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B 846,982
A CONTRIBUTION
HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
CONSISTING OF PAMPHLETS
SAMUEL DUBOSE, ESO. OF ST. JOHN'S BRUCELEY, SOUTH CAROLINA
PROF. FREDERICK A. PORCHER OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
REPUBLISHED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
T. GAILLARD THOMAS, M.D.
NEW YORK Tbe Etnichetbecher preis 1887
21:57
ARTES
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
MICHIGAN
3. QUAERIS-PENINSULAM AMOE NAM CIRCUMSP
F
A CONTRIBUTION
TO THE
HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
CONSISTING OF PAMPHLETS
BY
SAMUEL DUBOSE, EsQ. OF ST. JOHN'S BERKELEY, SOUTH CAROLINA AND PROF. FREDERICK A. PORCHER OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
REPUBLISHED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
BY
T. GAILLARD THOMAS, M.D.
NEW YORK The knickerbocker Press 1887
Press of G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS New York
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION V.
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE SEVENTEENTH ANNIVER- SARY OF THE BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . I REMINISCENCES OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH, CRAVEN COUNTY, AND NOTICES OF HER OLD HOMESTEADS . 35 HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SKETCH OF CRAVEN COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA 87
- 169 NOTES
iii
260726
INTRODUCTION.
The accompanying historical sketches of the Huguenot families which settled in the rich alluvial regions within fifty miles of Charleston will prove of interest to but few.
While the modern historian seeks with eagerness all records which tell of the Knickerbocker and the Puritan, who left their impress clear, distinct, and strong upon the country of their adoption, little in- terest attaches to the Huguenot, who played a less important rôle in making history and in writing his name upon its pages.
To a certain number of the descendants of those devoted men, however, who, in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the harsh and impolitic act of Louis XIV., settled in various parts of this country, faithful sketches like these to which this serves as preface, will be prized as contributions towards that thus far unwritten " History of the Huguenot Emigrants to America," which I feel sure must erelong appear.
Actuated by these considerations, I have thought that a reproduction of the simple, modest, and faithful recitals of things which came under the
V
vi
INTRODUCTION.
personal observation of these writers, and which have long since been out of print, would give pleas- ure to some of the friends of my youth, preserve facts for future use which would otherwise be lost, and give to my own children an opportunity of learning something concerning their forefathers which is not recorded elsewhere.
I need hardly say that these pamphlets have been left exactly as they came from the hands of the writers, and that they have been reproduced only for private circulation.
THEODORE GAILLARD THOMAS, M.D.
NEW YORK
ADDRESS
DELIVERED AT THE SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY ON TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1858
BY SAMUEL DUBOSE, EsQ. PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY
TO WHICH IS ADDED, REMINISCENCES OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH AND NOTICES OF HER OLD HOMESTEADS, BY SAMUEL DUBOSE, ESQ.
Published at the Request of the Black Oak Agricultural Society
I
ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Black Oak Agricultural Society :
At your last anniversary meeting, the following resolution was passed, to wit :
" Resolved, That the President be requested to prepare, for the next anniversary meeting of the Society, an historical account of the introduction of cotton-planting into this section of country ; together with short biographical sketches or remi- niscences of the earlier planters who were instrumental in its cultivation-detailing the progress made in its culture and preparation for market, in the climatizing of the finer quali- ties of cotton, whether by selection of seed grown here or by importation from the sea islands, with a comparison of the productiveness of our lands at its earliest cultivation with the old Santee "black seed " and that of the present time with the finer island seed, and all other points of historical interest connected with the progress and development of our staple crop."
It will be readily admitted, gentlemen, that pru- dence ought to have deterred me from attempting a compliance with your wish thus expressed ; having no record or reference, but thrown altogether upon memory, stretching back over a period of more than sixty years. I have, however, been induced by the desire to comply with the requirements of a Society over which your partiality has called me to preside.
