USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 5
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
in that company. In one of the many battles in which that regiment was engaged, John Calvin, for some reason or other, was in command of his company, and was killed in advance of his command, while calling on his men to follow him, telling them to come on, not to go on. Thus a truly brave boy fell at the head of his command, in a position that tried men's souls; while others of his command, perhaps, in school, and then in battle with him, if they did not exactly show the "white feather," did not manifest the bravery of schoolboy days. All honor to the true, manly courage of John Calvin Clark. R. K. Clark, a brother, who went to school at Hofwyl, grew up to manhood and went into the war towards the last of it, and from the writer's knowledge of him was equally as brave in the performance of duty as was his brother, John Calvin. After the war he married Miss Nannie Stackhouse, a daughter of the then late Wesley Stackhouse. He went to farming, which he continued to follow with some success till 1876, when he was nominated in that memorable campaign for Clerk of the Court, and was elected. He served four years in that position with credit, and made an excellent Clerk. At the end of his term he was a candidate for renomination, but failed to get the nomination, and J. Albert Smith was nominated and elected. For reasons which it is not necessary to state, he failed to get the nomination. It was not that he had not made an efficient Clerk. He was soon afterwards appointed County Treasurer, which position he filled with great credit and to the entire satisfaction of his people. He held it for a year or two, and resigned it and moved upon his plantation in upper Marion, where he successfully farmed until 1888, when he died, leaving his widow, who has since died, and three sons and four daughters, of whom Luther Clark, now in Marion, is one, and Hon. W. A. Brown's wife is another. Do not know of the remaining five.
There is another batch of Hofwyl pupils from abroad that I must notice. They were from Marlborough County, viz: Joseph Steed, who died at old man Philip Bethea's, where he boarded while going to school. There was, also, R. Y. Hene- gan, son of ex-Governor B. K. Henegan, Henry Baggett and Peter Baggett. R. Y. Henegan is yet living, near Florence,
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
and is one of the many good citizens of that county, and promi- nent in his community ; married, I think, a Miss Waring, a highly respectable family. The writer saw Bob a few days ago, with his daughter, a beautiful girl, at Florence. Time is snowing on the head of R. Y. Henegan, the Hofwyl schoolboy. The two Baggett boys, Henry and Peter, the writer knows nothing of. Thinks Henry Baggett went to Charleston after the war, and went into, perhaps, a factorage and commission business, under the firm name of J. H. Baggett & Co. I think, Peter Baggett was killed or died in the war. All these from abroad showed the popularity of the school. Such was its efficiency that it drew to it the favor and patronage, not only of its neighborhood, but others from a distance. The first teacher in that school was William McDuffie, a cousin of the late A. Q. McDuffie, Esq. The next was Harris Covington, a very scholarly man and a good teacher. He had his sister with him one or two years of his three or four years. The next was the late W. J. McKerall, for two years. He had his sister with him the last year, 1859. Harris Covington succeeded W. J. Mckerall in 1860 and 1861. During 1861, Covington vol- unteered in C. J. Fladger's company, was First Lieutenant in that company and went off to the war. Then followed Archi- bald McGrogan, a young man from North Carolina, who con- tinued the school till 1865. Next was Colonel J. W. St. Clair, who continued till 1868. John C. Sellers taught the school in 1869. John A. Kelly taught there in 1870, and Philip Y. Bethea, in 1871, which was the last school taught at Hofwyl. The community became bare of children-so much so, that it was deemed proper to close it, and no school has been taught there since. The school made its mark there, and for about twenty years was the pride of the community, and did much in building up the neighborhood. It turned out many boys and girls that made our best citizens, surpassed nowhere. The writer, it is to be hoped, will be pardoned for having said so much about the Hofwyl School. He was magna pars fui, one of its founders, and one of its constant promoters and patrons. All his children except the youngest were educated at that cele- brated school, the foundation was laid there. Two of his sons graduates, one at the South Carolina College, the other at
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Wofford College, both citizens among you, and stand in charac- ter and attainments the peers of any. He has a right to talk, to feel proud, to be grateful, that he lived when he did and was enabled to accomplish the little he did for his community and for his own children. Let the coming generation do as well-yea, better-for their posterity than did the Hofwyl community in their day and time. So may it be.
