USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 8
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''At the races I saw a fine collection of excellent, though very high-priced horses, and was let a little into the 'singular Art and Mystery of the Turf. ' "
Isaac Harleston was a great favorite with his brother- officers of the Revolution, as the following letter will show:
"Dear Isaac
The Genl: & Col: if I remember were not determined to dine with you. when invited-I was there last Night -- and they then, upon my taking leave-s" they she see me at your Quar- ters at dinner to-day-this hint I give that you may exert yourself for Eels & fresh butter of which the Genl : & Col : are very fond-Shubrick is to land at your wharf-Remind me wien I see you of a small anecdote of Col; Wigfall
Mond' morg-"
Y's R. SMITH.
BONNEAU'S FERRY, PRIOLI AND THE VILLA
As there are few old houses left on this particular part of Cooper River it is best to briefly mention the places in their order, so that the continuity of the sketches will be preserved. Anyone interested in land titles will find all of this definite information thoroughly discussed by Judge Smith in the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, and no effort is made in the present volume to re-cover that ground, the human-interest story being featured in these accounts of the old houses.
Early in 1712, when Charles Craven was governor, Bon- neau's ferry was in existence. When a courtship was taking place in the neighborhood the ferryman prospered, and one of the Ball account-books has item after item put down to ferriage.
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Built about 1800
TOWN HOUSE OF THE BALL FAMILY, VERNON STREET, CHARLESTON
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EASTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER
. Prioli, next to the Hut, was sometimes called Bonneau's Ferry, while it was the property of Dr. T. G. Prioleau. This arose from the fact that Samuel Bonneau had lived there at one time. Ile left two daughters. one of whom married John Ewing. Calhoun, and the other Zekiel Pickens .. The latter sold to Mr. Prioleau and moved to Brick Yard, a plantation on the other side of the river.
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The Villa, next to Prioli, was originally called Gerard's Plantation. It was once owned by John Harleston, Jr., son of Edward Harleston, who married the daughter of Thomas Lynch. After Harleston's death his widow married Major Jane's Hamilton, and their son was the General Hamilton of "Nullification'? days. They resided for a time at the Villa, then sold it to Frederick Rutledge, who married Miss Harriet Horry, and it was then called "Harriet's Villa."
RICHMOND. FARMFIELD AND BOSSIS
Richmond and Farmfield, the two plantations next above the Villa, were Harleston places, Richmond being for a long time the seat of Colonel John Harleston, who had purchased a large tract of land comprising both Richmond.and Farmfield. from Dr. Martine. In the subsequent division of property Richmond fell to Colonel Harleston's daughter Jane, who mar- ried Edward Rutledge, and Farmfield to his daughter Eliza, who married Thomas Corbett.
On the first of these plantations there formerly stood a noble mansion, placed on the brow of a hill about 200 yards from the river side. In 1842 it was owned by Dr. Benjamin Inger, who married a Miss Harleston, and their son, William Harleston Huger, was one of the best-known physicians of Charleston. He married Miss Sabina H. Lowndes, a daughter of Charles T. Lowndes.
William H. Huger attended, as a youth, a private school conducted by Mr. Christopher Coates, after leaving which he went to the South Carolina College, where he graduated in 1846, and after a short vacation entered the Medical College of South Carolina and studied in the office of Dr. Peter C. ·Gailliard. After completing a course in medicine he went to
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Paris to continue his studies. He took a course of lectures . and a hospital-course in the French capital, his companions there being Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Dr. Cornelius Kollock and his close friends, Dr. Christopher FitzSimons. When he had finished this course he returned to Charleston and began the practice of his profession, which he continued until his last illness in 1906.
Shortly after his return to Charleston from Paris, while a young man, Dr. Huger was elected physician to the Charles- ton Orphan House; this position he held to the day of his death. During the Confederate War he was stationed first on James Island, and later was put in charge of the army hospital in Charleston. After that city was evacuated, Dr. Huger was sent to the hospital at Cheraw, and afterwards transferred to Sumter. Like all of the Harleston people, he was passionately fond of horse-flesh, and greatly admired fine stock. He was for many years a steward of the Old South Carolina Jockey Club.
Richmond plantation has on it an old burying ground; the inscriptions found on the tombstones inchide Harleston, Cor- bett, Read, Withers, and Rutledge names.
Adjoining Farmfield is Bossis, a plantation once owned by Nicholas Harleston the first. It had at one time belonged to a Mr. Bosse, hence the name of the property. Mrs. D. S. Lesesne, of Charleston, has now in her possession some of the old plantation belongings from this place when it was owned by the Harleston family.
