John T. Stevens, who amassed a fortune in the cotton oil milling industry, was a native of Lancaster County and the son of Capt. James Henry Witherspoon Stevens and Julia Ann Cureton Stevens. He was born Dec. 1, 1869, near Old North Corner (just south of Andrew Jackson State Park).

Before he was 18, the industrious and bright young man had established himself as a valued employee of Heath, Springs and Co., the largest business mercantile house in Lancaster. Heath, Springs and Co. was said in 1888 to have the largest trade of any business between Charlotte and Atlanta.

Stevens learned merchandising there and, with financial backing from Leroy Springs, moved on to Kershaw, a small town in lower Lancaster County that had been established only a few years before to serve Haile Gold Mine and the numerous sawmills attracted to the abundant growth of pine trees.

Stevens participated in the growth of Kershaw, and it probably correct to say the town of Kershaw grew because of Stevens. In 1902 he branched into a new field, the milling of oil from cottonseed.

Traditionally, farmers had set aside some of their seed for planting the next year's crop and used the rest as fertilizer. Stevens knew that practice was wasteful and economically unwise. The seed was worth double if the oil was extracted and the meal used as commercial fertilizer.

Stevens prospered to the extent that his Kershaw oil mill ran for 8 or 10 months a year (while most mills only ran about 4 months). He also observed his friend Leroy Springs prospering in the cotton mill business and thought Kershaw should have a cotton mill, too. He and other Kershaw men approached Springs about it and struck a deal whereby Springs (who only bought 6% of the total stock) was made president. Stevens owned slightly more than 30% of the stock.

Following his 1902 initial investment of $35,000 in the Kershaw Cotton Oil Mill, Stevens built an oil mill in Lancaster. He kept investing in the oil mill business, and by 1924 he owned 24 cotton oil mills in South Carolina, 20 in Alabam, 20 in Mississippi and 17 in Georgia. He also owned a large peanut oil mill in Augusta, GA.

From 1926 through 1940, "Cap'n Johnny" Stevens served on the S.C. Highway Commission and was, for many years, its chairman. It was under his leadership that South Carolina embarked on its first large highway building program.

Steven was the first to think of bilding shoulders along the roads. The idea was not only innovative, it was so practical that it soon was copied nationwide. Stevens became known as the father of the Safety Shoulders program.

Stevens was known as a man who kept a close eye on both the costs of materials and maintenance and always insisted on the best quality of both. More than anyone else, Stevens is credited with South Carolina's A-one credit rating during the dark years of the Great Depression. He had connections with banks willing to handle S.C. highway notes, teacher's certificates and other state papers.

Stevens was a member of the State Hospital Board of Regents for years. In 1948, two years before his death, Stevens established the John T. Stevens Foundation.

The foundation provides scholarships for students from Lancaster and Kershaw counties to attend the medical university and study medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing or do graduate work in an allied health science. The applicants promise to return to Lancaster or Kershaw county to work.

Because Cap'n Johnny had given so much to Kershaw, they named a part of the town for him on his 80th birthday, in 1949. He died Jan. 19, 1949. A large number of dignitaries attended the funeral including Supreme Court Justice James F. Byrnes. The funeral procession was more than a mile in length.