Notes for John Mallard EADDY

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Notes for John Mallard EADDY

JOHN MALLARD EADDY
Aka: "John M." and
SARA ELLEN JOHNSON HASELDEN
Aka: "Ellie"

John Mallard Eaddy was a multi-talented man who left a legacy of his
achievements through his descendants. He was born April 22, 1870 to
Henry Edison Eaddy and Elizabeth Louisa Ann (Huggins) Eaddy on the Eaddy
Plantation at Johnsonville, Williamsburg County, South Carolina. His
parents provided a home atmosphere filled with love, a great demand for
practical and formal education, and a very powerful religious heritage.
Music was a pervading influence in his life. The family often gathered
for a session of musical enjoyment around their grand piano. This love
of music was a part of his own family pleasure in later years. At age 14
he sang in the choir and led the musical worship for the Old Johnsonville
Church. He was equally talented with any instrument he chose to play,
including the common hand saw.

John M., as he was called by the family, spent his time learning the
trades necessary for the operation of a plantation. There were two
animals which did not appreciate his care. One of these was the big
horned ram that guarded the yard. This one had to be bribed with an ear
of corn to prevent being butted. The other animal was a little pet
gosling which grew up to be a mean goose. This gigantic bird appointed
itself to be the guardian of the family possessions and frequently
challenged John M. when he was a lad about six years of age. In one of
his published poems, there was a report of a confrontation with the goose
in which John M. armed himself with his father's axe and the goose was
dispatched.

John M. grew to be six feet tall in his youth. He developed an energetic
and enterprising spirit, demonstrated mathematical aptitude, possessed
great confidence, and enjoyed strong ties with his family and
associates. He and his older brother, George Huggins Eaddy, Sr.,
arranged to finance their college education by logging timber. They
would float it down the Big Pee Dee River and sell it to a saw mill near
Georgetown, South Carolina. George succeeded in graduating from Peabody
College, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee through this
effort. George died too soon afterwards to finance John M.'s education
through college. Not to be deterred, John M. completed two years at
Wofford Fitting School acquired an extensive education through self
study. Because of his mathematics skills, he became a surveyor and was
licensed by the State of South Carolina, as was his father. Many of his
plats are on file in the county court house in Kingstree, South
Carolina. John M. surveyed lands and estates in Georgetown,
Williamsburg, Marion, Florence, Darlington, and Spartanburg counties.
John M. was prudent in maintaining his possessions. He used the same
compass and staff for 40 years. It was the same instruments used by his
father at the time of the Civil War.

Sara Ellen Johnson Haselden, whom he married in 1895, was well prepared
to assume the duties of managing a household. She had capably managed
the household of her widowed father which included six children, one of
whom was a very small baby. Henry Edison Eaddy and Eliza Louisa Ann
Huggins gave them 55 acres from their home plantation on which they built
an eight room house. Rowena Adelle Eaddy and Eugene Mallard Eaddy were
born in this house. Louise Elizabeth Eaddy was born in Fowler and Ernest
Johnson Eaddy in Johnsonville, South Carolina. John M. demonstrated to
his family godliness, persistence, love of music, and the ability to
cause people to see the humorous side of life. They chose to live by the
motto "Use life in all of its phases; abuse in none".

John M. and his family were living in Lake City, South Carolina when he.
was elected Road Engineer for Williamsburg County. The family moved to
Kingstree, South Carolina during his term of service. He was very
successful and received praise for development of the county roads. Here
is an interesting letter to the editor that he wrote and which was
published in the Kingstree COUNTY RECORD, February 16, 1911.

Dear Editor,

Upon taking charge of my work I have placed an order for another steel
cage for convicts as I have more prisoners than cage area at this time
and I expect several more after next court session.

I am now buying four more mules in order to operate both road plows and
use two of the other old team on a bridge gang. I can obtain more work
and distribute it better by so doing.

I will be glad to have reports of road conditions continually from any
section of the county, most especially at this time when guano hauling is
so prevalent, that I may better facilitate this work.

Please don't plow in the road.

John M. Eaddy
Road Engineer

When his term as Williamsburg County Road Engineer ended, he chose to
return to Johnsonville, South Carolina. Back home in Johnsonville, John
M. pursued farming and surveying careers. This enabled this couple to
see all three living children acquire college degrees and become happily
married. In later years they sold their home place and moved near their
children in Spartanburg, South Carolina. There they joined in business
together, manufacturing textile machinery. This company was sold to
become a part of a company named "Synaloy", which was listed on the
American Stock Exchange, New York City.

John M. and Ellie were the first to be buried in the family plot at
Greenlawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Spartanburg. South Carolina. John
M. wrote a poem entitled, "Ye Must Be Born Again". The opening lines
from the poem are inscribed on their tombstone.

"There are no dead, there is not Death
We still live on without our Breath."

The Mountain View Nursing Home of Spartanburg County, South Carolina
opened a chapel in May 1975. The chapel was given in loving memory of
John Mallard and Sarah Ellen Johnson (Haselden) Eaddy, by their daughter
Rowena Adelle (Eaddy) Williams.

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