Chappells
and Upper Newberry
'Annals of Newberry' by John A. Chapman,
A.M.
pages 542 - 545
About the year 1756 the Chappells came into the
upper part of Newberry and settled on the north side of Saluda,
while the Culbreaths, who came with them, or about the same time,
crossed the river and settled on the south side. It is said that the
Chappells were also Scotch, or of Scotch descent; but from the name
I would rather suppose them to be French.
In my younger days I was well acquainted with
Mr. John Chappell, grandfather of John Henry and John W., who bare
both made their homes at Newberry for a number of years.
Mr. Chappell owned the ferry on Saluda known as
Chappell’s Ferry. I think it has been Chappell’s Ferry ever since it
was established as a ferry by any name. Mr. Chappell carried on
mercantile business for many years and made money, and became quite
wealthy. Tho ferry itself was worth considerable in those days.
Hamburg was a great place of trade, and Chappell’s Ferry was on one
of the great leading highways from Laurens and the up country to
that cotton market, which was for a great many years one of the best
in the State.
Old Mr. John Chappell had one brother only, and
be was killed by Cunningham in his celebrated raid of 1781; and the
ferry was kept during the Revolutionary war by John Chappell’s
mother, she herself acting as ferryman.
Efforts have been made to make Chappell’s
Depot, on the G. & C. R. R., a place of business, but with only
moderate success. There are some stores there and considerable
business is done. On the 19th of February, 1884, the great cyclone
or tornado struck it and swept the whole concern away. Some persons
were killed and others very seriously injured. Mr. Wash Boazman was
very badly broken up and it was many weeks before he was able to
walk at all; and at this time, 1892, though eight years have passed
since the storm, he is still unable to walk without the assistance
of a crutch.
Leaving the river and passing out from
Chappells a few miles brings us to the place once owned and occupied
by Mr. Foster Wells, one of the old settled places before the days
of the Revolution. Further on we come to Vaughanville,
where
lived, when this writer first knew the place,
Drury Vaughan, who was then an old gentleman and was quite wealthy.
From him my old friend and schoolmate, Drury V. Scurry, got his
name—Drury Vaughan Scurry. He died several years ago, and his
son-in-law, Mr. Joseph G. Jenkins, now lives at the old homestead,
and in addition to his farm conducts a mercantile business. Spring
Grove Meeting House was not far away and above Vaughanville, but
that, I believe, is in Laurens County. It was through this country
that General Greene, in his retreat from Ninety-Six, passed,
crossing at the Island Ford. It was at Williams’ Fort on Mudlick
that Cunningham was stationed, and from which he hastily decamped
when he heard of the defeat and rout of the tories at Stoney Batter
by Colonel Washington. All that upper part of Newberry adjoining
Laurens was near the home of the Cunninghams and Williams - one
taking the tory and the other the whig side. Not far from the upper
Newberry line was Hayes’ Station, the scene of Bloody Bill’s most
bloody triumphs. Since those old bloody days no hostile foot has
ever tramped upon Mudlick, or Little River, or any other of the
streams that flow downwards to the sea, giving fertility to the
soil. Though no hostile armies have ever marched through there, yet,
in the late unpleasantness from 1861 to 1865, many gallant men
turned out from that section of country and gave their lives for the
Confederate cause. Their names are all recorded elsewhere in this
book and need not be repeated here.
I used to know an old gentleman, and a very
worthy man he was, who lived near the Laurens line, named Ephraim
Andrews. I had the pleasure of passing one night at his house many
years ago when I was young. He was then old, or seemed so to me, had
married a second wife and had several children, merry little
fellows, running and playing about whom he threatened dreadfully,
but whom he never hit, though he had a switch in his hand the whole
time. He was a good man and they were good boys and understood each
other.
Moon’s Meeting House, mentioned in the notice
of Rev. William Harmon, is not far, or was not far, from Chappells.
When this writer first knew that country that house was standing and
was used as a place of worship. In fact I think I once attended
divine service in that house. By the way, writing of Moon’s Meeting
House makes me think of it. It is said that a house --a dwelling
house—not far away is haunted, and-has been haunted, by something
uncanny for a great many years; whether ghosts or spirits of the
departed, or what, this deponent saith not. I have heard of other
houses Ia the same fix. In fact I went to see and investigate a
house in Edgefield County once, hut I made nothing by it, though the
ghost was about.
