USA > South Carolina > Darlington County > History, description and resources of Darlington County, state of South Carolina > Part 1
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HISTORY,
DESCRIPTION AND RESOURCES
OF
DARLINGTON COUNTY,
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINAA.
CHARLESTON, S. C. THE NEWS AND COURIER JOB PRESSES. 1874.
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[Extract from Minutes of the Convention of the Granges of Darlington County, at its Session at Darlington Court House, May 13th, 1874.]
Resolved, That the Committee on Immigration be directed to prepare a Pamphlet descriptive of the County and its resources, for distribution among the Granges of the other States of the Union.
J. A. LAW, President. JOHN W. WILLIAMSON, Secretary.
DARLINGTON COUNTY,
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT.
Darlington County lies in the Eastern portion of the State of South Carolina, and is a part of the rich and extensive valley formed by the Great Pee Dee and its tributaries.
The General Assembly, in 1785, by what is known as the County Court Act, divided the famous old Precinct of The Cheraws into the three Counties of Chesterfield, Darlington, and Marlborough. In 1793, on the abolition of the County Courts, these, as well as the other judicial divisions of the State, received the name of Districts. The State Conven- tion of 1868 declared that the judicial divisions of the State should, thenceforth, be denominated Counties.
The County is bounded on the Northeast by the Great Pee Dee River, which separates it from the County of Marl- borough ; Northwest by the County of Chesterfield, from which it is divided in part by Cedar Creek ; Southwest by Lynche's Creek, separating it from the Counties of Sumter and Kershaw ; and Southeast by the County of Marion, and Lynche's Creek separating it from the County of Williams- burg. It is of a very compact shape-approximating a square in form-contains 576,000 acres, and is, on an aver- age, thirty miles square.
Darlington and the adjacent Counties lying along the Great Pee Dec, date their settlement from 1737, when a Colony of Welsh, from Pennsylvania, located on that River. To this Colony were added, shortly afterwards, a number of English, Scotch, and Irish families, some from Virginia, and
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many directly from across the Atlantic. The people of the Pec Dee Valley are justly proud of these first settlers. Honest, energetic, intelligent, and religious, the impress of their character is still conspicuous in the country of their selection, despite the many changes that have taken place, and despite the incoming of men of every nationality ; their form of Protestantism-the Baptist-still dominates; and among the prominent men of the valley their names have still a large representation.
The Welsh selected the Pee Dee Valley for the cultiva- tion of hemp and flax, but the great natural inducements to stock raising-the extensive ranges, the fine native grasses, the abundant mass of the forests, and the immense cane- brakes along the streams-directed their attention to that more profitable business. Soon " Cheraw Bacon " became famous in distant parts of the country, and immense herds of cattle and horses were driven South to Charleston, and North as far as Philadelphia.
About the year 1745 the fortunate discovery was made that Indigo grew spontaneously in the Province, and was found almost everywhere among the wild weeds of the for- est. Seed was imported from the West Indies, and soon the cultivation of this plant was found to be the shortest and easiest road to wealth. Stock raising still, though as a subordinate industry, received attention ; Lumber was sent off in large quantities ; Wheat, Corn, and Tobacco were pro- duced in abundance, and Tar, Pitch, and Turpentine were among the exports. " Wealth poured in upon the Colonists from a thousand channels. The fertility of the soil gener- ously repaid the labor of the husbandman, making the poor to sing, and industry to smile through every corner of the land. None were indigent, but the idle and unfortunate. Personal independence was fully within the reach of every man who was healthy and industrious."*
With the beginning of the present century Indigo gave place to Cotton, as the chief source of wealth, and with what
*Ramsay's "History of the Revolution in South Carolina," vol. 1, p. 7.
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result is shown by the fact, that before the late war Dar- lington was among the very wealthiest of the purely agricul- tural Counties of the United States.
This brief history, which cannot be gainsayed, is in itself a demonstration of the wonderful agricultural resources of the County. We see a country which, in its brief history of not much over a century in duration, has presented to its peo- ple three distinct industries, of a character so remarkably profitable as to make to all, except the unfortunate or the criminally inert, the road to wealth short and easy, and to concentrate upon each, in its turn, to the neglect of other occupations, the energies of the people, physical and mental.
VILLAGES.
The County has within its borders four thriving villages : Darlington Court House, Society Hill, Florence, and Tim- monsville.
