Ab Garrison, Who Died Dec. 6, 1920, Was Railroad Engineer

The late Ab Garrison, who died at his home in Abbeville on Monday, Dec. 6, ran the engine which placed the rails from Monroe to Chester on the Georgia division of the Seaboard, according to the Abbeville Press and Banner, which gave the following account of his death: “Death called Absolom Leonidas Garrison this morning while he slept. He passed away quietly and evidently without pain and suffering. Mr. Garrison has not been in the best of health since about a year ago, but the past few weeks he has seemed to be in better health, and he was feeling better until about a week ago when he suffered an attack of acute indigestion. He seemed to rally from this attack and while he had not been out his physician and friends were not anxious about him, as there was nothing in his condition to cause alarm. His death which came early this morning was therefore not expected and it caused profound sorrow in the city where Mr. Garrison had so many friends. “Mr. Garrison was born at Burlington, N.C., 60 years ago. He was a son of Joseph and Rachel Garrson. As a young man he turned to the calling of a locomotive engineer. Serving first as fireman and then as engineer on the Carolina Central, Mr. Garrison about 1882 was assigned to duties on the Georgia, Carolina & Northern Railway, now the Seaboard Air Line. He ran the engine which placed the rails from Monroe, N.C., to Chester, and was the first engineer to bring a train into Abbeville. All his life since that time he has given to this railroad. And a conscientious and faithful worker for those whom he served he always proved himself to be. “In 1885 Mr. Garrison was married to Miss Henrietta Gray of North Carolina. For the last 25 years Mr. And Mrs. Garrison have made their home in Abbeville, and here they have made many friends. Mrs. Garrison survives her husband. They have no children. The deceased is also survived by his brother, Mr. John P. Garrison, of this city. “Funeral services will be conducted at the residence of Mrs. Minshall this afternoon at 4 o’clock by Rev. A.J. Derbyshire of the Episcopal church of which Mr. Garrison had been a member for a great number of years. Tonight the body will be taken over the Seaboard to Peachland, N.C., where it will be laid to rest in the cemetery with Mrs. Garrison’s people. A number of friends will accompany the body to its last resting place. “And thus passes a quiet unassuming gentleman.” (From the front page of The Monroe Journal, Dec. 17, 1920)