BASS, WILLIAM LEONIDAS, teacher, superintendent of schools,
editor, since 1899 engaged in the practice of law at Lake City, South
Carolina, and solicitor for the Bank of Lake City, was born six miles from
Scranton, Florence, now Marion county, South Carolina, on the 10th of
March, 1862. His father, Thomas Randolph Bass, a physician and farmer, was
a member of the house of representatives of South Carolina from 1872 to
1874, representing Marion county; and he led the first Democratic
delegation elected after the "Reconstruction" period. He is spoken of by
his son as a man of marked ability, energy and devotion to duty, and of
high principle. His ancestors came from Burton-on-Trent, England.
His great-grandfather, Henry Bass, settled in Transylvania county,
Virginia, before the Revolution.Joseph Bass, his son, removed from
Virginia to Marion county, where his son, Thomas Randolph Bass, and his
grandson, William L. Bass, were born. Thomas R. Bass married Mary Anna
Carter, who is the mother of Mr. William L. Bass.
All his early
boyhood was passed in the country. He had robust health until his
thirteenth year, when paraplegia permanently crippled him, compelling him
then and ever since to walk only with the help of a crutch. His natural
taste for reading and for experimenting with machinery and with electrical
devices, marked even before his thirteenth year, was perhaps strengthened
after he was cut off from the forms of active exercise common in boyhood
and youth. He was trained to work with his hands in his early boyhood and
"learned to love work and regular tasks." He had the advantage only of the
ordinary common schools until he was thirteen; for several years after
that time poor health interfered with study; but in June, 1884, he
completed the course for teachers at South Carolina
college.
He then read law in the office of Hon. Thomas M. Gilland at
Kingstree, and by examination before the supreme court he was admitted to
the bar in 1885. It is interesting to note in Mr. Bass's record, of the
books which have had the strongest influence upon his life, the names of
authors to whom so many of the strong men of the last half century have
felt themselves indebted for inspiration and moral fiber. He names: "The
Bible and Josephus, Plutarch, Guizot's History of Civilization, Ruskin's
Sesame and Lilies, Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, Macaulay's History, and Hugh
Miller's Testimony of the Rocks, with Campbell's poetry."
In 1889
he took the position of principal of the Lake City high school; and in
1896 he resigned that position to become superintendent of the graded
schools of Blackville, South Carolina.
From 1897 to 1898 he was
editor of the Valdosta (Georgia) "Mercury." Since 1899 he has been
practicing law at Lake City.
His natural bent and his ambition and
desire led him toward the study of natural science and the pursuit of
physical, chemical and electrical research; but necessity and the logic of
events have made him a lawyer; and he has attained a good measure of
success in his profession. For many years he has contributed articles to
the newspapers and periodical press.
On the 16th of June, 1886, he
married Miss Eddie R. Lucas, daughter of Edward R. Lucas, of Darlington,
South Carolina, who was in charge of the printing of currency at Columbia
for the Confederate States during the war. They have had four children,
two of whom are living in 1907.
While in college he was a member
of the Euphradian society, serving for two terms as its president. He is
vice-chancellor commander in the Knights of Pythias. He has been prominent
in the order and the work of the Good Templars.
In his party relations
he acts and votes with the Democratic party. He was a member of the house
of representatives of South Carolina from 1902 to 1906. In the year last
named he was elected senator from Williamsburg, which office he now holds.
He is connected with the Missionary Baptist denomination. His
favorite amusement and exercise he has found in fishing.
He
writes: "I also enjoy the use of an automobile, but I find nothing
comparable with the 'big end of a fishing rod.'"
To the younger
people of South Carolina he offers this suggestion: "Learn that luxury
enervates; and that mere money- getting is an unworthy aim in life, and an
aim which is followed by no truly great and earnest
man."
