Expansion of South Carolina 1729 - 1765 by Robert Lee Meriwether, 1890-1958 Southern Publishers, Inc...1940   South Carolina Genealogy Trails Transcribed by Dena Whitesell

CHAPTER IV Amelia and Orangeburg With the southwest protected by Purrysburg the administration turned its attention to the exposed region between the Edisto and the Santee. Here the settlements reached farthest inland and the townships in this quarter were placed in the upper pine belt; better soil and better drainage gave the settlers an advantage over the Purrysburgers, and the distance from the coast largely relieved them of the inroads of the planters. Amelia Township was laid out on the west bank of the Congaree-Santee, with a town site at the mouth of the former stream, and was traversed its entire length by the Cherokee path. In the northeastern part of the township the land fell away sharply to the narrow Congaree bottom, but along the Santee the slope was more gradual, and the lowland and river swamp wider. A small creek rose in the center of the area and ran southeast between low hills covered with oak and pine, but when it reached the lowland and neared the river it became lost in a morass of mud and water called Halfway Swamp. On the headwaters of this stream and on Buckhead Creek and its branches was to be found the best land, a sandy loam with a good clay subsoil.1 A few men applied for lots in Amelia "town", and had their lands surveyed nearby, but do not seem to have settled themselves there.2 The administration took little interest in the township, doubtless because there were already a number of settlers on the Cherokee path who might serve to defend it. Among them was Charles Russell, former commander of the Congaree garrison, who as early as 1725 had established himself at Ox Creek (later Lyons Creek) where it joined the other main source of Halfway Swamp. The spot was well chosen, for here the slightly higher and better land of the upper pine belt began. It had probably been an ancient stopping place for Indians and traders, for the land was granted in 1704 to George Sterling, whose daughter Russell married. In 1731 Russell bought the land from Sterling's son.3 The crossing continued to be a convenient stopping place on the road, and Robert Whitford, Joseph Lyons, Benjamin Carter and Thomas Weekly settled near Russell and had their lands surveyed on the creek. The Charleston records indicate that the men were from the coast of South Carolina. Near them was the cowpen of James Le Bas of St. John's Parish.4 One of the few foreigners among the early settlers of Amelia was Christian Gottlieb Priber, driven out of Germany, he afterwards said, for his Utopian schemes. In December 1735 he was advertising sundry personal effects for sale in Charleston. Two months later he asked for land in Amelia on the rights of himself and five other persons, probably servants ; he proposed to bring his wife and four children from Saxony later. But the Congaree river bottom offered too narrow scope for his learning and ambitions, and during 1737 he resorted to the Cherokee country to erect a model state. Neither the colonial officials nor the English traders liked this new and would-be neutral power, and Priber ended his days a prisoner in the Georgia fort at Frederica.3 By 1740 about thirty-five surveys had been made in Amelia, amounting to over twelve thousand acres. A third of the number and half of the acreage were for non-residents. In the next nine years less than six thousand acres were added to the total; nearly all the applicants were residents.8 Major Russell died in January 1737, at the beginning of a mission as agent to the Cherokees. His widow continued in her home, which was even more conveniently situated than before, for from this point on the Cherokee path there now ran a path to Joyner's or McCord's ferry. Mrs. Russell supplied passers-by with food and drink; her bill to the provincial government for entertainment of Cherokees and Catawbas going to visit the governor was in 1742 about eleven pounds; in 1746 it was sixteen, and in 1750 twenty-five. Sugar, punch and drams were large items in these amounts. At that time five children and eleven slaves were part of her household.7 A rival for this trade appeared in 1747—Robert Rogers, lately arrived in the province, who described himself as Innkeeper of Boggy Gully, a small stream which entered Halfway Swamp a mile below the junction of Lyons Creek and Mill Creek. In 1749 Conrad Hallman surveyed the adjoining land below, and in time made his house also an important stopping place.8 Mill Creek, the eastern source of Halfway Swamp, received its name from Miles Jackson's mill, and in 1749, on his declaration to the governor that he and his neighbors had been successful in wheat growing, he was lent the bolting cloth needed to complete the mill. To the northeast and near the pleasant valley of Buckhead Creek, several small farmers and the owner of nine slaves established themselves during the 'forties, and Joseph Joyner began operating his private ferry over the Congaree at the tip of the great bend of the river.9 The northern part of the township, about High Hill Creek, was at the edge of the sand hill region, and was evidently least desired by settlers. Sir Alexander Cuming in 1730 noted "Iron Stone" and iron ore (the iron-bearing sandstone of the region) at several points within or near the township. That some use was made of it is indicated by the occurrence in 1753 of "Mine Branch" on one plat, and "Path to Mines" on two others, all above High Hill Creek.10 Ten miles above this creek, near Sandy Run, there was similar sandstone, and several notations on plats are good evidence that here too some enterprising smith smelted the ore.11 Meanwhile, in the unsettled area on the banks of the nearby Edisto, the administration was planting the second group of