A Dead Son Walks, Strom Thurmond's letter: My great-great grandfather Thaddeus Haskell Shull

A son lost in WWII only to return home after his funeral, a letter of praise from Strom Thurmond, cows exchanged for college tuition, the owner of an island; My great-great grandfather Thaddeus Haskell Shull was an interesting man. In researching my ancestors I came across the interesting life of Thaddeus Shull, a husband, father, and legislator in Lexington, SC.

Picture of Thaddeus Haskell Shull (right)and wife Nettie Livingston Shull (left). 

My primary research for my ancestor was provided by my grandmother, Patsy Quarles. She spoke with enthusiasm about her grandfather and provided several interesting anecdotes about Shull and his life. Some background information on Shull: he was born June 23,1880 and was a legislator. He lived majority of his life in Lexington and Batesburg, SC. Shull served in the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina for 16 years and 20 years on the country commissions. Shull and his wife, Nettie Livingston Shull, had three sons, Shuford, Lynwood and Corthan, and two girls, Miriam and Lurlene Shull.

My grandmother told an interesting story about Shull's son Cothran, "I remember the story Papa told of how hard it was to have all three sons in the army during WWII and not knowing where they were. There were no cell phones and the mail was slow and censored. Once the family received a telegram from the Army and an official visit from the chaplain saying that their son Cothran had been killed in action. A funeral was planned and an obituary published. Days later, Papa was notified that a mistake had been made and Cothran was identified in a field hospital and in critical condition.

Bevel Grave of my great-great 
grandfather Thaddeus Haskell Shull.

"After much treatment, he finally was moved to a hospital in the U.S. and his parents could see him. He was hospitalized well over a year and finally given a medical discharge. He spent the rest of his life as a disabled veteran." My grandmother continued, expressing how devastating it must of been for Shull's family during this time. She reaffirmed that despite the confusion around Corthan's condition, all three sons survived WWII.

My grandmother shared an interesting story about Shull Island where Shull "...once had cows on island he owned called Shull Island in Lexington County and went on horseback daily to check on them. Once he fell and could not get back on his horse, so he had to walk back out with a broken shoulder and broken wrist. The family never allowed him to make those kind of trips alone after that." Shull Island is now underwater, the entire are flooded when the Lake Murry Dam was built. Land, barns, and homes all got washed away- hard to imagine!

Personal letter to the Shull family regarding
Thaddeus Haskell Shull's death
from Strom Thurmond.

The final anecdote my grandmother shared with me was about his children. All of the Shull children attended college. Shuford, Lywood, and Corthan attended Wofford but only Shuford finished and graduated. The two girls Lurlene and Miriam attended Columbia College. My grandmother spoke of how "Miriam and Lurlene had their tuition paid by Shull in "heads of beef. In other words, Papa provided cows to meet tuition needs and the college used the meat to feed the students!" It's a wonder how many "heads of beef" would be required needed today to cover tuition! My grandmother told me that she used to have the receipts for these "cow" payments. How funny!

Shull died January 26, 1974 of old age and is now buried in Shiloh United Methodist Church (church cemetery) in Gilbert, SC with a simple bevel grave marker. At the time of his death, Former U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond sent a letter of condolences and praise of Shull's impact on the state, describing Shull as an "outstanding citizen" and further recognizing him for his work in legislation.

I researched Shull primarily though talking to my grandma and father as well as using billiongrares.com. Between those three sources I was able to see a clear picture of the kind of life Thaddeus lived and the strange but interesting history that comes when digging through the past and digging up the history behind the grave and beyond the present.