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s train of thnughf arul a<-t]nn ulmh grew more determined under the influence of opposite, forces ope. The Remarkable Career of Henry Laurens ratine during the. colonial period. The Stamp Act prcRenlrd one? of his severest trials. He opposed and marched into the Ap it as being unconstitutional, hut THE IMPORTANT and signifi- a child horn about every twelve because he was loyal to the BORN I,\ (UARI.KSTOV j-^n^Pri thp In i <-( ^,-f.iip s Ur^r palachian mountains in the ser 1 cant contribution of Henry months in their household, only crown, was persecuted, by his PJNRY Laurens was born in uninhabited land of around 2..V)Q /our of whom grew tn adult vice of the public. Laurens to the formation of the arret. which he offered to Mora Charleston, March 6. 1724, hood, and only three of whom This entree when he served United States is surprisingly un H friends. He. was even subjected the son of John Laurens, largest vian immigrants as a settlement.,.© outlived their fathpr. PUP tn Hnpli- as a lieutenant colonel in the recognized today. In such im campaign against the Cherokees to mob violence one night when merchant in saddlery goods in This offrr was never culminated. ration nf certain first name©: of portant positions as President of perhaps whetted his appetite an unruly gang forced its way (he province. His father was one Altogether, he owned about 20,- the children, it ha* been impos- the Continental Congress and for further adventures in pub into h©s home in search of. the erf two owners of the Friendly 000 acres of land. sihl* tn determine from historical later Minister to Holland, Lau lic service, and helped eventually Society, the first insurance com WINTKRKD AT MKPKIV record? whether the. eouple had hated stamps which they kr-ew rens left rtn imposing record of tn mould the man into the great pany in the United States, which T AURENS* lamily lived on Mep- twelve or thirteen children. had arrived in Charleston harbor ervice. The story of his influ statesman and diplomat that he preceded by some 14 years Ben lj kin plantation during the In the small-pox epidemic of ariff whirh they believed were in ence in shaping the political af jamin Franklin©s. Laurens© moth became, His locale helped great fairs of our state and nation has winter, but generally about June 17fiO, their daughter, Martha, ly, because Charleston then was his safe-keeping. er «vas Esther or Hester Grasset, He regarded such illegal action not been greatly told, and neith repaired to the "town" house in then less than a year old, was so the City of the South, and fourth whose family records are now aeainst the Act. as futile, and urs- er has tha© of his descendant* Charleston for several reasons: ill as to be pronounced dead, and largest in the thirteen ©colonies. spelled Grosset. of New York. 1o esrape the rattlesnakes, mns- erl petition and remonstrance jn ons, daughters and erandrhil- She, also, was of Huguenot an was about to he prepared for He, who was one of the richest dren, who played lending roles quitoes and fever; and to view burial when the family doctor men in America, was part and order to secure repeal. cestry. Following Laurens© return to In the Me nf thp colony. f>rtfi stock up on the latest fash discovered that she was alive. parcel of this political, social Hetiry was the third child, and this country and tn hi? plantation, Henry Laurens was elected drl- ion?. Martha, her father©s special fa and strategic center. the oldest son among the six Mepkin, be declined appointments egate to the Continental Concrrss The city at mis time consist vorite, lived, and at 27 became. DI8TING118HED PtBLIC children in the family. His edu ed "f ahout 7.ono people and tn fhe Continental Congress, the January 1777, and was elected the third wife nf Dr. David Ram CAREER cation was meager and Ihe train sijste©legislature and the Federal tnd served as its president from around 1765, Ansonhoro, in the say, the historian. E YEARS following saw this ing he did receive apparently northern part of town, was r-ov- Constitutional Convention. Novern her 1777 until Decem ber was intended for his future busi Another daughter, Mary Elea list of public service placed 1778; was named Minister rr*»d with houses. It was here r The samp year Laurens return ness in the mercantile field. Jn that tho Laurrnsfs. who moved nor, who was only a few weeks by his name: ed to this country after hanng to Holland by the Continen Member of the Commons 1741, he was in Kn::Jand to ac from south of Broad Street, nujlt old when Mrs. Laurens died, been prisoner, the seven judicial tal Congresi in 1780. On the House of Assembly in 1757 and quire a business education. How their house. Laurens 1 description married Charles Pmrkney, found districts of the state were being voyage over, he was captured re-elected every session until the ever, he was mainly self-pro was "with a wall upon