Biographies  Fairfield County - South Carolina Genealogy Trails   BEATY, J. H. MEANS, practical manufacturer, formerly director of Clemson Textile school, and now (1908) general manager of large cotton mills, was born in Winnsboro, Fairfield county, South Carolina, January 30, 1871. His father, James Beaty, a merchant, favorably known for his diligence in business, his keen business foresight, his attention to details, served as a trustee of Mt. Zion institute and was captain in the Seventeenth South Carolina regiment. His mother, Sarah Thome Beaty, although she was an invalid for the last five years of her life and died while her son was young, left upon him a strong impression, morally and spiritually. He is of Scotch Irish Presbyterian stock. Mr. Beaty's life has an exceptional interest for boys and young men, because of his intense determination to make his way along a definite line of effort which has characterized his career. "Determination in the face of obstacles," he feels, has been the distinguishing mark of his life. He was not strong in his boyhood, which was passed in a village; but he had a very special interest in the use of tools and machinery from his earliest years; and he always had some regular daily tasks to perform. This, he says, "taught me regularity; attention to small duties; the habit of putting business, no matter how small it might seem, before pleasure; close attention to details, and the desire to have some results to show for my work. I did not care especially for the kind of work that was assigned to me when a boy, but I tried to do it thoroughly and quickly." "The biographies of successful men from boyhood have stimulated my ambition to hard work." He studied at Mt. Zion institute; attended the South Carolina university from 1888 to 1891, but was not graduated, as the mechanical department was transferred to Clemson college in 1891, and Mr. Beaty then left college to go to work. He apprenticed himself to learn the machinist's trade in the Southern railway shops at Columbia, South Carolina, and was there until 1895. Then he definitely chose the manufacture of cotton as his business.   His own words may help young people who may be left, as he says he was left, to "make my own choice, my parents long dead": "After completing my apprenticeship in the railway shops at Columbia, South Carolina, I went to Chester, South Carolina, and began work in a yarn mill there. The understanding was that I should get no wages until I earned them. I was to be at my own expense while learning. The first pay day brought me compensation at the rate of sixty cents per day from the first minute I entered the mill. In six months I was appointed superintendent of the same mill and operated it as such for about two years. In the six months previous to being made superintendent I did any and all kinds of work throughout the mill; and some of it was very dirty work." His rapid promotion in this, his first mill, was only a prophecy of the favor his energy and perseverance would win for him. Later he was superintendent of the Norris Cotton mill at Cateechee, South Carolina, from November 20, 1897, to September 20, 1898. From September, 1898, to June, 1905, he was director of the Clemson Textile school; and from June, 1905, to March, 1907, he was the assistant of Lewis W. Parker, president of several cotton mills. On the date last named he was transferred from Greenville to Columbia and became general manager of the Olympia and Granby cotton mills, which belong to the system of mills of which Mr. Parker is president. He feels that the greatest public service he has rendered has been done in the effort to "aid the milling industry and the people engaged therein; my especial desire has been to put a textile training within reach of the poor mill-boy. This will be a great public service if successfully carried out." Mr. Beaty has made several improvements in machines and in processes, but has not endeavored to take patents on them. He married Miss Louise McFadden, of Chester, South Carolina, December 5, 1901. He is a Democrat. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. Walking is his favorite exercise, and reading his favorite diversion. To his young fellow citizens he says: "Always be contented, but never satisfied. I speak from experience. I have often been restless and discontented; and I have found that it worked against my progress. Be sober, honest and industrious; not afraid of work and not too fond of society.  Men of Mark in South Carolina By James Calvin Hemphill Published 1907 - transcribed and contributed by Barb Ziegenmeyer BACK © all rights reserved to the original submitter