USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 44
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whom are married. Cora married a Lane, and has two chil- dren (small). John married Miss Sue Lane, and has two children (small). Lide is single. E. J. Coleman married, a second time, Miss Jane Flowers; they have seven children (small), in Columbia. Anna Maria married Hugh Brown, and had nine children, all dead but two (small). Jacob Coleman, the third son of Griffin, Sr., married Miss Caroline Tart, a daughter of old Mrs. Fama Tart; they had many children, mostly daughters ; had two sons, Griffin and Enos. Enos is in Marlborough County, and Griffin is, or was, in Texas when last heard of. The family has scattered, and has been lost sight of. James Coleman, the fourth and youngest son of Griffin, Sr., married Miss Leah Baxly ; they had three sons and four daugh- ters ; the sons are Williamson, Jessee and Griffin. Williamson died, leaving no issue. Jessee married Laura Godbold, daugh- ter of Vincent Godbold; they have a family, number and sex unknown. Griffin married Miss Mary Smith, first, and had two sons and two daughters. One of the daughters married Willie Dozier and has three children (small). Griffin mar- ried, second time, Lizzie Bryant; they have seven children liv- ing, three sons and four daughters (small).
There is another family of Colemans in the county that may be here noticed-whether related to those above mentioned or not, is not known to the writer. Old John Coleman lived about four miles east of Marion; don't know who his wife was; he raised three sons, Moses, John and Edward. Of these, Moses married Miss Elizabeth Flowers, sister of Love Flowers, and by her had and raised two sons and five or six daughters; the sons were Sampson and Elly; the daughters' names unknown. Of the daughters, one married Stephen Attman, a very worthy man, on Sister Bay ; Attman is dead ; left two sons, Preston and Davis, who are married and have families. Another married Wilson Snipes and they had and raised several sons and daugh- ters, to wit: Addison, Willie, Wilson and others, who will be noticed-hereinafter. Another married Bethel Rogers, who has a large family, quite respectable. Another married Edward Rogers, who has a son, Coleman Rogers, and he married Sallie Ewart, and has a coming family. Another married William Martin, and had a considerable family-three sons, W. P. and
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Daniel Martin, enterprising citizens of Mullins, and another, Charles B., and daughter. One daughter married Joseph M. Price, nephew of the writer; they have five or six children. Sampson Coleman married a Miss Huggins, daughter of Rev. John (Jack) C. Huggins; had no offspring. Elly Coleman married a Miss White, and had one son, the late W. D. Cole- man, and Mrs. Chesley D. Jones. W. D. Coleman married a Miss White, niece of Colonel E. T. Stackhouse; they have three sons-J. T. Coleman, now a professor in the Citadel Academy, Charleston ; another, Edward, single, and another not grown, name not known. John and Edward Coleman, brothers of old Moses, never married. Moses Coleman was a local Methodist preacher, a man of high character, a useful man in his day, and a man in whom every one had unbounded confidence.
NORTON .- The first of this family came from England to New England, at a very remote period in the past, about the first of the seventeenth century; that his name was John; that he or one of his descendants, named John, afterwards came down to Virginia and settled near what is now Alexandria, Va. This Virginia John had five sons, all of whom were soldiers in the Revolutionary War; one of them, James, served in Wash- ington's guard as a Sergeant; another one of them was taken prisoner and died in a prison ship, in Charleston harbor, in 1780 or 1781. Their names were William, James, John, David and Solomon. After the Revolution, the old man and two of his sons, James and John, went to Kentucky; two others of them came to South Carolina-one, William, went to George- town, and the other went to Beaufort. William, the George- town one, went from Georgetown up into what was then called Kingston, now Horry, and took up large bodies of land. One grant that the writer has seen for 3,300 acres, below what is now called Green Sea, on the Iron Springs Swamp, just above its confluence with Lake Swamp. William Norton married a Widow Miller, maiden name not known, and she had at the time of their marriage four children-two sons, Nathaniel and Elias Miller, and two daughters, Rebecca and Martha. Na- thaniel Miller gave the land to and was one of the founders of the present Miller Church. The deed for it was made to