EASTERN SIDE OF EASTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER THE HAGAN
Just at the point where the Cooper divides into its two branches there is situated, on the eastern bank, a plantation known as The Hagan. The first grant covering this was one made August 24, 1688, to Samuel Wilson of 1000 acres, de- scribed as bounding west on Ahagan Creek, which was the Indian name for a creek of considerable size flowing from the southward into the eastern branch of the river at the T. It is
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EASTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER
variously spelled Ahagan, Hagan and Elegging Creek. The high bluff on the river near the mouth. of the creek is called Ahagan Bluff.
In 1748 Daniel Huger bought the Hagan tract from Wil- Hmm Moore, and two other tracts adjoining the same planta- tion from Mr. Hull and Bonneau. Wm. Moore had received this plantation from his grandmother, Sarah Rhett, wife of William Rhett, who acquired the land in 1720 from Henry Miller. He had gotten it in 1708 from nieces of Thomas Gun, who obtained the property in 1690 from Samuel Wilson, to whom it had been granted by the Lord Proprietors.
Mr. Huger acquired other lands on French Quarter Creek, and was also owner of "Limrick" plantation, within the Cypress Barony. He was one of the wealthiest landholders in the neighborhood, possessing a place as far south as Ashepoo. He had much property in the city of Charleston, and in Lis will bequeathes :
"To son Benjamin my corner House in Charles Town front- ing the broad Street with my other four Houses adjoining it and fronting Church Street. . To son Daniel Corner House in Charles Town, fronting on Elliott Street and to Son Isaac tenement adjoining in Elliott Street."
John Huger, son of Daniel, was left by his father "the plantation called the Hagan."
In 1782 a battle was fought at Videau's Bridge on Brabant plantation between Coffin's cavalry of the British Army and a detachment under Col. Richard Richardson, and although the Americans later suffered defeat, the British were the losers in the first attack, and "Mad Archie" Campbell was captured by two. Venning brothers. The horse of one brother refusing to carry double, Nicholas Venning took the prisoner behind him on his horse. Finding that he was making an effort to escape, Nicholas, as ordered, shot him. Mortimer Venning, his grandson, recorded the incident, and kept in his possession the sword his grandfather had worn, which, however, was lost, together with other valuable possessions, after the War between the States. The sword was made of a saw-blade
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bound with wire to a wooden handle, and was used by Nich- olas Venning until the close of the Revolution.
' The old house and residence at Brabant shared the fate of so many of the family residences in St. Thomas' Parish; de- 'struction by fire, and abandonment, consequent upon the com- plete overturn of private and public fortunes by the war of 1861-1865.
BEYOND FRENCH QUARTER CREEK-PLANTATIONS CONTIGUOUS TO THE RIVER
CHERRY HILL, CEDAR HILL, THE BLESSING, CAMP VERE
According to Dr. Irving, Cherry Hill was owned by Capt. Duncan Ingraham, and Cedar Hill by James Poyas. Both of these places had previously been in the Laurens family. He also says that the The Blessing plantation, north of French Quarter Creek, extending along the river as far as Camp Vere, was owned by the late Henry Laurens.
The history of Blessing and Camp Vere is recited in a celebrated law suit in which are quoted several old wills. Ex- tracts from that of Margaret H. Laurens, found in the Bill for Instruction and Relief, published in the records of the Court . of Equity in the Charleston district in the case of the executors of M. H. Laurens vs. Annie Isabel Laurens and others, show that Margaret Laurens was the widow of Frederick Laurens, of Camp Vere, and that the said Margaret purchased a plan- tation on Cooper River called The Blessing.
In the suit in which these papers appear a most interest- ing story is told. It seems that Margaret Laurens had an adopted grandson, Alfred Raoul Walker, to whom she left a legacy of $20,000 upon certain conditions. He was the infant child of Benjamin Walker, then a resident of Canada. The boy, apparently, was a minor at law, living in Charleston with his godmother, Miss Susan Quash, when Mrs. Laurens' will was probated. The adopted grandmother being dead, the question arose as to how Raoul was to be supported and edu- cated, and as to what would become of the legacy if he should die under 21 years of age, or should fail to comply with the conditions prescribed by the will of Mrs. Laurens, viz .: that
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he was to receive none of the capital until he had studied and acquired a profession. The will naïvely reads, "I earnestly reconunend him not only to acquire a profession, but to prac- tice it." She also recommended to him to assume the surname of his great-grandfather, Mr. Pinckney. The celebrated Dr. John D. Irving, who wrote "A Day on Cooper River," was a witness to this will.
