Tillman, Benjamin Ryan. United States senator and farmer. Born in Edgefield County, SC, August 11, 1847. Academic education. Joined Confederate States Army, July, 1864, but was stricken with severe illness, which caused the loss of his left eye and kept him an invalid for two years, so that he saw no military service. Tillman followed farming as his sole pursuit until 1886, when he became prominent in an agitation for industrial and technical education and other reforms. Elected governor of South Carolina in 1890 and 1892, United States senator, 1895, for four terms. Tillman founded Clemson Agricultural and Mechanical College at Calhoun's old home, Fort Hill, and Winthrop Normal and Industrial College at Rock Hill; the former for boys, the latter for girls. They were the largest schools of their kind in the South. Author of dispensary system of selling liquor under state control. Tillman was central figure in the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, 1895, which instituted educational qualification for suffrage. One of the leaders in securing the insertion of advanced positions in Democratic platform of 1896. Prominent in Democratic national conventions of 1900 and 1904, and in latter was active in work of harmonizing contending factions of Democracy. Died 1918.

---