Joseph B. Douthit was born in Anderson County on January 30, 1893, and graduated from Clemson University in 1914. A farmer and seed breeder, he was a lifelong member and steward of Sandy Springs United Methodist Church and served as a Clemson University trustee from 1936 to 1956. He was also a life member of the Methodist Rural Fellowship, a commissioner for the Upper Savannah, Anderson, and Pickens Soil and Water Conservation Districts from 1937 to 1972, president of the S.C. Association of Conservation Districts in 1946, chairman of the S.C. Land Resources Commission from 1951 to 1956, and a director of the National Association of Conservation Districts from 1956 to 1957. He was known as a keeper of the land.