|
Other Early Settlers
Source: A
History of Marlboro County: With Traditions and Sketches
of Numerous Families, 1897
In 1743, a name appears among the early grantees of
land in the Welsh Neck which was destined to be prominent in
the history of Marlboro - Nicholas Rogers, a Welshman. He
died in 1759, but left a son Benjamin, who lived on the west
side of the Pee Dee, a few miles below Cheraw - an ardent Whit, of
excellent character, and held in high esteem by his
neighbors. Of his sons, mention may be made of two as
prominent citizens of Marlboro. Of a third, Nicholas, we
have heard, but know nothing. A daughter married a Mr.
Pearson, and lived some miles above Cheraw. John Rogers, a son
of the first Ben, married Miss Mary Griffin, and lived and died
at what is now known as the Dr. McLeod place.
He
was a member the Legislature, 1808-1809. The fruit of
this marriage was three sons, and as many daughters. The
first of these daughters married Dr. Francis Lee, and went
West. Another was the first wife of Gen. McQueen, who was
a lawyer at Bennettsville, and a member of Congress for several
terms, and resigned his seat when the State seceded from
the Union. A third daughter, Miss Martha, a lady of
splendid form, fine character, and superior intellect, became
the first wife of Dr. Alexander McLeod, a native of North Carolina,
a successful popular physician, a member of the Secession
Convention, the father of several sons, and a daughter who
became the wife of Capt. C. M. Weatherly. The sons of
Mr. Rogers were John M., Benjamin and Robert. John was
talented and
popular; elected to the Legislature in 1828, but in
the midst of his career of promise he was stricken in
death. Robert, also, was a noble, brilliant young man,
just grown, when, by an accidental shot from his own un, he was
instantly killed. Hardly any young man in the community
was more beloved, or could have been more sincerely
mourned. The other son, B. N. Rogers, married Miss
McQueen, of Chesterfield.
The good man left a family of sons
and daughters to mourn his departure to a better
state.
Another son of the first Benjamin Rogers was Col. Ben,
who resided in Brownsville. By his first marriage he
became the father of nine daughters, and nine sons were given
him as the fruit of a second marriage with Mrs. Wickam, who
also had a daughter by her first marriage. This daughter
first married John C. Ellerbe, of Marion, and after his
death she became the second wife of Dr. B. K. Henagan.
Most fondly does the writer remember the manly form of Col. Ben
Rogers, as the neighbor of his father and a friend to all the
boys; universally respected, full of energy and push, even in
his old age. He was an early sheriff of Marlboro, a
Colonel of Militia, a State Senator, a patron of schools,
a friend of the churches, and beloved by his servants. He
was young in years when the struggle with the mother country
came on, but with the ardor of youth and the enthusiasm of an
impulsive spirit he drew his sword in the cause of liberty, and
to his dying day his face beamed and his eye kindled with an ardent
devotion to his country's weal. He was killed at last by
a falling tree, the felling of which he was himself directing
for plantation purposes. Noble, polite, generous,
public spirited, grand old man, we saw him buried, and it is a
sad, yet precious privilege, occasionally, to visit his tomb at
old Brownsville, where he sleeps between the bodies of the two
women whom he loved with the tenderness and devotion that was
the admiration of all who knew him in his hospitable
home.
His first born son, whom we called "Major Ben," sleeps
in that same consecrated plat of ground. He was for
awhile in command of the "Lower Battalion" of Marlboro
militia. A man of calm, cool temperament, highly
respected by his neighbors, they induced him to stand for a
seat in the State Legislature in 1846, and he was elected and
served; but he would consent no more to ask his countrymen to
send him to Columbia, preferring the enjoyments of his own
comfortable, hospitable home to the turmoil and excitement of
political life. B. B. Rogers, courteous friend,
successful planter, his death made a sad void in the
community.
"Where are the nine?" One only at this
writing remains above the earth, Col. John Rogers, of
Florence. His silken hair of snowy white proclaims him an
old man. Like most of his brothers, he is remembered as
a splendid specimen of manhood, the pride of his parents, the
soul of politeness, the life of his circle. When he shall
rest in the tomb the last of his generation will have gone.
But another generation is already upon the scene, doing credit
to the name they bear. The present Sheriff of Marlboro
(1890) bearing the family name, Ben, is the first born of Maj.
B. B. Rogers and Miss Elizabeth Allison, a beautiful woman, the
youngest of four sisters. The others were Eliza, who became
the second wife of Maj. Rogers; Catharine, who first married
John Irby, and after his early death, became the wife of John
G. Bethea; Caroline, who married Charles Brown, and became the
mother of Mrs. T. L. Crosland.
