USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 22
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left for Georgia; it was said that at the time of their marriage their joint weight, avoirdupois, was over 500 pounds. The third son of Captain J. W. Bass, Robert A., is a physician; married his first cousin, a daughter of Robert Moody, of Rich- mond, Va .; resides at Latta, and has two or three children; George F. and Lucius Bass, sons of Captain J. W. Bass, have gone from the county, and can say nothing about them. T. Leon Bass married Miss Beulah McColl ;* has only one child, a son, resides at Dillon, is a dispenser of liquor, under the law, and is also merchandising ; he is apparently doing well; sober and a very pleasant gentleman and highly respectable, except so far as the odium which attaches to liquor sellers affects him.
HAMER .- The next family to be noticed is the Hamer family. So far as Marion County is concerned, the Hamer family is an importation from Marlborough County. The late Robert C. Hamer, son of John Hamer and wife, Mary (Polly), of Marl- borough, married, in 1830, Mary (Polly) Bethea, daughter of Tristram Bethea, in this (Marion) County, and settled on the road leading from Harlleesville to Rockingham, about five miles above Harlleesville, where he resided till his death, Feb- ruary, 1878 or 1879; by the marriage he raised three children to be grown; Elizabeth Ann, John H. and Robert P. Hamer; he had another son, named Tristram, who when about grown sickened and died; his wife died when Robert P. was quite a child; the father never married again, but remained a widower until his death; a maiden sister of his kept house for him, and looked after his children. His daughter, Elizabeth Ann (Betsey Ann, as she was called,) married a Mr. Thompson, of Robeson County, N. C .- think his name was John ; he died and left his widow with three children, one daughter and two sons. The daughter (Mollie, I believe,) married her cousin, L. D. Hamer, of Marlborough ; of the two sons, John C. Thompson married a Miss Smith, of Alabama; the other son, Tristram Thompson, married Miss Flora Bethea-daughter of Dr. J. F. Bethea; by this marriage two sons were born, Frank and Tristram; their father died six or eight years ago, with measles, or rather a relapse of that disease; his widow moved to Dillon,
*She is now dead.
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and she died suddenly some two years ago, leaving her two boys surviving ; their grand-father, Dr. J. F. Bethea, took them to his home, where they now are. The widow, Elizabeth A. Thompson, married Lemuel Thompson, a cousin of her first husband; by this, her second marriage, she had and raised three children, two daughters, Mary and Charlotte (Lottie), and one son, Robert. Mary is the wife of Adolphus Stackhouse, now a resident citizen of Sumter County. Charlotte married Dr. P. N. Timmerman, of Edgefield or Bamberg County, but now a resident citizen of Marion County. Lemuel Thompson, a most worthy man and quiet, unpretending citizen, died about a year ago, leaving "Betsey Ann" a widow for a second time. Her son, Robert Thompson, married a Miss Woodley, of Marlborough, and is among our best and most progressive citi- zens, a young man of promise. John H. Hamer, the oldest son of old Robert C., married, first, Miss Missouri Bethea, daughter of the late William S. Bethea; she died in a year or two, leaving an infant son, Missouri Robert, now one of our best citizens, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, and who married a Miss Townsend, of Robeson; they have only one child, a son, named John David, for his two grand- fathers, John H. Hamer and David Townsend. After the death of his first wife, John H. Hamer married Miss Alice Richardson, daughter of the late Wm. F. Richardson, below Marion; by this marriage he had five children, three sons and two daughters ; the sons are Edward R., Tristram and John H .; the daughters are Mary and Orianna. Of the sons, Edward R. married Miss Julia Berry, daughter of James Berry; they have several children. Tristram Hamer is a physician, and left the county a few years ago, a single man, and went to Texas, where he still is, as it is said. John H., Jr., is a young man, and still resides with his father. His daughter, Mary, married Neill Berry, one of our progressive citizens, and has three children. Orianna Hamer is the second wife of Law- rence Manning; they have no children. After the death of his Richardson wife, John H. Hamer married the Widow Fan- nie Lyles, of Anson County, N. C .; she was originally a Fladger, of Marion, a daughter of the late Captain C. J. Fladger. Robert P. Hamer, the youngest son of old Robert
