Traditons and  History of Anderson County by Louise Ayer Vandiver, 1928 Transcribed by Dena Whitesell for Anderson County, South Carolina Genealogy Trails CHAPTER X Some of the Early Citizens and Homes The Mexican War, The Big Fire and Old Reformer One of Anderson County's earliest families was that of Alexander Moorhead. In fact, Mr. Moorhead came before the county did. He built, in 1813, the quaint little house out several miles north of Anderson which his son, Mr. Robert Moorhead, occupied until his death several years ago. The house is probably still standing. There is an interesting story told of the origin of the name. It is said that long, long ago there lived in Scotland, in the same neighborhood, two men of the same name, John Muir. One lived on the top of a hill, and became known as John Muir, at the hill or "heed," and the other as John Muir, on the bray face. It chanced that a bull in the neighborhood became mad and the men of the community, armed with anything that could be carried as a weapon, went out to slay the beast. John Muir, of the "heed," armed himself with a pitchfork, and was fortunate enough to kill the bull, whose head he carried home in triumph. That doughty deed, added to the "heed" already used in connection with his name, finally fixed it as Moorhead, which in process of time became Moorhead. The Anderson Moorheads lived first in Union District, The head of the family was another John, fie, during the Revolutionary War, was loyal to Britain. His two sons, however, fought in the army of the patriots. Alexander Moorhead was a little boy at the time of the war with England, and he used to tell about seeing the "Red Coats” pass his father's house, and running to hide in a fence corner until they were out of sight. He was one of the first white men to settle in this section of the country. His house was built of logs, the interstices filled "with small brick made to fit the place they were to occupy. A few years before his death Mr Robert Moorhead was over persuaded to cover the front and sides of his house with weatherboarding, but the original logs are still there, and at the back may be seen. In 1814 Mr. Alexander Moorhead was elected captain of a military company composed of men of Pendleton district, and living in what afterwards became Anderson, which went into Georgia to fight Indians. The company spent six months on that business. The people of this vicinity lived largely on sweet potatoes in that early time, and Mr. Alexander Moorhead sold probably the greater part of the potatoes sold. Even to people who raised their own potatoes he sold those needed for seed. He also sold large quantities of tobacco. A little distance back, of the Moorhead house is a quaint old Dutch oven of brick. It has a large cavity for baking and a small one for fire. The Moorhead place was originally owned by an Irishman named Loflin. He lived in a log cabin. In 1704 Mr. Moorhead, then a young man came from Union and bought the property. At once he went to work to make a crop, and after it was made and gathered, he returned to Union and got his parents to come and live with him. The youth was only twenty years old at the time. With the parents came also a young sister, who was married to a Mr. Lewis, grandfather of Mr. J. B. Lewis. The present house was not built at the time. The family occupied the cabin of Mr. Loflin, and in the low loft the bride dressed for the wedding. The original house is still standing, an outbuilding of the farm, and the dingy loft is to be seen. The bride may not have been tall; if she was, she dressed bent over. Alexander also soon married, and it was for his young wife he built the present house, a two-story structure with a large living room and an ell containing two other rooms—quite a pretentious house when it was erected. Mr. Moorhead and his wife are buried in Concord church yard, not far from their home place. To the west of the city of Anderson is still standing a well-known house yet called by many people “the old Keys Place.” The first owner of the name was Peter Keys, born in Ireland in 1761. He, too, came before the county did. It is said that his house had the first glass windows ever seen in the community, and that people drove out of their way in order to pass the place and see the innovation. He also built the first vault for the dead. It is still to be seen, a brick structure some distance from the house, once in the heart: of the cool forest, now almost beside the public road. In the vault rest the bodies of Mr. Keys and his "wife, several of their children and grandchildren, and other relatives; in all, about eighteen people. The vault is walled up and sealed now. There is no way of getting into it other than to tear it down. The streets of the town, as well as the country roads in the early days, were kept in traveling condition by contracting with the lowest bidder for the job, who then put his slaves, if he had any, at the task, or, owning none, hired hands. The work consisted in cutting down weeds, filling holes and smoothing off the surface. Even as late as 1860 the roads in Anderson county were mere trails, or plantation ways. There were few public high-ways, and those few wretchedly kept. Most travel was done by means of horses, or on foot. Horseback riding was easier than vehicle traveling, and it was a common sight to see a man riding with his wife or daughter mounted behind him. The very stylish people used a pillion for the women to sit on, but among ordinary folks they just climbed up on the horse's bare back and hung to the man in front. There were stage routes established by the middle of the nineteenth century between important towns, and they ran, when practicable, through smaller places. Coaches were very heavy and not infrequently stuck in the mud of some almost impassable road, and the men passengers, and most of them were men — women seldom went far from home — had to get out and help pry them out. On "the cold Saturday” in 1833 the only way that the stage coach could move at all was by the driver carrying an axe with which he cut away ice-laden tree branches which blocked his progress. Meantime the passengers, if any, who were rash enough to travel on that dreadful day, sat inside the coach and narrowly escaped actual freezing. Anderson's first carpenter, Hugh Whittaker, lived somewhere back of the west side of the square. Close around the new town were many settlers. David Anderson lived where Mrs. Frank Johnson's house now stands, quite a little distance out of town it was in his day, and he used to haul wood in to sell. A noble line of old pear trees planted by the Andersons is still standing at the side of the present house. Some other of the original names in the county were Breazeale, Gambrell, Kay, Major, Erskine, Shirley, Long, Roseman, Wellborn, Broyles, Reed, and many others. It is said that Mr. Enoch Reed, an uncle of Judge J. P. Reed, went from South Carolina in the fall of 1818 to Indiana, because of the very severe drought that visited Pendleton. Mr. Grief Horton and Mr. Enoch Reed, neighbors, ran three or four ploughs each, and made between them only about sixty bushels of corn. Mr. Horton bought Mr. Reed's corn, and that, with what oats and other provender he made, enabled him to pull through until the next year. Mr Reed, or Reid, for the name was spelled both ways, left that section of country. It seems probable that he was the ancestor of Whitelaw Reid, the stateman who not many years ago was United States minister to England. There is a tradition in the Whitelaw Reid family that their ancestor moved to Indiana from South Carolina when Indiana was a part of the almost unexplored west. Anderson took great interest in the war with Mexico. It sent some soldiers to the army, and the people at home got greatly excited over war news. An account has been preserved of how the town celebrated the news of a victory. Messrs. Reed and Orr were the leading lawyers at the time, and on that particular evening the brilliant appearance of their office, which stood on Brick Range, rather more than half-way towards its northern end, attracted a crowd around its doors to find out the meaning of the illumination. Colonel Orr was absent from the town, but Colonel Reed, with his usual eye for good effect, had arranged the decorations. The front of the office was largely glass, great windows and a big light in the door affording ample space for lights. At a short distance in front of the door a beautiful transparency was elevated with appropriate devices and mottoes in honor of "Our Gallant Army and the illustrious and patriotic generals who led them on to victory,” which of course explained to those who had not heard the news the occasion of the display. Upon the front of the transparency next to the public square appeared in bold relief, seemingly in letters of gold, the device: "General Taylor, the hero of four battles in one year— the People's Man”. Upon the left, in similar characters, was "General Scott, Lundy's Lane, Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo, Monuments to his fame,” and upon the right, "Colonel Butler and the Palmetto Regiment.” The perusal of these devices sufficed to arouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the crowd, which was manifested by vociferous cheering. Bon-fires were kindled on the square, and amid shouts a procession was bearing at its head the transparency. It marched around the square and along the principal streets of the village, returning about eleven o'clock to the point from which it started. Calling for speeches, the crowd was addressed from the steps of the office by Colonel Reed, Mr. Peter Vandiver and Mr. John V. Moore. On April 9, 1845, there was a high wind blowing over the little town, and about midnight the sleeping people were aroused by the cry, "Fire!” The store of Mr. Earle, on the corner of the one business street in the place, the place now occupied by Efird's department store, was in flames. Mr. Griffin, the manager of the store, slept in it, and he awoke to find the building full of smoke. It was with difficulty that he fought his way into the air. The wind spread the fire rapidly, and the "bucket brigade,” a double line from the fire to the wells which stood on each side of the court house, passing full buckets on one side and empty ones on the other, handing them to fire fighters, could make no headway against the flames. The whole row of buildings was destroyed. Mr. Crayton's store, which stood on the extreme end from where the fire started, caught last, of course, and he had time to get his goods out. They were piled on the square about where the Confederate Monument stands, and the nest day were taken into the courthouse, where he continued to do business for quite a while. He was still occupying the courthouse when the time came for the spring term of court. Judge Johnson was to preside. when he reached Anderson and learned of the situation, he refused to allow Mr. Crayton's business to be disturbed, and conducted the whole court from the piazza of the Orr Hotel. But the printing office, where Mr. Reed was publishing The Highland Sentinel, was not so fortunate. It was burned with all its contents, among which was the book in which had been kept the minutes of the town council from its very beginning. Mr Reed was intendant at the time, and the meetings were held in his office, and the book kept there. The fire burned the whole west side of the square, then jumped the street and caught the Benson Hotel. However, there had been time to prepare for it; the building was covered with wet blankets, which were kept saturated, and there the fire was checked. On that night the little children of Mr. Crayton were staying with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Benson. They were awakened and sent out to Rose Hill, then well out of town. The fierce wind carried burning timbers as far as Judge Whitner's lawn, and the woods, as far out as the Quattlebaum place, were set on fire. Sheds erected over vats on Mr. Osborne's tan yard on Whitner creek were burned. Never has Anderson had such a fire, and although there are few people now living who remember that dreadful night, yet it is to Anderson still "The Big Fire”. In 1845 Anderson built a market house. It stood about where Penny's store is now, and a high fence was built all back of the courthouse, enclosing all of the east side of the square. The only way to reach the market was through the courthouse. People had to go before day to get meat, and the rule was "first come, first served.” Late comers got poor cuts, or did without. The