USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 46
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James Smith, one of the sons of old John Smith, will repre- sent another branch of the Smith family as it now exists in the county. Old man Hugh Smith, remembered by many now living, who lived and died some years ago at or near Temper- ance Hill, eight miles above Marion, on the road leading to Campbell's Bridge, on Little Pee Dee River, was a son of James Smith, and through him a grand-son of old John; don't know who old man Hugh Smith's mother or grand-mother was; old
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Hugh married Miss Chloe Perritt, a sister of old man David Perritt; by their marriage they had five sons, Elly, Hugh G., Hardy, Willis and Joseph, and daughters, Sarah Ann (Mrs. James V. Rowell), Betsy (Mrs. James Lee), Sallie (Mrs. Wm. Turbeville), and Ailsey (Mrs. McLean), in Texas. Of these daughters, they all, perhaps, have children and grand-children, mostly unknown to the writer. Of the sons, Elly married in Mississippi ; he was killed by a railroad train running over him, some fifteen or twenty years ago, at Marion; he left one son, who lives in Mississippi. Willis Smith married Miss Adaline Powers, and had six sons, Elly, Augustus, Mitchell Andrew (dead), Robert, Foster and Hugh, and two daughters, Harriett and Elmira. Augustus Smith married Hettie Perritt, and has five children (small). Foster Smith married a Miss Rogers,- and has one child, a son. Hugh G. Smith married a Miss Tur- beville, and had one daughter, who married Lemuel Turbeville; she is now dead, leaving several children. Joseph Smith mar- ried Miss Jane Page, daughter of the late John S. Page, and after living together some few years, they were divorced (dur- ing existence of the divorce law ) ; they had no children. Hardy Smith married Ann Turbeville, and had Willis, Guery and several other children; he lives in the Gaddy's Mill section. Mrs. James Lee had Calvin, Willis and Elly, and daughters, Telatha (Mrs. McCrackin) and Lizzie (Mrs. George Turbe- ville). Mrs. Turbeville has only one son, Joseph, who mar- ried a daughter of Jerry Rowell, near Campbell's Bridge. Mrs. James V. Rowell had two sons, William and Volentine, and one daughter, Silsy, who married a Mr. Bailey. The writer's in- formation as to this branch of the Smith family is somewhat meagre; and can say no more concerning it.
Another branch of the Smith family in the county is derived from old John Smith, a common ancestor, through his son, Sam- uel Smith, who lived and died on the road from Marion Court House to Buck Swamp Bridge, just below Temperance Hill- think he died in 1843, a very old man, between eighty and ninety years of age; he accumulated a large property for his day and time-lands, slaves and money ; in his day, channels of investment were restricted almost exclusively to lands and negroes ; old man Samuel lived close, managed well, and hence
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he accumulated much. It was said of him (and I suppose it was true) that he never used any of the produce of his farm until it was a year old-always looking for a famine; he made on his farm what he and his family lived on-spent nothing. It was further said of him that he never spent any silver or gold, but hoarded it-that when he died he had a barrel full of silver interspersed with gold; whether this was true or not, is not certainly known, but such is the traditional reputation. Don't know to whom he married-he, however, did marry, and had and raised a family of three children, two daughters and a son. Of the daughters, one (name not known) became the wife of old Captain William Page, and the other, Elizabeth (called Betsey), married Robert Moody. Old Captain Wil- liam Page had and raised a large family, who have already been noticed herein among the Page family. Robert Moody lived and died on south side of Buck Swamp, opposite the bridge; he left his widow, Betsey, and a large family of children, who have already