South Carolina Genealogy

Catlett Connor, a very celebrated character in that day, and who was elected to the State Senate over Eldred Simkins, afterwards member of Congress and one of the most eminent men in the State, lived near Ninety-Six in the house, the residence in 1891, of Hon. Calvin W. Kinard. This Mr. Connor was a blacksmith, a man of intelligence and of great force of character. Being considerably ambitious and jealous of the influence of the Butler and Simkins families in the county, and thinking that they were getting rather more offices than they were fairly entitled to, wrote and published…

We have seen that although there were occasional wrongs done by both whites and Indians, yet it is probable that there would have been no general war between the English settlers and the natives of the upper country had it not been for the intrigues of the French. At an early day the French had occupied the northern portions of the Continent; they had passed westward through the Great Lakes; had found the upper part of the Mississippi; had explored that river to its mouth; had founded the city of New Orleans; had built a chain of forts from its…

There were other early settlers in that part of Edgefield bordering on Big Saluda and Persimmon Creek, not yet mentioned. These were the Perrys, Colemans, Trotters, Berrys, Nunns, Summerses, Rileys, and McCartys, to say nothing as yet of the Brookses. As the settlements in Abbeville began about the same time with those on the Saluda side of Edgefield, we will make a little excursion into that county. Both counties being parts of the original District of Ninety-Six their histories are necessarily very intimately connected. In the year 1756, the same year in which the Culbreaths came to “Scotland,” Patrick Calhoun,…

Just below Dannett Abney’s, on Saluda River, was the Stewart settlement, notorious in local annals for devoted attachment to the Royal cause during the Revolution, and for their warm personal friendship for Ned Turner and Bill Cunningham. Their homestead was at or near the mouth of Tosty Creek, a small stream emptying into the Saluda, and called Tosty, or Tosta, by the natives. This settlement began as early as 1760, or about that time. Mr. John Stuart, of New Windsor, on the Savannah River (whether connected with the Stewarts above named I do not know), was an officer of the…

In the year 1770, a ferry was established at Saluda Old Town, from the lands of Charles Carson on the south side of Saluda, to the opposite shore at the lands of William Turner. The ferry was vested in Charles Carson, his Executors, Administrators, and Assigns. By the same Act a road was ordered to be made and laid out from the south side of the ferry to the nearest and most contiguous part of the road lately laid out and established by the name of Kelly’s Road. Anderson’s Ferry over Saluda was established December 19th, 1795. This, I believe,…

The Towleses, very active and brave Whigs, were, I think, settlers about the year 1760 above “Scotland,” in the Half Way Swamp country. Between them and Ned Turner, in fact between them and almost all Tories, burned the fire of implacable hatred. The Chappells were also in the same neighborhood. About Saluda Old Town were the Carsons, brave and true Whigs. Old Mr. James Carson used to tell an anecdote of one of the family, his father, I think, very much like one related by Kennedy of his hero in the story of Horse Shoe Robinson. He said that one…

A little out from Saluda, and a mile or two below “Scotland,” and on the old Ninety-Six Road, we find that land was granted to William Abney, February 14th, 1772, sixteen years after the Culbreaths came. William Abney settled and lived upon the land thus granted until his death. Some of his descendants, at least some of the Abneys, lived upon the place in the old house as long as it was a homestead, not a great many years since. William Abney was the ancestor of John R. Abney, a lawyer now living in New York City, and of Ben…

Among the earliest settlers on the Saluda side of Edgefield, was a Scotch family, or perhaps there were several families, who settled in the year 1756 about four miles south of where Chappell’s Ferry now is, and near where afterwards was organized and built by them the Baptist Church of Chestnut Hill. This church, by the way, was named Chestnut Hill because it was built on a hillside near where grew many chestnut trees, some very large. This growth was found nowhere else in the neighborhood. This settlement was called Scotland, and is still known and recognized by that name…

Note: Fort Keowee as it was commonly called in the 1800’s is now known by the name Fort Prince George. A fort on the borders of the nation, or in the nation, had long been desired by the traders and settlers, and even by some of the best disposed Indians themselves. As early, even, as 1734, the importance of such a fort had been recognized in Charleston: but its erection had been put off, from time to time. And the colonists, instead of building the fort themselves, had petitioned the Parliament of Great Britain build it. After years of delay…

Edgefield County is situated in the west part of the state, and contains 1,680 square miles. Saluda River runs on its northeast border, and Savannah River on its southwest. Drained by Little Saluda River and Stephens’ Creek. The surface is moderately uneven; soil not very fertile, but well adapted to cotton, of which it produces annually 35,000 bales. Capital, Edgefield. There were in 1840, neat cattle 36,339, sheep 15,324, swine 62,184; wheat 40,295 bush, produced, rye 3,023, Ind. corn 1,063,521, oats 120,334, potatoes 62,069, cotton 7,613,125 pounds; 6 commercial and com. houses, cap. $26,000; 39 stores, cap. $205,500; 1 cotton…