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C. Hamer, lives at old Harlleesville, now called Little Rock ; he married a Miss McCall, of West Marion, a daughter of old William McCall. Robert P. has raised a large family of ten or twelve children, sons and daughters ; think he has lost a son and a daughter, both grown or about so. His older sons : Robert P. Hamer married a Miss McCollum, daughter of the late Brown McCollum, and lives at Hamer, on the "Short-cut" Railroad, and is one of the most thorough-going, progressive men of the county ; though a young man, is already a rich man for our section of the country ; he has some four or five child- ren. James Hamer, another son of Robert P., married a Miss Breeden, of Marlborough ; don't know whether they have any offspring or not. Brooks Hamer, another son of Robert P., married a Miss Bennett, daughter of John Bennett, in upper Marion; don't know whether they have any children or not. William M. Hamer, another son of Robert P., yet single, is quite prominent in business circles, is reputed to have made money, and very clear-headed in business-a promising young man. A daughter of R. P. Hamer married T. B. Stackhouse, of Dillon, Cashier of the Bank of Dillon; also has a good farm near by; well qualified for business, a first class business man every way, and stands fair with all who know him; he has one child, a daughter. Robert P. Hamer has other sons and several daughters, unmarried, some grown. Old Robert C. Hamer was a very successful man in life ; he accumulated a large prop- erty, and left his children in good condition for the battle of life, so far as means are concerned. In his numerous dealings with men he was always prompt and strictly honest, acting "on the plumb and parting on the square;" he was frugal and eco- nomical, and made his money by gradual accretions ; liberal in his views of life and with his means to every commendable project for the good of his community and advancement of his people. Much more might be said of him, but space will not permit. It is not in good taste to speak of the virtues and good traits of the living, remembering the old adage, "Never speak of one's virtues to his face, nor of his faults behind his back;" but as to this family I will venture one remark: wherever you find a Hamer, phrenologically speaking, you will find the bump denoting acquisitiveness fully developed, strong
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and prominent; and when it is mixed with old William Mc- Call's family, it adds to its development and strength. Another branch of the Hamer family, imported from Marlborough, is a Widow Hamer and sons, John B. Hamer, Charles Hamer and Jesse Hamer, with a deaf-mute sister, in Kirby Township. John B. Hamer was first .imported and married a daughter of Captain Stephen F. Berry; by her he has several children ; he lives in Bethea Township. Charles Hamer recently mar- ried a daughter of Wilson Berry. Jesse and the mute sister live with their mother. This branch of the family are collater- ally related to those in Harlleesville community; they all came from the same common stock, old man John Hamer, of Marl- borough, whose wife was a daughter of old Thomas Cochrane, and sister to the writer's mother-in-law, Rachel Bethea. This branch of the Hamer family seems not to have succeeded in life so well as the Harlleesville branch, yet they have many of the same characteristics.
MCKENZIE .- Another family will here be noticed-the Mckenzie family. The first known was old Robert McKen- zie; he settled and lived there till he died, near where Dothan Church now stands; don't know who his wife was; he raised a family, some of whom the writer knows nothing of. He had a son named John and one named Asa; he had a daughter named Dilla and one, his youngest child, named Mary (Polly) ; may have had others, perhaps did have. Old "Bobby," as he was familiarly called, was one of the principal founders of Dothan Church, where first located, and also where it now stands. It was first located on the road from Harlleesville to Mars Bluff, opposite the dwelling of John C. Bethea, and for several years in the first of the nineteenth century camp meet- ings were held there; the camp ground was above the road leading to Harlleesville, between the cross of the roads and Little Reedy Creek; it was called Bethea Camp Ground; camp meetings were held there as late as 1808 and 1809. The grand-father and father of the writer was there at a camp meeting in August, 1808 or 1809. This the writer got from his father, Jordan Sellers. The circumstances as related were, that they were at camp meeting there and heard that Levin