Darlington Court House, the seat of justice for the Coun- ty, situated near its centre, is a beautiful village, embowered in a grove of shapely and majestic evergreen oaks, with a population of between 900 and 1000. Here the Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions for the County holds, annually, a Spring, a Summer, and a Fall Session.
Society Hill, the oldest of the villages, is situated in the Northeast corner of the County, on high and healthy sand hills, one mile from the Great Pee Dee River. A good bridge across the River connects the place with the County of Marlborough, and makes it the point of shipment, by River and Railroad, of much of the produce of that County. Society Hill had its origin, in the need felt by the planters of the River low lands for society and a healthy residence, and still deserves its name, its white inhabitants being dis- tinguished for refinement and hospitality. It numbers be- tween 500 and 600 inhabitants, is one of the loveliest vil- lages of the State, and unsurpassed as a healthy and de- lightful place of residence.
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At Florence, near the Southeastern border of the County, three Railroads meet, one of which, the Northeastern, has there its workshops. Its population is in the neighborhood of 1000. Florence is a thrifty and enterprising little town, is growing rapidly, and regards the future with grand and not unreasonable expectations.
Timmonsville, in the Southwestern part of the County, on the line of the Wilmington, Columbia, and Augusta Rail- road, is a busy and hopeful village of some six hundred in- habitants, having a fertile and well settled country around it, and shipping a large portion of the produce of the County.
Other villages are springing up, the most prominent among which is Cartersville, a Station on the Wilmington .. Columbia, and Augusta Railroad, in a mile of where the Road crosses Lynche's Creek, and passes beyond the limits of the County.
RIVERS, CREEKS, ROADS, AND MARKET FACILITIES.
A better watered County it would be difficult to find in the United States. From Northwest to Southeast, nearly parallel with each other, run across its territory Rivers, and Creeks deserving the name of Rivers, leaving between them only narrow strips of upland, while numberless small tribu- taries flow from the uplands to feed these larger streams. In whatever direction the traveller rides, neither he nor his horse can suffer for water. Wells need not be applied to ; he finds numerous springs along his route, and every mile or two crosses running water.
Forming the Northwest boundary of the County-a dis- tance of between thirty-five and forty miles-flows the ma- jestic stream of the Great Pee Dec. The River rises in North Carolina, and empties into Winyaw Bay, near George- town. Its average width along our border is 150 yards, and it is navigable from its mouth to the town of Cheraw, in Chesterfield, about 120 miles, by air-line, from the ocean. Five Steamboats now find profitable employment upon its
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waters. The River abounds in fish of fine quality, such as Catfish, Bream, White and Speckled Trout, White Perch, Redhorse, and Rockfish, while in the Spring the Shad Fisheries become profitable. The Swamp proper of the River has an average width of two and a half miles, and then comes what is known as the upper low lands, above high water mark, and with an average width of from one and a half to two miles. Of the Swamp proper, from one- third to one-half has been or is now under cultivation. The portions uncleared are covered by a growth of valuable trees, such as White and Red Oak, Cypress, Ash, Hickory, and Gum, and still repays the toil of the hunter in pursuit of Deer, Wild Turkeys, Ducks, and other varieties of South- ern game. Along the banks of the Great Pee Dee the first Colonists of the valley located, attracted by its fertile lands, splendid timber, grazing facilities, and the abundance of its fish and game. Before the late war, the River along its Darlington border had been well embanked, and its low lands, thus protected from freshets, were so productive, that thirty dollars per acre was deemed not too high a price for clearing them from trees, and the opportunities for their purchase, at any price, were exceedingly rare. In 1865 a great freshet broke the levees and flooded the low lands. Coming at a time when emancipation and the other results of the war had reduced our people from riches to poverty, the disaster could not be repaired, and to this day the greater part of these valuable lands remain without proper cultivation. The owners are impoverished, and the lands can be bought at prices ranging from $1.50 to $5 per acre. Such an opportunity for speculation rarely occurs. The capitalist who would invest his money in the repair 'of the embankments, and the restoration of these lands, could not fail to increase enormously his wealth.
