USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 20
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ROBERTS .- The next family now to be noticed is the Roberts family. The first of them known to the writer was Redden Roberts and Norton Roberts. They settled on Buck Swamp, near Buck Swamp Bridge. I do not know who the wife of either was, but both married and raised families. Redden Roberts had sons, William D., James, Rowland and Giles. The latter went into the Confederate army, and died of disease, un- married. William D. Roberts married Lishia Manning, a daughter of old John Manning, and had and raised a consider- able family, sons-John M. Roberts and William Roberts ; they
*J. T. Dozier was elected and is now the County Supervisor.
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both have families unknown. Daughters of Wm. D. Roberts- Penelope, and perhaps another, married sons of Charles Tay- lor, both of which Taylors were killed or died in the Confed- erate War. Another daughter, Julia Ann, married A. H. Har- relson, who has a family of several children. Another, Lispia Ann, married Captain Thomas E. Tart; Tart is dead. Another (name not remembered) married Dugal C. McIntyre; McIn- tyre is dead; left a family of several children, and the widow still survives. Another married an Avant; he is dead, his widow survives ; there were no children. And one other daugh- ter (name not remembered) still unmarried. James Roberts, second son of old man Reddin Roberts, married Sallie Good- year, only child of old Mr. William Goodyear ; he raised a con- siderable family; he is and was a very excellent citizen; little is known of his family. A son of his, Henry Roberts, is a capital man and good citizen; I do not know whether he is married or not; I think he lives on his father's old homestead. One of James Roberts' daughters married A. C. Oliver, of Robeson County, N. C .; they have considerable family. An- other daughter married Albert Edwards, of this county; think they have but one child, a daughter, who is said to be quite a scholar and a fine teacher. Another daughter is the wife of Albert Shooter. James Roberts had other children, not known to the writer. James Roberts was a good man and unexceptional citizen-honest and truthful. Rowland Rob- erts, third son of Reddin Roberts, married Miss Mary Smith, daughter of the late Samuel Smith, senior, of Buck Swamp; they raised a family of sons and daughters-the oldest, I think, was Pinckney, who went into the Confederate War, and was killed or died of disease, unmarried. Roger married, first, a daughter of Colonel John Roberts; they had four or five child- ren, boys and girls, when their mother died, and Roger married again-I do not know whom. Giles, another son, married Miss Hays, daughter of Wilson Hays. Samuel and Stephen, I think, both married daughters of Captain L. M. Edwards ; they all have families, are good citizens, and are doing their share towards building up and forwarding the interest and welfare of the county. Rowland Roberts' daughters, two of whom are only known by the writer; one married the late Samuel Wat-
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son (his second wife, I think) ; her name was Bettie; she died some years ago, leaving five children, named Mary, Lamar, Judson, Elliott and Carrie. Mary is married to Albert Allen, a son of Elmore Allen, of Marlborough County. Albert Allen resides in North Carolina. Elmore C. Allen, of Latta, married the other daughter of Rowland Roberts, named Sallie; resides at Latta, and has several children, neither age or sex is known. Elmore Allen is one of the well-to-do citizens of the town and county ; he and his wife are first cousins, their mothers being sisters. Of the daughters of old Reddin Roberts, one married Harllee Bethea, who removed to Florida many years ago- know but little of his family ; had a son named Reddin, a very promising young man. Another daughter married Henry Hays, of Hillsboro, who has been dead several years ; he left a son, our good fellow-citizen, W. D. B. Hays, near Mount Andrew Church; he married his first cousin, a daughter of Harllee Bethea; they have only one child, a daughter; I sup- pose she is grown, name not known. Another daughter of old man Reddin, his youngest, named Zilpha, married C. P. Floyd, of Nichols ; he was killed on the railroad between Mullins and Nichols, some twenty-five or thirty years ago; he left several children, sons and daughters. Mrs. Floyd now lives on the homestead of her father, an excellent lady and capital man- ager; has raised her children in credit and respectability- three sons and three or four daughters. The sons were Charles P., Henry Bascom (called Battie), and Giles R. Floyd. Charles P. was killed some twenty or more years ago by a man by the name of Anderson, near Campbell's Bridge. The writer was employed to prosecute Anderson, who was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to two years in the State peniten- tiary. Henry Bascom married a Miss Stackhouse, daughter of the late Wm. R. Stackhouse, and is one of our good citizens. I believe Giles R. is married; don't know to whom; he is af- flicted with asthma. The writer can truly sympathise with him, as he has had that most distressing of diseases, off and on, for twenty-five years. Of her daughters, the two oldest, Cornelia and Minnie, married North Carolina men, where they reside, and, therefore, cannot tell anything about their families. Think Minnie is dead. Roberta married Lewis S. Bethea,
