The History of Orangeburg County, South Carolina from its first settlement to the close of the Revolutionary War

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ALEXANDER

\

S.

SALLEY,

.IK.

THE HISTORY

OF

ORANGEBURG COUNTY SOUTH CAROLINA FROM

SETTLEMENT TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

ITS FIRST

BY

A. S.

SALLEY,

MEMBER 80UTHEKN HISTORY

K.

JR.

ASSOCIATION'

ORANGEBURG, S. C. LEWIS BERRY, PRINTER 1898

O

lOK'

Col'YUiiaii'.

By

a. S.

ISU^

SALLEY,

TO

THE MEMORY (

)

F

MY GRANDFATHER, rHK LATK

DR. A.

SS.

SALLEY,

AM)

To the People of Orangeburg County, AMONG WHOM HE LIVED AL,Ij THE YEARS OF HIS LIFE, AND WHOM HE LABORED PROFESSIONALLY FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS OF THAT LIFE, THIS VOLUME RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

IS

FOR

a remarkable fact that very many persons are prone to study the history of every other country, while totally neglecting that of their own country; and yet the study of local history is one of the most It is

delightful of studies.

The State stands

of South Carolina, in historic

among

the very

first

interest,

of our States; but, never-

numerous valuable historical works on South Carolina have long since passed out of print because of the lack of interest manifested in them, and theless, the

many

people in this State to-day accept as history the uninformed partisan writers, and, what is worse, permit their children to be taught these falsehoods as truths. false writings of

Orangeburg County

is

rich in historic treasures,

and

although a few of these treasures have been collected and given to us in several works on South Carolina, they are still out of the reach of the average reader, on account of the scarcity of these works to-day. It is my purpose to present in these pages the various extracts pertaining to Orangeburg, from several of the works referred to above, and. in addition, to give much history of Orangeburg County that has never before been published, including the record of marriages, births and deaths, kept by Rev. John Ulrick Giessendanner and his successor. Rev. John Uiessendanner, from 1737 to 1761.

(vi)

Some may think

have gone too much into detail, and that I have put in much that might have heen left out; but this work is not prepared "for the use of schools", but according to the approved style of purely local histories, and I can only add, in the words of Dr. Eamsay, in his History of South Carolina, that, "Every day that minute local histories of these states are deferred is an injury to posterity, for by means thereof more of that knowledge which ought to be transmitted to them^will be irrecoverably lost," Tn preparing this work J have fieely consulted, Ramsay's History of South Carolina and his History of the Revolution in South Carolina; three editions of Simms's History of South Carolina, his Geography of South Carolina, his South Carolina in the Revolutionary War, and his novel "The Forayers"; Howe's History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina; Dalcho's History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina; Col. Henry Lee's Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department; Moultrie's Memoirs; Drayton's Memoirs; Drayton's View of South Carolina; Johnson's Traditions of the Revolution; O'Neall's Bench and Bar of South Carolina, and his Annals of

Newberry of

that

District;

South Carolina;

Documentary

I

Carroll's B.

F.

Historical

Collections

Perry's Sketches; Gibbes's

Histories; Collections of the South Car-

olina Historical Society; Logan's History of the

Up-

per Country of South Carolina; Mills's Statistics of South Carolina; Industrial Resources of South Carolina (Vol. Ill); Thomas's History of the South Carolina

Academy; La Borde's History of the South Carolina College; Tarleton Brown's Memoirs; a pamphlet on the P\)rmation of Judicial and Political SubDivisions in South Carolina, by J. P. Thomas, Jr.; a

Military

pamphlet entitled "The Names, as far as can be ascer-

(vii)

who

served in the South Carolina Regiments on the Continental Establishment, of the Officers who served in the Militia, of what troops were upon the Continental Establishment, and what tained, of the Officers

by Gen. Wilmot G. De Saussure; the Statutes of South Carolina; the files of various old South Carolina newspapers in the Charleston Librar}^, dating as far back as 1732; the public records in the offices of Register of Mesne Conveyance and Judge of Probate of Charleston, dating back to Militia Organizations served",

1700; those in the office of the Secretary of State at Columbia, dating back to 1682; and numerous old

deeds, grants, letters, &c. &c.

