USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 19
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WATSON .- Another family that may here be noticed, is the Watson family. The progenitor of this family, so far as Marion County is concerned, was Barnabas Watson, on Buck Swamp, who was the great-grand-father of our now fellow-cit- izens of the county. Old man Isham Watson was the founder, it may be said, of the family on Catfish, in name and fortune. Barny Watson, his father, was married twice; whether he had a child or children other than Isham, by his first wife, is not known. Isham Watson married and settled on Catfish, near where Antioch Church now stands, in the first part of the nine- teenth century, a poor man; his wife was Miss Mary Hays, a sister of the late John C. Hays ; the results of the marriage were five sons, Matthew, James, Isham H., Samuel and William; and seven daughters, Nellie, Nancy, Elizabeth, Mary, Verzella, Fama and Jane; all raised to be grown and all married, and all now dead, except the daughters, Mary and Jane. Matthew Watson married Miss Celia Easterling, in 1839; and raised a large family of sons and daughters; the sons are David E., Isham E., Silas, Enos and Robert; and daughters, Martha, Lavina, Kate and Hortensia. David E. Watson married Miss Rose Bass, and has now living two sons and one daughter. Silas Watson married a Miss Page, daughter of W. J. Page, and has a family of sons and daughters, some of them grown. Isham E. Watson married Miss Beulah Emanuel ; he moved to Florence and has several children, sons and daughters; he is in the dairy business. Enos Watson married Miss Theodocia Emanuel, sister of Isham E. Watson's wife; the two brothers married two sisters-both married the same evening. Enos Watson's wife is dead, leaving five children, the oldest of whom, Henry, by name, went into the Cuban war, thence to the Philippines, and perhaps now in China. Robert Watson married a Miss Walling; he died four or five years after mar- riage, and left two or three children; the whereabouts of his widow and children are unknown. Martha, the eldest daughter of Matthew Watson, married the Rev. Alfred Pitman, in North Carolina, and resides there. Lavina, the second daugh- ter, married a Mr. McNeill, in North Carolina, and is dead, leaving children. Kate Watson married Tracy R. Fore, they have several children, one, a daughter, married to John H.
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Berry. Hortensia Watson married Thomas J. Bass, who was killed some years ago by the falling of a tree, leaning over the path which he was traveling; he left four sons, all young men, now among us ; their mother resides at Latta. James Watson, the second son of Isham Watson, married Miss Elizabeth Jones, daughter of Bryant Jones, of Wahee; the fruits of the marriage were several sons and daughters. James, the eldest, married Miss Flora Lane, and has several children, sons and daughters. Edward B. Watson married Miss Addie Bethea, a daughter of the late John R. Bethea ; they have several child- ren. Joseph F. Watson, a physician, married in Darlington; I don't know to whom. Cicero Watson, I think, is still single. Charles, I think, is married, and he and two single sisters live together on the old homestead of his father. James Watson's oldest daughter, Mary, married Jesse Gibson, below Marion; they have a family, how many is not known. The next daughter, Sarah, married Allen Gibson, brother of Jesse; they also have a family, of how many is not known to the writer. Another daughter married W. H. Daniels, of Mullins; they have two or three children. Two daughters of James Watson, Telatha and Drusilla, are yet single, and live with their brother on the old homestead. Isham H. Watson, the third son of old man Isham, married a Miss McDuffie, sister to the late Sheriff McDuffie; by her he raised three children, two sons and a daughter; the sons were George E. and Duncan I., the latter named for his two grand-fathers, Isham Watson and Duncan McDuffie; the daughter (Janie), married our fellow-citizen, J. D. Montgomery. Isham H. Watson's first wife died of small-pox during the war; he married again, Miss Mary Nichols, who survives him, childless. George E. Watson went West, and married there; some months after marriage, Geo. E. died suddenly, and left his widow, to whom a posthumous daughter was born, who takes and has the name of her father, George Elmore; the widow and daughter are both now in Marion. Samuel Watson, the fourth son of old Isham, married, first, a Miss Page, and by her had sons, W. J. Watson, Melton, S. P. Watson and S. C. Watson, and two daughters, Sophronia and Maggie. W. J. Watson married his first cousin, a Miss Bethea, moved to Mt. Airy, N. C .; his wife is