the front er of the Democratic Parry in divided. One Laurem (now a and held almost incommunicado Revolution, except one; declin pelled in pettinc an education, of my garden. " The unpretentious South Carolina, four times gov county) was named in his honor. as a prisoner in the Tower of ed appointment to King©s Council from his extensive- riding after house, built in keeping with the ernor of the state, and onp of the After he had rebuilt his resi- London fnr 15 months. His re in Carolina, 17B4 and 1768; mem he reached manhood. master©s disposition and deport more influential men in forming df-nrp at Mepkin which had been lease came annul in exchance for ber of First Provincial Congress. In 1717, Laurens *©*$ set up ment, stood on the corner of E. the U. S. Constitution, according destroyed by the enemy, restored the Colonists© most famous pri January 9, 3775, and president of In business in Charleston as a Bay and Laurens Streets. It to Wallace, the historian. his estates and made bark mnney soner: Lord Cornwall!?, when the Congress the following June; wholesale commission merchant come through the earthquake of The Pinckneys© son, Henry I which hari been depleted by his his freedom was secured Decem member of Second Provincial and aJso as an independent im Laurens, who was named for ! long absence, Laurens ber 31, 1781. Congress; vice president of South Shortly after l,Hiir<*ns© return his grandfather, was the founder i mainly to happy days spent > Laurens, w-ho was hereafter porter and exporter. He dealt Jn Carolina, March 177n-,Tune 1777; frnm a nusmess trip to England (1819), owner and editor of The © his lamily. By the spring of known as "Tower" Henry, did rum, beer, wine, rteer skins, rire, elected delegate to Continental about 1748. when he was 5^11 Charleston Mercury. 1732, he had begun to feel poor- not hurry hnrne, as would have indigo, marble mantels, nrwly- Congress J a nu a ry 1777. servi ng youns. he threw himself into Henry Laurens was an advo been expected, hut stayed on to arrived slaves, indentured white as president from November Ovaries t^n society because his cate of "education at home" and ©l Iy, was much in bed, and became help execute the preliminary servants and almost anything 1777-December 177R; elected Min step-mother wanted him to be deplored the fact that children very feeble. He entertained a treaty of Paris as one of the else ihat was consigned to him ister to Holland by the Continen "polished and quite polite." At had to be sent abroad to study. peace commissionprs November by his correspondents. In 3764, tal Congress, sailing early in preference for cremation follow- 30, 1782, a commission which he fnr example, ho exported the He W*;E particularly interested lowing his death, which he knew Nfrs. Affra Coming©s Cooppr jjn establishing a college at Cbgr- had previously been unable to frame o( a house to Knsland. 1TSO, on which voyage, he was was approaching, and so express, River plantation Coming T he . leston and through his influence, execute due to his imprisonment. The slave trade was lurrative captured and held B prisoner m Laurens, a swarthy, middle- met and loved at first sight the a measure was introduced in one ed this wish to his family. His and on th^ "Guinea business," the Tower of London for 15 sized man, was said to have short as it was referred to, he made lovely young woman who was to of the early Assemblies tn set up desire for cremation was said to six schools and a college in Char- months, bring released Decem- © be a result nf a morbid fear but stout legs, and a constitution If) per cent commissions. become his wife. She was Elea £ leston. But its passage did not her 31, 1781, in exchange fop against b^in? buried alive a. that was a little less than iron. As his wealth grew, so increas nor Ball and the social affair succeed, and consequently Lau fate that had almost happened to For all the endeavors he engaged ed his holdings, and he Laurens attended w^s the wed Lord Cornwallis; helped effect rens took tip his residenre for his child. in, these perhaps stood him in hundreds of acres of land and ding nf her brother. She so held the preliminary treaty of Paris, good stead. His round face was Home years in England rn that After a period of unconscious many slaves. The planter©s lands his affection that, even after her 1782. friendly, but his jaws were said were classified into three groups: his children could receive school ness, he died pecember 8. 