BEATY, J. H.
MEANS
Beaty, J. H. Means, practical manufacturer, formerly
director of Clemson Textile school, and now (1908) general manager
of large cotton mills, was born in Winnsboro, Fairfield county,
South Carolina, January 30, 1871. His father, James Beaty, a
merchant, favorably known for his diligence in business, his keen
business foresight, his attention to details, served as a trustee of
Mt. Zion institute and was captain in the Seventeenth South Carolina
regiment. His mother, Sarah Thome Beaty, although she was an invalid
for the last five years of her life and died while her son was
young, left upon him a strong impression, morally and spiritually.
He is of Scotch Irish Presbyterian stock.
Mr. Beaty's life
has an exceptional interest for boys and young men, because of his
intense determination to make his way along a definite line of
effort which has characterized his career. "Determination in the
face of obstacles," he feels, has been the distinguishing mark of
his life. He was not strong in his boyhood, which was passed in a
village; but he had a very special interest in the use of tools and
machinery from his earliest years; and he always had some regular
daily tasks to perform. This, he says, "taught me regularity;
attention to small duties; the habit of putting business, no matter
how small it might seem, before pleasure; close attention to
details, and the desire to have some results to show for my work. I
did not care especially for the kind of work that was assigned to me
when a boy, but I tried to do it thoroughly and quickly." "The
biographies of successful men from boyhood have stimulated my
ambition to hard work." He studied at Mt. Zion institute; attended
the South Carolina university from 1888 to 1891, but was not
graduated, as the mechanical department was transferred to Clemson
college in 1891, and Mr. Beaty then left college to go to work. He
apprenticed himself to learn the machinist's trade in the Southern
railway shops at Columbia, South Carolina, and was there until 1895.
Then he definitely chose the manufacture of cotton as his
business. His own words may help young people who may be
left, as he says he was left, to "make my own choice, my parents
long dead".
"After completing my apprenticeship in the
railway shops at Columbia, South Carolina, I went to Chester, South
Carolina, and began work in a yarn mill there. The understanding was
that I should get no wages until I earned them. I was to be at my
own expense while learning. The first pay day brought me
compensation at the rate of sixty cents per day from the first
minute I entered the mill. In six months I was appointed
superintendent of the same mill and operated it as such for about
two years. In the six months previous to being made superintendent I
did any and all kinds of work throughout the mill; and some of it
was very dirty work."
His rapid promotion in this, his first
mill, was only a prophecy of the favor his energy and perseverance
would win for him. Later he was superintendent of the Norris Cotton
mill at Cateechee, South Carolina, from November 20, 1897, to
September 20, 1898. From September, 1898, to June, 1905, he was
director of the Clemson Textile school; and from June, 1905, to
March, 1907, he was the assistant of Lewis W. Parker, president of
several cotton mills. On the date last named he was transferred from
Greenville to Columbia and became general manager of the Olympia and
Granby cotton mills, which belong to the system of mills of which
Mr. Parker is president. He feels that the greatest public service
he has rendered has been done in the effort to "aid the milling
industry and the people engaged therein; my especial desire has been
to put a textile training within reach of the poor mill-boy. This
will be a great public service if successfully carried
out."
Mr. Beaty has made several improvements in machines and
in processes, but has not endeavored to take patents on
them.
He married Miss Louise McFadden, of Chester, South
Carolina, December 5, 1901. He is a Democrat. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church. Walking is his favorite exercise, and reading
his favorite diversion. To his young fellow citizens he says:
"Always be contented, but never satisfied. I speak from experience.
I have often been restless and discontented; and I have found that
it worked against my progress. Be sober, honest and industrious; not
afraid of work and not too fond of society.
Men of Mark in South Carolina By James Calvin Hemphill
Published 1907 - transcribed and contributed by Barb
Ziegenmeyer
