USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 16
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old Captain William Page married Levi H. Hays, and was the mother of our very worthy fellow-citizen, W. B. Hays, in Hillsboro Township.
AYRES .- Another family in the northeastern section of the county is the Ayres family. Of this family the first known to the writer was the Rev. William Ayres, and two brothers, Darius and John, usually called Jack Ayres. Rev. William Ayres was a Baptist preacher; stood well among his clerical brethren, and was dearly beloved by the laity of his church; he married a Miss Shaw; the fruits of the marriage were our esteemed fellow-citizens, Thomas W. Ayres and Enoch S. Ayres, and several daughters-three or four. Thomas W. Ayres is well known to the county ; was County Commissioner perhaps two terms, some years ago, and a prominent member of the Baptist Church; he did valiant service in the war-he and two of his sons were in the war together; his two sons were killed, as the writer has been informed, on the same day and in the same battle. Thomas W. Ayres married a Miss Williamson, in the Gapway neighborhood, a sister of Joseph Williamson. Besides the two sons killed in the war, he has three other sons, John and Pendleton G. Ayres, two excellent citizens, and a younger son, named Robert; he has several daughters, one married Dock Page, as hereinbefore stated, and one named Sallie, who died while off at school at Limestone Springs ; not known as to the other daughters. Pendleton G. Ayres married a Miss McMillan, in the Mullins community. John Ayres married Miss Susan Page, a daughter of Timothy Page, and has a house full of children, so said. Robert Ayres has gone to Georgia and, I think, has married out there. Enoch Ayres, one of our best citizens, youngest son of Rev. William Ayres, married a Miss Tyler, in Horry County ; the fruits of the marriage are three sons and four or five daughters; the sons are William, Elias and Lennon; his daughters all married but one, Erma; two in Kentucky, or are there now; one of them married a Baptist preacher named Rockwell; she was reputed to be a very intellectual lady. Another daughter married a Mr. Renfroe, of North Carolina. Of the daughters of Rev. William Ayres, one, Catharine, mar-
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ried Major H. B. Cook; they moved to Horry, raised a consid- erable family, sons and daughters ; both are now dead. Another daughter married Buck Watson; they moved to Horry just after the war; both are dead. Another daughter married Levi Grainger, of Horry. I think another daughter died un- married, during the war, with smallpox-I am not sure of it. Rev. William Ayres and wife both died of smallpox during the war. His brother, Jack Ayres, came home from the army, and after getting home the disease broke out on him and he died of it, whence it spread in the neighborhood, and several others, perhaps a dozen or more, died of it. Jack Ayres never mar- ried. Darius Ayres, brother of Rev. William, died in early life, leaving two sons, Darius and another, whose name the writer has forgotten (they both went to school to him). The elder boy, Darius, grew up, and the last heard of him by the writer he was a Baptist preacher in North Carolina. I do not know whence the Ayres sprang; I think, from the name, and their complexion and their general make-up, that their pro- genitors were from Wales, in South England, and may have been part of the Welsh settlement on Great Pee Dee, who came from Pennsylvania and Delaware to South Carolina, in 1735 or '6, and afterwards.
FORD .- The Ford family, in upper Marion, were among the first settlers in upper Marion. In the appendix to Ramsay's History of South Carolina, on page 302, volume 2, he says : "There have been many instances of longevity in the county between Little Pee Dee and Catfish Creek, about sixty miles north of Georgetown; six very old men died there since the year 1800. One of them, James Ford, died in or near 1804, at the age of one hundred years. The others are James Mun- nerlyn, Moses Martin, Rockingham Keene, Michael Mixon and William Watson, who all died upwards of eighty years of age. James Munnerlyn served in the office of Constable at eighty-six years, walked fifty miles to serve a process and re- turned home again in less than thre days." Where the Fords of Marion originally came from, is unknown. The James Ford mentioned above by Dr. Ramsay, must have been here two hundred years ago; and without better or other informa-
12
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tion, the writer will assume that either he or some other con- temporary Ford were the progenitor or progenitors of the ex- tensive family by that name. The first one known to the writer, in about 1830, was Preserved Ford, universally called Zarv Ford; he was then seventy-five or eighty years of age, may be older ; he lived on the west side of Gaddy's Mills, then called Ford's Mills. It was at an association held at the old Saw Mill Church, on the east side of the mills-the church was old and dilapidated. It was there that I first saw him, and never saw him afterwards. He was a well-to-do man, and prominent in his day; he had three sons, Jessee, William and Charles. Major Jessee Ford, the eldest son, represented the district in the Legislature in the twenties-I do not know the precise date .