Mrs. Allison was Miss Betsy
Whittington, and first married a Mr. McTier and had two sons,
William and Robert, and a daughter, Mrs. Henry DeBerry, who,
for a long time, lived at Parnassus. Both McTier and Allison
are extinct names in Marlboro. There was a young son, Tom
Allison, whose death is his brilliant boyhood profoundly grieved the
hearts of his comrades and kinsmen.
The Sparks name is
to be set down as one of the earliest in this region; Four brothers,
Daniel, Charles, Samuel and Harry, are said to have come from
Virginia to the Pee Dee. Harry, a noted Whig, was killed by a band
of Tories in the swamps of Three Creeks. Daniel, the eldest
brother, settled at first not far from and on the east side from
Bennettsville, but afterwards moved to Red Hill. He married Miss
Martha;Pearce, a lady of fine character, who lived to old age,
retaining both hermental and physical vigor in a marked degree. Full
of good works, she ultimately sank into the grave lamented by all.
Three sons and four daughters blessed the lot of this
pair.
Samuel, who spent his four-score years and more in
Marlboro, first married Miss Allison, and had a son, Charles, who
died young. His second wife was Miss Ann Harry. Two children were
born to them, the late Capt. A. D. Sparks, and Mrs. Keitt, whose
brave husband, L. M. Keitt, poured out his life's blood upon the red
soil of Virginia in the late war.
One sister of Mr.Sparks
married John Crosland of Marlboro.
Another (Lucy) first
married Alex Stubbs and afterwards Thomas Stubbs, and adaughter,
Mrs. E. W. Goodwin, was the fruit of the latter union. A third
sister married William Pouncy, as stated elsewhere in these
pages.
Martha, the other sister, died unmarried.
The
Crosland family is another of those which dates back to nearthe
middle of the last century. Edward Crosland, an orphan boy, of
Virginia, thrown upon his own resources, developed an
enterprising,adventurous spirit. He came to Carolina about 1760, and
united himself with a party of kindred spirits in the central part
of the province, and traveled extensively in North Carolina, went
across the mountains into Kentucky, from thence to the Ohio river,
down that stream to the Mississippi and thence to New
Orleans. Returning to South Carolina Mr. Crosland married a
daughter of Samuel Snead, and settled near the boundary
line.
Subsequently he came to Marlboro and settled not far
from Gardner's Bluff and reared a large family. His sons were John,
Samuel, Daniel M., Israel, David, George, Philip and Dr. William and
several daughters.
A number of his descendants are now
numbered among the respected citizens of the County, while many more
have yielded to the inexorable law of destiny, and have gone to
people other more western States and build up other communities
towards the setting sun.
Another name no longer found in
Marlboro is entitled to mention, not only because of the part the
family bore in the early history of the country, but because the
blood has coursed in veins that have borne other names and made
honorable records on history's page. In 1758 Thomas Ayer came to the
Pee Dee. A native of Ireland, he spent some time in Virginia before
coming to Carolina. It is said that he settled on the east side of
Pee Dee river a little below Hunt's Bluff, set up a trading
establishment and made money. An ardent Whig, he risked life and
fortune in the cause of liberty. Lewis Malone, the father of the
late Gen. L. M. Ayer, of Anderson, and Mrs. Judge A. P. Aldrich, was
a son of the grand old Irish patriot. So also was the venerable
Hartwell Ayer, who lived at the place where J. B. Breeden recently
died. Hartwell Ayer had a son, William, who left a family near
Fayetteville, N. C., and three daughters, Mrs. Long of sainted
memory, Mrs. J. B. Breeden and Mrs. Marshall; noble women of noble
deeds, farewell!
There were a number of other families that
settled on the Pee Dee about the middle of the eighteenth century,
who contributed their full quota to the civilization and opening up
of the country, and have left their impress upon its welfare, but in
most instances the names of become extinct, although in some cases
the blood flows in their descendants of other names known here are
honorably borne in adjoining counties or distant States. Bishop
Gregg has done a good work in recording them in his history. His
name, among them, is worthy of enduring remembrance, alongside such
as Murphy, Hicks, Wilson, Lide, Robertson, Allison, Bedgegood,
Lewis, Luke and others as worthy of mention. Pioneers in a new land,
they lived in troublous times, and the hardships of subduing an
unbroken forest to cultivation, opening roads, building bridges,
erecting churches and school-houses, and preparing the way for
liberty, prosperity, education and religion to take root and thrive
in the new world as it had never done in the old - is never to be
forgotten by a grateful posterity.
|
|
This is a FREE website.
If you were
directed here through a link for which you paid $ for, you can
access much more FREE data via our South Carolina index page
at http://www.genealogytrails.com/scar/index.html
Also make
sure to visit our main Genealogy Trails History Group website
at http://genealogytrails.com for much more nationwide
historical/genealogical data and access to other state/county
data
|
Copyright ©
Genealogy Trails 2008
All Rights Reserved with Full Rights Reserved for Original
Contributor
|
