SUMMER BROTHERS BUILDING Newberry County, South Carolina

While clearing away the old buildings and rubbish to make way for the construction of the new Exchange Bank Building, Mr. Baxter recalled the story of the laying of the cornerstone of the Summer Brothers Building on the NE corner of Caldwell & Main Streets – exactly one block west of where the Exchange Bank Building was to be erected. The building was constructed in the eighties. One of the bricklayers on the job was a white man named Anderson from York County – afterwards a policeman for the town of Newberry for a time. One day, shortly after work had begun on the building Mr. Baxter noticed that Anderson was busy with something special in the southeast corner of the building and he went to see what it was, for he can’t stand to see a man loafing on the job when he is on the payroll. Numbers of persons were standing around, looking on and the crowd was growing, recruited from the idlers who were also standing around and looking. This always seems to be the case with a new building when the work is first begun. He noticed that Anderson had made a neat receptacle out of some bricks and was corking up a half-pint flask of whiskey to put in it. He put the flask in the receptacle. Someone threw in a nickel and someone threw in a dime. Several threw in pennies and buttons. Then Anderson, who for all intents and purposes was not" a model young man" gave a grunt of satisfaction and said, "If there was a d---d preacher around here I would ask him to make a prayer before we seal it up." It happened that among the crowd was Rev. J. Steck DD, Pastor of the Lutheran Church who heard the remark with amusement and in his hearty, jovial way he spoke up immediately and said, "I’m some sort of a preacher – not the kind, I hope, you spoke of but if you say so, I will offer a prayer." Anderson was taken aback but readily assented and Dr. Steck made an appropriate prayer. After the ceremony was over, the Reverend said, "There is only one thing I regret about the ceremony. It is that flask of whiskey in the corner-stone. I am afraid it will sprout and grow into a bar room somewhere around here." Before six months had passed a bar room was opened right next door to it. Observer 4/3/1917, page 4 (article and photo contributed by Edith Greisser) Source: "The History of Newberry County, South Carolina, Vol Two, 1860-1990, by Thomas H. Pope pages 114-115. George Walter Summer was the youngest, and Charles Edward Summer the oldest, of three sons of George W. and Martha Epting Summer, the middle son being John Harrison Summer.  All three were born in Dutch Fork and moved to Newberry in the 1880's where they became leaders in agriculture and business.  They organized Summer Brothers, and that firm operated a large general mercantile store, conducted a lien business, ran a cotton gin at Jalapa, and farmed over 2,500 acres with seventy plows. About 1905 John Harrison Summer withdrew from the family business and operated a haberdshery until shortly before his death at the great age of ninety in 1951.  During part of this time his son, Thomas Roy Summer, was in business with him.  J.H. Summer, married first to Huldah Cromer, had by her eight children - George Leland, Elbert Hugh, John Ernest, Thomas Roy, Verna Kohn, Mary Delila, Annie Julia Wise, and James Harrison.  After his first wife's death, he married Mary Alice Swittenberg, by whom he had one child, Jane Ragland. The other two brothers continued to operate Summer Brothers until the firm failed in the Great Depression.  George W. Summer served as president of Hollohon Manufacturing Company until it was sold to the Kendall Company in 1926.  He was also president of the Newberry Bonded Warehouse, founder of Newberry Lumber Company, an original director of the Commercial Bank, an original director of Security Loan and Investment Company, and owner of the Newberry Hotel.  Active in the Civic and religious life of Newberry, he served as trustee of Newberry college and as president of the Chamber of Commerce.  He married Polly Levinia Long; they had seven children, Eugenia S. Wise, George W., Jr., Oscar, Gilbert, William Carroll, M.D., Grace, and Robert Earl.  George W. Summer died on May 24, 1944, aged eighty-two. Charles E. Summer was president of Summer Brothers and director of Oakland Mill and Newberry Savings Bank.  He served as an alderman and then for twenty-five years as commissioner of public works.  He married first Leonora Sease, by whom he had three children, Clarence T., Agnes S. Mayes, and Susie S. Haltiwanger.  His second wife was Mary Jane Sease, his first wife's sister; by her he had five children who lived to maturity - Elmer, Charles Forrest, Ruby S. Hanna, Kate S. Caldwell, and Rosa Lee S. Moore.  He died on February 20, 1948, aged eighty-nine.

Return to Newberry County, South Carolina Genealogy Trails
 This is a FREE website.
If you were directed here through a link for which you paid $ for, you can access much more FREE data via our Newberry County index page at
http://genealogytrails.com/scar/newberry/index.htm
Also make sure to visit our main Genealogy Trails History Group website at
http://genealogytrails.com
for much more nationwide historical/genealogical data and access to our other state/county websites.