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Greenville & Columbia Officers President Thomas C. Perrin |
| The following brief biography of Thomas C. Perrin is provided by Conrad Cheatham, originally from Abbeville, S. C. |
| Thomas Chiles Perrin was the second president of the Greenville & Columbia Railroad. He was born on a plantation in what became McCormick County, South Carolina, October 1, 1805. He graduated from the South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) in 1827. He became a lawyer with a firm that had its offices in the group of offices used by John C. Calhoun and Governor Patrick Noble. In 1830, Perrin married Jane Eliza Wadlaw, whose father served 50 years as the Clerk of the Court for Abbeville, S. C. Thomas and Jane had thirteen children. |
| After their marriage, the Perrins lived on a family plantation, then built a house in Abbeville in the 1850's. The new home was a multi-story house, with 28 rooms and 19 fireplaces. A large reservoir in the attic supplied running hot and cold water. The house had gas lights and an observatory on the roof. The building was destroyed by fire in 1877. |
| Perrin entered politics in 1842, when he was elected to the Legislature. In 1844, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate and served two terms. |
| Construction of the Greenville & Columbia Railroad began in 1849, under President John Belton O'Neall. Constructing the railroad had been hard, dealing with heavy rains and floods and the drowning death of Chief Engineer Brown and his son. Perrin had been a major supporter of efforts to get the city of Abbeville into the national rail system. When construction was completed, Judge O'Neall retired and Perrin was elected President in 1853 and annually until 1866. |
| Perrin had a strong concern over the future of the country if Abraham Lincoln was elected President. Lincoln was elected in 1860 and a States Rights meeting was held on a hill in Abbeville, with some 3,000 people attending. Perrin presided and the county voted to secede. Perrin became the Chairman of the delegation chosen to represent the county at a State Succession Convention which was held in Charleston, December 17-20, 1860. That group called on South Carolina to secede from the Union. |
| Perrin had moved his law offices to Washington Street, which led to thee railroad facilities. Mrs. Perrin became very active in the Ladies Aid group that ministered aid and food to troops trains passing through the area. |
| In the last days of the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet left Richmond for other states. As they passed through Abbeville, President and Mrs. Davis and some others stayed at the Burke House. Secretary of State Judah Benjamin stayed at the Perrin house. Perrin's daughter wrote in her diary that Secretary Benjamin signed 8,000 discharge papers for the soldiers in the area. One of the officials asked Perrin about the great seal of the Confederate States and he suggested throwing it into the Savannah River. |
| Perrin did not stand for re-election as President of the Greenville & Columbia Railroad in 1866. The railroad and the state were in shambles. Perrin had lost two sons and a younger brother killed during the war. |
| Perrin remained active in the Presbyterian church until his death, May 14, 1878, from a heart problem. |
| Sources: Abbeville newspapers, The History of Railroads in Greenwood County, archives of the Southern Railway, Perrin's obituary, and The History of the South Carolina Military Academy |