The Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1896-1898, September 22, 1897, Image 2
EARLY IRON MAKING.
nr. and Hrs. William Clark, Typical
New En glanders.
iny Major Wm. Hoy.]
Mr. Editor: ? In my sketches of
former useful citizens of Spartanburg
county, the name of William Cla'k
should not be forgotten. He came to
Spartanburg about 1820 and settled on
the Tygers at a place called Nesblt^s
Iron Worke. He purchased the works
and adjoining land and paid for it,
which was the largest. laDd purchase
that had ever taken nlace In Spartar
burg county. I don't know the exaet
number of aores, but the eastern part
of it joined what is now E Wright's
estate, and ran west to near Abner's
Creek Church, more than five miles,
and north and south from Capt. A.
Dean's to the incorporation of Reldville,
a distance of five miles. The purchase
included at least four thousand
acres. The land was very valuable for
timber and farming purposes and the
water power, the best In the county.
It includes two shoals on the river and
one on a large creek that enters the
river between the shoals. By building
three concrete dams and saving the
night and 8unday flow of water, live
mills of the size and capacity of Pelham
could be run. This water power
is now the property of Mr. C. P. Berry.
Mr. Clark, when he came South,
brought with him the reputation of
being one of the best business men in
New England. I have heard Mr. Lathrop,
who crme Pou'li with him, say
that the money he pu chased these
hinds with vas the result of a successful
contract he made In b? i'ding a dam
in the city of Boston. I never heard
Mr. Lethrop describe this (lam or tell
what it was hni't for.
My. acquaintance, Mr. Editor, com
i T Hw. miaau
xuriJlH-U tt urn x nao in iu uurv vi
my teens, and continued nn< il Ms death,
nearly a quarter of a cenfury later.
But I cnu't tell the place of his nativity.
One might infer from his predilection
for the iron business that he
came from Connecticut. Monroe, who
learned the axe trade with the Collinses,
came with htm, and the Collins
secret, of tempering tools was divulged
by hitn. He promptly, at that early
day, pnt up an axe, drawing-knife,
plane-bit, chisel and hammer shop for
Mr. Clark at his iron works. Mr. Clark
married the widow lady that he boarded
with in Boston. I will speak of her
farther on. It is needless, Mr. Editor,
to say that Mr. Clark and Mrs Clark,
-with their magnificent personal appearance
aj)(\ faultless dress, joined to
Mr.^jOlark's business habits, created a
sensation on the Tygers. If a tedious
character called on Mr. Clark on business
and one or two monosyllables, yes
or no, failed to c*?t.fsfy the caller, he
-wonld politely t'-ll him he -would tee
lilm again, and perhaps attend to
twenty other callers in half that many
minutes.
Mr. Clark, notwithstanding his extraordinary
basinets methods, made mistakes
that drew largely on his finances.
One mistake whs that when he came
Sooth he located too suddenly. Carson's
ore lands, four miles from Abbeville
Court House, were said to he the
best in the world ard inexhaustible,
and the existence of the Birmingham
mines was known at that early da).
Mr. Carson, of Abbeville, the owner ot
the mine, got me to carry a specimen
of his ore to Mr. Clark for examination.
Mr. Frey, his expert, called it the best
in the world. Excuse me, Mr. Editor,
for adding a little of the ne'ghborhood
gossip. The Carson mims cropped out
along Cane river in the shape of a
shoal, and that shoal itself contained
two million wagon loids of the ore,
And the clouds, they sal hovered
around there in forty-five, but mostly
failed to dischnrge. I met with a trentlemau
on the cure the day Le>* surrendered.
He said he organized a compuny
with two hurdred thousand do|lards
to locate at Carson's mines, hut I
have heard nothing fiom him since.
.Mr. Clark opened a stor^ at liis works,
his friend Mr. Lathrop act irg as rales*
man at d keeping a hotel. He qnlckly
found out that ore was too scarce in the
vicinity of his works and com men e d
hauling it with wauoi s from what is
vaow Grdoey's, giving employment to
ail the Tygsrwagons. Hauling the o^o
that d's'ai e? he qu'okly found to be
an uphill business. He rover failed on
'Tytrcr, but he looked out for o'her rpkiiu<v.?.
