Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-03-05
From the South Carolinian.
"REMINISCENCES OF COLUMBIA.
BY JUDGE O'NEALL.

BY JUDGE 0'NEALL.
Enough has been said of houses and localities
desire to recall some Of the many honored inhab
itants.
First among these is the venerable patriarch Of
your city-Col. Thomas Taylor. He was one o.
the owners of the ground whereon your city stands
He, it will be remembered, was one of the gallan
men who perilled life and fortune in the cause Of
liberty. 1t ought to be remembered, that hecom
manded the company whose fire at Fishdam swep
the ranks Of Wemys' command laid him low, ant
thus materially aided the rolling back the tide o.
conquest which had covered Carolina with mourn
ing. 1t ought too to be remembered, that he no
only aided in freeing his country from politica
tyranny, but also from moral slavery. His ven
erable form was seen in 1929, at the head of the
first State Temperance Society with which Soutf
Carolinn was blessed
Gov. John Taylor, was the son of this good and
worthy man. He was Senator in Congress, 9
member of your State Senate, and Governor Of
South Carolina from December, 1925, to Dccem.
Der 1928. He was, like his father, remarkabl.
for his piety and his many domestic virtues and
usefulness as o man and citizen. His residence
-Taylor's Hills well known locality.
DR.. Samuel Green the well known tavern-keep
er and postmaster, of Columbia, who trusted every
body and yet lost little, ought to live fresh in ths
memory ofevery one who was o student Of the
College, for his kindness to them whenever trouble
or necessity presented itself.
OfJudge Mott, may have occasion to speak
when may talk about the bench and bar since
1914. His residence was once in the midst oi
your city, at the corner, whence starts west Doc.
tor Fairs fine row of tenement houses; he subse.
quently lived where Rich'd Sondley lives in SC
much elegance He died in 1880. Of him may
be allowed to soy here, he was the Mansfield Of
South Carolina on the bench, and his domestic
life was as good as his public life was useful and
brilliant.
DR.. James Davis lived long in your city, and al
the place which designated as Judge MOTIFS first
residence. He was the leading physician here fol
many years, and in his profession, and every other
way, did much to entitle his name to respect and
his memory to be loved.
Before my imagination rises the facetious face
Of Thomas Egan. He was lawyer. His clear,
soft voice never was heard in court room with.
out producing effect. He loved fun and frolic,
and this, to him, ga feast of fat things" covered
over his evening and closed an unhonored grave
over his remains.
The printer, Daniel Faust, is ever to be remem
bered, when Columbia reckons those who honorec
her. He was good and true man. His print
ing press was not only useful to him as mean:
of life, but also to the town and State. Homes
industry was to him a crown which could only bt
displaced by the crown everlasting, for which he
toiled here and which he wears in an everlasting
world.
Here, too, we must not forget James s. Guig
nard, the Clerk, Register and Ordinary of Rich
land for more than fifty years. He came to thi
city when it was much younger than when / frs
saw it-he was gathered to his fathers as it wer'
but yesterday He saw oil, and more than have
been able to narrate. You oil knew him, and
will only say to his successors, be like him, hon
est, faithful, intelligent, firm, temperate, piou
and Industrious; and, like him, you will earr
wealth, and the plaudit of your countrymen, wei
donen
Just here my old friend, the canne Scot, Adam
Edgar, mine host of many years, and the tailor
who always knew show to get out of q coat" i!
always recalled to my mipd. He was long an in
habitant, and won his way to wealth by untirini
industry. As he usedto say Of his penmanship
he was "not much for writing, but was most no
torious for figure" He has often told me that
when he finished his brick totel, he was in arrear
S17, 900 for his own Indebtedness and that of
friend, for whom he was endorser; but in his owl
joyous expression, "the Newberry boys stuck t,
me, and in three years had paid it all" Thinl
of that, friends and falter not when misfortune
crowd upon you. Like friend Adam, you may
have friends, and industry, patient, temperate in
dustry, fails not to overcome multitude of diff
cultes. ...
In the neighborhood where my memory is lin
gering first saw my late valued friend, Johr
Bryce. His shop, whence he followed his craft o:
q shoe and boot maker, was on Richardson street
Gronp'o pootnfioo IIpfiriuo indnefry
gave him wcalth-an active, inquiring mind
which sought information in every way in which
it could be obtained, made him the intelli
g mt, useful member of society which he became
Oh that many would initiate such an example!
DR.. Edward Fisher is another name which ough
not to be forgotten. He was the equal of DR.. Da
Wis in the healing art. Like him he lived for tht
good of Others He was the kind, generous friend
So, too, my old leader at the bar, Robert Stark
stands before me in all his pride of pace. He wa:
indeed terror to evil doers. As Solicitor, he
pursued and punished crime with infinching per.
severance. l have often heard an anecdote tolo
of him, that an offender at Barnwell, to escape
punishment for some crime, fed the State, anC
caused to be published in the papers his death
His wife took out administration on his estate, ane
appeared at court in her mourning weeds. The
Solicitor was seen to be giving out the bill agains
him. Mr.. Hagood, then an eminent lawyer, saio
to him: "Surely, Mr.. Stark, you ore not giving
out bill against dead man 2" 'Dead or alive, v
was the reply, "Ill have him." and sure enough,
he did have him, for at the next court he tried
and convicted him. Mr. Stark was one of the mel
of '76. He was in that memorable charge on the
brick house at Eutaw, when Captain Richard
Johnson leaped off his horse, and drawing TWEEN.
ty-penny nail from his pocket, drove it with the
hilt of his dragoon sword into the touch-hole of
field piece, saying, as he struck, "You have plagu-
ed US all day; you shall plague us no more!" The
soldier who never turned his back on an enemy,
the Solicitor who never swerved from duty, lived
to experience the ingratitude of one Legislature
by being turned out of Office and the gratitude o.
another, by being elected Secretary of State.
Mixed with these worthy names, were some odd
FISH, Old Kennard, the pauper politician, was
one of the most remarkable-hisd description Of the
manner in which man named Merritt was treat.
ed in riot, struck Judge Bays fancy as wonder.
fully descriptive; he said they "Mohamked him. "
Dr.. Brazier was another. He was once q Me-
thodist preacher-then an Universalist-then q
Shaker, and finally Swedenborgain. He lived
to be more than hundred years old. He believed
in the real presence, and once said to me, 81 am
he, if I am right, all is well-ifI am wrong, il
would be pity to disabuse ME and destroy my
happiness"
In 1912, came to Columbia my never-enough
venerated friend Chancellor DeSaussure, who a.
dorned every walk of life with knowledge, kind,
ness and virtue. How much lie did for Columbia
can hardly be estimated. He enforced into it that
kind and hospitable spirit, which has ever since
prevailed in its society. How much he did fol
the State.
Here, too, ought to be remembered the name Of
Abram Banding. He was not here among the
earliest-he came after his father-iu-law, Chan,
cellor DcSaussure But there is no name to whom
Columbia owes more. Who built at an immense
sacrifice of his private fortune your water works
Who put in motion the Commercial Bank? Who
perilcd everything in internal Improvements p