USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 27
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Old Miles McInnis was a harmless and inoffensive man; raised a considerable family, of whom nothing is now known. Don't know whether he was related to the "Carolina" McIn- nises or not; but Miles seems to be a family name; as John L. McInnis has a brother by that name, I infer that old Miles McInnis, of whom I am now writing, was of the same family- perhaps, a brother of old Duncan McInnis. Old man Miles McInnis has been dead many years; he was not a man of much energy, though full of native Scotch honesty.
STAFFORD .- The first Stafford in the county known to the writer was the late Malcolm Stafford; don't know anything of his parentage or whence he came; he was a Scotchman, a man of more than ordinary intelligence, better educated than most men of his day, a Christian gentleman, and a very useful man in his neighborhood; was much missed therein after his death, which, I think, occurred some time in the fifties. He married Miss Jeanette Campbell, daughter of old man Duncan Camp- bell, on north side of Little Pee Dee, in what is now called Car- michael Township; he settled on the south side of that river, near where Stafford's Bridge now stands ; he raised a consider- able family-three sons, James Harvey, Duncan C. and Neill E., and three daughters. Of the sons, not one of them ever married. James Harvey Stafford died a few months ago, I suppose, near seventy years of age; he was one of our best citizens, accumulated a large property, had a fine plantation, upon which he built a palatial residence, and had everything about him necessary for comfort and the enjoyment of life, except a wife and children. He had $5,000 stock in the Dillon factory ; a large stockholder also in the Bank of Dillon, and president of the same. He lost, some years ago, by the failure of the Bank of Hanover, in Wilmington, N. C., $3,000, and his maiden sister, Laura, lost therein $10,000; they were very prosperous. Captain James H. Stafford was no ordinary man. The following is from the pen of Captain A. T. Harllee, in reference to Captain Stafford: "He was a man of superior intel- ligence, and traveled much in his time. In 1856, he, with a number of other young men from the State, went to the then Territory of Kansas, and was engaged in what was called
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the pro-slavery war, in which old John Brown, afterwards hung at Harper's Ferry, Va., Jim Lane and other Abolition- ists were conspicuous figures. Matters becoming somewhat settled at the theatre of war, Captain Stafford betook himself away out on the frontier of the territory on the Big Blue River, 200 miles from the settlement, and pre-empted a claim of 160 acres of land; but the winters were too severe, and after remaining a year, he returned to his home in South Carolina. At the breaking out of the war he raised a company with John W. Harllee as First Lieutenant, Duncan Murphy, Second Lieu- tenant, and William Manning as Brevet Second Lieutenant. The two latter were killed in Virginia, and Lieutenant Harllee was permanently disabled for field service by a wound in the knee. His company saw much service in Virginia in Jenkins' famous brigade. Since the war he lived most of his time on his old home place; but having purchased and built a fine residence on his plantation on the North Carolina State line, at 'Lone Home,' he resided there till his death, a few weeks ago, his sister, Laura, living with him." He was postmaster at "Lone Home." Captain J. H. Stafford was an extensive farmer, and succeeded well in his vocation. He was elected, without seeking it, a County Commissioner in 1880, served very acceptably one term, and never after sought any office. Duncan C. Stafford, the second son, was killed in the trenches by a sharpshooter, in 1863; he was Second Lieutenant in Captain A. T. Harllee's company of the 8th Regiment. He was an excellent young man, of fine character and very prom- ising. Neill E. Stafford, the youngest son, lives at the old homestead, near Dillon; he is a graduate of Davidson College, is a well informed man, went into the war at fifteen years of age and was a gallant soldier; has never married, lives a bachelor's life. Of the daughters of Malcolm Stafford, the eldest, Delitha, married the late William R. Stackhouse, near Dillon; by this marriage, three daughters and one son were born. The eldest daughter is yet unmarried. Another daugh- ter, Fannie, married Stonewall Watson ; she has five children, three daughters and two sons. Another daughter married H. B. Floyd, near Campbell's Bridge; they have a young family. The son, Duncan Stackhouse, married a Miss Williams,
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daughter of J. B. Williams, of Nichols, S. C. Evaline Staf- ford, daughter of old Malcolm Stafford, married D. J. Mckay ; by this marriage, six daughters were born and raised; four of these daughters married, one of whom is dead; don't know to whom these daughters married. The two youngest daughters of D. J. McKay and wife are single, and live with their parents. Miss Laura Stafford, another daughter of Malcolm Stafford, has never married; she lived with her brother, James H., until his death, a few weeks ago, and still resides there, in a state of single blessedness. Old man Malcolm Stafford was a sur- veyor, and did much in that line. The writer has seen many of his plats, which were characterized by accuracy and neat- ness; has also seen wills and deeds drawn by him; in these respects he was a very useful man.