The next high school, in chronological order, was the Mullins School, established some twenty-five or thirty years ago. This school for several of its first years did not prosper or succeed well, owing to dissensions and some ill feeling among its patrons ; but time with its soothing and harmonizing influence has hushed its bickerings, and mollified and wiped out the former ill feeling that existed among its patrons, and it now presents a harmonious and united front, and they have a school there now of high standing and equal, perhaps, to any in the county, well attended, popular and doing a good work, a great deal for that community. They have a corps of competent teachers, and no reason why it should not continue to prosper and grow in its power for good. It, with other influences for the uplifting of the community, is making the Mullins people a great people, a moral and Christian community. The school, the two Sunday Schools there, one Baptist, the other Metho- dist, the two churches, Baptist and Methodist, under the hand of the highest supreme power, have achieved a revolution for good, so much so, that the most sanguine among them twenty- five years ago never dreamed or thought of. The writer will not draw and present the contrast any further. It is easier to conceive it than to tell it.
The next high school, in the order of time, as remembered, was at Dalcho, near the Catfish Baptist Church, in Bethea Township. It is a part of the old Hofwyl Academy. It was established some twelve or fifteen years ago, has been and is yet a very flourishing school. It is well attended, they have kept the best of teachers there and it is telling for good on that whole community, raising the standard of morality, widening the circle of social life, elevating and inspiring Christian character and Christian endeavor. The school has much to do with it.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
The next school (high school), in chronological order, is the Dothan School, another part of the old Hofwyl Academy. It, too, is a school of high standing, well patronized; they employ and keep the best teachers in it. Some years ago the promoters and principal patrons built a large and commodious academy building there at a cost of $1,600. A year or two after it was constructed, they had some public school exercises there one night in very warm weather-they had no fire except lighted lamps ; it was burned down about 1 or 2 o'clock, together with books, seats, blackboards and other school furniture, a total loss with no insurance. It was and is yet believed that it was an incendiary fire. Not daunted thereby, they went back into the old school house near by, a house less pretentious and less commodious, and continued the school, and have kept it up to the present day. It is in a good community. They are doing a good work there, training and fitting the youth of that place for higher education, if they desire it, and to take their respec- tive places in future society and in future business life.
The next high school, in the order of time, is the Hopewell School, situated in the "Fork" neighborhood, between Little Pee Dee and Buck Swamp. This school the writer has heard is a first class school. Its chief promoters and patrons are D. D. McDuffie, Dempsy Lewis, T. B. Rogers, Ferdinand Rogers, David S. Edwards and perhaps others. It is well attended, has a strong corps of teachers, is doing much in building up and improving the community, and giving to its people a higher and better tone, inspiring their local pride and promo- tive of good morals.
Another high school established about the same time was the Gaddy School, located near or at Gaddy's Mills, in Hillsboro Township. Its chief patrons are Captain R. H. Rogers, Jo- seph R. Oliver, Barfield Rogers, T. B. Hays, W. S. Lupo, A. B. Carmichael, Samuel T. Gaddy, B. F. Edwards and perhaps others. They keep a good school there, employ good teachers, and are doing much for building up and elevating their com- munity. The school, together with the two churches, Piney Grove (Baptist) and Union (Methodist), are improving the morals of that community, and qualifying and fitting the present rising generation for a favorable entrance upon life's arena.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
The next high school, in the order of time, is the school at Latta. A school had been established there, or just above the town, some years before the Florence Railroad was constructed, not very pretentious, but was said to be a good country school. It, too, was a part of old Hofwyl. When a town sprang up (Latta), it seemed to quicken and inspire an ambition for better and larger school facilities, and hence the establishment of the present popular high school. The writer does not know whether it is called "a graded school" or not, he has since learned that it is a graded school. It, however, does not matter-the school is established and has a high character. They have a good building, well attended, and the school is in high favor with the town and surrounding country. They have a first class teacher at its head, who is sowing the seeds of knowledge there that will spring up and bear good fruit in that community years to come in the rising and coming generation. They are touching chords that will vibrate not only in future years but in and through eternity. That school, with the three churches (Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian) located there, will, in the near future, if they continue to nurse them and strengthen them, elevate that people far above present concep- tions, and future generations will echo with the praises of their ancestry. It being a growing town, it is difficult to say who are the leaders in their school enterprise; therefore, the writer will ascribe it to all the good citizens of that place.
