USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 5
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The plantation remained continuously in the Ball family, and was famous for its hospitality, even when its owner or occupant was a bachelor (which happened sometimes during the long period that Comingtee was in this family) ; yet so perfect were the arrangements made for guests that in every sleeping room was to be found the old four-poster, double bed and a trundle bed or crib.
The property rested finally with Alwyn Ball, Jr., of Ruther- ford, N. J., who removed the wooden annex and restored the brick building in the old style; he recollected and replaced in their old places all the family treasures of furniture, plate and paintings. A history of the Balls would touch in some vital way the lives of most men and women of prominence in the early history of the state, and would include a record of many interesting events, but space permits of only brief mention of the lives of some of them in connection with the homes they builded and occupied. Through the courtesy of Mrs. I. G. Ball, Jr., (nee Jane Johnson, daughter of Dr. John Johnson, D.D., soldier, scholar and priest of God) an unusual oppor- tunity was granted for scanning family records and extracting and quoting from precious passages of the Ball Book, com- piled by Mr. A. Alwyn Ball, of Rutherford, N. J., the last Ball owner of Comingtee.
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CHILDSBURY AND STRAWBERRY CHAPEL
Dr. Irving, in his "Day on Cooper River," states that it was at Childsbury that the British forces in the Keowe expedi- tion were landed from their transports and marched under Governor Littleton: and that at the same place Col. Wade Hampton took fifty prisoners and burned four vessels laden with valuable stores for the British Army quartered near Biggin Church.
At Strawberry Ferry-i.e., the plantation of that name- says the same writer, the "Strawberry Jockey Club" used to hold its annual meetings. The club having been dissolved in 1882, the race course was ploughed up and converted into a corn-field.
The earliest mention of the name Strawberry appears to be in the act of 17th February, 1705, which declares that "ye Inhabitants of the Eastern & Western branches of y' T of Cooper River are willing at their own proper Cost & Charge to make a fferry at yª Plantation of Mr. James Childs Known comonly by ye name of ye Strawberry Plantation."
The old cypress on which the rates of ferrage was painted has become mortised into a tree on the Strawberry side-the tree had overgrown it at least 100 years ago. From this it is safe to conclude that the signboard has been there for several generations. The primitive ferry is still in use by those who wish to pass across the river.
The town must have assumed some position during the life of James Child, after whom it was called, and in February, 1723, an Act was passed which recited that James Child had by his will given 500 acres for a common, and money for the support of a free school, and also a place for a market in the town, and that "the inhabitants of Childsbury are very much incommoded as well for want of certain market days in each wock to be appointed for Childsbury town" as for want of public fairs to be held there at least twice a year. A beautiful little chapel is still in use at Strawberry.
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MEPKIN
Mepkin, on Cooper River's western branch (eastern side) above the "T," consisted of 3000 acres and was the country home of the Laurens family, Henry Laurens having bought it in 1672 from the John Colleton estate. The entrance gates and avenue to Mepkin are still intact, but the fine old house has fallen to decay, although it was built of bricks on a high base- ment. The edifice was two stories in height, and was con- structed after the same general square plan of the Laurens town house.
The diary of Timothy Ford says, "Within sight of Wash- ington is the seat & Plantation of his excellency Henry Laurens, agreeable prospect of which induces us to visit it to-day (Tuesday). Contrary to our expectations he had gone to town, we were not however disappointed of viewing the place which displays the beauties and advantages of nature no less than the ingenious improvements of its owner. He is a rare instance of method, whereby his plantation raises itself above those of this country in which everything is done immethodi- cally by the round about means of force & Labour."
Henry Laurens (born in Charleston 1734, died there 1792) was a swarthy, well-knit man, somewhat below middle size; a man very much the master of himself and his moods and passions. His lips, as shown in the portrait of him by Copley, recently discovered in London, were naturally so firm as not to need to be compressed. The nose was not long, drooping just a little at the end to hide the nostrils, and his eyes were very watchful. The whole man looked aggressive and just a bit cocksure. The face was roundish and firm about the jaws.