BLUE .- William Blue, first of the name in upper Marion, on north side of Little Pee Dee and Shoe Heel Creek; he was the original grantee of the lands on which he and his descendants have ever since lived. William Blue had only two sons, Alex- ander and Daniel, and several daughters. Daniel Blue married a Miss McArthur, and raised a large family, all girls but one, William Blue, who was killed in battle in Virginia, in Captain J. H. Stafford's company of Ist Regiment South Carolina, Ha- good's Brigade, early in the war. Of the daughters of Daniel Blue, Mary married Duncan N. McCall, who was a gallant sol- dier of the Confederacy, and now resides on part of the Daniel Blue homestead, and has two children, both girls-one of whom is the wife of Albert M. Baker, a live and progressive farmer of that section of the county. Another daughter, Sarah, mar- ried Milton McPhaul, of North Carolina; he and his wife are both dead; their children have moved to Georgia. The young- est daughter, Nancy, married a Mr. Miran, of North Carolina; he died soon after their marriage, and she lives on the old homestead, with her three sisters, Martha Ann, Flora and Catharine-all of them now well advanced in years. Alex- ander Blue, the younger of the two brothers, was one of the staunchest citizens of the county; he was from early manhood to his death one of the ruling elders in Ashpole Presbyterian Church, just across the State line from where he lived, and
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he rarely ever missed a service at that church; he was beloved and respected by all who knew him. He married Ann Alford, a daughter of Major Sion Alford, a prominent citizen of Robeson County, N. C., when a young man ; two children were the issue of the marriage, daughters. The eldest, Mary Ann, just after the war, married Captain A. C. Sinclair, who was the surviving commander of Fairlee's old company of Orr's Rifles, and they now reside on the Alexander Blue homestead, and have a family of five grown up children. The youngest daughter, Bettie, married Nathaniel McNair, of North Caro- lina, who died in 1894, leaving her with one child, a daughter, married to Edwin Smith, a lawyer of Red Springs, N. C., where he, his wife and Mrs. McNair now reside. One of the daughters of old William Blue and a sister of Daniel and Alexander Blue, married Daniel McDuffie; by this marriage only one child was born, a son, named William McDuffie, who was a very promising young man; he graduated at Davidson College with distinction, and died soon after graduation, in 1860. Many in the Hofwyl Academy neighborhood will re- member William McDuffie, as a teacher in that academy for two or more sessions, about 1855 or 1856-may be 1854. He was a close student, bent on education-his close application to study may have shortened his days. The writer's older child- ren went to school to him at Hofwyl. Another daughter of old William Blue married a Mr. Campbell, and had one daughter, but she, too, died young. His other daughters never married, but lived to be very old ladies; all are now dead. The name of Blue, so far as this family is concerned, is already or about to become extinct in the county.
BAKER .- The Baker family, in North Marion, will next be noticed. Squire Neill Baker, the first known in that section, was a sturdy Scotchman and an excellent citizen of the north- ern section of the county; he married Polly McArthur, and left many descendants in his section. One of his grand-sons, A. M. Baker, hereinbefore mentioned as a prosperous and progressive man, owns the old homestead. One of his sons, Edmund Baker, married a Miss McGist ; he died without issue. Another son, James Baker, married a Miss Bracy, and moved
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to North Carolina, where he died, and left a family of several children. An older son, John D. Baker, married Miss Lovedy McPriest, and died, leaving her with two sons-Albert M. Baker, above spoken of, and Neill A. Baker. The widow, Lovedy Baker, lives with her son, Neill A. Baker, in Georgia. Old man Neill Baker had but two daughters. The oldest mar- ried William McKay, of North Carolina, and moved to Missis- sippi, where his wife died. The other daughter, Jeannette, married, just at the close of the war, Captain Gilbert W. Mckay, who was at one time Captain of Fairlee's old com- pany, and who may be remembered by many who now live in the town of Marion, as he lived there when he went into the war. Both are now dead, leaving two children surviv- ing-John W. Mckay, who lives at McCall, S. C., and Mary, who married John Millsaps, and moved to Georgia, where they now reside.