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Bishop Asbury, and is said to be now in the possession of Rev. Simeon Campbell. The two Millers lived and died near by, and are buried near where Valentine Martin lives. Of the two Miller sisters, one, Martha, married old Moses Wise, and the other, Rebecca, married old William Bryant. William Norton married the Widow Miller, as above stated, and had by her two sons, William and James, and three daughters, Ruth, Martha and Mary. William, Jr., married and settled where Green Sea, in Horry, now is, and was a prominent man down there, and built and was one of the chief founders of a Methodist church there, then called Norton's Cross Roads, and it was then known as Norton's Church. This was about the first of 1800. William Norton had two sons, John W. and James, and several daughters. One of the daughters, Ruth, married Benj. Sellers, who moved to Mississippi. John W. and James both joined the South Carolina Conference. John W. located, and his family are in Georgia. James was quite prominent as a preacher ; he died in 1825, and is buried in Columbia, Washing- ton Street Church. James Norton, the other brother, settled in Marion District, near his half-brothers, the two Millers, on Maiden Down. This James Norton was the grand-father of the present Hon. James Norton, of Mullins ; he had two daugh- ters, one of whom, Martha, married John Roberts; the other, Mary, married Gadi Campbell. James, Sr., had three sisters, Ruth, Martha and Mary. Ruth married Joel Lewis; Martha married Norton Roberts, grand-father of the late Colonel John Roberts ; and Mary married a Flood. James Norton, Sr., mar- ried, first, Jerusha Reaves, and had one son, William, and three daughters, Sarah, Nancy and Martha; his second wife was a Honeycut, and he had by her Mary, Solomon and John. Solo- mon married, had one son, named John, and died, and his widow married Jack Woods, who overseed for General Evans, back in the 40's or 50's, for several years. William Norton, son of James, Sr., married Anna Roland, of Camden; by her he had Jerusha, Sarah Ann, Mary, Nancy and Olive, daughters ; James and Henry, sons. Jerusha married Anthony Meares. Sarah Ann married William Bryant, of Horry. Mary married Evans Bryant. Nancy married Leonard Cribb. Olive mar- ried Lewis Huggins. James married a Miss Moody, went to
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Alabama and died. Henry married Nancy Carmichael, daugh- ter of Squire Dougald Carmichael, on Maiden Down and Buck Swamp; they had Catharine, Colin Murchison, Milton, Vir- ginia and Sarah. Catharine married S. G. Porter. Colin Murchison went to Mississippi. Melton married Miss Relda Proctor, and has a family-a son grown, Lonney, and a daugh- ter grown, Bessie, and other children. Virginia married R. J. Rogers, and has a large family-a son, Henry, grown, and a daughter, Mary, grown, and other children. Sarah married M. M. Bird; they have a family of children, two grown, Claudius and Mary. John Norton married twice ; first, Nancy Huggins, daughter of Willis Huggins; by this marriage he had John W., Mary Elizabeth and Caroline; he married, second time, the widow of Angus Carmichael, whose maiden name was Pensy Lewis; by this marriage he had Evan, James, Eliza, Martha and Margaret. His son, John W., married, first, Susannah Carmichael daughter of his second wife, Pensy, by her first husband, Angus Carmichael; his wife died, leaving one child, a daughter, named Ires, who, when seven or eight years of age, was killed in a cotton gin; John W. Norton married, a second time, the Widow Carmichael, nee Jordan; by this marriage he had only one child, a daughter, Minnie, who died when about grown-her mother having died before she did; John W. married, a third wife, Sarah Ivey, and by her he had four children, two sons and two daughters (small) ; he is now seventy years of age or more; he was always a modest and retiring sort of man. Away back in the 50's, he went to Mississippi and enlisted in the regular army of the United States, Second United States Cavalry Regiment, of which Algernon Sydney Johnson was Colonel; Robert E. Lee, Lieu- tenant Colonel; E. Kirby Smith, Major, and Earle Van Dorn, Senior Captain. J. W. Norton was in Van Dorn's company, and was promoted to the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant. All these officers became, in the Confederate army, distinguished and highly distinguished Generals. J. W. Norton served five years in this regiment, and at the end of his service he was given a three months furlough to visit his home; at the end of which he went to his regiment, with a view to re-enlist ; but just at this time Secession occurred; his Second Regiment of Cav-
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alry was broken up-its officers being all Southern men-and he came back to South Carolina, volunteered in Captain W. P. Shooter's company, went to Virginia, and remained in the Con- federate Army till its surrender at the end of the war. He was wounded twice in battles with the Indians while in the United States service, and again slightly while in the Confed- erate service. He did not marry till late in life, and after the Confederate War; since which he has married three times, as above stated. With the prestige of this five years' previous service with and under officers so distinguished, he might have gotten some soft place in the Confederate service, but for his modesty and unpretentious disposition. Mary Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of John Norton, married Aaron Oliver, of Robeson County, N. C., where she ever afterwards lived and died; she raised quite a large family in that State. Caroline, the second daughter of John Norton, married Lewis Huggins, and raised a large family; they emigrated to Georgia a few years ago, and are there now. Of the children of John Norton by his second marriage, Eliza, the eldest daughter, married Gilbert D. Johnson, a nephew of the late Hugh R. Johnson ; they live