USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 11
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Mr. Lowrimore says: "Next the Okes did likewise all"- that is, as I construe it, they did like the Woodberrys-"raised hogs and cattle for market, made indigo, met the trading ves- sels and changed off indigo pound for pound of negro weighed naked." As to this name, "Okes," there is no record of such name in the county anywhere, as the writer has ever seen. The name may be included in the word "others," mentioned by Bishop Gregg, on p. 69, where he mentions the settlement in
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Britton's Neck of 1735, and gives the names of several of those early settlers there and concludes with the words "and others." The name has entirely disappeared, if it ever existed. Mr. Lowrimore says: "About 1760, the Munnerlyns (Irish), farmers and stock raisers, planted indigo, rice, oats, wheat and tobacco, raised orchards, beat cider." They settled in Brit- ton's Neck ; there are none there now by that name. It is very probable that the Munnerlyn family, the Rev. Thomas M. Mun- nerlyn, who lived up near Ariel Church for many years, and raised a family there, and died there some twenty years ago, was a descendant of the Munnerlyn spoken of by Mr. Lowri- more. The Rev. Thomas M. Munnerlyn had a son, Thomas W. Munnerlyn, who became an itinerant Methodist preacher, and who died in 1898 and was buried at Smithville, S. C. (Minutes of the Conference, 1899, held at Orangeburg, S. C.), a son named George, who emigrated West some years ago, and a daughter, who married the late R. Z. Harllee; he and wife are both dead., The Munnerlyn family were quite respectable in their day; none bearing the name now in the county, that the writer is aware of. A branch of the old Munnerlyn family is in Georgetown. B. A. Munnerlyn, of Georgetown, is a first class business man and stands high with all who have business with him. Mr. Lowrimore mentions the Williams as being early settlers in Britton's Neck, on the Great Pee Dee; that they raised stock and drove it to market. There are several Williams down in that region or portion of the county now, but the writer has no personal acquaintance with them. They have the reputation of being a peaceable and quiet people, un- ostentatious, and unpretending in their manners and habits.
Mr. Lowrimore mentions a family of Rays, who settled near the place that is called Ray's Causeway, on the road leading from Britton's Neck to the "Ark" Church. There are no Rays down in that section now. There are Rays in the upper end of the county, but they are not of that family. What became of them is unknown. Mr. Lowrimore further says: "Also, the old Jenkings lived in there, too, there is where old Mrs. Jenkins drank the toast to the British officer, when she told him she had three sons in the army, and she wished she had three thousand." This colloquy between Mrs. Jenkins, who it
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seems was at that time a widow, and the British officer, is re- lated in full in the Life of Marion, written by Brigadier General Horry and Rev. M. L. Weems, pages 220-222. It is as fol- lows: "It was not for the British and Marion to lie long at rest in the same neighborhood. After a short repose, Colonel Watson, with a stout force of regulars and Tories, made an inroad upon Pee Dee, which was no sooner known in our camp, than Marion pushed after him. We presently struck their trail; and after a handsome day's run, pitched our tents near the house of the excellent widow, Jenkins, and on the very spot which the British had left in the morning. Colonel Watson, it seems, had taken his quarters that night in her house; and learning that she had three sons with Marion, all active, young men, he sent for her after supper, and desired her to sit down and take a glass of wine with him. To his request, a good old lady of taste and manners could have no objection; so waiting upon the Colonel, and taking a chair which he handed her, she sat down and emptied her glass to his health. He then commenced the following conversation with her: 'So, Madam, they tell me you have several sons in General Marion's camp; I hope it is not true.' She said, 'It was very true, and was only sorry that it was not a thousand times truer.' 'A thousand times truer, Madam!' replied he, with great surprise. 'Pray, what can be your meaning in that?' 'Why, sir, I am only sorry that in place of three, I have not three thousand sons with General Marion.' 'Aye, indeed! Well, then, Madam, begging your pardon, you had better send for them immediately to come in and join his Majesty's troops under my command ; for as they are rebels now in arms against their king, should they be taken they will be hung as sure as ever they were born.' 'Why, sir,' said the old lady, 'you are very considerate of my sons; for which, at any rate, I thank you. But, as you have begged my pardon for giving me this advice, I must beg yours for not taking it. My sons, sir, are of age, and must and will act for themselves. And as to their being in a state of rebellion against their king, I must take the liberty, sir, to deny that.' 'What, Madam!' replied he; 'not in rebellion against their king? Shooting and killing his Majesty's subjects like wolves! Don't you call that rebellion