been mentioned herein among the Moody family and others, with whom connected. The son, Samuel (called Samuel Smith, Jr., while his father lived), married, first, a daughter of old Osborne Lane, hereinbefore mentioned ; he set- tled on Buck Swamp, near where Mrs. Sophia Thompson, nee Sophia Bethea, now lives. By the Lane wife, Samuel Smith, Jr., as then called, had and raised two sons, John L. and Stephen. I think these have already been mentioned among the Lanes, and perhaps among the Huggins. As to the latter, John L. Smith became a member of the South Caro- lina Conference of the Methodist Church, as it then was (1834 or 5), and after traveling some three or four years, mar- ried a Miss Wannamaker, of Orangeburg, and located and set- tled on the north side of Buck Swamp, opposite his father's, where he lived, raised sons and daughters, and died there, after marrying a second wife, the Widow Henry; he died in 1878; he raised five sons, Daniel Asbury, Marcus L., Jacob W., John Albert and Wilbur F., and three daughters, Anna M., Mary J. and Hettie. I think these have all been noticed herein among the Lanes, the Betheas, the Nichols and the Pages. John Albert married a Widow Smith, nee Collins, in Mississippi, and afterwards came back here, was elected Clerk of the Court in
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1880, and died before his time expired, leaving three daughters and a son. Henry, the latter, has a family and lives at Mullins. One of the daughters became the wife of John Wilcox, at Marion, and has a coming family. Another daughter became the wife of Dennis Berry, and has five children, daughters (small) ; and another, Lanra, became the wife of Chalmers Rogers, at Mullins, and has two children. The widow, Jennie Smith, has not remarried, and lives with her daughter, Laura, at Mullins. Wilbur F. Smith, youngest son, after graduation in Wofford College, went to Mississippi, yet remains there, has a family. These latter have been mentioned here, because not among the Lanes, Betheas, Nichols and Pages. Stephen Smith, the other son by Samuel, Jr.'s, first marriage, married Polly Huggins, the (only) daughter of old John Huggins, and I think he and his children have already been mentioned among the Lanes and Huggins. Lest it may not have been done, I will say, Stephen Smith had sons, Ebby, George W., B. Gause, S. Elmore, S. Whiteford, J. Emory, and another named, as I think, Angustus, who was killed on or by a train, near Florence, during the war-he was a mere boy, and was among the re- serves, on his way to service or returning from it, when the accident that terminated his life happened. Stephen Smith had and raised four daughters-one the wife of the late Mitchel Martin ; another the wife of George Rogers, at Mullins; and two others, who married Nances. One of the Nances died or was killed in the war, and his widow afterwards married John C. Harrelson. These have alrady been mentioned among Hug- gins, Martins and Rogers. Samuel Smith, Jr., as he then was called, lost his Lane wife, and he married, a second wife, Sallie Hays, daughter of Benjamin Hays, of (now) Hillsboro Town- ship, and by her had two sons, William H. and Samuel Smith, whom we will hereinafter designate as Junior and his father as Senior, and daughters, Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, Mrs. Mary Rob- erts, Mrs. Ginsey Ellis and Mrs. Florence Moody, the first wife of E. J. Moody. All these, I think, have already been men- tioned among the Hays, Allens, Roberts, Betheas and Moodys. Samuel Smith, the father, was an enterprising and successful farmer, a good manager of his affairs and accumulated a large property, which he left to his children, what he had not
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previously given them-a large property entirely unencum- bered, and which they and their descendants yet retain, notwith- standing the ravages of the war. This family of Smiths, as a whole, are industrious, energetic, frugal, honest, law-abiding and trustworthy citizens.
