Lanneau Durant Lide (1876-1953)

From the Florence Morning News, January 18, 1953.

"Close scrutiny of the public and private life of the Honorable Lanneau Durant Lide reveals a character above reproach and a man endowed with the inspiration of genius for the law.  A man who had always commanded the highest esteem of admiration, he came early before the bar and acquired rare excellence as a councellor, advocate, and jurist."

   Such was the memorial given to Judge Lanneau D. Lide in the second volume of The Story of the South Carolina Lowcountry. For four decades a prominent name in Florence County, South Carolina political life, Lanneau Durant Lide was admitted to the state bar in the early 1900s and first entered politics in 1918 with his election to the state house of representatives. He would serve one term in that body, and later won election to three terms in the state senate. Lide would resign in 1938 following his election as Circuit Court Judge for South Carolina's 12th Judicial district, and served a decade on the bench. The son of William H. and Gertrude (Durant) Lide, Lanneau Durant Lide was born in Marion, South Carolina on November 29, 1876.

  Lanneau Lide's youth was spent on his family's farm and attended schools local to his hometown of Marion. In the early 1890s, he enrolled at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied here until 1893. Lide first entered public service in the 1890s as deputy clerk of courts for Marion County and for one year served as secretary to state supreme court justice Charles Albert Woods (1852-1925). Lide began reading law during this period and was admitted to the state bar in 1902. 

  Lide operated his law practice in Marion from 1904-1938 and was a member of the firm of Lide and McCandlish, partnering with Howard McCandlish. Their partnership extended well into the 1930s and was retained as counsel for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Marion, and the Atlantic Coast Labor Corporation.

  Lanneau D. Lide married in Marion in April 1907 to Fleetwood Montgomery (1877-1954). The couple's near five-decade marriage produced two children, Lanneau Durant Jr. (1914-1986) and Jane Montgomery, who died aged one in 1918. 

  In 1918 Lide made his first run for elective office when he became a candidate for the state house of representatives. Hoping to represent his home county of Marion, Lide won that election and after taking his seat at the start of the 1919-21 term was named to the committee on Free Conference. Following his term, he returned to his law practice, "specializing in corporation and timber law." 

  Lide refrained from political candidacy until his nomination for a seat in the state senate in 1932. He would prove successful at the polls and served consecutive terms in that body until January 1938 when he was elected as a judge for South Carolina's 12th judicial circuit. Succeeding Judge Samuel Wilds Gillespie Shipp, who had died a few days previously, Lide sat on the bench until resigning in November 1948, at age 72. His decade long tenure saw Lide acknowledged as a concise and impartial judge, with the South Carolina Bar Association remarking:

"As a Trial Judge, he was one of the finest ever to grace the bench in South Carolina. The fairness of his rulings, his understanding of the facts and his knowledge of the law resulted in the conduct of the trial of each case in such a manner that both the attorney of the successful litigant and the losing party were aware of the fairness of the trial which had been concluded. He had a remarkable record of having decisions rendered by him and the trials conducted by him affirmed when in rare instances these matters were appealed to the supreme court. If such is used as an indication of his competency as a Trial Judge, his record is unexcelled in South Carolina up to the present time."

Portrait courtesy of Findagrave.

   After leaving the bench Lide continued prominence in state law circles, taking the position of "legal consultant" to many of South Carolina's leading legal lights. At various times he would be called to serve as a special circuit court judge and supreme court justice at the behest of the Chief Justice of the state supreme court. Two years prior to his death Lide was selected as a member of the National Committee of the Freedom Foundation, and later authored a retrospective of his time as a judge, titled "The Trial Judge In South Carolina." Through the efforts of his wife Fleetwood, this work was published following Lide's death in 1953, and later was regarded as a "practical trial handbook useful alike to the bench and bar."

   In January 1953 Lide was admitted to the McLeod Infirmary in Florence, South Carolina for an emergency operation. Following surgery, he died at that hospital on January 17, aged 76. His wife  Fleetwood survived her husband by just one year, dying on December 6, 1954. Both were interred at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Marion. 

From the Florence Morning News, January 18, 1953.

Creswell Archimedes Calhoun Waller (1839-1920)

Portrait from the Greenwood Evening Index, March 3, 1910

   As has become the custom the past five years, the final posting of the year is devoted to an especially odd named political figure, and of the hundred or so names featured here over the past year, Creswell Archimedes Calhoun Waller is by far the most unusual. Odd name notwithstanding, Waller was for over five decades a business and political power player in Greenwood, South Carolina, eventually seeing that city become the county seat of Greenwood County in 1897. A one-term member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Waller won election as the first state senator from Greenwood after it became a county and later was elected to a second term. In addition to politics, Waller also had a lasting impact as an educational benefactor, being a prime mover in the Lander Female College's move to Greenwood, and was a member of that institution's board of trustees.