near the old Norton homestead, and have no children. The third and youngest daughter, Margaret, married Valentine Martin; they have had twelve children-lost two; six are grown, Don, Lilly, Pensy, Maggie, Kate and May; and of this six, Pensy married Hampton Rogers, two or three days ago; the other five are not grown. Mattie, the second daughter of old John Norton, married D. Latta Townsend, of North Caro- lina ; they have a large family, some of them grown ; they emi- grated to Georgia some years ago, and are now in that State. Of the sons of old man John Norton by his second marriage, Evan, the eldest, after the war, married Miss Ella Powell, moved to Conway, and is yet there; he has five children-three sons and two daughters; the sons are J. O., James and John Clarence ; the daughters are Ella Wood (called Daisey) and Mabel. Of the sons, J. O. (called Van) is a graduate of Wof- ford College, in the class of 1895; he is unmarried, and is an employee in the Census Department in Washington. James went to Wofford, but did not graduate, and is now taking his third course in a medical college. John Clarence is now a
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student in Clemson College. Of the two daughters, Ella Wood (Daisey) married a Mr. Crouch, Clerk of the Court for Saluda County, resides in that place, and has one child. Mabel, the youngest, is grown. The father, Evan Norton, is a fine physi- cian, of high moral character, well posted and a man of great good sense ; has never sought or held any public position except that of County Auditor for Horry, but has declined all such, when offered to him. James, the youngest brother of Dr. Evan Norton, married, 18th May, 1870, Rachel Cochrane Sellers, the daughter of the writer, and located at Mullins, near where he was born and raised, and merchandised for several years; he had two children, boys, Evan Lewis and William Fitzroy. The oldest, Evan Lewis, died when between four and five years of age. William Fitzroy, the younger, grew up, and after spending a year or two in Wofford College, he entered the South Carolina College law department, and graduated therein, but has never practiced; he married, in 1896, Miss Florence Smith, eldest daughter of B. Gause Smith, of Mullins ; he runs a farm and a tobacco warehouse-the future must determine his success or failure.
The career of Hon. James Norton merits more than mere personal mention. Raised on a farm, as it were, between the plow-handles, and opportunities for education being limited, he went into the war as a private at the age of seventeen, and fought it through to the end; wounded several times before 1864; was thought to be mortally wounded, being shot through one of his lungs ; he was furloughed to go home, as soon as he was able to travel; after getting, as he and his friends thought, about well of his wound, he returned to his command in Vir- ginia, and was soon captured and carried to Point Lookout, and kept there till July, 1865, when he was turned out of prison and came home. Not being physically able to do hard work, he en- gaged in turpentine and mercantile pursuits at Mullins. He married, in May, 1870, as before stated, and in the fall of that year was nominated and elected School Commissioner for the county. Served a term, two years, was again nominated and elected for a second term ; but he, with all other officials elected that fall (1872), were counted out by the negro scalawag and carpet-bag election officials. In 1886, he was a candidate for
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Representative of the county in the Legislature, was elected at the head of his ticket, and served during the term for which he had been elected. In 1890, he was again nominated and elected at the head of his ticket for another term, which he served with credit to himself and satisfactory to his constitu- ents. In the meantime, the late Governor Ellerbe had been elected Comptroller General of the State, and he appointed Hon. James Norton as chief Clerk, which place he filled with entire satisfaction to his chief and to the public for two terms of that office; and owing to Ellerbe's bad health during his two terms, Norton practically ran the Comptroller's office; he did it with such signal ability and success, that he was triumphantly nomi- nated and elected, at the expiration of Ellerbe's second term, as Ellerbe's successor. He then held the office as Comptroller General for his term, two years, and was then re-elected for another term without opposition, and Ellerbe, at the election in 1896, was elected Governor. In May following, Joseph H. Earle, one of our United States Senators, died, and Governor Ellerbe appointed John L. McLaurin United States Senator, in place of Earle-which necessarily vacated McLaurin's seat in the United States House of Representatives for this, the 6th Congressional District of South Carolina-whereupon James Norton became a candidate to fill the unexpired term of Mc- Laurin, and after a spirited campaign, Norton was elected, and again elected in 1898, and served with credit to himself in the Fifty-fifth and sixth Congresses. It does not become the writer to say much, as he is the father-in-law of Norton, and, there- fore, he states only facts ; but will add that Norton is no ordi- nary man, otherwise he could not have accomplished so much.