Leaving the Pee Dec, and riding Westward, the traveller would next come to Black Creek, the pride of the County. This stream, deserving from its size the name of River, rises among the high sand hills in the Northwest corner of
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Chesterfield County, and winding with a serpentine course through the Eastern portion of our County, empties itself just below our Southeast corner into the Great Pee Dec. In its course through Darlington it has very little of swamp, its banks being mostly high and dry, and shaded by stately trees. Its bottom is of hard fullers earth, and it is fed mainly by innu- merable springs of pure and cold water. The riparian lands of this stream are among the most healthy in the State, and though not unfit for the cultivation of Cotton, are distin- guished in the County as fine grain lands. Owing to the absence of Swamp, the altitude of the country from which it takes its rise, and the character of its tributaries, there is no more delightful bathing stream ; its waters are singularly pure and cold, its fish, though not numerous, are distin- guished for fine flavor, and the hardness and whiteness of their flesh, and the current is unusually rapid. There is a general expectation among the people of the County, that Black Creek will, one day, become famous for its manufac- tories ; and despite the difficulties arising from the want of a rock bottom, and the rapidity of its rise after a rain-fall, the opinions of competent engineers, who have studied its capa- cities, justify this expectation. The flow of water is con- stant, and the fall is estimated at three feet to the mile. The abundance of fine Pine Timber upon its banks for the construction of dams, the healthfulness of the country, mild- ness of the climate, both in Summer and Winter, vicinity to Railroads, cheapness of labor, and saving of transportation of the raw material, make the location a superior one for Cotton Factories. Sweet Afton deserved not more the ad- miration and song of a poet. Its pure waters vary in color as they pass from shallow to deep pool, its banks are adorn- ed by a rich and varied foliage, and as it pursues its sinu- ous course, with every turn it presents miniature scenes of surpassing beauty.
Going Westward, the traveller next crosses Swift Creek, a fine stream, with rich low lands, then comes to High Hill Creek and Jeffries Creek, along both of which are some of
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the finest farms in the County ; then crosses Middle Swamp, Lake Swamp, Sparrow Swamp, Newman's Swamp, Deep Hole-all fine perennial streams-until, at last, he reaches Lynche's Creek, the Southwestern boundary of the County. This stream, like Black Creek, deserves the name of River. In its course along our boundary it forms an arc with a gen- tle bend. If, at a distance of six miles from the Creek, you draw a line parallel with it, between this and the Creek will be included what is now the most prosperous portion of the County. The lands are mostly divided into small farms, of about one hundred acres each; there are few negroes ; Churches and School Houses are numerous ; and the people, honest, intelligent, and industrious, as a general rule, raise their provisions, and make, besides, fine crops of Cotton.
Forming a part of the Northwestern boundary is Cedar Creek, a fine, never failing stream, fed by numberless springs. During the war of 1812, General D. R. Williams, an enterprising citizen of the County, established on this stream a small Cotton Factory, which, for many years after- wards, paid a handsome dividend on the capital invested.
The County possesses unusual facilities for travel within its borders, and for reaching market quickly and cheaply. Fine Roads abound, and these are good through all seasons of the year, the land being level, and the soil resisting well the wear and tear of travel. From Cheraw, in the County of Chesterfield, to Florence, runs the Cheraw and Darling- ton Railroad, visiting in its course the villages of Society Hill and Darlington Court House. From Cheraw a Road is being built to Salisbury, in North Carolina, which, when completed, will afford to the people of the County ready access to all parts of North Carolina, and will lead to the passage, through our borders, on the way to Charleston, of much of the produce of the Old North State. Florence is the Northern terminus of the Northeastern Railroad, run- ning up from the City of Charleston, a distance of only 102 miles. Through Florence, also, passes the Wilmington. Columbia, and Augusta Railroad, an important link in one
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of the great lines of travel between the North and the South.
As has been said, five Steamboats on the Great Pee Dee afford cheap water transportation to the City of Charleston. Lynche's Creek was once navigable eighty miles from where it empties into the Pee Dee, and Black Creek thirty miles from its junction with the same River ; and there only needs the removal of obstructions, consisting entirely of logs and trees, to render these streams again open to boats for the same or greater distances.
POPULATION-COLORED ELEMENT.