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dead; he has seven children. Melton Watson married a Miss Moody, daughter of the late Charles Moody, and soon after died childless; his widow still survives. Samuel Watson's first wife died, and he married a Miss Roberts, daughter of the late Rowland Roberts, and by her had five children, when she died; he married a third time, a Miss Price, sister of the Rev. Willie Price, of the Baptist Church ; by her he had one child, a boy, named Albert. The children of his last two marriages are unknown to the writer ; they are, however, here among us, and are of the present generation. S. P. Watson, third son of Sam- uel, married a Miss Bryan, near Little River, in Horry County ; is a physician ; he left a few days ago, with his family, for Oklahoma; he practiced medicine in Latta, and left his beauti- ful and comfortable home in Latta unsold; he sold his planta- tion to J. K. Page; he has seven children ; he made a trip to that far off land last winter, and bought thirty acres of land in the suburbs of Oklahoma City, at $90 an acre; the city is growing so fast that his place is no longer in the suburbs, but is now in the city; his purchase has already quadrupled, and there is no telling what his thirty aches of land will be worth in the near future; the city now has 20,000 inhabitants. S. C. Watson, the fourth son of Samuel Watson and youngest by his first wife, married a Miss Stackhouse, daughter of Wm. R. Stackhouse; he has five children. William Watson, the fifth son and youngest of old man Isham's sons, married Miss Cherry Deer, daughter of Joseph Deer; the results of the mar- riage were four sons, John G., William E., Furman and D. Maxcy Watson; and three daughters, Ellen, Pauline and Norma. William Watson, the father, died some years ago. The son, John G. Watson, married a Miss Emanuel, and by her has several children; he resides in Marion, and is now one of the division chief liquor constables of the State. William E. Watson, the second son of William Watson, deceased, married Miss Annie Fore, daughter of the late Stephen Fore, and by her has had twelve children, one dead, eight sons living and three daughters. Furman Watson married Miss Linnie Bond, and has two children, two sons. D. Maxcy Watson, the youngest son of the late William Watson, married Miss Lucy B. Sellers, daughter of John C. Sellers, and grand-daughter of
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the writer; they have no children. Of the daughters of the late William Watson, the eldest, Ellen, married Addison Bass ; they have several children, sons and daughters. The second daughter, Pauline, married, first, Rev. Mr. Price, a Baptist minister ; he died a few years ago, leaving one child, a daughter, named Annie Hamer; the widow married, a second time, Charles W. Wiggins, of Dillon; they have no children. Norma, the youngest daughter, married Benj. B. Sellers, son of John C. Sellers; they have two children, a son and a daughter-Harry and Margaret Ellen. As to the two daugh- ters of the late Samuel Watson by his first marriage, Sophro- nia and Maggie, Sophronia married John K. Page, a first class citizen ; she died some four years ago, leaving two sons, Sam- uel and Ernest. Samuel is now in Baltimore, in a medical college; Ernest, a lad, is yet at home. The second daughter, Maggie, married Frank Easterling, a very worthy man ; they have two children, sons, Rupert and Henry. Of the daughters of old Isham Watson, Nellie, the oldest, married Frank A. Berry, in 1839; she died, together with her infant, in 1840; both were buried together in the same grave. Frank A. Berry lived a widower for perhaps thirty years or more, when he married Verzilla Watson, sister of Nellie, then an old maid; she died childless, a few years ago; her husband preceded her to the grave a year or two. Nancy, the second daughter, mar- ried Rev. Joel Allen; they raised a large family of sons and daughters; the sons were James (killed in the war), William, Joel I., David E. and Frank; the daughters were Annie, Maria, Eugenia and Alice. Of the sons, William married a Miss Cox, of Florence; they have a large family of children, sons and daughters, and live on the old homestead. Joel I. married, first, Miss Helen Bass; she died, and left four or five children, sons and daughters; Joel I. married, a second time, a lady near Ridgeway, S. C., named Lulie Meredith; by her he had three children, when she died, and he is now a widower again, with two sets of children, eight in number. Joel I. Allen, like his father, is a Baptist preacher, and has charge of the Baptist Church at Dillon, and resides there ; is a fair preacher, and has one quality that many preachers do not have-his sermons are short and sensible, and when he gets through he quits-he