Hp went to the LlmtRtone
section of tlip county, bought what,
was then called the Oowpens furnace
from !ji> obi Irieiul Jfesbitt and h body
>ci bind adjoiuiog that was sai l to bo
larger than bis Tyger purehu'e. He
quickly ren#red to it. He was untUi
ky in |it*ttir g en agent to manage
his M yiter i>roi>erty. He employed a
Mr \V e i-rwh wassa'd tohe a grwdua
e of the first e >llfge in theUnit>d
t->t*ies. The tuslnem under hi* jiihuageiueiit
cauie to a silddeu clean but
.-till Iklr. Clark did not fail, lie a >ld
out hie Tyger property us best he c* nil
making gojil t.t'e* to ail bis lauds ai d
putting all hio a cans iu.U energy to
improving his property in the Cowpens
aud Limestone section. About
this time Mr. Clark inaugurated a
business that brought employment to
more men and brought more money ioto
the county than any twenty men bad
ever done before. I will just remark
Mr. Editor at tbis point that if Mr.
Clark wben in possession of ?11 h's flue
lyger property nsd built a line church
and presented it to some religious denouiiuatiou,
h* vould, for at least
twenty years, had the honor of being
the first citizen of the old Iron IMstriot.
Mr. C'ark's business reputation quickly
enabled him to organize the South
Carolina manufacturing company at
Hurricane Shoals, on Pacolet, near
Clifton, bn'ldirg a rolling mill, rail
factory, css'iog all sorts of machinery,
causing a regular flow of money t h rough
the country until the war.
On the advent of the cotton mills
four years after. Mr. Clark came to
SpartaDbnrg and was in the NulMflcption
excitement. He voted the Union
ticket, but raid rotliing about it. I
never heard lriu ment'ou politics in
my life. He was appointed one of the
thirty delegates to the reunion convention
in Colombia in the year 1838. He
was Dot in the meetirg that appointed
the delegates and may never have
kuovn that he was appointed. If he
had accepted the Domination he would
have been the neatest dreesed man in
Columbia that year. Excuse slight de
via'ion. Mr. Jttifliror, rrorn tUe subject 1
aiu writing about.
S. N. Evins and Josiah Kilgore, from
Greenville, attended that conventlor,
wearing clothing made on their own
plantation. Tbey were both wealthy
men. About 1835 there was a large
company organized at Cherokee on
broad rivrrto manufacture iron and
nails and Mr. Clark was invited to superintend
it with the promise of a
large salary. Here Mr. Clark made an
important mistake. He was allowed
to hold on to his p'ace as superintendent
of the South Cerolii a manufacturing
company. That made the business
too large for one man's supervision
and botb interests suffered. Mr.
Clark's health failing, both concerns
failed after it got into the hands of
sub agents. The Cherokee company
fa'led lirst. Mr. Clark to heln the
Cherokee company out of a difficulty
used funds be'ongiug to the South Carolina
company, which gave dissatisfaction
to the stockholders of that company.
There was nothing morally
wrong in what Mr. Clark did. There
were millionaire stockholders in the
Cherokee Company and their private
property was liable. Col. Hampton,
father of Scnator|fI3aii>p(OD, promptly
sent money to pav off all liabilities
when he foond out the situation. He
was tne largest stccRliolder In '>the
Cherokee companv. Mr. Clark had a
tsste for science. Fe aided Dr. Cooper
of the South Carolina College in his
researches a* the furnaces during the
vacation of the colleges.
Mrs. Clark, the beautiful widow he
married in Boston, was undoubtedly at
the bead of American housekeeping
and cookin having mastered the
French or schntitic mode of cookiDg.
Her dinners at the meetings of the
South Carolina manuf-icturing* company
I never saw equaled. The father
of Mr. John Edge of Nez.areth, once
lived with Mr. Clark. I have recently
heard Mr. Edge siy that he beard his
father siy that the test meal he ever
ate was prepared from green gourds.
Her garden duplicated Dr. Barrett's of
Abbeville. Mrs. Clark was blamed by
some of her female contemporaries for
wesring a wig and deceiving Mr. Clark
with regard to her age. Of course I
know nothing about that. A more
useful class of female contemporaries
blamed her for not > ringing Mr. Clark
into the church, as Mrs. Lathrop did In
a much harder c ire in her husband,
Lathrop. Tour readers will recollect
that I was nut ir? a nr?'nn?
