Quattlebaum Family Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0076
The Quattlebaum Papers consist primarily of correspondence and business records of Cephas Perry Quattlebaum (1851-1929) and the correspondence, reports, and research relating to Paul Quattlebaum's (1886-1964) career as a utility executive, his service as a state senator from Horry County, and his activity as a genealogist and historian. Also included in this collection are a group of letters and documents from General Paul Quattlebaum (1812-1890) related primarily to family matters. There are also papers related to Paul Quattlebaum, Jr.'s (1912-2003) service on the Board of Trustees of Clemson University. The Quattlebaum Papers hold research potential in the areas of twentieth-century South Carolina politics, Peedee area and Horry County history, and South Carolina genealogy.
General Paul Quattlebaum was born July 8, 1812, in Lexington District, South Carolina, the son of Captain John and Metee Burkett Quattlebaum. Educated in local schools, at the age of eighteen he married Sarah Caroline Jones Prothro of Edgefield District. He served as an officer in the Seminole War of 1835-36, and upon returning home was commissioned colonel and later brigadier general in the South Carolina Militia. An active planter and industrialist, Quattlebaum's ventures included lumber and flour mills and a rifle factory. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives (1840-44), the State Senate (1848-52), and was a signer of the Ordinance of Secession. General Paul Quattlebaum died October 18, 1890.
Among his several surviving children was Cephas Perry Quattlebaum. Cephas Perry Quattlebaum was born in Lexington District, South Carolina, on May 19, 1851. He received his early education from private tutors and read law in the office of Major H. A. Meetze, a local attorney. Gaining admittance to the South Carolina Bar in 1874, he soon moved to Conwayborough (now Conway), South Carolina and began practicing law in partnership with W. D. Johnson and J. Monroe Johnson. He took an active part as a "Red Shirt" in the gubernatorial campaign of 1876 and organized a rifle club in Horry County. Heavily involved in fraternal organizations and civic affairs, Cephas Perry Quattlebaum led the movement for the incorporation of the town of Conway in 1898 and served as its first mayor. He married Janette Taylor McQueen (1852-1927) of Chesterfield County, South Carolina, on December 23, 1884. His oldest child, Paul, was born two years later. Cephas Perry Quattlebaum died July 20, 1929.
Paul Quattlebaum was born February 25, 1886, at Conway, South Carolina. He attended private schools and received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and mechanical engineering from Clemson Agricultural College in 1907. While at Clemson, Quattlebaum served as president of the Calhoun Literary Society, treasurer of the Y.M.C.A., secretary of the college Sunday School, and exchange editor of The Tiger.
Following graduation Quattlebaum returned to Conway and embarked on careers in business and politics. He organized the Conway Light and Power Company in 1907 and subsequently founded the Quattlebaum Ice Company (1912) and the Quattlebaum Light and Ice Company (1915), working as chief executive of this firm until his retirement in 1930. Paul Quattlebaum represented Horry County in the South Carolina Senate from 1935 to 1944. He sat on various Senate committees and took a personal interest in the oversight of the State Historical Commission, now known as the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Agitation by Senator Quattlebaum to enhance the facilities of the Medical College of South Carolina resulted in the dramatic growth of that school. He followed politics avidly throughout his life and after his retirement became involved in the Eisenhower presidential campaign of 1952.
After leaving the Senate Quattlebaum focused his efforts on historical and genealogical research and church and civic affairs. His publishing credits include a massive genealogical project titled Quattlebaum: A Palatine Family in South Carolina which appeared in the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (1947-48) and The Land Called Chicora (1956), a scholarly monograph dealing with early European settlements on the South Carolina coast. His civic interests involved serving on the Board of Trustees of Queens College (1930-1964), being President of the Conway Chamber of Commerce (1935-36; 1944-45), President of the Conway Lions Club (1956-57), and life member of the Horry County Library Commission. A lifelong Presbyterian, Paul Quattlebaum was a ruling elder of Kingston Presbyterian Church (1907-64) in Conway and devoted himself to local, state, and denomination-wide church activities.
Paul Quattlebaum married Sue Martin of Marion, South Carolina, November 22, 1911. They had four children: Paul, Jr., Laura Janette, Katherine McQueen, and Sue Martin. He died August 9, 1964.
