Christopher FitzSimmons 'Kit' (4th in the line) obituary — cottonseed-oil pioneer of Columbia, S.C.
Book 1, Page 308 ·1925
Transcription
[Mr. FitzSimmons’ funeral] will be held this afternoon at 4:30 o’clock at Trinity Episcopal church. The funeral party will leave Columbia for Charleston Friday morning at 6 o’clock and interment will be in the family lot at Magnolia cemetery, Charleston.
Mr. FitzSimmons was born in Charleston January 26, 1856, and was a son of Dr. Christopher FitzSimmons and Susan Milliken (Barker) FitzSimmons. He received his education at the Carolina Military institute, Charlotte, N. C., under the veteran educator, Col. John P. Thomas. He started out in life as a civil engineer but it was not long before he became interested in the cottonseed oil industry. He was truly a pioneer in this business. Commencing as a salesman in 1880, he rose, step by step, to the highest position in his chosen occupation.
It is said of Mr. FitzSimmons that he was the first salesman to buy a whole carload of cotton seed. He traveled about over the state in the early years of the industry trying to induce cotton planters to dispose of their cotton seed.
Rises in Business.
At that time, cotton seed was largely a waste product, though to some extent it was used for feed and fertilizer. His advancement in the cottonseed business was rapid and he was largely instrumental in the purchase of a number of large oil mills which led to the formation of the Southern Cotton Oil company. He was offered the vice presidency of this company, preferring to remain in his native state, he was made general manager of the company.
Mr. FitzSimmons was a recognized authority upon all questions in the cottonseed oil industry and it was generally conceded that he was the best informed man in his profession in the entire Southern states. Not only was his ability in his chosen field of work recognized, but there was no man ever connected with a large and influential corporation that was more beloved than was Mr. FitzSimmons.
Ever ready to recognize talent and worth in his subordinates, no man did more than he to advance the fortunes of those associated in business with him. He was actively interested in bringing about the organization of the Interstate Cotton Seed Crushers’ association and served as its president in 1904–1905. He also gave effective aid in the organization of the South Carolina Cotton Seed Crushers’ association, serving as president in 1907–1908.
In 1898, when Ambrose E. Gonzales was in Cuba, Mr. FitzSimmons was acting president of The State company, serving in that capacity about one year.
Mr. FitzSimmons and Miss Frances Motte Huger of Charleston, daughter of Cleland Kinloch Huger, were married February 12, 1890.
Of kindly, generous and genial disposition, Mr. FitzSimmons was held in high esteem and warm affection by those with whom he was acquainted. His sympathy for youths endeavoring to make something of themselves and his willingness to help in any way possible made him popular with the young as well as with those of his own age, and the announcement of his death will bring sorrow to hundreds.
Mr. FitzSimmons is survived by his widow and two children, Mrs. J. R. Allison and Christopher FitzSimmons, Jr.
Pallbearers.
The pallbearers at the services in Columbia will be: H. E. Sessions, C. C. Fishburne, W. J. McGhee, John P. Thomas, William M. Shannon, M. C. Heath, D. C. Heyward, Julius H. Taylor, Thomas Taylor, Ambrose E. Gonzales, William Barnwell, William E. Gonzales, Alfred S. Gaillard, W. Hampton Gibbes and W. K. Duffie.
Active: Frank Hampton, Jr., James H. Hammond, James B. Murphy, J. Waties Thomas, Eugene Read, Richard Singleton, Frank J. Dana and R. E. Craig.
AI Notes
A long narrow newspaper-column clipping, the continuation of an obituary whose head was pasted onto an earlier album page. The clipping is heavily creased and stained but largely legible. The deceased is Christopher FitzSimmons ‘Kit’ (born Charleston 26 January 1856, died 7 October 1925 at 1117 Barnwell St., Columbia), the only son of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons (the 1866 Moss Grove tornado victim, see pp. 277, 279) and Susan Milliken Barker — and the fourth Christopher in the family line that began with the emigrant Christopher FitzSimons (1762–1825). He spelled the surname with double m — ‘FitzSimmons’ — throughout his career in Columbia. The clipping is the death notice of a man who became the leading figure of the cottonseed-oil industry in South Carolina: first carload-buyer of cotton seed, general manager of the Southern Cotton Oil Company, twice president of state and interstate cotton-seed-crushers’ associations, and briefly acting president of The State newspaper in 1898 while Ambrose E. Gonzales was reporting from Cuba. He married Frances Motte Huger of Charleston (daughter of Cleland Kinloch Huger) on 12 February 1890; survived by his widow and two children, Mrs. J. R. Allison and Christopher FitzSimmons, Jr. The pallbearer list distinguishes a ‘Columbia’ contingent (honorary) from an ‘Active’ group (working pallbearers). The clipping is from a Columbia paper, most likely The State, October 1925.
The clipping is from a Columbia paper, most likely The State, dated October 1925 — Kit FitzSimons died at 5 PM on 7 October 1925 at his residence, 1117 Barnwell Street, Columbia.
The deceased — Christopher FitzSimmons ‘Kit’ (4th in the line, 1856–1925) — is the only son of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons (b. 1828, killed in the Moss Grove tornado near St. John’s-Berkeley on 17 May 1866; see book-001/277 and 279) and Susan Milliken Barker. He was ten years old when his father died. He chose the double-m spelling ‘FitzSimmons’ professionally; the Charleston family generally used ‘FitzSimons’ or ‘Fitz Simons’.