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Sellers, a brother of my father, and traveling preacher of the Methodist Church, had died on Cypress Circuit, in the low country, and my grand-father proposed going down there after his dead son's horse, books, clothing, &c .; that old John Bethea, Robert Mckenzie and others dissuaded him, on ac- count of his age and the hot weather, from going, but to send his son, my father, which he did, and my father went accord- ingly, and got his brother's horse, saddle-bags, &c., and carried them home. This church building was not then called Dothan, was then called Bethea's Church. About 1830, most of the congregation moved to the place now and since called Dothan, and first built a log church. The writer was there at church in 1832, then a lad, and saw old "Bobby McKenzie;" he was a very pious man. Of his sons, John, called "Jackey," married Emery Jackson, a daughter of old Edward Jackson, the first of that name on Catfish. "Jackey" and Emery raised a con- siderable family, as remembered-Robert, James, Elisha and David J., and several daughters, names not remembered. Jackey died and left Emery a widow, with her children, and who died a very old lady, since the Confederate War. Robert, the oldest son, married a Miss Sallie Kenady, and raised a con- siderable family, mostly sons, John W., Eli, Allen, Frank and David, and two daughters, Sarah Ann, the name of the other not remembered. John W. Mckenzie married, first, a Miss Brigman, daughter of the late Thomas Brigman, who had several children, and died; he married, a second time, I don't know to whom. Eli Mckenzie married a Miss Spivey, daughter of Isaac Spivey; think she is dead, leaving several children. Allen McKenzie married another daughter of Isaac Spivey; she died, leaving several children, and he married again, a Miss Jackson, daughter of the late Reuben B. Jackson, who has one child. Frank Mckenzie married a Miss Spivey also. David Mckenzie married a Miss Allen, daughter of the late Joseph Allen, of Buck Swamp; he and his wife are both dead, leaving some children, don't know how many; the children are cared for by their uncle and guardian, Herod W. Allen. Of the daughters of Robert Mckenzie, the oldest, Sarah Ann, married Ervin M. Jackson; she had, perhaps, two children, a son, Thomas Jackson, who now lives in the Dillon
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community ; she died some years ago. The other daughter of Robert Mckenzie married Kenneth Hargrove; know nothing more of them. Robert Mckenzie and his wife, Sallie, both died some years ago; the sons are all industrious and progres- sive men, all successful farmers and good managers. Of old "Bobby McKenzie's" other son, Asa, the writer knows nothing ; of his daughters, Dilla, married Owen Jackson, a hard-work- ing, honest man ; he lived and died on the road from Dothan Church to Harlleesville, on the place now owned and occupied by Missouri Hamer; he raised a considerable family of daughters and one son, Ervin M. His oldest daughter, Eliza- beth, never married; two daughters married William T. Jack- son, and died childless; another one is the wife of Hugh P. Price, and has no children. I think there were other daugh- ters, not now remembered. His son, Ervin M., married Sarah Ann Mckenzie, as already stated. Old "Bobby Mc- Kenzie's" youngest daughter, Mary (Polly), married the late David Ellen, of grateful memory; the fruits of this marriage were Ritta, Zimri, Robert M., William B., Wesley, Elijah, Mary Jane and Martha Ann. Ritta married Isaac Price, who many years ago emigrated to Mississippi with his family, and died; I think his widow is still living, and it is said that she and her children are all doing well and are highly respected. Isaac Price (called Peter) was an older brother of Hugh P. Price, of Maple notoriety. Zimri M. Ellen married Miss Mar- garet Little, a sister of the late Rev. John R. Little; was an industrious, thriving man; he died in November, 1890, child- less ; his widow, a first-rate, good woman, still survives, and is doing well. Robert M. Ellen married Miss Mary Wilson, of Marlborough, sister of Rev. John B. Wilson, a Presiding Elder now in the South Carolina Conference; Robert M. died some twenty years ago, leaving two or three children; his widow went back to Marlborough; married again-don't know to whom, or what has become of her or her children. Wesley and Elijah Ellen both went into the war, young single men, and both were killed or died. William B. Ellen married Miss Amanda Bethea, daughter of George J. Bethea; he owns the old Ellen homestead at Dothan; has raised a family of five children, three sons and two daughters; he is a hard-working,
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well-to-do man, and a good citizen in every way; don't know the names of his children, except the oldest son, James ; he is married, don't know to whom; he is depot agent and telegraph operator somewhere-I think, on the Central Road, in Claren- don County. Mary Jane did not marry ; Martha Ann married William Bundy, of Marlborough; have lost sight of her and Mary Jane-they are somewhere in Marlborough County, near Red Bluff. Mary (Polly) Ellen, first wife of David Ellen, was no ordinary woman for business ; she died 14th November, 1854. Old man David married again, 17th September, 1857, the Widow Charles Munship; the fruit of the marriage was and is John H. Ellen, near Dothan, an excellent manager and successful farmer and a first-class citizen ; he married a Miss Moody, daughter of the late Richard Moody, of Buck Swamp; has three children, a son now in Wofford College.