McPRIEST .- Alexander McPriest, a good citizen and staunch old Scotchman, lived in the same section of the county ; he mar- ried a Miss Mckellar, raised a large family of children, all girls, but one, named Peter E. McPriest, who served through the war, but is now dead. One daughter married John D. Baker, as already mentioned. Another married William Braddy Lester, who also served through the war in Orr's Rifles ; he and his wife are both living. Two other daughters, Katie and Mary Ann, never married, and are living on their portion of their father's old homestead.
MCKELLAR .- Peter Mckellar was among the first settlers of this section of the county. He raised a large family; some of whom moved away, but many of their descendants still remain and own portions of the old Mckellar lands." A. Mckellar Trawick and his brother, William, grand-sons of Archie Mckellar and great-great-grand-sons of the original Peter Mckellar, now own one of the finest plantations in Carmichael Township, adjoining the plantations of Captain A. C. Sinclair, Captain A. T. Harllee and R. P. Hamer, Jr., the latter owning a portion of the Mckellar lands, and Captain D. J. McKay another portion of the same. Archie Mckellar, a grand-son
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of old Peter, married a Miss McCormick, of North Carolina, and raised a large family of daughters, and two sons, Peter and John, both of whom were killed in battle in Virginia early in the war. All the daughters died single, but one, Elmyra, who married David Trawick, who was also killed, leaving her with the two sons above mentioned, "Mack" and William, with whom she lives; neither of them are married. Captain D. J. Mckay, as noted above, lives on the John McKellar homestead, near "Lone Home," in this section; he has been and still is one of the most progressive of the many progressive farmers of his section of the county; by industry and perseverance he has amassed a comfortable living, and is one of the substantial and wealthy farmers of the county. He volunteered in the com- mencement of the war, and was First Lieutenant of Co. D, 25th S. C. Regiment, McKerrall's old company, and served to the close of the war; he was severely wounded and still suffers at times from his old wounds.
McKAY .- Daniel Mckay, the grand-father of Captain D. J. Mckay, came to this county direct from Scotland, at what time is not known; he had and raised two sons, John and Archie. John McKay married Katie Alford, a daughter of Major Sion Alford, of North Carolina, by whom he had and raised three sons, Captain G. W. Mckay, Alford Mckay, who died just as he attained manhood, and D. J. Mckay, and three daughters, Flora Ann, Bettie and Clarkey. Of the sons, G. W. McKay married a Miss Baker, as already related, and he and wife are both dead, as herein stated. Captain D. J. Mckay, just after the close of the war, married Miss Evaline Stafford, daughter. of Malcolm Stafford, as herein already stated in or among the Stafford family. D. J. Mckay is an Elder in the Ashpole Presbyterian Church, a regular attendant; he has, from early manhood, been an enthusiastic Mason, and has sev- eral times been Master of the lodges of which he was a member. Of the daughters of John McKay, Flora Ann, the eldest, mar- ried Colonel John A. Rowland, of Lumberton, N. C., whose eldest son, Hon. Alfred Rowland, was a Representative in Congress for two terms, from the Sixth Congressional District of North Carolina, and declined a re-election on account of his
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health, and died soon after the expiration of his term. Bettie McKay, daughter of John McKay, married Dr. John K. Al- ford, of North Carolina, and had one son; and after the death of her husband, moved with her son to Texas, where she died; her son is now a prominent lawyer of the "Lone Star State." Clarkey, the youngest danghter, married Henry Alford, of Sel- kirk, S. C., a son of the late Neill Alford ; they moved to North Carolina, where they raised a family, two sons and three daugh- ters ; the sons are successful business men at Maxton, N. C., and Henry Alford's wife has been dead several years, which leaves Captain D. J. Mckay the only survivor of John McKay's children. Archie McKay, brother of John, married a daugh- ter of John Drake, of Robeson County, N. C. Archie Mckay was the father of the late Hector T. Mckay, who married a sister of Hon. James McRae, as his first wife; and James McRae, for his first wife, married a sister of Hector T. Mckay ; another sister of H. T. Mckay married R. B. Braddy, who died, leaving one child, a daughter, who married a Mr, Morrison, of North Carolina. Hector T. Mckay married, as a second wife, the widow of Dr. Mckinnon. John J. Mckay and his sister, Janie (don't know whether by the first or second marriage), are the only surviving children of Hector T. Mc- Kay, and live on his old homestead. Hector T. Mckay was one of the first men of the county; well informed, of good habits, industrious and frugal, kind-hearted and liberal minded, thought for himself, and allowed the same privilege to others ; he was a man of well-rounded character every way; never aspired to political preferment, was elected and served one term as County Commissioner without seeking it; he was an exemplary citizen. Would like to dwell more on his many good qualities, but space will not permit.