little old cannon, now known as "Old Reformer," was brought to Anderson in the early days from Fort Ninety-Six, and its joyful note was heard on all public occasions. Governor McDuffie used to come to Anderson often to review the militia, and at those times the cannon spoke Just when it came to the county is uncertain, as is its previous history. Certainly before 1850 it belonged to an artillery company which was organized by the people living in the sections now known as Deans and Starr. The muster ground was at Howard's Old Field, about one mile east of the present town of Starr. The uniform of that company was copperas trousers and blue coats. The company was in existence in 1832; how much earlier is not known. The little cannon was the object around which they rallied, the detonations of which aroused enthusiasm, and fanned to greater fervor the flame of patriotism which burned in the breasts of the gallant boys. That company was succeeded by one consisting of 102 men, commanded by Major Thomas Dean; their uniform "was black, jackets and white trousers. The cannon was their only field piece, and dear to their hearts. They built a house on the muster grounds for its safe keeping, and at all general musters it was brought out and put into service. Its reverberations continued to thrill men until the great struggle of the 60s; after that it was made to lend its voice, which is said to be remarkably powerful, to more than one celebration of Confederate victories. After the defeat of the South the cannon, like its people, sank into despondent silence until 1876, when again its joyful note was heard shouting, as did the people, "Hurrah For Hampton.” Major John B. Moore conceived the idea of rescuing the old cannon from oblivion, and Mr. "Pink” Reed went after it. He found it half covered with dirt out in an old field and brought it to the town. Colonel Hoyt, then editor of The Intelligencer, named it "Old Reformer.” The cannon is of English make, brass, and was probably used during the Revolution, though there is no authentic account of it at that time, yet there is a tradition that it was used by both British and Americans. It is said to have been transported to Anderson county in 1814 by a man named Hanks, believed by many people to have been the father of Nancy Hanks, who afterwards married Thomas Lincoln, and became the mother of Abraham Lincoln. All that story, however, is pure tradition, and lacks confirmation. The old brass field piece weighs 600 pounds, and was touched off with a fuse instead of the lanyard of later days. Its fine carriage rotted away more than a hundred years ago. During the war, there being no iron in the county, and no money to buy implements, the iron from the old support was used to make ploughshares. There is a tradition that the cannon was borrowed in December, 1860, from the old muster grounds, and that its voice blazoned the news that the Ordinance of Secession had been signed, after which it was returned to its former place until sixteen years should pass. After the Hampton campaign, it was again forgotten and neglected. For a long time it lay, again half buried in the earth out near the freight depot, and thirty or more years ago the late W. R. Hubbard rescued it, and placed it on his lawn. There it remained until about 1905 or 1906, when Mrs. J. L. McGee, then regent of Cateechee Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, interested her chapter in procuring the historic piece and having it placed in a conspicuous position on North Main street, just about opposite to the Central Presbyterian Church. There it stood for several years, until an automobile-crazy city council, after having cut down all of the trees in the street, turned its attention to the little cannon, deciding that it was in the way of speeders, and took it down. Then it disappeared from sight and memory, until Mayor Foster Fant, during his first term, had it mounted and placed in its present position. CHAPTER XI Some of the Forefathers One of the earliest families in the country was that of Peter Acker. The founder of the family in America was William Acker, who came from Germany about 1750, having started with three sons, one of whom was lost overboard on the voyage. The two left were William, Jr., and Peter. They settled in New Jersey, not a great distance from Philadelphia. Of the elder, William, Jr., nothing is known by the southern branch; it is supposed that he lived, died and left descendants in New Jersey. The other son, Peter, with his wife, Jane Southerland, moved to Fair Field, South Carolina. He, too, may have descendants in New Jersey, as Jane Southerland was his second wife. He may have left older children in the Northern State. Peter was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He must have settled on the public domain in Fair Field, for no record can be found of his owning property there. In 1790 he moved to Pendleton District, buying many acres on Saluda River, near Shady Grove. Peter Acker died about 1815. The father of Mrs. Peter Acker, Alexander Southerland, came to America under peculiar circumstances. He was a student at the University of Edinborough, and with a party of college boys one day boarded a vessel to see the sights. The ship sailed away with them, and upon reaching Boston the students were sold to pay their passage. Southerland must have liked the new country; at any rate, he remained and later married Mrs. Betsey Williams. The children of Peter Acker and Jane Southerland were William, who married Miss Clement, Joseph, who married Ruth Alexander, Peter married Susannah Halbert, Alexander married Orma Burton, Mary married James Grace, Nancy married John McDavid, Elizabeth married James Taylor, Susan married Sanford Vandiver, Amos married Ruth Halbert. The children of William and Clement were: Mahala married Welborn Keaton, Peter married Miss Stevenson, Rhoda married Daniel Brown, William married Miss White, John married Miss Harper, Dearborn married Miss Cox, Amos married Miss Davis. From Rhoda Acker and Daniel Brown are descended the family of the late Dr. Ben Brown, of Williamston; the late Elijah Brown, of Anderson; the late Samuel Brown, of Anderson, and others, a numerous connection many of of whom have been in the past, and are now useful and prominent citizens of the community. The children of Peter, Jr., and Susannah Halbert were Halbert, who married Elizabeth Garrison; Frances married William Hammond, Alexander married Mourning Garrison, William V. died young, Elizabeth married William Mattison, Mary married Joel Townsend, Teresa married Allen McDavid, Lucinda married Jesse McGee, Peter Newton married first Miss Shumate, second Miss Garris, third Mrs. Caldwell; Joel Milton moved to Mississippi where he became a judge, and was the founder of a wealthy and prominent family in that state; Joshua S. married Matilda Williams. From their sons, Peter and Amos, are descended most of the South Carolina Ackers. Susannah Halbert, wife of Peter Acker, Jr., was the daughter of William Halbert and Elizabeth Hill. William's father, Joel Halbert, came from Wales and settled in Virginia. Whom he married is unknown, a Virginia girl certainly, as tradition makes this William Halbert eighth in descent from Pocahontas, and also related to the Randolphs of Virginia. William was born in Virginia. In 1768 he married Elizabeth Hill and in 1786 they moved to Pendleton, settling on the Saluda River. William Halbert died in 1808, leaving to his wife and to each of his children 200 acres of land and several negroes. He was a staunch Whig, and served in the army of Virginia. After coming to South Carolina he became a man of prominence in his community; served as Justice of the peace for many years. He was about five feet nine inches in height, of stout build, and had a red beard. His children were Joel, Martha, John, Enos, Arthur, James, Susannah, Frances, William Joshua, Elizabeth, Mary and Lucinda. Most of these children moved west, and today there are thousands of Halberts in Mississippi, Indiana, and other western states, but in South Carolina there is not one of the name. Joel married Mary Lindsey and went to Indiana in 1819. His daughter, Sarah, married Moses Welborn, of Anderson county. Another, Ruth, married Amos Acker, youngest son of Peter, Sr., and Jane Southerland. This couple lived at Williamston. One of their sons, "Squire" R. V. Acker, was living just a few years ago. They have many descendants who are valuable citizens, among them Mrs. D. H. Russell and her children. Martha Halbert married John Gresham, and from them was descended Governor Joe Brown, of Georgia. John Halbert married Margaret Harper and moved to Mississippi. Professor Harper, of Clemson College, is descended from them. Enos married Lucy Garner and went to Tennessee; James married Fanny Pepper and went to Missouri, Susannah married Peter Acker, Frances married Charles Garrison; they remained in South Carolina. Arthur married Elizabeth Cobb. William Halbert, Jr., married Betty Brown and went to Alabama. Elizabeth married William Berry and went to Mississippi, Mary married John Sherrell and went to Missouri, Lucinda married David Berry and went to Mississippi. The children of Alexander Acker, son of Peter, Sr., and Orma Burton, were George, Cecil, Mary, Elizabeth and Peter Wilson, Mary married Mr. Grace; they had a son, Baylis. Nancy Acker, daughter of Peter, Sr., married John McDavid; they were the parents of Lucinda, Richmond and five other children. Susan Acker and her husband, Sanford Vandiver, were the parents of Helena, Peter, James, Emmaline and Hezekiah. Helena married Samuel Brown and lived in Townville; their children were: John Peter married Julia Reed, Joseph Newton married Elizabeth Bruce, Milton married Emma Fanner, Emma married Mr. Feaster, Samuel F. married Mollie Lewis; he died in a short time and his widow married Colonel C. S. Mattison, Sanford married first Maggie Longshore, second Ella Smith. The youngest son of Peter, Sr., and Jane Southerland was Amos, who married Ruth Halbert, Their children were Mary, who married Humphrey Williams; she died and he married her sister, Elizabeth; then he died and his widow married Alfred Reed. Martha married James D. Smith, Halbert married Mary Marsh, Alfred S. married first Miss Martin, second Miss O'Rea; Joseph married Nancy Sitton, Elihu H. never married, Teresa married James Reece, Sallie married Jackson Surratt, Richmond V. married Delia Roper, Susan died young. The Acker-Halbert reunion in Anderson takes place at Shady Grove Church, where the early members of the families worshiped, many of them being buried in the adjacent grave yard. Another old Anderson county family is the Milford. Seven Irish brothers of the name came to South Carolina before the Revolution and served through the war. Thomas stopped first in North Carolina where he married Miss Jamison, later he, too, joined his brothers in South Carolina. They settled in what is now Abbeville county. Rebecca, a daughter of Thomas, married a son of John Milford, whose name was also John. One of their sons was C. S. Milford, born in Anderson county, where his parents made their home. In 1852 they went to Pickens, settling where the town of Westminster afterward grew up. Mr. Milford bought two hundred acres of land from J. D. Kay at two dollars per acre. C. S. Milford married Miriam Addis December 1st, 1853. They were the parents of six children, Samuel Marshall, later of Kansas City; John Thomas died young, Clayton Jones went to Lavonia, Ga.; Eliza Jane married W. F. Wooten, of Corner Township; Albert Galloway, of Anderson county, Charles Arlington, of Abbeville. Mr. Milford bought three hundred acres at one dollar an acre from Robert Steele, state senator from Pickens district, and with his bride went to live on it. He became a soldier of the Confederacy. In 1779 Thomas Martin and his wife, Hester Roundtree, left Martinsville, Va., and came to South Carolina. They had several little children, and creeping slowly forward in heavy carts, it was a long journey. In those pioneering days when night fell parties traveling the same way would often camp together for mutual protection. All provisions had to be transported with them, save what game they could kill on the road, and an occasional purchase made of the few farmers whose homes they passed. At the beginning of the trip Mr. Martin promised to give two dollars and a half to such of the children as should make the whole journey without crying. Mr. Martin's children appreciated to the full the generous offer, and valiantly they strove to win the reward. But they were