MANNING .- Another family now to be noticed is the Man- ning family. The first known of them was old John Manning ; he came from Virginia ; married a sister of old Buck Swamp John Bethea, whether before or after his arrival in South Carolina, is not known-perhaps, before he came. Nothing is known of his family or progeny, except one son, whose name was John; who John, Jr., married is not known, but he mar- ried some lady and settled where his father lived, on Buck Swamp, where John D. Bethea now lives. It is now remem- bered that his wife was a Miss Lee, a name now almost extinct in the county. There yet remains James W. Lee and his son, Calvin Lee, fairly good citizens of the county. If there are others of the name in the county, the writer knows not of them. John Manning, Jr., raised a considerable family of sons and only one daughter, Lisha, who became the wife of the late William Roberts, and who has been somewhat noticed in or among the Roberts family. Of the several sons of John, Jr., none will be noticed here except Meely and Woodward, as the others, Ira, James and, I think, one named John, emigrated West. Meely married Miss Mary (Polly) Kinney, of Marl- borough, and settled, lived and died in that county. Woodward married a sister of Meely's wife, and first settled on Buck Swamp, but afterwards moved to Marlborough and lived there
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for years, and then moved back to Marion, and lived on his father's old homestead till he died, some years ago. Meely Manning raised a large family of sons and two daughters; the sons were Eli, Thomas J., William, James, John, Frank, Houston and Holland. These, though born and raised in Marlborough, many of them came back to Marion and became citizens of their mother county. The two daughters were Sarah Jane and Gerona. Eli, the oldest, married Miss Amanda Bethea, a daughter of Tristram Bethea, of Floral College; he settled and lived in Marion County, raised two sons, Thomas B. and Eli. Thomas was a doctor ; he practiced medicine some years at Little Rock ; he married a Miss Carnes, of Sumter; he emigrated Westward. Eli, a promising young man, went West. Eli Manning was an excellent man and citizen; he died some years ago; think his widow went West with her sons. Thomas J. Manning married Miss Anna Hasel- den, a daughter of the late Major James Haselden. Thomas J. Manning was killed by the deserters, whom he, with others, was hunting in Donahoe Bay, in the latter part of the war; he left his widow, Anna Manning, and five children, three daugh- ters and two sons, in good condition, so far as the means of life were concerned; the widow managed well, and raised her children quite respectably, and all are married and doing well. Her oldest daughter, Lettie, married Dr. J. H. David, now of Dillon, S. C., an excellent business man and very prosperous ; they have five or six children. The next daughter, Mollie, married E. Burke Berry, an excellent citizen and very prosper- ous man ; they have but one child, a son, who bears his father's name, E. Burke, Jr. The youngest daughter, Tommie, mar- ried Thomas Wickham Berry, and has four or five children, all daughters; he, too, is doing well and prospering. The eldest son, James H. Manning, a thorough-going business man and progressive farmer, married his cousin, a Miss Ellerbe, daughter of the late Captain W. S. Ellerbe; they have several children, unknown to the writer. The younger son, Lawrence Manning, one of our good citizens and reliable men, married, first, a Miss Malloy, of Chesterfield; she died childless, and he married, a second time, Miss Orianna Hamer, daughter of John H. Hamer ; they have no children. Mrs. Ann Manning
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yet survives, and stays with her son, Lawrence. William Manning married Miss Martha Jane Stackhouse, daughter of the late Wesley Stackhouse, about the beginning of the war, settled in Marion County ; he went into the war early, and was killed at second Manassas, 29th or 30th August, 1862; he left one child, a daughter, named Willie; her mother afterwards married her cousin, Milton Stackhouse, of Marlborough-or, rather, they went to Marlborough and still reside there; her daughter, Willie Manning, was well educated, and is now a professor or teacher in some high school or college; has not married; James Manning married a Miss Covington, and lived in Marion for years, and then went back to Marlborough; have lost sight of him and his family. Houston Manning married a daughter of Colonel E. T. Stackhouse, resided in Marion till his death, some years ago; he died in Baltimore under a surgical operation there and then performed on him; he was one of our best citizens; he left his widow, who has since died, and three children, two sons and a daughter. One of the sons, Maurice, recently married Miss Nellie Bethea, daughter of D. McL. Bethea. Austin, the older brother, is yet single; both are promising young men. The daughter, Miss Eva, is yet unmarried, and is a pretty girl. Holland Manning married, first, a Miss Gibson, of Richmond County, N. C., or of Marlborough County, S. C .; he settled and lived in upper Marion until after the death of his wife, by whom he had four or five children ; he then married Miss Clara Bethea, daughter of the late Colonel James R. Bethea; since that mar- riage he has resided on his second wife's place, still retaining his place in upper Marion; he has two children by his second marriage, both daughters; three or four of his first children are married-don't know to whom. Meely Manning's oldest daughter, Sarah Jane, married Captain D. W. Bethea; by this marriage, two sons, Le Roy and D. W. Bethea, Jr., bearing his father's name, were raised. Le Roy, the older one, resides in Marlborough, on his mother's patrimony; D. W., Jr., resides on his father's homestead, in Marion. Sarah Jane, the mother, died more than twenty years ago. Le Roy and D. W. Bethea, Jr., both have families ; are good citizens and promising young men. Their father, D. W. Bethea, Sr., married, a second
