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I I 10—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., Nov. 12, 1970 § HISTORY OF LAURENS COUNTY • • • %*. * • * g i { $ * Laurens County was established by an act of the General Assembly on March 12, 1785. It was one of the six counties created from the original Ninety-Six District of South Carolina, and it re tains an old Indian boundry line as its northwest ern limit. The county was named for Henry Laurens (1724—1792), a nationally recognized statesman from Charleston, S.C. The site of the county seat was selected by men deputized by the Fortieth and Forty-First Militia Regiments. Tradition states that the site chosen resulted from a compromise between the regi ments, one having chosen a site near Cold Point, the other a site near Watts Mills. The first county court convened June 13, 1785, with seven justices of the peace being present. This system continued to be used until March 18(X) when subsequent courts were established. The Courthouse Square, containing four acres, was purchased in 1792 for two guineas, or $21.00. The present courthouse on this site is the third one, the first having been of wood construction, the second of brick. Early schools include the Wadsworthville Poor School and the Pyleston School, which were es tablished in the early ISOO's; an English school on Rabon Creek, which was in session in the 1820's; and the Laurensville Female College, which was started in 1829. The oldest church in the county is Duncan Creek Presbyterian, organized in 1764. Three Revolutionary War battles were fought in Laurens County: Musgrove's Mill, Hammond's Store, and Hayes Station. Brigadier General James Williams of Laurens County was a Revolutionary War hero at the Bat tle of Kings Mountain. The county's Revolutionary War heroines include Mary Musgrove. Mary Dil lard. and Dicey Langston. South Carolina Governors W. D. Simpson and Robert A. Cooper were natives of Laurens Coun ty. Four other natives. John Hunter. Franklin H. Elmore, J. L M. Irby, and N. B. Dial, served as U. S. Senators. Ann Pamela Cunningham of Laurens received national recognition as founder of the Mount Ver non Associatio.i for the preservation of George Washington's home. Andrew Johnson, seventeenth President of the United States, once operated a tailor's shop in the city of Laurens. Until the early twentieth century, when diversi fication took place, the county's industry was large- CLINTON TOUR The Courthouse Laurens Tour The stretches m this toider were done by the late Julian Stevenson Bohctr They have been graciously lent to the Laurens County Historical Commission by the Bohck family These sketches and nearly 150 more by Mr Bohck will appear in his forthcoming book A Laurens County Sketchbook which he had virtually completed at the time ol his death Duncan s Creek Church Tour 3 ly textile. One of the earliest known plants was the Laurens County Cotton and Wool Factory, now known as Burnt Factory, on South Rabon Creek.One of the oldest graphic arts firms in South Carolina continues operation in the city of Clin ton; and more recently plants manufacturing glass bottles, steel bearings, mobile homes, and ceramics have prospered within the county. THE HAYES STATION MASSACRE Laurens County was the scene of violent fighting during the American revoultion between Continentals and Loyalist sup porters of King George in of England. On**of the worst such inci dent occurred at a spot about eight miles southwest of Clin ton, midway between the Bel fast and Milton (Joanna) set tlements. The Massacre of Hayes Station, as the incident became known, was typical of the bloodshed and violence that plagued the Carolina frontier during the Revolution. The battle involved the Tory firebrand, William “Bloody Bill" Cunningham and his band of followers. Cunningham, a native of the Cross Hill area and a member of one of the leading families in the Caro lina upcountry was on a burn ing and pillaging expedition in the eastern part of Laurens County. He had once been an officer in the Continental Army, but he had some difficulty with his commanding officer, Colo nel John Caldwell, and Cunning ham became a supporter of the British. Hayes Station was an inn run by Col. Joseph Hayes, a pat riot leader in the Clinton area. Hayes was warned in the middle of the night that Cunningham and his men were on their way by William Caldwell, Col. Caldwell’s brother and a re lative of JohnC. Calhoun, famed Carolina Statesman, the Tories had Just burned the home of Col. Caldwell and murdered his family. There were about twenty-five people at the home of Co. Hayes, including some women and children. The men were on their way north to participate in action against the British that would eventually culminate in the Battle of King’s Mountain, the turning point of the Re volution. Hayes and his men made what defensive prepara tions they could and waited for Cunningham. According to an article in the February, 1953 edtion of the Joanna Way, one of Cunn ingham’s men named John Hood rode to the front of the Station and demanded that they sur render at once or face death. Hayes and his men refused to surrender, and someone inside the fort shot and killed one of the men with Hood. Shortly after this, Cunningham sent another man with a white flag who as sured the Americans