1732. early death at 40 he never re Laurens, like a great many According to the instructions to to lock firmly, if (he nerd be. the cultivated acrrngf1 of Mrp- ing. other inhabitants of. the thirteen married or was intrigued by his son, his body was wrapped in He was an American Huguenot kin on the Cooper River whore another woman. Though his own dream of es colonies, was nnt opposed to Eng who was always at services twice twelve yards of tow cloth and rice and indigo were chiefly HAD LARGE FAHTLV tablishing a college never came land and her government?! poli on Sunday, and deplored slavery, burned until it was entirely con grown; Mt. Taictus, 72 miles RS. LAURENS was the daugh true, his two sons-in-law were cies laid down and enforced. He though for many years before j sumed in what is thought to be north of Charleston on the San- ter of Elias Ball. "Nelly." members of the first board of did not /eel her yoke oppressive, he abandoned this line of com- I tec, also producfive for indigo; M trustees when the institution* was the first cremation in this coun her husband©s pet name for his but instead had great faith and try (other than the Aborigines). merce, he had made fortunes in Wambaw, 3."i miles N.K. of Char founded in 1785. rr.spert for the mother country. the traffic. Success, wealth, in wife, was said to be a woman He requested that the remain! leston, and Wrist©s Savannah, in nf great patience; and gave her While in Charleston and busy Tn his rase, it took a gradual fluence and public respect came be deposited wherever his son tho south of the province. The self over to the heavy responsi with hts various interests, Lau erosion to bring him onto this his way as he "traveled with though proper. scrond croup, where rire u as bilities of wife and mother with rens found enough time to take side of the dispute; and bit by patience through life©s chemiered What more appropriate placa the principal rr^p, included his the fullest devotion. Shr* was a fjf an interest in public affairs. In bit©, he came to stand for the >aths." holdings on the roast of Grnrcu; roulrl there he th*n Mepkin"1 ~~ (>Vi: % "good housekoepo: " a good the Indian War of 1761, he ac [© principles which the CaroUnaa I*J*« JjJ*©1 It is here now 4 Trappist KR Riv-F-r; Rrou^htnn Island; cepted a commission, collected *nd other colonies fought for in the "counsel-keeper," and never told Monastery-that the ashes of Hope. Around Ninety Six North and South Carolina re- i Revolution. His like others©^ a secret. As a rule, there was nry Laurens repose. Henry .-as not sudden opposition, but a I . .^.:©::,., :,..;=, >;;ii£ed at iea.-L in this gAnpration in the annals of our stag©s histor.% a rank- Jo/in Leu/fens© Deafh ing statesman of emat Kathleen COLf^MBIA. 8. C, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17. 1957 Th* St.ro: On Combohee Told By BELLAH GLOVER WALTERBORO ©Special© -Be IN NOVEMBER, 1792 sides assembling historic facts in a most readable manner Sara Bertha Townsend, who wrote "An j American Soldier The Life of SC Revolutionary : John Laurens", has included as ! her closing chapter "Rendezvous ; i©on the Combahee". the poignant- /account of the last hours of "the, Statesman Cremated i intrepid Laurens." B\ JOAN KKVNOLDS FAIA©T But she was rr%oltecl by ©©Ihr To write this chapter with so Special to The Slatp awful ceremony," ns she called much sympathy and understand- "And now, having settled all the cremation, and refused to : ing the author, we are sure, must i affairs which (pertain* to m> remain at the plantation. ;|have visited the spot where Laur- 1 estatr, and provided for the dif- Henry Laurens© cremation has * » !;ens was an honored guest on his fcrcnt parts of my family in a© been the subject of many sens^i ^ last few hours on earth. manner which apears to he just© tional misrepresentations. Parson . r She makes one see the golden- and equitable, I come to the dis-iiWecms that same good fellow * © ;rod in August waving a good-bye posal of my own person," de \who created so many myths aboul "; \ to summer and the tangled vines tiarcd South Carolina©s Revolu-©Washington, Francis Marion, and ; around the plot where -John Laur tionary statesman Henry Laurens others devised the fantasy that^© ens was laid so tenderly to rest. ; in making his will on November Laurens said, "My flesh is too-* Very real does she make his© 1, 1792, only five weeks before his©©good lor worms. 1 give it to UV march across the causeway where dcath on Drrrmbcr 8. flames." the tall fennells concealed the It was also said that the e.xecu ©I solemnly enjoin it on my© :ion of Laurens© last instructions British army as it waited for this son as an indispensable duty, that moment. Laurens could not con was made the condition of his; as soon as he conveniently can son©s receiving his large inheri ceive of a retreat so he dashed after my decease, he cause my into the trap and to his death. tance; that is obviously untrur. . body to be wrapped in twelve according to the will, a copy of They bore him back to the yards of tow cloth, and burnt un Stocks© home where doubtless which is among the South Caro til it be entirely and totally con lina wills typed by the WPA and those who had entertained him sumed: And then collecting my [ were still sleeping from the late , found in a number of depositor bones, deposit them wherever ii" ies, including the Department of 1 ^ hours. Then they took his body shall think proper." j to the high mound overlooking the Archives in Columbia. | £ small creek. Here he slept until With this stern requrst to* his Today, some 175 years alter, j: his body was removed to Mepkin. only surviving son, Henry Laur the graveyard is still carefully © Col, Henry Laurens, who was ens, Jr., one of the new country©s tended on beautiful Mepkin plan-. ^ abroad, had to learn six weeks .most stalwart supporters became tation, which having belonged toj fc»» later of the tragedy and it wa.