WH McPHAIL

Walter Houlu McPhail was born February 21, 1901 , in Sandy Springs , South Carolina to John Augustus and Mary Stevenson McPhail. When Houlu was a year old, his father bought the home place in Oconee county, where WH lived until his death in 1979, and where the homebase for Tokeena Angus remains today.

Houlu’s interest in cows began at the age of 8 when he asked his father if he could purchase a yearling heifer. With his father’s consent and advice, Houlu purchased “Blue Bell” for a gallon of molasses and a fifty cent piece. She proved to be worth his money by sowing the seeds that led to the development of what is today an historic Angus herd.

During his childhood, Houlu attended the elementary grades at Tokeena School #1, which was located just a  few yards from his front door. He later graduated from Townville High School, waiting on his brother so that they could begin studies together at Clemson College in 1921. Houlu’s yearn for the farm was stronger though, and in 1922, he walked home to start the spring planting of cotton. After promising his brothers that the farm would be cared for and their educations paid for, Houlu began his profession as a life-long cattle and cotton farmer.

In the summer of 1926, Houlu took an afternoon break from farming, just long enough to ride through a neighbor’s yard and pick up Addie Lucy Prater. Little did he realize that, nine years later, this beautiful girl would become his bride and, over the years, give him seven children: Mary, Hazel, Walter, Steve, Floyd, Elaine and Neil.

As a farmer who believed in progress and innovation, Houlu saw the changes being brought about by the decline of the cotton economy and the loss of top soil across the upstate. He was already terracing his farm but believed that cattle, not cotton, would be the crop of the future. Soon after his marriage, he bought two heifers and a bull from Mr. N. S. Black of York. Later, he purchased several registered Angus from Rabun Croft Farm in Georgia, establishing a registered Angus herd in South Carolina in 1936. Tragedy struck the McPhail’s in 1945 when Brucellosis broke out on the farm, but through it all, Houlu held onto his belief in the profitability of cattle in upstate South Carolina. After slaughtering most of his herd to stop the spread of the disease, Houlu partnered with John Sam Lay of Choee Valley to purchase the next two heifer crops from V.L. Lovell of Habersham, GA. At the same time, Mr. McPhail had the foresight to recognize the importance of a cool season grazer and brought fescue seed from a test plot in the Anderson County Extension program home to his farm. He gradually helped established this grass throughout the area, planting acreage on his own farm and selling extra seed to neighbors so that they could increase profits through forage rather than feed. He eventually provided certified seed to such companies as Pennington and was acknowledged as helping significantly improve the agricultural economy of the area.

One of the first events Mr. McPhail became involved in with his cattle was the Anderson County Fat Cattle Show. One or more of his children entered this show every year. In fact, one of his better cows produced bull calves year after year, and when steered and shown, they won enough prize money to put his second daughter, Hazel, through four years at Winthrop. Over the years, WH McPhail was also a successful participant in the Anderson County Fair. His entrants won numerous championships and, from that first year when daughter Mary showed until the youngest grandchild Daniel stopped showing in 2003 there were McPhail cattle being shown by McPhail children or grandchildren at the Anderson County Fair for over 50 continuous years.

Although there were numerous sales across South Carolina and Georgia in the late 1940’s, there were several breeders who were looking to market only top quality registered Angus cattle. So, WH McPhail, Reese and Levis Herron, C.A. Seawright, R.A Reeves, Charles Foster, F.B. Davis and Ronnie Jones established the South Carolina Angus Association and began sponsoring their own state supported sales of Angus cattle. Mr. McPhail was active on the Board of Directors for many years, promoting the Angus breed in news articles and anywhere else he could. He was quoted in the Anderson paper that any farmer who wanted to make more profit should get into the cattle business and get into it with Angus because of their quality. He believed that Angus was the top breed and said that even if you had mixed breed cattle, “you might as well have some Angus in there, so you could have the top mixed breed too”. WH held the record for having the highest selling bull at the Association’s state sale for many years. He was a lifetime member of the American Angus Association, served as vice-president of the South Carolina Angus Association in the late 1960’s, and was an advisor to the Junior group until well into his ‘70’s.

In 1952, Mr. McPhail was awarded the Outstanding Accomplishment in Balanced Farming plaque from the Clemson College Extension Service and attributed a large part of his success to his cattle. In 1969, Hoolu was named an honorary member of the Block and Bridle Club, still giving credit to the Angus breed for his achievements over the years.

In 1968, WH McPhail decided to semi-retire since he had four sons who were interested in carrying on his farming tradition. Floyd returned home first, followed shortly by Walter. Along with Steve, they formed Tokeena Angus, and in 1977, Neil came home from Anderson College, joining the partnership by adding the Angus cattle he had acquired over the years and pitching in to help with the work.

WH McPhail passed away in February of 1979, still in the habit of riding over the farm, checking daily  on “the boys”, cooking barbeque for the sales and overseeing his beloved black cows. His legacy lives on in acres of fescue pasture across the upstate and children and grandchildren still in the Angus business. 

Email: tokeena@innova.net