Wyatt Aiken (1863-1923) was the son of David Wyatt Aiken, a successful Abbeville farmer who led the South Carolina Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange), an organization which gave political power and a voice to farmers in the 1870s. After serving in the Spanish-American War, Wyatt Aiken was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Congress from 1903 to 1917. He is shown here as a U.S. Congressman with fellow Abbeville native, Judge Frank Gary (1860-1922) in 1908. Gary began his political career in the state House of Representatives in 1890, where he served as Speaker from 1895-1900. He was chosen to go to the U.S. Senate in 1908 to fill the unexpired term of Asbury Latimer after the latter's death, but chose not to run for reelection. Instead, he returned to South Carolina at the expiration of his term in 1909, and was elected judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1912, a post he held until his death.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