Henry Laurens was the first son of John Samuel Laurens. He was raised as a merchant and the wide general education he possessed was obtained after arriving at manhood through his habit of extensive reading. In 1744 he was sent to London . to obtain training as a merchant, and in 1736 he was prominent in the organization of the first fire insurance company in the United States. In 1739 he closed out his Charleston business and returned to London, where for many years he carried on
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an extensive trade, largely with America. In 1749 he was made agent for the colony in England, a position which he held until 1750. In 1771 and 1774 Laurens was again in London, but as. a retired Carolina merchant and rich planter.
Young Laurens is said to have met "the beautiful Eleanor Ball," daughter of Elias Ball, at a plantation on Cooper River, and they were married on July 6, 1750, when he was at the age of 26. Of Laurens' 12 or more children who reached maturity only three survived their father.
While Laurens was a great merchant, he was something more. Though keenly engaged in business, he looked upon public affairs as vitally a part of his life. In the Indian War of 1761, in the full tide of his wealth getting, he accepted a commission, collected recruits and marched into the Ap- palachian Mountains.
Henry Laurens was first elected to the House of Assembly in South Carolina in 1757 and continued to be elected except on one occasion until the Revolution. Toward the end of October, 1777, Hancock resigned the presidency of the Con- tinental Congress, and on November 1, 1777, the position was conferred upon Henry Laurens by a unanimous vote. It was during his presidency that a strong friendship between LaFayette and Laurens developed. When LaFayette was wounded Laurens took him in his own carriage to the officers' hospital near Yorktown.
In October, 1779, Henry Laurens was commissioned to go to Europe to purchase leather for the use of the colonial army. He sailed on the Mercury, which was convoyed by a 16-gun vessel, but his vessel was captured by a British ship while off the coast of Newfoundland. He carried valuable papers, which he endeavored to destroy by casting overboard. but they were recovered from the sea and used against him. He was first taken before the admiral at St. Johns, N. F. Thence he was taken to London and was committed to the Tower of London on the charge of high treason. In the beginning of December, 1781, his release, owing to the interest of Edmund Burke and Franklin, was assured. The release was made with the view of exchanging him for General Cornwallis. On
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the last day of the year 1781, unable to stand except on crutches, Laurens was released, and in 1782 was appointed Peace Commissioner to Paris. His services, terminating only with his departure for America, were of great importance and entitled him to be considered the first minister of the United States to England.
This distinguished father had a scarcely less distinguished son. John Laurens (born in South Carolina in 1755, educated in England and France) served on the staff of General Wash- ington during the Revolution; also served with Major General Lincoln in South Carolina in 1779, and was wounded at Coosa- whatchie Bridge. He was a special envoy to France-in 1781, returned to America at the end of the year and took part in the campaign in South Carolina in 1782, and was killed in a fight with the British at Chehaw Neck, on Combahee River, August 27, 1782.
A portrait of John Laurens is to be found in the State House at Columbia, S. C., and through the efforts of Colonel John Dargan was only recently publicly "unveiled" with suit- able ceremonies, as a tardy recognition of the services this son of Carolina rendered to his native land. The act of unveiling the picture was done by Laurens descendants of a collateral branch of the family, John Laurens having left no "hostages to the future."
In writing to this son during the Revolution Henry Laurens once closed his letter with the following lines :
"My Dear Son
I pray God protect you & add to your knowledge & learning, if it be necessary, discretion-
HENRY LAURENS."
Like all rice planters, Henry Laurens possessed a town house, situated at the southeast corner of Laurens Street and East Bay ; it has only recently been destroyed. As originally built the house was of nine-inch-long brick, and so substantial from the cellar to the heavily hewn timbers of the spacious
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attic that even after the many years it stood firm and true until torn down to make room for the Seaboard Air Line R. R.
With it perished colonial carvings, marble mantels, set-in book cases, thick walls, secret doors, and, on the upper floor, a wonderful ballroom, It was in this room that Henry Laurens' sister, a young girl, was laid out when she died. She lay facing a window, and her love for the garden, which used to extend to the river's edge, worked a miracle ; a storm came up, and through the open window rain dashed into her face. A watcher, noticing that the little maid's eyelids quivered, called help. The maiden revived and lived to be an old lady.
The incident left such an impression upon her brother that his will directed that his body should be burned at death. He concluded his will with these words :
"I come to the disposal of my own person. . I sol- emnly enjoin it on my son as an indispensable duty that as soon as he conveniently can, after my decease, he cause my body to be wrapped in 12 yards of Tow Cloth and burnt until it be entirely and totally consumed and then collect my bones, deposit them wherever he shall think proper."
