HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG Something A hout the People oi William sburg County, ^ til Carolina, from the First Settle ment bu Europeans About 1705 until 1923. BY WILLIAM W ILLIS BODDIE COLUMBIA, S . C. THE STATE COMPANY 1923 COPYRIGHT, 1 823. BY WILLIAM WILLIS DODDIE ^£?S I NTRODUCTION Preparing w hat I have called the History of Williams burg has given me great pleasure. It was designed to give statements of fact to one who cares simply for such, as well as to lure the student who wants to learn something of Williamsburg's place in the world. Prac tically everything herein contained is based on ancient documents or official records. mI a very grateful to Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., Secretary of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, for his sympathetic patience with me while gathering material from his office and for much aid given me; and, likewise, to the authorities in the office of the Secretary of State and the Charleston Library. Miss Mabel L. Webber, Secretary of the South Carolina Historical Society, gave me many helpful suggestions. Judge of Probate W. E. Snowden and Clerk of the Court John D. Britton, of Williamsburg, Judge of Probate Frank M. Bryan, of Charleston, and Judge of Probate Thomas E. Richardson, of Sumter, were always very kind and helpful when I worked in their offices. .Mr. B E. Clarkson allowed me the use of the Confed erate War Diary of his late father, William J. Clarkson; Mr. E. C. Epps furnished me a copy of the Retaliation War Prison Diary of his father, the venerable William Epps; and Mrs. J. B. Morrison, Jr., permitted me to gather much material from "Ervins and Their Kin" man uscript of her late father, Reverend E. E. Ervin. Nothing helped me with the early history of this County more than Colonel J. G. Wardlaw's "Genealogy of the Witherspoon Family." Mr. Louis W. Gilland allowed me to make a copy of the old Session Record Book of Williamsburg Presby terian Church, and Mr. D. E. McCutchen one of the Indiantown Presbyterian Church. I have used freely "The Register Book for the Parish Prince Frederick Winyaw," iv I NTRODUCTION editedy b the late Mrs. Elizabeth W. A. Pringle. I have drawn at will from all the published histories of South Carolina, the biographies of men of Williamsburg, and the newspaper files in the Charleston Library. Mrs.. D C. Scott, during many years, collected histori cal material in connection with her work in the patriotic societies of Williamsburg and the Pee Dee Historical Society. I became heir to all this. It was she who first told me the story of the people of Williamsburg and in fluenced me to undertake this delightful labor. Dr. D. C. Scott, out of his more than seventy years of comprehensive understanding of Williamsburg, and Mrs. Boddie, from her naturally beautiful enthusiasm for my work, have both been continuously helpful. They have been most generous in avoiding even an attempt to color my scheme and I desire that no questionable opinion herein be charged to them. Mr. S amuel R. Mouzon, Mr. Harvey J. Brown, Mr. William M. McKnight, and Mr. Alonzo W. Flagler, all Confederate Veterans of more than four score years of age, whose minds are clear and whose memories are vivid, gave me invaluable information. Mr. J. J. B. Montgomery told me a thousand good stories that he would not allow me to publish and helped me to understand many things. Peter G. Gourdin, C. E., contributed for use in this volume his excellent map of Williamsburg, 1923. Mrs. John A. Scott allowed me to copy the Robert Frierson map of Williamsburg (Kingstree) 1801, which greatly adds to the value of this History. Miss A nn Fulton (now Mrs. Glenn E. Scott, Sarasota, Florida,) used her good judgment, both in including and excluding material, in copying for me thousands of pages from old manuscripts. Miss Adeline Shuler prepared from dictation the manuscript for this book. Out of her keenly intelligent interest, she made many helpful sug INTRODUCTION v gestions, b oth as to form and content, that have been incorporated in the work. WILLIAM W ILLIS BODDIE. Kingstree, S outh Carolina, June 22, 1923. TABLEF O CONTENTS CHAPTEB P AGE I. B efore Williamsburg Had a Name - 1-7 II. T he King's Tree and Williamsburg Township 8 -20 III. O riginal Settlers ... - 21-26 IV. T he People Who Settled Williams burg 2 7-37 V. E conomic Conditions ---- 38-43 VI. C hurches and Churchmen - - 44-58 VII. G rowing Pains and Petitions -- 59-72 VIII. C olonial Wills 73-86 IX. P olitical and Social Matters - - 87-93 X. T he War of the Revolution -- 94-113 XI. W illiamsburg Soldiers in the Revo lution 1 14-130 XII. G overnment by the People - - 131-136 XIII. T he Town of Williamsburg, 1788 - 137-153 XIV. W illiamsburg Census, 1790 -- 154-170 XV. P resbyterianism Regnant --- 171-198 XVI. W illiamsburg Taxpayers, 1811 -- 199-206 XVII. R oads and Ferries from 1788 to 1830 207-212 XVIII. G overnment and Officials, 1783-1830 213-219 XIX. O ld Wills and Notes on Them -- 220-246 XX. E conomic and Social Life, 1783-1830 247-257 XXI. I ndiantown Church, 1819-1830 -- 258-265 XXII. T he Nullification Movement, 1832 - 266-270 XXIII. P uritanism, Calvinism, and Armini- anism 2 71-303 XXIV. T hings, Political and Social, 1830- 1860 3 04-322 XXV. T ransportation, 1830 to 1860 - - 323-328 XXVI. S lavery and Secession ... 