Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-01-02
DIR. J. k. McWHORTER
PASSED TO REWARD
A Typical Gentleman Of the Old School-Noted Physician
and Staunch Presbyerian-N Native of Pckens and
Once Resident Of Oconee County.

VIC w HOFteF, OIL 1ampuon-Slunoy, va.
In the passing Of DR.. McWhorter this
section Of the State has lost another
one of the connecting links with the
eventful and cherished times OF the
ante-bellum South and Of the Civil
War, for he spent his childhood days
at Old Pickens Court House, and as
youth of II went out from his ia
theirs home at Bachelors Retreat to
join the Confederate Army and fight
in defense Of his country.
DR.. McWhorter was born at "The
Temple OF HEALTH" near Due West,
Abbeville county, South Carolina,
November 6. 1874, the son of Rev.
William and Mrs. Margaret NJ. (Kyle)
McWhorter. He came Of Scotch and
Scotch-Irish ancestry on both sides,
and his ancestors for immemorial
generations were men and women Of
true patriot blood and Of staunch
Presbyterian faith. His father, Rev.
VIM. McWhorter, was minister of
the Presbyterian church, and as a
member of South Carolina Presby-
terry for many years before and after
the war was strong and influential
leader OF that body. His GRANDPA
ther, Ruling Elder John McWhorter,
was one of the founders, in 1906, Of
Old Bethel church, above Walhalla
and his great-grandfather, John Nc
Whorter, soldier in the Revolution
airy War, died OF wounds received in
All engagement with a party Of
Tories.
On his mothers side he was de-
scended from the Kyles and Hun
ters, Of Ulster, Ireland, and from the
Waughs and Findlays, OF Scotland,
with more than one Presbyterian
preacher in the line Of succession.
Blessed with such a goodly herit
age, he was also brought up in a
home Of unfeigned piety and Of gen.
uine Christian virtues-a home in
which the Bible was revered and
studied and the Shorter Catechism
was taught and thoroughly learned.
In early youth he united with the
church Of his fathers, and TO the day
Of his death he continued to'ground
his hope on the assurances OF the
Gospel which he had learned from
his parents at home, and which he
had heard so often proclaimed from
the pulpit Of his father.
AS boy he attended school at
Old Pickens and later at Bachelors
Retreat, and the tales he used to tell
Of the times spent in and out Of these
good old schools never failed to hold
and captivate his own children and
all others who heard him. From his
father, scholar and teacher as well
as theolOgian, he received much Of
his classical education, and SO thor
ough was the instruction obtained in
this way that whole passages OF the
classics were still alive in his mind
after he had passed his 10th birth
day. His great fondhess for reading
"A practice he kept up in a remark
able manner almost to the end-he
was accustomed to say he must have
inherited from his mother, who was
a woman of marked literary tastes.
Growing up Oh the plantation, with
the typical environments Of the Old
South, he lived his life largely in the
open and breathed freely tho spirit
of independence and leadership. Out
Of school and during the holiday sea-
son nothing delighted him more than
to strike out" accompanied by his
little brother, with old Ring or
"Spot" in the van and the little
"niggers" bringing up the rear, for
an all-day rabbit hunt.
In the summer OF 1862 he volun-
teered as a private in Company A,
Capt. Peter w. GOODWIN, 9th South
Carolina Cavalry, Col. IL X. Aiken,
Dunovants Brigade, NJ. G. Buffers
Division, Wade Hampton's Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia, Gen. r.
E. Lee, commanding, and served in
this capacity to the end Of the war,
being with Gen. Jos. e. Johnston in
North Carolina at the time Of the
surrender AS soldier he never
failed to do his duty, and for his ad-
mirable and sterling qualities he was
held in high esteem by all who knew
him. G. w. Calhoun, Of Greenwood,
in his book entitled Liberty De-
throned," says: "a truer soldier
than McWhorter never lived" He
was always at his post, he never
knom 1uhat Il maa 10 niuo I'm ard