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time, a Miss Brunson, of Darlington ; no offspring as a result of the marriage; he died a year ago. Of the sons of Meely Manning remaining in Marlborough, are John, who became a Methodist preacher, and Frank Manning, who was a Captain in the war, and has two or three times represented his county in the Legislature. The youngest daughter, Gerona, married a Mr. McLean, has a large family, and resides in Marlborough. Meely Manning amassed a large property, died during the war, negroes were emancipated; his large landed estate was unencumbered ; he left his family in good condition. Wood- ward Manning left but two children, daughters, Rebecca and Sallie; he had a son, who lived to be grown, named Robert, but who died in early manhood, before the war. Rebecca, his oldest daughter, married, first, Frank Bethea, who died Janu- ary 2d, 1860, leaving one child, a son, who died soon after his father. The widow married, a second time, Simeon P. McCormac; by him she had three sons. Simeon went to the war and died of measles, and her three boys all died in one week with diphtheria; so far as children were concerned, she was where she started-childless. After the war some time, she married a third time, James McIntyre; by him she had an only son, who is now one of our fellow-citizens. Woodward Manning McIntyre, a large, fine-looking man; he married a Miss Atkinson, of North Carolina, and has one or two child- ren. Rebecca, his mother, still lives, and is an excellent woman. Sallie Manning married John D. Bethea; they live on the old Manning homestead ; they have four or five children, don't know whether sons or daughters. Woodward Manning died some years ago, and left his two daughters in comfortable condition ; he did not make property like his brother, Meely ; they were both harmless, inoffensive men and attended to their own business ; for years Woodward drank excessively, but quit entirely a few years before his death.
JONES .- The Jones family will next be noticed. The writer has some difficulty in ascertaining and assigning properly the remote ancestry of the Jones family in Marion County. To the writer three old Jones-John, Bryant and Thomas M. Jones-were known; but Bishop Gregg, in his history, goes
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further back than the writer's knowledge, and if Bishop Gregg is correct, the father of the three above named was John Jones, a brother of the noted Tory, Captain Joseph Jones, who led the Tory party to the killing of Colonel Kolb, in April, 1781. Time, the great leveler, together with the conduct of our people during the late war, has measurably put an end to the odious distinction between Whig and Tory of the Revolution, and properly so, too. The descendants of many of the Tories of the Revolutionary War are now among our best people, and of highest respectability ; and further, many of the soldiers in our late war, descendants of Tories, were as good soldiers as the Confederacy had. I need not specify, because it is generally known and well understood, and hence the term, Tory, as a derisive term, ought to be no longer named. Bishop Gregg says, on page 360: "Accordingly a company of about fifty Tories collected at the place now known as Tart's Mill, six miles above Marion Court House. The leader was Captain Joseph Jones, a native of that neighborhood, &c." This com- pany, led by Joseph Jones as Captain, went over to where Society Hill now stands, and killed Colonel Kolb, plundered and burned his house. In a note to page 361, Gregg says: "John Jones, a brother of the Tory Captain, was seen on the return of the party as they passed old John Bethea's, riding Colonel Kolb's horse and saddle, with a feather-bed tied before him." Bishop Gregg, on page 367, further says: "Captain Jones, the leader, which surprised Colonel Kolb, was a man of some note. He possessed a good property, and was ingenious to a remarkable degree. He is said to have made the first surveyor's compass ever used in Marion District. Notwith- standing his course during the Revolution, he continued to live on Catfish until about 1802, and then removed to Colleton District, where he died not very many years since." It is pre- sumed (in the absence of more definite information) that either Captain Joseph Jones, or his brother, John Jones, was the pro- genitor of these Jones on Catfish, or the family in question. Rather suppose it was John and not Joseph Jones. The killing of Colonel Kolb in the manner in which it was done, and the plundering of his premises, was most certainly a horrid crime, and a severe blow to the cause of independence in South
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