very little, the journey was very long, and they encountered many hardships, including winter weather; and children have always had nerves, though our forefathers scouted such attributes for small people. One by one the little folks succumbed to trials and miseries, until all but Jacob, the eldest, had lost the coveted prize. That little lad wanted $2.50 very much indeed. It was a big sum of money, and probably he had never in his life had so much of his own. Not a tear had fallen from his bright eyes, and the journey was almost over. One day toward the very end Jacob was seated high upon the stack of domestic goods, and the heavy wagon was creaking, grumbling, and painfully rolling along over the dreadful roads, mere trails through the woods, the trees hanging low over the path. Passing under one of the sweeping branches, whoever held the reins that day reached out and pushed up the swinging limb. It could not have been the father, for fathers remember their little ones, and that driver forgot the boy perched aloft; as he let go the branch it swung back, striking the lad severely about the face and head, and poor little Jacob, startled and frightened by the sudden stinging pain, as a little boy could not help doing, lost his coveted prize. The family settled in what is now Williamston township, a mile or two east of where Piercetown is located. Big Creek church was their place of worship. There were nine children in the family who grew up. What education they got was from small country schools in their vicinity. In later years William, a son of these early settlers, gave the site of Beaver Dam Baptist Church, and was prominently connected with it for many years. The children of Thomas and Hester Martin were Jacob, who married his cousin, Cathrine Martin, from Edgefield. The mother of Cathrine Martin was a Rowan. The second son of Thomas and Hester was William, who married Elizabeth Duckworth, then came Charity, who married Ezekiel Murphy. James L. Orr, Sr., once said of Mrs. Charity Murphy that she was a wonderfully bright old lady. When she was over seventy years of age, he had occasion to see and hear her examined as a witness in a property case which involved twenty or thirty thousand dollars. Mrs. Murphy, though her educational advantages had been limited, showed a brilliant mind. She was catechised for four hours, lawyers bandying words over her; some of them in their usual style making every effort to confuse the witness, or to trap her into making contradictory statements. But their attempts were futile; she answered clearly and intelligently through the whole time. She told what real estate, live stock, and all other property involved had sold for so accurately that when it was over and her statements were compared with written records the difference between the two did not amount to so much as one dollar. The next child of Thomas and Hester was Mary, called Polly, who married Thomas Welborn. Then came Abram, who married Ruth Duckworth; Frances, or "Frankie,” married Baylis Watkins, Elizabeth married James Wilbanks, James married Mary Gregg, of Newberry, and Chesley married Annie Duckworth. These couples all settled in Anderson county, except the Wilbankses; and from them are descended many of the people of the county. A daughter of Charity Murphy married a Mr. Richardson, and they were the parents of the late Matthias and A. N. Richardson, of the Lebanon section. The family furnished a number of soldiers to the Confederacy. When the Reverend John Simpson came to Pendleton his eldest daughter, Jane, was eight years old. When she grew up she married and returned to the Fishing Creek section from whence she had come. One of the sons, Dr. James Simpson, married a daughter of Colonel John Bratton, another married a daughter of Colonel Pickens, one daughter married Colonel Moffatt, a Revolutionary soldier, from whom Mofifattsville took its name; two of the daughters married into the Sadler family, which along with the Simpsons had moved from York to Pendleton. Jane's first husband was James Neely. They had one son, John, who died a young man, though he had married, and left several children. Jane's husband, James Neely, died after a few years, and she married John Boyd. Other children of Reverend John Simpson remained near the old Pendleton section of the country. The late Mrs. R. F. Divver was a descendant of that pioneer preacher, and the Simpsons have added much to Anderson county. Mrs. Emmie Cathcart and Mrs. Lila Sullivan are also descendants of the family. The original McFall in this community was John, born at Craig's Plead, Antrim, Ireland. Having quarreled with his stepmother, he ran away to sea, landing at Charleston, S. C. in 1784, when he was about sixteen years old. He went to work, and became a good business man, owning quite a comfortable, property. Early in the history of Anderson county Mr. McFall became one of its citizens. He possessed a number of slaves and a good plantation near Neal's Creek Church. He married the daughter of another early settler in the community, Miss Mary Norris. Mr McFall was a proud, rather haughty man, generous and hospitable, and always immaculately dressed, wearing a snowy shirt adorned with ruffles, sometimes lace-trimmed. He was proud of his ancestry, and claimed descent from Mary Queen of Scots. Mr. McFall left three sons, John, Andrew and Samuel. He and his wife are buried in the Ideal's Creek cemetery. Their descendants are among our best people. Those of die name are well known; there are some, however, who bear other names, among them Mr. John McFall Hubbard and Miss Nora Hubbard, to both of whom one collecting Anderson county data has to make frequent appeals, as they know much and remember well. The name Clinkscales is found everywhere in the Piedmont section, and especially does the family seem to belong to Anderson county. Professor John G. Clinkscales, of Wofford, a scholar and writer of ability, is an Anderson county man. Mr. Fleetwood Clinkscales was for more than fifty years a newspaper man in the town. A youth in 1854, he began as a compositor apprentice in the office of The Southern Rights Advocate. "When The Anderson Intelligencer was founded in 1860, Mr. Clinkscales became associated with it. He remained with the same paper until advancing age forced him to retire from active work. Dr. Clinkscales and Mrs. E. W. Masters are members of the family well known to Anderson people. One of the very first families in the town was that of Robert Wilson. He was a son of William Wilson and his wife, who had been Jane Cunningham. She died in Anderson at the home of one of her children in 1834. Robert had a brother named William Robert's wife was named Sarah Norton. The family consisted of three sons and two daughters, all members of Anderson's first "younger set." One son, Joseph, went to Alabama soon after he grew up, and from a few letters written to him by members of the family in Anderson, which have miraculously escaped destruction, brief glimpses may be caught of that far away Anderson; also by reading those simple family letters written when railroad trains and mail service were few and poor, one can understand how near kindred came to lose each other so completely as many of them did long ago. When Joseph went away, it was merely an experiment. He was trying the western country. His brother, Jeptha, made him a visit, and in a letter written to Joseph soon after his return to Anderson, Jeptha tells him that he told their parents that he thought the reason Joseph did not return with him was that he was going to be married out there. Then there are letters from the mother telling the absent boy that she misses him, and hopes he will soon make them a visit. If he gets married he must be sure to bring his wife to see the home people. In one of her letters to her son, Sarah Wilson tells him of the marriages of a number of his young friends, and as those couples became ancestors of many Anderson people of the present time, the old news is still interesting. Berry Lewis has married Matilda Poole, Gillison Harris weds Matilda Smith, Thomas George marries Matilda Wilson — Matilda seems to have been a popular name — Haynes Whitaker to Maria Drennan, Robert Whitaker to a Georgia lady whose name Mrs. Wilson does not seem to know, Peter Byrum and Mary Ann Drennan, William Archer to Harriet Norris, James McDonald to Elvira Pickens, Baker Gentry to Betsy Moorhead, James Gordon to Miss--- (that name is undecipherable), Jesse Smith to Betsey Clark. Since those young couples were married three generations of their descendants have grown up, their grandchildren are the grandparents of the present young people. In 1837 Jeptha Wilson writes his brother, “I now take the opportunity to inform you that I got home safely, and came in six days and a half”. He does not mention the means of transportation. Further he says, “I do want you to come home, for we are in high prosperity. There is more money in the county than I ever saw, every one is able to pay his debts, except those who do not want to do so.” A sister of Jeptha Wilson, named Elizabeth, married first a Mr. Overby. Little is said of him, or of the marriage. The indications are, however, that it was not a happy one, and Mr. Overby seems to have left the country without taking his wife with him. Later he seems to have died and Elizabeth marries Mr. Jackson. The first letter of the series was written by the mother in 1834. She tells Joseph that his grandmother and grandfather Wilson have died. She says: "Your sister is going to be married December 11th, and we want you to come home at that time, if you can.” That sister was Elvira, who married Marshall Stensel. In several subsequent letters both Elvira and Marshall are mentioned, and several times their children are written about as being fine interesting little people. The most of the letters are written by Jeptha, though there are several from the mother, who always urges the faraway son to come home on a visit. In one written many years after the first, she says: “If you could come to see us just once I would try to be satisfied." Both the mother and the sister Elizabeth ask the number of Joseph's children and their names. Joseph seems never to have returned, and the family left at home never saw his wife nor any of his children. The youngest member of the Wilson family was a boy called Tandy, who was a little fellow when his brother Joseph went away, and his brother Jeptha was almost like a father to him. A spoiled youngster he must have been, the pet and pride of all of the older brothers and sisters, as well as the Benjamin of his parents. In some of the earlier letters Jeptha tells Joseph: "Tandy is eighteen years old, and nearly as large as I am, and as lazy as ever." Again he says: "Tandy is a good workman when you can get him down to it, but he likes better to frolic.” Again: "Tandy has been laid up, and has done nothing for four months, with something like white swelling in his shoulder. He is on the mend now. He is as large as I am and a tolerable good workman.” Another time he says that he sent Tandy to school in Pendleton, but that he would rather dance than study. Then after a long while comes another letter in which Jeptha says: “For fear you did not get a letter concerning the death of our brother, Tandy W. Wilson, which I wrote you last summer I will state the facts again: Tandy volunteered in the company of volunteers that went to Mexico from this district. He fought through all the battles until they took the city of Mexico. After they had been there some time, they went out of the city to take up the body of Colonel Butler of their regiment. On returning to the city, three young men from Charleston got behind the main body and were killed by the guerrillas. When the roll was called on the return of the regiment to the city, Tandy and the others were missing. The company of cavalry that belonged to the regiment was ordered out to search for them, and found them near the road, shot, and their throats cut. They were buried with the honors of war where their bodies were found. This is all I could ever learn about Tandy." In one letter the mother says: "Elvira thinks hard of you, that you never write to her, for she thinks more of you than any of her brothers. I have a good many things to talk to you about, and tell you about my troubles in this world. I cannot express my feelings at this time, for I write with tears in my eyes. I never expect to see you again unless you think enough of me to come to see me. I have a great desire to see your wife and children. If you would only come