* He was Major in the militia ; his first wife was a Miss Townsend, of Robeson County, N. C .; by her he had two sons, the late Elias B. Ford and Allen Ford; his second wife was a Miss Watson, a daughter of Scarcebook Watson, above Nichols, on the road from Nichols to Lumberton, N. C .; by the second wife he had several sons and daughters; the sons, as their names are remembered, were Watson, Jessee, Thomas, David and Charles Ford. The war and emigration have re- moved them all, except Jessee, who is now an old and respect- able citizen in the community of his birth, and has raised a family, unknown to the writer. The daughters of Major Jesse Ford, as remembered, were Elizabeth, Mary, Caroline and Virginia. Elizabeth married William H. Hays; by him she had several children; Mary married John I. Gaddy, and died in a year or two childless; Caroline married Dr. George E. Shooter, and raised a large family, unknown ; I do not remem- ber what became of Virginia. Major Jesse Ford may have had other daughters. Elias B. Ford, a most excellent and kind hearted man, born in 1809, married, 9th February, 1830, Miss Jane Herring, of Robeson, N. C., a woman of good prop- erty and one of the best of women ; the fruits of this marriage were three sons. "Sandy" Ford, for a long time in Marion, and very prominent as a business man, now resides in Ander-
*Jessee Ford was elected a Representative in 1820. See list of Repre- sentatives in latter part hereof.
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son County .* Dr. C. T. Ford, of Mullins, and Rev. Rufus Ford, a prominent minister of the Baptist Church, and now resides in Marlborough, and several daughters. Neill C. McDuffie, Sheriff, married two of them; D. D. McDuffie mar- ried one; Joseph N. Page married one, and George Fore mar- ried one; one unmarried and one dead, names not remembered. Elias B. Ford lost his wife, the mother of these children, and he married, a second time, the Widow Helen Pitman, who had four Pitman children, two sons and two daughters; the sons were killed or died in the war, and one of the daughters died during the war, all unmarried; the other daughter, the young- est, Amanda, married the late Joseph R. Oliver, and had by inheritance a good property. Elias B. Ford had no child or children by his second marriage; he died some years ago, greatly missed by the poor of his neighborhood. Allen Ford, the second son of Major Jessee Ford by his Townsend wife, married a Miss Falk, of Robeson; she died childless in a few years, and he removed to the West many years ago. Major William Ford, the second son of old man "Zarv" Ford, married a Miss Thompson; he was a well-to-do man; had not many children ; the writer does not remember but one, a daughter, Sallie, who had a personal distinction, seldom, if ever, met with-she had a black eye and a blue one; a very pretty girl; she married John R. Watson, who occupied and owned his father's homestead, on the road from Nichols to Lumberton, N. C .; he died, leaving six or seven children together with his widow; the children all small; the widow managed well and raised a very nice family, sons and daughters-mostly daugh- ters; the mother died some years ago, much respected while living. Major William Ford may have had a son, not now recollected ; he had another daughter, as now remembered, who became and is now, the wife of Captain R. H. Rogers. Old man "Zarv" Ford's third and youngest son, Charles, died after arriving at manhood, unmarried. There was another old Ford, by name of George, who lived just below Tabernacle Church, on the road leading from Bear Swamp to Allen's Bridge, on Little Pee Dee; he was related to those other Fords, at least collaterally ; he was a very energetic man and accumu-
*Moved to Texas.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
lated some property; I never knew much of him; he was not a very old man when he died. I know that he left two sons, William and Nelson Ford, and know that he had three daughters, if no more, to wit; second wife of William Good- year, Sr .- her name was Elizabeth; also the wife of the late Benjamin Shooter-her name was Mary; she was the mother of the Shooter family, a numerous family, and among them the gallant Colonel W. P. Shooter, who was killed in the severe battle of Spottsylvania Court House, in May, 1864. A family noted for its gallantry in the war. Colonel Wm. P. Shooter and two of his brothers (names not remembered) fell on the same day and in the same fight. Another daughter was the wife of Anthony Cribb, and became the mother of our W. T. Cribb and of Dempsy Cribb, Jr .; the latter is dead. W. T. Cribb is a respectable and good citizen, a brave soldier in the struggle for the "Lost Cause," and so was his brother, George T. Cribb. He lost a leg in the contest, and yet lives. Of the sons of George Ford, William ( familiarly called "Little Bill Ford"), as now remembered, married, first, a Miss Lupo; he raised some family by her, the names and number not now known to the writer. "Little Bill Ford" has been dead some years, and perhaps his Butler wife. Nelson Ford lived to an advanced age, eighty or more, has not been dead many years; he was a most excellent man and worthy citizen ; he married a Miss Lupo, and raised a family, how many is not known; one of his sons, named Hardy, lives near Nichols, and is a most excellent man and one of our best citizens. The Ford family, as a whole, were good people, and extend down two or three generations further than herein traced ; for the want of infor- mation and personal acquaintance, the writer can go no further. They did their duty fully in the war, and demon- strated to their country a patriotism and courage of which the present and coming generations may be proud. Their connec- tions are extensive.