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above Latta, and is doing well. There is one, perhaps, two daughters yet unmarried, and yet with their mother. Reddin Roberts had another daughter, who never married; her name was Martha Ann; she is dead. Old man Reddin Roberts was an excellent, quiet citizen; was wealthy before the war, especially in negro property. It was said of him that when he married he had one negro girl about grown, that his wife had one, and on the night of their marriage, his wife's girl had a child; that from these two girls, at emanci- pation, he had and had given off some to his children together eighty slaves; that during his married life he had sold two and had bought three, or vice versa-showing how for- tunes might be made by raising negroes. It was said he did not work his negroes hard, and fed and clothed them well, hence his negro women "bred like rabbits," as the saying is. He was an exemplary man, lived at home and kept out of debt. Norton Roberts resided on the first settled place south of Buck Swamp Bridge; don't know to whom he married-think, how- ever, his wife was a Miss Johnson; he, with all his family, ex- cept his oldest son, Colonel John M. Roberts, went to Louisi- ana a way back, perhaps, in the forties, and it is said, don't know with how much truth, that one of his sons became Gov- ernor of Louisiana. I have learned from the Hon. James Norton, that Norton Roberts' mother was a Miss Norton, sister of James Norton's grand-father, hence his name, Norton Rob- erts. Norton Roberts married Martha Norton, who was the mother of Colonel John M. Colonel John M. Roberts, his old- est son, married Miss Franky Mace; by her he had seven daughters and no son. One of his daughters died unmarried. His oldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Alexander Hays, son of Joseph B. Hays, and brother to our T. B. Hays; they have raised a large family of sons and daughters, unknown to the writer. Another daughter, Joanna, married Thomas Finklea, a son of old "Corn-making Willis Finklea." Finklea is dead; suppose they raised a family. Another daughter married Roger Roberts, already mentioned herein. Another daughter married Charles B. Gaddy, who died a few weeks ago, sud- denly, hereinbefore mentioned. Another daughter, Louisa, married John M. McColl, now one of our best and most reliable
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citizens ; they have only one child, a daughter, Fannie ; married to a Mr. McNeill, of North Carolina. One other daughter, named Emelia or Mille, has never married, and still living. Colonel Roberts was eminently a good citizen, a successful man every way, with only an ordinary common school educa- tion. In the late unpleasantness, he volunteered early, raised a company and went into the war as a Captain, and upon the reorganization of the regiment was promoted to Major, and then to Lieutenant Colonel. In the battle, Seven Days Fight around Richmond, or at Second Manassas, or at Sharpsburg, in 1862, was wounded in the thigh by a Minie ball or piece of shell. He came home, the wound became gangrenous, and he died, to the regret of all who knew him, both in and out of the army ; he was a good soldier, a good officer, beloved by his company and regiment, a growing, rising man at home and in the army ; and though comparatively a young man, had accu- mulated a good property, and left it unencumbered and his family in good condition. Had he lived, there was no public position within the gift of the people that he might have as- pired to, that he could not have obtained; he was exceedingly popular.
ELLERBE .- 'The next family to be noticed is the Ellerbe fam- ily. Two brothers, Thomas and John Ellerbe, came to South Carolina about 1740. Thomas Ellerbe applied to the Council for lands, about which he had some trouble; and Bishop Gregg says, on page 63: "Mr. Elerby was doubtless successful in the end, as he remained in that neighborhood and became the owner of extensive landed possessions, a large portion of which has remained in the family to the present day." And in a note to this, Gregg says: "The mill site referred to in the petition of Thomas Elerby was, doubtless, that on Juniper Creek, of which some signs yet remain, near the road leading from Cheraw to Society Hill. A grist and saw mill, at all events, were there, and in successful operation some time be- fore the Revolution." Resuming the text, Bishop Gregg further says: "John Elerby, a brother of Thomas, came with him to Pee Dee, and settled on the east side of the river. He either returned to Virginia or removed elsewhere at an early
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period. Thomas Elerby brought a good property with him and was probably the first slaveholder on the upper Pee Dee. Some years prior to the Revolution he had a large number, at least for that day. This family emigrated from England to Virginia. The name is still known in England, and is spelt as it appears in our early records. Not long afterwards, how- ever, it was changed to its present form, Ellerbe. Thomas Elerby, who married, as already stated, Obedience Gillespie, had two sons, Thomas and William, from whom the extensive family on the Pee Dee have descended." In a note to this, page 63, Bishop Gregg traces the progeny of William and Thomas Ellerbe down to his own day and time, or near it. So far as Marion County is concerned, the first of the name in this county was John C. Ellerbe, of