to see me one time I would try to be satisfied.” Joseph seems to have a tenderness in his heart for Elvira, for the mother says in one letter: "Elvira wants you to bring her namesake to see her." It was not only real distance that separated families in those hard days; members of the clan living much closer together saw each other at long intervals. In one letter to Joseph the mother, in telling about the family, says: “I have not seen your sister Elizabeth in about five years; she never comes to see me, but the children come sometime." At that time the Wilson family seems to have been living in Due West, where they spent several years, and Mrs. Wilson, in writing of her home and her neighbors, unconsciously gives a good idea of herself. She says: "We live in a very religious place. The neighbors are friendly and kind, they are like sisters and mothers to me. Let me go where I will, I find friends.” In telling about the family the mother writes: "Your grandmother Norton is still living at the old place. Your uncle Robert Emberson is living with her (married her daughter). Your aunt Betsy Wilkerson lives on the same plantation.” In 1862 Jeptha writes: “I have not heard from you in three years until this spring. I met with a man in Charleston that said he lived in the adjoining county. He told me you were still living. Uncle Jep still lives in Greenville (Jeptha Norton); his son William lives in this place, and is getting rich carrying on a merchant tailor business.” The old Grandmother Norton was still living with her daughter and son-in-law. “Sister Elizabeth and Bill Jackson live where the old Mt. Tabor church road turns out of the General's Road. M. M. Stansel and Elvira live in a mile and a half of this place. They have four boys and two girls.” They seem to have moved later to Galhoun. The last letter is written in 1862. Jeptha says that his father died at his home December 21, 1861, in his eighty-third year. Their mother had gone to live with Elvira at Calhoun. He says further: “I have rented a farm from one of my brothers-in-law in the army, that is, my wife's brothers. There is not a single man in this country who is thought anything of who is not in the army.” The war ended the letters. Joseph seems to have treasured these missives from his old home, and as age increased their interest, his descendants in Alabama still preserve them. They are few, but extend over a period of twenty-eight years. They present a simple picture of life as Anderson people were living it in those days. Mr. Jeptha Wilson lived to be the oldest man in Anderson, and the one who had resided in the place the longest time. His memory was always good, and it is to incidents related by him to younger people, and remembered by them, that much of Anderson's early history has been preserved. One of the oldest and most numerous families in the county is that of Burriss, spelled in several different ways, but all of the same blood. The first of the name to come to Anderson county was Joshua, born in Virginia in 1724. He moved to South Carolina in 1776. His wife was Sarah Chamblee, and they lived not far from where Gluck Mill is now located. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom settled on land given them by their father on Generostee Creek. The names of Joshua Burriss' children with the names of the men and women they married are: Elisha married Margaret Greelee; Elizabeth, born 1768, married Asa Castleberry in 1796; James, born 1776, married Susan Cain in 1794; John, born 1776, married Elizabeth Davis in 1796; Mary, born 1778, married Lewis Chamblee in 1798; Thomas, born 1782, married Jane Davis in 1800; Nancy, born 1794, married Silas Massey in 1812. All of these couples left descendants who have intermarried with most of the old families of the community. Many of them have moved away, and in 1906 records had been collected of living people at that time of 1,313 descendants of the original Burriss family; they were then scattered over eleven states, and the work had been only begun. Since that year much has been added to the family history. Joshua Burriss became a man of wealth. On his arrival in what is now Anderson County, he bought land from James McCarley, and the deed bears the date October 4th, 1795. At one time Joshua Burriss owned as much land as constitutes a township now. His possessions embrace parts of what is now Centerville, Rock Milts, Savannah and Varennes townships. In settling his sons, Mr. Burriss had a method all his own. He placed them up and down Generostee Creek according to their ages. Elisha, the oldest, was placed farthest north, on what was long known as the "Old Byrum Place,” now the Anderson Country Club. The next was James, whose home stood near where the Orr Mill is now. He and his wife are buried in the old Mt. Tabor grave yard. John's land was about where the "Old Watson home” is now, the place which belonged to the late Manley Watson. Thomas's land was near Old Rock Mills, and he is buried in an ancient grave yard at that place. His daughters were differently placed. One of them, Mary Chamblee, owned the old Whitner place, which Judge Whitner bought from Moses Chamblee, probably her son. The original Burriss in this community spelled his name Boroughs, but his sons spelled it Burriss, and in the next generation there were three brothers who spelled it in three different ways. Burriss has, however, come to be the general way of writing the name. The Burriss family soon began to own slaves as well as real estate. Among those belonging to Mr. Jacob Burriss was a native African who always insisted upon using a rock for a pillow. Among the many who have borne the name, William Burriss stands high. He was a son of the pioneer Baptist preacher, Jacob Burriss, who must have been a grandson of the original Joshua. Modest, quiet, unassuming, he yet rose to a prominent and dignified position solely by his sterling character. In a eulogy of him at the time of his death, the late W. W. Keys, editor of The Baptist Courier, whose wife was a relative of Mr. Burriss, said of him in the words of Byron: "Though modest, on his unembarrassed brow nature had written gentleman”. His home was not on the public road; it stood about half a mile back on the farm, shut from view by woods sequestered and quiet, a stately building surrounded by luxuriant vegetation, and a plantation well managed and thoroughly worked. Mr. Burriss married Sarah Moorhead. His family were loyal and prominent members of Salem Church for many years. Mr Burriss served that church as deacon and treasurer for an ordinary lifetime. While William Burriss attended strictly to his own affairs, he was not indifferent to the just demands of his community. Always ready to cooperate in any enterprise that was for the public good. He never sought office of any kind, but was well informed on public affairs. A fine type of citizen, and one who has left an impression on the community in which he passed his life. Three of his sons became citizens of the town of Anderson, and each showed many of his father's characteristics---gentleness, modesty and kindness being very pronounced in all of them. They were the three brothers, all dead now—Marcus, Rufus and Boyce Burriss. Another of the builder families of Anderson is that of Broyles. The pioneer in this section was Aaron, who settled somewhere not far from the old Calhoun section, and married Fannie Reed, daughter of another early settler. They began life with love, courage and industry, their only assets. Their first home was a log cabin with a dirt floor. Mr. Broyles was of German descent, and Mrs. Broyles of French Huguenot blood. While their children were still small, they had begun to accumulate a good share of worldly goods, and they gave their boys and girls what educational advantages the section offered. Their sons were John T., born in 1806; Oze, Cain and Abel. The youngest died when a boy. Cain and Oze lost their lives during the War Between the States. The eldest, John T., had quite a number of adventures. In 1817 he accompanied a relative to Fort Hawkins, which stood where the city of Macon, Ga., is now located. They drove cattle which the owner sold to the government for the soldiers stationed there. When a little older he accompanied his father to Hamburg, S. C., then a flourishing trade center. Mr. Broyles raised a quantity of tobacco, which was the staple crop of this section in the early times. Young John rode one of the animals which drew the hogshead and his father rode the other, their camping outfit packed between them as best they could. As a youth Major John Broyles was well acquainted with John C. Calhoun, then a rising young lawyer. He attended Calhoun Academy at the same time that his cousin Joe Brown was a student there. Later John Broyles was sent to Tusculum College in Greenville, Tennessee, where he studied under Reverend Samuel Doark, the father of Presbyterianism in Tennessee. At that time there were a number of South Carolina students in the institution, among them Francis Pickens and John Hammond, both afterwards Governors of South Carolina. Pickens was the room-mate of young Broyles. John graduated with honors at Tusculum, and after bidding an affectionate farewell to Father Doark, he returned to Anderson district, where in 1829 he married Miss Clorinda Hammond, daughter of Dudley Hammond, a wealthy planter of the district. The young couple went to housekeeping in what was at the time a fine residence, the gift of the bride's father. In 1332 came troublous times in South Carolina; the tariff bill passed by Congress enraged the planters, and the State declared the act null and void. A conflict was feared, and Governor George McDuffie called a meeting of the people of Anderson district in the summer of 1832 to be held at Varennes. There the governor made an appeal for volunteers to support the commonwealth against the Federal encroachments. John T. Broyles was the first man to offer his service. He did it amid general cheering, and Governor McDuffie made him a Major of infantry on the spot. In 1834 he served as a member of the South Carolina legislature. In 1847 Major Broyles moved to Tennessee. In 1856 he returned to Anderson, and was again elected to the legislature. At the outbreak of the War Between the States Major Broyles was not permitted to enlist in the army on account of his age, but his sons served until the surrender. In 1862 Major Broyles went to Dalton, Ga., and in 1864 he went with other refugees to Marshallville, Ga., returning in 1866 to Chickamauga, where he lived until 1895. He died at the age of ninety-three years. Like many members of his family, he was musical, and at one time played the violin well.  He also wrote a number of pamphlets, chiefly of a political nature, though he had fine literary taste also. Major Broyles was the father of seven children, five boys and two girls. Two sons died in infancy. Those who grew up were Edward, who died in Chattanooga in 1898; Dudley Hammond, killed in the war; Dr. Julius J. died in Chattanooga in 1898; Claudia, who is Mrs. Renan, of Chattanooga, Term., and Mrs. Clark, of Rome, Ga. Mrs. Renan visited Anderson in 1920, and though then an old lady, her music and her vivacity made a deep impression on all who had the pleasure of meeting her. She played the piano in a way that few people, old or young, can approach. Dr. Oze Broyles spent his life in Anderson. His home was the house on South Main street built by Mr. Samuel G. Earle, now occupied by the Acker family. He not only spent his life there, but remained for a number of years after his death. He was buried on the south-east corner of the lot, and a circle of cedar trees cut the haunted looking section off from the rest of the place. His wife had him buried there where she could spend a great part of her time near him, expecting at her death that the body should be removed and both of them interred in a cemetery. But when she died her son, Captain Augustus Taliaferro Broyles, a bachelor who had lived alone with his aged mother for many years, wished to keep her near him, and he buried her beside his father in the corner of the home lot. There very often one in passing the place could see the eccentric old man sitting on a bench beside his parents' graves. When he died, quite old, all of the bodies were taken to Silver Brook Cemetery, and now the weird spot has become a part of Mrs. Chenault's beautiful lawn, and the dense shadows have passed away. Captain Broyles was the eldest child of his parents, Dr. Oze R. Broyles and Sarah Ann Taliaferro. The boy Augustus attended the Fendleton Male