Taking a look back at Timmonsville’s namesake

The Rev. J. Morgan Timmons must have been quite a fellow. He is best remembered for having the town of Timmonsville named after him, but according to the January 1942 edition of The Whirlwind, Timmonsville High School student newspaper, he was a busy guy.

The Whirlwind ran an article that month titled “Timmonsville in Early Days,” which quoted from the Darlington Flag of April 16, 1854, which was from the scrapbook of Dr. James Ervin Byrd, a pioneer resident of the town. Another source was the scrapbook of Mrs. R.B. Cannon.

Timmons got the town named after him because he helped the first railroad line build through this area. He is said to have ridden by horse and buggy much of the route planned by the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad — from Wilmington to the Wateree River — to secure rights of way.

Dr. Byrd, according to The Whirlwind, moved to what was to become Timmonsville on Jan. 8, 1851, and established the first store on the site.

Soon after Byrd’s store, Timmons appeared and established a steam and grist mill, a turpentine distillery, “a large and commodious hotel” and a store under the name of Timmons and Hickson.

The Darlington paper paid close attention to Timmonsville because it then was in Darlington County. It said that soon after the railroad came, Timmonsville had a school house, blacksmith shop, drug store, two physicians and three stores, with a fourth under construction.

Besides the interests listed in Byrd’s clippings, within a few years, Timmons was said to have operated a line of riverboats which The Whirlwind said operated between Georgetown and Effingham. That would have required coming up the Lynches River from about the Johnsonville area, so I don’t know.

It said he had stores in Elim and Effingham. He also had a lumber mill and brick kiln. His Timmonsville interests were operated by his sons, Maxey and John Morgan Timmons Jr. and son-in-law, Furman Hickson.

In addition to all of that, Timmons served as pastor of the Elim Baptist Church for about 45 years and was a community leader. A J. Morgan Timmons, who must have been he, was also a member of the secession convention in 1860 and signed the Ordinance of Secession.

Clippings in Mrs. Cannon’s scrapbook said in the mid-1850s “the sound of hammer and plane, the roar of the cars and the sound of various whistles of steam mill, with others in the hearing of Timmonsville and the daily passage of two to three hundred strangers through our little village gives it quite a business air and when it is known, that the inexhaustible pine forest for turpentine and lumber, that our clay lands are the best for cotton and that this part of Darlington is considered quite healthful, why not congratulate ourselves that Timmonsville will soon be a great place.”

Steve Anderson came up with several 60-plus year-old THS newspapers that he shared.

In a 1942 Whirlwind opinion piece, student Catherine Sansbury wrote that “The call of arms is ringing in the ears of every single American in this land.” Just the month before that, Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. was plunged into World War II.

She said war was more than bullets and guns. The little things count, too, and she urged fellow students to save paper, rags and other things. Conservation could help the war effort. She was quite right.

A December 1940 edition reported on the Timmonsville Christmas parade, which featured an Army company from Fort Jackson. Also marching were students from Timmonsville, Sardis, Lake Swamp and Center and a band. Santa distributed gifts to children in the middle of town.

In March 1941, a Whirlwind news item reported that senior Elinor Babb had won the Miss Timmonsville High School title. Runnersup were sophomore Janette Truluck, junior Helen Keels and freshman Emma Jane Mims. Betty Coussac was Little Miss Timmonsville High.

Sports items revealed that Jack Shivers was coach at THS. Later he was coach at Florence High School and still later was a high official with the state Department of Juvenile Corrections.

Banks Scarborough, another report said, placed second in the county Declamation Contest. An item said seniors had gone to Columbia to witness a session of the Legislature. Another paper told of a student trip during which they visited the new Santee-Cooper project.

Timmonsville High must have been busy.

— Thom Anderson is a retired journalist who has 40 years experience with South Carolina newspapers, including the Morning News. He can be reached at .