  The son of Albert and Jane Elizabeth (Creswell) Waller, Creswell Archimedes Calhoun "Criss" Waller was born in Greenwood on June 22, 1839. Receiving his first name as it was his mother's maiden name, Waller was given his two middle names in honor of Greek mathematician and academic Archimedes and former Vice-President John C. Calhoun, who at the time of Waller's birth was serving as U.S. Senator from South Carolina. One of eleven children, Waller wouldn't be the only child in the family blessed with a curious name, with his brothers Peleus Augustus, Codrus, and Cadmus Garlington Waller receiving unusual names of their own. Referred to by family and friends as "Criss", Waller's formative education took place in Greenwood (then a part of the Abbeville district), and in the late 1850s enrolled at Furman University in Greenville. 

  "Criss" Waller would graduate from Furman in 1860 with his Master of Arts Degree, and in the year following volunteered for service in Co. F. (Secession Guards) of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. His time with that unit saw him in action "through the campaigns of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and North Georgia, as a member of McLaws division and Longstreet's corps, up to and including the battle of Chickamauga." Waller's war service from 1861-1863 saw him in action at several of the war's most heated battles, including the First Battle of Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, both battles of Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Battle of the Crater, Deep Bottom, and Mechanicsville. Nearly killed by an unexploded shell at Mechanicsville, Waller carried the bullet with him for the remainder of his life and was put out of service for six weeks of recuperation. 

  Having been promoted to captain following meritorious service at the battle of the Crater, Waller was later made a second lieutenant in the 64th Georgia Infantry, with which he would serve through the remainder of the war. In February 1864 Waller took part in the Battle of Ocean Pond in Florida and during that engagement lost his elder brother, Peleus Augustus Waller. Criss Waller was subsequently promoted to first lieutenant in his brother's stead, and in December 1864 was made commander of Co. G of the 64th Georgia Infantry. In April 1865 Waller surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse with the remainder of his company, and in addition to his brother Peleus, suffered the death of two other brothers during wartime, Robert Aurelius and James Leonard.

  After his discharge from service, Criss Waller married on February 1, 1866, to Mary Elizabeth Vance (1845-1927), to whom he was wed for over fifty years. The couple would remain childless. Returning to Greenwood in the year of his marriage, Waller found the town markedly changed from when he last saw it, with the "community depressed and conditions unfavorable for business enterprises." Resolving to make his name in local business, Waller joined with his brother Cadmus and I.V. Gaillard in establishing a mercantile firm in Greenwood, and after purchasing Gaillard's interest in the business the firm (now called Waller and Waller) "was the first to buy a car of South Carolina fertilizer here." 

   In addition to merchandising Waller was a real estate broker in Greenwood and held a keen interest in the layout of Greenwood's roads and landscape. A firm adherent to the original town square/plaza layout for the town, Waller saw the need for an improved road system, advocating for the opening of new streets, which in turn would connect to the "bigger field of railroads." This, in turn, would lead to a railway route between Greenwood and Augusta, Georgia, with the eventual construction and opening of the Knoxville and Augusta Railroad, which was completed in 1882.

   Creswell A.C. Waller began his political career at the local level, being elected as intendant (mayor) of Greenwood in 1872. He would serve at least three more terms in that office in 1879, 1886, and 1887, and in 1888 was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from the Abbeville District. Waller's service in the 1889-91 session saw him sit on the committee on Railroads and in 1890 made an unsuccessful run for the state senate, being defeated by Confederate veteran and incumbent senator Robert Reid Hemphill by just 75 votes. Though his senate candidacy may have come to naught, his previous service in the house was lauded in the April 9, 1890 issue of the Abbeville Press and Banner, which notes that:

"Since his election, his work in that honorable body has fully developed that fact. His untiring efforts in behalf of reform and retrenchment were commendable in an eminent degree and should be rewarded with the highest County position. He is a close observer, deep thinker, good reasoner, hard worker, liberal in his views of economy and fearless in giving vent to his thoughts for the good of the whole people."

From the Abbeville Press and Banner, April 9, 1890.

   With his boosting for improved roads and the overall layout of Greenwood, Criss Waller was a firmly established figure in that town in 1897 when it was officially made the county seat of then recently formed Greenwood County, developed from portions of Abbeville and Edgefield Counties. With the establishment of Greenwood County (and three other counties) in early 1897, the citizens of these new areas were allowed to elect their first senators and representatives to the state legislature, and that year Creswell A.C. Waller was the man selected by the Greenwood citizenry as their first state senator.

  Elected for a session that initially began in January 1897, Waller took his seat during the start of the second session of the Senate which began in January 1898, and served until 1900. Named as chairman of the committee on Enrolled Bills, Waller also sat on the committees on Claims and Grievances, Finance, Immigration, and Privileges and Elections. During his first senate term, Waller proved invaluable when it came to the field of local education, serving as chairman of the board of trustees for the Greenwood graded schools, and is remarked as "really the founder of the present graded school system of Greenwood."

   Waller's dedication to education saw his name forever connected to the history of the Lander College, originally named the Williamston Female College. This all-female university in Williamston, South Carolina had been established in 1872, and during his term, Waller became a prominent booster for the relocation of the college to Greenwood, to aid in "educational opportunities for women" in the still young county. With the backing of other distinguished Greenwood citizens, Waller's work paid off, and in the early 1900s college founder Samuel Lander agreed to the move, with the college, now called Lander College, opening its doors in 1904. A member of that college's board of trustees for a number of years, Lander's Waller Hall was named in his honor. Lander College (now Lander University) is still in existence today and in 1943 became a co-ed institution.