This request was duly complied with, and his body wrapped in tow cloth and burned on his plantation in an iron coffin at night. The slaves gathered round the flaming funeral pyre, while just below the dark waters of the Cooper River swirled and eddied at the foot of Mepkin Bluff.
ELWOOD
According to the Ball Book, Alwyn Ball, son of the first John, married, early in life, Esther McClellan, and lived at Elwood plantation, a place situated a little above Comingtee, on the same side of the western branch. Alwyn combined a passion for hunting with a gift for music. His house was in Cordesville, "the summer pineland village." It was after- wards purchased by his nephew, Keating Simons Ball. The building was quaint in appearance, with an enormous shed that made it look like an East Indian bungalow.
Alwyn Ball died in Charleston in 1835 at the early age of 28 years, in a house on a part of the lot now occupied by the
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St. Francis Xavier Infirmary, and was buried at Strawberry Chapel, on Cooper River, near his old home.
. His funeral procession was very dramatic, as his remains were to be taken up the river on a boat. The cortege wound its way through the city streets to the wharf where the boat awaited. First went the hearse, behind which was "Josh," a faithful servant and huntsman, leading his master's hunting horse saddled and bridled : with them were Mr. Ball's favorite dogs, a couple of deer hounds. The family followed in proper conveyances. When the wharf was reached the coffin was placed on its trestle in the bow of the boat, the dogs guarded it all the way up the river. When the coffin was being lowered .. into the grave Josh carried out his master's last directions by sounding a loud blast on his hunting horn, which was then thrown into the grave and buried with the young master who so often in life had answered its summons to the chase.
RICE HOPE
Rice Hope, adjoining Comingtee, was the property of "venerable Read," one of the last surviving heroes of the Revolution, who became possessed of this property by mar- riage with Sarah Harleston, eldest daughter of Col. John Harleston. This plantation was banked and cleared in part from its native wilderness in 1795 by Dr. Read. The titles are as follows :
John Harleston's "Will, dated 2 Octo. 1790, devised Rice Hope Plantation on the East Bank of the Western Branch of Cooper River to his daughter, Sarah Read, with right of sur- vivorship to her husband, Dr. Wm. Read, and after their death to the issue of the marriage. Dr. Wm. Read survived Sarah, his wife, and died in April 1845 leaving I. Harleston Read and Elizabeth A. Parker the only surviving children of the said marriage, who thus became entitled to one moiety each."
It would seem that Harleston Read bought his sister's share from a "Conveyance dated 2 feby. 1846, from Peter Parker and Elizabeth A., his wife, to I. Harleston Read of an undivided moiety of ' All that certain plantation or tract of land called Rice Hope situate lying and being etc. . . . meas-
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uring and containing in the whole 1709 acres more or less, comprising 271 acres of Rice land and Marsh, and the residue provision, wood, reservoir, pine and other lands.' The bounds are given as 'to the north partly on Cooper river, the Childs- bury Township, and the Strawberry Ferry tract of land be- longing to the Estate of Ball, to the east on lands of the Estate of Ball and lands of Calhoun, to the south on lands of Cal- houn, and Ball, and on Cooper river, and to the west by Cooper river.' "'
Beyond Rice Hope are found the following plantations, which do not, however, contain houses: Washington, North and South Chacan and Sportsman's Retreat.
ABOVE THE TEE-THE BLUFF AND BEYOND ON THE
WESTERN SIDE OF THE WESTERN BRANCH
The Bluff is opposite Strawberry Ferry, and consequently one of the ferry slips is on this plantation once owned by Major Isaac Harleston.
In the Ball Book: "From a letter of Wambaw Elias we learn that Elias of Limerick was not on speaking terms with his cousin the gallant Major Isaac Harleston. There is no clue to the cause of this quarrel, unless on the principle that --- 'Lands intersected by a narrow frith abhor each other.' "'
The house at the Bluff is a long, low, rambling old building, quaint enough, yet having no particular quality except per- manency, but being of deep interest on account of the Moultrie family, whose country place it was for many years. It passed finally, by marriage, to the Ball family, and is now used as a hunting club.