? ? - "
with him. Ha cuised th6 elements so
1 Je't his vic'nity. His w fa prevailed
on iiiiu ioq .it his profanity and visit
tli? H H'kii of his wife's church. He
satistjed H ern ot his determination to
do better, he stood up before the church
acknow'edtfMl his backslid ings and
prom's* <1 to reform. I never knew Mr.
Clark to use a drcp of liquor. He may
ha* e iiM (1 tobacco, but I never ot>serv?d
it. 1 never saw him smoke or
, heu'd him use an oath cr a vulgar cxj
pro?s'on. He was the sou! cf honor, aau
had no use for those who were not. Mr.
Clark's health failed as early as 1839
and 1840. He was the v'ctim of what
doctors called acute rheumatism. I
soent a oi-rht witn hiui in 1841. Ho
was brdriddeu. but his mind whs per
fee ly clear. He had another visitor
with hi'U that night, Mr. Hailey, of
(ireenville coai ty, a native of Ireland,
a srcceasful manager of 1rou works,
faru. iog and everything he undertook,
8Uy?arsof age and sound of mind. I
never spent a more pleasant, uigbt My
Hcqnaiutauce theu wi ll Mr. Clark ran
to the middle of my teens, but I had
never heard hiui enter into social conversation
before, and it laste i most of
tho rdglit. Any one to eet. Mr. CI irk's
re<qoclhvi to be bone/, industrious,
truthful and sober. That ufght be
made speolal inquiry about a family on
the Tygers that was known to be honest,
industrious, truthful and sober and
bad been for generations, barely taL.
irg their own part. It had happened
that about a quarter of a century after
the time spoken of, one of the family
had married out of the usual lice in a
family that it was generally said got
the best of a trade. A son of the marriage
accomplished some successful
financial trickery that I related to the
old man. Be was good-looking, and
he went off froiu home end married
mio a respectable rainily. it Happened
that there was a very wealthy o'd man
and his wife in his father-in-law's
neighborhood that were large negro
owuers. They sent out a proposal that
they would swap ham meat for middling
meat to feed the negroes on.
Theylik?d middling meat bet'er than
ham. This financier was qniekly on
hend, hailing from the direction of his
father-in law's, telling the old peop'e
that he would accept their proposition
to trade middling meat for hains;4bat
his wife wished a trade of that kind,
and ^be terms of exchange were agreed
opon. He went on to state that some
of hi* sacks had been left at h's fatherin-laws
through some mistake and if
agreeable he would take some of the
h?mt along then. This was agreed to
and his sack was well lilhd. He owed
one of his neighbors $12.50 aad was
asked for it. He replied that one of
his Neighbors owed him exactly that
amount, hot be was unable to change
his fifty-dollar bill. He was promptly
furnished with 127.50, and he left for
parts unknown, leaving his wjfe, and
has never been heard of. Mr. Clark
said that nothing as shrewd as that
ever happened in Yankeedoui. Old
Mr. Bailey bad never met with anything
in Ireland to equal it in shrewdness.
Mr. Beilev died not long after
this time, his eetate be'ng worth fifty
thousand dollars. Mr. Clark gradually
grew worse until 1817, when be died.
H is wife had preceded him, and they
rest. in their beautiful garden at the
old furnace. One might infer that
when Mr. Clark made a success in business
in Boston in his youth ai d failed
in Pb^rfanburg in manure age, that
there wee ?s sharp people in Ppartanburg
as in Boston
A Rampant Kick at Nothing.
A cony of the Cowpens Contennial,
1781-1881, having been recently sent me
by the courteous chairmau of the Centennial
committer, the Hon. Win. .
JOoifjrtroivy, IxUa^e aefteahed my memory
with the graphic and stirring acconut
of the famous battle of so mnch
importance to American history.
In the oration at the unveiling of
the Morgan statue at Spartanburg by
Sen Wade Bampton, I find the following
utterance: "They"?the patriots
of the Revolution, who took part in
that batMe?"had to meet in this fearful
conflict not ody the British, hut.
their allies, the worthless Tory and the
savage IndiaD."
I benr the name of a family thr>s
stigmatized by thegallnnt Confederate,
and I beg to say to him that the leaders
of the Tory Cunninghams were his
peers. They were Englishmen of station.
wealth and Influence and had
nothing ?o gain by their a'legiance to
the mother oountry, and in their name
and my own I resent the expressed^ insult.