Switzers who came among the bounty immigrants. The North Fork of the Edisto is one of the beautiful little rivers that rise in the sand hills; after reaching the coastal plain its swamps are from a half mile to a mile in width, but the stream is still bold and clear. The site selected for the town of Orangeburg was the east bank of the river where it turns sharply to join the South Fork, and the lines of the township were surveyed to make a rectangle extending to the western border of Amelia. Only the southern corner of the township lay in the flat swampy area of the lower pine belt; in the middle and upper portions, especially along the river, were large stretches of soil like the best in Amelia.12 On the 13th of July 1735 a ship arrived from Rotterdam with two hundred and fifty Swiss on board, ninety of them able to bear arms. The South Carolina Gazette enlarged upon the possibilities of their producing wheat and corn "which now we are obliged to purchase at what rate soever from our neighbours." They were to settle on the Edisto, that land being thought best for wheat, corn, hemp and flax, and likewise for vineyards. The Broughton administration pursued the enterprise with vigor. Within a fortnight over two hundred of the Switzers began their journey to the township, and fourteen months later lands had been surveyed and grants signed for eighty-three men.13 The newcomers probably found Joseph Robertson already settled in the township; he was evidently from St. Philip's Parish. In 1732 John Hearn "of James Island, hatmaker," declared that he had "settled" a tract of five hundred acres on the Edisto; the next year as "Planter" of Colleton County he had this tract surveyed and was then living on it. This doubtless was his cowpen, a short distance below the proposed site of the town; in 1741 he was justice of the peace. Seth Hatcher, a Virginian, had land in the township in 1735.14 The names of a dozen other non-German settlers occur in the land records up to 1740, and as many more appear in the next twenty years. Grants of land in the township to non-residents, however, were negligible. For several years after 1735 the foreigners came in steadily; like the other German settlers prior to 1750, they were almost entirely Swiss. By 1740 30,000 acres had been granted or surveyed; in the next nine years 6,000 acres, and in the 'fifties 9,000 more was taken up, all in tracts averaging less than two hundred acres. Nine of the applicants were men who had completed their terms as indented servants. One of the former servants owned a slave, another had five, but there were only half a dozen other negroes listed throughout the period. However, as there were few additions to the original holdings—despite the fact that there were three or four hundred children born in the township between 1740 and 1759— this does not account for the possible purchases of slaves by the earlier settlers. The first choice for surveys was the high ground about the site of the town, and next the valleys of the two or three creeks in the southeast and center of the township. Orangeburg was thus a compact settlement of small farmers, and suited perfectly the purposes of the founders. There were one hundred and forty-three men in the militia company of the township in 1757, and as there does not appear to have been any great loss by death or removals, it is probable that the population increased from about five hundred in 1740 to about eight hundred in 1759.15 Major Russell directed the settlement of the Orangeburg Switzers, and in the latter part of 1736 Lieutenant-Governor Broughton himself visited the Edisto and Santee townships to inquire into the complaints of the settlers. After Russell's death in 1737 Christian Mote was appointed agent for the Swiss and rendered valuable service. For a time he lived in Orangeburg, but in 1740 he advertised from Charleston a hundred acres and two lots for sale in Orangeburg, "upon one of which is built a neat, strong Dwelling-house, as also a Kitchen and other Out houses". John Chevillette who was in Purrysburg in 1736 had been formerly an officer in the Prussian service, and was in 1757 Colonel of the Berkeley County militia regiment. This organization included the companies of Amelia, Orangeburg and other settlements to the northwest; Christian Minnick, in the Edisio Forks, was Lieutenant-Colonel.16 The Switzers embarked in earnest upon their mission of supplying the province with grain, and in October 1737 Mote declared that they had begun a water mill on the Edisto which for completion would need "4 saws for a Water Machine to saw Plank, 4 Mill stones for grinding Corn", six hundred pounds of iron and one hundred pounds of steel. Despite an aid of twenty-nine pounds from the township fund for the purpose, Peter Roth reported in 1742 that the mill had never been completed, and proposed to finish it if he were granted an acre of land on the river adjoining the town. The plat of this acre, surveyed the next year, shows "The Mill" on the banks of the river a few yards from Front Street. This year and the two following the Orangeburgers were "favored with a very plentiful crop of Wheat" and had high hopes for the future.17 Henry Snell's application in 1742 for the bounty on hemp, the drowning of tiny Barbara Frolick in an indigo vat, the listing of indigo seed in one Orangeburg inventory with rice sieves in that and another from the nearby country, indicate that the settlement, in a small way, made some profit from the Carolina staples. Several tradesmen appear—another carpenter-millwright, a blacksmith, and, most enterprising of all, a counterfeiter, Martyn Binsky, who in 1751 on promise of pardon secured by his wife, delivered up copper plates and six hundred and eighty-one counterfeit South Carolina notes. He revealed a plot for smuggling money through Philadelphia from Switzerland.18 