Academy. In 1843 he graduated from the South Carolina University. He studied law in the office of General J. W. Harrison, and was later taken into partnership with his instructor. He was a diligent student, and his legal opinions were always highly respected, and seldom found to be erroneous. By many he was accredited with being the best informed lawyer of his time in his section of the state. He wrote some valuable legal pamphlets, and at his death had in manuscript many commentaries on abstruse points of law. He was engaged in revising those papers when death fell upon him. Captain Broyles served several times in the legislature; but while lie always took an active interest in things pertaining to his county, he had no political ambition, and preferred to spend his time in the pursuit of his profession. When the War Between the States came on, Augustus Broyles, then a young man, was elected captain of one of the companies formed in the county, and he served in Virginia until forced to resign on account of disease, which caused him great suffering during all the rest of his long life. Captain Broyles, like all persons of force, or great individuality, had some peculiarities, probably many of them inherited from a line of forceful ancestors. At times he was abrupt in the expression of his opinions, but withal he was very tenderhearted and sympathetic, particularly with old people and children. Captain Broyles was well read, and a fluent and interesting talker, when he chose to take the trouble to converse. He had opinions, and the courage of his convictions under all circumstances. In all the relations of life he was honest and straight. Having never married, the chief love of his life seems to have been given to his mother, and for years the two of them dwelt hidden from the world by the dense cedars that shrouded their homes. Mrs. Broyles had flowers, too, but the outstanding characteristic of the place were the cedars. Planted when Anderson was an infant by Mr. Earle, they had grown very large and thick, and they suited the feelings and taste of the two lonely old people who lived behind them. The cedars, like those who loved them, have gone now. After the death of Mrs. Broyles, the family of Captain Broyles brother, Mr. John T. Broyles, went to live with him. Mr. John Broyles' married Miss Bettie Hibbard, and their children were the chief interest of Captain Broyles' declining years; especially was this true of the only daughter, Zoe, whom he called “Dudie"; though at the time of her birth he insisted upon hanging crepe on the door; he wanted no girls about him. Another son of Dr. Oze Broyles was Dr. Robert Broyles. He removed with his family from Anderson many years ago. The late Mrs. Margaret VanWyck was a daughter of Dr. Oze Broyles, and a sister of “Mr. Gus.” Mrs. VanWyck in her early days must have been a beautiful woman; certainly in her old age she was lovely, and her manners "were as lovely as her face. Enthusiastic in everything that interested her, she was a great teacher. Her husband, Dr. Samuel Maverick VanWyck, was killed during the war, leaving her with three little children, two boys and one girl. The little daughter soon followed her father to the grave, carrying a part of the mother's heart with her. Towards little girls Mrs. Van Wyck was always most tender. The young widow took up life as well as she could, and worked for her boys. They were Samuel M. VanWyck, who married Nina Harrison, and Oze, who married Bessie Keith. Mrs. VanWyck taught school in Anderson for many years, and impressed her vivid personality on many of the women who have in later years carried a portion of the responsibility of making Anderson a worthwhile town. Of the Methodist Church she was a most loyal and enthusiastic member. Mrs. VanWyck lived to be very old, and almost blind, but her cheerfulness, enthusiasm and interest in life never failed. The other daughter of Dr. Oze Broyles married a Mr. Williams and went to Tennessee years ago. For a long time her daughters used to come to Anderson on visits, and with their beautiful music delighted all who heard them. The elder, Maggie, died young; the other, Marie, is living and singing for the pleasure of other people in Tennessee. A brother of Dr. Oze Broyles, and son of Major Aaron Broyles, was Major Cain Broyles. He lived at old Stauntonville, one of the early settlements in Anderson district, which was located a few miles east of where Belton now stands. Major Cain Broyles left several children. Perhaps the one best known to Anderson people was Major A. R. Broyles, better known as “Witt" Broyles. Born at his father's home he grew up on the farm. In 1845 he married Miss Martha Brown, daughter of Dr. George Brown, the founder and sponsor of Belton. Major Broyles purchased the old Sloan Ferry plantation in "the Fork,” and was a prominent planter of that section for years. He was the father of three attractive daughters. They were Mary, Lula and Clara. Miss Mary Broyles married Mr. Frank Crayton, and it is only recently that she has passed over to join the majority of her people who have gone before. Mr. Crayton is still among the best loved and most respected citizens of. the town. Miss Lula Broyles married Mr John Baker, and for years their home was in Anderson, where they had many friends. Mr. and Mrs. Baker were an unusually handsome couple. Many Anderson people remember them and their children well. Bob, Eva, George and Helen were the young people, and Eva was a very lovely girl. She married Basil Manley Gawthmey and went to Richmond to live. The son Robert married Minnie Smith, of Anderson, who is to be remembered among Anderson's literary people, having written many successful stories. George Baker became a Baptist minister. Helen, a baby when the family left Anderson, became the head of a girls college in Richmond. Mrs. Baker died a few years ago, and is buried at Silver Brook. The youngest daughter, Clara, married first Mr. Hewett, of Bamberg, afterwards Mr. McCauley. She died young and left two children, May, who died about the time she was grown, and was well known in Anderson as a musician. Miss Clara Broyles was an unusually lovely woman, in face as well as in character. The late George Broyles, who married Emma Wilson, daughter of Jeptha Wilson, was a nephew of Major Witt Broyles. Colonel Bayliss Crayton, who lived to be Anderson's oldest citizen both in the years of his life and the years of his residence, came to the place when it was a very new little village, in 1838, to clerk for his uncle, B. F. Mauldin. In 1841 Mr. Mauldin retired and Mr. Crayton succeeded to the business. He moved from Mr. Mauldin's location on Brick Range, and occupied several places at different times. His last and most pretentious mercantile establishment was situated on the corner of Benson and Main streets, long occupied by the Bank of Anderson. The main floor of the store was approached by a short double flight of horse-shoe shaped stairs just within the street door, and it was there that Anderson women from before the war until about 1882 bought their finery. Mr. Crayton was born in Greenville in 1820, but it is with Anderson County that his name is associated. He at one time represented the county in the Legislature, and in 1878 he was elected State Senator from. Anderson and served four years. He was chairman of the first board of County Commissioners, provided for in the constitution of 1868. Colonel J. W. Norris and Colonel W. S. Pickens were the other members, and they managed the affairs of the county in an able and satisfactory manner, especially in regard to the Alms House, or "County Home," as Anderson prefers to call it. Mr. Crayton was a warm advocate of the stock law which agitated the state greatly in the seventies and early eighties, by which stock were required to be fenced in. Before that time stock roamed at will, and the farmers had to keep all of their fields fenced to protect their crops. After the adoption of that law all of the old time unsightly rail or "snake" fences disappeared, and the country lay open. Mr. Crayton engaged in farming on an extensive scale. He was the most progressive farmer of his day, and introduced many new methods into the community. He kept fine blooded stock, and the fairs, which were the delight of the people in the seventies, were the result of his efforts, and did much to awaken interest in good stock. The fair grounds were located where Mr A. G. Means and Mr. J. M. Paget now live. There was a huge building with an open gallery on the second story, and the things displayed therein were a feast to the eye, and a stimulus to the imagination. Without there were places for the live stock and a race track. Some of the little people of those far off days grew up and saw great world fairs at New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago and St. Lords, but not one of them appeared as wonderful, as marvelous, as had those old Anderson fairs of their childhood. Just as neither St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Peter's, nor Cologne were to those same childish eyes grown old finer or more impressive than was the old Johnson Female University buildings which were the first big brick public buildings those little eyes had ever seen, just as to the same not a skyscraper in New York City approaches half so near to Heaven as did the beautiful tapering spire of the old dignified rectangular Anderson Baptist Church. In 1868 Mr Crayton organized in the county an Agricultural and Mechanical Society which did much for the farmers of the section. Some years after the war, finding the labor of the free negroes unsatisfactory, Mr. Crayton was instrumental in bringing to the county a number of German laborers. He employed many of the himself and induced some other progressive farmers to use them. The Germans proved good citizens. Most of them soon became independent farmers, and some of the best planters of the county are their descendants. The workers were known as “Mr. Crayton's Germans” and as long as the original emigrants lived they preserved toward him a most kindly feeling, considering him their special protector. In his mercantile business Mr. Crayton employed first and last a great number of young men, and his interest in them, and friendly counsel helped many of them to attain a higher goal than some of them had contemplated. When life insurance first began to be practiced in Anderson Air. Crayton applied to a company to be insured, and was rejected on account of physical fragility. In his old age the old man used to chuckle and tell how he had outlived the doctor who examined him, the agent from whom he solicited papers, the very company itself. He was Anderson's first banker, lending money in connection with his mercantile business before the war. It was not until 1872 that a bank was organized in the town, and Air. Crayton was one of its directors. Its president was Colonel J. N. Brown, Mr. J. A. Brock, cashier, and Air. Frank B. Mauldin, assistant cashier. It was located on Brick Range, and was called The Anderson National Bank. At the beginning of the War Between the States Mr. Crayton closed his store and joined Orr's Regiment. Pie was appointed quartermaster of the regiment, but later had to resign on account of ill health. He was appointed by President Davis state's depository at Anderson, and handled for the government large amounts of money and bonds. In 1862 he was elected to the legislature and re-elected in 1864. In 1865 he went to Greenville to attend a called meeting of the legislature, which was prevented from meeting in Columbia by Stoneman's invasion. Mr. Crayton*s interests were, however, agricultural, mercantile and civic rather than political. He was in his prime a figure of great force and distinction, not only in the county, but throughout the state and to some extent throughout the South. He was for many years president of the State Agricultural Association, and had many honors and distinctions conferred upon him. He lived to be almost ninety years old, retaining his faculties to the end. He married Miss Evelyn Benson sometime in the forties, and an old number of either The Highland Sentinel, or The Anderson Gazette, thanks the young couple for the gift of a delicious cake sent after the wedding to the printers. The marriage supper took place in the Benson Hotel, kept by the bride's parents. Mrs. Crayton, too, lived to be very old. The couple were the parents of three children who grew up; they were Samuel, who married Miss Sallie Nevitt; Frank, who married Miss Mary Broyles, and Kate, who married Mr. Sloan Maxwell. The