HAYS .- Another family of note in Hillsboro Township is the Hays family. The common ancestor of that family was Ben- jamin Hays; I do not know who his wife was; he raised a considerable family of sons and daughters; the sons, as re-
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membered, were James, Jessee, William H., Joseph B. and Levi H. Hays; the daughters, as remembered, were Mrs. Elias Allen, the mother of the late Rev. Joel Allen, and Thompson Allen, of Marlborough County ; Mrs. Samuel Smith, of Buck Swamp, who died in 1857, and Mrs. John Martin, of Buck Swamp and Maiden Down; there may have been other daughters. These sons and daughters are all dead, some of them for many years, but were the stock of a numerous progeny-down to a second and third and even to a fourth generation ; many of them unknown to the writer, and, there- fore, can say but little about them. James Hays married a daughter of Matthew Jones, of Robeson; he raised a large family of sons and daughters; the names of these sons, as re- membered, were Reaves, Henry and James R .; they were older than the writer, and all are dead. One of them was the father of our respected fellow-citizen, above Buck Swamp Bridge, W. D. B. Hays-the upper bridge is meant. There are several bridges across Buck Swamp now. The bridge near Page's was, for a long time, the only bridge on the swamp, and acquired the name of Buck Swamp Bridge; and when we say Buck Swamp Bridge, that bridge is meant. I do not know to whom these sons of James Hays were married. Jessee Hays married a Miss Elvington, and raised a large and respect- able family. William H. Hays married, first, a Miss Thomp- son, and from that marriage sprang children, one named Lewis, as now remembered ; his wife died, and he then married Miss Elizabeth Ford, daughter of Major Jessee Ford; this wife had children unknown to the writer; the Ford wife died, and he married, a third time, a Miss Elvington, by whom he had children, how many is unknown. Joseph B. Hays, the father of our much respected and substantial fellow-citizen, T. B. Hays, married a Miss Gaddy, daughter of old Ithamer Gaddy, near Gaddy's Mills ; the fruits of this marriage were three sons, as now remebered, E. Wilson Hays, Aleck and T. B. Hays; E. Wilson Hays is now dead; he married, first, Miss Elizabeth Ann Rogers, a sister of our fellow-citizen, Lot B. Rogers; he had several children by this marriage; one of them is Gamewell Hays, who has removed to the West, and another is O. C. Hays, who lives near Little Rock; he married a daughter of
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Owen Jackson, in the Judson section of the county, and he has a large family ; Wilson Hays married, a second time, a daughter of the late Matthew Martin; she bore some children to him, how many is unknown. E. Wilson Hays was a very respectable man and excellent citizen ; he died a few years ago of a cancer on his face. T. B. Hays married Sarah Nance, daughter of Everet Nance, of Robeson County, N. C., and by her had four children, Orilla, now the wife of Olin Edwards, Ina Rembert and Tristam. Rembert recently graduated at Wofford Col- lege, and is now engaged in farming; the first wife dying, T. B. Hays married, a second time, his cousin, Miss Walker Hays, daughter of Wm. B. Hays, by whom he has one child. Aleck Hays married Elizabeth, daughter of the late Colonel John Roberts, and lives at the forks of the road just below the resi- dence of Captain Wm. J. Page; he raised a large family, all of whom are grown ; one of his sons (name not remembered), married a daughter of Hiram Lee; another, Murray, married a daughter of Mrs. Zilpha Floyd; Mattie married a D. V. Cole- man, of Columbus County, N. C., and removed to Georgia several years ago; Annie and Fanny are unmarried. Joseph B. Hays had some daughters; I do not know how many; one married the late T. B. Rogers, in the Fork, and is still living ; they raised a considerable family; of the sons, J. Marion Rogers is a preacher of the South Carolina Conference, Meth- odist Church, South; he graduated with distinction at Wofford College some years past ; another son, Herbert, graduated in the Citadel Academy last year, 1899. Another daughter of J. B. Hays married a Mr. Booth; think she is a widow. Another daughter of Joseph B. Hays became the wife of Solomon Ed- wards, in the Fork; she has an only daughter, who is now the wife of that excellent citizen, Kirkland Fort, with whom Mrs. Edwards lives, her husband having died many years ago. Another daughter, rather late in life, married Archie Thomp- son, and resides in Robeson County, N. C. Joseph B. Hays was ·a useful man in his day in his community ; he was a Magistrate for many years. Levi H. Hays, the youngest son of old Ben- jamin, married a daughter of Captain William Page, near Buck Swamp Bridge; he raised a family, how many is not known ; our respected and highly esteemed fellow-citizen, Wil-
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