At Dillon, on the Florence Railroad, is a most excellent graded school. It is only of few years standing, and already will compare favorably with any like school, perhaps, in the State. The town of Dillon itself is only eleven or twelve years of age. It has now from 800 to 1,000 inhabitants. It is a very enterprising place, located in a fine section of the county, and surrounded on all sides by one of the best farming regions in the State, its prospects for becoming a city in the near future are bright and cheering. They have started right. They have established a fine graded school, and built a com- modious brick building for the school. The school is largely attended. They keep a corps of good teachers, who are doing a good work, giving entire satisfaction to the patrons. The ยท session now closing for the present scholastic year, 1899 and
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
1900, discloses the fact that the enrolment of scholars in the white school for this session is 180. What will it be ten years hence? Doubled, if the town continues to grow as it has in the last ten years.
All the foregoing schools are and were, including Hofwyl, which no longer exists, first class schools, largely attended, ran for the whole year and from year to year. At any one of them a boy could be prepared to enter the Freshman Class in any college in the State, and even higher than that-to enter the Sophomore Class, as was done in one instance at least.
It will be noted that all these first class schools are in the upper end of the county-Marion is in the centre-and goes to verify what the writer said in a former part of this book, contrasting the progress made by the upper end as compared with that of the lower end. It is there said that one of the causes was that the upper end had more and better schools than in the lower end. The writer would not say a word in disparagement of the people in the lower end, but he is merely stating what is apparent to any one-a fact, the truth. Far from it, the writer hopes that by stating this particular fact, the people of the lower end will be stirred up to follow the example set them by their fellow-citizens of upper Marion. Thus far, in pursuing this subject, the educational history of the county, the writer has only referred to the high schools, some near a hundred years old, others a half century and more, and others for a shorter period. It is not to be inferred from this that there are and were not other schools all over the county of less note, and which have done a great deal of good, and are still doing so. Those schools may be said to be auxili- aries to the higher schools. They are not only to be found in upper Marion, but in lower Marion as well, and they are as useful in their limited sphere as are the higher schools. In them, limited in duration and in calibre as they are, they teach and instruct the youth attending them in the fundamentals of an education. In them the foundation is laid for the super- structure. If they go no further, that much is effected, and by self-effort and self-improvement, such may become useful and intelligent citizens, otherwise the foundation thus laid gets no higher and the recipient relapses back to his natural condition,
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
and his ambition, if he had any, is dwarfed, and he never rises any higher than "a hewer of wood and a drawer of water," lives in the very lowest walks of life unnoticed and dies in the same way. The common schools have been in the county from the earliest times-at least, from the writer's earliest recollec- tion. He went to school in this county (upper Marion), on the road leading from Harlleesville to Fair Bluff, N. C., be- tween Bear Swamp and the North Carolina line, in 1832, near seventy years ago, and he remembers seeing the late General Woodberry pass there. He was electioneering for Sheriff. He stopped at the school house and talked with the teacher, Daniel Mclellan, an uncle of our present County Auditor, F. T. Mclellan, also to some young men there, scholars and voters, to wit : the late Elgat Horn, Daniel Horn and Alexander Johnson, all now dead. General Woodberry was in fine humor and adapted himself to his then surroundings. He was elected Sheriff and went into office in April, 1833, and served his term, four years, as the Sheriff's office shows. By the then Consti- tution (1790), he was not eligible for a second term, until the expiration of another four years. That was the only time the writer ever saw General Woodberry, a man of great versatility and of marked character. More may be said about General Woodberry in a subsequent part of this book. That school house was built of logs, about twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide, a dirt floor, a dirt chimney. One log was cut out of the back end so as to give light; the log below that had some holes bored in it with a two-inch auger. Large pegs, a foot or more long, were driven into those auger holes, and then a plank laid on those pegs and nailed to them. This served for our writing desks. That schol building and its appliances were about such as were, in that day and time, used in many or most of the schools in the country. The means of the people were limited, and the spirit of progress and improvement was equally as limited. Occasionally you would find a man of more elevated views, as to schools, but standing alone, he could do nothing to improve the prevailing conditions. It was not until about 1840, that signs of a better day, in these respects, began to show themselves, and from that time to the present signs of improve- ment have been multiplying and spreading, until the whole
