Editor’s note: The author, Steve Bailey, is outreach coordinator at the Anson County Historical Society.
John Hamlin Rennick Sr., who was born in Whitmire Township of Newberry County, S.C., on Aug. 24, 1915, became the first African-American attorney in Anson County when he opened his law practice in Wadesboro in 1950.
John’s family moved to Anson County about 1923 when he was 8 years old. While a student in the Anson County School System he attained high marks and graduated from Anson County Training School in 1932. Anson County Training School was built on Salisbury Street in 1920 and was later renamed Woodlawn School in 1960, then again be renamed J.R. Faison School in 1961 to honor Principal Jarvis R. Faison.
On Oct. 24, 1937, John, 22, married Minnie E. Cole, age 20. John was a son of John Wesley and Sarah Sims Rennick. His his father had passed away and his mother was living in Wadesboro at the time. John & Minnie Cole – a daughter of John and Ruby Lomax Tillman – were married on Sikes Avenue in Wadesboro by the Rev. J.H. Cowan of the Presbyterian Church.
The date on his World War II draft card (located on ancestry.com) states that his birth date was Aug. 24, 1915, but his headstone lists 1913 as his birth year. His draft card dated Oct. 16, 1940, states that he was a student at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and was also a part-time employee at the university. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and “only” weighed 124 pounds. He was honorably discharged on Dec. 18, 1945.
John graduated from N.C. College in Durham in 1949 where he and two other African-American students received law degrees. He opened his law practice in Wadesboro in 1950. In 1960 he moved his law practice to Salisbury, but continued to live in Wadesboro.
According to an Anson Record newspaper article dated Aug. 2, 1990, John was inducted into the National Bar Association’s Hall of Fame in Houston, Texas.
He was the father of Dr. John Rennick Jr. of Charlotte; Ms. Sandra Chiles of Orange, N.J.; Miss Rhoda Rennick and Miss Regina Rennick, both of Atlanta. An older daughter, Cynthia Rennick, passed away on Dec. 31, 1965 in Baltimore at the young age of 23 years.
Minnie E. Cole Rennick was an educator in the Anson County School System. She passed away on April 20, 1987, when she was 70 years old. John continued to practice law until his health failed and he passed away in 1993. Mr. and Mrs. Rennick and their daughter Cynthia are all buried at Westview Memorial Park on Hwy. 74 West outside of Wadesboro.