USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 8
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
the parishes already established. Each settler was to pay four shillings a year for every hundred acres of land, excepting the first ten years, during which term they were to be rent free.' Governor Johnson issued a warrant to St. John, Surveyor General of the province, empowering him to go and mark out these townships; but he having demanded an exorbitant sum of money for his trouble, the members of the Council agreed among themselves to do this piece of service for their country." (Noble on the part of the Council.) "Accordingly, eleven townships were marked out by them in the following situa- tions : two on the River Altamaha, two on Savanna, two on Santee, one on Pee Dee, one on Wackamaw, one on Wateree and one on Black River." The writer does not understand how it was that two townships were to be laid out "on the River Altamaha," as that is a river of the afterwards Province of Georgia, and Georgia was not then settled, 1730-1731, and was not settled until two years afterwards (1733). The Province of South Carolina did not at that time, nor at any time since, have any jurisdiction beyond the Savannah River. It must have been the Edisto River, which may have been at that time called the "Altamaha River." The writer cannot otherwise account for it. "The township on the Pee Dee was called Queensborough, and to the time of its being marked out, 1731-1732, or a period a little subsequent, is to be assigned the date of our first settlements. There was no delay in the exe- cution of this work (of marking out the townships), which had been committed to the Governor by his Majesty's govern- ment, for building up its waste places and the more speedy set- tlement of the province." Bishop Gregg further says, on page 44: "From the annexed plot or draft, Queensborough appears to have been laid out on the Great Pee Dee, but a short distance above the mouth of Little Pee Dee River, embracing a part of what has since been known as Britton's Neck (a narrow strip of land between the two rivers), and extending also on the west side of the Great Pee Dee." He says further: "But for this plot, most unexpectedly found, the exact location of Queensborough Township could not have been determined." On page 45, he further says : "On the 14th February, 1734, it was ordered that the several persons who have laid out the
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
several townships do prepare a rough draft or plan of a town to be laid out in each township containing about 800 acres, out of which a common of 300 acres, to be laid out in the back part, and the remaining 500 to be laid out in half-acre lots, to be a convenient distance from the river." This was done accordingly, and the town for Queensborough Township was located on the west side of the Great Pee Dee, as the writer supposes, not far from Godfrey's Ferry. The township covered 20,000 acres, and lay on both sides of the river. How far it extended up the river is unknown, nor how far on each side, as the plot does not show the number of chains to the mile. The town thus laid out and located on the west side of the river in Queensborough Township seems never to have been settled as a town. Bishop Gregg says that up to 1734 no settlement was made in Queensborough Township.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Queensborough Township.
$
Y45€ 447.21
945E.447.21 Chains
Little Bee den River
1. 4S.W. 447.21. Column 1447.216haus
Queensborough
Jourslife
MSIT'S
This Jovenship together with time others in diferentes parts of the Province of S. C land of in 1731-1732.
-
This township, together with ten others in different parts of the Province of South Carolina, laid off in 1731-1732.