McGee family, which is now scattered over Greenwood, Greenville, Abbeville, Anderson and Oconee counties, are descended from John McGee and his wife, a Miss Sims, who came to the section in 1772 from Rockingham, N. C. They settled on a plantation where the manufacturing plant of Ware Shoals now stands. The trip was made to that place by horseback, Mrs. McGee riding while her husband walked, carrying on his back all their earthly possessions. They bought from the government on credit several hundred acres of land in what is now Greenwood county, paying $1.40 an acre for it. To them were born five sons, William, Burrell, Abner, John and Mike. The William McGee, or Magee, from whom some of the land on which, the town of Anderson was located, was their son, a well known Baptist preacher of the early days. The beloved Reverend Mike McGee, who lived to be an old man, and died just a few years ago, was the son of William. Another pioneer was William Staunton. His wife was Katie Richardson. They came from Virginia, and settled not far from where the town of Belton grew up. Mr. Staunton was a wealthy man for his day, and in a community of log houses he erected a three-story mansion. His name was given to the locality which became Stauntonville. Matthias Staunton, possibly their son, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Some of the other men who lived in that section were William Holland, Allen Johnson, Reuben Phillips and George Turner. There is a spot of some interest half way between Belton and Williamston, three miles from Calhoun, and three from Cooley's Bridge. It is at the intersection of the Calhoun, Anderson, Williamston and Belton roads; the old muster ground. There elections were held. About 135 5 Berry Lewis ran a store there. It also boasted a tailor shop, run by Mr. Jesse Smith, afterwards one of Anderson's best known merchant tailors, or men's clothiers. A whipping post stood at the place for the correction of both black and white. Big Creek was the church and burial ground of the community. Muster grounds were at various convenient places in the early days, because every man between the ages of eighteen and forty- belonged by law to the militia, and were compelled to undergo some military training. That also accounts for the frequency of military titles among the earlier people. Stephen McCully, an Irishman, came in the early times and settled first at Whitehall, where he manufactured shoes for the surrounding territory. Later he became one of Anderson's leading merchants, a public spirited man, and a wealthy one for his time. He donated the ground on which Johnson Female University was built. In 1829 there was born in the Calhoun settlement a baby boy who was destined to play a part in the history of the little town which had been started in the woods the year before he was born. He was George W. Fant, eldest son of William Fant. In his childhood his parents moved to Garvin township, near Pendleton, where he grew up. At about twenty years of age he located in Anderson and worked on the Gazette when Todd and Russell were its publishers. In 1856 Mr. Fant was appointed postmaster, which position he held until 1880. He married Miss Myra Williams ton, and T. J. Webb married her sister Elizabeth. Mr. Webb was postmaster and also book seller, and his business passed first into the hands of his son, T. J. Webb, and from him to his brother-in-law, G. W. Fant. The book store of Fant and Son is still Anderson's chief source of literature; other book stores have come and gone in the years that have elapsed since Mr. Fant first began to sell books to the Anderson people, but that one remains, still in the hands of the same family. That and Tolly's furniture establishment are the two oldest business houses in the place. Mr. George W. Fant was the father of Anderson's Mayor, Foster Fant. His other children were the late Rufus Fant, Theo Fant, the late Ben Fant, Walter Fant, of Texas; Neb Fant, of Walhalla; Mrs. Belle Fant Acker and Mrs. Lillie Fant Grant, of Oklahoma. John Brown, of the Neal's Creek section, had two sons who became foremost citizens of the county; they were Daniel and Samuel Brown. The name of Daniel Brown is found often in connection with most of the early Anderson enterprises. He located in the town, and took at once a leading position. He built the first brick house in the town. It was later destroyed by fire, and his books and accounts were saved by the courage and cool-headedness of a young son. The first discussion of the proposed Johnson Female Seminary was in his house. It was he who was instrumental in securing the services of the fine teachers, Mrs. Daniel and the Misses Payne. Before 1860, McDuffie was a rather short street. It started at Earle street and ran to Mr. Daniel Brown's home place, Sunnyside, which was a suburban residence standing on many acres, and blocked the street about where the Boys' High School and other buildings in that vicinity stand. Mr. Brown opened the street through his property on the Shockley Ferry Road, which was about at the Fulwer Watson place. The street had been named for Governor McDuffie, who was a great favorite in Anderson, but there was a movement started then to change the name to Brown Street. It, however, was not carried out, and while Mr. Brown deserves to be remembered and honored, still it is rather fortunate that the street retains its name. It is a distinctive name, and one which attracts favorable attention. Some years ago the Episcopal Church held its diocesan convention in Anderson, and the Reverend John Johnson, rector of St. Philip's Church in Charleston, and distinguished for the services in the Charleston Harbor during the war, was entertained in a home on McDuffie Street. He was struck with the name, and remarked that he believed that to be the only street in the state which honored Governor George McDuf fie by being called for him. In 1876, when the State redeemed itself from radical rule, Mr. Brown was too feeble to leave his home, but a crowd of his old friends came for him in a carriage, and bore him to the polls to cast his last vote for Hampton and reform. He lived until after the election, and news was brought to him of Hampton's election. He made no immediate reply, but feebly smiled, and in a few minutes said: “I will sleep now," and turning away fell into the sleep that knows no waking. He had five sons in the Confederate army. His eldest, J. J. Brown, was killed with his colonel, John V. Moore, in one of the first battles around Richmond. His youngest son, Nardin Brown, member of Company C, under Captain Prue Benson, was killed at Second Manassas, and lived long enough after he was wounded to send his mother a message. He asked one of his comrades to tell her that he was doing his duty, and that he died happy. Mr. Brown's second wife was Eleanor St. Clair (Waller) Nardin, a widow when he married her, and mother of Anderson's dearly loved Ehr. Waller H. Nardin, Sr. Mr. Samuel Brown, brother of Mr. Daniel Brown, did not live in the town. For a time he resided a little distance out, where the McCown home is now on the Belton road. It was there that his son, Joseph Newton, was born. Later Mr. Brown moved to Town-ville and he became identified with that community, though his son, J. N. Brown, was to become Anderson's wealthiest citizen. Mr. Samuel Brown married Helena Vandiver, daughter of Reverend Sanford Vandiver, the first pastor of the Anderson Baptist Church. Young Newton Brown attended school under Wesley Leverette. In 1855 the young man decided to go to Laurens to live. He engaged in merchandising in that place for two years, then entered the law office of Colonel J. H. Irby and began the study of law. Fie was admitted to the bar in 1858, and became a partner of Colonel Irby. That partnership was dissolved by the death of Colonel Irby in I860. Then the four years of war intervened, and after the war he married Miss Lizzie Bruce, of Townville, and they made Anderson their home. Colonel Brown has stood very high in the legal profession and in the financial affairs of Anderson for many years. He accumulated the largest property that any one has ever made in the town. He has been prominent in the Baptist Church all of his life, and has left the greater part of his property to be used for missionary work, after the death of his only child, Miss Varina D. Brown. The Anderson Library received a generous donation at his hands; he gave the lot upon which it was built, and the sum of ten thousand dollars to be invested, and the income used in the upkeep of the library and the purchase of books. Another of the early settlers in the county was Captain James Thomson. He was one of the commissioners who laid off the town. Captain Thomson's home was on Beaver Creek, near Rocky River. He was the grandfather of Dr. M. A. Thomson. Among the pioneers was Edward Vandiver, who came from Maryland just after the Revolutionary War. He was born in that State in 1748, and served in the Revolutionary War. He was once a soldier under Captain Andrew Thomas; also he served under Captain Amandus Leslie, and his colonels were Winnie and Easterland. He fought in the battle of Eutaw Spring, and drew a pension from South Carolina. In 1782 he was serving under Colonel Brestling at Four Hole Bridge. He died at his home near Neal's Creek Church in 1837, and is buried in that church yard. Edward Vandiver was the father of twenty children, all boys but two. He was twice married, first to Helena Turley, and second to Catherine Poole. He had seven sons who were Baptist preachers, the most distinguished of whom was Sanford Vandiver. Another pioneer of the county was David Sadler, also a Revolutionary soldier. He died in 1848 and is buried in Roberts church yard, having been a faithful member of that church. His wife was Miss Eliza Bratton, of York County. Other families which made their appearance in Anderson with the first tide of emigration are those of Breazeale, Gambrill, Kay, Major, Erskine, Shirley, Long, Roseman, Wellborn, John Goodwyn, to whom public lands had been granted, and who signs t»s name in a copper plate hand; Field Farrar, also one to whom public land had been granted (he was sheriff of Ninety-Six district in 1780) ; Henry Stevens, professor of music; Louis D. Martin, another land grantee in 1789; Thomas Jones, and Betty, his wife, sell land on First creek, a branch of Rocky river. The grant had been made in 1785 to Betty Wilkison, probably some enterprising woman, who had taken up land and was doing something for herself untill she fell under the spell of Thomas Jones, and marrying him, lost land as well as liberty and name. Anderson Lee has a grant of land on Hen Coop creek; James Shirley on Rocky River; William Wheeler on the south side of Saluda River, dated October 3rd, 1785. In December, 1798, John Mauldin has a grant of land on "Government Creek," a branch of "Great Rocky Creek." Among early settlers on Six and Twenty Creek appear the names of Jonathan Clark, David Clark, Bolin Clark, George Forbes, John McMakin, Hugh McVay, and James Long. In various other parts of the district appear the names of James Highshaw, William Duncan, Emerial Felton, John Fields, Colonel Richard Lewis, William "Walker, Benjamin Dickson, John McAlister, Edward Morgan, Solomon Geer and Thomas Harrison. Most of these men take out brands for their cattle. Duncan Cameron and Mary, his wife, sell land granted them on One Mile creek. John Caruthers, Martha Lemon and Robert Lemon, her son, William Holleman, Justice of the Peace John Miles, James Moreland, on Rocky River; Harry Pearson on Six and Twenty; Joseph Woodall, Joshua Hill, William Hammond, James Martin, Samuel Taylor, "Jon" Winn, Robert Tate has a grant on Seneca river in 1784 (he spells it “Senekaw”) John Hugner, John Postelle, William Lowery, Isaac Titworth, James Crowder, David Brag, Samuel Caldwell, James Hamilton, and Benjamin Farmer. In 1791 the records begin to be made in Pendleton county, Washington district, not Ninety-Six, as formerly. These good people in place of making oath on the Holy Bible, made their oaths on “The Holy Evangelist," no Hebrew scripture for them to swear by. Some of the business men of the days preceding the War Between the States were John P. Benson and Joel J. Cunningham, Baylis F. and Thomas S. Crayton, Elias Earle, Alexander Evans and John C Griffin, Fleetwood Rice and John R. Towers, Alexander B. and Joel J. Towers, Daniel Brown, Stephen McCully, Jesse R. Smith, Asbury M. Holland, J. N. Pendleton, Enoch B. Benson and Son, John S. Lawton, John C. and Henry C Cherry, John and Thomas J. Sloan, John