MCCORMICK .- The McCormick family and history of Little Rock will next be noticed, and is from the pen of Captain A. T. Harllee: "John McCormick, better known to every one in his day as 'Little Mack,' was another old settler of the upper sec- tion of the township, on Shoe Heel Creek and the North Caro- lina State line, and lived in the immediate section of the Blues, Bakers, Mckellars and McArthurs ; he was a jolly old Scotch-
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man and everybody admired him; he married a daughter of Duncan McEachern, on Wilkinson Swamp, in North Carolina, and raised a family of five sons, but no daughters. His two eldest sons, Neill and Allen, married in Anson County, N. C., and moved there and have lived there ever since, raising large families. His sons, Malcolm and Archie, died when young men. Duncan E. McCormick was the youngest of his sons ; he married and lived all his life in Marion County; he was well known all over the county, having held the office of Tax Col- lector and various other stations of a public character; he was a good business man, and started out in life as a clerk in the store of Colonel Thomas Harllee, at old Harlleesville, which is now Little Rock; he afterwards taught school, and was one of the pioneers in business at what is now called Little Rock. The business of all that section before was done at the bridge, near where R. P. Hamer, Sr., now lives, and the postoffice was Harlleesville, and had been since the days of Thomas Harllee, Sr., who was the original owner of most of the lands around there for several miles. Duncan E., with Tristram B. Walters, bought some lots from Enoch J. Meekins, not far from the church and school house, which had been given the public by Thomas Harllee, Sr., for church and school pur- poses; and they built on the lands they bought dwellings, storehouse and a large hotel building, and thus launched the town of Little Rock, named it after a rock that protrudes above the ground some three or four feet, and weighs, perhaps, 500 pounds, and now stands in the fork of the roads, one leading to Mars Bluff and the other to Marion via Dillon. They went to work and got the postoffice removed there, and the name changed from Harlleesville to Little Rock. No opposition developing to the removal or change of names, as some parties who had procured a lot close at hand started a grog ship; and those who would have protested under other conditions and circumstances, were glad of the change of name; the grog shop, however, was short-lived, and there has never been one there since. It must not be inferred that Duncan E. was favorable to or a promoter of the grog-shop, for he was not, and was and always remained until his death a strictly temper- ate and moral man. Little Rock boomed for a while. At one
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time there were eight or ten stores in full blast and a large amount of business was done there. J. W. Dillon commenced business at that point and accumulated much of his large for- tune there ; he remained there until the railroad was projected and the town of Dillon established, and he removed all his business to that point. Duncan E. McCormick first married Martha Beckwith, and raised a family of three sons and two daughters. Mary, the eldest, married John McGirt, of Robe- son County, N. C .; they have a large family of sons and daughters. Flora married John C. Hargrove, son of Asa Hargrove; he first moved to North Carolina, and then to Mis- sissippi, where they now live, and have several sons and daugh- ters, all grown. Duncan E. had three sons, John, Philip and General (nick-name), all of whom were gallant soldiers of the Confederacy, and after the war all of them removed to Texas, where they are good citizens. Duncan E. McCormick's second marriage was to Harriet Walters, the widow of William Walters ; she was the daughter of one Ridgell, and in her marriage with William Walters had two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter, Bettie, married Daniel W. Alford, and they live at Dillon, S. C., and have two daughters and one son. The youngest daughter, Willie (Walters), married R. A. Brunson, after the war, and had two daughters and one son ; she is now dead. Augustus J. Walters, the son, married Sallie, the daughter of Alfred Edino; they now live at For- reston, Clarendon County, S. C., and have two sons and one daughter, all grown-the latter married. In his second mar- riage, Duncan E. had one son and three daughters. The son, A. P. McCormick, was a brilliant young man, was a lawyer and died soon after his admission to the bar. His eldest daughter (by the second marriage), Georgianna, married Duncan McLaurin, one of Dillon's most prominent and progressive citizens ; he was the first settler in the new town, was its first Postmaster, and on the organization of the town was its first Mayor or Intendant; he owns three fine plantations ; one near the town of Dillon, one on the east side of Little Pee Dee, in Carmichael Township, and one above Little Rock, which in- cludes the old William Walters homestead; he is a large stock- holder in the Dillon Tobacco Warehouse, in the Dillon Bank,