the same family spoken, of above. He married a Miss Wickham, daughter of Dr. Thomas J. Wickham, a man of much note in his day in Liberty or Marion; she was wealthy and perhaps the only child; at any rate, John C. Ellerbe married her and came down into Marion and settled on her property, and lived and died there; he re- tained her property and increased it; not an old man when he died-he died some time in the forties; his widow survived him, and afterwards married ex-Governor B. K. Henagan; no offspring from the marriage; they both died in a few years. John C. Ellerbe left his family in good condition; his large property went, as the law then was, mostly to the Henagans- that is, the personal property ; the large landed estate went to the heirs of the widow, who, I think, survived him. By John C. Ellerbe's marriage, he had and raised three sons and three daughters. The sons were William S., Richard P. and Ed- ward B .; the daughters were Joanna, Julia and Sallie. The son, William, married Miss Sarah Haselden, daughter of Major James Haselden; the fruits of this marriage were four sons and nine daughters. Of the sons, William H. Ellerbe married Henrietta Rogers, daughter of the late Henry Rogers, of Marlborough County; the fruits of this marriage were six children, five sons and one daughter; one son dead. He was a very successful man in more ways than one-succeeded well in his occupation as a farmer in the acquisition of property. In the political revolution of 1890, he was on the winning
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side, and by the help of good friends, to the manor born, was nominated and elected Comptroller General of the State; was re-elected without opposition in 1892. At the end of his term, in 1894, he was a candidate for Governor, but was de- feated by John Gary Evans, of Aiken. In 1896, John Gary Evans not being a candidate for re-election as Governor, Wm. H. Ellerbe was again a candidate, with opposition, and was tri- umphantly elected. In the meantime, a new State Constitution had been made, which changed the time for the meeting of the General Assembly, so that Governor Ellerbe was not inaugu- rated till January, 1897. With his administration there was much dissatisfaction; his health had failed him, and in 1898, he was again a candidate for re-election, but had numerous and strong opposition-so much so, that he failed to get the nomi- nation in the first primary, but led all others. In a second primary he was, however, nominated by over 4,000 votes. In November afterwards, at the general election, he was elected to a second term. Miles B. McSweeney, of Hampton County, was elected Lieutenant-Governor. They were inaugurated as Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, 18th January, 1899. Such by this time was the Governor's state of health, that he could do but little work in his laborious office, and lingered from bad to worse till 2d June, when he expired in his old home-the home in which he was raised. Thus his eventful career was ended, and the Lieutenant-Governor, by operation of the Constitution, became Governor, and took the oath of office on the night of the 4th June, 1899, and has filled out the unexpired term of the deceased Governor Ellerbe. Mc- Sweeny has just been elected to the next full term. Thus the world goes. This was the second death of a Governor while in office in the history of the State-Governor Patrick Noble died in office, in 1840, and Dr. B. K. Henagan, then of Marl- borough, afterwards of Marion, being the Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, filled out Governor Noble's unexpired term. J. E. Ellerbe, the next son of the late Captain W. S. Ellerbe, and now one of our fellow-citizens, has not been as successful, in any way, as his deceased brother, the late Governor Ellerbe; he has great energy and persistent pluck, and is an impressive public speaker; he married Miss Nellie Elford, of Spartan-
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burg, an elegant lady; the fruits of the marriage are four children, two sons and two daughters. J. E. Ellerbe is yet comparatively a young man; has represented his county in the lower House of the Legislature; was chosen as a delegate to the State Convention for making a new Constitution for the State, and served in that body ; he has three times been a candi- date for Congress, but has failed to receive the nomination ; his opportunities have been better than those of his brother, the late Governor; he graduated in 1887, at Wofford College; the Go- vernor only spent two years in college (Wofford) ; neverthe- less, he outstripped his younger brother in the race of life for wealth and honors. Don't know what J. E. Ellerbe may do or become in the lines indicated in the future. Cash Ellerbe, the third son of Captain W. S. Ellerbe, is a young single man, highly respectable, a good farmer and business man, and prom- ises to be a first class man every way-nothing to hinder it. Herbert Ellerbe, the fourth and youngest son, about twenty- five years of age, unmarried, was unfortunately killed on the railroad, on the 3d or 4th of August, 1899. Of the daughters of Captain W. S. Ellerbe, the oldest, Mary, married Dr. Ellerbe, of Cheraw; by him she had two sons, W. M. Ellerbe and Thomas, and a daughter, Estelle, when he died suddenly, while his children were yet small; the widow has raised and educated them, who are all now grown; her sons are promising young men, and the daughter a charming young lady, all