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A Chapter of Traditions and Recollections of Mr. Alfred
Parish
Source: A History of Marlboro County: With
Traditions and Sketches of Numerous Families,
1897
Mr. Parish* is one upon
whose head rests the frosts of four-score winters, and yet he is a
man of remarkable vigor, both of body and mind, a man too, who for
this long period has maintained amongst his neighbors the standing
of one of solid worth. No man can call his word into question or
impeach his honesty, he being a lover of good order, and scorning
everything tricky or mean.
He has been three times married,
and is the father of thirteen children, ten of whom are living. His
first wife was the daughter of William Spears, who was the mother of
John, Joel and Henry Parish, noted for their successful farming in
the Clio and Red Bluff regions. His second wife was Miss Mary
McDaniel, and his third wife was Ellen, a daughter of Daniel
Parkham. His parents, Noel Parish and Willie Lawrence, came to
Marlboro from Granville county, N. C, in the early part of the
present century, and lived first at what is now known as the Ervin
place, two miles from Bennettsville. This ancient couple had five
daughters who became mothers to several Marlboro families. One of
them, Nancy, married Conner Cottingham, from whom sprang Andrew,
Elkana and David. Mary married William Bolton, a kinsman of Capt.
Frank Bolton, who has so efficiently filled the office of County
Treasurer- and County Commissioner, and was a gallant soldier in the
late war, where he lost an arm. Lucy Parish married Mr. Bristow, the
father of the well-known family of that name, which has given to
Marlboro two Sheriffs and a clerk of long standing, and which is
still an extensive family in the country.
A daughter of Mr.
Bristow married Mr. Webster, the grandfather of William, Robert and
George. Four brothers of Mr. Parish, Milton, Willey, Caleb and
David, moved to Alabama many years ago. When Mr. Parish remembers
the country first, Toler McDaniel lived on the road leading from
Beauty Spot to Cheraw. Near him was Mrs. Parham with four sons,
Avery, James, Lemuel and Wesley, and near the Beauty Spot Fork was
Joseph McDaniel. On Carter Branch was Col. W. G. Feagan, and there
his body rests. He was the son of the old schoolmaster, Neddy
Feagan, who is said to have taught three generations of young ideas
under the old regime of "birch and brawn." There are a number of
worthy people in the county who are descended from this old
schoolmaster, and many an old land-paper bears the lines made by W.
G. Feagan, "District Surveyor."
On the hill on the east side
of the creek, on the road from Bennettsville to Hebron, lived
Jonathan Cotting-ham, a brother to Conner, already mentioned, and
the father of a large family. In his house, and cared for by him,
was an old man, his father, Charles, whose body was the first
interred in the Cottingham graveyard on the west side of the creek.
The late Charles Cottingham, the son of Jonathan, an honest man and
good citizen, was the father of most of those bearing the name in
Marlboro. James, the "old singing-master," and for many years Major
of the Lower Battalion of the 30th Regiment of Militia, moved to
North Carolina and was kille by Federal soldiers—a helpless old man,
but has descendants in Marlboro county.
When Mr. Parish first
recollects the Hebron community, the old men William Bridges,
William Coving-ton, Nathan Thomas and Jonathan Meekins, were living
in quiet contentment upon their little farms—with abundant pasturage
in the forest and meadows, fish in the streams and ponds, deer and
wild turkeys in the woods. Now, immense fields of cotton and grain
occupy the attention, and reward the industry of a dense population
of thrifty people. Mr. Parish thinks that the Conners came from
Maryland. He remembers a widow Conner who had a daugher, Nancy, that
married William Spears, father of Lewis and Harris. After Conner's
death the widow married John Breeden, who had a son, Lindsay, by a
former marriage, and who was the father of our fellow citizens; Wm.
K., James B., Peter L., Joseph L., Thomas, Andrew, and John L.,
deceased. After the marriage of the widow Conner and the widower
Breeden, a son, the late Major Aaron Breeden, was born. Few families
have attained to more prominence and thrift in business circles than
this one, the progenitor of which is remembered by Mr. Parish as he
lived in Adamsville. Nor has he forgotten how, in his boyhood days,
he beheld and tasted the sweet cider as it flowed from the press of
old Mr. Breeden, an attraction to the boys of the neighborhood. Upon
one of the tributaries of "Three Creeks" in the Beauty Spot section
was Fuller's old mill, gone to decay before Mr. Parish's time. But
he remembered Henry, the husband of "Aunt Betsy," the maker of the
historic "Fuller Cakes," which every old man can remember in his
boyhood, as sold from her "cart "on the courtyard and muster-field.
Nor has Marlboro ever seen any " ginger cake" since, that has
equaled "Aunt Betsy's," has been the verdict of the people for
years.
Near the old mill lived Shadrach Fuller, from whom
Mrs. Crawford Easterling is descended. A sister married John H.
David, the father of Dr. W. J. David, and another sister married
James Stubbs, from whom D. C. Odom sprang. The mother of Shadrach
and his sisters was an aunt of Mr. Parish. She was Miss Lucy Parish
before she married.
The McDaniel family seems to have been a
numerous one, and to have intermarried with some of their neighbors
already mentioned. We find them in different places, about a hundred
years ago. In Beauty Spot were Thomas, Joseph, and Mrs. James Cook,
mother of the Bennettsville family, from whom descended Mrs. Rachel
Thomas and John B. In Hebron was George, with several sons, William,
Fred, and Thomas McDaniel. Some of the Brightsville Stubbs claim a
maternal descent from this name. Mr. Parish is connected with one,
if not two branches of the family, and if all have sprung from the
same original stock, it must have been one of the first upon the
ground.
There was one tradition our friend was not averse to
telling. That two of his father's brothers were soldiers in the
patriot army while the family had their home in North Carolina. Who
shall blame him if he is "proud of that fact ? "
One other
name was remembered by Mr. Parish as contributing a full share
toward the peopling and civilization of the country, Mr. John
Murdock, living near the Beauty Spot church. He had several sons,
John, Andrew, James, David and Alexander. Several were prominent
men, but the name is now extinct. A number of good people amongst us
descended from the noble old Scotchman who sought to train his
children for honor and piety. The old home is yet occupied by his
descendants, children of Capt. Mclntyre.
*Has died
since.
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