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John Rowland Leavell Source: ONDQ Winter 2001, vol 10, no. 4, pgs 26-28, contributed by Michael Frederick Comer, compiled by Edith Greisser, members of the Old Newberry District Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society
On a cold day in February, 1900, with a freezing rain pouring down over the mourners, John Rowland Leavell was laid to rest at Bush River Baptist Church Cemetery, located about nine miles out of Newberry, SC. Eleven of his sixteen children had lived to adulthood, and John Leavell, himself; had lived a full life, making for himself a place in the history of Newberry County.
The Leavell family had
moved to the Bush River section of Newberry District from Virginia. The
In 1851 Leavell moved
his wife and six children into the town of Newberry into a home first
owned by John Anderson and later by Hugh K Boyd. Along with them came ten
slaves to assist in the care of the large family which seemed to increase
each year. There were two cooks, two washerwomen, two nurses, two
housemaids, two men who worked in the yard and garden and also tended the
horses. The house, garden, stables and stone yard took up the entire block
which today is the block containing the Opera House and fire
house. According to newspaper
accounts, J. R. Leavell was a manager of elections in Jalapa on 21 Jan
1852, and in 1856 was “Worthy Patriot of the Lodge of the Sons of
Temperance.” Also, in 1852 it is noted that he was a deacon in the
Newberry Baptist Church. Upon his death he was Senior Deacon of that t is
uncertain why John Rowland Leavell went from farming to stone masonry,
undertaking and furniture making. Each of those trades required an amount
of expertise and apprenticeship that took some years to master. It is
possible that he had slaves who were proficient in those trades and
performed the bulk of the work. The portrait of J. R. Leavell, a copy at
the beginning of this article, reveals the large hands of a working
man. During the War Between
the States, John R. Leavell was tax collector for the Town of Newberry. He
also ran the Government Shoe Factory, which was located on the second
floor of a building on Main Street. That building was in 1900 owned by
Joseph Mann. Two of the Leavell sons fought for the South. Richard “Buddy”
Leavell was a member of Co. E, 3rd’. Regt. Kershaw’s Brigade. Just a week
before his twenty-first birthday, and after having spent three years in
the confederate army, Richard died on 30 Nov 1863, from complications due
to a leg wound which culminated in amputation. Robert Leavell, at the age
of seventeen joined the army and served with Co. A, 4th Regt.
State Reserves. After the war he became active in In 1871 the family
moved to a thirty acre residence called Oak Grove. The younger children
apparently enjoyed the move to the spacious grounds and related years
later how their Papa helped them slide down a gently slope on the grounds
after a mush enjoyed snow fall. This home is now, in 2001, being restored
by it’s present owners. Various businesses
were owned and operated by John Rowland Leavell. These included the J. R.
Leavell Funeral Home, a monument business, a furniture making business,
and a cotton brokerage firm. The funeral home was passed to his son Robert
Y., then to Robert Y.’s nephew, James Leavell, who was a son of Eugene
Leavell, another son of John R. Leavell. At some later time, the business
was moved to it’s present location on College Street where it is operated
as Whitaker Funeral Home. Elizabeth Jane
Chalmers Leavell, wife of John Rowland Leavell, died in 1885. The children
had married and left home, with the exception of the twenty-one year old
daughter, Mary Beta, who became the caretaker of Papa, who was to die five
years later. It is know that he remained active for awhile because he is
listed as serving as Jury Commissioner from 1884-1888. At that time there
was an older unmarried daughter, Fannie Leavell, who was teaching school
and living elsewhere. Into the home moved James Teague Leavell, a brother
of John R. Leavell, who remained with this family until his death on 1 Jan
1894. In 1895 Oak Grove was
sold and the three members of this family moved into a rental cottage
located on Boundary Street, a former home of Senator Mower which was later
torn down. Another account locates this rental property on Johnstone
Street. Evelyn Davis of Tennessee, a descendant of John Rowland Leavell,
relates that she understood that the Leavells moved from Oak Grove because
it had Little has been published in the local papers about John Rowland
Leavell other than the advertisements in regards to his businesses. An
article in the local paper tells us that J. R. Leavell had grown a beet
that was two feet in circumference and weighed seven and a half
pounds. The recorded death of
J. R. Leavell states he died 6 Feb 1900 of rheumatism and sciatica and had
lived in Newberry for twenty-five years, but in reality it was much
longer. His funeral was delayed until 11 Feb 1900 because his son, the
Rev. Dr. Hayne Leavell, of Houston, Texas, missed a train connection in
New Orleans. At Bush River Baptist Church Cemetery are stones marking the places of rest of many of the Leavell family, including the five children who died before reaching maturity. The eleven children who lived to adulthood were:
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