that if they surrendered they would be treated humanely. Hayes did not believe this and he answered that he would hold out to the last. The battle began in earnest then. Hayes and his men held the Tories off for hours, but they finally ran out of ammun- tion. Cunningham’s men then dealt the death blow to the fort’s defense when they set it afire by throwing long limbs wrapped in cloth and soaked in rich, burning fat, on top of the house. Hayes and men could offer no more resistance, and they had to surrender. We Are Proud To Be A Part Of This Community And It’s Role In The Celebration Of South Carolina's 300th Birthday. KAYWOOD Southm Vuiikm IMA W£STERH M,LLS COMPANY 1 louYtrmd Finney Houm Built shortly after the Revolu tion near Clinton. The House was moved from its original site near Hammonds store to the present one when the railroad was built in the late 1840’s. Now the home of Mrs. John W. Finney. Davidson House This house built in the late 1820's, is the second oldest in Clinton and the oldest standing at the original *ite Home 09 Peace This building, the oldest on the Thornwell Orphanage campus, was built during the 1880’s The Orphanage was founded in 1875 by Rev William P Jacobs Now supported by Presbyterian Sy nods of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Old Tavern The stone "first floor” of this structure served as one of the original taverns in Clinton in the 1830 s or 1840 s Old Clinton Schools these premises were used as a school under the direction of William P Jacobs After the Civil War the school was re-opened as Clinton High School. Thornwell Orphanage and Presbyterian College later emerged from this school Presbyterian College Founded 1880 by William P Ja cobs as Clinton College Now supported by Presbyterian Sy nods of South Carolina and Georgia Administration build ing—Library contains original li brary of founder (moved in the' late 1930 s from Thornwell Or phanage), which can be viewed on request Neville Hall, designed byCharles Coker Wilson of Columbia, was dedicated in June 1907 and is one of the oldest buildings on the campus Although large-scale remodeling has changed the in terior, the exterior appears much the same as it did when original ly built Cunningham then lived up to blood-thirsty reputation when he ordered Hayes and Captain Daniel Williams, a boy of only 18, to be hung from a pole in a fodder stack. Before the two men died, the pole snapped In two, and Williams and Hayes, still alive, were hurled to the ground. This so enraged Cun ningham that he cut them both to pieces with his own sword. One of the most tradgic events of the entire incident occurred when Joseph Wil liams, Daniel’s younger broth er, ran to his dying brother’s side and said (according to the article),“Oh, brother Daniel, what shall I tell Mother?' The fierce Cunningham hear ing this, said, “You shall tell her nothing, you damned Rebel suckling!' He then cut the boy to pieces. Cunningham killed several more with his own sword and, after becoming exhausted from his bloody work, asked his men if there were any of the Ameri cans they wanted to spare. One of the Torries asked his com mander to spare the life of Bill Blakely. Blakely was allowed to leave, and the rest were killed on the spot The blood-thristy Tories left Hayes Station a burned out rubble. There were fourteen men killed in the massacre. Besides Hayes and the Williams Brothers, they were Lt John Niel, Clement Hanback, Joseph Willard, Joseph Irby, Sr. and Joseph Irby, Jr., John Melvin, John Ferris, John Cook, Greof Irby, Benjamin Goodman, and Yancey Saxon. There was a monument erect ed in memory of those killed in the massacre by the Daught ers of the American Revolution in the 1850’s. The monument is still standing. LAURENS TOUR Laurens County Courthouse The present courthouse is the third to serve the county It was begun in 1835, completed in 1840, and remodeled in 1911 The first courthouse was a frame building used as church, school, and courthouse The first county court convened in 1785 Episcopal Church of the Epiphany The is the original building erec ted in 1846 Thoughtto be oldest church structure in city of Lau rens Governor Simpson House William D Simpson, whg ac quired the house from its build er, Christopher Garlington, suc ceeded Wade Hampton as Gov ernor in 1879, resigned in 1880 to become Chief Justice of State Supreme Court Built in 1839 Subsequent owners enlarged the original building by adding a second story and portico. Octagon House Built by the Reverend Zelotes Holmesdurng the time between 1850 and 1859 Architecture is attributed to the builder s brother who was an engineer from New York Andrew Johnson Tailor Shop Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), seventeenth President of the United States, once operated a tailor shop in Laurens with his brother William It was located in the vicinity of the LaurensCity Square Todd House The original wing of this struc ture was built as a country house in the early 1800 s The front and columns were added in 1855 CHd Methodist Church The original edifice at this site was built about 1850 and was used until the present structure was built about 1897 Garlington - Todd House Built in 1858. by Creswell Gar lington and completed after the Civil War Now owned by Mrs J W Todd. Jr Robert A Cooper House Hon Robert A