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against their king, Madam?' 'No, sir,' answered she; 'they are only doing their duty, as God and nature commanded them, sir.' "The d-1 they are, Madam.' 'Yes, sir,' continued she, 'and what you and every man in England would glory to do against the king, were he to dare to tax you contrary to your own consent, and the Constitution of the realm. "Tis the king, sir, who is in rebellion against my sons, and not they against him. And could right prevail against might, he would as certainly lose his head as ever King Charles the First did.' - Colonel Watson could hardly keep his chair under the smart of this speech ; but thinking it would never do for a British Colonel to be rude to a lady, he filled her glass, and saying, 'he'd be d-d if she were not a very plain spoken woman at any rate,' insisted she would drink a toast with him for all that. She replied she had no objection. Then filling the glasses round, he looked at her with a constrained smile, and said, 'Well, Madam, here is George the Third.' 'With all my heart, sir,' and turned off her bumper with a good grace. After a decent interval of sprightly conversation, he called on the widow for a toast, who smartly retorted, 'Well, sir, here's George Washington.' At which he darkened a little, but drank it off with an officer-like politeness. The next morning early, we left the good Mrs. Jenkins, and burning with impatience to give Watson another race, we drove on Jehu-like." Mrs. Jenkins was a noble lady, full of the fires of patriotism, and had the courage, inspired by it, to speak her mind in almost the presence of royalty-at least, in the presence of and to a representative of it-and yet she did not forget the proprieties of her sex. She did not hesitate to express her sentiments, though pointed, yet with the calm dignity of a true and virtuous woman. She assuredly got the better of Colonel Watson, which he did not rudely resent. It may be inferred from his rank and position that he had the instincts of a gentleman, and though she stung him to the core, he treated her with much respect and due consider- ation. She, doubtless, loved her sons with all the ardor of her soul, yet she was willing to surrender them to her country's call, to resist its invaders, to fight for its liberties and, if needs be, to die in its cause. The writer does not know how many sons she had; he does know, however, that she had, in addi-
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tion to the three noble boys in Marion's army, another boy, James, then a lad of fourteen or fifteen years, who at an early age entered into the ministry, joined the Methodist Conference, and engaged in a warfare against the devil and sin-a much more formidable enemy than was the King of Great Britain. He joined the Conference in 1792, and was an itinerant preacher for the balance of his life, or as long as he was physi- cally able. He was a pioneer preacher. In those early times of Methodism, the South Carolina Conference included the States of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Pre- vious to 1800, there was but one Presiding Elder's District covering the whole territory of the Conference. In that year, the whole State of South Carolina was made a District, and James Jenkins was appointed the Presiding Elder. He became a strong preacher, and was distinguished through life for his great pulpit strength, and for his deep and devoted piety. He was an effective preacher wherever he went, and filled the most important positions in his Conference. He lived to the age of eighty-three. In his old age he became blind, and had to be led about by some one. The writer saw him and heard him preach two masterly sermons at a camp meeting in Browns- ville, Marlborough County, S. C., in 1841. It seemed to the writer that he knew the Bible and hymn book by heart. He gave his hymns as though he was reading them from the book, and would state the number and page, and during the sermon would quote from the Bible, book, chapter and verse. It was simply wonderful. It was evidence that he had made the Bible and its contents a lifelong study. He died 24th June, 1847, and was buried in Camden, S. C. A distinguished son of Marion County, born and reared by a noble and historically distinguished mother ; thus verifying the adage, that "all great men had great mothers." W. J. Crosswell, Superintendent of Southern Express Company, of Wilmington, N. C., and J. J. Crosswell, Route Agent of same company, Fayetteville, N. C., are grand-sons of the Rev. James Jenkins.
