The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1873-09-10
The late Col. Simeon Fair.

E"narl;s made by j. FL. Caldwell,
ESI., before the Ncwbcrry Bar, aud
citizens. at the late Memorial meeting
held on the lst September: T.
+ Mr. CHAIRNAN:-I know that I
utter trite form Of expression-but
I mean by it to convey serious con-
viction-when l say that feel that I
can add nothing to what has been so
forclbly spoken by the mover of the
resolutions before US. His acquain-
tance with the deceased extended over
a much greater number Of years than
mine; his business connections with
him were far more numerous than
mine; and he has given us the result
Of these with an accuracy, d compre-
hcnsiveness and an elegance, which l
can, at best, only hope to initiate.
Yet [ feel that I should not only
neglect an attention due our distin-
guished dead, but that I should be
wanting in common gratitude, if I
failed to join my voice in this act of
public reverence and lamentation for
one, who, in addition to his claims
upon me as public benefaetor, had
the more pressing claim arising from
frequent aud considerable kiadnesses
bestowed upon me individually. 1t is
not necessary that | should recount
those kindnesses, and it would be i'm
modest in ME to assert that I have
been greatly profted by them, for that
would imply that l consider myself to
have attained to something; but I
mention them as one of my reasons
for occupying the time of this meet
ing, and one of my reasons for en-
deavoring to show to those who did
not know him as I did, and to re-
mind those who did so know him and
appreciate him, how excellent man
he was.
do not wish to use the language
of idle, fulsome eulogy-if my own
sense Of propricty did not forbid it,
my knowledge of his character as
sures me how he abhorred it while
living: how he must have deprecated
its utterance when dead. But I do
wish to do him the honor he deserves,
and, for own sakes, so to describe
him, as shall in some measure bring
him again before US, and cause him to
live in our minds and hearts, although
the grave has forever hidden his mortal
part from our eyes. If I, or any of
US, shall succeed in this, however i'm
perfectly it may be, we shall have
cause to rejoice over our assembling
here, for we shall then have done the
noble work of restoring and perpetual
ting, for the emulation and delight Of
those here and those to come, the
image Of patriotism, and usefulness,
and virtue.
Simeon Fair was born in Newberry
District, on the 18th day of Novem-
Der, 1901. His ancestry were Scotch
Irish, his father, William Fair, being
born of one Of the families which came
from Ireland during, and just before,
and just after the year ITO. [ have
not been able to learn whether Will
liam Fair was born before or after the
settlement of his parents in this coun.
try; but ne must have been born
within two or three years of it. The
Fairs were Of that well-known and
worthy people who settled in large
numbers in this County, during the
four or five years just preceding and
just after the date last mentioned
the Presbyterians of North Ireland.
These men were not the adventurers
the majority Of European enigrants
then were and now are. They were
mostly farmers, or lland-craftsmen of
good condition. They all brought
something with them; and some of
them good sums of money, boarded
from the toll of years, Or else realized
from the sale Of their valuable leases.
They were sturdy, brave, patient race:
quiet and peaceable, yet obstinately
tenacious of their rights; cool-headcd
and calculating, yet burning in their
hearts with the very fire of volcanoes ;
rigid and abstemious in their habits of
life, yet not without an excellent
humor and proper appreciation of all
rational enjoyment. They were emf
ncntly rcligious-eminently moral
They had ever clear, positive doc
trine, which permeated all their
opinions and habits; and to this tE.ey
clung with a tenacity which no ar
gunent and no misfortune could ever
shake.
Coming Of such an ancestry, and
reared in such pure school Of morals,
it is not difficult to see how Col. Fair
early learned the necessity and dignity
Of labor; how he learned tc value men
only according to their intellectual
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