3
4
SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
It is strange and true that human life is made up of the past and future circumstances and events that have been and are to come. Behind us lies a wide waste, strewed with the wrecks of blasted hopes and wasted efforts. In our onward progress we grasp at a point of time which we call the pres- ent. A moment intervenes, and that moment is gone forever. Often would we linger long and fondly around those cherished scenes where earthly joys shed their brightest rays-but in vain ; the cur- rent sweeps on, and those scenes lie behind us, and joys which made them bright shall be felt no more. Memory belongs to the past ; it lingers among the joys that are fled ; it tells of what we have done in the days that are gone ; it goes back to the record of the past. Memory belongs to the aged. Hope revels in the beauties of the morning of life, but its promise is often delusive. Through the journey of life, it is always sweet to review the happy scenes that we have witnessed in other days : the pleasing associations of childhood, the friends we loved, the joys we felt, the affections we indulged,-all come up like a sweet dream from the depths of the past, and breathe a fragrance upon the spirit in the later years of life. But to proceed :
In the year 1689 a colony of French Huguenots, numbering about one hundred and eighty families, arrived in Carolina, settled themselves on the San- tee, in St. James' Parish, and called their town
5
BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
James Town. Their purchase of lands was made from the numerous and warlike tribe of Indians called the Santees. With these people they lived in remarkable friendship, doing them no wrong or injustice. They cultivated the soil for their imme- diate necessities. As soon as compatible with cir- cumstances, they commenced improving their pe- cuniary condition by the cultivation of the staple products of the soil and the manufacture of naval stores. These, as well as indigo dye and rice, were articles of prime necessity to the mother country. She stimulated their production by a bounty upon the articles sent to market. Naval stores were a profitable and healthy pursuit to those who were advantageously located, and Watboo
afforded a convenient landing. Fortunes were made by those who engaged in the business with attention and judgment. Among the most success- ful was John Palmer, of Gravel Hill. He com- menced life poor, and left at his death about one hundred negroes to each of his children. In the course of a few years many of the descendants of the colony, finding the river swamp lands higher up, in what afterward became St. Stephen's Parish, to
be safer from freshets, gradually bought lands and moved up to the whole extent of the parish, until it became the most densely populated portion of the State out of Charleston. The entire swamp was in like manner populated with slaves. In some cases
6
SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
·
the owners and most of the overseers resided on the plantations through the year. Indigo was a light and beautiful crop ; the whole process of changing it from the weeds into the matured dry lumps was a ^very nice and critical one, requiring untiring atten- tion during night and day ; a periodical change of hands was required throughout the time, with the exception of him called the indigo maker, who could no more leave his post of responsibility, than could the captain of a ship on a lee shore.
Rice also began to be cultivated as a crop ; at first on high land and on little spots of low ground, as they were met with here and there. These low grounds being found to agree better with the plant, the inland swamps were cleared for the purpose of extending the culture. In the course of time, as the fields became too grassy and stubborn, they were abandoned for new clearings, and so on ; until at length the superior adaptation of the tide-lands was discovered, and their great facilities for irriga- tion. The inland plantations were gradually aban- doned for these, and that great body of land, which little more than a century ago furnished for exporta- tion over 50,000 barrels of rice, now lies utterly waste. Just previous to the Revolution, the tax re- turns exhibited upwards of 5,000 slaves within the parish, or rather in Santee swamp, there being then no settlements out of its limits.
Few planters failed of acquiring an independence,
7
BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and many made fortunes large for the times and cir- cumstances. Among the planters most successful at this business was Peter Sinkler, who, without any property with which to begin life, went daily with his hoe-cake and axe to his labor. At his death, about twenty-five years afterwards, he left for his children three valuable plantations and upwards of three hundred slaves. He died in Charleston a prisoner to the British, under the most cruel treat- ment. Before he was carried from his plantation he was made to witness the destruction of the fol- lowing property, viz. : twenty thousand pounds of indigo worth one dollar and fifty cents a pound, one hundred and thirty head of cattle, one hundred and fifty-four head of sheep, two hundred head of hogs, three thousand bushels of grain, twenty thou- sand rails, household furniture valued at £2,500; besides carrying off fifty-five negroes, sixteen blood horses, and twenty-eight mares and colts.
Peter Sinkler was a man remarkable for wonder- ful endurance, industry, and skill in the pursuit of his business. His parent could afford him only six months' schooling, when the necessities of a widowed mother and sister required the labor of himself and brother at home. When the Revolution broke out he devoted himself to the service of his country. From strong traits of character he soon possessed much influence among his fellow-citizens. This the enemy became aware of, and determined to make an
. 8
SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
example of him. Like others of the Whigs, he was wont occasionally to fly from the privations and fatigues endured by the soldiers of Marion's bri- gade to recruit within the bosom of his family. The enemy having ascertained this determined, if possible, to capture him. His own brother-in-law, James Boisseau, who had enjoyed no other home but his, was won over by bribery to betray him. He was captured in the manner following. His house was situated within fifty yards of the Santee swamp, and it was his habit, when necessary in order to avoid the danger which threatened from the front, to retire by the back way to his usual place of concealment. Boisseau, with a sufficient force below, threaded his way to the spot at which he knew Mr. Sinkler would enter it. Soon after a force was seen descending the avenue. The victim took his hat and returning to his place of con- cealment found himself in the arms of his captors. He was refused an interview with his wife and daughters, made to witness the destruction of the property as specified, carried off a prisoner to the provost in Charleston, and there, without a change of clothes, he was thrust into the southeast room of the post-office cellar, among a crowd as unfortunate as himself, without bedding or even straw to lie upon. Typhus fever soon terminated their suffer- ings. As his reward Boisseau enjoyed for life a commission in the British army and a civil station in Nova Scotia.
