few weeks each
year. He was thirteen when his father died, at which time he took
charge of the farm and assisted his mother in rearing his infant
brothers. His mother died when he was twenty years of age, after
which he attended the graded schools at Bamberg, also a classical
institute, and as a means of support taught a number of summer
terms. He finally entered Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee,
where he graduated in 1900, and after teaching for a while, he
graduated with the degree A. B. from the University of Nashville in
1903. In 1904 Mr. Carter entered the Law School of the University of
South Carolina and took two years' work in one, receiving his LL. B.
degree in 1905. He then located at Bamberg, and has rapidly made his
way to the front as a lawyer. In 1908 he again took special
post-graduate work in Chicago. He is engaged in general practice and
is a member of the firm Carter, Carter & Kearse of Bamberg,
South Carolina. Mr. Carter owns and as a means of recreation
conducts some small farming interests in the neighborhood of
Bamberg.
In college and university Mr. Carter gave all the
time he could to literary and debating societies. He won several
debates, including the debater's medal of his society at the
University of South Carolina. He was also a winner in the oratorical
contest, and was president of his literary society in the University
of Nashville and was made permanent secretary of his class at
graduation.
He is affiliated with the Masonic order and the
Knights of Pythias, and has held many of the offices in both orders.
He is a member of the State Bar Association and was attorney for the
local board of Bamberg County during the war, also government appeal
agent, a member of the State Council of Defense, and a leader in the
second Red Cross campaign and in many other war activities. He is a
member and deacon of the Missionary Baptist Church and teacher of
its Men's Bible Class. Mr. Carter has never been a seeker for
political honors, but is one of the most influential men in his
party in Bamberg County and is the present chairman of the
democratic county committee, serving his second term in that office.
Mr. Carter is president of the Home Building & Loan Association,
which has an issued capital of $200,000. This is a recently
organized company, Mr. Carter being one of the organizers. The
company starts off with bright prospects.
In 1911 Mr. Carter
married Lydia Jenkins, a daughter of B. M. Jenkins of Kline, South
Carolina. They have three daughters: Lydia Frances, Janie Elizabeth
and Martha Jaudon Carter.
[History of South Carolina, Volume 5,
Edited by Yates Snowden and Harry Gardner Cutler, 1920 – Transcribed
by AFOFG]
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