William Hampton Mixson was born in Barnwell County, South Carolina, October 18, i860, the eldest of a family of ten children born to Josiah Seth and Caroline (Brabham) Mixson. His boyhood days were spent in his native county, and amidst the surroundings and limited advantages common to the youth of that locality and period. The common schools of the neighborhood afforded the opportunity for a preliminary education, which was supplemented by the careful instruction of his father, a gentleman of exceptional attainments and training. He was an ambitious youth whose boyish fancy led beyond the narrow limitations of the plantation and the country village, and at the early age of seven- teen years he went to Augusta, Georgia, and there he entered upon the career in the business world which has since claimed his attention and which has brought substantial recognition and reward.

 

In 1884 Mr. Mixson located in Charleston, where he continued his business experience, acting in a clerical capacity. In 1889, having decided to engage in business for himself, he organized and established the Southern Fruit Company, which under his continued guidance and management has grown to such magnitude as to merit recognition as one of the largest and best known concerns of its kind on the Atlantic Coast. The volume of the business trans- acted has shown a steady increase from the beginning, and extends into foreign as well as domestic marts. Incidental to the handling of fruits and produce an extensive seed business was developed, in 1910, and in 1917 was incorporated as a separate business under the name of the W. H. Mixson Seed Company. An experimental and developing farm, which is being made a model of its kind, is con- ducted by this company not far from Charleston.  

In 1915 Mr. Mixson and his brother, J. S. Mixson, organized and established the Atlantic Coast Distributors, a company whose function is the distribution of the food products, more especially those of a perishable kind, and of which great quantities , are grown in the territory tributary to Charleston. Mr. Mixson both by careful study of marketing conditions as well as by his early experience in the farming districts knew the difficulties with which the farmer had to contend in finding ready market for his produce at a time and place where it might be disposed of at a reasonable profit. He clearly foresaw the advantage to be had through the establishment of some central organization, or company, whereby the shipment of food supplies might be intelligently directed towards markets where the demand was greatest, and where favorable prices prevailed. Though primarily established to serve the producers of Charleston County, the business of the Atlantic Coast Distributors has assumed such proportions that it now serves a much larger section, and at this time does a business of approximately a million dollars annually, figures which in themselves bespeak the benefit it has brought to the community and to the state at large.  

 

In addition to the many interests of a strictly commercial nature which have demanded his attention Mr. Mixson has not been neglectful of those duties of a semi-public character which go hand in hand with good citizenship, and has given freely of his time and means in the promotion of those movements which make for the public welfare and the uplift of the community in which he has lived and prospered. He is a member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, serving that body as its president in 1916-17. For twenty years he has been a director of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and for five years was its president. He is a vestryman and chairman of the finance committee of St. John's English Lutheran Church. In the Masonic fraternity he is a member of South Carolina Commandery No. 1, the oldest commandery of Knights Templars in America. He is also a member of Omar Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and a Woodman of the World.  

 

November 16, 1886, he married Hannah M. Quirollo, a native of Charleston, and their four chil- dren are: L. Harry Mixson, now vice president and manager of the W. H. Mixson Seed Company; Erma B.; William Hampton, Jr., secretary and general manager of the Southern Fruit Company; and Ashley St. Julian, secretary of the W. H. Mixson Seed Company.  

 

Such, in brief, is the record of a busy life in which industry and unswerving determination of purpose have brought substantial reward. Enough has been said to show that the efforts have ever been directed along constructive and creative lines. With the vision to perceive opportunity, Mr. Mixson has possessed the courage to launch new ventures, and the business ability to bring them to successful fruition. What he has, he has created and developed. His success, therefore, has not been won at the price of another's downfall but has come as the direct result of his individual industry and efforts.

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