Per his death certificate found on Ancestry.com: he was a son of Dr. Andrew J. Bethea born in Dillon County and (no first name) Allen. He was the husband of Nellie DeTreville Bethea. He was an attorney. He lived at 1712 Pendleton St. in Columbia at the time of his death. He died of a laceration of the brain and a crush wound of the chest due to an automobile accident. The informant was Mrs. A. J. Bethea of Columbia, S.C.

Part of an article found in The State (the part that pertains to him) 29 December 1945: Andrew J. Bethea, Columbia attorney and lieutenant governor of South Carolina two terms, and Arthur U. Adams, Columbia business man were fatally injured in an automobile accident near Elloree in Orangeburg county around 12:30 yesterday morning. R. B. MacCauley and Wade H. Coker, two other Columbians were in the party that had been to Charleston for an Odd Fellows gathering, and were also seriously injured...The bodies of Mr. Bethea and Mr. Adams were brought to the Dunbar Funeral home here early yesterday....The accident happened on the Old State road about one mile from Elloree. The car in which the Columbians were riding on their return to the capital plunged down an embankment with the rear of the car in a swampy stream of water. Mr. MacCauley, who was driving was pinned under the steering wheel and continued to flash his headlights an hour before anybody could be attracted to the scene to effect rescue. Mr. Adams was killed instantly and Mr. Bethea died at the Tri-County hospital in Orangeburg about 8 o'clock yesterday morning. As the car went down the embankment, it apparently somersaulted, with the rear dropping into about three or four feet of water. Mr. Bethea's body was hanging out of the car, his feet in the water into which the car had dropped. Mr. MacCauley reported the accident happened when he swerved the car sharply to avoid hitting another car. It went down the embankment and came to a stop in a marshy area. Mr. Bethea, 66, was born August 17, 1879 at Free State now a part of Dillon county and was the son of the late Dr. Andrew J. Bethea, widely known physician and planter of the Pee Dee and Mrs. Annie Allen Bethea. He attended Centerville academy and Dalcho school in Dillon and Wake Forest college in North Carolina from which he received his Bachelor's degree in 1902 and his Master's degree in 1904. He also attended the University of South Carolina in 1910. After teaching public schools in Aiken, Camden and Richland a few years, he was named secretary to Governor Martin F. Ansel whom he served the four succeeding years. From the beginning of the Ansel administration until his death he had made Columbia his home. The family residence is at 1712 Pendleton street. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Nellie (DeTreville) Bethea, two sisters, Mrs. P. F. Kilgo of Laurens and Mrs. Georgia Bethea of Dillon, a brother, Dr. Percy A. Bethea, Darlington, and several nieces and nephews. Mr. Bethea's funeral will be held Sunday at an hour not yet determined...Mr. Bethea served two terms as lieutenant governor of the state from 1915 to1919. He also was a veteran of the First World War. He volunteered and was inducted as a private, attended officers' training schools at Camp Humphreys, Va., and Camp Kendrick, N. J. He was commissioned as a major and held that rank in the reserves. He gave much of his time to civic, fraternal and church matters. He was a member of the First Baptist church which he served in many capacities and where he was for some years Sunday school superintendent. He also was a member of the board of trustees of the Baptist hospital at different periods and also had served as trustee on the board of the Baptist theological seminary in Louisville, Ky. He was a Mason, Elk, Knight of Pythias, Oddfellow and also a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. In all of these organizations he had held high offices. He was grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias at the time of his death and was past grand councilor of the Junior Order. Back in 1915, before the United States entered the first World War, Mr. Bethea was invited by Henry Ford to join the several hundred American leaders the big industrialist took to Europe in December on the Oscar II on a peace mission with the slogan "Out of the Trenches by Christmas." Mr. Bethea made the trip, but left the party before the tour had been completed and hurried back to his duties as president of the state senate in session the next February. Mr. Bethea was a leader in American Legion affairs, being a member of Richland post, No. 6, and also of the Richland voiture, No. 1025, of the 40 & 8.