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does not turn round and thrash the straw over again or rehash it; he is a good man. David E. Allen married Elizabeth (Bettie) Bethea, a daughter of Philip W. Bethea; has raised a family of eight or nine children, sons and daughters; some of them are married and have families. Frank Allen emigrated some years ago to Greenwood, S. C., and married there-can't say to whom; he is a first class man. The Allen boys are all good men, straightforward and reliable. Of the daughters of the Rev. Joel Allen, Annie Maria, the oldest, married Dr. Andrew J. Bethea, son of Rev. S. J. Bethea; he died in 1881, and left three sons and two daughters; the sons are Herbert, Percy and Andrew, and are all young men of fine character. Andrew is now in Wake Forrest College, N. C .; all unmar- ried .* Of the daughters, the oldest, Nettie Bethea, married Rev. Pierce F. Kilgo, a Methodist preacher of the South Caro- lina Conference, and is now stationed at Williamston and Bel- ton, and is said to be a fine preacher; they have several child- ren. Georgia, the younger daughter, married W. T. Bethea, her first cousin, who is, and has been, for several years, agent for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company at Dillon, and has been Mayor of the town for three or four years. They have three children, sons, and are doing well. W. T. Bethea is the grand-son of the writer. Eugenia, a daughter of Rev. Joel Allen, married Preston L. Dew; they moved to Green- wood several years ago, and are said to be doing well; they have several children. Alice Allen, the remaining daughter of Rev. Joel Allen, married her cousin, Furman Allen, of Marl- borough; they are doing well, and have a large family, sons and daughters. The Allen family under consideration herein are most respectable, good citizens, worthy to be emulated. Elizabeth Watson, third daughter of old man Isham, married the late George W. Reaves, being his third wife; by him she had five children, three of whom died children; two were raised a son, J. R. Reaves, and a daughter, Mary E. Robert Reaves is one of our leading fellow-citizens, on Buck Swamp; he married a Miss McMillan, in the Mullins community, and has raised a large family-I think, thirteen or fourteen
*Herbert Bethea has recently married Miss Eva Manning, daughter of the late Houston Manning.
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children, sons and daughters; he is doing a good part by his children in the way of education. Charles is a leading merchant of Mullins. Samuel W. is a graduate of the Cita- del, and is a promising young man .* Robert, another son, is a graduate of a dental school, and has located in Marion for the practice of his profession; he is also a promising young man. Of J. R. Reaves' daughters, the older ones are well educated and stand well; one or two of them married, to whom unknown; several not yet grown .; Mary married Dr. N. C. Murphy, who died several years ago; she is a practical busi- ness woman, a good manager in her business and farm affairs ; she has three sons and two daughters ; both daughters are mar- ried, one to a Mr. McMillan, the other to a Mr. Cain, of St. Matthews. Mary, the next daughter of Isham Watson, mar- ried James B. Legette, and still survives; they raised a large family, mostly girls-only two sons, Salathiel and Andrew. The oldest daughter, Sarah Ellen, married a Mr. Cadell, a one-legged man ; they left the county-I think they are now in Florence; they have a family, how many not known. Another daughter married D. S. Cottingham, and is doing well; of their family the writer knows nothing. Another married W. C. Easterling, of "Free State;" they have several children, five daughters and two sons; the oldest daughter married; I do not know anything of their family. Of the two sons of James B. Legette and Mary, his wife, the oldest, Salathiel, acciden- tally shot himself several years ago, unmarried. The younger on'e, Andrew, married a Miss Moore, a daughter of Alfred Moore, of Marlborough; he lost his wife some months ago, and left him with, I think, seven children. Fama Watson, another daughter of old man Isham Watson, married, first, Stephen Berry, youngest son of Cross Roads Henry Berry; he lived about a year, and died childless ; the widow afterwards married the late Fred. D. Jones, of Marion; the fruits of this marriage were one son, Presley, and five daughters. Presley Jones married a Miss Sparks, of Marlborough, and has four children. The oldest daughter, Costa, married a Mr. Hunter, of Marlborough, who died a few months ago, and left five
*S. W. Reaves is now a professor in Clemson College.
+Mary Reaves, a graduate of Winthrop. died of typhoid fever recently.