^,. probably the first person, with Clare Booth Luce, was given by two and a half years later before ! the possible exception of the In- her to Trappist monks. he could return to his native land dian aborigines, to be cremated Henry Laurens, born in Char-© A sad home coming it mu.st have in America. leston March fi, 1724, of pure." i Huguenot parentage, grew up •• been for father and son -seemed Lauren.s1 desire was fulfilled. very close. with his country, became an ex- ^ © On the high bluff of Mepkin Plan- ceedingly wealthy man through.< ic We have visited Stock©s cemr- j tation overlooking the broad Coop- tery before and since this book engaging in overseas commerce, ] cr River 29 miles north of Charles- and was an outstanding public was written. We have stood on : ton, the funeral pyre was built the high ridge and looked into the figure from the age of 32. upon the hill opposite tho one oc He was married in 1750 to the ravines darkened by tall trees. cupied by his house, and his last We have stepped carefully on the "beautiful Eleanor Ball," who wishes were executed the bore him at least a dozen chil slippery carpel of pine needles terrified servants quaked Rt the and we have smellcd the fra dren before her death in 1770. weird spretaclo. Only four reached maturity © grance of blooming jessamine The ashrs were buried in the Like the author we have visualized Martha Laurens Ramsay, Colonel ^~© family burying ground, beside the John Laurens, Henry Laurens,, c the Stock home and gaiety of that grave of his oldest FOP. Col. John August evening. Jr., and Eleanor, who married fr i^turens, who heroically gave up General Charles Pinckney. E The author remarks that he was his life in the Revolution. -/ .beloved by everyone but forgot- Starting his political career in W Henry Laurens had chosen what 1757 with election to the Com- b . ten by his neighbors. And as we might seem a sensational way ol ? stood in that lonesome spot with mom House of Assembly, Laurens burial; certainly it was unusual continued in office with the ex- jonly histories, no longer taught, O For that period. But, according to to record the story, we felt crption of one term until the time Dr. D. D. Wallace in his authori of the Revolution. Already a ©among those guilty "neighbors" tative "Life of Henry Laurens,1 strong objector to injustices in who have forgotten to mark the the statesman entertained a prcf the provincial system, Laurens spot where he fell and where he erence for cremation, largely be Henry Loaren* was president of th* third Continental Congrea, minister to Holland, and net p. en was a member of the First Pro- which ended the Revolutionary War. The above portrait slept for a season. T3 cause of his "belief that severs vincial Congress and succeeded negotiate the peace treaty (1782) s 5 painted in 1782 hy John Singleton Cophy. 3 t •}-£ t. ; /Y& 4 / ? { We found four slabs in the old o persons were buried before the; Charles Pinckney as president, jg "« cemetery, all members of the were irrevocably dead." Later he became president of* 3 "Stock family who were born in His horror of beinc buried alive the powerful Council of Safety, i «© ; the 18th century. Two of them had been deepened by a persona As a member of the Second Pro-,"^ 1 were young men at the time of experience. His daughter, Martha, j vincial he helped draft © Laurens death and we wondered when in her first year, was ap-South Carolina©s temporary con- if they were with him on that parrnlly dead from smallpox. Utitution, adopted March 26, 1776. . fateful morning. Laid by an open window awaiting©and was elected %1cc prcsident : We have not quite lost hope that a speedy mterment, she revjved, under Prcgident John RuUedRp . our dream of having this spot was discovered by the doctor to! Hc took an activc t in m marked will come to pass. We are tej £ S ^WaS fy^\u .! successful defense of Charleston ©g ©S counting on the Historical Socie- Martha, now 33, and the third against ^ British ^ Junfi of « - ©ty to take over the responsibility Dr. David Ramsey of Rev 1776. o 55 4 of this work and redeem them- olutionary medical fame, was with Doctor Wallace, in writing of . v>lvps as no longer neighbors her father at his death, and heard Henry Laurens© cremation, points vim h<"r.r luri©nttrn his last words praising her devo out that the next recorded in-|£ tion to him. *tanrn of cremation in America Se