Timothy Ford, while visiting at Washington, a neighbor- ing place, said in his Diary (1785-1786) :
"We employ much of our time in sporting with our guns, which also give me an opportunity of seeing the different plantations in the vicinity of Washington. They are chiefly rice plantations & of course there prevails a sameness thro the whole-but still there is a variety in regard of buildings, avenues, walks & gardens. There is a common taste for im- provements of this kind among the planters here about. On Wednesday Mr. Edwards being informed that Colo Moultrie
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brother of the Governor & Att. Gen. of the State has arrived at his seat about 2 miles hence with some company from town proposes that we-all take tea there in the afternoon by . which means I have an introduction to him, his Lady, Miss Smith and Mª Moultrie his nephew from England. Miss Smith knows well that she is thought handsome; she possesses accomplish- ments, some sense, & a great deal of vanity.
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"Mrs. Edwards invites the company to dine with her on friday. Thursday we spend in romping about the plantation Barns &c. & in viewing the negroes at work at the rice- On Friday the company dine with us & in the evening we attempt to dance but find the music so bad that we are obliged to desist. I am more confirmed in my opinion of the rattling disposition of Miss Smyth : of the innumerable merits of Miss Beckworth & the hospitality, generosity, affability, & goodness of M". Edwards. Mr and Mrs. Holmes are no less entitled to my high- est esteem & gratitude. On Saturday we all received an invita- tion to dine on Sunday at Colo Moultries, where we meet an accession of company from Charleston. Dinner is served up at 416 oClock & the desert by candle light-On Mon- day we form a maroon party to visit some saw mills about 8 miles hence which in this country are considered objects of curiosity."
From a sketch by the late Dr. James Moultrie, with anno- tations by A. S. Salley, Jr., we learn that Dr. John Moultrie, the Emigrant, and the progenitor of the Moultrie family of South Carolina, was born in Culross, Shire of Fife, Scotland. He was a physician of eminence and a graduate of the Uni- versity of Edinburgh. He came to Charles Town, S. C., anterior to 1729 in which year his name appears among the signatures of the original founders of the St. Andrew's Club, now Society. Born 1702. Died in 1771. He married first Lucretia Cooper, and, after her death, Elizabeth Mathewes. By his first wife he had the following children : John, Royal Lieut .- Gov. E. Florida: William, Major-General in American Revolution : James, Chief Justice E. Florida; and Thomas, Capt. in American Revolution. By his second wife he had one child, Alexander, Attorney-General of South Carolina, who married Catherine Judith Lennox, and whose daughter Catherine married her cousin, Dr. James Moultrie, fifth son of Hon. John Moultrie, M.D., of Charleston, S. C., by his sec-
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ond wife, Eleanor Austin, daughter of Capt. George Austin of the Royal Navy and Ann Ball. Hon. John Moultrie received the degree of M.D. at the University of Edinburgh in 1749. He. returned to Carolina, where he practiced his profession until 1767, when he removed to East Florida and was ap- pointed Royal Lieutenant-Governor of that. Province, which office he continued to hold until Florida was ceded to Spain, at which time he removed with his family to England. He is. buried in Sheffnal Church, Shropshire. He had several chil- dren, but we are concerned with only two of them, John and James.
In an old book of memoranda by Lydia Child is the fol- lowing entry : "January 5th, 1762, Mrs. Eleanor Austin ran away with Mr. John Moultrie and was married." Tradition hath it that Capt. Austin, her father, was opposed to this match. Capt. Austin, who had been a merchant in Charles Town, returned to England, where he lived upon his estate, Aston Hall, in Shropshire. After a lapse of some years the Hon. Henry Laurens undertook and effected a reconciliation between father and daughter after this manner: "When he went to England he took with him a picture of Mrs. Eleanor Moultrie and her two sons, John and James, which, in the absence of Capt. Austin from home, he hung in the dining room at Aston Hall," and upon Capt. Austin's return he was much incensed with his servants for allowing a stranger to take such a liberty, but finally the reconciliation was effected through Mr. Laurens' action.
Mrs. Jane Moultrie, wife of Maj. George Austin Moultrie, writing to Mrs. E. A. Poyas in May, 1849, says : "The picture you allude to of Mrs. Eleanor Moultrie and her two sons, James on her lap and John, my husband's father, standing by her knee offering her a rose, still hangs where Mr. Henry Laurens, perhaps, first placed it, in our dining room at Aston Hall." Capt. George Austin lies buried at Sheffnal Church. He be queathed Aston Hall to his grandson, John Moultrie, who married in England Catherine Ball, daughter of a Tory, Elias Ball, called "Elias of Wambaw," formerly of Wambaw Plantation, South Carolina, afterwards of Bristol, England,
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and his wife, Catherine Gaillard, a South Carolina woman from one of the plantations adjoining Wambaw.