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or six children. Alice Jones married L. W. Oliver, of Marion. Sallie, Theodocia and Cora, young ladies, are yet single, and live at the old homestead. The father and mother are both dead. Jane Watson, the youngest daughter of old Isham, married John M. Mace, and yet survives; they live in the Friendship neighborhood, and have a large family of sons and daughters ; the sons are Thadeus, Stephen, Moses, Samuel, John C. and Cornelius, and one son dead; daughters, Elizabeth (Bettie) and Mary. Thadeus married a Miss Eugenia Gasque, daughter of our excellent fellow-citizen, Arny Gasque, and Moses Mace married another daughter, Miss Emma. Stephen Mace married Miss Julia Philips, daughter of our late fellow-citizen, F. Marion Philips. Samuel Mace mar- ried a Miss Carter, and John C. Mace married a Miss Griffith, I think, of Edgefield County. Neill Mace is yet unmarried. Of these sons of John M. Mace, John C. Mace and Samuel are both doctors; one, John C., located at Marion, and running a drug store, and is Coroner of the county; Samuel Mace is located at Loris, in Horry County, and is said to be doing well there, and is a fine physician. Of the two daughters of John M. Mace, the oldest, Bettie, is married to Furman Wall; the younger one, Mary, is yet unmarried. It is supposed (the writer does not know) that all these young Maces that are married have families, more or less numerous, perpetuating the name and family connections, and also contributing to an increase in the population of the county, and industriously adding to the county's wealth and prosperity. This closes the notice of the Watson family, so far as is descended from the old man, Isham. In many respects, the old man, Isham, was an extraordinary man ; he made a large fortune, raised his large family respectably-industry, frugality and economy were the prominent characteristics of his career; these, with his great good sense, gave him success in life; he died of erysipelas, in 1864, over three-score and ten years of age. Barney Watson, his father, married a second time, I do not know to whom; by this marriage he had two sons, Barney and Meredith, and some daughters. Barney and Meredith are both dead, and left families, about whom the writer knows nothing. Barney and Meredith were hard-working, honest men, but did not succeed
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in life as did their older half-brother, Isham. The father, old man Barney, had two brothers, Needham and Thomas; I do not know what became of Thomas. Needham Watson married and had a family-at least, one son, named Wickham, who lived in the Temperance Hill neighborhood. Wickham mar- ried and had a family, how many is unknown ; one son, named Kerigan-what became of him is unknown; he was not re- markable for his beauty; if there had been such a club as an "Ugly Club," he would have stood a fair chance to have been its president. Wickham Watson was a remarkable man phy- sically, in respect to which the writer will say nothing. There are some Watsons in Britton's Neck, whether related to these Watsons on Catfish is not known; of them, however, the writer knows nothing. There was another family of Watsons in what is now known as Hillsboro Township, and of whom something has already herein been incidentally said. Seacebook Watson came from Virginia, and settled on the road leading from Nichols to Lumberton, N. C., more than one hundred years ago; he succeeded well in life, raised a large family, sons and daughters; the sons, Michael, Thomas and John R., were known to the writer. Michael and Thomas went to North Carolina, married sisters, Smithy and Kitsey Ham, very excellent women, and each raised respectable families; they were just across the line, and many of their descendants are now in South Carolina. John R. Watson, the youngest son, married Miss Sallie Ford, who had the phenomenon of a black eye and a blue one; they lived on the old homestead of his father, and had a large family of four sons and several daughters. John R. Watson died in middle life, and left his widow and children, many of them small; the widow managed well and raised her family respectably, and died a few years ago; some of them are now in the county, and among our best people. If all these Watsons and their thrice multiplied con- nections, hereinabove referred to, were destroyed, it would cut a mighty swathe in our county population. There may be, and perhaps are, some few families larger or more numerous, but not many-the name will not soon become extinct.