Mr. Lowrimore gives us the name of another early settler in Britton's Neck, by the name of James Crockett, in the fol- lowing words: "Another settlement which I forgot to note was old James Crockett, an old Englishman, came and settled on
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Little Pee Dee, near what is known as Pawley's Camp, the place where old Tory Pawly, hid, when old General Marion was ransacking this part of the country for the Torys; but the said Crockett obtained a warrant, and in 1734, he taken up and had granted to him a tract of land. I have had the old plat and grant in my hand many times." This was probably the progenitor of the celebrated David Crockett, of frontier fame in the wild West, seventy-five or eighty years ago. Davy Crockett was a great hunter in those early times. He wrote a book containing his own biography-his life and ad- ventures with the Indians and wild, ferocious animals, his hair-breadth escapes, always the hero of his own stories; his candidacy for and election to Congress ; a ludicrous account of his introduction to and interview with President Andrew Jack- son. Crockett was exceedingly humorous, and could tell most ludicrous stories. His dress was made of the skins of the ani -. mals he killed; wore a cap made of a coon-skin, with the tail hanging down his back. It has been forty or fifty years since the writer read his book, and remembers some of his exploits as he told them, but cannot tell any of them like Crockett told them in his book. He cannot put the "spice in and gravy on," as Crockett did. He will, however, venture to insert one of his exploits here. Crockett says one day he was hunting in a swamp or bog, and he found a den of young bears. They were in a large hollow stump some twenty feet or more high; he could hear the young bears in the stump. He determined to get at them and destroy them. He sat "Betsy," his rifle, which he called Betsy, down against a tree, and then climbed up the hollow stump to the top. He looked down the hollow and could see the young bears in their bed at the bottom, but he could not reach them. He got into the top of the hollow, his feet downwards, and with his hands hold of the top of the broken tree-like going down into a well feet foremost; swinging by the top of the curb with his hands, he let himself down as low as he could-his feet not reaching to the bottom; he turned loose and down he dropped in among the young bears. The young bears became frightened at his intrusion among them, and set up a terrible screaming. The old she bear being off a little distance in the swamp. The mother
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bear, hearing the distress cries of her young, came to see what was the matter. She climbed up the stump and looked down to see her young ones and to see what was the matter, and saw Crockett down there among them; she, enraged, turned tail downward and climbed down. Crockett was in a very serious dilemma-a maddened mother bear coming down upon him among her young ones. Crockett, always ready with some expedient, jerked out of a side pocket in his clothes his hunting knife, which he always carried, and which was long and sharp- pointed, then made ready for the contest with the maddened mother bear. As soon as she approached near enough, he grabbed her by the tail with one hand and with the knife in the other, he plunged it into her hind parts. She tried to turn upon him, but could not do so; he kept plunging the knife into her. She made for the top of the hollow, in order to extricate herself from Crockett and the knife, Crockett hanging on to her tail and using the knife constantly; she soon carried him out. She went down the stump to the ground, carrying her tormenter with her. He turned her loose and sprang to "Betsy," his rifle, close by, and fired on her, and thus dispatched her. The above is substantially the story as told by Crockett, but is not related as Crockett himself told-in fact, no one could tell it as he did. His book was full of such stories-he was always the hero. He may be a descendant of the Britton's Neck Crocketts. If so, he has immortalized the name. This "Nimrod" of the West was a unique character, a wonderful man. The name is now extinct in Marion County ; what has become of them is unknown. It is likely that the family re- moved West, and hence the celebrated "Davy Crockett."
There are other families in Woodberry Township, but the writer is little acquainted in that region, and, therefore, can say nothing about them. The Hucks family, down there-W. W. Hucks and his brother, Robert Hucks-are prominent men in their community, industrious and thriving citizens; they are in middle life, have families, and are doing well and quite respectable. They are sons of the late John R. Hucks, who has been a resident citizen for many years. I think he came from Horry County. The old gentleman was a very patriotic man ; voluntered in 1837, in a company raised in Horry, and
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went in General Harllee's Battalion to the Seminole. War in Florida; and when the Confederate War came on, though past age, he volunteered into the Confederate service and went to Virginia and remained, as the writer thinks, in the service to the end. Few there are who would have done so; as he was not subject to conscription, and is, therefore, entitled to the greater honor. I think he is dead-died lately in his ninetieth year. His sons and family are and may be justly proud of him. I think the old gentleman Hucks had some daughters, but how many, and who they married and where they are, is unknown to the writer.
GODBOLD .- John Godbold was the first who came to the region of Marion Court House. Bishop Gregg, p. 68, says: "He was an Englishman, and had been long a sailor in the British service. Though advanced in years at the time of his arrival, such was his enterprising energy that he succeeded in accumulating what for that day was a large property. He settled in 1735, about a half-mile below the site of the present village of Marion, being the first adventurer to that locality." * "During the French and Indian wars, Mr. Godbold was plundered of almost all the personal property he had gathered. Of thirty negroes, twenty-two were taken from him and never recovered; a trunk of guineas, the fruits of many years' labor, was rifled. He married, after his arrival on Pee Dee, Eliza- beth McGurney, by whom he had three sons, John, James and Thomas, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, from whom the extensive connexion in Marion have descended." To this Bishop Gregg appends a note, in which he says: "Of his sons, John, the oldest, married Priscilla Jones, and had three sons, Zachariah, John and Jesse. Of these, Zachariah was a Captain in the Revolution; James, the second son (of the first John), married Mourning Elizabeth Baker, by whom he had six sons, John, James, Zachariah, Cade, Abram and Thomas. Of these, John and Zachariah were Lieutenants in the Revolution. Thomas, the youngest son, was the father of the late Hugh Godbold, of Marion. Thomas, the third son (of the first old John), married Martha Herron, and had four sons, Stephen, David, Thomas and Elly. Of these, Thomas was the father
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of Asa Godbold, of Marion, and Elly, who left a son bearing his name." Bishop Gregg, in a note to this note, acknowledges that he got his information, and also much other valuable in- formation, from the late Hugh Godbold, and to whom the Bishop pays a very high compliment. Thus it will be seen that all the Godbolds now in the county, or that have been for many years in the county, and connections through the females, are derived directly from the first old John, who was an Englishman, and not only in the county, but in the State and perhaps in the United States. Many of the descendants of old John emigrated to the Western States. More than forty years ago the writer was in Alabama and Mississippi, and he found Godbolds in those States; also in Texas, thirty years ago. The writer supposes that, counting the seven or eight generations of them down to the present time, they, per- haps, would number thousands. There are not very many now in the county bearing the name, but their connexions are numerous, and could scarcely be counted, if the attempt to do so was made. As a family, they have always stood high as men of decided character, pluck and energy. General Thomas Godbold, the grand-son of the first old John, had three sons, John, Hugh and Charles, all now dead; yet were and are known to many now living. The late Hugh Godbold was a remarkable man. The writer, on one occasion, heard the late Julius Dargan, of Darlington, say of Hugh Godbold, that he had mind enough, if he had been educated, to be President of the United States-a very high compliment, coming from the source it did. Charles Godbold was a graduate of the. South Carolina College; studied medicine, but died soon after graduation ; never married. Neither Hugh nor Charles left any children. John, the other son, never amounted to much- his habits were not good; his matrimonial connection was not such as to promote his social standing. He lived to a ripe old age. Some of his grand-children are among us now .; and some of them are doing much to elevate their branch of the family. The first old John Godbold, Bishop Gregg says, lived to be more than a hundred years old, and died in 1765, a member of the Church of England. Thomas, the third and youngest son of the first old John, and who married Martha
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Herron, had four sons, Stephen, David, Thomas and Elly. Stephen was the father of the late Stephen G. Godbold, was a well-to-do citizen, and lived in Wahee Township, I think, on the place where Dr. D. F. Miles formerly lived; he died there. He left but two children; married twice; the late Stephen G. Godbold was a son of the first wife, and by the second wife he had a daughter, who is now the widow of the late John F. Spencer, and owns and resides upon her father's patrimony. The late Stephen G. Godbold, a most worthy and estimable man, settled near by his father ; married and had an only child, a daughter, who married the late Francis A. Miles. Mrs. Miles inherited the entire estate of her father, Stephen G. Godbold. Mrs. Miles was the mother of several children; three sons, David Franklin, Samuel A. C. Miles and Stephen G. Miles, and, I think, two daughters, Mrs. W. L. Durant and Mrs. Lide, of Darlington. Of these, Dr. Samuel A. C. Miles and Mrs. Lide are dead; both leaving