unmarried. Another daughter (don't know the names of some of them nor the order in which they come,) married her cousin, James H. Manning, and has a large family, sons and daughters; Man- ning is a very prosperous farmer. Another married Charley Rogers, of Marlborough, in the Brownsville neighborhood, likewise a prosperous man; they have a family, how many is not known. Another married Stephen G. Miles, a good farmer, and is a merchant at Marion; they have a large family, sons and daughters-I think, mostly daughters. Another married Dr. S. A. C. Miles, who is dead; the widow has four children, all daughters. Another married her cousin, Willie Godbold, who is not wanting in push and energy ; they have some two or three children. Another married Hon. T. C. Moody, of Marion, and is dead, childless. Two daughters, Misses Omega
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and Eva, are yet unmarried. The Widow Ellerbe and her family, the Widow Miles and her family, together with their brother, Cash Ellerbe, and two single girls, all live together on their father's homestead. Richard P. Ellerbe, second son of old John C. Ellerbe, married Elizabeth Lamb, a very pretty woman and quite a belle in her day; they remained here for several years, and had several children; he did not succeed well; some years ago they went to Florida, where Mrs. Ellerbe died; what has become of Richard P. or his children is not known. Edward B. Ellerbe, the youngest son of old John C., inherited the old homestead of his father, where J. E. Ellerbe now resides, a very fine plantation; he married Miss Sarah Godbold, a daughter of old Asa Godbold; he did not succeed well; sold his place to his brother, William, and moved off, and finally went to Horry County, where he now resides; raised a large family, sons and daughters, about whom the writer knows but little. John C., his eldest son, is in Venezuela, South America, as the writer has been informed. Of the daughters of old John C. Ellerbe, Joanna, the oldest, married the late Gewood Berry; the results of which were five sons raised, viz : John H., William E., Edmund Burke, Ashton and Thomas Wickham Berry; of these, John H., Edmund Burke and Thomas Wickham are now among us, and are among our. best citizens, doing well and highly respected. Julia Ellerbe, second daughter of old John C. Ellerbe, married our respected fellow-citizen, Charles Haselden; by this marriage is three daughters; one married and dead; Anne and Mary both yet single; and six sons, James, C. Edgar, Samuel, Thomas, Alonzo and Guy. Of these, James and C. Edgar are married ; James married a daughter of the late F. C. Dew, lives in the "Slashes." C. Edgar married a Miss Dusenberry in Horry. Samuel has gone West. Thomas, a fine and much respected young man, suicided last winter at Clio, S. C .; no cause known. Alonzo is here, a very nice young man, unmarried. Guy, the youngest, is said to be in Florida. The youngest daughter of old John C. Ellerbe married Asa Godbold, Jr., and is now a widow; she has ten or twelve children. Of this family the writer has already hereinbefore spoken, and it is not necessary to be repeated or added to. The late Captain W.
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S. Ellerbe was a most excellent man and a capital manager of affairs ; he attended to his own business, and left his family in good condition ; his wife survived him but a short while.
FORE .- The Fore family will be next noticed. The first Fore known to the writer was Joel Fore; he was an exemplary man, and a good quiet man, unpretentious, and strictly honest- a man who seemed to measure every word, and practical in his management in every day life; he married a Miss Finklea, and raised a considerable family, sons and daughters. Five of his sons, Thomas, Daniel, Willis, Stephen and Alfred, were best known in the county .* Others of them, when young, went West, and one of them, named James, it was said, became very wealthy. Thomas, the eldest of the sons, was born in 1805; he lived to a great age-I think the age of eighty-eight. Tho- mas married a Miss Gasque, and settled on a little place on the northeast side of Catfish, at what is now called Ellerbe's cross- ing, and there, on about sixty-four acres of land, he raised a family of eight sons and three daughters, and did it respectably ; he purchased other lands after his children were practically raised; his sons were Elly, Thomas, Daniel, James, Tracy R., Willis and Edward M. Fore; his daughters were Elizabeth Ann, Rebecca Jane and Eugenia. Of his sons, Elly, Thomas and Daniel emigrated to Louisiana, young men. James Fore, a son, married, first, a Miss Kirvin, and by her had three daughters and a son, Thomas E. Fore; the latter is now living on the place where his grand-father settled. Of James Fore's daughters, they have already herein been noticed in the notice of the Tart family. His Kirvin wife dying, he married a daughter of the late Bryant Lane, named Henrietta ; by her he has some children, how many is not known ; they have removed to Columbus County, N. C. Tracy R. Fore married Miss Kate Watson, daughter of the late Matthew Watson, who has here- inbefore been noticed in the notice of the Watson family. Willis Fore married Miss Sallie Berry, daughter of the late Elihu Berry; they have five children, three sons and two daughters; the sons are Linwood, Tracy and Willis; the daughters are Janie and Rebecca. Willis Fore's family has
*John, Joel and James, three others, went West.
