USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 18
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wards still survives, an old man, and lives with his son, John; his wife has been dead many years. James married a Miss Davis, in Wahee; he has a family of four children. Melvina is an old maid, enjoying the sweets of single blessedness. John married his cousin, a daughter of Solomon Bryant, and lives on the homestead of his mother. Elizabeth married John Thompson, of Britton's Neck. Thompson is dead; of his family little is known. Nancy married Asa Pruitt, and re- moved West many years ago. Mary married, first, Ebb. Smith; he went into the war and was killed or died of disease- has never returned; his widow married George Lane, and be- tween the two husbands raised a considerable family, who are now among our citizens; the writer knows but little of them. Samuel Edwards, the third son of "Gold-headed Dick," mar- ried a Miss Martin, sister of Matthew, Jr., and the late Aaron Martin; he lived and died in the Fork, and raised a family, how many the writer does not know ; he was a prosperous and excellent man. He had a son, Renselaer, who died some years ago, and left a family-the number is not known, nor do. I know who the mother was. He has another son, David S. Edwards, now a prominent and prosperous farmer in the Fork; he has a large family of sons and daughters; I think his wife was a Miss Carmichael. D. S. Edwards is an enterprising and public-spirited man; he is doing a good part by his children in the way of education; one of his sons, G. Emory Edwards, graduated in Wofford College recently with distinction; since his graduation he has been teaching at Dothan, and gives full satisfaction to his patrons. D. S. Edwards has two daughters, promising girls and graduates of the Winthrop Female Col- lege ; he is doing abundantly better for his children than those of the former generations. It is greatly to be wished that we had many more like him with regard to education. Another son of Samuel Edwards was Solomon, who died many years ago; he married a daughter of Joseph B. Hays and left one daughter, who is now the wife of Kirkland Fort. Samuel Ed- wards had a daughter, Civil, who married Daniel W. Carmi- chael, and they have raised a numerous family of sons and daughters, who will be further noticed when we come to speak of the Carmichaels. Samuel Edwards, I think, had another
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daughter, who married an Owens, in the Fork; nothing is known of them. Another son of "Gold-headed Dick," named Henry, the youngest, married a Miss Gerald, and had one son, Levi, who lives in the Gapway neighborhood. Henry Ed- wards' habits were not good; he drank excessively, never did much in life, and, no doubt, was a source of much trouble to his relations. It seems to the writer that there was another son of "Gold-headed Dick," perhaps the oldest one, by the name of Solomon; nothing, however, is known of him or of his family, if he had any-I am not certain there was such an one. The Edwards family and its connections are numerous ; they are quite respectable, and stand fair among their fellow- citizens ; seldom in the Courts. Since writing the foregoing account of the Edwards family, the writer has learned that Captain L. M. Edwards had a brother, named Enos, who mar- ried and died, leaving a son, Frank Edwards, who lives in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood, and is one of our good citizens. It may be further added, that B. F. Edwards, in the Gaddy neighborhood, and Austin Edwards, in the Latta community, great-grand-sons of "Gold-headed Dick" Edwards, are promi- nent and thriving men of our county.