Upon some occasion the s'lveitoneu'd
Preston, of our State, made a
similar sweeping assertion against the
Tories?loot? j ears ago, before my existence?
hi i my grandfather, the late
Capt. Robert Cunningham, of the war
of 18'2, end of Roeereont plantation,
Laurens District, resigned his eldership
of the Presbyterian church aud
challenged the man whom he considered
had plundered his father.
The cartel was accepted, and at the
appointed time the two men, with their
seconds, met. near Augusta, Ga., to settle
the qu'stion. But the duel was
happily averted.
Mr. Preston made the amende honorab'e,
denying that he included the
Cunninghams in his allegations, and
they parted as friends upon the field of
lienor.
In the address of Senator Francis, of
New Jersey, i Iso, on the day of the
cereiuou'es of the nnveiiing, he says:
' Men in themselves are nothing. What
are we? (r-?n. Hamp'oo, all of us? We
are bnt clay."
My Torv ancestors, ton, were c'ay,
| but they were of the stuff of which
Hampton and other heroes ?re made.
Fx.ortdb Cunningham.
Anhevllle, N. C. Aug. 20, 1807.
The navy department has none
trouble. It is not sineo'li Mailing all
the time. The Indiana needed docking.
They wi rn afraid to try the Port
Royal dock ami there was none superior
to thst in the United States. 'Ihey
sent it op to Halifax and while in the
dock it wi-s considerably Injured by
, carelessness or fa ilty construction.
Getting the Children Set Up In Life.
"Yes, I've reined up a large family,
but oone of the children is left with
me," replied the old man in answer to
my qnention. "Last v'ar Imr d* up my
mind they'd Dever ainonnt to anythin'
unless thoy made a start to* themselves,
and so I bought Bill a t-hotgun
aDd says:
" 'Bill, this yere roost ain't fur yo' no
mo *
"And Bill took Hint pan and wont
over to Orange Valley and shot a revenue
officer and got into State prison
far life and is all settled down. When
he had gone I bonght a bike fur Sally
and took it home and says:
"'Sally, this yere rooet ain't far yo'
no mo'. Git on that bike and go oat
into the world and ketoh a man.'
"And she didn't lose two minatee
hoppin' into the saddle and whizzin1
op the road, and in two weeks she was
married to a feller who saved bei from
gittin' ran over by a six-mewl team.
Tbe day after I called op Joe and says
to him:
" 'Joe, yer month ar' too big an' yer
knees ar1 sbackelty, bat mebbe tbar'e
aanthin' in ye arter all. I'll gin ye that
ol' blind ox to make a start with, and
don't yo' come back to Jhis roost no
m6'.'
"Joe took the ox snd Went, and shack
my bide if be didn't lead him down to
the railroad and git him killed by a
train and rake in $40 damages! Yes,
sal), and he bought a mewl with the
monev, and is gittin' rich by carrying
tbe mails.
"Jim was next. I calls him up ard
looks liitu over and sez:
" 'Jim, yo'r too pizen lazy to fat good
bacon, but Im srolu to spnd yo' out to
huatle, All I kin spar' yo' Is a dollar
in cuh. Don't conic back to this roost
'till yo've-juiade yer fortune.'
"Jim tcok the dollar and -went, and
durn my button* if be didn't hire oat
to a dime museum as the cliainpion tobacco
chewer of the world, and he's
now drawlu' a sal iry of $'25 a week and
board! Thar was one left, and that
was Sue, mid 1 calls ber up and sez:
" 'Su?, it's time fur yo' growed-up
cliill'en to be a-gitten'. I'll buy yo'a
new pa'r o' shoes end a sunbonnet and
yo' must light out.'
"Hue started riwlit off tbe next day,
and got married, and up to this time
she's elot efl three tiroes, sot the hoase
afire twice, and pizeoed her husband
once. Looks like she'd do the best of
the hall let."?Chicago News.
OLD PEOPLE.
Old people who require medicine ttf
regulate the bowels and kidneys will
find the true remedy in electric Bit
ters. This medicine does not stimulate
and contains no whiskey nor other
intoxicant, but acts as a tonic and alterative.
It acts mildly on the stomach
and bowels, adding strength and
ttiviuK luun iu uio urKoii", iiiereuy ?iuing
Nature in the performance of the
function*. Electric Bitters is an excellent
nppetizer and aide digestion.