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already been noticed in the notice of the Berry family. Willis Fore was killed some years ago, by a fall in getting off of a moving train at Marion depot. Edward M. Fore married a daughter of Charles Haselden, named Maggie; they had four children, one daughter and three sons; he was murdered in the Slashes some years ago; his widow did not turn out well, and died; the daughter is married and in Columbia; the sons are scattered. Of the daughters of old man Thomas Fore, Elizabeth Ann, the oldest, married the late Colonel E. T. Stack- house; they are both dead ; raised a large family-sons, James, William and Walter F. Stackhouse; daughters, one the wife of James H. Berry, dead; left seven children ; another, the wife of Houston Manning; she and her husband both dead; left three children, two sons and a daughter, Austin and Maurice; the latter married Nellie Bethea, daughter of D. McL. Bethea. The daughter, named Eva, unmarried .* Another the wife of Neill Alford; they have several children. Another the wife of W. J. Montgomery, Esq., of the Marion bar; they have several children, mostly girls. Another the wife of T. C. Cov- ington ; they have several children. Of the sons, James Stack- house married a Miss McAlister; they have several children. One son, Laneau, married Mary Miles, the daughter of Dr. D. F. Miles, the efficient Clerk of the Court. There are other sons and daughters, how many and names unknown, except a son named Lacy. William Stackhouse, of Dillon, married a daughter of B. F. Davis ; they have some children, how many is not known. James Stackhouse is Senator-elect from Marion to the State Senate. W. F. Stackhouse, the youngest son of Colonel E. T. Stackhouse, lately married a Miss Waller, of Greenwood, S. C .; is a member of the Marion bar, and promises to attain to a place in the front. The second daughter of old man Thomas Fore, Rebecca Jane, married Dr. W. W. Hamil- ton, of Marion, a dental surgeon and farmer, and a first rate man ; they have only one child, a son, named Thomas, and now nearing manhood. The third and last daughter, Eugenia, never married; she died a few years ago. Daniel Fore, an- other son of old man Joel, was a tailor by trade-which in his day was a profitable business ; he made a suit for the writer in
*Miss Eva Manning, since writing the above, married Herbert Bethea.
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1843. He did not marry till somewhat late in life; he married, first, the Widow White, who was the daughter of old man Isaac Stackhouse, and sister of the late Colonel E. T. Stack- house; by her he had one child, a daughter, the wife of Rev. Maston Gasque; when she died, he married, a second time, a Miss McDuffie, sister of the late A. Q. McDuffie; by this marriage he had two sons, John A. Fore, now of Dillon, and one named Baker, who died a young man, and, I think, three daughters; one of them dead; another became the second wife of Douglas McIntyre, and has some children ; another daughter yet single-she and her mother live with Mr. McIntyre. Dan- iel Fore died some years ago, in a good old age; his son, John A. Fore, married a Miss Gibson, daughter of the late Albert Gibson, below Marion; they have five children, sons and daughters. Dr. Willis Fore, another son of old man Joel Fore, married Miss Telatha Berry ; she lived only a few years, and died childless; he lived a widower for several years, and died in 1864. Another son of old man Joel was Stephen, who married Miss Mary Berry, the oldest daughter of Cross Roads Henry Berry; his family has already been noted in the notice of the Berry family hereinbefore. Alfred Fore, the youngest son of old Joel, married Miss Martha Ann Mace, daughter of the late Moses Mace; they had some children, don't know how many; one son I knew, A. M. Fore, a promising and growing man ; he died a few years ago-left some family. Alfred Fore, the father, went into the Confederate army, and was killed or died. Of the daughters of old Joel Fore, there were two, Mary Ann and Elizabeth. Mary Ann married Samuel Campbell, and died, leaving one child. Elizabeth married Hugh Finklea, her cousin; he died, left her a widow, without any child; she again married, Bennett Jordan, below Marion; they had no child or children; she died some years ago. The Fores, as a family from old Joel down, had the peculiarity of being particular and exceedingly cautious in all they said or did, either in social or home life; honest, truthful and upright, straight in all their dealings with the world around them, eco- nomical, industrious and frugal-they came as near living to themselves and of themselves as any family within the writer's knowledge.
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