have, perhaps, quoted rather freely from the "History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina", by Rev. G. D. I

Bernheim, D. D.; but what Dr. Bernheim h^s written is too important to be left out of a work on Orangeburg. He has gone deeper into the history of one of the most important elements of our population, the German settlers, than any other of our historians; and if I had spent years in making researches, in the end, I could not have improved upon Dr. Bernheim's observations, although I have been able to make additions here and there to what he has written. I am also under obligations, for valuable assistance, to Rev. A. E. Cornish, Librarian of the Episcopal Library in Charleston; Langdon Cheves, Esq., of CharlesF. Jennings, Esq., of Columbia; Mr. W. W. Orangeburg County; Mr. Yates Snowden, of the News and Courier; and my grandfather, Mr. C. M. McMichael, of Orangeburg. From my grandfather,

ton;

Henry

Culler, of

the late Dr. A. S. Salley, I also received valuable information and suggestions. To my father, for his generous aid; and to all others

(viii)

who

my

lent their interest

and sympathy,

I

beg to make

acknowledgments. A.

Orangeburg, April

S.

1st,

C, 1898.

S,

Salley, Jr.

INTRODUCTION There have existed in South Carolina various terThere have been counties, parishes, townships, districts or precincts, election districts and Landgrave Joseph Morton became judicial districts. governor of South Carolina in 1682, and one of the first measures required of him was the division of the ritorial divisions.

inhabited portion of the province into three counties. (Order of Proprietors, Maj- 10, 1682.) Berkeley, embracing Charles Town, extended from Sewee on the North to Stono Creek on the South; beyond this to

the northward was Craven County, and to the southward Colleton. Shortly afterw^ards Cartaret County was added to the number. This County included the country around Port Royal; later, about 1708, it was called Granville County. The territory now embraced within Orangeburg County formed parts of Berkeley and Colleton. That part of Orangeburg East of the Edisto river, with the exception of a narrow strip along that river southward from a point a few miles below the city of Orangeliurg, was in Berkeley County, and that part West of the Edisto. together with the above mentioned strip, was in Colleton. In 1704, an Act was passed creating parishes within the several counties. In Berkeley County six parishes were established, but none of them included any territory no\v embraced by Orangeburg Connty. In 1706 two parishes were established in ('Olleton County, but did not likewise include an}' of the territory now eml^raced l)y Orangeburg County. In 1780, by royal authority, eleven townships were laid otf in square plats on the sides of rivers in South Carolina, each containing 20,000 acres. Thev were

THE HISTORY OF

a

designed to encourage settlements, and the plan was that each township should eventually become a parish. When their population increased to one hundred families, they were to have the right to send two members to the General Assembly.

Of these eleven townships on the Santee, (or more properly on the Congaree, a l)ninch of the Sjintee, and the Santee), one on the Pon Pon, (Edisto), and one on the Savannah, opposite to the present site of .Augusta. These were Amelia, so called probably after the Princess Amelia; the township that was at first called Congaree, but which was called Saxe-Gotha by Governor Broughton in 1736; the township that was at first called Edisto, but after its settlement by the Germans, Swiss and Dutch in 1735 was called Orangeburgh, presumably in honor of William of Orange; and New Windsor. In 1765, the townships of Amelia and Orangeburgh were erected into St. Matthew's Pai-ish by the following Act of the General Assembly of the Province of South Carolina: (Statutes of S. C. Vol. IV., page 230.) {No. Mi.) "AN ACT for establishing a Parish in. Berkley County, by the name of St. Matthew, and for declaring the road therein mentioned to be a pub-

two were

lic

laid off

road.

'•WHEREAS, ty,

several inhal)itants of the said coun-

by their petition to the General Assembly, have

represented many inconveniences which they are under for want of having a parish laid out and established in the said county, contiguous to and including Amelia township, and prayed that a law may be passed for that purpose: we therefore luinjbly pray his most sacred Majesty that it may l)e enacted. "1. A/t(l he if I'lKirfed. by the Honorable William Bull, Esq., Lieutenant (Jovernor and Commander-inchief in and over the Province of Soutii Caiolina.