329-342 XXVII. W illiamsburg, C. S. A., 1861 - - 343-378 XXVIII. W illiamsburg, C. S. A., 1862 -- 379-396 XXIX. W illiamsburg, C. S. A., 1863 -- 397-402 XXX. W illiamsburg, C. S. A., 1864 -- 403-412 viii T ABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER P AGE XXXI. W illiamsburg, C. S. A., 1865 -- 413-432 XXXII. W illiamsburg, U. S. A., 1865 - - 433-439 XXXIII. R econstruction 440-457 XXXIV. A nother Williamsburg - 458-466 XXXV. P ublic Education since 1880 -- 467-479 XXXVI. R eligious Denominations, 1865-1923 - 480-495 XXXVII. B anking in Williamsburg -- 496-502 XXXVIII. T hrobbing War Drums Call - - 503-516 XXXIX. M any Things 517-532 XL. G eneral Progress - 533-548 > ■ ■ ILLUSTRATIONS Lieutenant J oseph Scott 123 Lieutenant C olonel John G. Pressley ... 343 Colonel J ames F. Pressley 349 .Major C S. Land 359 Colonel J ames McCutchen 379 Lieutenant J unius E. Scott 400 Lieutenant W illiam Epps 418 Lieutenant D avid Ervin Gordon 419 Lieutenant C olonel Edward C. Register - - 505 Sergeant L eroy W. Smith 511 Honorable R . C. Logan 521 LISTF O MAPS. Proposed T own of Williamsburg, 1737 — Williams - 8 Williamsburg T ownship. Mouzon's Map, 1775 - - 87 Townf o Williamsburg, 1788— Old Map --- 137 Williamsburg, 1 801 — Freerson 257 Williamsburg D istrict, 1825 — Mulls --- 257 WrLLiAM8BURG C ounty, 1923— Gourdin - - 533 CHAPTER I . BEFORE W ILLIAMSBURG HAD A NAME. The t erritory in Southern North America claimed by the British at the beginning of the seventeenth century was called Virginia. In 1663, that portion South of the parallel of latitude 36° 33' was separated from Virginia and named Carolina in honor of Charles II, King of England. This territory, however, had been designated Carolina by Charles I when he made in 1629 a grant of land to Sir Robert Keith. ICharles I granted Carolina in 1663 to eight noblemen, known as Lords Proprietors. At that time, there were a few scattered settlements along the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers, in what is now North Carolina, but none other in all the vast territory denominated Carolina. These Lords Proprietors believed that they could establish almost at once in this naked country a feudalistic civili zation more complex than had grown up in many centu ries in their mother country. They secured John Locke, a celebrated English philosopher, then under the patron age of Ashley, one of the Lords Proprietors, to write a Constitution for Carolina. While L ocke was one of the most influential thinkers of modern times and wrote a Constitution for Carolina from which Jefferson, Hamilton, and Marshall, a century later, drew many valuable suggestions, he had never visited Carolina and had only his vast store house of learning and his imagination to aid him in creating his remarkable scheme for the government of the widely scat tered settlements in these wilds. His Fundamental Con stitution for Carolina was accepted by the Lords Propri etors and made the law of the land. It was a beautiful theory which Locke had created and he and the Lords 2 H ISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG Proprietors h ad many hopeful dreams that their plans would materialize. The L ords Proprietors did all they could to consummate the ideal empire that had its origin in the brain of Locke. They made large grants of land in Carolina to seemingly eager English noblemen, expecting these pampered prod ucts of wealth and ease to migrate with their retainers to this wilderness and soon establish an aristocratic Carolina. These E nglish lords did not come to Carolina to live on their estates. They attempted to send hirelings to over come the pioneer matters and create a condition their masters could endure. But hirelings never make a wilder ness a garden unless severely superintended. The E nglish government gave the Lords Proprietors a free hand for more than a half century while Carolina was a Proprietary Province, but the plans of Locke would not work. Finally, seven of the Lords Proprietors ceded back to the King their claims to Carolina, and in 1719 it became a Royal Province.