The circuit court act of 1769 provided for a courthouse at Orangeburg, which had before been no more than a village, and shortly afterwards the town was resurveyed. John Chevillette in 1745 appears in Orange-burg as justice of the peace and as "John Chevillette & Comp. of Orangeb. Storekeeper." A traveller in 1767 found here a tavern, a store "and a man that pretended to preach".19 The position of the township and the compactness of settlement doubtless had much to do with the solidarity of Orangeburg, but the strongest force for unity and progress was its church. John Ulrick Giessendanner, from Lichtensteig, Switzerland, came with the colony. In March 1737 he advertised as a silversmith in Charleston, but in October, with Mote to read the service in English, he married an English couple in Orangeburg. His housekeeper, who had been for twenty-six years in his employ, followed him to America "& to prevent & obviate any cause offence or scandel" he married her, Mote performing the service. In the open near his house he preached every Sunday.20 In hardly more than a year, however, the worthy minister died. His nephew, John Giessendanner, at the desire of the Germans went to Charleston to secure from the Anglican Commissary license to preach in Orangeburg. Mote persuaded him instead to take Presbyterian orders. His preaching was "to the Inexpressible satisfaction of the Congregation at Orangeburgh," and several years later the English of that and nearby communities observing him "to be a Man of Learning, Piety and Knowledge in the holy Scriptures, prevailed with him to officiate in preaching once Every fortnight in English, which he hath Since performed very articulate and Intelligible." In 1743 Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, Junior, a candidate for Anglican orders, attempted to displace Giessendanner. John Hearn "and above four score of the Dutch and English Inhabitants of Orangeburg and the adjoining plantations" sent an indignant protest to the governor. They were high in their praise of Giessendanner, and declared that Zouberbuhler had been sent for "by some wicked Persons, in one part of the Township" who had been exasperated by Giessendanner's public reprimand for "Great Irregularities, and disorders" committed on the Sabbath.21 This secured Giessendanner in his ministry. Six years later he appeared armed with a supporting petition from the township and proposed to go to England for Episcopal orders, and thence to Germany and Switzerland as immigration agent. He was allowed fourteen pounds expense money, and was promised a shilling and a half a head for the foreign Protestants he might bring back. He returned shortly, having received orders, and brought with him fifty copies in German of the Book of Common Prayer. On a further petition to the assembly he was allowed for preaching in Orangeburg and Amelia fifty-seven pounds a year from the provincial funds. In 1757, on his plea that this sum was inadequate for the extensive service and for his "very numerous" family, it was increased to one hundred pounds. About the time that Giessendanner returned from England the Orangeburgers built him a church, in which he preached until his death in 1761.22 The register begun by the elder Giessendanner was continued by the nephew until near his death. Before his ordination in 1749 it was in German; thereafter, as befitted a minister of the Church of England, it was kept in English.23 One has but to read through the entries to understand the "inexpressible satisfaction" of his parishioners, and the unique service he rendered the historian. His register shows that the German and English elements in Orangeburg tended to remain separate from one another but not aloof. There are many instances of one standing sponsor for the other in the baptism of children, and in the entire record, for the township and nearby communities, there were about a score of mixed marriages. The long rectangle of level or rolling land between the North and South Forks of the Edisto was closely associated with Orangeburg, and had much the same type of soil, but both in population and industry presented a marked contrast. The rivers which shut it off from the coast put its agriculture at a disadvantage but served to enclose its cattle; the abundant cane of the swamps fed them, and the region soon became the largest and best range in the province.24 Christian Minnick came to South Carolina about the time that the Swiss settled in Orangeburg; he began then or soon afterwards to raise cattle in the forks and before 1745 two other stocks of cattle are recorded. In 1744 a separate militia company of about thirty men was formed in this community, on the petition of settlers who complained of the difficulty of attending militia musters. Prior to 1749, when Minnick, along with Gavin Pou and William Young who appear in Giessendanner's register years before, applied for warrants, there were few surveys. By that time it is probable that the cattle raisers had establishments too valuable to be left without full protection of the law. There was, for instance, the property on the east side of the South Fork formerly owned by Joseph Russell. When his successor advertised it in 1755 the thousand-acre tract included fifty acres of cleared land, a good house and corn house, both cedar-framed, the dwelling house boarded above and below. There was also a negro kitchen and other outhouses, and a landing on the river.25 Pou had one slave, Minnick six, and in the next five years applied for warrants on the rights of eleven more. There were four other applicants, among them Thomas Jones, cowkeeper, who appeared between 1740 and 1750 in the forks, but whose lands were not taken up until 1757 and 1758.26 These families were ministered to by Giessendanner to all appearance as part of his Orangeburg congregation. There was