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
country is permeated with a spirit of education, even in sections of the county where, heretofore, great indifference was mani- fested. A wholesome sentiment on the subject is prevailing. The fundamental provisions in the Constitution of 1868 and of 1895 have been and are potent factors in kindling and energiz- ing a strong and healthy sentiment in favor of education. The Legislature has wisely and liberally constructed the machinery for public education. The laws foster and care for the com- mon schools; the common schools evolute the higher schools, and by an ascending gradation the higher schools evolute colleges. There is no excuse now, nor can there be any, for illiteracy and ignorance among our people, white and colored. Both races, under the law, share equally in the liberal appro- priations made by the Legislature for school purposes, and the funds provided seem to be equitably distributed. School funds raised by taxation and in some other forms, for the year 1899, and distributed under the law to the schools of Marion County, amounted to $11,502.13. In this amount is included $1,500 poll tax; this last item is an estimate, as the precise amount could not be arrived at. The county is laid off into fifty-five school districts and schools established in each school district. They are designated by numbers from one to fifty-five. Ac- cording to the report of the County Superintendent of Educa- tion, there were enrolled in the different schools through the year 7,638 attending those schools, white and colored. The school funds collected and paid out as above stated are nearly one-third as much as was the appropriation for the public schools each year for the whole State a year from 1811 to the war. And besides the amount thus collected and paid to the public schools of the county, in which rich and poor share alike, in many neighborhoods there are pay schools, that are kept up from year to year; or after the public funds are ex- hausted, the schools are continued on and paid for by the private funds of the patrons. Thus it is easy to be seen how much greater are the educational advantages of to-day than they were fifty years ago and before that time. Few there were a half century ago that had an opportunity to "rub their backs against a college wall." Now our college graduates may be counted by the dozens. Our young men and women, too, are
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
fitted to fill any station in life, public or private. What im- provement! Rapid strides are making towards the goal of universal knowledge. In the next generation there will be found few who cannot read and write.
GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. From Davidson College, N. C.
A. Q. McDuffie (dead).
William McDuffie (dead).
D. W. Bethea (dead).
D. W. Bethea, Jr.
From Chapel Hill, N. C.
Gewood Berry, 1846 (dead).
J. Hamilton Evans, 1854 (dead).
John H. Hamer, 1856.
Missouri R. Hamer.
William D. Carmichael, Jr.
From Greenville University, S. C.
Rev. Joseph H. Dew, 1890. W. C. Allen, 1900.
From the Citadel Academy, Charleston, S. C.
Lieutenant Colonel W. P. Shooter, 1859 (dead).
A. J. Howard, J. T. Coleman, 1886.
A. G. Singletary, 1890.
A. S. Manning, 1892.
S. W. Reaves, 1895.
T. W. Carmichael, 1896.
Herbert Rogers, 1900.
Wofford College, S. C.
There have been ninety matriculates from Marion County. The following graduated :
Bond E. Chreitzburg, 1869.
Marcus Stackhouse, 1871.
James T. Brown, William A. Brown, Wilbur F. Smith, 1874.
W. J. Montgomery, 1875.
Henry M. Wilcox, T. B. Stackhouse, 1880.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Philip B. Sellers, 1882.
W. M. Lester, 1884.
J. E. Ellerbe, J. Marion Rogers, 1887.
E. P. Taylor, 1888.
R. L. Rogers, 1889.
J. G. Baker, 1890.
P. P. Bethea, 1892.
P. H. Edwards, W. M. Ellerbe, 1894.
J. R. Rogers, B. B. Sellers, W. F. Stackhouse, 1895.
C. H. Barber, C. C. Leitner, L. B. Smith, 1896.
T. L. Manning, W. B. Evans, 1897.
C. H. Leitner, 1898.
G. E. Edwards, 1899.
South Carolina College.
From this College I have no report. My son, John C. Sel- lers, wrote to Professor R. Means Davis, who was a classmate of his in that College, for a report. The Professor replied that he would do so, but has never sent it. My grand-son, Wallace D. Sellers, who was in the South Carolina College in 1899- 1900, procured a catalogue of the Euphradian Society up to 1859, which shows the matriculates from Marion County, but who and how many of them graduated is not shown, as follows : Robert H .. Gregg, 1808; Ezra M. Gregg, 1817; Jeremiah Brown, 1819; Charles Godbold, 1819; D. Reese Gregg, 1825; John H. Latta, 1826; C. D. Evans, 1836; G. Cooper Gregg, 1836; O. S. Gregg, 1838; R. G. Howard, 1848; Evander Gregg, 1837 ; E. M. Davis, 1848; R. C. McIntyre, 1851; G. M. Fairlee, 1853; J. C. McClenaghan, 1854; D. McIntyre, 1854; S. A. Gregg, 1855; W. J. Singletary, 1856; Walter Gregg, 1857; C. E. Gregg, 1859. Those of the above who it is cer- tainly known graduated are: C. D. Evans, R. G. Howard, R. C. McIntyre, G. M. Fairlee, W. J. Singletary. Those gradua- ting there since the war are: John C. Sellers, Hezekiah John- son, Robert P. Hamer, Jr., W. M. Hamer, P. A. Wilcox, J. S. McLucas, Walter H. Wells, Luther M. Haselden, Henry Mullins.
