On this 102nd anniversary of George Dargan Frierson’s (GDF) birth, I thought it would be interesting to look at his life through the articles I could find by searching  newspapers.com.  Typing  “Dargan Frierson” in the search box, yielded 219 instances of his name in all the newspapers they have digitized, 199 of them in South Carolina.

Here’s one of the first to pop up, a 1911 article in a Sumter newspaper announcing the marriage of GDF’s parents and thus solving the mystery of where he got his name!  There is a typo in the article, the house where Georgia and John were married was named Marston.

GDF was born a little more than 10 years after the marriage, his older brother John L. Frierson Jr. (“Jack”) having been born in 1915.  I am assuming that both boys were born at Fairview, the home that John and Georgia built after their marriage in 1911, situated north of Cherry Vale, the old Frierson home.

There was no newspaper coverage of young Dargan’s early years until 1929 when he made it into not only the local Watchman & Southern paper in Sumter County but also The Record and The State in Columbia for shooting himself in the stomach!  Read the articles to see how he did it.

 

 

 

He did recover, and lived a long life, albeit with a large noticeable abdominal scar that had to be explained every time he went for a swim in the lake or ocean!

Dargan attended elementary and high school in Stateburg at the Hillcrest school where his mother taught music, and he appears on the honor roll each year in the newspapers as they publish the record of happenings there. 

Then as a 17 year-old high school graduate, rising freshman at the University of South Carolina, Dargan and his parents move to Columbia.  Apparently, Georgia returns to Stateburgh to teach at Hillcrest in each fall as this letter from Dargan in October of 1939 indicates.  It was addressed to Mrs. John L. Frierson c/o S.O. Plowden, his Aunt Theo’s residence, and tells of his securing a job at Copeland’s clothing store in Columbia and how it’s going to limit his social life (Ha!) – see below!

Here’s a photo of the well-dressed sophomore!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the remaining newspaper mentions of GDF during his college days reflect his involvement in the social clubs at USC:  Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the German Club are two examples.

I don’t remember too much talk about Lil Boulware, but certainly remember Kitty Bird, later married to Greensboro banker (NCNB) Tom Storrs.  Tom and Kitty are remembered as friends to Dargan and Jo during their time in Greensboro.

Except for serving as best man in his older brother Jack’s wedding to Beverly Hook in June of 1942, no mention is made of GDF’s life at USC until articles about his time in the Army Air Corps begin appearing.  The first was in May of 1943 mentioning his completion of basic flight school at Minter Field near Bakersfield, CA, and his heading on to Advanced flight training at Luke Field in Phoenix, Arizona.

By August of 1943, Dargan has gotten his wings at Luke Field and is stationed at Randolph Field in Texas to learn to become a flight instructor and this is what he will do for the remainder of the Second World War.  He is then sent to Gardner Field in Taft, CA, where he teaches basic and advance flying.  I remember many stories about this era and of course this is where Dargan met his love and future wife in 1944, Josephine Daniels of Bellingham, WA.

Here’s a little clip from December of 1943, about his first trip back home to Stateburg since entering the Army Air Corps.

Dargan returns to California after this Christmas visit home and within 4 months is married to Josephine Daniels, much to the shock (I’m sure!) of his parents (and hers too!).   Here’s a link to the full page marriage notice in The State newspaper in Columbia from April, 1944:      23Apr1944TheStateGDfJDWedding

Dargan’s mother visited the newly weds in Taft in November of 1944 and they must have shown her around Hollywood and LA!

 

After Taft, Dargan and Jo are transferred to Lubbock, TX, where he is promoted to 1st Lt. and they remain there til the end of the war.  I don’t remember Mom ever talking much about Texas, but she was apparently involved as an officer’s wife in some social affairs – see the article from the Lubbock newspaper from June of 1945.

After the war, Dargan decides to go back to Law School at the University of South Carolina where his Uncle Nelson is just retiring as the Dean after more than 20 years.  Here’s an ad Dargan placed in January of 1946  to try to find an apartment:  

He doesn’t mention that his wife is 6 months pregnant, but then here’s a note from April, 18, 1946, from The State:  

 

Then in May of 1947, Dargan is admitted to the Bar in SC and never practices… He’s decided to become an FBI agent and the next newspaper mention of him is in the Sumter Item about the visit his parents make to Detroit in August of 1950, where he and his young family are stationed.  

 

By 1952, the growing Frierson family has moved to Greensboro (13 Branch Court, 2503 Woodview Dr. and finally 604 North Elam Ave.) and this is where Dargan and Jo will spend the rest of their lives.  There are many stories left to tell about these Greensboro days…

 

Today, February 4, 2014, is the 128th anniversary of the birth of my grandmother, Georgia Dargan Frierson.  The photo at the right was taken on Christmas day in 1937 when she was 51 years old.  She was born in Stateburg, South Carolina, the fourth oldest of the ten daughters of Theodosia Green Williamson Dargan and John Julius Dargan.  She married John Lawrence Frierson (9/4/1883 – 1/30/1963) in 1911 and they had two children, John Lawrence Frierson, Jr., and George Dargan Frierson.  She was both a performer and teacher of music all her life, starting in her early teenage years as a performing member of the Chiquola Club with her father and four of her sisters.  The Chiquola Club  was the creation of her father, John Julius Dargan, and its purpose was to tour South Carolina,  he teaching and lecturing its citizens about the state’s proud history, all the while entertaining the audiences with music performed by the Dargan daughters.  Here’s a description from the biography of J.J. Dargan by  Henry F. Cauthen:

“The sight was one which drew attention on the trains and in the little hotels of the time:  a small, dignified man leading five young women, animated and attractive.  The gentleman was none other than John Julius Dargan and the young women, five of his daughters.

“The time could have been any day in the period from 1899 to 1903, and the little company could be seen arriving at one of any number of South Carolina towns in the eastern area of the state, but not exclusively in that section.  In the evening they would appear in the opera house, the court house, the school auditorium or some other available hall for what was billed as an “entertainment”, but which was an event of a much more serious purpose in the heart of Colonel Dargan.  The evenings were, however, entertaining, as dozens of newspaper accounts testified. … Many accounts referred to the performing daughters as ‘Colonel Dargan’s charming and talented daughters’ .  These were no extravagant statements;  the daughters were indeed attractive and were trained, as well as talented musicians.  They played a variety of instruments and sang.  And their presence represented the practical showmanship which had popped into the creative mind of their father.  Such a venture should have a name and the colonel called it the program of the Chiquola Club”.

Georgia played both the piano and violin and also sang with her sisters when they were on tour.  By 1905, J.J. Dargan had opened the General Sumter Memorial Academy in Stateburg, S.C., and my grandmother was the music teacher of violin and piano, a career she would continue for most of her life in both public schools and for private students.  Also, her 50-or-so-year position as the organist at the Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Stateburg surely can’t be beaten!  The photo to the right was contributed by my cousin Lil Frierson Wetmore and shows our grandmother around age 12 years with her violin.

Also shown is a photo of an even younger Georgia Dargan, maybe around 7 or 8 years old?