Joel R. Simrill was born around 1841 in South Carolina to John Davidson Simrill and Margaret Clinton. His father was a confectioner who owned $615 of personal property in 1860. Simrill grew up in Chester County, South Carolina.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on April 11, 1861, and mustered in as a private in the 6^th South Carolina Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Williamsburg, the Battle of Seven Pines, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and the siege of Petersburg. He was promoted to corporal by early 1862 and then to sergeant in October 1862. He surrendered on April 9, 1865, as part of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

 

Simrill returned to Chester County after the war, and he married Amanda Lee around 1865. They had at least six children: John, born around 1868; Tervin, born around 1869; Mary, born around 1874; Joe, born around 1876; Watson, born around 1878; Bell, born around 1880. Simrill worked as a brick mason, and by 1870, he owned $500 of real estate and $100 of personal property. By the early 1900s, he was considered “one of Chester’s most prominent citizens.” His wife died around 1901, and he passed away in South Carolina on September 28, 1914.

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