little if any navigation of the Edisto, and the road to Charleston spanned a forty-mile stretch of scantily settled country crossed by two wide swamps. The assembly gave no aid for building and maintaining bridges over these swamps, and the inhabitants found the labor and taxes burdensome, while the roads continued to be "very deep and dangerous . . . and exceeding troublesome. . . ."27 In 1756 a private bridge over the North Fork which gave access to the Charleston road was placed under public care, and these settlers pointed out to the assembly that it would be seventy miles nearer were the present route from Charleston to the Cherokee forts, which followed the road along the Congaree and Saluda, changed to run through Orangeburg and the forks.28 But the forks population was probably less than two hundred, and much of the country was still waste; within the past six years there had been two advertisements mentioning "wild gangs of horses" in that section. The road to Saluda had to wait ten years.29 With the end of the general depression in the province about 1748 the scantily developed Amelia began a rapid growth. During the year 1749 about twenty-five surveys or applications for land were made for persons settling in the township, a third of them for Germans. For the years 1749 to 1759 the total was between twenty-eight and thirty thousand acres, representing about one hundred and ninety warrants, evenly divided between German and English names. The Germans were a part of the great tide of this decade which the Indian troubles of the back country, aided perhaps by the efforts of the provincial government, turned back toward the coast. Less than ten percent of the total warrants for the decade appear to have been for non-residents and about the same number were for English settlers who already had lands. In the militia organization of 1757 were two Amelia companies, the lower of eighty-three men, the upper of fifty-five, but the latter evidently included some settlers north of the township. There were probably six hundred and fifty whites and a hundred slaves in the township.30 Of this new migration the early settlement on Halfway Swamp received its share. John Fouquet in 1749 applied for a warrant for three hundred acres which included the rights for four slaves, and in 1753 for five hundred acres on ten headrights. His first tract was surveyed on Halfway Swamp immediately below Boggy Gully, and here he built up an establishment which, in his advertisement offering it for sale in 1758, he described at length: "a very good pleasant dwelling-house, a very large barn, stables, a stand for waggon and cart, a large smoak-house, and several negro houses; about 70 acres clear, and a good part thereof new ground, most under good fence, about 10 acres under wild indico, cut but once, with conveniences for making indico without pumps, and a good quantity of fruit trees." 31 Nearly a score of small landholders made surveys in the valley of Buckhead Creek,32 while other settlers were moving in with capital and slaves for developing the land along the Santee. Moses Thomson, who according to family tradition was from Pennsylvania, settled in the Shenandoah Valley and bought a thousand acres from William Beverley. By the end of 1745 he had moved to Amelia where he presently became justice of the peace and captain of the militia. Headrights for thirteen slaves were included in warrants granted him in 1749 and 1754. His son William in 1755 married a daughter of Charles Russell and acquired a tract of four hundred acres at the mouth of Buckhead Creek, the beginning of his Belleville plantation.33 Near him lived John McCord, former Indian trader, and in 1759 proprietor of Joyner's ferry.34 Moses Thomson made his home at the mouth of Halfway Swamp, and the settlement on the lower portion of that stream of others, residents if not natives of the province, shifted the center of gravity of the township to the southeast. This brought into the affairs of the community a group of Santee planters hitherto little interested in Amelia.35 Giessendanner records frequent marriages or baptisms at Mrs. Russell's home, and the majority of Amelia names are in his register. Occasionally he appears at Moses Thomson's, or on Buckhead at William Martin's or John Lloyd's. In 1756 the upland settlers, through their "Trustees", asked aid of the Commons to complete their partly built church. The planter-controlled House rejected the petition, but "Amelia Chappel" occurs in Giessendanner's record in March 1757 and regularly thereafter. It seems to have been on the Cherokee road about a mile below the Ox Creek crossing.36 The death of Giessendanner in 1761 cleared the way for the planters to assume control. In 1764 the House was petitioned by certain Amelia inhabitants, probably the same group as before, for some provision for a minister, and the next year the Orangeburgers asked that their township be made a parish. The answer of the assembly was an act to form St. Matthew's Parish, including in it the two townships and an additional section below Amelia on the Santee. The desire of the assembly to grant representation to the middle and back country, none too strong at best, was now sadly weakened by the veto of this act by the crown because it added two members to the Commons. St. Matthew's became a parish in 1768 with only one seat in the House, and that had to be taken from St. James Goose Creek. The acts provided for a chapel in Orangeburg and a church and chapel elsewhere as the commissioners should decide. The two Thomsons, William Heatley, and Thomas Sabb were among those named, and there could have been no surprise when the church was placed on the river road, above Halfway Swamp, and the chapel some miles south of it.37 Orangeburg remained a township of small German farmers, but Amelia had become a planter's parish.