The County is divided into twenty-one Townships, differ- ing but little in size. By the Census Report for 1870 the population is stated as 26,243, composed of whites 10,097, and colored 16,146. There is, however, a manifest error in the Report. The statistics from three of the Townships, in two of which the whites are largely in the majority, were either not forwarded, or were overlooked by the Depart- ment. Besides, it is believed that there is an error in the number of negroes in the Townships reported. At the time the Census was being taken, the colored people were in ex- pectation of some bounty from the Government, and there was prevalent among them a rumor that their names were being taken with a view to the distribution of this bounty. Under these circumstances it is difficult to resist the con- clusion that fathers, in many instances, exaggerated the number in family. By those best informed, it is believed that the present population of the County is some 30,000, the colored being between one-fourth and one-third in ex- cess of the whites.
Negro slaves were introduced into the Pee Dee Valley very soon after the arrival of the first Colonists, and proved so valuable that their price quickly reached a high figure. Treated kindly, their natural increase was rapid, and, in ad- dition, their numbers were constantly augmented by pur-
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chase. In 1840 the colored element of the population in this County was slightly in excess of the whites, and, after that, rapidly went ahead. Darlington was, just after the war, the Headquarters of the Military occupation of the Pee Dee Valley, and, as a consequence, large numbers of negroes, inspired by hope and fear, flocked in from the adjacent Counties. But for the strong local attachments of the race, the negro population would, on account of their want of landed property, and their credulous and excitable natures, be of a very uncertain character. A slight inducement leads the negro off, but the old plantation, where he was born and bred, has attractions that rarely fail, in time, to bring him back. Thus, while numbers are constantly leav- ing the County, numbers are as constantly on the return.
Treated kindly, with few exceptions, while slaves, their emancipation led to no scenes of violence and bloodshed. Urged to take advantage of his opportunity, and do his worst, by vile men-the offscouring of the North, who fol- lowed the army of occupation-the negro could not rid him- self of his attachment to his master's family, and was utter- ly unable to regard and treat as enemies those who had been his life-long friends. His conduct in this County, after emancipation, as in other Counties similarly situated, expos- ed, in the most striking manner, one of the delusions of the leaders of the abolition movement. The relation between master and slave was, as a general rule, distinguished by mutual affection and kind offices-this the abolitionist was naturally unable to understand. After the State was reor- ganized under the measures of. reconstruction, the negroes, banded together in secret political leagues, under the most solemn of oaths, grateful to the Republican party, which had bestowed the boon of freedom, and, in their ignorance, fully persuaded that the carpet-baggers had been sent to them by the Republican party, to be their leaders, voted solidly against the respectable whites. Honest efforts have been made, and are still being made, to disabuse their minds, and to induce them to unite with the whites in the interests
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of good government, but so far nothing has been accom- plished. Meanwhile, in all concerns, except that of politics, there has been, and there is now, no real bitterness of feel- ing between the races. The negro treats the decent white man with all the respect of former days; to him, in prefer- ence to all others, he goes.for advice and assistance; if in distress, it is to some member of old master's family that he goes with implicit confidence ; and if any member of that family has come to grief, the slaves of the past are most likely to come to the rescue with sympathy and assistance. Despite, however, this kindly feeling and interchange of kind offices, politics remain a forbidden subject. Let the white man mention it, and immediately the negro becomes either silent or an assenting hypocrite. Even where, from superior intelligence, the negro is convinced that he should break through the trammels of party, his timid nature makes it impossible for him to go contrary to the majority of his race. Besides, he has been led to entertain the vain hope of speedily bringing about, by means of his political ascenden- cy, social equality ; and this hope binds him fast to an or- ganization and to leaders, the evil ends of which, and the corruption of whom, are now apparent even to his eyes.
Could an immigration of honest white men from the North be induced, of sufficient magnitude to give the majority to the whites in this and the other Counties of the State, simi- larly in minority, the political evils and social troubles that now impair the prosperity of this rich country, would soon disappear. Such a change would be, if anything, a greater blessing to the negro than to the white man, as, for obvious reasons, the present misgovernment of the State presses upon the former most heavily. A return by the means above indicated, to honesty and capacity in the administra- tion of the affairs of the State, would reduce the heavy taxa- tion, the greater part of which he is, though indirectly, made to pay, would bring about entire harmony between him and the white man; would remove from his mind many vain hopes and delusions that now interfere with his success in
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life ; would expel the only question likely to bring about a conflict of races-the question of social equality-from the dangerous field of politics ; would teach the negro to hope for the gratification of this, his eager ambition, alone through the legitimate means of refinement, education, and wealth ; and, lastly, would lead him to occupy contentedly his proper place in our social fabric. His strong vote, backed by kind- ly feelings and an intelligent sense of interest on the part of the better class of whites, would be a guarantee against any legislation inimical to his race ; and, instead of, as now, being looked upon as a source of trouble and apprehension, the negro would again, as in the past, be justly regarded as a valuable element in the population.