MIDDLEBURG
On the plantation of Middleburg, situated in old St. Thomas and St. Denis' Parish, across the river from Rich -. mond, stands a fine old wooden house, very difficult to describe except as belonging to the farm house type. Here also is still standing a rice mill, built in 1800 of black cypress; one of the first toll-mills for rice in operation in South Carolina. Rice was sent here from Georgetown and other distant places.
Middleburg is best identified as the residence of the Simons family. Judge Smith says that the plantation of Middleburg is in a personal aspect one of the most interesting in the State. It was the starting point of the Simons family, one of the most prolific and well known from its character and widespread . connection in the low-country. . The first owner and settler of . the place was Benjamin Simons, the first immigrant of the name. The record does not show exactly when he arrived, but he is supposed to have been one of the French Huguenot immi- grants. The name Middleburg, which is found attached to the plantation from a very carly date, is supposed to be after Middleburg, the ancient capital of the province of Zeeland in Holland; however, any connection, if any, which Benjamin Simons might have had with the foreign Middleburg is not generally known.
The first Benjamin Simons took out grants for considerable acreage in this parish, and was well to do. Benjamin Simons the second had 13 children, and Benjamin Simons the third, who married Catherine Chicken, made large additions to the Middleburg tract. The immigrant Benjamin Simons married Mary Esther duPre, and the graves of both are found at Pompion Hill Chapel.
HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
After the death of the third Benjamin, Middleburg was partitioned among his three daughters. The home place, Mid- dleburg, was allotted to Lydia, who married Jonathan Lucas, and after her husband's death it was left to their son, Jon- athan Lucas. The Lucas family retained it until long after 1865, so that the part of Middleburg granted to Benjamin Simons in 1704 remained in one family over a hundred and sixty years, and passed later, with Horts and Smoky Hill, to Mr. John Coming Ball, with whom it now rests.
A study of the Simons family has revealed the fact that Keating, James, Robert, Morris and Edward Simons-took up arms in the cause of American Independence. Our own time shows the names in recent history of Colonel James Simons and Dr. Manning Simons as distinguished descendants of these no less distinguished ancestors.
LONGWOOD
Longwood plantation adjoins Pompion Hill Chapel, which stands on land between Middleburg and Longwood on the Cooper River front. On June 12, 1738, Longwood was con- vey ed by Benjamin Simons to Thomas Hasell, who; in 1747, conveyed :it. to John Hasell; the latter in 1750 disposed of it to Samuel Thomas, Rector of St. Thomas' Parish as early as 1738. It afterwards became the property of the vestry, who sold it in 1784 to Capt. Thomas Shubrick; from then it passed to Gabriel Manigault.
Alfred Huger, a former Postmaster of Charleston, once owned the property called Pompion Hill; during his owner- ship, and presumably by him, the name of the place was changed from Pompion Hill to Longwood. The reason for this is not known, but the old name fell into disuse as applied to the plantation, and was restricted to the bluff on which the Chapel stands. The plantation is still called Longwood, and after Mr. Huger's death after the war of 1861-1865 it was sold away.
QUINBY
Quimby, now corrupted to Quinby and sometimes Quenby, was originally the ancestral seat of the Ashby family, who
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"QUIMBY," EASTERN BRANCH COOPER RIVER The Ashby home, now a Ball House
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"MIDDLEBURG," EASTERN BRANCH COOPER RIVER The ancestral home of the simons family
EASTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER
bad so named their Carolina place, after their place at Quimby, England. This plantation is situated opposite Bossis, and adjoining Longwood to the northeast, on the east bank of the eastern branch.
Elizabeth Ball, once Mrs. John Ashby, was three times married. Upon her tombstone it is recorded that she was a woman of rare economy. She was the third daughter of Elias Ball the first, and when she was about the age of sixteen, mar- ried in 1727 John Ashby, a widower with one son, of St. Thomas' Parish. His home was Quimby, the Ashby place about eight miles up the river from Comingtee, and on the opposite side; but Love and Capt. Bonneau's ferry found the way to bridge the distance, and so Elizabeth and John con- sented together in the Holy Estate.
Their married life must have been of brief duration, for his will dates 1728. It was generous to his widow of barely eighteen, and his plantation is left to his son and heir. John Ashby, along with Webdoe on the Santee, but should this son die without heirs both plantations were to go to Elizabeth, who was to have the right of residence until John became of age.