liam B. Hays, is a son of Levi H. Levi H. Hays was a most excellent man and useful citizen in his neighborhood in his day; he served as a Magistrate for several years, and gave general satisfaction in that responsible and indispensable posi- tion ; he preceded some of his older brothers to the grave. ·
The Hays family, of Hillsboro, have held their own about as well as any family in the county. They are and ever have been a peaceable, orderly and law-abiding people; honest, industri- ous and frugal, attend strictly to their own business, and do not meddle with the business of others; their name seldom appears on the journals of the Courts. An incident may here be related in reference to the old man, Benjamin, told to the writer sixty- five years ago. It runs thus: At a night meeting held in the neighborhood, some brother was called upon to pray (the name forgotten), and in his prayer, among his many petitions, one was that the good Lord would send down a thunderbolt from heaven and strike old Ben Hays' heart and make him sell his "backer" (tobacco) cheaper. From this incident several in- ferences may be drawn. The reader is left to draw his own conclusions. There is another family of Hays in Hillsboro, perhaps related collaterally ; if so, they have greatly degener- ated from their common ancestry-at any rate, so little is known of them that the writer cannot trace them.
There is another family of Hays in Kirby Township, which will be noticed herein further on.
ELVINGTON .- The Elvington family are to be found in Hills- boro. There were two old Elvingtons, brothers, of some note in Hillsboro-John and Jessee. The descendants of both, with their connections, are numerous; some of them are in the West. Old John Elvington lived on the road from Gaddy's Mills to Nichols; he raised a large family, sons and daughters ; of the sons, Zadoc Elvington still survives, and lives near the old homestead; has no children; had two sons, whom he lost in the war. In some respects he is a prodigy, which will not be further alluded to. He has made and has money, which it is said he does not much enjoy, except the satisfaction of knowing that he has it. He married one of the ten daughters of the late John Goodyear (all of whom, it is said, were good
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women, and made industrious and frugal housewives). Old man John Elvington was a good citizen. His other sons were William, John (commonly called Jack), and Owen. They are all dead. Owen was the father of our excellent and thrifty good citizen, George W. Elvington; there may have been an- other son or two, not now remembered. He had several daughters; one the wife of the late Henry Huggins; one the wife of the late James Scott (she still survives) ; one the wife of the late Eli Scott, and perhaps others. The old gentleman was remarkable in one respect; he told the writer, when he was over seventy years of age, that he never saw a seed-tick or a red-bug in his life; spectacles did him no good, yet his eye- sight had not failed him and he could see as well in his old age as he ever could ; his eyes were very peculiar-did not look like the ordinary eye-they sparkled or twinkled. Old man Jessee Elvington lived and died on Bear Swamp; he was an old man seventy years ago; a good manager and snug farmer ; he raised a considerable family, sons and daughters. Three sons, Giles, Hughey and John E. Giles Elvington married Miss Mary Ann Page, daughter of Joseph Page, just in North Carolina; Giles Elvington lived till after the war, and died an old man, after having married a second time. By his first wife he raised several children, sons and daughters, none of whom are now known to the writer. Giles Elvington owned the plantation where Dr. William A. Oliver lately died ; he, like his father, was a good manager-at least, during his first wife's lifetime, and he and family were highly respected. Hughey Elvington married one of the ten girls of John Goodyear, here- inbefore mentioned, and she is now the wife of Wilson Lewis, of Horry, and weighs 260 pounds, as she recently told the writer. Hughey Elvington was a good citizen. John E. El- vington married a Miss Deer (Elizabeth Ann), daughter of Joseph Deer ; her mother was a Page, and he inherited the old homestead of his father ; he has been dead several years ; raised a family quite respectable. A daughter of his is now the wife of William J. Williamson, who it is supposed has grown children. The several daughters of old Jesse Elvington mar- ried; one married the late Elgate Horn, who raised a large family, entirely unknown; another daughter married William
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B. Grantham, of North Carolina; they are both dead and died childless. I do not know whom the other daughter of old man Jessee married. The Elvingtons and their connections are numerous, and all sprang from the two old men, John and Jesse Elvington.