   In 1908 Waller was returned to the state senate for a second term, and during the 1909-13 session chaired the Federal Relations committee and was a member of the committees on Claims and Grievances, Contingent Accounts, and the Dispensary. Criss Waller continued residence in Greenwood following his last Senate term and would have a popular thoroughfare in the city, Waller Avenue, named after him. Curiously, Waller is also recorded as having fancied cats, reportedly keeping 30 or so cats on his property. Shortly before his death, Criss Waller was discovered unconscious in his room and was admitted to the Greenwood Hospital, where he succumbed, "following an attack of urina", on May 5, 1920, aged 80.  He was survived by his wife Mary "Molly" Vance Waller and was interred at the Magnolia Cemetery in that city.

Waller's birthdate is misgiven in his obit from the Abbeville Press and Banner, May 7, 1920.

Altamont Moses (1846-1905)

From the December 13, 1905 edition of the Watchman and Southron.

   Born into a prominent Jewish family in Sumter, South Carolina on August 5, 1846, Altamont Moses rose to become a distinguished political leader in this historic southern city, holding the offices of state representative and senator, and was also a prominent local masonic figure, serving as a past master of the Claremont Free and Accepted Masons Lodge. A son of Montgomery and Catherine Phillips Moses, the origins of Moses' unusual first name are shrouded in mystery. 
   A student in Sumter schools and the South Carolina Military Academy, little could be located on Altamont Moses' early life in Sumter, although it is known that during the early days of the Civil War, he signed on for military duty, serving amongst the Confederate ranks as a military telegraph operator. Following the conclusion of the Civil War Moses returned to Sumter and over the following decades became an established merchant in the city, and is recorded as being a cotton grower. He married in Sumter to Octavia Cohen on September 26, 1870, and later had several children: Katherine (1874-1954), Herbert Altamont (1876-1969), Vivian Mordaunt (born 1878), Emile Phillips (born 1880), Armida (born 1884), Henry Phillips (1886-1945) and Altamont Jr. 
  Three years before his marriage to Octavia Cohen Altamont Moses joined the local Masonic chapter and within a short time had become prominent amongst its ranks, being elected as a Worshipful Master. Moses later went on to hold the position of Master of the Claremont Lodge #64 and was also an influential figure in several other fraternal clubs, serving as Chancellor of the Game Cock Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, Grand Chancellor of the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of South Carolina and was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In addition to the above, Moses was also active in Jewish affairs in his native county, holding the position of President of the Sumter Hebrew Benevolent Society as well as the Sumter Society of Israelites. 
   While his name was known throughout Sumter as one synonymous with civic affairs, Moses was also a leading figure politically, having a career in public service that extended back to 1868, when he served as a delegate from Sumter County to the South Carolina Democratic State Convention. Following service on the Sumter City Council, in 1886 Moses was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives "at the earnest solicitation of his fellow citizens" and during a portion of his eight years here held the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.  In addition to his legislative service, Moses was also a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1888, 1896, and 1904 as part of the South Carolina delegation.
   In 1894 Moses was elected to the state senate and served there until 1898 when he narrowly lost his seat to Richard Irvine Manning (a future South Carolina Governor). As luck would have it, Moses's career on the political stage wasn't over yet, due to a verdict rendered by the state supreme court. As Moses's obituary in the Sumter Watchman and Southron relates: 

"A few weeks after the legislature convened the supreme court rendered as decision adverse to the establishment of Lee County, and thus creating a vacancy in the legislative delegation from this county, he was nominated for the house by the people of Sumter County who had been included in the proposed Lee County, and was elected without opposition." 

   After being returned to the legislature through what could only be described as serendipity, Altamont Moses began what the Watchman and Southron referred to as a "life tenure as a representative of Sumter County" noting that "his services in that body to Sumter County and the state at large being too valuable to be dispensed with." The Jews of South Carolina (which contains a brief synopsis of Moses' time in the legislature) notes that in the latter part of his legislative tenure Moses served on the special committee on Tax Laws, the Sinking Fund Commission, the Hampton Monument Commission and the Commission for Repairs to the State House. 
  In early 1905 Moses' health began to fail and some weeks before his death illness confined him to his home. He died on December 8, 1905, at age 59 and was widely mourned throughout the state, his passing even warranting a notice in the New York Times. Moses' Manning Times obituary of December 13, 1905, remembered the popular legislator and his successful career in politics and in masonry, noting that:

"Death loves a shining mark, and in laying his icy hands upon Altamont Moses he removed from this midst a most lovable character, a man devoid of selfishness, and who's work for mankind was a part and parcel of his daily existence."

  Following his death, Altamont Moses was interred at the Jewish Cemetery in Sumter, South Carolina and was survived by his wife Octavia, who died in March of 1936 at age 91. 

Altamont Moses, from his Manning Times obituary, published December 13, 1905.