NICHOLS .- The Nichols family, so far as the county is con- cerned, sprang from old Averett Nichols, of Columbus County, N. C. His youngest son, Averett, born 8th March, 1803, set- tled in Marion County in 1830; he married a Miss Burney, of Columbus County, N. C .; he located near what is now called Nichols, in the woods, apparently a poor place, lived there during his long life, and died there at the age of near ninety- three, on the 7th January, 1896; he raised a family of ten children, eight daughters and two sons ; the sons, McKendree (called Kendree) and Averitt Burney. Kendree was a very promising young man, unmarried; went into the Southern army as a Lieutenant, and was killed, as I think, in second Manassas, 30th August, 1862. A. B. Nichols, a prominent and progressive citizen, merchant and farmer at Nichols, S. C., married a Miss Sophronia Daniel, and has a family of child- ren, how many is unknown-he is doing his full duty in that respect, as well as in every other; he is a first class man, and
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safe in every way. Averitt Nichols' oldest daughter, Mary, married Isham H. Watson, and is now a widow, and childless ; his daughter, Lucy, married a Mr. Lawson; they emigrated to Texas many years ago, and, I suppose, are contributing their share to the population and wealth of that great State. Sarah (or Sallie) married our modest but successful fellow-citizen, J. Thomas Jones; she has been dead many years, but left several sons and daughters, all of whom are now among us; I do not know the names of all the sons; Eli is one, Beverly another, Kendree, Evander and Robert Boyd, maybe another one or two. There are four daughters, Lucy Ellen, who mar- ried J. B. Williams ; Lola, who married William E. Hewit; Catharine, married David N. Bethea; and Miss Fannie is yet single. Of this family, it may be said, they are all first class citizens, doing well and law-abiding. Anne Nichols married the late T. B. Braddy, who was killed by D. W. McLaurin, in 1881 ; he left a son, Oscar Braddy, by his Nichols wife; he and his mother reside in Hillsboro Township, and, I suppose, are doing fairly well. Fannie Nichols married our respected fel- low-citizen, Jacob W. Smith, and has several children; I do not know how many ; he lives in Latta. I know his son, Alonzo Smith, who is a progressive and first class young business man, and promises to become one of the leading men of the county. Miss Rebecca Nichols, youngest daughter of Averitt Nichols, never married ; she was, after the death of her mother, the controling spirit and manager of the female department of the household until a few years ago, she unexpectedly and sud- denly died; she was a charming young woman, just the sort to have made a good housewife. There were two other daughters, who died about maturity and unmarried. Averitt Nichols was a very exemplary man ; he had the faculty in large degree of attending to his own business and of letting other people's business severely alone; the result was that he amassed a large property, raised a large and respectable family ; would not go in debt-paid as he went ; he was never in a hurry or in a flurry about anything; had in the Bank of New Han- over, Wilmington, N. C., several thousand dollars when it failed some seven or eight years ago, and which was mostly lost. In his later days the old gentleman partially lost his
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mind, and his affairs, financial and otherwise, were managed by his son, A. B. Nichols. The old man was never informed of the loss of his money by the failure of the bank ; he died not knowing anything about it. A
HUTCHINSON .- There is a family near Nichols, by the name of Hutchinson. John Hutchinson is a very worthy citizen. I do not know anything of his ancestry, or where he came from ; he has children grown and married ; a daughter married a Barfield, who lives in the neighborhood, and is doing well.
BARFIELD .- The Barfield family, in part, live in Hillsboro. They are descendants of Barrett Barfield, who in the thirties resided in Hillsboro, just below Gaddy's Mill, and on the plantation now owned by his grand-son, Captain R. H. Rogers; he had by the same wife, and raised them to be grown, twenty- two children, sons and daughters; he, with most of his family, removed West. Writ Barfield, a son, and an excellent citizen, remained, and several of his daughters, who had married-one to Dew Rogers, one to Ebenezer Rogers in the Fork, one to Love Goodyear-they also remained and all raised large fam- ilies. Writ Barfield was a very worthy citizen, raised a con- siderable family, several sons; they and their posterity now are among our people, not personally known to the writer; and he supposes that old Barrett Barfield, their ancestor, was a son, or brother, or nephew of the celebrated Tory, Captain Barfield, of Revolutionary fame; which appellation, Tory, is now no longer a derisive name-at least, so far as the Barfield family is concerned; some of the best soldiers we had in our late Con- federate War were of that family, of that name and its connec- tions of Barfield blood. The writer may have something to say further on in this book in regard to the word Tory, as an appellation of derision or contempt. Captain Barfield as a leader, though on the losing side in the Revolution, is spoken of as a brave man, fighting for what he believed to be right. A distinctive characteristic of the Barfield family, and especi- ally of the females, was their beauty-perfect in form and features, of medium size and great activity. The men were as agile as a deer. It was said of one of the sons of old Bar-
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rett, named Thompson, that he could cut a double summer- sault-that he could walk along and cut a dozen without stopping. In a tustle or a fight, they were hard to handle, even by larger men and of greater strength. Miss Appey Barfield, the youngest daughter of old man Barrett, was as beautiful a woman as ever the writer looked at, weighed about one hundred and twenty-five or thirty, was perfect in form and as pretty as the fabled Venus. The last time the writer saw her was in February, 1835, not long before her father left this country. Writ Barfield, the father of the Barfields, now in Hillsboro, lived to be more than eighty years of age.