Hastie and Co. These were all of the village in the year 1849. This list was furnished, along with a list of all of the merchants of the county, by an Anderson lawyer of the time to a New York, business man who wrote asking him for confidential information about the merchants. He was a shrewd man, and his opinion and comments on the business men of his time are worth reading, as they tell the reader what kind of people formed the county. The lawyer is very frank and very full in his information, tells the ages of the men, whether married or single, number of children and approximates the value of each man's property. Often he says, "Is good for more than he will promise," tells whether he buys and sells for cash or credit, whether his credit is good. Sometimes he says some man has married a rich widow, and can use her property, which he will to his advantage. Of one he says he is extravagant, hasn't much sense, but is full of high notions---"If he is worth any property I don't know it." Of one he says: "He hasn't much, sense, but he knows it; is cautious and will not venture much." Of another he says: "He hasn't much education, but is a fine business man, and a perfect shaver as you ever saw.” He owns town lots worth $ 5,000, has land in the vicinity worth $—000, has $2,000 or $3,000 in stocks, and bank, and about 40 slaves; he merchandises and farms, buys and sells on credit, owes money at home, but pays promptly. His father is a rich, man, very old, and -when he dies "will come in for a good share. If he should visit North those who sell him much will earn all the profit they make." Seven or eight or ten thousand dollars was wealth, and forty negroes a great number; most of them owned two or three slaves. Only one man is quoted as having a hundred, and lands worth $20,000, and a capital of $100,000. He winds up his account by writing: “Above you have a pretty full account of all the merchants of any importance in the district. It may strike you that my account of our merchants is rather a eulogy, I could not, however, say less and tell the truth. I feel certain that I am under the mark oftener then over it." CHAPTER XII Andersonville and Some Early Settlers At the head waters of the Savannah, where the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers meet, once stood a flourishing town. Now the beautiful site is given over to bats and owls except when some camping or picnic party revive for a brief moment youth and life on the deserted spot. Andersonville was founded in 1801, twenty-six years before Anderson was laid off. An act of the legislature of that time created the town on land owned by Colonel Elias Earle, one of the pioneer settlers of upper South Carolina. General Robert Anderson, General Samuel Earle and Colonel Elias Earle were appointed to lay it off, and it was named for General Anderson. Colonel Elias Earle had been an officer in the "War for Independence, and afterwards a member of Congress. Pie sold some lots in the new town, but retained the greater part for himself; later he sold a half interest to his son-in-law, James Harrison. With his interest added to his wife's share in her father's estate, Mr. Harrison became the second owner of Andersonville, and the place is still owned by the Harrison family. Only the old Harrison dwelling, the second house built for the family residence, remains to mark the spot, and it is fast falling to decay. Mr. Harrison carried on a large mercantile business and amassed a fortune. Later he took, as partners Colonel F. E. Harrison and Mr, John B. Wynne. Colonel F. E. Harrison and Mr. Claudius Earle succeeded this firm as "Harrison and Earle.” There were in the town a flour and grist mill, a cotton gin, an iron foundry, and a flourishing academy for young ladies. The town also supported a small cotton factory and a wool factory, and housed the operatives of both mills; there were tailor shop, shoe shop and livery stable in the place, and quite a number of residents. Andersonville was the cotton market for the whole of what is now called the Piedmont Section of the State, and a large area of Georgia; its trade with Hamburg and Augusta was brisk, during the days when river navigation was the means of carrying freight. After the War Between the States there was a factory established in Andersonville for making yarn from cotton seed. It was probably the only one of its kind ever operated in the South. In 1840 a great freshet swept away the cotton and wool mills and the cotton gin. They were rebuilt, a second time carried away by the rampant waters of 1852, and never erected again. Andersonville had then entered upon its decline. The building of the Columbia and Greenville railroad was a death blow to the river town- Colonel Frank E. Harrison, the owner at the time, did all in his power to uphold the place; he even tried to get a railroad through it, and one was actually surveyed, but never built. The grim monster war was stalking the South, and the town fell its prey even before its actual horrors were realized. Colonel Frank Harrison had married a daughter of the former owner, Colonel James Harrison, and so inherited the village. He was the father of a large family, and his beautiful home on the tongue of land lying between the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers as they come together, was for years the scene of gayety and hospitality; now it stands "a ragged beggar sunning,” tenanted by rats and owls; but about it lingers the fragrance of other days, and it is a favorite summer camping place for young people fortunate enough to have permission to use it. After the death and decay of old Andersonville, it probably had its most distinguished visitor. On July 24, 1889, Henry Grady attended a political picnic held there, and made one of his brilliant speeches. Of the old buildings, beside the Harrison residence, little remains. The forest is dense, the birds and wild animals are free and unafraid. On Beaver Dam Creek stands the rock foundation of one of the mills, a lone sentinel guarding ancient memories---that is all that is left of Andersonville. John Earle, one of the founders of the family in South Carolina, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, June 5, 1737. He was a son of Major Samuel Earle and Anna Sorrel Earle, his first wife, and a brother of Colonel Elias Earle, another founder, and a Revolutionary soldier. John Earle emigrated from Virginia to the region lying on the boundary line between North and South Carolina in 1773, and the same year built Earle's Fort, a place of rendezvous and protection for white people during Indian raids; it also served as a refuge for Whigs during the Revolution. The combat of Earle's Fort, N. C, was fought during the revolution upon the lands of John Earle's brother, Baylis Earle. The greater part of John Earle's service during the war was rendered as a commander of partisan forces. On April 16, 1757, John Earle married Thomasina Prince, daughter of John and Mary Prince, of Frederick county, Virginia. John Earle was captain in Brigadier-General Bougette's expedition in Ohio in 1764 and "was complimented by the Virginia House of Burgesses in acknowledgment of his merit and extraordinary service rendered the colony. Colonel Earle was a great grandson of John Earle, who came from Dorset county, England, in 1652, "and received a grant of land consisting of 1,000 acres, for the transportation of thirty-two persons to Virginia. John Earle was the father of General John Baylis Earle, who entered the Revolutionary Army at sixteen years of age. He was later adjutant and inspector-general of South Carolina for eight terms of two years each, and represented his district in Congress from 1803 to 1807. Some miles across country from Andersonville stands another old Earle home, "Evergreen". It was built by Samuel Girard Earle, who was born at Centerville, May 1, 1789, and was educated at the South Carolina College. He served as captain of a company in the war of 1812. His sister, Sarah, was the wife of James Harrison, of Andersonville. Mr. Earle married Elizabeth Hampton Harrison, a niece of his brother-in-law, and they lived four years at Andersonville in a house that stood at the fork of the road, just after crossing the Seneca River. While living there they became the parents of two little boys, Elias John and Adolphus. The latter died in infancy and is buried at Andersonville. About 1828 Mr. Earle bought the plantation which he named "Evergreen" from Samuel Smith. It had a dwelling on it which stood near the spring, a brick house originally, which had been enlarged by the addition of a second story of wood. It was in that house that their son, Julius Richard, was born in 1829. Later they built the present residence which Mrs. Earle named “Evergreen.” She was very fond of flowers and her gardens were famous. In the front yard she set out thirty-two cedar trees which, were kept trimmed up so that they grew tall, and it was their perpetual green that suggested the name given the place. The Earles must have been partial to cedar trees, as it was they who planted the row that stood until after the death of Mr. “Gus” Broyles on the outer edge of the flower garden of his home, which was the house now the residence of Mr. H. H. Acker's family on South Main street, at one time having been the Earle home. There grew up about "Evergreen" a complete village. There was on it a wheat and corn mill, a post office, a cotton gin, a general store, a drug store kept by Dr. Glover, a blacksmith shop, a school, a printing office, besides the usual blacksmith and carpenter shops to be found on every farm. The store did a flourishing business. Mr. Earle's partner was Mr. Lewis, father of Mr. J. B. Lewis, of Belton, and it was while located there that Mr Lewis married Miss Sarah Gregg, and lived near. At their home was the first well in that part of the country, and it was quite a curiosity. After Mr. Earle's death, his eldest living son, Elias John, bought the place and moved there in 1852, and his mother and five brothers lived with him. He married Miss Amanda Hammond on April 18, 1850. They lived at a place some little distance from the "Evergreen" home until after his father's death, and he called it "Hardscrabble," because he said it was so hard to make a living there. During the War Between the States Mr. Earle collected "tax in kind," ground grain for the army, gave out rations to wives, widows and orphans of soldiers, and had a shoe shop for making soldier shoes. Sometimes his mill ground all night. One of his millers, a slave named Thomas Jefferson, was living in 1923, over ninety-years of age. Mr. Earle died February 22, 1897, and for several years his family remained at the "Evergreen" home, but later sold it to Mr. J. J. Fretwell, who sold it to a negro, Andy Martin, who at once cut down the ancient cedars and sold them for telephone posts. The old house has gone greatly to decay, but like a forlorn and poverty-stricken aristocrat, still looks to the manor born. The walls surrounding the place are smothered in tangled rose vines, and venerable trees droop over gardens and lawn- The front rooms are large and airy, and in the room known in the far off days as "the parlor," there is a unique mantel piece. Made of some hard wood, it was painted a mottled grey, and while wet liberally sprinkled with shining pieces of mica. There is a mica, and also an amethyst mine, on the old Earle property, and very pretty amethysts have been picked up about the place. The first mimosa tree ever brought to this section was planted by Mr. Samuel G. Earle on the "Evergreen" plantation. It stood beside the front steps. The seeds were given Mr. Earle by Malcolm McPherson, a Scotchman, who lived near and who was an enthusiastic botanist. Mr. McPherson also introduced poppies and currants in this part of the world. He possibly brought them from California, as he traveled all over the United States on horseback for his health, going to the extreme West, the North, and into Mexico. Although Evergreen was never a town, it was a busy and populous plantation, containing within itself ample means and industries to maintain life and culture, excluded from the rest of the world. Its school, taught by Irving Gregg, was an academy of high standing, including Latin, Greek and higher mathematics in its curriculum. Young men came from a distance to become pupils, and boarded with Mr. Earle and neighboring families. Mr. Gregg married Miss Earp. Her family lived about a mile from "Evergreen". One of its members, probably her father, saw at Andersonville in the Harrison