History of Laurens, (Laurens County) South Carolina United States of America

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Biographies:

John Carlisle Kilgo, educator, was born at Laurens, S.C., July 22, 1861; son of James T. and Catherine (Mason) Kilgo; grandson of William and Elizabeth (Morris) Kilgo and of Washington and Rebecca (Wyrick) Mason, and a descendant of Isaac Kilgo, and the Virginia family of Masons. He was a student at Wofford college, Spartanburg, S.C., and received the A.M. degree in 1892, but was not regularly graduated. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, in 1882, was an agent for Wofford college, 1889-94, professor of philosophy there, 1890-94, and in 1894 was elected president of Trinity college, N.C. He received the honorary degree of DD. from Wefford and Randolph-Macon colleges in 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Hilary Abner Herbert, cabinet officer, was born in Laurensville, S.C., March 19, 1834; son of Thomas E. and Dorothy Herbert. He was taken by his parents to Greenville, Ala., in 1846, where his father was a teacher and planter. He studied at the University of Alabama, 1853-55, and finished his education at the University of Virginia. He was admitted to the Alabama bar and practised in Greenville. He was captain in the 8th Alabama regiment in the army of General Lee, and fought in the battles of the Peninsula from Yorktown to Fair Oaks. At Fair Oaks he was wounded and captured and wihin two months was ex-changed. He was commissined lieutenant-colonel of the 8th Alabama in 1803, and became its colonel in 1864. He fought at second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Salem Heights, Antietam, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. At the battle of the Wilderness he was wounded and carried from the field by his men. He was retired as colonel in 1865, and resumed the practice of law in Greenville. In 1872 he removed to Montgomery, Ala., and was a representative in the 45th-52d congresses, inclusive, 1877-93. He served on the committees of the judiciary and ways and means, and was prominent in the up-building of the new navy, devoting himself with great energy to this work, serving as chairman of the naval committee in the 49th, 50th and 52d congresses, and he was a prominent member of that committee when the house was Republican in the 51st congress. He was secretary of the navy, 1893-97, and during his administration completed and commissioned the Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, Maine, Texas, New York, Brooklyn, Amphitrite, Monadnock, Terror, Katahdin, Cincinnati, Raleigh, Columbia, Minneapolis, Olympia, Detroit, Marblehead, Montgomerey, Castine, Machias and Puritan, all of which had been authorized by acts originating in the committee on naval affairs while he was on that committee. He also laid down and practically completed the gunboats, Nashville, Helena, Wilmington, Annapolis, Wheeling and Marietta, and laid the keels of the battleships Kearsarge, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama and Wisconsin, and torpedo boats from No. 3 to No. 18 inclusive. It will thus be seen that of the six vessels belonging regularly to the navy which fought at Manila, May 1, 1898, all except the Boston originated in the committee of which he was a member, and that all the ships that fought at Santiago, July 3, 1898, except the converted yacht Gloucester, were authorized in the committee of which Mr. Herbert was a member, and afterward commissioned by him as secretary of the navy. At the close of his official term in 1897 he entered upon the practice of law in Washington, D.C. He was elected a member of the National Geographic society. He published in the Democratic campaign book of 1888, History of Efforts to Increase the U.S. Navy, and was the largest contributor to and the editor of Why the Solid South ? or, Reconstruction and its Results (1890).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Franklin Harper Elmore, senator, was born in Laurens, S.C., Jan. 16, 1799; son of Gen. John Archer and ?? (Saxon) Elmore. His father was a native of Virginia, a member of the South Carolina legislature, and removed in 1819 to Alabama, where he died in 1834. His brother, Benjamin Franklin, was treasurer of South Carolina; and another brother, Rush, was a soldier in the Mexican war and a justice of the U.S. district court of Kansas, 1854-61. Franklin was graduated at South Carolina college in 1819 and became a lawyer in 1821. He was solicitor of the southern circuit of the state, 1822-36, and an aid on the staff of Gov. Richard J. Manning, 1824-26, ranking as colonel. He was married to Harriet, second daughter of President Zachary and Margaret (Smith) Taylor. He was a representative in the 24th and 25th congresses, 1835-39, elected by the state rights Democratic party. In 1838 he was elected by the congressional delegation to obtain authentic information concerning the anti-slavery movement, resulting in the "Elmore correspondence," held with James G. Birney. He was president of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, 1839-50, and U.S. senator to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John C. Calhoun. He took his seat in the U.S. senate, May 6, 1850, and died in Washington, D.C., May 29, 1850.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Laurens Manning Irby, senator, was born in Laurens, S.C., Sept. 10, 1854; son of James H. and Henrietta (Earle) Irby; grandson of Capt. William and Eliza (Thompson) Irby, and a descendant of Capt. William Irby, of Loudoun county, Va. His grandfather was an officer in the Revolutionary war. He was educated at the Laurensville academy, the College of New Jersey and the University of Virginia. He then studied law, was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1876, and practised his profession for three years, after which he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the South Carolina militia in 1877; was a representative in the state legislature, 1886-90, and was unanimously elected speaker in 1890. In the national campaign of that year he was chairman of the Democratic state executive committee, and on December 11 of the same year he was elected U.S. senator, receiving 105 of the votes of the joint houses of the legislature, 42 votes being given to Wade Hampton and 10 to M. L. Donaldson. He took his seat, March 4, 1891, and served a full term, retiring March 8, 1897. He was chairman of the committee on transportation routes and a member of the civil service, coast defence, mines and mining, and post offices and post roads committees. After retiring from the senate he practised law at Laurens, S.C., where he died, after a protracted illness, Dec. 9, 1900.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor