USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 13
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General William Evans was a prominent man in his day. He was a large and active man, handsome and of fine address, and much of a man physically. He was chosen as one of the delegates to the Nullification Convention in 1832, and was one of the signers to the Ordinance of Nullification passed by that body. About that time he was elected Brigadier General of the militia. In 1838, he was elected to the House of Represen- tatives from his county and served a term; he was again elected to the same position in 1846, and served another term. General Evans was a man of fine sense, but not a scholar; he devoted himself almost exclusively to his farm, at which he succeeded well, made a large property in lands and slaves, and kept out of debt. At the time of emancipation he owned over one hundred slaves. It seemed that everything he touched "turned to gold"-it prospered in his hands. He died sitting on the steps of his front piazza, suddenly, on the 6th June, 1876, at the age of seventy-two years.
Nathan Evans, a younger brother of General Evans, and a grand-son of the first old Nathan, was born in 1805; was a worthy man and an excellent citizen ; a gentleman of fine taste, affable and very popular with everybody; he married a Miss Baker, below Marion, a daughter of William and Annise Baker; by whom he had four children, two sons, William B. and Nathan, and two daughters, Lizzie and Ann Eliza. The Baker wife died. After a reasonable time, he married again, Miss Harriet Braddy, of upper Marion; by her he had four children, two sons, Julius and Lawrence, and two daughters, Martha, called "Pat," and Fannie. His second wife died
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about 1878 or 1879, of cancer; she suffered for a long time the most intense agonies. He married no more, lived on his farm until 12th February, 1885, when he, too, passed away. His son, William B. Evans, was a Captain in the war, a true and valiant soldier. In one of the battles in Virginia he was badly wounded, shot through one of his lungs-which at the time was thought to be mortal; but to every one's surprise, he recovered. After recovery he re- turned to his command and continued therein to the surrender of Johnston's army, 26th April, 1865. He came home and soon after married Miss Maggie Haselden, a daughter of Major James Haselden; she lived but a short while and died childless. He afterwards married Miss Sue Berry, a daughter of Elihn Berry, a niece of his first wife, by whom he has had three sons and five daughters. The sons are William Boyd, James Aubrey and Thomas Baker; the daughters are Mamie, Emma, Nellie, Lucy and Gary Lee, all unmarried, except his oldest son, William Boyd Evans, who has recently married a Miss Heyward, in Charleston. W. Boyd Evans is a graduate of Wofford College; he was Private Secretary to Governor Ellerbe up to the death of the Governor, 2d June, 1899; he has also recently graduated in the law department of the South Carolina College. With it all, including his recent marriage, he is well equipped for life, and sets out on its tempestuous sea with ballast, rudder and sails. The other children, sons and daughters, of Captain Evans, are all with him; the sons and two eldest daughters are grown, the rest are small. Captain Evans is a very worthy citizen, a man of good morals, and a good man in his family-in short, he is a high-toned gentle- man; he is a farmer.
Nathan Evans' daughter, Lizzie, by his first wife, married the late W. W. Braddy, and by him had several children; they are all dead, except two-Sue, the wife of Professor Coleman, in the Citadel Academy, in Charleston, and a son, Wightman Braddy, a young man just grown. Mrs. Lizzie Braddy had a daughter named Walker, who married J. W. Davis, of Marion. They moved to Alabama, where Walker died, as is said, and left three sons, Willie, Hicks and Elbert. Their father, J. W. Davis, has married twice since his first wife, Walker Braddy,
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died. These three Davis boys are direct descendants of Nathan Evans, whose family we are now noticing. Nathan Evans had another son by his Baker wife, named Nathan; he grew up to manhood and died unmarried. He had also another daughter by the Baker wife, named Ann Eliza; she married a man by the name of Cole and died childless. As already stated, Nathan Evans (the third) had by his second wife, Harriet Braddy, two sons, Julius and Lawrence; and two daughters, Martha (called Pat) and Fannie. Julius grew up to manhood, merchandised a few years at Marion, in part- nership with his brother-in-law, Richard Jordan, who had mar- ried his sister, "Pat." The firm was not successful. In the meantime, he had married a Miss by whom he has had four sons and a daughter. He removed to Tallahassee, Florida, where he now resides.
Richard Jordan, of Horry, married Miss "Pat" Evans, and after the failure of the mercantile firm of Jordan & Evans, as above indicated, Mr. Jordan remained in Marion a few years, variously engaged, and then removed to Georgia and started a business there (turpentine and merchandise), at which, it is said, he has succeeded well. He has a considerable family, seven daughters and one son. Mr. Jordan is a first-rate busi- ness man, full of push and energy-by no means an idler; if he cannot succeed at one thing, he tries another ; he tries again and does not give up. Nathan Evans' (the third) son, Law- rence, married some girl in Horry County some years ago, and has been lost sight of. Miss Fannie, the youngest daughter of Nathan Evans, by second wife, went out to Georgia with her brother-in-law, Jordan, and married a Mr. Applewhite ; she has also been lost sight of.
Nathan Evans (the third) was one of nature's noblemen; had great good sense, was energetic and upright in every re- spect ; always lent his ear to a tale of suffering ; had a kind and sympathetic heart, and would help his neighbor in distress, if it was in his power, often to his own injury; he injured himself and family by becoming surety for others. He lived on his splendid farm, which he managed to keep, till his death; he was a very popular man, more so than his brother, the General ; yet he never aspired to the honors of office but once, and then
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not of his own motion; but being urged by his numerous friends, he became a candidate for Representative in the State Legislature in 1858, and though the contest was heated, he was triumphantly elected at the head of the ticket, and served a term in the House. Faithful to his trust, he retired from public life in the full confidence of his people, and could never after be induced to become a candidate again-he loved his home and family too well; the pursuits of home life were more con- genial to his nature.
"About 1735," as stated by Bishop Gregg, p. 69: "two im- portant settlements were made in that region (Marion Dis- trict) ; one of these was in Britton's Neck, twenty miles below Mar's Bluff, and forty miles above Georgetown. It was composed of the families of Britton, Graves, Fladger, Davis, Tyler, Giles and others. They came directly from England as one colony; and being members of the Established Church, one of their first acts was to erect a house for the worship of God. Their minister, Dr. Robert Hunter, came with them, and is supposed to have died there. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Allison." In a note on the same page, Bishop Gregg, in regard to the church built there at that time, 1735, says: "This building was of black cypress, with a brick foun- dation, and is still to be seen (1859), or was a few years since, in a good state of preservation, on the road leading from Port's Ferry to Potato Bed Ferry, on Little Pee Dee. About the year 1780, the congregation having long been without a minister, and doubtless very much broken up by the troublous times of the Revolution, united with the Methodist, and the building passed into the hands of the latter, by whom it has since been retained. Charles Wesley is said to have once preached in it. The name of one of these families subsequently became dis- tinguishd in the person of Hugh Giles, who took a prominent part in this region during the Revolution. He was the son of Robert Giles."
GILES .- Of Colonel Hugh Giles, something has already been said in these pages, and something more may yet be said herein. Of the church here spoken of, it is the Britton's Neck Methodist Church now-of course, not the original
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building, but on the same plat of ground, and is supposed to be the oldest church in the county. I think it likely that Francis Asbury (Bishop) in his travels round and through the country preached in it more than once. The writer has not the life of Bishop Asbury now before him, 'but he read it years ago, and remembers the fact stated in it, that he preached in the Brit- ton's Neck Church perhaps more than once. Bishop Gregg says it was built of black cypress, with a brick foundation. The question may arise in the mind of the reader, where did they get the brick from? Had they, then and there, the appli- ances for making bricks? The answer is, they had not; they brought the brick with them from England. Many of the first brick houses or brick chimneys in Charleston and other portions of the low country, were made of brick imported from Eng- land, and some of the first settlers brought the brick with them. Brick afforded a capital ballast for the ships, then sailing ves- sels. The writer, in the spring of 1900, visited Jacksonboro, in Colleton County, thirty-seven miles below Charleston, to see his youngest daughter, Mary S. Godbold. He stayed there three weeks, and while there he was invited one afternoon to take a carriage ride into the country with old Mrs. Goodman and her daughter, Miss Edith, and a Miss Coburn, school teacher ; of course, he accepted the invitation; went out west- ward about five miles to the ruins of an old Episcopal Church in what was formerly known as St. Bartholomew's Parish. The two side walls were both down and most of the brick had been removed; the back end wall was to a great extent down and bricks removed; the front end wall was nearly intact. The old lady Goodman said the bricks were brought from Eng- land-that was the tradition. They seemed to be as hard as iron; the writer tried to make an impression on or an incision with his knife, but could not do so. The cement between them was equally as hard. Upon the front wall, about fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, was an inscription dimmed by the action of time so that the writer could not read it; but those in our party whose eyes were younger could read it thus : "12th November, 1754." Those brick, said to have been made in England, are much harder than any brick now made in this Southern country. The brick of this old St. Bartholomew
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Church, put there some twenty years after the old brick in the Britton's Neck Church, spoken of by Bishop Gregg, corrobo- ates the tradition that in the early times of the Province of South Carolina, the settlers either brought their brick with them from England, or imported them from that country after their arrival.
BRITTON, FLADGER, ETC .- Of the Brittons we have already spoken; none of the name now in the county. The Graves have also become extinct in the county; tradition says they were a good people and prosperous. The name Fladger has also become extinct in the county, except one female, a daughter of the late C. J. Fladger, named Sallie Maria, unmar- ried, and lives with her half-sister, Mrs. R. B. Game, near Mullins. Of the Fladgers, however, they may be noticed herein further on. Of the Davis, of whom there are many, they will be noticed further on. Of the Tylers, they must have removed or disappeared many years ago, as the writer has never heard the name in the county ; there are some of the name in Horry County, who probably are descendants of those spoken of by Bishop Gregg. Of the Giles, something has already been said, and more may be said of them hereafter. "And others," a term used by Bishop Gregg, does not afford us much light. It may mean many or it may be only a few ; nor does the term identify any one in particular. "And being members of the Established Church, one of their first acts was to erect a house for the worship of God. Their minister, Dr. Robert Hunter, came with them, and is supposed to have died there. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Allison." It will be remembered that hereinbefore it has been stated on the information of Mr. M. M. Lowrimore, that a family of Hunters, hunters by trade as well as by name, about this time, 1735, came and settled down there on Hunter's Island, so named from the Hunters settling there. This is corroborative of what Bishop Gregg says, as above stated. No one of that name has been known in the present limits of Marion County for years; but families by that name have been known in West Marion, now in Flor- ence County, in all these years, and there may be some over there now by that name. It is probable that the family first
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settling in Britton's Neck, in the progress of time, moved higher up the river on the west side, and those over there are descendants of the Hunters of Britton's Neck. "Dr. Robert Hunter came with them, and is supposed to have died there. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Allison." The Allisons have been long known on the lower Pee Dee. The late James H. Allison, a very reputable gentleman, lived and reared a family on Great Pee Dee-I suppose, on the west side, and died there some years ago. One of his sons or grand-sons married a daughter of our late fellow-citizen, Captain William H. Crawford, and moved out to Georgia some few years back, and it is said he is very prosperous there in his business-is getting rich. It is an old and respectable name of the county, though the name is extinct in the county now, so fas as is known. A ferry on the Great Pee Dee, just above Port's Ferry, or just below, bears the name of "Allison's Ferry." The two ferries are not more than a mile apart.
Bishop Gregg, page 70, says: "The other settlement referred to was made at a point on the east bank of the river called Sandy Bluff, two and a half miles above Mar's Bluff. A few traces of it are yet to be seen at several points immediately on the high bank of the river. The families of Crawford, Saund- ers, Murfee, Crosby, Keighly, Berry, and shortly after the Gibsons, made up this community. Sandy Bluff extended up the river about three miles. With the fertile uplands running out for some distance, and a rich swamp on the opposite side, and supplied, too, with numerous springs of good water, this locality was in many respects admirably adapted to the wants of the infant colony." * * * "These settlers built their houses, as did the Welsh above, immediately on the bank of the river, and in close proximity to each other, for the convenience of water, of social intercourse, and their mutual protection against the Indians. It was also more healthy than locations further from the river, as experience has proved. They were from England and Ireland, and having landed at Charleston, found their way to Georgetown, and thence up the river, attracted by the bounties which the government had offered. Like their neighbors in Britton's Neck, they erected a building for public worship according to the rites of the Established Church.
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Faint traces of this early structure were to be seen a few years since. The brick used for the foundation were brought up the river (the settlers thus transporting themselves and their stores), and were of superior quality. The Rev. Wm. Turbe- ville came with this colony, and was their pastor. He was a well educated man, and had a high reputation as a preacher. Eminent also for piety and devotion to his work, he retained the confidence and affection of the people in an extensive region of the country to the close of a long life. One of the incidents related in connexion with him is singularly illustrative of this feeling. Such was the genral confidence in his piety and the efficacy of his prayers, that he was sent for from considerable distances during the pressure of any general calamity, to make intercession to God in behalf of the people. On one occasion, about the year 1760, during the prevalence of a fearful drought, there was a general meeting at Bass' Mills to pray for rain." (I suppose then known as Hulon's Mills.) "Mr. Turbeville was sent for. He answered the summons and, as tradition relates, before the sufferers had reached their homes, the heavens were opened and copious rains came down. Mr. Turbeville had no children. Several brothers came with him, of whom some descendants are now (1859) to be found in Marion. He lived at Sandy Bluff until after the year 1800, then removed to the west side of the river, near Mar's Bluff, where he married a second time, and died about 1810, at the advanced age of 103 years." Bishop Gregg says further, in a note; page 71 : "Mr. Turbeville was a poor man through life. It is said that William Allston, grand-father of Governor Allston," (I suppose, R. F. W. Allston,) "who lived at that time near the Wahees," (a few miles below Mar's Bluff,) "complained to Mr. T., on one occasion, of his wearing such coarse garments. Mr. T. told him, he got but little for preach- ing and could not afford to dress better. Whereupon Mr. Allston gave him a black suit and silk gown, on condition that he was not to use them except in preaching and on other public official occasions."
This last is a most remarkable story. Here is a man of fine education, young and vigorous, with a wife, but no children to support and educate, preaching for what, we suppose, was and
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became a rich church-a church, too, supported by taxation and a church to which, I suppose, Allston himself belonged, or at least attended, lived near by, and the Murfees, Saunders, Craw- fords and Gibsons, all rich men, so says Bishop Gregg, and yet did not pay their pastor enough to enable him to appear decent in the pulpit. This presents a strange condition of affairs, and does not speak well for his congregation; though rich, yet niggardly stingy, and very much detracts from their otherwise high standing. Mr. Turbeville, in his apparent poverty, was in truth more wealthy than all of them put together. He evi- dently had the saving grace of God in his heart, and in his physical make up had the elements of an unusually long life, which was abundantly more valuable than gold and costly apparel. He, after suffering poverty and its pangs here for one hundred and three years, was taken into "Abraham's bosom." What became of his wealthy parishioners, is not known. Bishop Gregg says: "Mr. Turbeville had no children. Several brothers came with him, of whom some descendants are now to be found in Marion." These were the foundation and origin of the Turbeville family in Marion. Of these, old William Turbeville, then in the prime of life, sixty years ago, lived in the neighborhood of Ebenezer Methodist Church, within the bounds of what was then called the Cross Roads Beat Company-a military division. The writer remembers very distinctly a very spirited contest for the Captaincy of the Cross Roads Beat Company, in 1840 or early '41, between William Turbeville and W. H. Moody. The respective candi- dates and their friends worked for their favorites as zealously as if the election had involved the safety of the State or an income of thousands of dollars. The military spirit of the State, in those times, has been noted in preceding pages of this book. The result of the election was in favor of W. H. Moody by thirteen votes. There were three brothers of that genera- tion of Turbevilles-William, Absalom and John. William, not long after the contest for the Captaincy of the Cross Roads militia company, moved down into Britton's Neck, and there died in a good old age, left a son, Asa, and one named William. Asa Turbeville is one of our most respected citizens in the Britton's Neck section. A daughter of his married J. H. Bos-
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tick, in that section, another worthy and upright man, and is doing well. Absalom Turbeville, a brother of old William, lived on and owned the place just below Ebenezer, where the late John C. Campbell lived and died. Absalom left one daughter. John Turbeville lived and owned the place on the northeast side of Ebenezer, died only a few years ago; he left sons and daughters. Of his sons, George and Samuel are still living, but not on the lands of their father. The late William Dillon, a brother of J. W. Dillon, of the town of Dillon, married a daughter of John Turbeville, and by her had several sons and daughters. William Dillon and wife are both dead, and I think most of their children-parents and children all died of consumption. I do not know that all are dead, but many of them are. Another branch of the Turbeville family was the father of the late old William Turbeville, of Marion; he is dead. Bethel Turbeville, another brother, is also dead. One of them, do not remember which, left a son, Edward, called Ned Turbeville, a blacksmith, who died young, leaving a fam- ily ; what has become of them is unknown. There was another brother of Bethel, who lived over Catfish, in Wahee, a very noisy man, especially at elections, when enthused by the spirits of the occasion; his name was Robert, familiarly called Bob; he is dead. Recurring to the William Turbeville who ran for the Captaincy in 1840, as before stated, he left another son, named Stephen, who is one of our most worthy citizens; lives on Buck Swamp. The wife of the late Samuel Johnson was a daughter of old "Captain" William, and is still living, but has no children. Beverly Culbreath, merchant of Marion, married, first, a daughter of Asa Turbeville, and she died, and he has married another daughter. These three old Turbevilles about Ebenezer Church were not rich, yet they were not poor-"they lived at home and boarded at the same place," as the saying goes. They were honest, hard-working men.
