Thursday, January 1, 2015

Tolliver Cleveland Callison Sr. (1884-1966)




North Carolina Attorney General Tolliver Cleveland Callison.

  The
following write-up takes us to Edgefield County, South Carolina and one
Tolliver Cleveland Callison, whose name I located several years ago via
the Who Was Who In America Volume IV, 1961-1968. A practicing
attorney for over five decades, Callison served a decade as city
solicitor for South Carolina's 11th judicial circuit and in 1951 began a
eight year stint as Attorney General of South Carolina. 
   The son of former state legislator Preston Brooks Callison and the former Mattie Ella White,
Tolliver Cleveland Callison was born in Callison, Edgefield County,
South Carolina on July 17, 1884. Bestowed the names "Tolliver Cleveland"
upon his birth, Callison would refrain from using his first and middle names
during his career in public service, opting instead to use the initials
"T.C. Callison." A graduate of the University of South Carolina's Law
School in the class of 1909, Callison joined the law firm of Thurmond and Timmerman
in 1912, the senior partner of that firm being John William Thurmond
(1862-1934), father of long-time U.S. Senator and South Carolina
Governor J. Strom Thurmond (1902-2003). 
   "T.C." Callison married on December 17, 1913 to Margaret Reel (1888-1960), with whom he would have five children:
Ruby (1914-2013), Tolliver Jr. (1916-1994), Helen Rawl (1919-2006),
Jack Reel (1920-2005) and Preston Harvey Callison (born 1923). Of these
children
Preston Harvey would
follow his father into public life, serving two terms as Lexington
County's representative to the Soutth Carolina General Assembly from
1965-66 and 1969-70.
   From 1912-1920 Callison was affiliated with the Thurmond and Timmerman law firm and in 1921 entered into service as Solicitor for South Carolina's 11th judicial circuit. He would serve in this capacity for sixteen years, being defeated for reelection
in 1937 by Jeff D. Smith. Three years following his defeat Callison was
tapped to serve as assistant attorney general of South Carolina,
holding that post under Attorney General John McDaniel.
   In 1951
John McDaniel retired after serving twenty-six years as Attorney
General and shortly thereafter T.C. Callison was elected to succeed him.
He would be reelected as attorney general in 1954 and left office in
1959. He held the chairmanship of the Southern Conference of Attorney Generals in 1954 and was also active in other aspects of South Carolina public life, being a former President of the Bank of Lexington, South Carolina (1948-1965) and past president of the South Carolina State Board of Public Welfare, serving in that capacity until his death.
  Widowed
in 1960, Tolliver Cleveland Callison died on March 17, 1966 at age 81.
He was survived by all of his children and was buried at the East View Cemetery in Edgefield, South Carolina, the same resting place as that of his wife.
A T.C. Callison campaign notice from the Aiken Standard and Review.


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