Old people tind it just exactly what
they need. Price fifty ceuts and $1.00
per bottle at Ligon's Drugstore. 5
Dr. Whitsltt in Hot Water.
Louisville. Ky.. Sept. 10.?There is
little doubt now that the attempt to
force the resignation of Dr. Whitsltt,
presidentcf the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in this oity and the
boycotting of that institution will result
in a division of the Southern
church into tso organizations. The
developments in the controversy.which
has ra^ed for some time, and during
the last three weeks has assumed a
more sinister aspect, render such a result
almost inevitable.
The Baptist asrociations have been
holding their sessions in different parts
of this Sta4e, and the strongest resolutions
condemning Dr. Whitsltt, de-.
mand'ug his resignation, and withdrawing
all support from the institution
unless he leaves it, have been
passed in all of them. In nearly every
case such resolutions have been adopted
almost unanimously, but in the
Long Rnn Association, which has just
concluded its sessions, which were attended
by several thousand persons
each day, the Whitsltt inino'ity was
stronger, and the proceedings were
characterized by a degree of turbulence
and rancor Unexxinnlcd in the historv
of the church. Delegate* stood on
benches and roared themselves hoarse,
using language which might have been
expected only in a red hot political
convention. The resolutions were
passed, however by a decided majority.
In a speech made the next day, the
Rev. Francis W. Taylor characterised
the methods of ibelr adoption as "dIsuracoful"
and said lie had "sat with
bowed head, ashamed that his brethren
and J rofees?d followers of Christ should
lend themselves to soch an exhibition
of temper."
The city s.-hools of Augusta opened
i with about 3000 pupils enro l d.
Tbe Chioora College, of Greenville, a
Presbyterian school, opened last week
with 03 pupils, of which 18 are board*
era. It Is considered a fine beginning,
and President Preston will have to secure
more room to aocominoria'e other
pupils. The College for Women, A.
H. rownes president, mis') opened.
Twenty-five pupils were enrolled the
first day, and many others are expected
to enter in a few days.
This Will Interest You.
The Atlanta Weekly Jonrunl is now
running a missing word contest.
For fifty cents tbey send the Weekly
Journal one year and allow the person
sending the subscription one gness at
the missisg word. The sentenoe selected
is :
"Be who lias ceased to enjoy his
friend's has ceased to love him."
The missing word 1s the one necessary
to fill out the above sentence and
make perfeot sense. It is not a catch
word, but Is a plain every day English
word.
To the person first guessing the
right word the Journal will give 5 per
cent of the amount of subscriptions re- ^
colved during the three months that \w|V
this con'e?t lusts, and 6 per cent additional
will be evenly divided between
all other persons who may guess the
missing word.
1 he weekly Journal is a first class
family paper, having ten pagss filled ,
with matter that will interest all members
of the familv. It has a first class
woman's page; an admirable o? ildren's > yj
department; at leart one story every
week; a vast amount of miscellaneous
fe?tures; and all the news of the world.
Address The Journal, Atlanta Oa.
rv-2^1.
uniiK
Glenn Springs
mmmiSNsaBU&L'X?,- > ? sassrgffaiirtaB
Water
If you live in the city
buy it at Ligon's Drug
Store for
$1 A CASE
' If you live somewhere \
else order from the ^
spring. It's better to
take than medicine
and will do you more
good. Address
PAUL SIMPSON,
Glenn Springs, S. C*.
Nothing Like it
So cheap or good as
tha 1 DE HARROW for
$2.50, at
S. B. EZELU.
RICBY'S ^
i
Pharmacy!
(OppositeSpartan Inn.)
Has a full line of Standard and
Proprietary Medicines. Prescriptions
filled with irreat care.
Consultation room connected
with the store. An assortment
of fine Soaps, Perfumes and othof
toilet articles at most reasonable \
prices. You are invited to call
if you need anything to make
tr/Mi fool KoHo**
J Wll 1V.V1 UV^ltVli
LOGAN'S
Ih the best ( lace to buve your horses
and mules shod. He will take* special
pains to straighten reet and keep
hort-e* from striking and interfering
He always guarantees satisfaction. All
sorts of plsntation and repair work ?
dote on short notice. My prices are
most reasonable for >pot cash, 8hop
. on rear of Morgans1 stables.
J J AM Kb LOGAN.
\
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