LEWIS .- This family were from Ireland, and settled in Vir- ginia. A son of this family, named William, came to South Carolina before the Revolution; he married Miss Mourning Vampelt, a Hollander. Tradition informs us that her father and she came from Holland together, leaving his family in Hol- land; they came, as it seems, prospecting, and got down into South Carolina, where they met up with William Lewis, and soon an attachment (mutual) sprang up between the two young people, and they got married; whereupon old man Vampelt
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went back to Holland for his family, and was never afterwards heard of. William Lewis settled in Horry County; they had and raised seven sons and two daughters; the sons were Wil- liam, James, Isaac, Hardy, Joel, Jonathan and Patrick; the girls were Polly and Zilpha. Of these, Polly married Averitt Nichols, of Columbus County, N. C., and was the mother of the late venerable Averitt Nichols, of Nichols, S. C. The other daughter, Zilpha, married William Gerald, of Horry. Of the sons, Hardy, Joel and Jonathan settled in Marion County- Hardy on Little Pee Dee, below Gilchrist's Bridge, Joel and Jonathan higher up the river, on the south side, near where Mil- ler's Church now stands ; and James at Allen's Bridge. Hardy Lewis married Dicey Floyd; they had and raised two sons, Wil- liam L. and Joel W. P. Lewis, and four daughters-Betsy, who never married; Mourning, Margaret, Lizzie and another, the wife of James D. Smith. Mourning married W. H. Grice; Margaret married John Price; Lizzie married Henry Price. Of the sons of Hardy Lewis, William L. marired Flora Car- michael, daughter of Squire Dougald, on Maiden Down and Buck Swamp; they had sons, Angus, Allen C. and W. A. D. Marion Lewis; and daughters, Catharine, Mary and Flora. Of the sons, Angus was killed in the war. Allen C. married, first, a daughter of Hiram Lee; by this marriage he had one son, Herbert, now in Wofford College, and Capers, and three daughters, grown. The Lee wife dying, he married a daughter of George W. Smith, and by her has some small children. W. A. D. Marion Lewis, called Dougald, married a Miss Bullock in North Carolina, and lives on part of the old homestead ; has a family, sex and number unknown. Catharine married Ran- dal McDaniel, and moved to Darlington. Mary married Ran- dal Barnes ; has no offspring. Flora married in North Caro- lina, and died without issue. Joel W. P. Lewis, the youngest son of old Hardy, married a Miss Cox ; had two sons, Solon A. and Dio. The latter lately married a daughter of Duncan Nicholson. Solon A. Lewis, now at Latta, married a Miss Tart, youngest daughter of the late John W. Tart; she died a year or so ago, leaving two children (small), both daughters. J. W. P. Lewis has three single daughters ; he died a year or so ago. Jonathan Lewis, brother of old Hardy, married, first,
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Susannah Porter, of Columbus County, N. C .; by her he had two children, one son, Evan, and one daughter, Pennsy or Pennsylvania ; his second wife was Feraba Strickland, and by her he had two sons, William S. and Joel. Of the children by the first marriage, Evan Lewis married Miss Margaret Cribb, and by the marriage had two sons, Jonathan and Dempsy, and two daughters, Carrie and Adaline, called Addie. Of the daughters, Carrie Lewis married Dr. F. M. Monroe, of the Latta section; by this marriage several children were born. Addie, the younger daughter, married Oliver Williams, of North Carolina; they have two sons. Of the sons of Evan Lewis, the eldest, Jonathan, has never married-a young man about fifty years of age, of good habits and morals, a well-to- do, good citizen and reliable every way. Why he has not mar- ried and made some good woman happy, is a mystery, which, perhaps, will never be solved! Dempsy Lewis, the younger brother, married in early life, Miss Eliza Jane Stackhouse, daughter of the late Mastin C. Stackhouse; they have ten chil- dren, eight sons and two daughters; the sons are Taylor, Leon, Marvin, Victor-these are grown; four others, Odell, Rupert, Evan and Ernest-these are not grown; the two daughters, Maggie and Addie, near grown-not one of the ten children married ; he is a good man and substantial citizen. William S. Lewis, by old Jonathan's second marriage, married Miss Rhoda Mace (both now dead) ; they had five children, Sarah, W. Evan, Anne, Joel J. and J. Wesley. Sarah married Robert Edwards; had two sons, Sandy and George; the father is dead. The two sons went to Arkansas; Sandy is dead; George is in Texarkana, and is Sheriff of that county or the one in which that city is located, and is well to do. W. Evan is on the old homestead, married a Miss Avant, and has some family (young) ; is a good citizen. Anne married, first, Marion Avant; by whom she had one son, Willie, who grew up to manhood and died-a very promising young man ; his mother, the widow, married again John A. Wilson, of Wilmington, N. C., and is, as it is said, doing well. Joel and Wesley went West; Joel is said to be doing well in New Orleans. Pennsy, the only daughter of old Jonathan Lewis, and full sister of Evan Lewis, married, first, Angus Carmichael, and