children. Dr. D. F. Miles is now Clerk of the Court at Marion, and resides there, has a farm in Wahee; is an amiable, worthy gentleman, and a very efficient and accommodating Clerk. Stephen G. Miles is merchandising at Marion, resides there, and has a farm in Wahee, which seems to be run successfully; a very ener- getic, worthy citizen. Mrs. Durant was left a widow, with . six or seven children (small) ; she lives on lands inherited from her mother; has raised her children respectably, and it is said they are promising; Mrs. Durant is a very excellent lady-a woman of strong sense and full of energy. These Miles are the great-grand-children of old Stephen Godbold, who was the grand-son of the first old John Godbold. Mrs. Spencer, the daughter of old Stephen Godbold, and who lives on lands he gave her, has ten living children, all grown, and all married, except a son, Nathan. Mrs. Spencer is a worthy lady, of sound, practical sense, and very energetic; she is a great-grand-daughter of the first old John Godbold. Thomas, a brother of old man Stephen, married I do not know whom; but he had a son named Thomas, who married Nancy Gasque. The fruits of this marriage were a daughter, who married a Mr. Harrington, I think, of Georgetown; and sons, Asa God- bold, Jehu, Robert, Thomas, Alexander, Charles, Thomas and
9
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William H., and another daughter, named Martha Ann. Tho- mas Godbold, the father of these latter, died in 1836 or '7. Asa Godbold, the eldest son of this family, married, in 1828, Miss Sarah Cox, a most excellent lady ; the fruits of this mar- riage were Mary Jane, James, Thomas W., Asa, Sarah, Anne, Eliza and F. Marion. Asa Godbold, Sr., was a very energetic, persevering man, sharp and shrewd, was elected Ordinary after the death of General E. B. Wheeler, in 1859, which posi- tion he held by successive elections until the reconstruction period, and he, like all others of the old regime, was relegated to the rear. His daughter, Mary Jane, married Captain Mat. Stanly, of Mexican War and Confederate reputation, and resides ten or twelve miles below Marion Court House. Cap- tain M. B. Stanly is an importation from Darlington. When a young man he volunteered and went to the Mexican War, was with General Taylor in the several battles around the city of Mexico, and in the storming and capture of that city. When the Confederate War began, he was made Captain of the first company that left Marion, 4th January, 1861, and went to Charleston and joined the first regiment (Maxcy Gregg's), and remained Captain of the company until after the reduction of Fort Sumter, 13th April, 1861. Captain Stanly has several children, two sons and one daughter, who are the men and women of the present generation, and all doing well. James Godbold, son of Asa, Sr., married a daughter of the late W. F. Richardson, below Marion. He has reared a family of two sons and three daughters, the names of whom the writer does not know. Asa Godbold, Jr., married Miss Sallie Ellerbe, sister of the late Captain W. S. Ellerbe; he died a few years ago, leaving a large family of sons and daughters ; the sons are Walter, William, James C., Lawrence and Luther ; the daughters, Alice, Mollie, Anne, Victoria, Bes- sie and Daisy ; of the sons, Walter and William are married; of the daughters, Alice, Mollie, Anne and Victoria are mar- ried; Bessie and Daisy are unmarried. Of the sons, Walter married a Miss Williams, near Nichols, S. C .; William married his cousin, Lucy Ellerbe, sister of the late Governor Ellerbe. Of the daughters, Miss Alice married Rev. J. Thomas Pate, now stationed at Florence; Miss Mollie, J. B. Moore, of Latta,
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S. C .; Miss Annie married James Harrel, of Cheraw, S. C .; Miss Victoria married W. H. Breeden, of Campbell's Bridge, S. C. The late Thomas W. Godbold, another son of Asa God- bold (senior), was no ordinary man; clear-minded, energetic and industrious ; never married; died about a year ago, at the age of sixty-five. F. M. Godbold, the youngest son of Asa Godbold (senior), married, first, a Miss Vance, in Abbeville County, to which county he removed, and there remained till a few years ago, when he returned to his native county, where he now resides ; by his first wife he had several children; and she dying, he married another Miss Vance, a cousin of the first wife. Sarah Godbold, second daughter of Asa (senior), mar- ried Colonel E. B. Ellerbe, uncle of the late Governor Ellerbe; he some years back moved to Horry County, where he now resides ; has a large family. Annie Eliza Godbold, the young- est daughter of Asa (senior), married Edwin A. Bethea, now of Latta; they have several children, sons and daughters; one daughter married to W. C. McMillan, of Marion, but now residing in Columbia, and is said to be doing well; one son, Asa Bethea, is in Texas ; the other children are all with their parents at Latta.
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