9 .
BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
At the period of which we write men were much more laborious and devoted to their business than at the present day ; a fact or two will prove this. During the period of manufacturing the indigo dye, which was a process requiring the closest atten- tion, Mr. Sinkler though he slept every night in his bed, never for three weeks saw the face of his wife or daughters ; he returned and departed while they slept. He and his brother lived full twelve miles asunder, and yet they generally visited each other after dark ; they would eat supper and then return home. All this was done on horseback, sul- kies and buggies being then unknown.
Upon the resort of the planters to the inland swamps for the cultivation of rice, the work of reclamation and preparation for rendering them safe and productive was both arduous and precarious ; subject as they were as often to an excess of water, as to a want of it when most needed. It is now a source of surprise and wonder to examine the amount of labor and skill some of the fields in this neighborhood exhibit. Take, for instance, Wantoot, the patrimonial estate of Daniel Ravenel, Esq., who died in 1807. On his land four swamps unite to form Biggin, each contributing copious streams. To unite and concentrate these into one, and bear off the water when in excess, as well as distribute it into the fields of the different plantations, called for judgment, perseverance, and an amount of labor not
IO
SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
easily understood. Mr. Ravenel resided in Charles- ton during the summer months when the work had to be chiefly carried on, and from thence he issued his orders to his driver, who occasionally went to town to receive them. On these occasions, for his better understanding of his master's wishes, the carpet would be taken from the floor of the hall, and a plat of the swamp, the creeks, watercourses, etc., chalked out for the driver's study and understanding. This man was slow of understanding, but very faith- ful and assiduous in executing his master's wishes. His success was a matter of wonder to the com- munity around.
The war terminated this state of prosperity. On the return of peace every planter was deeply in debt. For the period of ten years following no in- come was realized on account of freshets ; in many cases not even provisions. Prime gangs of negroes were publicly sold at an average of less than two hundred dollars. Rice and indigo and naval stores became of little value, because of the loss of the bounty formerly allowed under the colonial system.
The British government, ever true to her colonial policy, raised up in rivalry the culture of the indigo, both in their West and East India possessions. Be- sides all this, they who held property in paper were either not paid or paid in worthless, depreciated money ; and to complete the threatened ruin of the planters, the frequency of the freshets in the swamps
II
BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
forced the owners to abandon the cultivation of these lands, but recently so valuable. To make this better understood, let the fact be stated that Milford plantation, containing one hundred acres of high land and four or five hundred of swamp, which had been sold for six thousand guineas, was abandoned at the time we are speaking of as almost worthless.
The people, however, inspired by the success of their struggles and sufferings for liberty, did not despond nor slacken their exertions ; they manu- factured cloth for their families and slaves ; they raised every thing needful for consumption. The necessities of the war, and the state of things exist- ing for some time after it, greatly increased the number of domestic fabrications of the wool, until about the year 1790, when the practice of using homespun for plantation purposes became very com- mon throughout the parishes and districts. The yarn was spun at home and sent to the nearest weaver. Among the manufacturing establishments, the one near Murray's Ferry, in Williamsburg, owned by Irish settlers, supplied the adjacent country. The cotton for the spinning process was prepared in general by the field laborers, who, in addition to their ordinary work, picked the seed from the wool at the rate of four pounds of clean cotton per week.
In the year 1794 the Santee Canal was com- menced. This gave employment to nearly all the
12
SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
working negroes in the parish at high and remuner- ative wages. This enterprise relieved the planters of a burden which oppressed them, and left them partially untrammelled to prepare for the new staple which had been for some time exciting their hopes.
As far back as 1790 attempts had been made to plant cotton as a market crop in different localities of the Southern country. Even at an earlier period, among the exports from Charleston to Great Britain in 1748, we find seven bags of cotton wool valued at £3 IIS. 6d. per bag. In 1754 some cotton was again exported from South Carolina. In 1770 there were shipped to Liverpool three bags from New York, four bags from Virginia and Maryland, and three barrels from North Carolina. In 1794 an American vessel that carried eight bags to Liverpool was seized, on the ground that so much cotton could not be the product of the United States.
