Biographies  Fairfield County - South Carolina Genealogy Trails BUCHANAN, OSMUND WOODWARD, lawyer, jurist, was born in Winnsboro, Fairfield county, South Carolina, September 16, 1858, son of Doctor Robert Augustus and Rebecca C. (Woodward) Buchanan. His father was a physician of high attainments, and his forbears include a number of notable names in the early and later military and political annals of the country. His mother was a daughter of Osmund Woodward. On the paternal side he is of Scotch and one the maternal side of English lineage. The Buchanans, before their settlement in this country, left Scotland and removed to County Antrim, in the north of Ireland, where they settled near Ballymeeny, and from which place Creighton Buchanan, grandfather of Osmund W., came to America. It seems that there were three boys there besides him, two of whom, John and Robert, likewise came over and were members of the Mount Zion society, which organized and kept up Mount Zion college, at Winnsboro, an educational institution that has done much for the upper part of South Carolina. John became a captain in the American army and Robert a lieutenant. The latter died in the service, after refusing medical service from Colonel Phillips, his cousin, of the British army, and is buried at Haddrell's Point (now Mount Pleasant). John lived at Winnsboro, South Carolina, many years after the War of the Revolution. He was the first regular American officer who received the Marquis de Lafayette at Georgetown; and when that celebrated general revisited the state old Fortune, Captain Buchanan's negro body servant, was recognized by him. Subsequently this faithful old servant was given a home near Winnsboro, and this gave the name to Fortune Spring Woods, a park in the present town of Winnsboro. Creighton Buchanan had three sons: John, who was adjutant in the War of 1812, afterward state senator, for many years, from Fairfield, and a signer of the ordinance of secession of 1860; Dr. Robert A., father of the subject of this sketch; and Calvin, who died in Texas. Of the daughters, Rachel married John McMaster; Eliza married McKinney Elliott. William Buchanan, the fourth brother, died a short time before his wife and children left Ireland. One of his daughters married her cousin, and the children were James H. Carlisle, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, a signer of the secession ordinance and who was for many years president and a professor in Wofford college, at Spartanburg; John, who was a captain in the Confederate army; Thomas, of Fairfield county; and Mrs. Morrison, also of Fairfield county, mother of Professor William Morrison, of Clemson college. John H. Buchanan, of Chester, and his sister, now Mrs. Ferguson, were grandchildren; and another descendant married James McCreight, long since deceased. John Buchanan, an uncle, called General Buchanan because he was a major general of the militia of the upper division of the state of South Carolina, and who signed the ordinance of secession of 1860, had several children. Of these, John M. died in Washington county, Texas, leaving a large family; Samuel W. J. died in early manhood; William Creighton, who went to Kansas, taking negroes with him to help the state decide in favor of Southern rights, but returned in time to enter the Confederate army, became adjutant of the Twelfth South Carolina regiment, and was killed at Ox Hill, Virginia; and a daughter, who married Doctor Edward Palmer, who died leaving a son, Reverend Wallace Palmer, pastor of a Presbyterian church in New Orleans, Louisiana. On the maternal side, his ancestors were Norman English. The Woodwards take the name from having been wood guards (king's foresters), changed into Woodwards, and then to Woodward, keepers of the game preserves of William the Norman, with whom they came from Normandy to England. The family emigrated to Maryland. Thomas Woodward (the father of the Regulator) was born near Annapolis, Maryland. Some of the children, by his first wife, went to Dinwiddie county, Virginia, and others went into North Carolina. The latter branch of the family omitted one " w" in the spelling of the name, and the name now borne by that branch is spelled Woodard. His second wife was Elizabeth Simpson, of Fairfax county, Virginia. He died while on a trip to his old home in Maryland, whither he had gone to remove his children to his new home in Fairfax county. His second wife bore him one child, Thomas Woodward (the Regulator). Thomas Woodward, known as the "Regulator," on account of his prominence in the Revolutionary struggle, was in the British army in the war against the French and Indians. At the close of that war he had risen to a captaincy and was ordered to the frontier of South Carolina, and subsequently took a prominent part in raising the Revolutionary forces in the up-country of South Carolina. He was a member of the provincial congress of 1775, called for the purpose of carrying the state into the revolution, and was killed in defence of the liberty of the colonies at Dutchman's Creek, Fairfield county, while leading his men in a fight with the British and Tories. A shaft in the graveyard of the Woodward family, near Winnsboro, South Carolina, tells of his life and death in the early struggle for independence. He was twice married: First, to Jemima Collins, who died while he was in service, leaving four daughters and two sons, John and William; second, to Mrs. Elizabeth May (nee Stokes), who bore him one son, Thomas, and