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SPC Charter Member: Jesse L. Garlington

Jessie Louise Garlington (1876-1958)

            Jessie Louise was born Nov. 25, 1876 to John L. and Emma (Allen) Garlington.  At the time of her inclusion in the original membership of Second Church in March 1892, she was anticipating her sixteenth birthday in the fall.  It is believed that the photograph of her was taken at about the time the church was organized.  It is also believed that Jessie studied at Chicora College while living with her uncle and aunt, Robert E. and Cornelia Allen.  Jessie’s aunt and uncle were also original members of Second Church.  Robert was the brother of Jessie’s mother, Emma.
            Sometime following her graduation from Chicora, Miss Garlington became a grammar School teacher in Greenville at the Brandon Mill School.  It may be remembered that the Brandon Mill baseball team provided the opportunity for “Shoeless” Joe Jackson to play baseball and eventually advance to the majors.  Miss Jessie taught both first and second grades at different times during her teaching at Brandon.  She lived in rented residences until she roomed with her Aunt Cornelia following the death of her uncle Robert.  Eventually she moved to a home in the Brandon Mill community near the mill building.  According to the 1940 Census, she had been living there since at least April 1935.
            During Miss Jessie’s teaching tenure some changes took place in the educational program provided by the textile mills in Greenville.  In 1922, concerned mill executives petitioned the state legislature to create the Parker School District, which included several mill schools in the western part of Greenville.  A new addition to the program was the provision of education beyond the grammar school at Parker High School.  The high school gave selected children the opportunity to continue their educations in their own community.  Until the high school was built, mill families that could afford it paid five dollars per month to have their children educated at Greenville High School.  Generally, until the establishment of Parker High School, the mill executives saw no need to educate their employees’ children beyond the elementary level because it was expected that the children would work in the mills after completing the grammar school program.  The Parker District included thirteen elementary schools and the new high school.  By the 1928-29 academic year, Parker District was second in size to the Greenville City Schools with the former registering 6,300 students and the latter including 7,600.  The Parker School District was in operation from 1922 to 1952.
            At some point, Miss Garlington’s declining health required her to move into a local nursing home.  When she died in 1958, she was a member of the Bible Presbyterian Church and she attended the Ladies’ Bible Class of the Sunday School.  She had left Second Church in 1940 along with many other members to join with the departing pastor, Flournoy Shepperson, in the founding of the Bible Presbyterian Church on Augusta Road, which continues today as Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church (PCA).  Miss Jessie was survived by two sisters, Mrs. Horace M. Farr of the Berea community and Miss Minnie Garlington of Maryland, one brother, R. E. Garlington of Greenville, and several nieces and nephews.

            The photograph of the old Brandon Mill building was taken by the author from West Avenue on August 25, 2012.  To the left may be seen the mill’s white water tower which is mostly obscured by the tree in the foreground.  The baseball field is a part of Shoeless Joe Jackson Memorial Park.







This post first appeared on The Corner Of River And Rhett, please read the originial post: here

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SPC Charter Member: Jesse L. Garlington

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