Wake Forrest, N. C.
The graduates from this College, as ascertained, are: Dr. C.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
T. Ford, Rev. Rufus Ford, Julian Dew, Baker Ford, Lila Cottingham.
The graduates from Marion in female colleges are equally as numerous as in the male departments. I have not the list of them. In education, Marion County will rank as high, accord- ing to her population, as any county in the State. She is now fully awake to her interest in that regard.
Political and Judicial History of Marion County.
The first divisions of the territory of the Province (State) were for purposes of "Church and State," to wit: parishes, counties and districts, partly political for representation in the Legislature, and partly judicial for the establishment of courts of justice for the convenience of the people and the adminis- tration of law, in conformity to the then existing laws of England, and for military purposes and the protection of the colonists against the hostile incursions of the Indians.
As early as 1682, twelve years after the first settlement of the province, it was deemed advisable to "divide the province, or rather the settled portions of it, into counties, and accord- ingly there were laid out, Berkeley, embracing Charleston and the space around the capital, extended from Seewee (Santee) on the north to Stono Creek on the south. Beyond this to the northward was Craven County, and to the southward Colleton County, all extending thirty-five miles from the coast. Shortly after this Carteret County was added." Subsequently Craven County was greatly extended, so as to embrace all the territory between Santee River and the Wateree up to the North Carolina province line; thence down the dividing line between North and South Carolina to the Atlantic Ocean, and thence the seacoast to the mouth of Santee River. At the time of this division, Craven County was much the largest of any of these counties, and was so sparsely settled that it was not particularly noticed. But twenty years afterward it was described as being pretty well inhabited, the Huguenots having settled on the Santee. About which time it sent two members to the General Assembly of the province. It took its name from William, Earl of Craven, one of the Lords Proprietors, and long retained it. (Gregg's History of the Old Cheraws,
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
PP. 31 and 32.) The same author says: "The first parochial organization in Craven County was under the Act of Assembly of 1706, commonly called the Church Acts, passed for the establishment of religious worship according to the Church of England and for erecting churches. It divided the province into ten parishes, of which Craven County constituted one, by the name of St. James Santee." (Statutes at Large, vol. II., P. 330.) The Circuit or District Court Act of 1768 divided the provinces into seven judicial districts, to wit : Charleston, Beaufort, Orangeburg, Georgetown, Camden, Cheraw and Ninety-Six. (Statutes at Large, vol. VII., p. 199, section II.) Each one of those districts covered three or more counties. By the Act of 1785, those districts were divided into counties. One district, Georgetown, was divided into four counties- Winyaw, Williamsburg, Kingston and Liberty. (Act of 1785, Statutes at Large, vol. IV., pp. 662 and 663, section I.) By the County Court Act of 1785 (vol. VII., Statutes at Large, p. 211), County Courts were established with limited jurisdiction. Courts to be held every three months in each county where established, by seven Justices of the Peace, or a majority of them. The Circuit Courts for our county (Liberty) were held in Georgetown. No County Court was ever held in any of the counties composing the Georgetown District. The 11th section of the County Court Act of 1785, appoints and em- powers the County Court Judges to select sites for court houses and jails of the several counties, and to contract for and build the same. As no County Court was established in Liberty County (now Marion), no court house or jail was built therein. No one had any power to contract for and to build, hence it was not until years afterwards that a court house and jail were erected in Liberty or Marion County. The Constitution of 1778 fixed the representation for the district east of the Wateree at two members in the Legislature, which so continued until the Constitution of 1790. The district east of the Wateree included Lancaster, Kershaw, Sumter, Clarendon, Darlington, Chesterfield, Marlborough, Marion, Williamsburg, Kingston and Georgetown, and also included the parishes of St. James Santee, Prince George Winyaw, All Saints, Prince Frederic and St. David, to each of which Representatives were assigned
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