There is another family of Smiths, below Marion, which I understand is in no way related to those hereinabove noticed- I refer to the late William B. Smith and his family. He, as it is said, came when young from North Carolina, and settled be- low Reedy Creek Baptist Church, on an apparently poor place; he was called "Horse-swapping Billy Smith"-he was a great horse trader, and in that respect his mantle has fallen upon his sons, Nat. P. and Henry. "Nat Smith" don't stop at horses and mules, but he descends to oxen, and, I suppose, to all do- mestic quadrupeds and, maybe, to domestic bipeds, such as chickens, turkeys and geese. William B. Smith, away back in the 50's, carried the mail on horseback from Marion to Ben- nettsville, by way of Catfish, Reedy Creek, Harlleesville, Sel- kirk, Brownesville and Clio to Bennettsville, and back the same route, once a week-at which time the writer was postmaster at Reedy Creek; he went up one day and came back the next; sometimes one of his boys, James or Nat, would carry it. The writer remembers on one occasion, the old gentleman went up; his horse sickened and died at Bennettsville, and the next day Mr. Smith came back, walking and carrying the mail bags on his shoulders, and went on to Marion that evening. I suppose he was then fifty years of age, and the distance traveled on his zig-zag route was at least sixty miles. One of the men of the present day, much younger than Mr. Smith, would not think of such a trip. Mr. Smith had much of the "get up" in him, and whatever he undertook to do, he did it, and if he failed it was no fault of his ; he was accustomed to labor and hardship, hence it did not hurt him. He lived to be over ninety years of age, and died only a few years ago, much respected. Don't know who his wife was; he raised a considerable family-four sons, if not more, James, Nathaniel P., William B. and Henry, and maybe others-these are all the writer remembers; don't know anything of his daughters, if he had any. James married Miss Anne Grantham, daughter of Owen Grantham, of North Caro-
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lina; by the marriage three daughters were born, Elizabeth, Kittie and Jimmy. Jimmy, I think, was born after the death of her father, who was killed by his wife's cousin, Bright Gran- tham, just after the war closed; he left his widow and, it may be said, three little children, all girls; the widow scuffled with the privations of the times incident to the war and reconstruc- tion, and raised her daughters in credit and respectably. The eldest, Bettie, married a Mr. Smith-Charles, I believe, is his name; they have raised a family, several of them grown. The second daughter, Kittie, married W. S. Foxworth, now a lead- ing and prosperous merchant in Marion, a capital man in many ways; they have three or four children, none grown. Jimmy, the youngest daughter, married Filmore Whitehearte, who is dead and left his widow with five or six children, all small. Nathaniel P. Smith married a Miss Foxworth, sister of W. S. Foxworth, of Marion; by this marriage several sons and daughters have been born. Two daughters married, don't know to whom. The oldest son, Harvey, sickened and died, a young man just entering life, a year or so ago. His other chil- dren are with him. William B., Jr., is one of the citizens below Marion; he married and has a family. Gilmore Smith, of Dil- lon, and the efficient marshal of that town, is a son of W. B. Smith, Jr .; married, I think, a Miss Stalvy, and has a coming family ; he is an excellent man and officer, and is much re- spected. C. W. Smith, below Marion, is another son; has a family, about which nothing is known ; he is also a good citizen. Henry, the youngest son, married a Miss Dozier, a daughter of the late Tully Dozier, and sister of J. T. Dozier, the present County Supervisor ; she died a few years ago, and left, I think, two or three children (small). Henry has not remarried; he and his brother "Nat" are each running a livery stable in Marion, and are successful men.
There are some other Smiths in the Mullins section of the county, and is supposed to be no relation to the other. Smiths of that community. John Smith, of Clay Hill, and George Smith, are referred to; they descended from our old Moses Smith, who is said to have been a very excellent man; he was a preacher (Methodist), and the reputation of him is, that he practiced in his own life what he preached to others; he was the grand-
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father of John and George, now of that community. The old man, Moses, had three sons, Isaiah, Daniel and James. What became of Isaiah and Daniel is not known to the writer. James married Celia Lewis, daughter of old Hardy Lewis; they had three sons, John, Daniel and George, and may have had daugh- ters-know nothing of any. John Smith (which is said to be no name) and George are both good, honest, hard-working men, unpretentious ; they are farmers-John in particular ; he has an excellent place at Clay Hill, and the writer heard him once say that he could grow anything on his place common to that region, except mortgages-it would not grow them; and from that expression, it may be inferred what sort of man and farmer he is. "He lives at home and boards at the same place." Know nothing of their immediate families. John Smith is as independent in his circumstances as is Vanderbilt, and, I pre- sume, a much happier man.