ORANGEBURG COUNTY.

.

6

by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty's Council and the Commons House of Assembly of the said Province, and b}^ the authority of the same, That immediately from and after the passing of this Act, a parish shall be laid out and established in Berkley county aforesaid, in the following manner, that is to say, by running a line from the plantation of Garrard Nelson on Santee River, inclusive, to the place where the new road leading from the plantation of Tacitus (ialliard, Esq. to the road leading from Charlestown to Orangeburgh. intersects the line that divides the parish of St. George Dorchester from St. James Goose Creek, and from thence to continue on the said line until it intersects the Four Hole Creek the second time, thence following the said Creek till it intersects the south east bounds of Oi*angeburgh township, and from thence along the bounds of the said township to the southward, and where that line reaches Edisto River, up the course of the said river until the north west boundary of the said tow^nship, from the River a north east course along the line of the township until it joins the south west bounds of Amelia township, and from thence a north east course till it reaches Beaver Creek; and that the said parish shall hereaftei' be called and known by the name of vSt. Matthew, and the inhabitants thereof shall and may have. use. exercise and enjoy all the rights, privileges and immunities that the inhabitants of any other parish do or can use. exercise or enjoy 1)y the laws of this Pi'ovince. ''II.

Afid he

That

if

(ilxo n/(f(i('(l

hy the authority afore-

and parsonage house shall be built at such places within the bounds of the said parish, as the major part of the commissioners hei'eafter named, shall oi'der and direct; and also, that a chapel shall be built at such [)lace within the bounds said.

a chuich, chapel

THE HISTORY OF

4

of the said parish as the njajor part of the

commis-

sioners hereafter last named, shall order and direct.

And

aho

by the authority aforeminister of the said parish for said, That the rector or the time being, shall officiate in the said church and ''III.

be

it

eHacfcfl

chapels alternately, and shall be elected and chosen same manner as the rectors or ministers of the several other parishes in this Province are elected and in the

chosen, and shall have yearly paid to him and his successors forever, the same salary as is appointed for the rector or minister of any other parish in this Province,

and

Michael excepted,) appropriated for in this Province; being is hereby same, under the like penalties and forfeitures as for not paying the salaries due to the other rectors or ministers of the several other parishes in this Province; and the said rector or minister of the said parish shall have and enjoy all and every such privileges and advantages, and be under such rules, laws and restrictions, as the rectors or ministers of the other parishes in this Province have and enjoy, or are subject and liable (the parishes of St. Philip

St.

out of the fund appropriated or to be payment of the salaries of the clergy and the public treasurer for the time authorized and required to pay the

unto. •'IV. .ind he it enacted by the authority aforesaid. That Colonel Moses Thompson, Col. William Thompson, William Heatly, Thomas Piatt, Tacitus Galliard. Timothy Dargon, Robert Whitten. William Find, John Burdell, Christopher Coullett and John Oliver, be, and they are hereby appointed, commissioners or supervisors for the building of the church, chapel and parsonage house in the said parish of St. Matthew, exclusive of that pai't of the ))arish called Orangebnrgh Township: and that Christian Miniiieing in Colleton

iV:

THE HISTORY OF

28 to N. E.

&

S, E.

on lands reserved for the Inhabitants

of said Township.

"100 acres in the limits of Orangehnrgh Township, b. & b. to N. E. on lands laid out to John Strutzenerker, to N. W. on land belonging to John Hearne S. W. on Ponpon S. E. on land laid out to Henry Wuester, one town-lot N. 253." Another of the early settlers of Oratigeburgh Town-

was Henry Salley, who settled in the township about 1735, as will be seen by the following eertiticate of measurement for a grant of land, and a subsequent conveyance of the same: ship

"So. Carolina.

"Pursuant to a precept under the hand & James St. John Esq His Majesty's Sur. Genl I have admeasured & laid out unto Henry Zaley a tract of Land in Orangeburgh Township in Berkeley seal of

County containing Two hundred acres Butting Bounding to the S. W. on Pon Pon River to the N.