John Hopkins Williams and the Rudds lived not
far from Chappells and were all men of wealth. Indeed all I he upper
part of the county from the Saluda to the Rich Hill place, lately
owned by Mr. F. H. Dominick, was once in the early days of the
county and until the war of Secession one of the fairest. richest
and loveliest Parts of the county, or of the State, or of the
world.
Chappell’s Ferry is now owned by Mr. William R.
Smith, son of an old acquaintance and schoolmate of this historian,
at the celebrated school at Mount Enon in Edgefield County. It was
Mr. Smith’s mother who was there, not his father.
knew his father also, but after his marriage.
Miss Cornelia, Boazman, now Mrs. Irwin, was a lovely and intelligent
girl, amiable and good; and was horn and reared near Chappell’s
Ferry. Her brother, John B. Boazman, it has been told to me, was one
of the best men in Newberry County. Their mother was a
Scurry.
I have recently been informed, and the
information is authentic, that Mr. Smith, the owner of Chappell’s
Ferry, has given it with all its rights and hereditaments as his
contribution towards the erection of a free bridge at Chappells over
the river.
In the neighborhood of Chappells once lived Mr.
William Watkins, John Watkins, Dr. J. O. Dickert and Andrew Lee
Lark, all good and true men. Mr. George T. Reid, merchant at the
Depot, now owns a great deal of land in that section
—-several thousand
acres—amongst others land once owned by Mr. Lark and that of Capt
James N, Lipscomb.
Like the changes in a dream we come and go. We
lie down to sleep, but the work goes on forever, forever, forever,
forever.
Maybinton
'Annals of Newberry' by
John A. Chapman, A.M.
pages 546-548
By reference
to the first part of this work—pages 150—5 it will be seen that this
place, one of considerable importance in the county for many years,
derived its name from Colonel Benjamin Maybin, son of William
Maybin, who settled there soon after the year 1771. Col. Benjamin
Maybin was born in 1773. William Maybin, the settler of 1771, left
three sons, Robert, Jesse and Benjamin—the Col. Benjamin from whom
Maybinton derives its name. Jesse, the father of A. O. Maybin,
served on the staff of General Jackson at the battle of New
Orleans.
Maybinton
for many years was a lovely little village, where refined and
intelligent people made their homes, and which was surrounded by a
fruitful and well cultivated country. Being the centre of a rich and
flourishing section, with good schools, and somewhat remote from the
County Seat, it became the Capital to the surrounding country, and
often public meetings were held there to take into consideration
important affairs, such as pertained to the State at large. P. C.
Caldwell received his nomination for Congress by a convention held
there in 1840.
The writer
did not know Col. Benjamin Maybin, so enthusiastically mentioned and
written of by Judge O’Neall; but for many years he knew and honored
A. O. Maybia—son of Jesse and grandson of Colonel Benjamin -
commonly known as “Bert,” as a man of sterling integrity and worth.
Bert. Maybin was born and reared at Maybinton, where he lived until
after the war of Secession, when he moved to Newberry and engaged in
mercantile business with Col. Robert Moorman until the death of
Colonel Moorman caused a cessation of the business. At the time of
Mr. Maybin’s death, and for some time before, be was engaged in
superintending and conducting a Dairy Farm at Newberry, now owned
and managed by ‘Silas J. McCaughrin.
The
situation of Maybinton was one well adapted to make it a place of
great local importance—on Broad River between the Enoree and Tyger.
By way of Broad River, which was navigable for flat boats, the
inhabitants could send, and did send, large quantities of cotton and
other produce to the markets below. I have seen such boats on the
bosom of Broad River. A flat boat loaded with cotton moving down the
river would be a rare and novel sight now, with a train of rail cars
speeding up or down on the north bank.
Since
O’Neall wrote his Annals, and especially since the war, great
changes have taken place at Maybinton, as in other parts of the
county. The parts of the county which were richest, when the old
system of labor was destroyed, suffered most. Maybinton section did
not entirely escape, though there is still a considerable degree of
prosperity, and the people are slowly but surely recuperating.
There, as well as everywhere else, we find that there is life in the
old land yet. Maybinton is near the birthplace and early home of the
celebrated Emily Geiger.