The late John M. Smith, of Marion, was the son of a Metho- dist preacher-I think from Marlborough County; he was a tailor by trade ; he married a daughter of James H. Pearce, and sister of Dr. James F. Pearce, of West Marion-an excellent lady she was ; they raised a nice family of three sons, Robert J., Colin and A. Jackson, and two daughters, Mollie and Anna. Of the daughters, Mollie never married. Anna became the wife of David Gasque, brother of E. H. Gasque, of Marion; they live in Columbia, and have for years; they have a family. Of the sons, I think, Robert J. is dead-was an upright busi- ness man, moved off somewhere. Colin and Jackson are in high railroad positions-Colin in Columbia and A. Jackson in Knoxville, Tenn, and has his mother with him; they have been in railroad positions ever since they were grown, and Colin is now a middle-aged man. John M. Smith, the father, was the first railroad agent at Marion, 1854; he remained in that posi- tion for many years-was honest, straight and harmless, and one of the neatest and most cleanly men I ever saw ; he would wear a pair of linen pants in the summer all the week and handle freight every day, and at the end of the week the iron prints would not be out of his pants. He lived and died in Marion, at the age of seventy-two or seventy-three, on the 3d February, 1893, without an enemy.
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There is another Smith in Britton's Neck, of what family is unknown. The writer only knows of him-has seen him at Marion. I allude to Scotch Smith ; he is an energetic and capi- tal man and good citizen.
FLOWERS .- This family sprang from Henry Flowers, who came from England, about the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury. He married Patsy Savage, and settled and lived where ex-Sheriff W. T. Evans now lives ; he took up and owned large bodies of land around him, many thousands of acres ; he had and raised a large family ; the sons were Archie, John, Henry, William, James, Jacob'and Bennett ; the daughters were Mollie, Betsy, Nancy, Sallie and Olive, or Olivia. Of the sons, the writer can get no definite information, except as to Bennett, the youngest son of old Henry, who married Miss Annie Payne, and had and raised two sons, Ervin Huger and John J., and three daughters, Annis, Olivia and Annie. Of the sons, Ervin Huger married Elizabeth Keeffe, and had one daughter, Telatha, when the father died, and his widow married Matthew Martin, and had several children for him. Telatha grew up and married the late D. S. Henry, and by him had one son, John E. Henry, our present energetic and progressive fellow-citizen on Buck Swamp, who has already been noticed herein among the Henrys. The widow, Telatha Henry, afterwards married Rev. John L. Smith, on Buck Swamp; from this marriage there was no offspring ; Mr. Smith died and left her a widow, and she is now seventy-two years of age, and lives with her son, John E. Henry. Of the other son of Bennett Flowers, John J., the writer knows nothing or but little; he infers that he was the immediate or remote progenitor of our present fellow-citizen at Marion, John H. Flowers, who married, about 1859 or 1860, Miss Anne Flowers, his cousin, at Marion; she died childless, some years ago; her husband still survives. Annis, the eldest daughter of Bennett Flowers, married Solomon Owens, who soon died and left her a widow; she died childless some years after, at a very advanced age. Olivia, the second daughter of Bennett Flowers, married General Elly Godbold, and by the marriage six children were raised, three sons, Huger, Zack and David, and three daughters, Ann, Cherry and Maggie. Huger
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Godbold, the eldest son, married a Miss White, daughter of old man Stephen White; they had and raised, I think, three sons and three or four daughters, who have already been no- ticed among the Godbolds. Zack Godbold married a Miss Gregg, and had six or seven children, three sons and three or four daughters ; his wife died, and he married again, and moved off. Of his sons, our excellent and enterprising fellow-citizen, D. E. Godbold, one of the leading merchants now at Mullins, is the oldest; he married a Miss Young, daughter of the late Major J. B. Young, and has some family (small) ; he is Mayor of the town of Mullins, at this writing, is much respected and a very efficient officer. Of