GOODYEAR .- The Goodyear family, so far as Marion County is concerned, sprang from William Goodyear, who died in 1800. His wife, I think, was a Ford or a Grainger ; his sons or grand- sons were the late John Goodyear and Love Goodyear, both dead. John Goodyear had only one son, who was killed or died in the war; he raised ten daughters, of whom something has already been said herein. Love .Goodyear died in 1851, and left a family of sons and perhaps daughters; the sons, as remembered and known, were William, Elias and Harman. William Goodyear, now an old man and very worthy citizen, lives near Nichols, and has raised a family who are now among our people and known. I do not know what became of Elias, whether dead or alive; Harman, I think. is dead. There is one, Madison Goodyear, if alive, whose son he is, or was, is not now remembered. Some six or eight years ago, the writer received a letter from a lady in the State of Washington or one of the Dakotas, the wife of a Lieutenant in the regular army of the United States, stationed out there in the far West, who signed her name "Grace Goodyear -" (the last name not remembered, and the correspondence is mislaid). This lady said she belonged to the family of Goodyears in this county, or was collaterally related to them; that she had been referred to me as an antiquarian and genealogist ; she said she was trying to trace her family, the Goodyear family, back to a Goodyear (John, I believe), who was Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, then a province of Great Britain, about 1690. The writer made what investigation he could, and wrote the
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result to her, which she received and acknowledged its receipt in very complimentary and appreciative terms. I have heard nothing from her since. The Goodyear family are, doubtless, of English extraction, and were among the early settlers of the country. There is now in the city of New York a very wealthy family of that name, and a strong company called "The Good- year Rubber Company," and the Goodyears of this county are, doubtless, of the same family.
TART .- The Tart family was formerly a very noted family- at least, in the person of old Enos Tart. There were three brothers of them as known to the writer, Enos, John and Na- than. Of these, Enos was the most prominent ; he lived on and owned the plantation and mill latterly known as E. J. Moody's. Who the father of these three brothers were, is not known to the writer. When that mill was built, and by whom, is not known. In Gregg's History it is spoken of as "Tart's Mill, about six miles above Marion Court House." It is reasonable to presume it was among the first mills in the county, except, perhaps, "Hulins," on Catfish, afterwards Bass' Mill. (Gregg, P. 359.) The mill was, before the Revolution, the property of John Smith, whose daughter, tradition informs us, was the mother of Enos Tart and brothers. This John Smith was the progenitor of most of the Smiths (numerous) now and since that time in the county. Enos Tart was a most remarkable man, a giant in strength and size, weighing about three hun- dred pounds and not over corpulent. It is related of him that he could interfere between two men fighting, and take one com- batant with one hand in the collar and with the other hand the other combatant, and hold them apart; they could not break his hold, and he would hold them apart, until each promised him that they would desist, and each go his way and quit the fight. He was a man of such remarkable equanimity of temper, that a man might curse and abuse him for everything he could think of, and call him all sorts of contemptuous names, and he would not resent it, but laugh at his would-be adversary. It is re- lated of him that on one occasion old man Cade Bethea so cursed and abused him at Marion Court House, calling him by every contemptuous name in the catalogue, and daring Tart
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to resent it, which Tart did not do, and as usual laughed at old Cade. On that night, as Tart was going home, he came up with old man Cade by the side of the road, down dead drunk. Tart alighted, went to him and took him home with him, and stripped him and put him to bed, old man Cade being uncon- scious all the while. Next morning, the sleeping Cade; so furious the day before, awoke and found out where he was; he got up and manfully acknowledged his error; that he was whipped by Tart's kindness, and was ever afterwards a close and constant friend of Tart's. Enos Tart, according to tradi- tion, was never known to strike any man, and the reason given for it was, that he was afraid to strike a man for fear he might kill him; Tart knew his physical power. He was a kind- hearted and generous man, and befriended all as far as he could; he was a very popular man, and could not be beaten before the people. He was more than once a Representative of his district in the State Legislature; was Sheriff of the county, and Clerk of the Court when he died, in 1828. Enos Tart married a Miss Susanna Johnson, of the county; the results of the marriage were four or five daughters and three sons. One of his daughters married Jack Finklea ; one married Willis Finklea; one, Elizabeth, married, first, Alfred Kirvin, and had two children for him, two daughters, when they sep- arated, and years afterwards, after Kirvin died, she married Elias Townsend; some years afterward, Townsend died, and she married Jessee Perritt; by neither of the last marriages had she any offspring; they lived together for some years, and they both died in a week of each other. Of her Kirvin child- ren, the oldest, Lucinda, died just as she was budding into womanhood. The other daughter, whose name is not remem- bered, married James Fore, and had four children, three daughters and a son; of these, two of the daughters married Berrys-Stephen Berry and William Berry ; the other daughter married Powers, a son of Mitchel Powers. The son, Thomas E. Fore, is now one of our good citizens, and has a family. Susan Tart, the fourth daughter, married a Mr. Brown, of Brownsville, in Marlborough; after having two children, a son and a daughter, the father and mother both died ; the child- ren grew up and emigrated West. Jane Tart, the youngest