Smokey
Town
'Annals of Newberry' by John A. Chapman,
A.M.
pages
553-555
The
origin of this name is lsot in the mists of antiquity, but the place
itself is well known and lies in the Southern part of the Stoney
Batter Township and was originally settled by the Bankses,
Snelgroves, Kinards and Mannings.
“Seventy years ago,” says Esquire P. W.
Counts, “Smokey Town was the worst place in Newberry District. John
Kinard had a whiskey distillery which was a constant rendezvous for
bacchanalian rowdyism. This lawlessness has been inherited in a few
families and has come down to the present generation. It is only a
few years since Smokey Town has been freed entirely from the curse
of the midnight brawler and marauder.
“The
Longs, Koons, Pughs, Garrets, Boozers, and many others, who compose
a good, sturdy, staunch and quiet citizenry, reside in that section
now. Instead of the 'still house,' those good people have Bethel
Church, Baptist; Mount Olivet, Lutheran; and O'Neall Academy, named
in honor of Judge O'Neall.
“Instead of repairing to the still house
on Sunday the people go to their respective places of worship.
Prayer meetings and songs of praise have killed off and stilled
forever the sounds of midnight revelry and debauchery. Midnight is
no longer rendered hideous by the yells and shots of drunkeness; but
the stars rise and set undisturbed by the songs of Bacchus. Smokey
Town is no longer smoky. The name and place remain, but eh smoke has
departed.”
Our
old friend, Squire P. W. Counts, in a quiet, dreamy mood continued
his reminiscences. It is pleasant at times to meet with one of these
old patriarchs and listen to his talks of times and people long
since become historical, or, perhaps, only occasionally mentioned by
the faint and feeble voice of traditional. It makes one feel as
though he were sitting and listening to the gossip of tradition on
the shores of old romance.
“From
a point at Calk's Ferry Road, about three miles South of Prosperity,
where Fred Stockman now lives, begins the Ridge Road. This road
leads by the Elmore place, and on to and beyond Schumpert's mills.
It was once known and recognized as the 'dead line' between the
Dutch and Irish settlers. It was considered a high crime and
misdemeanor for an Irishman or Dutchman to cross this dead line.
South of this line lived the Dominicks, Boozers, Fellows (now
Fellers), Bedengaubhs (formerly Peterbocks), Schumpers, Countses,
Harmons and others, who composed the Dutch settlement. North of this
line were the Youngs, Browns, McQueers, Hawkinses, Thompsons,
Lindseys, Carmichaels, Capt. Matthew Hall and others, who composed
the Irish settlement.
“A
few examples will illustrate the strong feeling that existed, and
how important they felt it was that each party should keep on its
own side of the line: On one occasion one of the McQueers, Charlie
Thompson and Nathan Yung, of the Irish party, each bought a tract of
land which lay South of the line in the Dutch settlement. As soon as
they realized what they had done they sold out as speedily as
possible and returned to their Irish brethren.
“Capt. Matthew Hall, a gay young Irishman,
was casting abut for a partner for life with some means, not less
than a thousand dollars. Miss Polly Schumpert, a noble daughter of a
dutch sire, filled his bill, and by stealth he ventured across the
dead line, secured his conveted prize and carried her away to live
amongst the Irish. A wail of horror and indignation arose among
those good Germans because 'Hall had cum und sthole avay dere Dudtch
Bolly.'
“The
climax of indignation was reached when George Dominick took
vengeance upon the Irish by crossing the line and stealing away Miss
Sallie Hunter and making her his Irish-Dutch wife. From this
marriage we have today a large number of auburn haired Dominicks,
who are most excellent citizens.
“After the excitement and feeling caused
by these raids had subsided it was found that the force of the dead
line was materially weakened, and a better feeling between the Irish
and Dutch began to prevail. They married and intermarried, and
exchanged business relations with each other, until now as a result
of these marriages we have a Dutch-Irish and an Irish-Dutch
citizenry, which, for honesty of purpose, hardihood, thrift, economy
and perseverance, has no superior, if equal, anywhere.
“The
dead line is where it was seventy-five years ago, but that name is
no longer applied to it; now it is only known by the appropriate
name of the Ridge Road.”
The
Squire sat still, and musing awhile, looked as though he saw many
things yet in the past. After a little he raised his head and
looking at us with his kindly eyes, said: “Yes, I could tell you
much more; but is not this enough for Smokey Town? The people are
now industrious, thrifty and happy, and I feel that God's blessing
is on
them”