his sisters, I think they are all dead, except Miss Susy, the youngest, who is with him, quite an ac- complished lady and an efficient business woman. Zack God- bold raised a company for the Confederate Army, and went into the war as Captain, and was a brave and efficient officer. David Godbold, the youngest son of General Elly Godbold and his wife, Olivia, went into the Confederate Army, and was killed in battle or died of disease-a promising young man. Of the daughters of General Godbold and wife, Ann, the eldest, mar- ried Alexander Gregg, of West Marion, who was murdered by some negroes, on the morning of the election, 7th November, 1876-perhaps the most memorable election ever held in South Carolina. Four or five of the negroes were tried for his mur- der, and one (Jack Burgoyne) was convicted for it by a negro jury, sentenced to be hanged, and was hanged. The writer was Solicitor at the time, and knows whereof he writes. Mr. Gregg was an excellent and well-to-do citizen, a harmless and inoffensive man. Those were troublous times. The widow, Ann Gregg, still survives; she has some three or four children, all grown. Cherry, the second daughter of General Godbold and wife, married Robert Gregg, of West Marion, who died some years after marriage, childless ; his widow married then J. Maston Gaddy; they had no offspring, Gaddy died, and she died soon after. Maggie, the youngest daughter of General Godbold and wife, died at about eighteen years of age, unmar- ried.
Henry Flowers, one of the seven sons of old Henry, the first comer, was the father of the late Love Flowers, below Marion ;
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don't know who the wife of Henry, Jr., was, nor is it known whether he had other sons than Love nor whether he had any daughters. Love Flowers, born in 1790, lived to be eighty- four years old, and died in 1874; he married twice; his first wife was Elizabeth Brown; there were two sons by this mar- riage, William and John. William married Caroline Brown, daughter of Richard Brown; he died about two years ago, in Horry County, leaving a number of children. John married Elizabeth Dozier, a sister of J. Tulley Dozier ; John died about three years ago. Love Flowers' first wife dying, he married Martha Baxley, a daughter of Barny Baxley ; by this marriage he had twenty-two children, all of whom died in infancy, except James J., Henry, Williamson, Barny, A. Love, Bennett, Nathan,. Joel, Elly, Everett, Samuel S., Lucy Ann and Rachel. It seems that thirteen of the twenty-two were raised. James J. Flowers never married ; he died in 1865. Henry Flowers married Sarah Ann James, a daughter of Henry James; he died in prison, in Elmira, N. Y., 1864; he left a number of children. William- son Flowers married, first, Elizabeth Marlow ; by her he had a number of children; this wife died, and then he married Mrs. Martha Parker; they have no children; live below Marion Court House. Barny A. Flowers married, first, Ann Lambert, daughter of James Lambert ; no children ; she died, and he mar- ried, a second wife, Mrs. Ann James, widow of Henry L. James ; they have five children ( small). Love A. Flowers mar- ried Henrietta Brown, daughter of Lewis Brown, and had a large family; he was killed by lightning, below Marion, in 1872. Bennett Flowers married Miss Mary James, daughter of Henry James ; had one child, and died of disease in the West- ern Confederate Army during the war. Nathan Flowers mar- ried Miss Ann Marlow; no children; he died in prison at Rock Island, Ill., about the close of the war. Joel Flowers never married; he died in prison at Elmira, N. Y., during the war. Elly Flowers married Miss Minnetta Brown, daughter of Wil- liam Brown; they had one child ; they live on the old homestead of his father, on Reedy Creek, below Marion. Everitt Flowers married Margaret A. James, daughter of Henry L. James ; they have five children (small), and live at Dillon. Samuel S. Flowers married Susan Best, daughter of Captain John J. Best,