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daughter of old Enos Tart, married another Brown, of the same family; he soon after died, leaving no offspring; the widow again married Humphrey Lester; the results of this marriage were two children-a daughter, Mary, now the wife of M. Stackhouse, and a son, Robert H. Lester, now among us, with an increasing family ; he married a Miss Proctor, of Little Rock. Soon after the birth of these two children, Humphrey Lester died, and Jane became a widow the second time; she again married our esteemed fellow-citizen, E. J. Moody; the fruits of this latter marriage were two sons, Tho- mas E. and Neill C. Moody, and two daughters. Thomas E. married a Miss Little, daughter of the Rev. L. M. Little; he soon died childless. Neill C. Moody never married, died three or four years ago. The daughters, Virginia and Maggie, both married. Virginia married Douglas McIntyre, of Marion-a noble woman she was; she died some years ago, leaving three or four children, the oldest of whom, Janie, married Robert Proctor ; they have left the State. McIntyre married again, a Miss Fore, and has his first children with him now, except Janie. Maggie Moody married Dr. D. I. Watson; they re- moved to Southport, N. C., have several children, and are said to be doing well. It may be truthfully said of Mrs. Jane Moody, who died some years ago, that she was the excellent of the earth; high-toned, and above all had a good and kind heart, beloved by all who knew her; and if any of her children or grand-children should turn out badly, it will not be the fault or failings of the mother; she left an influence that will tell upon her offspring sooner or later. Old Enos Tart had three sons, Enos, Nathan and Thomas E. Tart. Enos, the oldest, died a young man, in 1844, before his mother ; he was a very promising young man, a graduate of the University of Vir- ginia, a Chesterfield in his manners and deportment; he had many of the qualities of his father ; had he lived, would, doubt- less, have become prominent, and filled a large space in the public eye. Soon after Enos Tart, Jr., died, Thomas E., the youngest brother, accidentally shot himself with a pistol, from which he died in a few minutes. Three or four years after that sad event, Nathan Tart, the middle son, died. The sons of old Enos all died unmarried, so that the name, so far as old
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Enos was concerned, was entirely cut off. Enos Tart was not a very old man when he died; he was a man of business, accu- mulated a large property and left his family in good condition ; he was the contractor for and built the old brick court house in Marion, in 1823, which was torn down and removed, in 1864, during the war. That court house stood about the spot where the new building lately erected for the Clerk and Probate Judge's offices now stands. There are many now living who remember the old brick court house; it was constructed on the "Mills" plan of court houses for that day and time. Of the brothers of old Enos, John and Nathan, John Tart, I think, married a Miss Crawford; he raised two sons and some daughters; the sons were James and Enos Tart-the name Enos runs down to the present generation in every family. James Tart's brother, Enos, was called "Dog Enos," for dis- tinction. Why they gave him so unsavory a name is not now known. The writer has seen him, or saw him, about sixty years ago; he was regarded as a bully on the muster fields of that day ; I do not know what became of him. James, the older brother, was a very respectable man and good citizen; he mar- ried Miss Julia Ann Smith, and raised a large family of sons and daughters, all of whom are now dead, except the youngest son, Enos Murchison Tart, who married in Columbus County, N. C., where he settled and now resides. John W. Tart, the oldest son of James, married a daughter of Rev. Samuel J. Bethea, raised a large family of sons and daughters, who are now among us as citizens of the county ; he died on April 14th, 1875, of a cancer on the tongue. A daughter of James Tart, Amelia, married the late John C. Campbell, near Ebenezer Church, where he and she both died a few years ago; they raised a large family of sons, and two daughters, perhaps eight or ten sons. Some of the sons, two or three, are dead, leaving no family, and one of the daughters is also dead, unmarried; the others are among us, and are respectable citizens. James Tart died during the war, on the place near Moody's Mill, now owned by the estate of the late Governor Ellerbe. James Tart had some sisters, two of whom married Birds, Joseph Bird and Hugh Bird, and one married a Malloy-all of whom are dead. Nathan Tart, the youngest brother of old Enos, married Fama
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Berry, a daughter of old Henry Berry, as already herein noted; by their marriage a considerable family resulted of sons and daughters. Nathan Tart died in middle life and left his widow, Fama, and children. Fama Tart, as heretofore noted, was one of the most remarkable women that the writer ever saw. Of this family of Tarts, I think I have already written. Nathan and Fama Tart also had a son, named Enos, who was called by way of contradistinction, "Russell Enos." The name is continued down for two or three generations further.
