THE COLORED PEOPLE

     About sixty percent. of the population of Marlboro County is of  the negro or African race, and their coming to this country was as  slaves.  This county had very few previous to the Revolutionary War, but, as  the culture of the rice and cotton increased and became the principal  crops, the demand for negro labor increased.  About 1830 a negro man  would sell for say three or four hundred dollars; a young woman probably
 for less.  But about the beginning of the war prices for similar slaves  would be at least three times as much.  This was, no doubt, largely  owing to the growing demand for this labor for the new Western States, and  the prohibition of further importation to this country about the year  1820.  The bringing of these people to this country as slaves, has  proved a great blessing to their descendants, in giving them civilization  and Christianity, and has also greatly blessed the South in giving to it  the best labor in the world, adapted to its peculiarities as to climate and products.  The negroes of this county previous to and during  the war were well cared for and protected by their owners, and seldom  during those times was anything actually cleared from the result of the  year's work upon the farm, further than was expended in the care,  clothing, etc., of the whites and blacks upon the place.  The main property  in considering wealth was the number of slaves owned, and the  principal ideal in obtaining wealth in the South previous to the war was to  take care of the negroes and let them multiply.  During the war the  negroes were entirely docile, doing the work of making the crops in the absence of their masters, and being faithful and obedient.

     With the close of the war came the freedom of the negro as one of  the results of the conflict, and it was seriously felt by the former  masters that this was a calamity indeed, principally as they could not  conceive of such a state of things as that a negro would work unless made  to do so as a slave; and also that the two races would not be able to  remain together in any other relationship than as master and servant.

  Neither the masters nor slaves were prepared for the new situation,  and, as was natural, both made mistakes.  The new freedman could not fully  realize that he was free unless he moved from his old home and  confidently expected to be set up with "forty acres and a mule."  Then came  reconstruction and the conferring of suffrage upon the colored people,  which caused political aspirations.  During that exciting and stormy  period immediately following reconstruction, to their credit it must be said that no outbreaking act of violence occurred in this county, as in some others.

     The conduct of the slaves of Marlboro during the war, when the  able-bodied whites were at the front in the army, was commendable indeed.

  No instance during the whole four years is remembered where the  blacks were other than faithful to the home and family.  It is not too much  to say that no other race of people under similar circumstances would  have been so loyal and true.

     The present development of Marlboro is largely the result of negro  labor.  The colored people largely work as tenants and share-owners of  crops, and any disagreement or litigation with their employers is very  uncommon.  The stores of the county are largely supported by the  patronage of the colored people, and it is rare indeed that credit extended  by a merchant to a colored farmer or tenant is not promptly paid in the  early fall.

     Quite a goodly number of colored people in Marlboro own their own  farms and know how to work them.  The following colored men own  valuable farms and have excellent credit in their respective communities: 

Alex. L. Ivy, Silas Easterling, C. C. McRae, George Pearson, Lewis
 Emanuel, Thomas Green, J. Evans Quick, January Johnson, Richard Reese,
 Richard Gibson, Rufus Tatum, Amos Tatum, Handford David, Noah Melloy,
 Edward Ware, G. W. Steel, Washington Bright, Robert McColl, Tony Lide, Moses
 McLeod, Benjamin F. Quick, Nicholas Kollock, the Cook brothers, the
 McKay brothers, Moses Hodges, H. W. Hines, Henry Bradford and Dennis
 David.

     Among the colored population there were few well-to-do farmers and  business men.  J. C. Allman has a large plantation, which he  cultivates very successfully, making from 125 to 150 bales of cotton annually.

  Peter Banks, living near McColl, is another good farmer and has an  excellent plantation, which might, perhaps, sell for forty dollars per  acre.  He runs a four or five horse farm.

     E. J. Sawyer came to Bennettsville about twenty-five years ago.

  He has had good educational opportunities and has received thorough  college training.  He served as principal of the Colored Graded School for  a number of years, and has also been engaged in mercantile and farming  pursuits.  He has served two terms as postmaster at Bennettsville.  He  is a resident of the town, owning an attractive home, and numerous  other town lots, together with valuable farms in the country.  His property  is worth perhaps $20,000.

     The Pee Dee Educator is the name of a paper owned and edited by E.  J. Sawyer, and is creditably supported by the colored people of the  county.  Its circulation is about two thousand, and with one exception is  the oldest colored paper in the country, being in its seventh year.

     The churches of the colored people will compare favorably with  those of other sections.  At the town of McColl there is a small  Presbyterian church.  With this single exception all the others are Baptist and  Methodist.  The colored Baptist church in town has a larger seating  capacity than any other church in town.  It is a substantial frame  building, neatly painted and well furnished.  The building is worth about
 $3,000, and was built chiefly through the contributions of the colored  people through the efforts of the present pastor, Rev. F. W. Prince, who  received his training at Benedict College, Columbia, South Carolina.  The  Methodists have a church in Bennettsville, known as "St. Michael's M.  E. Church."  For comfort, convenience, beauty and situation, it is all  that could be desired by any congregation.  This church is worth about  $2,500.  Both churches have comfortable parsonages attached.  When we remember that so many, and such comfortable churches, have been erected through the contributions of the colored people chiefly, were are  amazed at their liberality and religious zeal.  As an illustration of  this, Tony Lide, a few years ago, mortgaged his home and thirty acres of  land, all he owned, in order to make the purchase of one of the parsonages spoken of above.  Below we give the names of twenty of the country
 churches, all of which are well-built frame structures, completed,  painted and furnished, the average value of each being about $1,000:

  Hopewell, Sarian, Spears, Clio M. E., Clio A. M. E. Z., Asbury, Pee Dee,  Sardis, Macedonia, Saw Mill, Level Green, Smyrna, Pine Plains, Galilee,  Wesley Chapel, Ebenezer, Cedar Fall, Shiloh, Goodwin Chapel, and Dyer's  Hill.  There are others of less value, but neat and comfortable.

     As a rule the colored people avail themselves of every opportunity  for education, frequently keeping up private schools at their own  expense when the limit for the public schools has expired.  Many parents by  much sacrifice send their sons and daughters to colleges.  Benedict,  Shaw and Claflin being usually patronized.  More detailed allusion is  made to the schools and school buildings in the chapter on education.

  When we consider the rapid strides that have been made by the negro race  along financial, social, religious and educational lines, we are  amazed.  Time nor space will admit of a more extended chapter in this work.

  Nor is any pen adequate to the task of bestowing the just meeds of  praise upon them to which they are entitled, for having so successfully  overcome adverse fortunes.  Their progress and improvement as a race in  the last thirty years has been without a parallel in the world's history,  and their motto is, "Onward still, to yet better achievements."

Source:  A history of Marlboro County : with traditions and sketches of  numerous families  Atlanta, Ga.: Foote & Davies Co., printers and binders, 1897 (contributed by Sharon Wick)