Bishop Gregg says, on page 45: "The inducements held out in connection with the township, appear to have led to a visit of some of the Welsh from Pennsylvania for the purpose of
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
exploration and settlement, and to removal very shortly after of the colony, which was destined to form so important an element in the history and progress of the region of the upper Pee Dee." He says, on page 47: "The first visit of the Welch to Pee Dee appears to have been made in the latter part of 1735 or early in the following year. It led to a remarkable act of favor on the part of the Council, to induce the colony to come. Wishing on their arrival to settle in a body, and be possessed of ample and exclusive privileges as to the occupancy of the soil, they peti- tioned the government that an extensive tract of land might be appropriated to their sole benefit for a certain period. This appears from a message of the Lieutenant-Governor to the lower House of Assembly, 2 February, 1737, in which he said: "The late Lieutenant-Governor, with the advice of his Majesty's Council, thought it would tend to the service and strengthening of the province to grant the petition of several natives of the principality of Wales, in behalf of themselves and others of their countrymen, who intended to settle in this province from Great Britain and Pennsylvania, praying the land near the fork, above the township (Queensborough) on Pee Dee River, might be reserved and set apart for their uses, and Mr. John Ouldfield being thought a very proper person, was employed for that service.' The petition here referred to bore date Au- gust 13th, 1736, having been favorably received by the Council, his Majesty's Surveyor-General, James H. St. John, Esq., was instructed to have the said tract laid out. Accordingly he directed a precept to John Ouldfield, bearing date November 16th, 1736, 'to admeasure and lay out for the Welsh families that were to be imported to this province a tract of land, con- taining in the whole one hundred and seventy-three thousand eight hundred and forty acres, situated and being in Craven County. Ten thousand acres, being part thereof, lying within the limits of the township of Queensborough, on the north side of Pee Dee River. The remainder of said tract lying on the south side of said river and abutting and bounding to southeast on the reserved land of the said township of Queens- borough, and all other sides on vacant lands, as are supposed.' The survey was made, and a plot thereof returned 29th Nov., 1736, of which a copy is annexed." The tract thus surveyed
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
extended up the river on both sides only a short distance above Mar's Bluff. It was not adapted to the wants of the Welsh people, the petitioners. They petitioned again the government for a further extension of the tract up the river, and after due consideration of this petition, the authorities granted it, by which it was extended up the river, to and even above the North Carolina State line, to the branches of said river, to wit: "Yadkin and Uwhare or Yadkin and Rocky River," a distance of over one hundred miles by the course of the river, and included a territory of eight miles on each side of the river the whole way. Thus the Welsh had exclusive privileges over an immense territory, probably half million of acres. This proves both the anxiety and benevolence of the government, and the Welsh were not slow in availing themselves of such unprece- dented advantages. This extension of their grant was dated 8th February, 1737. This first grant to the Welsh was after- wards extended up to North Carolina line, eight miles on each side of Pee Dee River.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
A Plat of the Welch Grant (First).
Containing 173,840 acres. November 16th, 1736. Scale of copy Plat, 320 chains per inch.
Jobs brock
1.45.6. 1280 Cham
Sust 1280 chances
Su
Youro dans mang
Sustr. 775 chaines
N.45W 1280 lekitus
SUSW. 1230 Chamavaal yl
$
"South Carolina.
"By virtue of precept to me directed by James H. Johns, Esq., His Majesty's Surveyor General, bearing date 16th No- vember, 1736, I have measured and laid for the Welsh familys that are to be imported to the province, a tract of land contain- ing in the whole one hundred and seventy-three thousand eight hundred and forty acres, situate and being in Craven County. Ten thousand acres being part thereof, lying within the limits of the township of Queensborough on the north side of Pee Dee River. The remainder of said tract lying on both sides of said river. Butting and bounding to the southeast on the reserved lands of the said township of Queensborough, and all other sides vacant lands as is supposed, and hath such shape, form and marks as are represented by this delineated plot
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
thereof. Given under my hand, 29th day of November, 1736,
per me. (Signed)
"Deputy Surveyor."
NOTE .- This copy made May 22, 1859, from original plat in Secretary of State's office by White & Ramsay, Deputy Sur- veyors.
These bodies of land were not civil or political divisions, but only tracts laid out to induce emigrants to come in and settle them. It was to increase the population, to begin the develop- ment of the vast resources of the soil, to raise products not only for home consumption but for exportation to Charleston and to England.
As to Queensborough Township, the laying it off was for the double purpose of inducing emigrants to come in and settle it up and to obtain lands cheaply, and in the Act or order of the Governor and Council for laying it and ten other townships ordered to be laid out at the same time, it was provided that so soon as the population in any township should amount to a hundred families, that such township should constitute a parish, and be entitled to two representatives in the General Assembly. To this extent it was a civil or political division. Whether any of the eleven townships laid off at that time, 1731-2, availed themselves of this political provision or not, is not known. It is very certain that Queensborough Township did not.
Marion County was designated for the first time as a civil or political division by the Act of 1785, and was called Liberty. Prior to that time, it formed part of the large county of Craven; but Craven County, as such, never had any represen- tation in the General Assembly. For political purposes, it was called the District East of the Wateree, and as such was entitled to two Representatives. (Constitution of 1778, I. vol. Statutes at Large, page 140, section 13.)