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by him she had one child, a daughter, who grew up and married John W. Norton, as hereinbefore stated in or among the Norton family ; Pennsy, the widow, then married John Nor- ton, the father of Hon. James Norton, and who has already been noticed among the Norton family. Evan Lewis was a capital man and good citizen-a useful man in his day; was a good surveyor-plats, made by him, are now to be seen often, and bear the scrutiny of the Courts. He was opposed to the Confederate War, but had the good sense to keep his mouth shut, and to "stand to one side and let the procession pass by." Joel Lewis, the brother of old Jonathan, and one of the seven brothers, married Ruth Norton, grand-aunt of Hon. James Norton; they moved to Mississippi, about 1818; and thence, years afterwards, to Texas. This ascertained from recent cor- respondence with Mrs. Minerva Lewis Jones, the youngest and only surviving child of old Joel and his wife, Ruth, and who resides at Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas. Joel Lewis, the youngest son of old Jonathan, by his second marriage, married a Miss Flowers, after he went to Mississippi; can follow him no farther.
FOWLER .- The first Fowler known in the county was Wil- liam Fowler, who came from North Carolina, about the date of 1800. He married a daughter of George Brown, and lived near Gapway; he had some daughters and one son, Jessee. Jessee married a sister of Harrison Lambert ; they had several children. Martha married Daniel Williamson. Patience mar- ried a Mr. Keith, and had one child ; Keith died, and the widow then married Levi Edwards. Sarah married a Mr. Tolar, and both died. Mary Fowler never married. The oldest son, Fur- man Fowler, married a Miss White, and raised a family un- known to the writer. Joseph Fowler married, first, a Miss Brown and had a family, how many not known-they are grown ; his Brown wife died, and he married again, a daughter of Stephen R. Collins, and had several children by her. Ste- phen Fowler married a Miss Collins, daughter of William Col- lins and a sister of Valentine Rowell's wife, and has a family of sons and daughters, the oldest son grown. Major Fowler married, first, a daughter of Bethel Rogers, of the upper Fork
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section ; she died at her first accouchement-the child, however, lived; his second wife was a daughter of Daniel Snipes, and she has three or four children. His first child, Maggie, mar- ried Daniel Owens, and she has considerable family, number and sex unknown. This family of Fowlers are good people. Few better men, if any, can be found than old man Jesse Fow- ler was-of the strictest integrity, scrupulously honest in all his dealings with his fellow-men, industrious and frugal; though not a rich man, yet he acquired by honest endeavor a comfort- able living; was true to his church, his God and his country ; his good influence will tell upon his children and his community for years to come.
SHOOTER .- The first of this family in Marion County was old Benjamin Shooter and his wife, Mary; her maiden name is unknown. They came from Virginia or North Carolina, about 1790. They had and raised three children or more- one son, Benjamin, Jr., and two daughters, names unknown. One of the daughters married old Thomas Rogers, and the other married the late Captain John Rogers, of the Fork sec- tion. Captain John Rogers, a capital citizen, had and raised a considerable family ; the sons were Bethel, Ferdinand, Tris- tram B. and John W. Rogers; the names of the daughters are unknown, also the number. One became the wife of George W. Reaves, already mentioned herein among the Reaves; an- other was the wife of Matthew Martin, and another was the wife of the late Aaron Martin. These latter have already been noticed in or among the Martin family. There may have been other daughters of Captain John Rogers. Know nothing of old Thomas Rogers' family. Of the sons of Captain John Rogers, the eldest, Bethel, married a daughter of Rev. Moses Coleman; he has raised a considerable family, who are now among us, and energetic and respectable people. Ferdinand Rogers married a daughter of Samuel Edwards, and has raised several children, who are now among us and respectable citi- zens. Tristram B. Rogers was a capital man; he married a daughter of Joseph B. Hays; he had and raised a large family. One of his sons, J. Marion Rogers, is a graduate of Wofford College, and a minister in the South Carolina Conference of
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