REAVES .- Another family to be here noticed is the Reaves
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family. The first known of this family was Solomon Reaves, a Baptist preacher. The writer heard him preach when a boy, about 1829, at an association at Porter Swamp Church, in Co- lumbus County, N. C., about five miles from Fair Bluff, N. C .; he was then an old man, white hair and red face; he had a son, named Charles-he may have had other sons, but Charles is the only one that concerns Marion County; he married a Miss Hodge, sister of the late Dr. Samuel Hodge, in the Gapway neighborhood; by her he had two sons, George W. and Robert H. Reaves; he may have had other sons and daughters. His first wife dying, he married Miss Mary Griffin, of North Caro- lina, near Fair Bluff; no offspring by this second marriage. Charles Reaves died in 1861 or 1862, leaving his widow and a large estate of lands and negroes ; he died intestate, his prop- erty, real and personal, descended under the law to his widow and two sons, one-third each, the widow getting the old home- stead. Some years after that, the widow married the late Col- onel John T. Harrington, who died some years back, and left Mrs. Harrington a widow for the second time; no child or children; she still survives and is still a widow on the old Reaves homestead, now in her eighty-seventh year-somewhat a remarkable woman for her age. Of the sons, George W. Reaves married four times-not being a very old man at the time of his fourth marriage; he was born in 1811, and died, I think, in 1896 or 1897; his first wife was a Miss Carmichael, of what is now Carmichael Township, a sister of the late Neill C. Carmichael ; she lived only about a year, and died childless ; he married, a second time, a Miss Brown; by her he had some children, how many is not known. There were one or two sons by this marriage, who were killed or died in the war, and a daughter, who married some one, and soon became a widow ; I know nothing more of her. His Brown wife died, I think, in 1846 or 7; he married in a few months, Miss Elizabeth Watson, who has hereinbefore been spoken of ; by her he raised two children, James Robert Reaves and Mary E. Reaves, now Mrs. Murphy-heretofore noticed. The Watson wife died, and he married a Miss Rogers, of the Fork, a daughter of the late Captain John Rogers; by her he had and raised four sons, George R. Reaves, John Reaves, William Reaves and Edward
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Reaves ; the latter is a Baptist preacher of high standing, and is pastor of some church in the upper part of the State. These sons of George W. Reaves are all respectable and valued citi- zens, and are a part of the bone and sinews of the county, married and contributing their full share to the citizenship and general prosperity of the county. The father, George W. Reaves, was a good citizen and a prominent church man, weighed, avoirdupois, three hundred pounds, or more. His brother, Robert H. Reaves, was for many years a prominent merchant at Marion; he married a daughter of old Colonel W. H. Grice, who still survives, and lives upon and owns her patrimonial estate in Wahee Township. R. H. Reaves, the last years of his life, retired from mercantile pursuits, and went on his farm in Wahee, where he accidentally fell from his piazza some years ago and broke his neck; he raised a family of four sons and perhaps two daughters ; of the sons, two, Henry and Thomas, died young men, unmarried; Augustus and James still survive; the former unmarried, lives with his mother; the latter married, and lives in Sumter County ; has a family, and is said to be doing well. Of the daughters, Miss Sallie, the oldest, has never married, and lives with her mother. The younger one, name not remembered, married a Mr. Lide, in Darlington. R. H. Reaves was a good and successful merchant for many years, but in the wind-up of his mercantile affairs, did not seem to have made much, but saved his plantation and negroes; he was a man of equable temperament, and never seemed to be in a hurry ; he represented the district in the Legislature just after the war in 1866-before Reconstruction commenced or before it got under way.
GRICE .- Just here may be noticed the Grice family, to which Mrs. Reaves belonged. Colonel W. H. Grice was originally from Horry County; he came to Marion away back in the twenties or thirties. In former times he had represented Horry in the House and had been Senator from Liberty (Marion) and Kingston before 1810; he was a well read man for his day; he had three children, one of whom was Mrs. Reaves, above spoken of. His youngest daughter, Ellen, became the third wife of the late Colonel W. W. DuRant, well known in Marion,
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having been in the town perhaps all his life; she was respected by all who knew her, and loved for her many good qualities ; she raised several daughters and one son to be thirteen or fourteen years of age (Thadeus, I believe), who accidentally shot himself twelve or fifteen years ago. These daughters of Colonel DuRant have all married and have families, except, perhaps, two, who reside in the old DuRant homestead, near the town, all doing well and quite respectable. Colonel Wil- liam H. Grice had only one son, Augustus E. Grice, quite a literary man and a fine speaker; he was elected Sheriff of the county in 1876; he lived about two years, and died during his term of softening of the brain; he married, late in life, a Miss Tanner, and left a considerable family. Perseus L. Grice, our present fellow-citizen, and quite respectable, is one of his sons-perhaps the oldest ; one of his daughters is the wife of J. T. Dozier, the late nominee of the Democratic party of Marion for County Supervisor .* Of the others of the family of Sheriff Grice, the writer knows nothing. Colonel William H. Grice died in 1854, leaving a good property in both town and country to his children ; he was up to the times in his day, a very honest and reliable man, very cautious and prudent. The old court house of 1823 had a large crack in its northwest corner, and such was the prudence of Colonel Grice-excited, perhaps, by his fear-that he would not go up into the court room when it was crowded, unless from strong business com- pulsion ; whether it was dangerous or not, the writer cannot say ; he was in it many times when it was packed with people.
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