The politics of the Province of South Carolina up to the Revolutionary War were intensely British. After the Revo- lution, they did not take definite shape, as far as can now be gathered, until about the date of 1800, when her policy tended to support the views of Alexander Hamilton-who, though an
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
advocate for the adoption of the Federal Constitution of 1787, and a Federalist, yet he believed in a latitudinous construction of that instrument. He believed in a strong executive govern- ment. Hamilton was not alone; many able and truly patriotic men had the same views. John Adams and the Pinckneys, of South Carolina, ranged themselves on that side. They were, doubtless, honest in their opinions, laboring for the good of the country. In the presidential campaign of 1800, the contest was bitter and intensely exciting. Thomas Jefferson, the great apostle of Republicanism (Democratic) of that day, and John Adams, Aaron Burr and perhaps others, headed the two parties, Republicans and Federalists. There was no election by the people; hence, under the Constitution, the election de- volved upon the House of Representatives, in which, as the writer understands it, they voted by States ; each State counted one vote, and in that way the small States of Rhode Island and Delaware were as strong as the larger States-Virginia and New York. The House balloted thirty-seven times before an election was made. The race in the House was between Jef- ferson and Burr, each getting eight votes-South Carolina voting for Burr. On the thirty-seventh ballot, South Carolina and Tennessee voted blank; the result was, eight for Jefferson and six for Burr. Jefferson was declared elected President and Burr was declared elected Vice-President. It thus appears that South Carolina voted for thirty-six ballots for Burr and against Jefferson, the great leader of the Democracy of 1800. And though dead for three-quarters of a century, Jefferson is now the beau ideal of the Democracy of 1900. How it was that they then voted with the Federalists and against Democ- racy, has never been explained. Such is the record of history. In every presidential election since that time, except one in 1832, South Carolina has invariably voted for the Democratic candidate.
We have no means of ascertaining what were the politics of Marion County in 1800, but we presume they were in line with the balance of the State. On several occasions since that time, the people of Marion County have been divided on political issues, and have had some very bitter contests among them- selves. The first, in the order of time, was in 1832, on the
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
question of Nullification-that is, to decide whether or not South Carolina should nullify and make void within this State the tariff laws passed by Congress, and to resist by force, if necessary, the collection of the Federal revenue within this State. It raised a storm, a very tempestuous one, from the mountains to the seaboard, Marion included. One party was called Nullifiers and the other Union men. Marion District was aroused as it had never been before from its centre to its utmost limits. Each party had its candidates for delegates to the Convention. I do not know who the candidates were on the respective sides, but do know who were elected. The Nullifiers carried the county by a few votes-say thirty. Colonel Thomas Harllee, General William Evans and Alex- ander L. Gregg, from West Marion, were elected. The Con- vention convened in Columbia on the 19th November, 1832, and passed and adopted an ordinance of Nullification on the 24th November, 1832. (I. vol. Statutes at Large, pp. 329-333.) This Convention had in it many able men, and true patriots, such as R. W. Barnwell, Pierce M. Butler, C. J. Colcock, F. H. Elmore, Robert Y. Hayne, William Harper, Job Johnston, George MacDuffie, Stephen D. Miller, Charles C. Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney, John Lide Wilson, F. H. Wardlaw, R. Barnwell Smith (Rhett) and many others. Most of the Union delegates refused to sign the ordinance. The Convention issued a strong and stirring address to the people, setting forth their grievances and their rights and the proposed remedy. The die was cast. Preparations to resist by force were hastily made, war seemed imminent. Andrew Jackson was President of the United States. He issued a proclamation, Congress passed a force bill and everything looked like war. South Carolina seemed determined, and set about making the best preparation possible for defence. Turmoil and strife existed and permeated the whole State-brother arrayed against brother, father against son, neighbor against neighbor. Those were fearful times. The more thoughtful among us were scheming how to throw oil on the troubled waters, and to avoid a collision. Just at this juncture of affairs a ray of hope dawned upon us. The State of Virginia, seeing the danger, intervened in the interest of compromise and peace. With a
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
view to its accomplishment, she sent as an agent or a commis- sion to South Carolina the Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh, and he, with the aid of Hon. Henry Clay, the great pacificator of the United States in Washington, stayed the advance of grim- visaged war so close upon us, and brought about a compro- mise. Congress passed an Act for the gradual reduction of the tariff, the casus belli, down to a revenue standard-which South Carolina accepted, and repealed her ordinance of Nulli- fication. Thus was averted, for a period of near thirty years, a bloody fratricidal war. (I. vol. Statutes at Large, p. 390, et sequens. )