In 1785, fourteen bags; in 1786, six bags ; in 1787, one hundred and nine bags; in 1788, three hundred and eighty-nine bags; in 1789, eight hun- dred and forty-two bags; in 1790, eighty-one bags. The bag of cotton first sold in South Carolina was purchased in 1784 by John Teas- dale, from Bryan Cape, then a factor in Charles- ton. The export of cotton slowly but steadily increased until 1794, when a powerful impetus was given to the cotton culture by the invention of the saw gin by Eli Whitney of Massachusetts.
13
BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
In Georgia the long-staple cotton was first planted for market ; in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the short-staple.
As early as 1787 small quantities of cotton in the seed were brought from Orangeburg district and sold to merchants at 2d. per pound, who resold it principally to ladies to make patch-work bedquilts.
When Whitney's saw gin was first exhibited in Georgia, none but women were permitted to enter the room. An ingenious young mechanic intro- duced himself into the apartment in women's ap- parel, and by a minute examination of the machine satisfied himself that he could not only imitate but improve on its construction by making it more effi- cient. The gins so constructed were first applied to water-power by General Wade Hampton.
The first attempt to raise a crop of long cotton in South Carolina was in 1788, by Kinsey Burden of St. Paul's Parish. In 1793 General Moultrie planted a crop of one hundred and fifty acres on Northampton plantation. This was a decided fail- ure, the result of his unacquaintance with the proper method of culture.
The cotton culture from this time progressed rapidly in these parishes. This plant and indigo struggled against each other for the ascendancy. In three years the latter ceased to be grown as a market crop. To prove the value of the crop and the success of some of its planters in the parish, in
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SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
1799, Captain Peter Gaillard, of the Rocks planta- tion, averaged three hundred and forty dollars per hand ; and in the same year Captain James Sinkler, at Belvidere, from a crop of three hundred acres, realized the amount of two hundred and sixteen pounds per acre, for much of which he received seventy-five cents per pound, and for none less than fifty cents-total, five hundred and nine dollars per hand. When first planted as a crop, various were the modes adopted for its cultivation, both as to the distance most proper and the amount of tillage necessary. The crop of Captain Gaillard above alluded to was planted on hills four feet square, and two stalks left in each hill. Four workings were deemed sufficient for making a crop : the first hoe- ing was invariably a flush or hoeing down process ; afterwards it was drawn up. The seeds were uni- versally planted in drills on the beds, which were four feet apart and about their present size; the thinning was done by careful hands selected from the gang, doing daily three half acres the first and four at the second thinning.
Peter Gaillard was born at the residence of his father, at Wambaw, St. James' Parish, Santee, in the year 1757, being the youngest of a family of five sons and three daughters. He and David were full brothers, his father having a second time married after the birth of the first six children. The parents were among the Huguenot emigrants from France
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BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
the year following the Edict of Nantes. Peter grew up to the age of ten before he was placed at school, and I have heard him say he believed the rapid progress he made was mainly owing to the shame and mortification he was subjected to by finding boys much his juniors in age his superiors in learning ; he soon took a high stand in the school. When this school was discontinued, as there was a good one near Milford, my grandfather's residence in St. Stephen's Parish, he, together with Peter Robert, John Ball, and Francis Peyre, all cousins, were sent to that school under the charge of their uncle, Isaac Dubose, who had five children attend- ing the school at the time, viz .: Isaac, David, Samuel, Catharine, and Joanna. After finishing their academic course here, Peter Gaillard and Samuel Dubose were sent to Charleston as clerks in the store of Theodore Gaillard, Peter's elder brother.
Here they continued until the war broke out. In consequence of the death of both David and his wife Joanna Dubose, Peter became owner of the White Plains plantation, to which he removed and lived with Samuel Dubose for some time as planters of indigo in the swamp. In the progress of events the two friends separated. Samuel Du- bose taking side zealously with the Whigs, and the other remaining neutral. Most of the friends of Peter Gaillard warmly espoused the cause of the British government ; and the violence and uncom-
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SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
promising character of his father probably influ- enced the son. Things remained so until the country got in the possession of the enemy. The British general, Cornwallis, called into the field most of those who had taken protection under his proclamation, and when a force was organized to hunt out Marion and his men on the Santee, Peter Gaillard was appointed second in command. Gen- eral Marion, having ascertained the embodying and object of the party, suddenly fell upon them at Black Mingo and dispersed them; this was the only occasion where an active part was taken by Peter Gaillard against his countrymen. His friends had long known that he was lukewarm towards the cause he had espoused.
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