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TO CONGRATULATE CAPERS SMALLS OF COLLETON COUNTY, UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY, AND TO WISH HIM A JOYOUS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND MANY YEARS OF CONTINUED HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
Whereas, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly are delighted to learn that Capers Smalls of Colleton County will celebrate his centennial birthday surrounded by family and friends on Sunday, January 27, 2013; and
Whereas, born on Fenwick Island on January 27, 1913, in the early part of the twentieth century, he has witnessed many remarkable social changes, technological advancements, and international developments that have spanned the globe from that time into the second decade of the twenty-first century; and
Whereas, the great-grandson of slaves and the son of the late Ella and Joseph Smalls, Capers Smalls is the last surviving child of the family's nine children; and
Whereas, he learned from his father and his grandfather Primus Smalls, who had a place of his own on Rocking Island, how to navigate the marshy waters of the Ashepoo River in the sixteen-foot bateau he built himself from cypress trees he harvested near his home; and
Whereas, enjoying the independence as his own boss, he grew cotton, corn, beans. sugar cane, and watermelon, first as a sharecropper and then on his own land a quarter of a mile from his house; and
Whereas, always a strong, powerful man, this true gentleman has spent his life looking after his neighbors and worshipping his God as a member of Samaritan Baptist Church in Bennetts Point, where he served as a deacon and church treasurer; and
Whereas, he was married to the late Rohemeia Hopkins Smalls who was his partner in farming, crabbing, and oystering, and after her death, he married the late Clara Harvey Smalls; and
Whereas, he reared two daughters and was blessed with twelve grandchildren, eight of whom he reared, and they have added to that blessing nine great-grandchildren and seventeen great-great grandchildren; and
Whereas, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly are pleased to honor this son of South Carolina at the celebration of his one hundredth birthday and join with his family and friends in congratulating him on reaching this extraordinary milestone. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the members of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, congratulate Capers Smalls of Colleton County, upon the occasion of his one hundredth birthday, and wish him a joyous birthday celebration and many years of continued health and happiness.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be provided to Capers Smalls.
This web page was last updated on January 22, 2013 at 12:40 PM