SCOTT .- The Scott family, in Hillsboro, are not very exten- sive. Old man Pharaoh Scott lived near Tabernacle Church, on the road from Gaddy's to Nichols; he was a harmless, honest and inoffensive man; he raised three sons, Thomas, James and Ely. Thomas married and moved West, many years ago; James married Miss Sallie Elvington, daughter of old John Elvington ; James Scott is dead, but his wife, Sallie, still survives ; he raised a large family, sons and daughters, all un- known except the oldest son, Giles Scott, who is now a worthy citizen of that community. Ely Scott also married Miss Appie Elvington, daughter of old man John Elvington; by her he had one daughter ; his wife died, and he married another one of the ten daughters of John Goodyear-an excellent woman she was ; I think she is dead; she left two daughters; Ely Scott is also dead. Old Pharaoh Scott had one daughter, named Patience; she married Jerry Campbell, near Mullins; Jerry and wife are both dead; they left two sons, K. M. Campbell and Rev. Ely Campbell, citizens of Reaves Township, and much respected. Pharaoh Scott had a brother up about the High Hill, whose name is forgotten; he had sons, William and Ervin, and perhaps others, and there are members of that family now in that neighborhood, two of whom, John L. and William, are known. Ervin Scott married a daughter of old Jessee Elvington; he was an energetic, persevering man ; he died in middle life, and left a family. I know nothing of them-nor is anything known of William Scott's family.
OWENS .- The writer knows but little of the Owens family, in Hillsboro. Reddin Owens, who died two years ago, at the advanced age of ninety-four, was a son of old Shadrack Owens, of the Fork community; he had another son, named Lot Owens; he was in Hillsboro for the last sixty years or more, and raised a considerable family ; he was an honest, well mean-
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ing man; of his family nothing is known, except a grand-son, Jamies Owens, who resides near where his grand-father died.
GADDY .- Another family in Hillsboro, is the Gaddy family. Old man Ithamer Gaddy was the first known; his wife, Char- ity, was a Miss Pitman, sister of old man Hardy Pitman, who seventy-five years ago lived near by, and was a prominent citi- zen; the name Pitman is not found in the county. Old man Ithamer Gaddy was a most excellent man, quiet and inoffen- sive, a Christian gentleman; he raised a large family, five sons and two daughters; the sons were William, James, Hardy, Allen and Silas; the daughters were Elizabeth and Mary (Polly, as she was called). William Gaddy married Miss Sal- lie Jones, on Catfish, daughter of old man John Jones; raised a large family of sons and daughters, to wit: John I., Levi, Israel, Joseph, Samuel T. and Charles B .; the daughters were Elizabeth, Ann, Mary and Sarah. John I. Gaddy married Miss Mary Ford; he and his wife both died in a few years, perhaps childless. Levi Gaddy was a very steady, level-headed young man, and bid fair to succeed well in life; he went into the war, and was killed or died of disease or wounds, never came back. Israel Gaddy married in North Carolina and set- tled there; know nothing of his family, if he had any; Joseph died unmarried; Samuel T. Gaddy, one of our good citizens, married a daughter of the late Harman Floyd, of Nichols, S. C., the fruits of the marriage are one son, Walker, and two daughters-one the wife of W. B. Atkinson, the other the wife of Franklin Rogers ; the son, Walker, married a lady in North Carolina. Charles B. Gaddy, the youngest son of William Gaddy, married one of Colonel John Roberts' daughters; three sons and one daughter are the results of the marriage. Charles B. Gaddy died suddenly, a few weeks ago, on the old homestead of his father. Of the daughters of William Gaddy, Elizabeth Ann, the eldest, married Elias Grantham, who was killed near Campbell's Bridge, in the discharge of his duty during the war, it was said, by Nicholas Gaddy, a first cousin of his wife. They raised a family of several children, sons and daughters, who are now living on, and near, the place of their birth; the mother died a year or two ago. William
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