In repealing the ordinance, the Convention excepted from its operation the Act entitled "An Act further to alter and amend the militia laws of this State, passed by the General Assembly of this State on the 20th day of December, 1832." Thus preserving and manifesting a military spirit, which has ever characterized the State. The stirring times of the Nulli- fication struggle intensified the military ardor of our people, referred to more at large in the former part of this history, and opened the way for the contest a year or two later, in this (Marion) district, between Thomas Harllee and John F. Ervin for the colonelcy of the newly-organized 32d regiment of the South Carolina militia, and gave an impetus to and fanned into a flame the military spirit of the people, which continued with unabated ardor for years, and culminated in the founding of the Arsenal Academy in Columbia, and Citadel in Charleston. The Arsenal was preparatory to the Citadel, and they were largely patronized until they were broken up by the war of 1861-1865. Those schools turned out many useful and distin- guished men, versed in military affairs, and prepared to take the lead in the bloody contest of 1861-1865. Since the war (1882), the Citadel has been reorganized and is doing well, has an extensive patronage, and is turning out every year young men well educated and, especially in the arts of military life, prepared and equipped for service in any rank of military life, and competent to fill the highest positions in the army or honorable positions in civil life. It is one of the best schools in the State. The names of the sons of Marion County gradu- ating therein are hereinbefore given.
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Not long after the Nullification struggle, the Whig party in the United States was formed. In 1836, that party nominated for the Presidency Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, and the Democrats nominated Martin VanBuren, of New York. Van- Buren was elected. In that campaign, South Carolina was not much divided-she voted for VanBuren. In 1840, the Whig party had become very formidable. They nominated for the Presidency that year, William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, and for the Vice-Presidency, John Tyler, of Virginia. The Demo- crats nominated Martin VanBuren, of New York, for a second term, and Richard M. Johnson, for the Vice-Presidency. This campaign was called the "Log Cabin, Hard Cider, Coonskin and Red Pepper" campaign. In Nashville, Tenn., they actu-' ally built a log cabin, put it on wheels, with a barrel of hard cider planted in the top of it, a picture of their candidate pic- tured on it astraddle of the barrel with a quill in his mouth sucking the cider from the bung of the barrel; coon-skins and red pepper were hung all round the cabin, and the whole drawn through the streets of Nashville by four white horses. It was said in the newspapers of the day that Parson Brownlow, a Methodist preacher, and editor of a leading newspaper in Nashville, rode on top of the cabin, sucking cider out of the barrel with a quill, and gnawing the coon-skins-thus parading himself and his candidates through that refined city. And such emblems and "clap-trap" as that carried the election, not only in Tennessee, but in the United States. William Henry Harrison was, doubtless, a patriot and good man. The whole thing was gotten up, promulgated and carried through by his partisans, who were hungry for the "plums" of Federal pat- ronage. Unfortunately for the Whig party, President Harri- son lived only a month after his inauguration, and John Tyler, the Vice-President, became President, and proved to be about as good a Democrat as most public men belonging to the party. It is said that history repeats itself. John Tyler was with the Whig party only on one question, that of internal improvements by the government, and was nominated for the Vice-Presidency as a matter of policy-that is, to carry Virginia, then a large State, in the electoral college. Virginia then included what is now West Virginia. So in 1864, during the war, the Repub-
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
licans nominated Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat, for the Vice-Presidency on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln, as a matter of policy to mollify the South and to carry not only Tennessee, Johnson's State, but perhaps other Democratic States, against George B. McClellan, the Democratic candidate. They succeeded in the election, but Lincoln lived only a little over a month after inauguration, and Andrew Johnson became President. The Republican Congress was caught just like the Whig Congress, elected in 1840, was by John Tyler. Tyler vetoed the favorite Acts of the Congress of 1841-2, and the party in Congress were not strong enough to pass them over the veto by a two-thirds vote. Not so in Andrew Johnson's case. He vetoed the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, and the Republicans were strong enough to pass them over the veto by a two-thirds majority. Johnson did all he could to save the South from the horrors of reconstruction, but the Congress was too strong for him. They tried to impeach him, and came within one vote of succeeding in their mad effort. Andrew Johnson was far from being the man the South would have wanted for President. The South, however, owes him a debt of gratitude, though in his grave, for what he strove to do in her favor. Too many Thad. Stevens then in Congress, whose hearts were bent on revenge.