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oil mill and the new cotton factory ; he has three children, two sons and one daughter, all of whom are living with him. The other two daughters of Duncan E. McCormick, Ada and Ellen, the youngest children, and were twins. Ellen died when about grown. Ada married W. Boone White, and they live in For- reston, in Clarendon County, S. C. "Little Mack McCor- mick," so-called, I suppose, to distinguish him from some other larger John McCormick, was a capital man and of unique character ; he loved whiskey and sometimes drank too much, perfectly harmless when drinking, and at such times was very religious, and talked religion a great deal. On one occasion, in the fall of 1839, the writer chanced to spend the night together with "Little Mack" and his wife at old man Gilbert McEachern's on Hayes Swamp. "Little Mack" married the sister of old Gilbert, who at the time had a lot of hard cider on hand. It was on Saturday night. During the afternoon and evening the cider was passed around pretty frequently, and "Little Mack" got pretty tight. The writer in those days did not drink cider or anything stronger-besides, I went there to see Miss Margaret Ann, a daughter of old man Gilbert, and a nice girl she was, too hence I did not join in the cider drink- ing. At a late hour we all retired. Before day the next morning (Sunday), I was awaked by "Little Mack," who slept in a room adjacent to mine, singing aloud so as to be heard through the whole house, the following familiar lines :
"Sweet is the day of sacred rest, No mortal care shall seize my breast; O may my heart in tune be found Like David's harp of solemn sound," &c.
He did not stop at singing one verse, but kept on until the whole hymn was sung, and aroused the whole house-to which he gave a lecture on Sabbath observance. Another instance of his religious zeal when "in his cups" is related as follows : Away back in the thirties, there was a circuit preacher on this circuit by the name of Mahoney. At one of his revival meet- ings or a camp meeting, which were very common in that day, "Little Mack" professed religion. Some years afterward, Mahoney paid a visit to his people about Harlleesville, and had an appointment to preach at Liberty Chapel, as it was then
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called. Mahoney was very popular when he was on the circuit, and consequently a great many went to hear and to see him, and among them was "Little Mack"-he went pretty tight. On meeting Mahoney, he grabbed his hand and said, "O, Brother Mahoney; I am so glad to see you. I never will forget you, for you were the one that converted my soul." To which Mahoney replied, "It looks like some of my bung- ling work; if God had converted your soul, you would not have been here to-day drunk." Notwithstanding this stinging reply of Mahoney, "Little Mack" was not nonplussed in the least, but insisted that his conversion was genuine, and Brother Mahoney was the instrument. There were worse men than "Little Mack," if he did drink; he has been dead fifty years or more-requiescat in pace.
Another family of McCormicks will next be noticed. Neill McCormick, known as Squire Neill, was the elder brother of "Little Mack," and lived in the fork of Hays and Persimmon Swamps, adjoining the Mckellars and the McArthurs ; his old homestead is now owned by D. J. Mckay; he married Katie McDonald, a direct descendant of Flora McDonald, of Revo- lutionary fame, and her grand-daughter, Bettie McCormick, married another descendant of the same heroine, Hugh A. McDonald, who now lives at Dillon, S. C. Squire Neill had eight sons and one daughter. His elder sons, Daniel, Joe and John, went West-the first to Mississippi, the two latter to Texas, where they all married and raised families. Randall and Wylie died soon after reaching manhood, and the three others, James, Thomas and Frank, were all killed in battle in Virginia. James and Thomas were in Fairlee's old company, Orr's Rifles; Frank was in Captain Stafford's company. Thomas and Frank were both killed in the second battle of Ma- nassas, at about the same time, and James was killed at Gaines' Mill. The latter married Drusilla McCormick, of North Carolina, and left a family of two sons and four daughters. The eldest, Warren Alford McCormick, married a Miss Wise, and moved to Marlborough, where they now live. The other married Virgie Legette, the great-grand-daughter of old James McArthur, and lives on his old home place. One of the daughters, Flora Amanda, married T. R. Mclellan, who is
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