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of Horry; they had several children; moved to Texas eight years ago; the last heard from them, his wife was dead and he was in Keaney, Nebraska. Lucy Ann Flowers married J. Tully Dozier ; they have a number of children, among whom is our present County Supervisor, J. T. Dozier, Jr. J. T. Dozier, Sr., is dead; the widow is living with her son, J. T., Jr. Rachel Flowers first married Lewis Brown, Jr .; they had one child, and her husband died during the war; after the war, the widow married J. C. Price; they have a large family, now in Horry. Old Love Flowers, a patriarch, had eleven sons in the war, in- cluding the two by his first wife, William and John ; all his sons went to the war, except Everett and Samuel S .- the two latter were too young. Few men contributed so many to the lost cause. The first Methodist Church or meeting house built in the county was built (I suppose, of logs, ) by old Henry Flow- ers, and was located near the house of ex-Sheriff Evans, about 1783 to 1790. Bishop Asbury's Journal speaks of it, which I have not now before me, but to which I refer. Asbury and Whatcoat, in passing through the country on their way to Charleston, stopped at Flowers' house, and preached under the oak now standing in ex-Sheriff Evans' yard, and with such suc- cess as to induce Mr. Flowers to build a meeting house, in which the Bishop afterwards preached in his annual travels. Flowers and his family became members of his church and others also, and it is said that old "Jimmy Jenkins," afterward and for many years a distinguished preacher of that denomina- tion, joined the church at that place, which was for many years thereafter called "Flowers' Meeting House." Flowers and his seven sons and five daughters, together with their families-for several of them had, doubtless, married by that time-were enough of themselves to form and keep up a respectable church of their own without the accession of others to it, and it may be reasonably supposed that others joined and worshipped there. The last vestige of the large body of land owned there by old Henry Flowers, was bought by the Commissioners of the Poor for the county, in 1860, from John H. Flowers and wife, Anne, for a county poor farm and house, and it was lo- cated and erected there in 1860. The writer was, at the time, Chairman and Treasurer of the board-made the trade for the
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land (ninety-seven acres, I think), drew the deed, had it exe- cuted, paid the purchase price to the grantors, $970, had the buildings constructed, and established it as a home and farm for the poor, and, I believe, it is kept up and used for that pur- pose to the present time. The deed is recorded, and if the orig- inal deed is examined, it will be seen to be in my handwriting. The wisdom of the scheme has been vindicated by over forty years' continued use. Have not seen it for fifteen or twenty years ; don't know how it is managed now.
MULLINS .- This family is an importation from North Carolina, and a good importation it is-would like to have several others such. The first of the name in this county was the late Colonel William S. Mullins, followed a few years later by his brother, the late Dr. James C. Mullins, and from these two brothers came all by that name now in the county. Their parents were Fayetteville, N. C., people- names not known. It is said their father was a merchant in Fayetteville, and did not succeed in making a fortune for his children-only enough to educate them-three sons, William S., James C. and Henry ; one daughter, as known to the writer, Ida, who became the wife of E. B. Owens, of this county, and another daughter, who became the wife of a Mr. McNeill, who finally settled in Horry. It seems that the greatest ambition of their father was to educate his children (a very laudable am- bition). His son, William S., after graduation in the Univer- sity of North Carolina, and after admission to the bar of North Carolina, came to Marion County, and married a Miss Hodges, daughter of the late Dr. Samuel Hodges, of the Little Pee Dee and Gapway section; by his marriage he acquired a large prop- erty in lands and negroes; and having a competency thus ac- quired, and the exigencies of the family and the large estate which had fallen in by the death of Dr. Hodges, and of his only son, William H., who died unmarried, he did not pursue the profession of law, for which he was peculiarly and eminently fitted, but devoted himself to his farm and family, to which may be added politics or state craft, and he was much better adapted to the latter than to farming. Colonel Mullins was first intro- duced to the public of Marion County in the memorable contest
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