.. Eleven months after Mr. Ashby's will .was made, a. mar- riage contract was signed between his widow and John Vicar- idge, a merchant of Charleston. Elizabeth married still a third time, becoming Mrs. Richard Shubrick, of Belvidere. She died September, 1746, at the age of 35, and was buried alongside of her sister, Ann Ball-Daws-Austin, in St. Philip's Churchyard, where her tombstone may still be seen by the south door. In 1802 Mr. Roger Pinckney bought Quimby from Thomas Shubrick and sold it later to John Bass for his son Isaac.
It was on the plantation of Quinby that Lt. Col. Coates' command, of 500 infantrymen and 100 cavalrymen, was at- tacked by Lt. Col. Lee with the Legion, and Lt. Col. Hampton with the State Cavalry. Marion and Sumter, coming up with reinforcements, continued the engagement. The Americans killed 40 British and took 140 prisoners, quantities of baggage, and about 100 horses. Those who fell were buried by the road-
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side, lining the road that leads from Quinby Avenue to Quinby Bridge.
LANDS ADJACENT TO HEADWATERS OF EASTERN ·
BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER-CYPRESS BARONY
Landgrave Thomas Colleton, second son of Sir John, re- ceived, in addition to the two grants to himself and his two brothers, a grant in 1681 of 12,000 acres, called the Cypress Barony, situated on the headwaters of the eastern branch of Cooper River.
LIMERICK
In 1707 the Lords Proprietors permitted the Cypress Barony to be alienated and divided into smaller tracts ; there- upon it was parceled out, 5000 acres to Dominick Arthur, and 3500 acres to both John Gough and Michael Mahon, who took out new grants for their portions. Michael Mahon was a native of Limerick, Irleand, as was also Dominick Arthur, and the name of Limerick became attached to the part of their shares subsequently sold to Daniel Huger, son of the first Huger emigrant, who made Limerick his place of residence.
With the sale and partition of the Cypress Barony, and its' plantation equipment, the family of Landgrave Thomas Colle- ton lost all touch with the province. In later years all the part of the Cypress Barony allotted to Michael Mahon and John Gough, with 7341/5 acres off the Arthur portion, had become the property of members of the Ball family.
It is impossible to relate all of the notable achievements of the family of Hugers. Daniel Huger the third, to whom Limerick had been devised by his father, conveyed it on March 12th, 1764, to Elias Ball of St. John's Parish, Berkley County, as containing 456415 acres. It continued to be owned by the Ball family for over a century and a quarter, not passing from their hands until after 1890.
There stands to-day on Limerick, the old plantation dwell- ing which has attained the venerable age of two hundred and odd years. Though slightly run down at the heels, it is cer- tainly a quaint and curious old-fashioned affair that has stood
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"LIMERICK," A PRIMITIVE HOUSE NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD A Huger house
AVENUE OF LIVE OAKS, "LIMERICK," EASTERN BRANCH COOPER RIVER
EASTERN. BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER
the acid test of years. A glimpse of the swamp around the headwaters of the Cooper are seen in the background of the illustration. This house is fairly typical of the dwellings of that day and time in those isolated regions, as is the mag- nificent avenue of oaks which marked the approach to most of these plantation residences.
Elias Ball, of Limerick, was held in high esteem by his brother parishioners, who erected a mural tablet to his memory in Strawberry Chapel, an honor bestowed on no other layman of that parish. He was strong-willed, kind-hearted, clear- headed, resolute, generous and affectionate. On his planta- tion his word was law, although he was kind to his slaves. As an illustration of his undisputed sway the following anecdote is told :
One of the overseers on the plantation was to be married, the feast was ready, the company had assembled, minister and groom were on hand; but the bride at the last minute refused to be married at all. She would listen to neither coaxing, threats nor arguments. Mas 'Lias fortunately happened to be on the plantation ; to him a little negro boy was sent.
"Mas 'Lias, Mis' Katie say she wun't married."
"Tell Miss Katie I say she 'must married.""
Back sped the messenger in hot haste-with the tidings-and she was.
Isaac Ball, second son of John Ball, Sr., came into pos- session of Limerick at the death of his uncle a few months after (1810). He married his cousin, Eliza Catherine Poyas. They settled at Limerick and lived a happy useful life. Hav- ing no children they adopted a little nephew of Mrs. Ball's.