Paul Quattlebaum, Jr. was born September 14, 1912 in Conway, South Carolina. He attended Clemson College and graduated in 1933 with a degree in electrical engineering. Moving to Charleston after graduation, Paul managed a retail appliance store until called to military service in 1942. In 1947 Paul was a member of the South Carolina Education Survey Committee. During the post war years, he was active in numerous fraternal, civic and business organizations including the Chamber of Commerce where he was chair of the military affairs committee during a period of rapid expansion of military bases in the Charleston area. In 1960 he sold his appliance business and became director of the South Carolina Field Office of the United States Department of Commerce for almost twenty years. That same year, he was elected by the General Assembly to become a member of the Board of Trustees of Clemson. Upon the completion of his fifth term as an elected trustee on January 1, 1980, he was awarded the title Trustee Emeritus. Paul Quattlebaum continued to loyally serve Clemson University for over the next twenty years, attending Board meetings and University events for years until near his death on May 15, 2003.
Paul Quattlebaum Jr. married Margaret Lillian Hass of Charleston in 1937 with whom he raised three daughters: Patricia Sue Quattlebaum, Margaret Quattlebaum Hahn, and the Rev. Laura Quattlebaum. After the death of Margaret Quattlebaum in 1975 Paul married Verbia Elane Arnold in 1976.
35 Cubic Feet
English
The Quattlebaums were German Protestant pioneers who helped settle the "Dutch Fork" area of South Carolina (present Lexington and Newberry Counties) in the 1760's. The family has provided South Carolina with political leaders, engineers, soldiers, teachers, farmers, and executives for more than 200 years. Four generations of the Quattlebaum family are represented in this collection.
The Quattlebaum Papers consist primarily of correspondence, reports, and research relating to Paul Quattlebaum's career as a utility executive, his service as a state senator from Horry County, and his activity as a genealogist and historian. Also included in this collection are a group of letters and documents from General Paul Quattlebaum related primarily to family matters, a series of business records and correspondence from Conway attorney Cephas Perry Quattlebaum and material from Paul Quattlebaum Jr. related to his service on the Clemson Board of Trustees. The Quattlebaum Papers hold research potential in the areas of twentieth-century South Carolina politics, Peedee area and Horry County history, and South Carolina genealogy.
The correspondence, documents, and records from the first series is fragmentary. The material from General Paul Quattlebaum consists of several letters to and from various Confederate government officials and military officers attempting to gain promotions for his sons, Theodore and Edmund. This series includes a long letter from James Henry Hammond to General Quattlebaum concerning Confederate politics.
The two Cephas Perry Quattlebaum series contain business records and correspondence relating to his Conway, South Carolina law practice, including the scattered records of several local businesses which passed into the receivership of Quattlebaum's law firm. There is also some correspondence with family and friends. The series is arranged chronologically.
The Clemson College series documents certain aspects of Paul Quattlebaum's career as a cadet. His activity in the Calhoun Literary Society and the YMCA represent the major topics in this small series.
The Quattlebaum Light and Ice Company series provides a picture of the operations of a locally-owned, family operated utility business in early twentieth-century South Carolina. These alphabetically-arranged files contain reference material and correspondence between Paul Quattlebaum and his customers and suppliers. This correspondence documents Paul Quattlebaum's executive traits of tenacity, diplomacy, and shrewd business judgment. There is some correspondence related to the Santee-Cooper project.
The Personal Series follows the life of Paul Quattlebaum as private citizen. It is composed chiefly of correspondence dating from the mid-1930's until his death in 1964. This correspondence documents Quattlebaum's efforts in civic and church affairs. His lifelong interest in state and national politics is reflected in many letters to and from old political colleagues. This series also holds personal family correspondence and material relating to medical and financial matters.
The Senate Series details Paul Quattlebaum's nine year tenure in the South Carolina State Senate. In addition to correspondence from constituents, politicians, and government officials, the series also holds reference material such as reports and informational memoranda. The correspondence documents the inner workings of state politics and also illuminates the internal operations of local government in Horry County. The various Horry County files, along with folders titled "Magistrates," "Sheriff," and "Delegation," help provide a glimpse of county government in the pre-Home Rule years of South Carolina. Quattlebaum's prominence in Horry politics led to his appointment as chairman of the Horry County Council of Defense, a local agency of the state-wide civil defense effort. His activity in this role is documented in the Horry County Civil Defense Series.
