Historic Figures

Joseph Copley Burgess was born November 03, 1821 in Clarendon county, South Carolina. He married Sarah Ann Platt on February 17, 1846. He was a surveyor and a farmer and lived on 'Bear Creek' near Manning.

Soon after Clarendon County was reestablished in 1855, Joseph C. Burgess was chosen to locate the geographic center of the county. The exact center fell on the east side of Ox Swamp but enough suitable land was not available. It was decided to build the courthouse and village of Manning about a mile east of Ox Swamp on land owned by Joseph Burgess. On May 16, 1856, Captain Burgess deeded six acres of the land over to the State of South Carolina for the building of a courthouse and jail. Manning received its official charter as the county seat for Clarendon on January 28, 1861.

During the Civil War, he served as a Captain in the 25^th Regiment of the South Carolina Volunteers and was wounded in action. He was wounded at the Battle of Battery Wagner in September 1863. On September 22, 1864, he relieved the garrison at Fort. Sumter with a detail of 100 men from I Company of the 25th Regiment. Captain Joseph Burgess died many years later on February 17, 1881, and is buried in Manning Cemetery.

Moses Levi was born in Bosenbach, Bavaria, Germany August 15, 1826. His wife, Hannah Jacobs, was born December 3, 1830 in Bosenbach, Bavaria, Germany.

Moses Levi was one of Manning’s earliest settlers and businessmen. In 1848, at the age of 21, Levi joined the large number of Jewish people who fled Germany, seeking a new life in America. In 1853, he married Hannah Jeckel in Charleston, S.C. They initially settled in Sumter, where Levi ran a mercantile business.

They stayed in Sumter for three years, then in 1856 moved to the new town of Manning, where he purchased two lots across from the courthouse and opened one of several businesses. The couple had ten children, nine of whom lived to adulthood: David, Rosa, Mitchell, Ferdinand, Abe, Louis, Ellen, Meyer, and Sallie.

Like many German immigrants to the South, Moses Levi joined the Confederate Army. He eventually became quartermaster of his regiment, the Sprott Guards. On April 1, 1865, Levi was taken prisoner at the Battle of Five Forks during the last Federal attacks on Petersburg, Virginia. Released from prison three months later, he and several friends walked back to Manning from Virginia.

Upon his return, Levi discovered that most of the buildings he owned had been burned when Union troops under Brigadier General Edward E. Potter’s raided the town of Manning burning down much of the town. Despite this great financial loss, he rebuilt his business, raised his family of nine children and remained a community activist. Levi served as intendant (equivalent of mayor) for several terms and as a warden (city councilman) for several years.

Both Moses and Hannah Levi had important buildings in Manning named after them. In 1899, the year after Moses died, the Manning Collegiate Institute was about to close because of indebtedness. Levi’s family paid off the debt and provided operating funds for the school, which was renamed the Moses Levi Memorial Institute. The Levi family later gave land and a thousand dollars, in memory of Hannah Levi, toward the building of Manning’s first public library, which now houses the Clarendon County Archives.

The Levi family continued to contribute to the economic, educational and cultural growth of Manning and Clarendon County. See http://aronoff.com/family/i0015684.htm

The entire Citadel Class's of 1917 and 1918 eventually served in the armed forces during World War I, with 5 graduates earning the Distinguished Service Cross and 3 more earning the Navy Cross--all presented for "extraordinary heroism". One of these men was Captain Julius A. Mood, from Summerton, S.C. He was killed by hostile fire on July 21, 1918, in Soissons, France.

Taylor Hudnall Stukes (1893-1961) was born in Manning. He attended Davidson College and Washington and Lee University and received his LL.B. degree in 1919. Erskine College awarded him an LL.D. degree in 1969. He practiced law in Manning and married Miss Georgie Sauls of Manning in 1923.

A leader in the State Legislature for many years, he was elected Associate Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1940 and Chief Justice in 1956. He is noted for his enduring affection for his State and his devotion to family and church. He was a Ruling Elder in Manning Presbyterian Church and was Moderator of the Synod of South Carolina in 1956.

John Land is a long-time attorney and the senior political figure in Clarendon county. A member of the South Carolina legislature since 1976, Land also served as the Senate Majority Leader before retiring in 2012. A staunch Democrat, John Land was a strong advocate of school desegregation and enjoys the wide support among local blacks who comprise a substantial majority of the local voters. Along with his daughter, attorney Ricci Welch, Mr. Land represented the Macedonia Baptist Church in its lawsuit against the Klan after they burned down the church in 1995.