home the first piano ever brought to the county, and being greatly Impressed with it, after carefully studying the instrument, returned home and built one for his own family, which is said to have been quite a successful instrument. In that neighborhood, but nearer the McPherson than the Earle home, once lived a mysterious character named Coosey. He was a silent, unsocial man, making no visits and receiving none. He dwelt in a log cabin alone, and in that day of slave labor, did all of his own work, even his laundry. Every once in a while people passing had their curiosity aroused by the sight of a woman's garments hanging on the clothes line to dry. However, if any ever had the temerity to ask the old man how they came to be there, that person was snubbed, and tried no more questions, for none ever learned whether romance lay hidden in that rough old home, or whether the queer old customer took delight in arousing curiosity just to foil it. In that day a man's observance or non-observance of Sunday, or as it was almost universally called in the rural districts, “the Sabbath,” meaning, however, the first and not the seventh day of the week, was the business of the community; and one who dared to desecrate the day by performing any unnecessary labor was summarily ejected, as the people of today would eject a Bolshevik or a Nihilist. Mr. Coosey lived so to himself that he may never have known when Sunday came. At any rate he outraged the proprieties by ploughing on “the Sabbath,” and remonstrated with by his neighbors, in the obscurity of one night he “folded his tent like the Arabs, and as silently stole away.” Where he went, or who he was, none ever knew. On the road between "Evergreen" and Anderson lived a man named Alec McClinton, a wagon maker. His house was on the summit of a hill, and he said he established himself there because the road, being hilly and ungraded in both directions, travelers going and coming would very likely need repairs by the time they reached his place, so he was prepared for them.  Wagons, carriages, buggies, or any other kind of vehicle he could mend; also he made coffins, and most of the old-time residents of that section sleep their last sleep in beds of his manufacture. There were many walnut trees in the country, and not only coffins, but much of the locally made furniture was of solid black walnut. The Lewis home mentioned was the nucleus of another promising settlement now gone to decay. Major Lewis had come from Pendleton to manage the largest merchant mill in the district, established by himself and Mr. Maverick in partnership. The settlement received the name Rock Mills, on account of the solid rock foundation of the buildings. A miniature village grew up, and had every prospect of becoming a town. There was a furniture factory, a store, a wagon shop and other industries, as well as homes for all of the people employed in these places. Of the old village nothing remains. Mr. John Wright owns the old Lewis home, and on the foundation of the original rock mill has built another, which does good business. Colonel Elias Earle, son of Samuel and Anna Sorrel Earle, was born in Virginia, but emigrated at an early day to South Carolina. In 1782 he married Miss Frances Whitten Robinson, and for a time they lived at Three Forks of the Saluda River in Greenville county, but later he emigrated to Pendleton district and bought several thousand acres of land on the Seneca and Tugaloo Rivers, expending to Three-and-Twenty and Six-and-Twenty creeks, which he named Centerville, probably hoping that it would become a center of business and population. Colonel Earle served his district for five terms in the United States Congress. While in Washington he induced the government to permit him to manufacture guns for the use of the army, proving to them that there was iron on his land in South Carolina by making some guns from it, and taking them to Washington for inspection. The contract was given him, and he made some of the guns used in the war of 1812. The enterprise, however, did not prove to be a success, and was abandoned. The remains of the old gun factory may be seen on Six-and-Twenty creek-Assisting in the gun-making was a young man named Daniel Tillinghast. The youth may have been deeply interested in his business, but it did not prevent his being also interested in Mr. Earle's pretty daughter, Franky (Frances Wilton), as they were married and became the ancestors of some of the leading people of the county. Mr. Earle's children, besides Frances, were Samuel Girard, Elias, John Baylis, Robinson M., Elizabeth, Nancy and Sarah. Mr. Earle built a fine house at Central, which became a center of hospitality. Samuel Earle in 1776, at the age of sixteen, entered the Revolutionary army as ensign. He remained to the close of the war, having attained the rank of captain. He held various offices tinder the state government, and was chosen to represent his district in Congress as successor to General Pickens. At the close of his term he retired to his plantation and engaged in agriculture, steadfastly refusing the solicitations of his friends again to enter politics. He accumulated what for his day was a large fortune, and died in 1883, seventy-three years old. His wife, whom he married at sixteen, was a daughter of James Harrison, a family related to that which has given the country two presidents. Her mother was Elizabeth Hampton, of the noted South Carolina family. Their son, Baylis John Earle, was endowed with intellect of the highest order, and graduated in 1811 at the age of sixteen from the South Carolina College at the head of a very large class. He entered the legal profession and became a judge. John Maxwell, grandson of Robert Anderson, married Elizabeth Earle; his brother, Robert, married her cousin, Mary Prince Earle. John Baylis Earle, son of John and Thomasina Earle, was born on Pacolet River in Rutherford county, N. C, October 23, 1766. He was called General from having been adjutant and inspector-general of the State of North Carolina. He entered the war of the Revolution when a boy as a drummer, and later served as a soldier to the end. He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Taylor, whom he married September 11, 1791. His second wife, whom he married December 17, 1816, was Anna Douglass, widow of Archibald Douglass. Mr. Earle once lived near Fort Hill, now Clemson; also at Pendleton, and afterwards, for many years, and until his death, at Silver Glade in Anderson county. He died January 5, 1836, and was buried on his plantation. He was the father of eleven children, Nellie, John, Hannah, Eliza, Carolina, Samuel Sydney, Baylis Wood, Joseph Taylor, Sarah Anne, Mary, Paul,  first  wife's children. His second  wife had but one, Georgia W. The old Cross Roads place was originally owned by a man named Anderson. He sold to Mr. Elias Earle. Mrs. Anderson would never sign her dower; Mr, Earle offered Mr. Anderson a pair of horses and a carriage to get Mrs. Anderson (her name was Tennie) to sign the dower, but she never would consent to do it. The Anderson family went west, leaving the dower unsigned. Harriet Earle, daughter of Samuel Earle, married Elias Earle, One of their sons was Wilton Robinson Earle, who at the age of twenty-three was fatally wounded at the first battle of Manassas. Honorable Preston Earle, Miss Fannie Earle, Mrs. Miriam Earle Lee, Mrs. Mary Earle Sloan were others of their children. There may have been others* Some other children of Samuel Earle were James Hampton, 1799-1829; Morgan Priestly, 1804-1850; Edward Hampton, 1820-1849. There was a postoffice at Beaver Dam named Tokoheno, pronounced Tokena; it was kept by Elias Earle. At the old Beaver Dam place his son, Preston, spent his life. He married Nettie Harrison, daughter of Colonel F. E- Harrison, of Andersonville. One of the best known and most highly respected among the early citizens of the county was Amaziah Rice, born in the Neal's Creek community June 20, 1798. He received an academic education which included a limited knowledge of the classics* He was colonel of the old fourth regiment. From 1826 to 1832 he represented his district in the General Assembly of South Carolina, and had the honor of voting for the charter of the South Carolina railroad, the first built in the State, and the first built in the United States solely for the use of steam engines, for a time the longest railroad in the world. In later life he became a Baptist minister, was ordained at Neal's Creek Church May 27, 1837, by a presbytery composed of Elders A. Williams, C. Gant, Matthew Gambrell, Sanford Vandiver, Paul Vandiver and William McGee. He was the second pastor of the Anderson Baptist Church. In 1832 John Vandiver was ordained at Neal's Creek church. The first little log building erected for that church was on land owned by John Vandiver, about 1803. Another early family in Anderson county was that of King. The founder of the family in America was Robert, who emigrated from Ireland in 1770. He stopped first in Maryland, then came south over the old Post Road or great southern trail over which, countless travelers migrated in the pioneer days seeking homes. This road traversed Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, over very much the route now followed by the great National Highway. Mr. King stopped first on Broadmouth creek, a few miles from where Belton afterwards grew up. But learning of the massacre of the Kemp family not long before very near where he contemplated making his home, he moved a few miles further south. The land he settled is still in the possession of the King family. His eldest son, Peter, was born on ship board as he was making this passage over in 1770. He was the progenitor of the Kings of Hopewell township. He is buried at Neal's Creek church, after living about one hundred years. Robert, the pioneer, fought in the Revolutionary war. His family consisted of twenty-one children. His son, Robert King, known widely in his life time as "Uncle Bobby,” was a Baptist preacher of influence throughout his life. An interesting story is told of another Anderson man of long ago. He was Walter M. Gibson, and lived near Sandy Springs. He was an adventurer, and it is said was once prime minister of the Sandwich Islands. Being banished during a revolution, he went to one of the South Sea islands, where he always claimed he was made King, but after a time was banished from there, too. Later he was imprisoned by the Dutch for attempting to investigate a revolution in Java. He said that he managed to escape, and found his way to America, finally drifting up country until he reached Pendleton district, and there he settled down to spend the remainder of his days in peace and quiet. He must at least have been a convincing talker. John Thompson and his wife, Mary Hale, were among the first citizens of the new district of Anderson. Their home was not far from Silver Brook, then quite a distance in the country. The name of the plantation was "Oak Grove." There lived with them for many years their widowed daughter who had married Dr. William Calhoun Norris, Sr., who died young, leaving her with four children. John Thompson and his wife, Mary Hale, are buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian church. There also sleep their daughter, Elvira Thompson Norris, and her husband, William C. The parents of Dr. W. C Norris were Patrick Norris, a colonel in the Revolutionary army, and Rachel Calhoun. Among their many descendants in the county are Mrs. Flora Overman, Mrs. Bessie VanWyck and her children, and the children of Mr. William A. Chapman. There is a rather gruesome story told of an old place which many years ago was somewhere on the General's Road. There was an inn kept by a brother and two sisters whose name was Moore. They were strays in the community, belonging to no other Moore family that has ever lived in the county. It was a wooden building and had near it an old style well. It was said that in the days when there was little traveling, that sometimes persons stopped at the Moore Inn and were never seen or heard of again. The two women were named Rachel and Leah. It is said that on one occasion Leah was tried in court for some suspected crime, and that the lady spit in the face of the presiding judge. They had some arrangement by which they could cut baggage off of a coach, and after they moved away, which they did when the county got too hot to hold them, there were numbers of bones found in the old well. The house finally fell to decay, as nobody would live there, and it was popularly believed to be haunted.