So John remained in England, but James returned to South Carolina, and was evidently the "nephew from England" re- ferred to by Timothy Ford as visiting Mr. Moultrie. He was a doctor, having received hi's degree at the University of Edin- burgh, and returned to Charleston, the place of his nativity, and married in 1790 his cousin Catherine, daughter of Alex- ander, fifth son of the Emigrant, as spoken of before.
The fourth son and fifth child of this marriage was named William Lennox, and like his father followed the profession of medicine. He was twice married; his first wife being Hannah Child Harleston, by whom he had seven children, and after her death he took for his second wife Juliet Hall Ingraham (daughter of Capt. Nathaniel Ingraham) by whom he had two children, Mary Louisa and Eleanor Catherine. The latter died in infancy, and the former married in her twenty-third year Isaac Ball, Esq., Planter. Thus the Bluff passed into the hands of the Ball family where for many years Mr. and Mrs. Ball and their large and interesting family resided until their removal to Charleston, where they are now to be found as members of the "Kingly" Balls, their sons having married among the Weissenger, Grimke, Jervey, and Porter families, while their daughters have married among the Ficken and Rhett families.
The most distinguished member of the Moultrie family is Major General William Moultrie, some of whose descendants are found in the Brailsford family of South Carolina. The life and achievements of General Moultrie are too well known to be listed, and are briefly told by a memorial tablet to be found in the vestibule of St. Philip's Church, Charleston.
PIMLICO
Pimlico, next to the Bluff, has an interesting history, con- cerning which the Ball Book has this to say (page 140) :
One of Alwyn Ball's brothers, Hugh Swinton Ball (1808) married "Miss Anna Channing, daughter of Walter Channing. of Boston. They had several children, all of whom died very
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.young. His wife and himself both perished in the wreck of the steamer Pulaski, on their way from New York-to Charles- ton. The boiler exploded on the night of the 14th of June, 1838; the vessel was blown to pieces, and many of the pas- sengers were lost. Soon after their death, a lawsuit, which lasted several years, arose about the property. As the sur- vivor was to inherit the bulk of it, the question was, which one was the survivor-a question not easily decided after a scene of such confusion and terror. The court finally decided in favor of the plaintiffs-Mrs. Ball's family-the evidence (as I have heard ) showing that Mrs. Ball's voice had been heard calling in the darkness for Mr. Ball; and the presumption was, that, had he been living at the time, he would have answered her. By this decision, not only his wife's property, which was considerable, but more than half of his own, went to the plain- tiffs. His intention had been to leave his plantation Pimlico to his nephew, Elias Nonus Ball, son of his brother, Elias Octavus; but the plantation and the negroes had to be sold for division. His nephew, however, found himself in possession of a very comfortable property on coming of age." After the sinking of the Titanic in 1914 this case was cited in court.
A wonderfully built and well-finished, hipped-roof wooden house is found at Pimlico. Its side faces south on the river, but Pimlico is approached on the landward side by a famous oak avenue that curves in from the public road a mile distant. It is now a sportsman's estate, once the home of people who not only gloried in the out-of-doors; but who skillfully used the beauties of nature as a worthy setting for a southern plan- tation residence. According to the present front elevation the original plan of the house provided for tall columns within the exterior walls, indicating the presence of a portico, but the recent addition of a small modern piazza has changed consid- erably the perfect simplicity of the old design.
Inside the house a cultured atmosphere of fine colonial days is immediately restored by the presence of exquisitely finished, hand-carved woodwork on the windows, wainscoting and mantels. The stairway, a perfect example of its kind, rises from the rear of a long entrance hall, adjoining which
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are two large, perfectly proportioned rooms. The exact date of this house is hard to place, but it is of a similar type of house found all up and down the river. However little we know of the date of the construction of this building, the plantation itself was among the grants made to the three sons of Sir John Colleton, described as being opposite to Mepkin, near Strawberry Ferry and on the other side of the river, on a plantation called Mepshew, and now known as Pimlico.
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