&:

E.

on land not laid out; to the S. E. on land laid out unto Jacob Twyther & to the N. W. on land laid out to

Barbara Hatcher & also one Town Lot in Orangeburgh, containing one half of an acre; Known on the grand plat of the si Town by the number one hundred & 6S: Butting & Bounding to the S. W. on 165 laid out to Hans Deitricks Jun£ to the N. E. on a Street; to the S. E. on N lfi9 Laid out to Jacol) Miller; to the N. W. on N lf)7. Tiand laid out to Henry Pickenfiaker, A: each hath such shape ^ marks as are lepresented t)y the above plat. Certified the 20 Sepl 1735. "Geo. Haig 1). S." It will be observed that in tlie foregoing certificate the name is given "Zaley," but tliat must have been the way |Mr Salley's German neighbors called it. for the name has always been vSalley. and the following extrarti(in of the record hook tluit Inphu-es ".lolui Firiek (Jiesseiidnimer" and in otiiers "TIrick (liesseiidiimier", niid if was not until he returned from England that lie iiivarial>ly signed himself ".loliii (iiessendannei'." *Tt

ajipo.'irs

siijiK'd liiiHMC'lf in

See also Daleho,

tlie

some

p. 888.

ORANGEBURG COUNTY. Giessendannet's state, in

vol.

iii.

ministry;

the

p. 1079, that the

Urlsperger

49

Reports

town of Orangeburg

was then, A. D.

1741, in a worse condition than Purysburg; that the people were leading very sinful lives, manifesting no traces of piety, and that between iDas-

tor and hearers there were constant misunderstandings.

It is also stated

that their lauds were

fertile,

but. as they were far removed from Charleston, and had no communication with that city by water, thej* could not convert their produce into money, and on this acconnt very little or no money was found among them. Di". Hazelius likewise gives an unfavorable account of the state of religion in that communit}^ On 'From one circumstance mentionp. 64. he remarks: ed with particular reference to that congregation, we have to infei* that the spiritual state of that church was by no means pleasing. A Mr. Kieffer, a Salzburg emigrant and member of the Ebenezer congregation, was living on the Carolina side of the Savannah River, whose mother-in-law resided at Orangeburg, whom he occasionally visited. On one occasion he remarked,

after his retura, to his minister. Pastor Bolzius, that the people at Orangeburg were manifesting no hunger

and thirst after the word of God; he was therefore anxious that his mother-in-law should remove to his plantation, so that she might enjoy the opportunity of attending to the preaching of the word of God. which she greatly desired.' All this testimony, though in the main correct, needs, however, some explanation, and by referring to the Journals of Council for this province, in the office of the Secretary of State, we will soon discover the cause of such a state of things. The people had been but sparingly supplied with the preached word, the discipline of the Church had not been properly administei'ed, and when the younger (liessendanner took charge of these congregations,

50

THE HISTORY OF

and attempted to regulate matters a little, wiiilst the majority of the people sustained him in his efforts, a minority, who were rude and godless, became his bitter enemies, and were constantly at variance with him. "This condition of Church affairs opened the way for the Zauberbithler difficulties, which are very minutely described in the .lournals of Council of the Province of South Carolina, vol. 10, page 395, d seq.: the main facts of this troublesome affair were the following: "During the year 1743, a Swiss minister of the gospel, formerly located along the Savannah River, at New Windsor, Purysburg, and other places, named Bartholomew Zauberbuhler, very adroitly attempted to displace the Rev. John Giessendanner from his charge in Orangeburg, and make himself the pastor of those churches. He supposed that by becoming an ordained minister of the Episcopal Church, at that time the established church in the Province, he would have rights superior to the humble Lutheran pastor in charge at Orangeburg, and, as he supposed, have the law on his side in thus becoming the pastor hiuiself. The records of his evil designs, which have longslumbered in oblivion in manuscript form on the shelves of the Statehouse at Columbia, are now brought to view, and read as follows: " 'Nov. 9th, 1742. Read the petition of Rev. 11 Zaiiberbiihler, showing that as there were a great many Germans at Orangeburg, Santee, and thereabouts, who ai'e very desirous of having the woixl of (lod preached to them and their children, and wdio desire to be instructed in the true religion, humbly prays: That he may be sent to serve them and to be sui>[>