Of the settlement at Sandy Bluff, the names Saunders, Crosby and Keighly, as also that of Murfee, are now extinct in Marion County. Never have heard of the name Keighly; that family must have removed to other parts. The name Crosby, the writer has heard of; in fact, he has seen a man by that name from Alabama, who said he was born in Marion
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County, and was a half-brother of the late John C. Legette, of West Marion; this was fifty years ago; his name was William Crosby. The name Saunders has long since disappeared from the county. I have been informed, however, there is a Peter Sanders, who lives below Marion Court House, who is, doubt- ยท less, a descendant of the Saunders spoken of; he is a good citizen and has been Assistant Door-keeper of the House of Representatives in Columbia for the last several years. The writer in his law practice for more than fifty years has seen grants of large bodies of land in Marion District to John Sanders, supposed to be a descendant of the family at Sandy Bluff ; the grants spoken of were for lands lying between Cat- fish and Great Pee Dee, in the neighborhood of Antioch Church and Berry's Cross Roads.
Bishop Gregg, p. 71, says: "Of the settlers at Sandy Bluff, the Murfees, Sanders, Gibsons and Crawfords accumulated the largest properties, and became most prominent. John Crawford, the first of that name, had three sons-James, John and Hardy. James, the eldest of them, amassed a large for- tune for that day, and maintained through life a high character for integrity. He was a Captain in the Revolution, and a val- iant soldier in the cause of liberty." In a note, the Bishop says : "He was the grand-father of the late Chapman J. Craw- ford, of Marion." Thus we have the origin of the once extensive family of Crawfords, so far as Marion County is concerned-to whom they married and what children they had, we are pretty much in the dark. Bishop Gregg says, on p. 75: "About the same time, two families of James and Lucas, came down the river, and settled on Catfish. With the latter of these, the Crawfords and Evans intermarried." Who of the Crawfords intermarried with the Lucas family, and whether they were males or females, is now unknown, and perhaps past finding out, and the same may be said of the Evans and James.
CRAWFORD .- James Crawford, the grand-father of the late Chapman Crawford, had a son named James, the father of Chapman; whether there were other sons or not, is not now known; there were daughters-the wife of old Osborne Lane
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was one; the first wife of old William Bethea was another, who was the mother of the late John C. Bethea; another daughter married a man by the name of Porter; she was the grand-mother of Robert P. Porter, now living at Marion. James Crawford, the father of Chapman J. Crawford, married Miss Rachel Nevils, and by her had two sons, Chapman J. and William H., and three or four daughters ; one married Peter P. Johnson, of Fayetteville, N. C .; one married D. C. Milling, of Darlington, and one married D. J. McDonald, long a merchant at Marion, and Representative from Marion in the State Legis- lature in 1850, and finally failing in his business, removed to Arkansas. James Crawford, the second, was a very prosper- ous man, left a large estate, and died in the prime of life. His widow, Rachel, married Dr. Cherry, and by him had several daughters; one of them married, first, Dr. Richard Scar- borough, of Marion; he soon died childless, and his widow then married Major O. P. Wheeler, and after some years he died, and she remained his widow for several years, when she died. Another daughter of Mrs. Cherry became the wife of the late C. Graham, of Marion ; she died before he did, and left an only child, a son, Herbert C. Graham, now residing in Marion. Another daughter, Sarah Jane, became the wife of Dr. J. Hamilton Wheeler, who died and left her a widow with two children, Ed. B. Wheeler and Tiston C. Wheeler, now residing in Marion; their mother, Sarah Jane, still lives. Dr. Cherry, a most excellent and upright man, died away back in the '40's ; he was a well-to-do man. The sons of James Craw- ford, the second, were Chapman J. and William H. Crawford. Chapman was an ambitious, energetic and enterprising man ; married, first, a Miss Jolly, an only child of Joseph Jolly, a very wealthy man in West Marion; she died, leaving an only child; he married again, and the second wife died, and he married a third time. I think he had two or three children in all. Dr. Ross married the daughter by the Jolly wife; Junius H. Law, of Darlington, married a daughter by one of his other wives. By his energy and push and by his mar- riages, he made property and left a large estate at his death, which occurred in November, 1852, when only in the prime of life; he lived fast (not in the sense of a dissipated life) and
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