Editing Marchant family (section)

==Cliff and Clara Marchant Davenport==
Malcolm Clifton “Cliff” Davenport was the son of D.D. Davenport, Greer’s first millionaire. He started out in the retail business with his father's general-goods store. He soon became a partner with W. Terry Wood in the firm Davenport & Wood, another retail venture selling dry goods and notions. He made multiple trips to NY to buy dry goods and notions for the store. 

At least two of those trips he went with women who were buying women's clothing and millinery. Perhaps because of that influence and experience, he started the Ladies' Store (yes, that was its name). It was ''the'' store in Greer for women's fine clothing and goods before Alta Cunningham's store opened. A Columbia newspaper called him "a leading young merchant of the Piedmont" in 1910.

He continued taking trips to NY, buying fine women's clothing and hats. At least two articles about his trips mention Alta going to NY at the same time as a buyer for another store, so it's almost certain these trips were instrumental in developing the skills to supply her own store a few years later.

About ten men united to form one of Greer's first newspapers, the Greer News-Leader, in 1910 (about 7 years before the Citizen was formed). M.C. was a director and was elected president.

M.C. was significantly instrumental in the petition to create a new county, Highland County, between Greenville and Spartanburg. He was one of four county commissioners registered in that effort, which made it all the way to the governor's desk.

He was engaged in politics and a regular delegate to the Democratic convention. He was active with the Shriners and attended regional (and maybe national) conventions.

Unfortunately, Cliff died very young. On a fishing trip, he fell in the river and got sick; he died of influenza, leaving his young wife and five children behind. WK Hill purchased the Ladies’ Store and ran it beside the Men’s Store in the Davenport Building on Trade Street.

Clara donated money to the Methodist church for the construction of a Sunday School building, which was named in her honor. At her death, Clara left $1,000 for the building of a city library, and her children gave $5,000 plus a piece of land from D.D.'s estate. It came to be called the "Davenport Memorial Library." Prior to this new building, the Greer library had been in a small one-room wooden shack with a pot-bellied stove in the middle. She also left $1000 to Wofford College, and $500 to Seaborn "Sebe" Lynch, a Black gardener who had served D.D. Davenport, Miss Clara, and then Miss Constance.
* Constance Davenport 1901-1982 [Oscar Earle Dooly Jr]
* Malcolm Clifton Davenport Jr. 1903-1972 [Maude Givens]
* David D. Davenport 1904-1906
* Luther Marchant "Pete" Davenport Sr. 1907-1987 [Dorothye Romaine Lincoln Barnes]
* Thomas West Davenport 1910-1911
* Martha Ann Davenport 1912-2003 [Robert S Edmund (Edward) Josephy]
* Daniel Denby Davenport 1914-1969 [Ruby Ellen Wiggins]


[category:People]