Cooper. Gover nor of South Carolina 1918-1922 built this house about 1910 Dunklin House One of the oldest houses in Lau rens. this house was built by Washington Wiliams about 1820 for his daughter Nancy, married to James Watts Owned for more than a century by Todd family Now home of James G Dunklin Franks House Built by Col John D Williams in 1859 as a reproduction of an Italian Villa, the house was later boy hood home of W W. Ball, novelist and editor of the Charles ton News and Courier It is now owned by Clyde T. Franks Milton, Goldville, JOANNA As most residents of this area know, Joanna is a town located about eight miles from Clinton on Highway 76. How ever how many know the loca tion of Milton, Martin’s Depot, or Goldville? Actually, these are all names for the same community. The name of the town has been changed five times in its history. The settlement was origi nally known as Milton and served as a crossroads for stage lines from Greenville to Columbia and from New Or leans and Washington. Several prominent men settled in the community, including the des cendants of Col. James Milton the hero of the American vic tory at Kings Mountain. Col. James D. Williams, a descen dant of the famous Col. Wil liams, owned a large planta tion in the Milton area and a summer home called Green wood. The Blacks were also among the early settlers of Milton and their holdings in cluded a flour and grist mill. The first postal service for the community was provided by a post office in John Black’s Store in downtown Milton. Ac cording to the National Archives, Congress establish ed a post office in Huntsville, County of Laurens, and State of South Carolina. Thus, Jo anna has its second of five names. Next in the list of names was Martin’s Depot This change occurred in 1853, and the reasons for the change are not clear. For the first time, a school was establish ed in the community. The next change occurred in 1883 through a strange coinci dence. It seems that one James L. Blalock, an overseer for a plantation in Union County, had made a great deal of money running cotton through the union blockade during the Civil War. Blalock decided to buy some land around Martin’s De pot, and when he left his posi tion in Union, he related that he be paid in gold. He had aleo been paid in gold for his ventures in the cotton market during the war, and he ap parently had a great deal of bullion on hand when he pur chased the lands around Mar tin’s Depot He bought around 1,400 acres, and paid in gold. Few of the Inhabitants of Mar tin’s Depot had ever seen such a large amount of the yellow stuff, so they naturally changed the name of the town to Gold ville. Around the turn of the cen tury, an industrial revolution was sweeping through South Carolina, and many small towns began establishing tex tile mills. One was construct ed in Goldville, and the town began to prosper with the mill. In 1923, the plant was bought by a firm beaded by Stewart Hatshorn. The name of the Mill and the town was changed to Joanna in honor of Hatshorn's daughter. Thus, Joanna had transformed a small back- country crossroads catering to travelers on a stagecoach route to a modern industrial com munity and went through five names in the process. SOUTH CAROLINA TftKXNTZKNIAL Marker Commemorates Jefferson Davis’ Trip Jefferson Davis’ trip through the Clinton-Joanna area after the fall of Richmond was an event of great historical signif icance. It was the last attempt of a dying government to establish itself on a firm basis, and a gallant Confederate effort to break away from the United States and form their own gov- erment was rapidly coming to an end. In order to celebrate this event in American and Southern history, a marker was erected by members of the Stephen D. Lee Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy on Nov ember 19,1961. The marker was placed at the Lafayette Young house on Highway 56 about four miles south of Joanna where Davis and his followers spent the night The marker was unveiled by Billy and Ro bert Young, great-great grand sons of Lafayette Young. The speaker for the occasion was Representative John A. May of Aiken, chairman of the Confederate War Centennial Commission. There were sal utes to the American flag, the South Carolina flag and last but certainly not least, the Stars and Bars of the Con federate States of America. These salutes were lead by Mrs. Archie Watson of Col umbia, the president of the South Carolina Chapter of the U. D. C. The speaker, dressed in the full uniform of a Confederate officer, said that Davis was a close friend of John C. Cal houn, a giant among Southern statesmen and a friend ofWeb- ster. Clay, Crawford and other great Americans of the critical period of the pre-Civil war period. May said that Davis idolized the great political thinker from South Carolina and patterned his life after Calhoun. May also praised Davis for his struggle to make states' rights and a liberal interpre tation of the Constitution a reality. He said in conclusion. “In fairness to you, I shall say that Davis was not always right to human is - to err is human. But In fairness to Davis, I should say that be was a man of honor, one who believed with all his heart and soul in fight ing for the principles in which he believed. He loved his county and he devoted his life to its defense.*