In the Log Cabin, Coon-skin and Red Pepper campaign of 1840, Marion District was about equally divided between the Democrats and the Whigs. There were strong men on both sides. The Whig candidates were, for the State Senate, Ben- jamin Gause, and for the House, David Palmer, Henry Davis and Dr. Daniel Gilchrist. The Democratic candidates were, for the Senate, Addison L. Scarborough, and for the House, John C. Bethea, Hugh Godbold and William T. Wilson. The people were wrought up to the highest point. VanBuren's administration of the government was too extravagant. His administration of the government had cost on an average $60,000,000 a year. That was paraded in the newspapers and all through the country as being enormous. Another fad cir- culated was that he slept on a $1,500 bedstead, and had other conveniences in proportion. When, now sixty years after that period, an administration of the government costs on an aver-
7
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
age of $500,000,000 a year, when not engaged in a foreign war. Our people are standing all this reckless expenditure of money now, when our fathers and grand-fathers could not stand $60,000,000. President VanBuren's extravagant administra- tion, together with the coon-skin and hard cider "clap-trap," hurled VanBuren from power. What shall be done now in the campaign of 1900? In 1840, the result in Marion District was the election of Benjamin Gause to the Senate by eighteen votes ; David Palmer, Henry Davis and John C. Bethea were elected to the House. Among the six candidates for Representatives, there were not fifty votes between the highest and the lowest of the six.
In the campaign of 1844, the Whigs and Democrats had another contest in Marion District. The respective parties had each its candidate for the Presidency. James K. Polk headed the Democratic party, and Henry Clay led the Whig party. Polk was elected President. The respective parties had each its candidates in Marion. Ex-Governor Dr. B. K. Henagan was the Democratic candidate for the Senate; John C. Bethea, Barfield Moody and Chapman J. Crawford were the Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives. Senator Benja- min Gause was a candidate for re-election to the Senate as the Whig candidate; William H. Grice, John Woodberry and N. Philips, Esq., were the Whig candidates for the House. The campaign was conducted with spirit and dogged determina- tion-every exertion possible was made by each party for success. The result was that the Democratic ticket carried the county by a majority of 200 or more. The writer remem- bers that Henagan's majority over Gause was 204. The campaign that year (1844) lacked the "Coon-skin and Red Pepper" clap-trap of 1840 to give it success. The class of men carried by such clap-trap in 1840 were generally such as could be swerved and seduced from that path by silent and effective influences, no doubt used, which were powerless in 1844. The writer remembers hearing a remark made by Colonel W. H. Grice, one of the defeated candidates for the House, at Marion on the second day of the election, when it was ascertained that the Democratic ticket was elected entire, to this effect: That such a thing had never before been heard of-the entire
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
delegation from a district, Senator and Representatives, all be- longed to one family. The Senator, Dr. B. K. Henagan, and Representatives, Bethea, Moody and Crawford, were all con- nected with each other by blood or marriage. The wife of Barfield Moody was the aunt of John C. Bethea and Chapman J. Crawford, Bethea and Crawford were first cousins; Craw- ford's father and Bethea's mother were brother and sister, and Moody's wife was a sister of Crawford's father and also of John C. Bethea's mother ; Bethea's name was John Crawford Bethea. The Senator-elect, Dr. B. K. Henagan's, mother was a Bethea. The result of the election verified Colonel Grice's remark; yet it was not a preconcerted arrangement,-it was only a happen so.
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