James Simons Sr.

James Simons Sr. was a lawyer, Confederate militia officer, and state legislator in South Carolina. He served as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives when the Civil War began.
He was preceded as Speaker by John Izard Middleton as speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives and succeeded by Alfred P. Aldrich. His son James Simons Jr. also became a lawyer and served as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Simons Sr. was a Brigadier General for a militia before the American Civil War.
He married Sarah L. Wragg and had two children: James Simons Jr. and Henrietta Simons.
Simons wrote a "a list of articles desired" to John B. Lafitte in Nassau for purchase from the proceeds of the sale of cotton smuggled through the blockade.
James Simons Jr. also became a lawyer and state legislator in South Carolina. In the 1860s they partnered at Simons & Simons.