Limerick passed to William James Ball, whose wife, Julia Cart, had charm of manner equal to her beauty of face. After her death in 1858, near the close of the Civil War, he married his cousin, Mary Huger Gibbes, and lived at Limerick, where he died in 1891.
Ebenezer Roche owned and settled Windsor before the Revolutionary War. He died in 1783, and his executors sold the place to Edward Harleston. In 1786 Edward Harleston moved to Fish Pond, and sold Windsor to Joseph Brown, a
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
son-in-law. of Rawlins Lowndes, who sold it in 4788 to. Evan Edwards. The widow of the latter continued to hold it until 1840, when it was purchased by. Dr. Irving.
The place was in a high state of improvement, with a large . park well stocked with deer. The fine family mansion on the hill was destroyed by fire in 1815, and a little cottage built, in which Dr. Irving lived.
HYDE PARK AND KENSINGTON
The present house at Hyde Park, the plantation across the river from Silk Hope, was built about 1800 by the second John Ball (born 1760, died 1817), who was living at Kensington when it was constructed. The original house, built in 1742, by John Coming Ball, younger son of Elias the first, was burned some time after 1772.
The second John Ball, of Kensington, was known in the family as John Ball, Sr. At the age of 16 he was managing his brother Elias' plantation interests. Before he entered the army in the Revolution he married his cousin, Jane Ball, daughter of John Coming Ball and his wife Judith Boisseau. He must have been a thrifty man, for at his death in 1817 he owned the plantations of Kensington, Hyde Park, White Hall, Midway, Belle Isle, on the Santee River, St. James, or the Saw Mill tract, Marshlands, near Charleston, and a large brick house in the city at the northeast corner of Vernon Street and East Bay,
On Kensington plantation, which adjoins Hyde Park on the western bank of the river, there is an old three-story house. It was constructed by slave labor, of cypress from the planta- tion. Instead of nails, round wooden pegs are used in the construction, while in the outbuildings all of the nails are hand- wrought. There are large piazzas downstairs, and old batten doors and shutters. Although it was built on the river opposite Silk Hope, the dwelling house fronted on the road which led from Bossis and Hyde Park, and was not far from Cordes- ville. Kensington passed into the hands of Dr. John Irving, and back again into the Ball family.
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A plantation in olden times was a community in itself, which required thorough organization and complete system; and whatever the evils which were inseparable from the insti- tution there were many and great compensations, such as the present conditions of affairs do not afford, nor have afforded since the sudden freeing of slaves worked such hardship upon these people by foreing them into an economic struggle for which they were absolutely unprepared.
MeCrady writes :
Though unsuited to the climate, the models of the houses were after those of the houses in London and the English country seats. The furniture and carriage horses, chaises or coaches (of the planters) must all be imported, and tailors and milliners often brought out the fashions from London (for the asp of the well-to-do). Households were organized on the English model, except in so far as it was modified by the insti- tution of slavery.
In every well-organized planter's household there were three high positions, the objects of ambition of all the negroes on the plantation. These were the butler, the coachman, and the patroon. The butler was chief of all about the mansion ; his head was often white with age. His manner was founded upon that of the best of the society in which his master moved. He became an authority upon matters of table etiquette, and was quick to detect the slightest breach of it. He considered it a part of his duty to advise and lecture the young people of the family upon the subject.
The coachman was scarcely less of a character than the butier. He had entire charge of the stable, and took the utmost pride in the horsemanship of his young masters, to whom he had given the first lessons in riding. The butler might be the greatest man at home; but he had never the glory of driving the family coach and four down the great "Path" to town and through its streets.
The oldest plantations were upon the rivers ; a water front, indeed, and a landing were essential to such an establishment, for it must have the periago (a colloquialism for a large canoe used in those days) for plantation purposes, and the trim sloop and large cypress canoes for the master's use. So besides the master of the horse-the coachman-there was a naval officer too, to each planter's household, and he was the patroon-a name no doubt brought from the West Indies. The patroon
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had charge of the boats and the winding of his horn upon the river told the family of his master's coming. He, too, trained the boat hands to the oar and taught them the plaintive, humor- ous, happy catches which they sang as they bent to the stroke, and for which the mother of the family often strained her ears to catch the first sound which told of the safe return of her dear ones. Each of these head servants had his underlings, over whom he lorded it. The house was full, too, of maids and seamstresses of all kinds, who kept the mistress busy, if only to find employ for so many hands. Outside the Overseer was responsible for the administration of the plantation.
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