When you have stood in Manning High School, the Junior High School, or the Early Childhood Center, you can thank Senator John Land for either finding the money or lending his considerable influence in the state and the nation to fund these fine, modern facilities. The same goes for many educational facilities in the other school districts of Clarendon county.

Harry Briggs was among 20 African American parents in Clarendon County, South Carolina, who sued the local school board over the issue of unequal education opportunities being provided for their children. The case, Briggs v. Elliott, was eventually joined with four other lawsuits to form the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional.

Harry Briggs worked at a gas station and his wife worked for a motel. As the court case moved forward, both were let go from their jobs. Because he had served in the Army, he was able to take advantage of a government farm program, bought a mule, and took up farming. Like so many of the other black parents associated with this historic court case, he finally found he had to move out of the county. See PBS Learning Interview.

Rev. Joseph Armstrong DeLaine (1898-1974) was a minister and civil rights leader from Clarendon County, South Carolina. He received a B.A. from Allen University in 1931, working as a laborer and running a dry cleaning business to pay for his education.

DeLaine worked with Modjeska Simkins and the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP on the case Briggs v. Elliott, which became one of the five cases argued under Brown v. Board of Education. These cases brought an end to racial segregation in public schools across South Carolina and the United States.

As a result of his activism, Rev. DeLaine's home was burned down, as was the church of which he was the pastor. A warrant was issued for his arrest for returning gunfire when his parsonage came under hostile gunfire. He was forced to leave South Carolina, never to return to his home state before his death. He moved first to New York City and then on to Buffalo, New York, where he founded another Methodist church. He died in 1974.

Rev. DeLaine had taught school in South Carolina and served as the principal of of Scotts Branch school, also known as the Liberty Hill colored school. He was also the pastor of Liberty Hill African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. In 2006, he was inducted into South Carolina's Educational Hall of Honor at the University of South Carolina.

In 2004, Rev. DeLaine and 3 other plaintiffs in the Briggs v. Elliott court case were posthumously awarded Congressional gold medals in 2004 for their courage and persistence in changing the education system in the U.S. for the better, despite repeated acts of community violence against them. See Wikipedia.

Robert “Mutt” Osborne was a native of Clarendon county. On January 11, 1944, Sergeant Osborne flew as a gunner aboard a 'Flying Fortress' in a strike against Oschersleben, Germany. The B-17 bomber was badly shot up and fell out of control. Robert Osborne bailed out along with other crew members and was captured. He spent the rest of the war (17 months) in a POW camp in Krems, Austria.

Reuben B. Clark, of Paxville, was the first African American Magistrate to serve Clarendon County since Reconstruction. He served as Magistrate for 17 years. In 1995, Judge Clark was awarded the state of South Carolina’s highest honor, The Order of the Palmetto, by former Gov. Carroll Campbell. Reuben Clark was a Charter Member in the Manning branch of the N.A.A.C.P.

Prominent Women from Clarendon County

ElizabethPeyre Richardson Manning (1794-1873) was the niece, wife, sister, mother, aunt and grandmother of six South Carolina governors. The town of Manning was named after her son, John Lawrence Manning.

Caroline Johnson was the first black women to enter the business world in Clarendon County. Courthouse records show that Mrs. Johnson acquired a farm consisting of 354 acres of land which, at that time, made her one of the major landholders in the area. In addition to establishing one of the first cotton gins in the county, she also established the Johnson Mercantile Company.

Anne Custis Burgess a music teacher and resident of Summerton, S.C., composed the music to the state song "Carolina".

Althea Gibson a world reknowned tennis player born in Clarendon county was the first black woman to win at Wimbledon.

Peggy Parish was an American writer known best for the children's book series and fictional character Amelia Bedelia.

Marion McKnight won the Miss America title in 1957;

Ann Worsham Richardson was noted as the Audubon artist of our time. No other South Carolinian has done more to portray the avian wildlife of the Palmetto State.

Pansy Ridgeway became the first woman to be elected mayor of Manning in 1969. She served as mayor of Manning from 1970–96 and was the third woman elected mayor in South Carolina. She was also the first woman elected president of the South Carolina Municipal Association.

Julia Nelson completed Senator Johnson’s term as Mayor of Manning when he was elected Representative and she was unopposed in the next election. Julia Nelson was the first Black female to hold the position of Mayor in the City of Manning.

* See Historic Women of Clarendon County for more detail.

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