Background

David Wyatt Aiken was born on March 17, 1828 in Winnsboro, South Carolina, United States. After establishing himself in South Carolina during the eighteenth century, William Aiken of Ireland persuaded his mother and his seven brothers and sisters to try their fortunes in America likewise.

David, the youngest of these, ultimately settled in Winnsboro, where he became a prosperous merchant and farmer. He married Nancy Kerr, like himself a native of County Antrim, Ireland; and David Wyatt was the seventh of his nine children.

Education

Aiken was educated at Mount Zion Institute and at the South Carolina College, graduating from the latter in 1849.

Career

During 1850-1851 Aiken taught at Mount Zion Institute, but in 1852 turned to agriculture.

In 1858 he removed from Winnsboro to Cokesbury in Abbeville District, where he became the proprietor of Stony Point Farm.

At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as a private, but was soon appointed adjutant of the 7th South Carolina Regiment of Volunteers, which subsequently became a part of the 4th (Kershaw's) Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Northern Virginia. Upon the reorganization of the regiment in the spring of 1862, he was elected colonel. Being severely wounded in the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, he was unable to rejoin his command until June 1863. After participating in the Gettysburg campaign, he was declared unfit for further active service, and was assigned to duty as commandant of the troops and defenses at Macon, Georgia. He held this post for one year and was then discharged on account of ill health.

From 1864 to 1866 Aiken represented Abbeville District in the state House of Representatives.

From January 1870 to December 1875 Aiken was part owner and correspondent of the Rural Carolinian, and during the last year of its publication (1876) he was sole owner and editor. The work of the Rural Carolinian was carried on for several years after its discontinuance, through an agricultural department in the News and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina) of which Aiken was editor.

In 1872 he was appointed deputy-at-large of the National Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, for the Southern States, and in the next year was made a member of its executive committee. By October 1872 he had succeeded in organizing a state grange in South Carolina, of which he was first made secretary and then master (1875-1877). In the campaign which accomplished the over-throw of the carpet-bagger régime in South Carolina (1876), Aiken was elected to Congress from the third congressional district. He continued during the last decade of his life to occupy a seat in the House of Representatives.

His death occurred a few weeks after his retirement from public life.

Achievements

• Aiken helped to establish the State Fair in Columbia and the Abbeville Agricultural Society. He was also instrumental in founding of many subsidiary organizations in South Carolina in the early 1870s, including the South Carolina State Grange in 1872, of which he was “master” for three years.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Grange: Its Origin, Progress, and Educational Purposes

    (The GRANGE: I ts Origin, Progress, and Educational Purpos...)

Politics

Aiken was a staunch Democrat.

After the establishment of the rule of the Republican party in South Carolina he zealously promoted the rehabilitation of Southern economy. Through the Rural Carolinian he defined the economic problems of reconstruction and discussed their solution. He was a leading spokesman of the militant agrarian interests.

Membership

Life member of the State Agricultural Society

Connections

He was married in 1852 to Mattie Gaillard. Following her death, which occurred shortly after marriage, he married Virginia Smith of Abbeville.

He was the father of thirteen children.

Father:

David Aiken

Mother:

Nancy (Kerr) Aiken

Spouse :

Martha DuBose (Gaillard) Aiken

Spouse :

Virginia Carolina (Smith) Aiken

Daughter :

Nancy (Aiken) Stull

Daughter :

Mary (Aiken) Pritchard

Daughter :

Eliza (Aiken) Taylor

Daughter :

Louisa Gaillard Aiken

Daughter :

Virginia (Aiken) Neville

Daughter :

Emma Harper Aiken

Sister :

Carolina Margaret Aiken

Sister :

Elizabeth R. (Aiken) Woodward

Brother :

Augustus Milton Aiken

Brother :

Hugh Kerr Aiken

Brother :

James Reid Aiken

Brother :

Isaac Means Aiken

Brother :

William Edward Aiken

Daughter:

Ella Gaillard (Aiken) Smart

Son :

Daniel Kerr Aiken

Son :

Mattie Aiken

Son :

Joel Smith Aiken

Son :

David Aiken

Son :

Wyatt Aiken

Son :

Augustus Marshall Aiken

References

• Colonel D. Wyatt Aiken, 1828-1887: South Carolina's Militant Agrarian
• The History of Kershaw's Brigade