BRYANT .- Another family may be here noticed. The Bry- ant family is an old family. Jesse Bryant is said to have been the first of that name in the county ; he came from England, as it is said ; he married a Miss Turbeville, supposed to have been a sister of Rev. William Turbeville, who, according to Bishop Gregg (pp. 70 and 71), came over about 1735, and settled at Sandy Bluff, on the Great Pee Dee, with the colony then and there settled, as their minister. "Several brothers came with him, of whom some descendants are now to be found in Marion." It may be presumed that sisters came too, and that one of them married old Jesse Bryant. Old Jesse had sons, William, Stephen and Jesse. Of these, William married Re- becca Miller ; he lived and died some twenty-five or thirty years ago, on the road just above Ebenezer Church, at the age of eighty-nine. Whether William, Stephen or Jesse was the old- est, is not known. Old Billy Bryant raised a large family, four sons and several daughters. Of the sons, John M. Bryant was the oldest ; he died some years ago, at the age of eighty- three; he married a Miss Drew, below Marion, and raised a large family-sons, Eli, Solomon, David, Pinckney and Hugh Bryant ; and daughters, Mrs. David Johnson, Mrs. Hardy John- son and Mrs. Addison Lane. Eli Bryant went West. Solo- mon Bryant married a daughter of Rev. David Edwards, first, and then a Miss McDonald. I do not know who David mar- ried; he has a son, named Curtis Bryant. Pinckney Bryant married, had a large family and is dead; I don't know who his wife was. Hugh Bryant married a daughter of the late Rev. David Edwards, and has a family; these are now our fellow- citizens, and are contributing their share towards populating
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and improving the conditions of the county. John M. Bryant was a solid, number one man, honest, truthful and reliable. Jesse Bryant, son of the first Jesse, went West .. Stephen Bry- ant was the father or grand-father of F. D. Bryant, Esq., of the Marion bar. One of the daughters of the first Jesse was the wife of the late Charles Taylor. One of the sons of old William Bryant, named William, was a Baptist preacher ; he went to Horry, and became the head of a family there. Also, did Stephen, the father of F. D. Bryant. Old man William Bryant was a simple-minded gentleman, honest and straight; he acted for many years as a Constable; and I heard it related of him that on one occasion, having a Magistrate's execution to levy on the property of another, the old man went to the cowpen of the execution debtor to levy upon a bull yearling therein ; that the old man's idea was, that in order to make the levy, as required by the mandate of the execution, he had to lay the execution upon the back of the yearling. Accordingly, the old man went into the cowpen, armed with the execution, and took after the yearling, and after running him a while caught him by the tail, and he and the old man had it round and round the pen, the yearling bellowing; at last the old man got him hemmed in a jamb of the fence and held him, till he laid the execution on the yearling's back; when the old man said, "I levy upon this yearling in the name of the State of South Carolina." Another incident showing the simplicity of the old gentleman was, that he used to plant and cultivate two and three stalks of corn in a hill. Some one asked him why he did so, saying to him that one stalk in a hill would make more corn than the two or three. The old gentleman replied, that when he cultivated only one stalk in a hill, he never made corn enough to do him; but when he cultivated two and three stalks, he always made plenty; that when he fed his horse, he always gave him ten ears at a bait; that ten little ears would go as far as ten large ones; that two or three stalks in a hill would make more in number than one stalk. Many of the Bryants of Marion have emigrated to other sections of the country. The writer is not reasonably certain that this account of the Bryant family is correct in every particular-it is, however, in accord with the information obtained.
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