In this County he has had, and still has, every encourage- ment to better his condition and render himself independ- ent. As soon as our Courts were opened, after the war, and lands began to be sold, almost invariably, when large tracts were brought under the hammer of the auctioneer, they were cut up for sale into lots, small enough to suit negro purchas- ers, and after some little natural hesitation, landlords began, cheerfully, to let out their surplus lands to negro tenants. Numbers now own and work their own lands, and still greater numbers cultivate the land as tenants. Among these some are doing unusually well, exhibiting a rapid ac- cumulation of property, and a consequent elevation of char- acter. The large majority still obtain employment as house servants and as laborers on the farms and plantations. The money wages range according to the age and character of the employee, from $5 to $10 per month, and rations. The most popular plan of employment on the farm, however, is an arrangement by which the laborers receive a share of the crop-usually one-third-and buy their provisions from the employer, on a credit, until the crop is harvested. Theft and idleness were alarmingly common just after the war, but since have been rapidly and steadily on the decrease.
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RELIGION-EDUCATION.
The prevailing forms of Protestantism in the County are Baptists, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian. The Baptists are believed to be most numerous, though the Methodists are not far behind. A Catholic Church is being erected at Florence.
The educational advantages of the County would be all that could be reasonably desired-the system pursued being well devised and the appropriations large-did not the mel- ancholy political condition of the State fail to secure an honest disbursement of the funds raised for education, and prevent the election and appointment of competent Super- intendents and Teachers to preside over its interests. There is an average of three Public Schools to each of the twenty- one Townships, and, besides, Private Schools are numerous. According to last year's Annual Report of the County School Commissioner, while the scholastic population was near 8,000, the number in attendance on the Public Schools was 2,600.
SOIL-PRODUCTIONS.
Darlington County, only about sixty miles from the Ocean by air line, lies, as might be expected, within the alluvial formation of the State, being below the falls of the Rivers. The greater part of its territory is within what is known as the Third Section of the soil of the State, counting from the Coast, a region of an average width of thirty miles, lying be- tween the Tide Swamp lands and the Sand Hills, and stand- ing in the same relation to the Ocean that the Upper Low Lands do to our Rivers. It is of secondary formation, and abounds in shell lime stone. A rich stratum of this marl, containing on an average sixty per cent. of Carbonate of Lime, is exposed at points on Black Creek, Swift Creek, High Hill Creek, and Lynche's Creek, and is believed to be continuous, throughout at least all the space between these different localities. It is easily obtained in quantity, and its
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great value in the improvement of our lands has been fully demonstrated. It neutralizes the acid principle of the soil, alters its texture and absorbency, quickens growth, and re- strains the production of malaria.
Along the Northwest border of the County, widening as you go West, is a narrow strip of country, which be- longs to the Fourth Section or Sand Hill Region of the State. These Sand Hills running through the State, about the same distance, everywhere, from the Coast, are believed to mark the line of the ancient shore of the Ocean, and to have once been washed by the waves of the Atlantic. This Sand Hill Region of the County is just beginning to be prop- erly appreciated. In the past it has had no attractions for the farmer, its arable land being believed to be confined to a few narrow strips of rich soil in its hollows and along the banks of its streams. Quite recently a few enterprising men have demonstrated, by the indisputable evidence of profita- ble farms, that its area of land, capable of making a rich re- turn to cultivation, is far more extensive than was supposed. It is covered densely by a valuable growth of Pitch Pine and Black Jack. Such of its lands as are apparently unfit for cultivation, afford a splendid pasturage and range for stock. Cattle and Hogs require, the year round, but little help from the farmer's barn, and no country can be better adapted to the raising of Sheep. The air is remarkably salubrious, and the water pure and pleasant. Taking the whole year round, there is no country more healthy; the Summers are very free from bilious, and the Winters from inflammatory dis- cases. These lands, so capable of being made highly profit- able, range in price from fifty cents to three dollars per acre.
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