several daughters. Both of his sons by his first wife were officers in the Revolutionary forces. William represented a South Carolina district in the lower house of the United States congress for several years, as did also Joseph A. Woodward, who afterward removed to Alabama, where he died. John Woodward was appointed by the state of South Carolina one of the commissioners to purchase the claim of North Carolina to the Catawba canal, at that time an important public work. His son, Osmund Woodward, grandfather of Judge Buchanan, represented his county in the state legislature. Thomas Woodward, son by the second wife of Thomas the Regulator, served as a youth in the American army, married Mary Howard and settled in Elbert county, Georgia. There were three children from this union, two sons and one daughter. The elder son was General Thomas S. Woodward, who became a brigadier general of volunteers in the United States service against the Indians; the younger son died early, and the daughter became the wife of General James C. Watson, who resided during the latter years of his life at Columbus, Georgia. General Thomas S. Woodward (called by the Creek Indians Chula-Tarla-emathla) is spoken of by General Jackson in a letter to J. J. Hooper, of Montgomery, Alabama, of date September 30, 1819, as "a brave, intrepid and gallant soldier." He was present at the Nachetouche congress that in some mysterious way is supposed to have had some influence over the Texan desire for independence from Mexico. Doubtless Houston and Woodward both represented President Jackson and his policies there. The biography of Houston and his visits to Jackson would seem to lend color to this view; and Jackson's well known regard for Houston caused more than one attack on his administration. Woodward's position in the army probably kept him from engaging in that struggle. There were many descendants of John Woodward, of which possibly the best known in South Carolina was Major Thomas W. Woodward, deceased, for many years a senator from Fairfield county, and a brave officer of the Sixth South Carolina regiment, Confederate army. The most prominent descendants of William Woodward (son of the Regulator) were Joseph A. Woodward, for five consecutive terms a member of the congress of the United States; Colonel John J. Woodward, of the Tenth regiment, Alabama troops, Confederate States army, killed at Gaines Mill; and Colonel Edward Woodward, of the Confederate army. Judge Buchanan's father was devoted to his profession, was a loyal friend, of good heart and high character, but quick in temper and stern in manner. He was well equipped for his life's work, and had a great fund of information, general and special. Although his personal fortune was swept away by the ravages of the War between the States, yet he gave his children the best educational advantages that the condition of the times afforded. Osmund was sent to Mount Zion Military institute in his native town, and when the school was changed to Mount Zion college he continued his studies and received a good classical education. He read widely in history, biography, and English literature, and showed an early predilection for the law. His father had Intended that his son should adopt his own profession, and, indeed, started him in that direction, but soon saw that it would be better to allow him to follow his natural bent. He accordingly entered the law office of the late Colonel James H. Rion, and was admitted to the bar in 1880 before the supreme court of the state. He rose rapidly in his profession, and took, at the same time, a deep interest in public and political affairs. He served in the state legislature from Fairfield county. In 1892-94 he was assistant attorney general of the state. He was twice elected attorney general, and before the expiration of his last term, December 4, 1894, he was elected a circuit judge of the courts of the state for the term commencing December 8, 1894, and was reflected at the end of a four years' term, serving in all from 1894 to 1902. After his retirement from the bench he resumed the practice of law, as a member of the law firm of Buchanan & Hanahan, located at Winnsboro, South Carolina. He is the author of Buchanan's "Annotated Code of Civil Procedure of South Carolina," first published in 1888. In politics he is a Democrat; in religion a Presbyterian. He holds membership in the various Masonic bodies. He was probably the youngest grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows on record in the state. The career of Judge Buchanan in the law and in the public service of his state has been eminently in keeping with the record of both branches of his ancestry in that respect. A man of ample legal learning, an attractive personality, patriotic instincts, human purposes, and a deep sense of personal responsibility, he has always met his duties as they were imposed upon him, and by so doing he has created for himself an enduring place in the affections and respect of his fellows. On January 2, 1889, he married Sophie Ann Tillman, daughter of Honorable George D. Tillman, of Edgefield county, South Carolina. Seven children have been born to this union, four of whom are now living. After the above sketch was in type Judge Buchanan died at Augusta, Georgia, on March 17, 1908. His death resulted from a bullet wound received on the previous day while he was a passenger on a railroad train near Wards, South Carolina. 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