Although Paul Quattlebaum ended his Senate career in 1945, he remained a keen student of politics. A conservative Democrat, Quattlebaum decried the Truman administration's stance regarding national defense, organized labor, and Civil Rights. He energetically supported the candidacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and helped establish a "South Carolinians for Eisenhower" movement. During this campaign Quattlebaum ran unsuccessfully as an independent presidential elector. The Eisenhower for President Campaign Series records Quattlebaum's efforts in the 1952 election. This small series gives evidence of changing political allegiances in South Carolina and the weakening of the "Solid South" in national politics.
Paul Quattlebaum's love for South Carolina was only exceeded by love for his family. His achievements in genealogical and historical research are documented in two separate series. A Palatine Family in South Carolina and Related Materials reveals Quattlebaum's methodical genealogical research in this family history. The correspondence and reference material in this series supply a wealth of information on the German Protestant pioneers of the South Carolina midlands. The Land Called Chicora and Related Materials Series holds correspondence and research notes dealing with early European settlements on the South Carolina coast. These files furnish a potentially rich source of information for students of American frontier history. Although the primary focus of this series is research material directly related to Quattlebaum's 1956 book, The Land Called Chicora, the series also contains numerous folders pertaining to the history of the South Carolina Low Country and miscellaneous genealogical inquiries.
As a genealogist Paul Quattlebaum appreciated the need to record vital information on individuals and families. The Horry County Families Series represents his sixteen year effort in collecting obituary notices of residents of Horry County. The genealogical expertise of Paul Quattlebaum was also sought after by Emily Bellinger Reynolds and Joan Reynolds Faunt as they compiled their Biographical Directory of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, 1776-1964. The Senatorial Research Committee Series documents Quattlebaum's contributions to this volume.
The Richard Champion Series, is a manuscript volume compiled by Paul Quattlebaum in 1956. Richard Champion, a noted potter and merchant from Bristol, England, lived briefly in South Carolina in the late eighteenth-century. Paul Quattlebaum's cousin, W. Dan Quattlebaum, collected Champion porcelain and persuaded Paul Quattlebaum to write a biographical sketch of Champion.
The German Immigration Series consists of a variety of research materials related to the settlement in South Carolina by German speaking immigrants as well as their accomplishments, community and religious establishments collected by Paul Quattlebaum, Jr. It is uncertain whether any publication resulted from this research. Some material from his father’s research on A Palatine Family in South Carolina is also included.
The Northeast Corner of South Carolina Series consists of Paul Quattlebaum’s research material and manuscript drafts titled “The Northeast Corner of South Carolina or Old Georgetown District” dated during 1959. The project was discontinued after four chapters and apparently was never published.
The Paul Quattlebaum Jr. Series, 1933-2003, consists almost exclusively of material about Clemson University, primarily related to Paul Quattlebaum Jr.’s service on the Board of Trustees. The bulk of the Trustee papers are from the 1995-2001 when, as a Trustee Emeritus, he continued to participate in Board activities.
Because Paul Quattlebaum did not neatly segment his different political, historical and personal interests, there exists some overlapping of material in the twelve series. Specifically, the Personal Series and the Chicora series both contain folders related to historical research; also, correspondence between Quattlebaum and notable political figures such as James F. Byrnes, Olin D. Johnston, Burnet R. Maybank, and Strom Thurmond can be found in both the Senate Series and the Personal Series. Processing notes for most of the series are available in the reference file.
The bulk of the papers were donated by Paul Quattlebaum, Jr., Laura J. Quattlebaum, Katherine Q. Brunson, Sue Q. Grantham, and Verbia Quattlebaum. This collection consists of accessions 67-2, 70-6, 79-12, 86-59, 86-65, 86-72, 88-91, 88-116, 88-137, 95-93, 04-65, 04-91, 04-94, and 06-30.
Three pamphlets concerning the Clemson Extension Service, one alumni directory and an alumni association decal have been added to the Clemson University Archives.
Four World War II posters donated by Paul Quattlebaum Jr., accession 88-139 were added to Mss 253, the World War II Information Collection.
Berniece Holt and student Sharon Stark completed processing the papers in 1979. The collection was re-processed in 1985-1986. The register was prepared by Bryan F. McKown in 1986 with revisions by Michael Kohl in 1991 and 2006. Jen Bingham and student Kristi Roberts made minor revisions and entered the register in Archivists' Toolkit in 2010.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository