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THE IRONWORKS ON LAWSON’S FORK

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BY

JIM S. BROOKS

“The Ironworks on Lawson’s Fork.” Just a mention of that phrase stirs the imagination of

serious historians and local history buffs across the state of South Carolina. It has been that way

for over one-hundred and fifty years. Volumes have been written about the ironworks.

One of South Carolina’s earliest and most revered historians, David Ramsay,

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opined that

“The first iron works in South Carolina were erected in the upper country by Mr. Buffington

(Appendix A) in 1773. These were destroyed by the Tories in the revolutionary war . . .” These

innocent remarks—partly accurate and partly inaccurate—became the foundation for a building

chorus of unfortunate disinformation about the ironworks. Much, strangely, of what has been

written has been conjecture or speculation and, worse, clearly wrong—though extant

contemporary documents were, and always have been, available. It clearly appears errors were

recorded early and speculation passed as fact; and later writers picked them up, repeated them,

and quoted and cited each other as a basis of authority.

It has been stated the ironworks were built in 1773 by either Colonel William Wofford

(Appendix B) or Joseph Buffington,

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depending on who you read. It has been stated that

Joseph Buffington lost the ironworks to Colonel William Wofford or that he lost them to the

state of South Carolina. No need here to continue to itemize other unfortunate errors. The basic

problem was and is that there was NOT just ONE ironworks. Original, extant, and compelling

contemporary documents from that era clearly reveal another and alternate version—they argue

persuasively and conclusively for the existence of TWO ironworks.

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There were, in fact, two ironworks with their own individual history. They existed nearly

side by side on the Lawson’s Fork Creek. One was destroyed in the Revolution (built by Colonel

William Wofford) and the other (built by Joseph Buffington) was just, apparently, abandoned.

In late 1700, the billowing clouds of revolution and probable violent separation from

England revealed a need for “iron” war products. South Carolina was without significant

ironworks. On November 28, 1775, the Second South Carolina Provincial Congress recognized

the need of ironworks and offered a bounty for who would first produce bar iron.

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Grasping the

need for ironworks much earlier was a prominent South Carolina aristocrat, William Henry

Drayton

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(who also became a driving force in the South Carolina Provincial Congress.) He had

earlier seen the need and began serious efforts for ironworks before the Congress acted. These

two developments, actions of Drayton and the Congress, were the foundation for the “ironworks”

at Glendale, formerly known as Bivingsville. Let’s separately examine the history of each.

BUFFINGTON’S IRONWORKS

Before the Revolution, Joseph Buffington,

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iron master, had come from Pennsylvania

and built an ironworks on Troublesome Creek in North Carolina to the east of Guilford

Courthouse. He sold it in 1772. On September 19, 1774, he ran an advertisement in the South

Carolina Gazette stating he lived on the South Fork of the Catawba River at High Shoals or, as

he stated, Great Falls in North Carolina and sought capital for an ironworks there. He stated he

had “lately” purchased the land and had built a saw mill and partially completed a grist mill. But,

more importantly, there was iron ore and water power, and he needed backers for an ironworks.

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He found a backer in William Henry Drayton (Appendix C)—but NOT for the Catawba River.

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Drayton was a firebrand patriot and a mover and shaker in the infant patriot government

at Charleston. Drayton was interested in the area of Lawson’s Fork. In late summer 1775,

William Henry Drayton was in the area between the Broad and Saluda Rivers seeking support

from the inhabitants for the new government at Charleston. He was sent by the South Carolina

Provincial Government.

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While in the area he visited “his” ironworks and “the people about

Lawson’s Fork,” according to a letter from a traveling companion by the name of William

Tennant (Appendix D) to Henry Laurens dated August 20, 1775.

On August 21, 1775, William Henry Drayton wrote the Council of Safety in Charleston

from Lawson’s Fork, reporting the inhabitants would form a militia within a week and that he

had finished the day with a “barbequed beef.”

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There is also a journal entry by the Reverend

Oliver Hart

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(Appendix E), who also traveled with Drayton, dated Monday, August 21, 1775, of

having met with Drayton and others at Captain Waford’s where a “beef was barbequed.”

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On February 17, 1776, Joseph Buffington petitioned the Second Provincial Congress of

South Carolina for monetary assistance to COMPLETE (he stated in the petition he was over one

half complete and would finish building in two years) his ironworks on Lawson’s Fork Creek.

Buffington stated he had ALREADY incurred a debt to William Henry Drayton in excess of

2,000 pounds. The Congress assented and on March 23, 1776, awarded in excess of 6,300

pounds to Buffington and, surprisingly, 3,000 pounds to William Wofford who had joined the

petition. The assembly felt “the establishment of ANOTHER (my emphasis) ironwork will also

be of public utility.” It also stated the TWO (my emphasis) ironworks would not be entitled to

the premium previously offered and that Buffington would not stop the water, to the detriment of

Wofford.

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Buffington had purchased fifty acres (Appendix F) from one James McIlroy for his

ironworks.

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The same McIlroy sold the remainder of his 350 acre grant (Appendix G) to

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William Wofford on which Wofford built

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. But, for whatever reason, Buffington did not build

on the fifty acres, though he thought he did. It was then thought he built on adjoining land of

William Wofford and Wofford later executed a deed pretty much disclaiming any interest in the

land on which Buffington had built the ironworks and necessary buildings.

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Alas, it was later

discovered, the ironworks were not on Buffington’s or Wofford’s land, but on vacant, unclaimed

public land (though, apparently, another William Woffard seemed to be manipulating to get the

ironworks land).

A frustrated Legislature resolved the issue by having a new survey made which showed

Buffington’s ironworks on a 600-acre tract of public land and legislated title to Buffington on

payment of the loan. Title would be vested in Commissioners of the Treasury until the debt was

paid.

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For whatever reason, on August 18 and 19, 1779, Joseph Buffington sold his ironworks

to William Henderson

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(William Henderson [Appendix H] died January 29, 1788). The deed

included the 600 acres, 50 acres, and 1,000 acres.

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Consideration was one-hundred-thousand

pounds South Carolina money. In less than a month, on September 4, 1779 William Henderson

petitioned the House of Representatives stating he had purchased the ironworks from Buffington

and needed 2,924 acres for trees for fuel. He admitted the Buffington debt was still due.

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On

April 24, 1788, (nearly nine years after the purchase but only about three months after the death

of Henderson) an advertisement appeared in the Columbian Herald (Charleston) for a public

auction “CONTAINING (my emphasis) the well known and valuable ironworks formerly

Buffington’s . . .” It listed the total acreage to be offered as 4,574 acres.

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5

As noted before, Henderson died on January 29, 1788, and the property total acreage

tallies with the 50 acres, 600 acres, and 1,000 acres Henderson purchased from Buffington and

the land he had petitioned the Legislature for fuel (2,924 acres) totaled 4,574 acres.

WOFFORD’S IRONWORKS

Colonel William Wofford was also an iron master. He had been busily buying tracts of

land in this area located on various creeks and streams sometime before the Revolution. He had

joined with Joseph Buffington in the petition of February 17, 1776, and requested funds for his

own ironworks and was granted some 3,000 pounds.

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There is no evidence he had started one

before this time on the Lawson’s Fork. The only evidence of building activity by William

Wofford on Lawson’s Fork was in July, 1776, and is reported in the Revolutionary War pension

application of Henry Pettit who said he was called upon to help build a fort on Lawson’s fork

between June and November, 1776, and it was called Wofford’s Fort.

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Further, Joseph

Buffington himself claimed payment after the war for supplies for inhabitants and scouts in

Colonel Wofford’s fort on the appropriate date of July 4, 1776.

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There is no mention I can find of Wofford’s Ironworks before 1780 in multitudes of

Revolutionary War pension applications (see extraordinary collection of Southern Campaign

Revolutionary War pension applications at www.southerncampain.org/pen/). The only references

before 1780 are Wofford’s Fort. There is, however, a pension application of George Davidson

who stated he was discharged from militia service in the summer of 1776 at Buffington’s

Ironworks.

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On October 23, 1779, William Wofford sold a three-quarter interest in his ironworks

located on a three-hundred-acre tract of land (along with several other tracts) to Simon Berwick

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(murdered March 26, 1783), John Berwick

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(died February 4, 1784; Appendix I), and Charles

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Elliott

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(died January 17, 1781; Appendix J). This was a legal probate estate nightmare

destined to hold things up many years. The consideration was seventy-thousand pounds South

Carolina money. Wofford reserved twenty acres to himself and his wife Mary for their life

outright and retained his one-quarter interest in all the land.

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It is generally accepted (but no

known contemporary evidence to prove the date) his ironworks were destroyed in November

1781 by William Cunningham.

In March of 1780, William Wofford purchased land on Turkey Cove in North Carolina

and built a fort. Several Revolutionary War applications attest the building and use of the fort.

On November 24, 1786, William Wofford petitioned the North Carolina Assembly for assistance

in an ironworks in Turkey Cove. He referred to his lost ironworks destroyed by the enemy and

deaths of the Charleston businessmen.

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Some fifty years later, a news paper article in The

Charleston Courier written in 1847 states that Wofford’s ironworks was never rebuilt.

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On July 14, 1788, a newspaper advertisement appeared in the Columbian Herald selling a

portion of the John Berwick estate (John had a one-quarter interest in the ironworks and had

inherited his brother Simon’s one-quarter interest). This one-half interest was being sold by the

sheriff. The property description in the sheriff’s sale matches the description sold to the

Berwicks and Elliott. It also identified the ironworks on a 300-acre parcel on which “were”

erected ironworks built by William Woolford

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(sic).

In 1802 Governor John Drayton, son of William Henry Drayton, published A View of

South Carolina as Her Natural and Civil Concerns.

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It was a survey on the condition of the

State. In Spartanburgh (sic.) District he only mentioned “. . . a set of ironworks on a smaller scale

. . .” operated on the middle Tyger River by the Hill brothers. He made no mention of Wofford’s.

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Of particular note, he made no mention of the ironworks his famous father financed—

Buffington’s. Even at this early date, “the ironworks” were fading into the mist of memory.

CONCLUSION

There were two separate ironworks with separate histories. Each was begun after 1773,

but Buffington’s was before 1776 and Wofford’s probably in 1776. One was located at the

former old Georgia Road through Lawson’s Fork Creek, the other downstream closer to

Glendale at the bridge (Appendices K, L, and M).

Buffington never “lost” the ironworks. He sold it. Wofford’s Ironworks was destroyed

and never rebuilt. Buffington’s fell into disuse. From deed descriptions and other sources it

appears Wofford’s Ironworks were at the old Georgia Road and Buffington’s Iron Works lower

down near the iron bridge.

It is known some ironwork activity took place at then Bivingsville during the Civil War.

In 1858 John Bomar of Bivingsville Mill rented the cupola furnace (not primarily designed to

extract iron from ore but to use pig iron for foundry work; Appendix N) to John Brooks and he

operated the furnace before and during the Civil War. Knives for the Confederacy were also

made. Brooks advertisements and mention of the bowie knives made at Bivingsville are in the

Carolina Spartan before and during the Civil War.

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Today, nearly 235 years after the beginning of construction, the mist of faulty memory

shrouding the ironworks begins to lift.

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APPENDICES

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APPENDIX A

Joseph Buffington

Joseph Buffington was a Quaker. He was born July 20, 1737, in Chester, Pennsylvania,

the well-known Quaker Colony of William Penn. His father died when he was five years old and

he later became an ironworker.

Joseph and Mary Aston Few married on August 1, 1759. Their first child, also Mary, was

born on January 1, 1760 in Chester, Pennsylvania. One month after her birth, on February 1,

1760, in South Carolina, the Cherokee Indians were terrorizing the frontier. Settlers fleeing the

Calhoun settlement to Tobler’s Fort were overtaken in a bog on Long Cane’s Creek. The reports

of dead and injured were mixed but it appears over 56 were killed and prisoners taken. The total

fleeing were some 100. Charleston newspapers reported that scalped and otherwise wounded but

living children were found in the woods for days. The Buffington’s must have heard of the

massacre, even in Pennsylvania, and little did they know they would one day live near the area.

Their future would ALSO include being caught up in Indian warfare; and, their seventh child

was to be born in Wofford’s Fort, Lawson’s Fork Creek in South Carolina. Another interesting

tidbit for Mary: she married one Thomas Gordon and reported that her first child-John Few

Gordon-was born at LIBERTY IRON WORKS on Lawson’s Fork in November, 1777. That was,

apparently, an early name for Buffington’s Iron Works.

Mary Aston Few’s father and mother drowned in a boating accident while sailing the

Delaware River on the 15

th

of November, 1762. Joseph Buffington was sailing with them but

survived. In a letter from Ignatius Few to another Mary Few (cousins) in May, 1837, Ignatius

Few wrote that there were dark suspicions that Joseph Buffington had caused their deaths.

Apparently the marriage of Joseph and Mary was clandestine. Based on contemporary evidence,

the suspicion did not seem well founded. However, Joseph was “cast out” by the Quakers in

1766. The cause is not known.

Being “cast out” is more than excommunication; it also means being “shunned.” A

person cast out is “persona non grata”; no one speaks to him or of him, and he does not exist in

the community. His social and business life is ended.

Joseph and Mary Buffington left Pennsylvania that year. They ended up in North

Carolina where Joseph built Speedwell Iron Works (Writer’s note: In history the Ironworks had

several designations i.e., Speedwell, Buffington’s, and Troublesome [after the creek]).

After the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, General Green and part of

his patriot army camped at the Ironworks. The Buffington’s fifth child, Hanna, was born at

Speedwell on May 13, 1767. (A source for some of the above is Ken Freeman, a great, great,

great, great, grandson of Joseph and Mary Buffington. Also, see Buffington and associated

family Bibles.)

Joseph Buffington left a mark of his presence wherever he went and whenever he left.

After leaving Speedwell around 1772-1773, he went to the Catawba River area. He was deep in

activity and construction on a fork of Catawba River when he placed his ad in Charles Town,

S.C., for backers for an ironworks. He left that project to come to the raw-edged frontier on

Lawson’s Fork, with the Indians, particularly the Cherokee, unhappy. At that time the Greenville

County line with Spartanburg County was the boundary with the Cherokees. He got here just in

time for the Indian War to begin. Sporadically, in the spring of 1776, there were Indian

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attacks on isolated and defenseless cabins. The claim is that they were to assist the British in

their failed attempt to take Charles Town that spring, by tying up supplies and keeping help from

going to the coast; and bringing any back countryman on the coast home. Doubtless also, a little

Indian revenge for grievances real or imagined. The Indian attacks in June and July amounted to

massacres of men, women and children in isolated areas by large numbers of Indians. No need to

itemize the gruesome way captives, including women and children (who made up most of the

captive) were mutilated. In the Spartanburg area, murdered families included the Hampton’s,

Hannon’s, Hite’s, and many others--too many to list. There was abject fear and panic. Everyone

“forted” themselves all along the frontier. On Lawson’s Fork it was Wofford’s Fort. It was

jammed. Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary’s seventh child, was born in Fort Wofford on July 20,

1776, during the height of Indian attacks. According to Joseph’s application after the war, they

would have been there about three weeks when the birth occurred.

During the Revolution, Joseph served in Roebuck’s regiment. After Joseph sold his

ironworks in 1779 to William Henderson, he bought some 550 acres from John Thomas, Esquire

and wife, Jane. The deed is dated February 28 and 29, 1780. (One survey of the 250 acres tract

says it was prepared for the sheriff sell to Alexander McKie. The other survey of 300 acres was

prepared for a Sheriff sell and shows the confluence of Kelso’s Creek with Fairforest Creek.

Duggin’s Branch is near.) We might assume this (and this is a pure assumption since John

Thomas owned an earlier grant on Fairforest Creek before he bought this 550 acres from Bullock

& Tillet) is the location of the attempt by Tory Lt. Col. John Moore to capture William Wofford,

John Thomas, Sr. and a store of gunpowder on February 6, 1779. Wofford was captured but John

Thomas, Sr. escaped. John Thomas’s daughter was married to Josiah Culbertson and he refused

to leave his wife and children. Thomas’s wife, Jane Thomas ,also refused to leave so Josiah, his

wife, his mother-in-law, his mother, and twelve year old brother-in-law William Thomas fought

off the Tories. Joseph also received some 640 acres from the state nearby. His survey of the 640

acres, dated July 5, 1784, shows “Cedar Spring” between the confluence of an unnamed branch

and Buffington’s Branch. These two become Kelsey (Kelso) Creek. This is the spot where the

ambush of the loyalist took place at the battle of Cedar Spring on July 12, 1780. The surprised

Loyalist fled to Gowen’s fort.

Joseph mortgaged all of the land to the state and lost it all. His two daughters also had

property mortgaged to the state (Matilda Buffington had 300 acres on Foster’s Branch-her survey

is dated July 8, 1784 and Phebe Buffington had 200 acres on Buffington’s Branch, her survey is

dated July 6, 1784) and each lost their property also. Joseph also owned the land where Cedar

Springs Church is today (Cedar Spring is capped off directly in front of the church across a small

road-it still pumps), and Cedar Spring School are located. He built a “mill” at the confluence of

Kelsey (Kelso) Creek and Fairforest. It is hard to believe that he did not at least have a bloomery

also on the Fairforest.

In 1785 Joseph was made coroner for Spartanburg County. He was involved in many

lawsuits as plaintiff and defendant as the records of Spartanburg County and Tryon County

reflect. Tryon County, N.C. at that time extended through Laurens County. The boundary was

settled in 1772. Even then, on the ancient map of Spartanburg, we find roads leading to

Buffington’s. Joseph made his mark everywhere. Even in Georgia. The family concentrated at

one time in Warren County and near counties, Georgia. Church records, militia beat records, tax

records indicate Joseph Buffington, Mary Buffington, Samuel Buffington, Thomas Friend, Fanny

Buffington Friend, James Wood, Caroline Matilda Buffington Wood, the Gordans, etc., were

located in or near Warren County.

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Joseph is reported to have died c. 1790s. It must have been Georgia. He has left a legacy.

Much of his land is now in Camp Croft State Park. You can stand at the confluence of

Kelso Creek and Fairforest Creek today, within a stone’s throw of the home of John Thomas

(Appendix O), and imagine the sounds of a battle for independence when loyalist Lt. Col. John

Moore and his band of Tories attacked the Thomas home on February 6, 1779. Perhaps someone

fell—wounded or dead—where you stand.

(Note: There is a caveat to the oft repeated account of the attack on the John Thomas

Home on Fairforest Creek. The account previously given is one that has passed down in family

traditions and from other writers throughout the long span of time since the event. Participants in

the event, however, give another version. In his Revolutionary War Pension Application

(S16354), Josiah Culbertson, one of the two main protagonists, stated he was doing the shooting

and his mother-in-law, Jane Black Thomas, was “running” bullets. He stated the incident

occurred in the spring of 1780 while the “British besieged Charleston.” The Whigs assigned to

protect the gunpowder retreated. Tory Col. Moore--with 150 men--attacked the house.

Culbertson and the efforts of his mother-in-law caused the Tories to retreat “leaving himself, his

mother-in-law and the ammunition safe.” He does not mention his wife (Martha Thomas), his

mother, or brother-in-law (William Thomas). On September 18, 1832, Job Hammond, gave a

supporting affidavit to Culberton’s claim for the pension and stated that the defense of the

Thomas home was “well known and talked of and great praise awarded the declarant (sic.).”

(The “declarant” being Culbertson.)

Matthew Patton in his pension application (S18153) stated that he received word from

Col. Thomas’s daughter “Letty Thomas”--she having been sent by Col. Thomas--that Col.

Moore was on the way to the Thomas home. Patton gathered all the men he could and went to

the defense of the Thomas home. The Tories, as they approached, killed a black slave belonging

to Col. Thomas, and Patton and Samuel Clouney were “running” bullets. That Mrs. Thomas

urged them all to “fly” for their lives, and they did--all but Isaiah (sic.) Culbertson. That they had

left Culbertson in the house upstairs and Culbertson began a fire on the Tories. But, Matthew

said the event occurred in February, 1779. He also thought there were about 200 Tories.

There are others who give an account of the incident, but they were not participants.

Patrick O’Kelley, in his exhaustive and extraordinary work entitled “Nothing But Blood and

Slaughter” in Volume One at page 249, reports that Col. William Wofford, who had been made a

prisoner of Col. Moore sometimes about the attack on the Thomas home, was set free in

February, 1779--after the battle of Kettle Creek. This would seem to put the incident of the

Thomas home attack in February, 1779. Could Josiah have been mistaken as to time frame--

relying on memory nearly 50 years after the event! You decide!)

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APPENDIX B

William Wofford

B1: William Wofford Background

William Wofford was born October 25, 1728, in Maryland, where, exactly, is disputed.

One family history claims that he wrote in his own hands that he was born twelve miles north of

the Federal City (this is now Washington, D.C.),in Prince George County, Maryland. He died

circa 1820 in what is now Toccoa, Habersham County, Georgia.

His father was Absalom Wofford and his mother was Sarah Hosey. He was the oldest of

five bothers (some family histories claim there were a total of seven brothers--adding Jeremiah

and Absolem). But, at least, there are five often referred to in Wofford Family Histories as the

“five brothers”.

All “five brothers” migrated to the upstate of South Carolina before the Revolutionary

War. The Five Brothers primarily settled in the area of what is now Spartanburg and Union

Counties. William’s four brothers in this area were John, Joseph, James, and Benjamin. All were

active in the Revolution, four were Whigs (Patriots), i.e., William, John, Joseph and James and

all four made claims to the state government for claims arising out of the Revolution after the

war. The family was divided as Benjamin was a Tory (Loyalist). After the war Benjamin was

banished from the state--he had been extremely active in the Loyalist cause--and his property

confiscated.

Emotions were strong before and during the Revolution. Many families were split. It was

a real “civil” war. At one point in time Joseph signed an affidavit against his brother, Benjamin,

implicating him in a Tory plot against the Whigs. Joseph was very active as a Whig through the

whole war and before in the “Snow Campaign” of 1775 and The Indian War in the summer of

1776. There are some who believe when William Henry Drayton, Oliver Hart, and others

enjoyed a barbeque at Captain Warford’s on August 21, 1775, that it was Captain Joseph

Wofford. However, while Joseph was a “captain” at that time, a “captain” William Warford

made a claim after the revolution for revolutionary services. Also, a William Wofford is known

to have lived on Lawson’s Fork in 1770. Finally, the letter of W.H. Drayton dated 8-21-1775 is

datelined “Lawson’s Fork.” This William “Warford” is unknown. Perhaps the son of Col.

William Wofford.

William was also very active as a Whig and was early made a colonel. Some family

historians claim he served Maryland in the French and Indian War and had attained the rank of

Colonel. But, by September of 1775, at least, he was referred to as a “Colonel” (note: he was

also, at times, early designated as Lt. Colonel) in South Carolina and sought commissions from

the state to raise a regiment in service of the Whigs.

In the summer of 1776, as the Indian war began, William built a fort on Lawson’s Fork

known as Wofford’s Fort. Sometime in 1776 he “began’” or “continued” Wofford’s Iron Works;

and, the Second battle of Cedar Springs culminated there on August 8, 1780. (The iron works,

according to tradition, were destroyed by Bloody Bill Cunningham in November, 1781).

Wofford’s Fort served as a Ranger station and point of refuge for local inhabitants. A

child of Joseph Buffington (Buffington’s Iron Works) was born there in July, 1776. Col Wofford

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was active in the war against the Indians in 1776. On February 6, 1779 Loyalist Lt. Col. John

Moore planned to capture William Wofford, John Thomas, Sr., and some gunpowder at John

Thomas’s home on Fairforest Creek, Spartanburg County. Wofford was captured but set free less

than a month near Kettle Creek, Ga., by Captain William Baskin.

After he sold a three-quarter interest in his ironworks in 1779, Wofford purchased

acreage on the South Fork of the Catawba River at the Turkey Cove, now Burke County, N.C.,

and built a fort. It was also a rallying point during the revolution and suffered attacks from the

Indians. He was a very active man. He purchased land at many locations in North Carolina and

received grants of land from the state.

In the 1790s he moved to Georgia. It was known as the Wofford Settlement or Four Mile

Purchase. Again he built a fort. It was near the end of the Middle Fork of the Broad River and

near Currahee Mountain.

Every area of his life was an adventure. There is much to be yet written about the fort and

ironworks on Lawson’s Fork, the fort and possible ironworks on Turkey Cove, and the

fascinating history of the Wofford Settlement in Georgia.

Col. William Wofford was married more than once. His last wife was Mary Bobo. When

William sold the ironworks on Lawson Forks in 1779 one “Mary” also signed the deed. His

known sons were William, Jr., Nathaniel, Benjamin, and James. Some claim other sons and

daughters.

B2: William Wofford and the SC House of Representatives

N. Louise Bailey and Elizabeth Ivey Cooper, Biographical Directory of the South

Carolina House of Representatives, Vol. III, 1775-1790, (Columbia, South Carolina: University

of South Carolina Press, 1981), pp. 785-786. The following is a direct quote:

“WOFFORD, WILLIAM (Woofford, Wafford) (1728-1823?)

William Wofford, born 25 October 1728 in Prince Georges County, Maryland, moved to

South Carolina in the 1760s. He settled on Lawson’s Fork where he established Wofford’s Iron

Works. Through grants he obtained at least 750 acres near the Tyger and Pacolet rivers and

Fairforest Creek. Having gained military experience during the French and Indian War, and in

the Regulator movement (1768-1769), Wofford served as a Whig lieutenant colonel in the

American Revolution and participated in Andrew Williamson’s Cherokee campaign (July-

October 1776). The Lower District Between Broad and Saluda Rivers elected him to the Second

Provincial Congress (1775-1776) and First General Assembly (1776). Locally he served as a

road commissioner (1770) and justice of the peace for the Craven County (1765) and for Ninety

Six District (1774-1776). Wofford sold his ironworks to Simon Berwick circa 1779-1780 and

relocated near Turkey Creek Cove on the upper Catawba River in North Carolina. There he

purchased 900 acres and constructed a fort. Sometime in the late 1780s or early 1790s, he

moved to northern Georgia, settling in either Habersham or Franklin counties. Evidently married

several times, Wofford probably was the husband of Sarah Cameron (m. 1748), Nancy Greenleaf

(m. 1773?), and Mary Bobo (m. before 1790). Among his children were the following:

Benjamin, William C., James, Mary, Nathaniel, Ann, Charlotte, and Sarah. William Wofford

died sometime in 1823 in Habersham County, Georgia.

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Second Provincial Congress Lower District Between

1775-1776

Broad and Saluda Rivers

First General Assembly

Lower District Between

1776”

Broad and Saluda Rivers

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APPENDIX C

William Henry Drayton

Walter B. Edgar and N. Louise Bailey, Biographical Directory of the South Carolina

House of Representatives, Vol. II, 1692-1775, (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South

Carolina Press, 1977), pp. 201-210. The following is a direct quote:

“DRAYTON, WILLIAM HENRY (William-Henry) (1742-1779). Son of JOHN DRAYTON

(1713?-1779); father of JOHN DRAYTON (1766-1822); grandson of WILLIAM BULL (1683-

1755); brother of CHARLES DRAYTON and GLEN DRAYTON; son-in-law of CULCHETH

GOLIGHTLY.

William Henry Drayton, son of John Drayton and Charlotta Bull, was born at Drayton

Hall in 1742 and baptized in the parish church of St. Andrew 1 August 1743. When a teenager,

his father sent him to England with Charles Pinkney (d. 1758) who intended to educate his sons

there. In 1761 Drayton matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied for several

years but did not receive a degree. He evidently played a great deal while in England and ran up

large debts which his father refused to honor. Upon his return to South Carolina, he wed

Dorothy Golightly, daughter and heiress of Culcheth Golightly and Mary Butler, on 29 March

1764. They had four children, three of whom—Mary (m. Thomas Parker), John, and William

Henry—survived childhood. From her father Dorothy Golightly inherited considerable property

in the parish of St. Bartholomew where the young couple eventually settled. In Charleston, he

was a member of the Charleston Library Society (1766). Drayton was fond of racehorses and

gambling on them and maintained a stable of thoroughbreds which was managed by white

employees. Despite his wife’s wealth and his connections, he was continually in financial

difficulties, some of which were caused by his political activities.

Drayton’s early political career was a fiasco. He represented the parish of St. Andrew in

the Twenty-seventh Royal Assembly (1765-1768) and was a justice of the peace for Berkeley

County (1767, 1769). On 3 August 1769 he published the first of nine essays in the South-

Carolina Gazette attacking the Non-Importation Agreements. Then followed a heated debate in

the newspaper in which William Wragg supported Drayton’s view and Christopher Gadsden and

John MacKenzie supported non-importation. Wragg’s views were respected, but Drayton’s were

dismissed as the ravings of a dilettante who was in over his head. In 1770 his uncle, Lieutenant

Governor William Bull, recommended him for an assistant judgeship because he was ‘free from

unconstitutional prejudices,’ but he was not appointed. Unable to take the social and economic

ostracism—the latter cost him dearly as he had to market his own rice in London at a

disadvantage—he sailed for England 3 January 1770. While in London he had the debates from

the South-Carolina Gazette printed as The Letters of Freeman, Etc. (1771), but the publication

received little attention in either Britain or America. He was introduced at Court and on 1

February 1771 was appointed a member of the South Carolina Royal Council. However, he did

not claim his seat until 3 April 1772, when he joined his father on the Council.

16

Within a short time Drayton was at loggerheads with his fellow councilors to whom he

soon became anathema. He underwent a startling change in political philosophy from ardent

supporter of the Crown to radical revolutionary; the change may have been due to his search for

local popularity or to his distaste for the flood of placement that descended upon South Carolina

during the 1770s. In August 1771 he was appointed Deputy Postmaster General for the Southern

District of North America, but he held the post only until a placeman could be sent from London

to fill the position. In public and private he railed against placemen on the Council who did not

have the best interests of the province at heart. In 1772 he and his father opposed the Council’s

rejection of a bill passed by the House. William Henry Drayton’s protest was printed in the

South-Carolina Gazette, and the Council promptly jailed the printer for breach of privilege, an

action which Drayton also publicly protested. The Council voted, but then rescinded, a

resolution censuring him on the technical grounds that he had not physically given the protest to

the printer. When a vacancy appeared on the bench Bull, on 25 January 1774, temporarily

appointed Drayton as an assistant judge for the Northern Circuit comprising Camden, Cheraws,

Georgetown. On the circuit he encouraged the grand juries to cherish their civil liberties and to

beware of tyranny. A placeman arrived in the colony with an appointment for the judgeship and

when Drayton returned to Charleston his commission was revoked 9 December 1774. Following

his publication of A Letter of Freeman of South Carolina to the Deputies of North-America

(1774) in which he attacked the royal prerogative, pressure mounted within the Council for his

suspension. In 1775 the Council again rejected a bill passed by the House and again Drayton

registered a public protest with resulted in his suspension 1 March 1775.

After his ouster from the Council, Drayton turned to addressing public gatherings in

Charleston. He soon was a popular figure with the masses and was associated with the

revolutionary faction. In 1775 the backcountry district of Saxe Gotha elected him to the First

Provincial Congress (1775). He was a member of the Secret Committee (1775) which was

responsible for the province’s defense and also of the Council of Safety (1775). The congress

sent him and two Baptist ministers, William Tennent and Oliver Hart, to the interior to explain

the patriot position. During August and September 1775 they journeyed throughout the

backcountry and although they did not immediately gain many converts for the cause, they did

get pro-British sympathizers to sign a treaty of neutrality 16 September 1775 which bought time

for the Charleston government. Saxe Gotha returned Drayton to the Second Provincial Congress

(1775-1776) which elected him its President. Again, he was a member of the Council of Safety

and this time was its chairman. The congress resolved itself into the First General Assembly

(1776) and he was elected the first Chief Justice of the State of South Carolina (1776-1779). He

resigned from the House but in a special election was reelected by Saxe Gotha; the House,

however, declared the election null and void. Under the Constitution of 1776, the position of

Chief Justice was not a disqualifying one. Drayton represented Saxe Gotha in the Second

General Assembly (1776-1778) and was elected by the legislature to the Privy Council (1776-

1778) and to the Continental Congress where he took his seat 30 March 1778. In the general

election for the Third General Assembly (1779-1780) he was elected by the parishes of St. Philip

& St. Michael and the District between the Savannah River and the North Fork of the Edisto

River but qualified for St. Philip & St. Michael. Although still a member of Congress, he

participated in the Second General Assembly and criticized the proposed Articles of

Confederation because they did not provide enough protection for the rights of the states and

sections. He did, however, sign the Articles on 9 July 1778. In Philadelphia he actively

supported the French alliance, immersed himself in committee work, and was a constant critic of

17

his fellow South Carolinian, Henry Laurens, who was President of the Continental Congress.

During these years he found time to write and publish five pamphlets—Some Fugitive Thoughts

on a Letter signed Freeman (1774), A very Short & Candid Appeal to Free Born Britons (1774),

and address to the Howe brothers by ‘A Carolinian’ (1776), and Answer to . . . John Treutlen, . . .

Governor . . . of the State of Georgia (1777), and The Genuine Spirit of Tyranny (1778)—and to

design the Great Seal of the State of South Carolina. In addition several of his speeches

appeared in print: A Charge on the rise of the American Empire (1776) and The Speech of

William Henry Drayton . . . upon the Articles of Confederation (1778).

William Henry Drayton died in Philadelphia of typhus fever 3 September 1779 and was

buried in Christ Church Cemetery there.

Twenty-seventh Royal Assembly

St. Andrew

1765-1768

First Provincial Congress

Saxe Gotha

1775

Second Provincial Congress

Saxe Gotha

1775-1776

First General Assembly

Saxe Gotha

1776

Second General Assembly

Saxe Gotha

1776-1778

Third General Assembly

St. Philip & St. Michael

1779”

18

APPENDIX D

William Tennent

N. Louise Bailey and Elizabeth Ivey Cooper, Biographical Directory of the South

Carolina House of Representatives, Vol. III, 1775-1790, (Columbia, South Carolina: University

of South Carolina Press, 1981), pp. 704-706. The following is a direct quote:

“TENNENT, WILLAM (Tennant) (1740-1777).

William Tennent, son of Reverend William Tennent (1705-1777) and Catherine

VanBrugh, was born on 3 February 1740 in Freehold, New Jersey. His family included several

influential Presbyterians, not the least of whom was Tennent himself. Graduating from the

College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1758, he later obtained a Master of Arts degree from his

alma mater (1761) and Harvard (1763). Ordained a minister by the presbytery of New

Brunswick, New Jersey, he preached in Hanover, Virginia, of six months. By 3 July 1765, he

was serving as assistant minister of the Congregational Church in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Tennent remained at this post until he accepted a call issued by the Independent (Congregational)

Church of Charleston (November 1771). Arriving in Charleston on 18 March 1772, he soon

became one of South Carolina’s foremost clergymen. According to Henry Laurens, Tennent

held “the most absolute & rigid principles of the Doctrine of Predestination . . .” Within six

months after his move to Charleston, he convinced his congregation to erect a second church,

declaring the “The Dissenting Interest should have an opportunity to grow; we are to be

considered a frontier . . .”

As the colonies’ conflict with Great Britain intensified, Tennent became a powerful force

in Carolina political affairs. An ardent Whig, he strongly objected to British colonial policy after

1773. Between June and December 1774, he wrote anonymous letters to local newspapers,

attacking the various acts of Parliament. When the first Provincial congress (1775) met in

Charleston, Tennent was chosen to represent St. Philip & St. Michael parishes. Elected by the

District Eastward of Wateree River, h e served in the Second Provincial Congress (1775-1776)

and the First General Assembly (1776). Furthermore, he was appointed to the committee of

intelliegence (April 1775), the special committee (May 1775), the committee which formulated

the Association (July 1775), and the committee which considered the feasibility of blockading

the Charleston harbor (September 1775). In July 1775, Tennent, William Henry Drayton,

Richard Richardson (1704-1780), Joseph Kershaw, and Oliver hart were selected by the

legislature to journey to the backcountry in an effort to win support for the patriots’ cause.

During August and September 1775, Tennent traveled over 300 miles and often preached and

argued the American position for hours at a time. Among the effects of his trip was renewed

animosity toward the established Anglican church. As a dissenter, Tennent was South Carolina’s

leading advocate of the disestablishment of the Church of England. The author of a petition

appealing for disestablishment, he obtained the signature of several thousand individuals and in

January 1777 presented the petition to the legislature.

On 12 July 1764, Tennent married Susannah Vergereau, daughter of Pierre Vergereau

and Susannah Boudinot of New York. They were parents of five children: Susanna Catherine

(m. Charles Brown [1762-1819]), Mary Vergereau (m. Joseph Hall Ramsay [1762-1803]),

19

William Peter, Catherine Caroline (m. Samuel Smith [1739-1829]), and John Charles. When his

father died on 8 March 1777, Tennent proceeded to New Jersey with the intention of bringing his

mother to South Carolina. On the return trip, William Tennent fell ill with a fever and died on

11 August 1777 in the High Hills of Santee. Writing his will shortly before his departure, he

stated, ‘I Leave the manner of Interment to my Executors Hereinafter named, only hinting to

them that in Life I ever esteemed all pomp and parade at Funerals, not only a Vain Ostentation,

but a grave indecency, contradicting the plainest tendency of death which is to teach Survivors

Humility.’

First Provincial Congress

St. Philip & St. Michael

1775

Second Provincial Congress District Eastward of Wateree River

1775-1776

First General Assembly

District Eastward of Wateree River

1776”

20

APPENDIX E

Oliver Hart

E1: Preacher Oliver Hart

Tom Nettles, “The Rise and Demise of Calvinism Among Southern Baptists,” The

Founders Journal #19/20: Winter/Spring 1995, <http://www.founders.org/FJ19/fj19.pdf>,

(7/30/2009). The following is a direct quote:

“The Move South

First Baptist Church of Boston, established by Thomas Gould with the help of Particular

Baptists from England, played a major role in the establishing of Baptist life in the South.

William Screven, a Baptist from England and signer of the Somerset Confession of Faith, was

ordained by the church in January 1682 so that he might establish a church in Kittery, Maine.

Later the church in Boston set aside the group in Kittery as a separate congregation. A part of

the examination included their determining that the Kittery group conscientiously acknowledged

the Second London Confession of Faith. This church eventually moved, in 1696, to Charleston,

South Carolina, becoming the first Baptist Church in the South. When Screven retired as pastor,

he warned the congregation to obtain a man to lead them as soon as possible and be careful that

he is ‘orthodox in faith, and of blameless life, and does own the confession of faith put forth by

our brethren in London in 1689.’

The power and influence of this confession continued for many years. Three of the most

notable pastors of the church were Oliver Hart, Richard Furman, and Basil Manly.

Oliver Hart

Oliver Hart was born July 5, 1723, in Warminster, Bucks County, PA. His parents taught

him Christian truth from his earliest years. He was converted in 1741 and baptized in April of

that year, not quite 18 years old. Richard Furman remarks that this was ‘at an early period.’

Hart often heard the Tennents and George Whitefield. Hart Himself testified that he received

great benefit from the preaching of George Whitefield.

December 20, 1746, he was licensed to preach by the Baptist Church at Southampton,

PA. Almost three years later he was ordained to the gospel ministry. Hart immediately came to

the South in response to a call for ministers. In 1749, he is listed as one of the ministers of the

Philadelphia Association. In that year the association presented an essay on the ‘Powers of an

Association’ which Oliver Hart signed. He was called to pastoral charge of the First Baptist

Church, Charleston, S.C., in February, 1750, and continued there for 30 years.

In his funeral oration for Hart, Richard Furman characterized Hart as a ‘Calvinist, and a

consistent, liberal [generous] Baptist.’ He continued,

The doctrines of free, efficacious grace, were precious to him; Christ Jesus,

and him crucified, in the perfection of his righteousness, the merit of his

death, the prevalence of his intercession, and efficacy of his grace, was the

foundation of his hope, the source of his joy, and the delightful theme of his

preaching.

21

Furman, a keen observer of preachers and preaching, described Hart’s sermons as

‘peculiarly serious, containing a happy assemblage of doctrinal and practical truths.’ Doctrinal

preaching, as a matter of fact especially suited him for he was prepared ‘by an intimate

acquaintance with the sacred scriptures, and an extensive reading of the most valuable, both

ancient and modern, authors.’

On at least three occasions Hart preached ordination sermons built on 1 Timothy 4:16.

Edmund Botsford, Joseph Cook, and Samuel Stillman all heard Hart admonish them to take heed

to themselves and the doctrine. They would constantly remember their own interest in Christ

and the work of grace in their souls. He reminded them:

You cannot be qualified to deal with wounded spirits, unless you have been

sensible of your own wounds. It is not possible you should, in a suitable

Manner, direct Sinners to Christ, without an actual Closure with him

yourselves.

In speaking to the candidates for ministry about their doctrine, Hart said, ‘In general you

will insist upon the two following Topics, namely our apostasy from God, and our Redemption

by Jesus Christ, which will very naturally lead you to take notice of the Transactions of God in

eternity, with reference to your salvation.’ They were to bear in mind that the persons for whom

God’s salvation has been given ‘are a certain, select number, out of the Race of Mankind, who

are redeemed by his blood, justified by his righteousness, called by the inscrutable operations of

his Spirit, sanctified by his grace, and finally glorified.’

In 1780, Hart was forced by the British invasion of Charleston to leave his beloved

people. He found his way to Hopewell, New Jersey, and became pastor of the Baptist church.

Again he was a part of the Philadelphia Association. In fact, in 1780, at the Associational

meeting the minutes recorded ‘Rev. Oliver Hart of Charleston, South Carolina’ was present, and,

along with three others, was admitted ‘to the full privilege of members.’ He was ‘unanimously

requested to preach’ on the evening of Wednesday October 18. In 1782, he was chosen

moderator and also presented the associational letter on the eighth chapter of the Confession,

which treats Christ as mediator. In this letter, he presented a strong statement on the necessity of

the orthodox understanding of Christ’s person, ‘God and man in one person.’ The human nature

was taken ‘in union with and subsisted in the person of the Son of God.’ He spoke also of the

eternal counsel of the Triune Jehovah and voluntary submission of the Son to undertake for the

people he had chosen: “Jehovah, the Father, in his manifold wisdom, having predestinated a

select number of the fallen race to the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, according to the

eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, now proposed the business or work

of saving the elect, to Jehovah the Son.’ Hart says that in Christ’s position as mediator, “All the

sins of an elect world were imputed to him.’ As mediator He sustained several characters or

offices which qualify Him for His work. He is covenant head to the elect; He is surety of His

people in which office He took His People’s whole debt to the law upon Himself ‘in

consequence of which, the elect . . . were set free;’ He is an advocate ‘for all the chosen people

of God’ whose advocacy proved ‘efficacious to the pardoning, justifying, and glorifying an elect

world;’ He is a prophet in which office he teaches ‘powerfully and efficaciously by his Word and

Spirit;’ He is a priest in which capacity he’ was offered up a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice for

22

he sins of an elect world;’ He is a king as which he gives the saints the most glorious charter of

privileges contained in the covenant of grace.’

I have entered into some degree of detail concerning Oliver Hart because, like William

Screven, he represents the continuity of doctrine from New England through the South. He also

personifies the unanimity of doctrine and fellowship between the Philadelphia Association and

the Charleston Association. It was due largely to Hart’s vision and energy that associational life

developed among Southern Baptist churches. Furman says, ‘He was the prime mover in that

plan for the association of churches, by which so many of our churches are very happily united at

the present day.’ The Charleston Association was established in 1751 one year after Oliver Hart

came to Charleston and while the spiritual streams of the First Great Awakening were flowing

into southern baptisteries. Following the lead of the Philadelphia Association, the Charleston

Association, in 1767, adopted the Second London Confession as an expression of its doctrinal

stance and used the Baptist Catechism regularly also. The Association’s ‘Summary of

Discipline’ leaned heavily on John Gill’s Body of Divinity.

Hart also led in the movement toward assisting young men to receive an education for the

ministry. Both of these Baptist principles so strong in our own day (inter-church cooperation and

education for the ministry) had their beginning in the South from Oliver Hart, a strong Calvinist

who had been influenced toward this in the context of the Philadelphia Association.”

E2: Baptists and the American Revolution

Providence Baptist Ministries, “A History of the Baptists: CHAPTER 1 – The Baptists in

the American Revolution,”

<http://www.pbministries.org/History/John%20T.%20Christian/vol2/history2_part2_01.htm>,

(7/30/2009). The following is a direct quote:

“Oliver Hart was one of the foremost pastors in South Carolina. He was useful not only

as a minister, but as a citizen, and especially in connection with the events of the Revolution. In

1775, he was appointed by the Council of Safety, which then exercised the executive authority in

South Carolina, to travel, in conjunction with Hon. William H. Drayton and the Rev. William

Tennent, into the interior of the State, to enlighten the people in regard to their political interests,

and reconcile them to certain Congressional measures of which they were disposed to complain.

He was very impressive in his personality. ‘In his person he was somewhat tall, well

proportioned and of graceful appearance; of an active, vigorous constitution, before it was

impaired by close application his studies and by abundant labors. His countenance was open and

manly, his voice clear, harmonious and commanding; the powers of his mind were strong and

capacious, and enriched by a fund of useful knowledge; his taste was elegant and refined’

(Sprague, VI.).

Of his usefulness as a citizen there is no doubt, Dr. Furman says of his actions as a

citizen:

To all of which may be added his usefulness as a citizen of America.

Prompt in his judgment, ardent in his love of liberty, and rationally

jealous for the rights of his country, he took an early and decided part in

those measures which led our patriots to successful opposition against

the encroachments of arbitrary power, and brought us to possess all the

23

blessings of our happy independence. Yet he did not mix politico with

the Gospel, nor desert the duties of his stations to pursue them; but,

attending to each in its proper place, he gave weight to his political

sentiments, by the propriety and uprightness of his conduct; and the

influence of it was felt by many (Sprague, VI).”

24

APPENDIX F

50 Acres of Land

The below survey is the fifty acres sold by James Mackelroy to Joseph Buffington; and,

is the land on which Buffington thought he had built his ironworks. It turned out the iron works

were located on vacant unclaimed public land. The legislature of the State of South Carolina

remedied this problem and surveyed out 600 acres to Buffington including the ironworks on

payment of his state loans.(The source for this is in the attached, also deed from Mackelroy to

Buffington in the footnotes, #18.)

25

APPENIDIX G

350 Acres of Land

The below survey, undated, represents 350 acres of land on Lawson’s Fork Creek, now

Spartanburg County, S.C., granted to James Mackelroy (the spelling of his name is an amazing

configuration of the imagination on other contemporary documents) by the State of North

Carolina. Until 1772, North Carolina claimed land into present day Laurens County, South

Carolina.

James MacKelroy was a gunsmith and, as a gunsmith, would need a forge. There is

speculation a “forge” indicated on a 1770 map (apparently owned by John Lane of Wofford

College, Spartanburg, SC)of Lawson’s Fork Creek area could be his as he got the land in about

1768. It is also known that one William Wofford (it is unknown which William Wofford this is)

also had a “mill” on Lawson’s Fork in 1770, but it is only designated as a “mill” not a ”forge” on

a contemporary document about maintaining roads. James Mackelroy sold a fifty acre tract of

this land to Joseph Buffington. Buffington thought he built his ironworks on this land but, in fact,

did not. This posed a problem. The remaining three-hundred acres were sold to William

Wofford. Wofford built his ironworks on this tract (it is a pure assumption, but the “forge” of

Mackilroy could have been the beginnings of either Buffington’s or Wofford’s ironworks).

(Footnote#18.)

26

APPENDIX H

William Henderson

N. Louise Bailey and Elizabeth Ivey Cooper, Biographical Directory of the South

Carolina House of Representatives, Vol. III, 1775-1790, (Columbia, South Carolina: University

of South Carolina Press, 1981), pp. 328-329. The following is a direct quote:

“HENDERSON, WILLIAM (1748-1788). Brother of JOHN HENDERSON (d. 1824?); brother-

in-law of WILLIAM RANSON DAVIS (1755?-1799).

William Henderson, born 5 March 1748 in Granville County, North Carolina, was the

son of Samuel Henderson and Elizabeth Williams. By 1771, he and other family members had

moved to the Pacolet River in Ninety Six District, South Carolina. From the beginning of the

American Revolution, he involved himself in the struggle for independence. In 1775 he began

military service as a private in Thomas Woodward’s company of rangers and participated in

December in the Snow Campaign. On 29 February 1776, Henderson was commissioned a major

in the Sixth Regiment of Rifles. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Continental Establishment

16 September 1776, he served in the Georgia campaign (June-July 1778) and at the Battle of

Stono Ferry (June 1779). Captured at the fall of Charleston (May 1780), he was held prisoner at

Haddrell’s Point for several months. Once exchanged, Henderson joined Thomas Sumter’s

Brigade, taking command of the force when Sumter received a wound at Blackstock’s plantation

(November 1780). Leading an advance guard at the Battle of Eutaw Springs (September 1781),

he too was severely wounded and temporarily retired from the field. Following Sumter’s

resignation in February 1782, Henderson was promoted to brigadier general of the state troops

and served until 21 November 1783.

Politically active also during the war, Henderson represented the Lower District Between

(sic.) Broad and Saluda Rivers in the Second Provincial Congress (1775-1776) and First General

Assembly (1776). The Upper District Between (sic.) Broad and Saluda Rivers elected him to the

Third (1779-1780), Fourth (1782), and Fifth (1783-1784) General Assemblies. Locally

Henderson served as a justice of the peace (1776) for Lewisburg County (1785) and

commissioner, to contract for a canal from the Cooper River to the Santee River (1785). He was

a member of the Mount Sion Society (1778) and the South Carolina Society (1779).

Sometime after the Revolution, Henderson sold his land at Grindal Shoals on the Pacolet

River to his brother John and moved to the Santee River. Between 1784 and 1787, he obtained

through grants 700 acres in Orangeburg District and 180 acres in Camden District. In his will

Henderson bequeathed 1,000 acres on the Pacolet River, a tract on the Wateree River,

undisclosed property in Ninety Six District, another tract in Camdem District of unknown

acreage, and a plantation in the High Hills of Santee known as Prospect Hill. Married to Letitia

Davis, widow of Jared Nelson of St. Matthew Parish, he was the father one child, Eliza Moriah

(m. Simon Taylor). William Henderson died 29 January 1788 at his plantation.

Second Provincial Congress Lower District Between

1775-1776

Broad and Saluda Rivers

First General Assembly

Lower District

1776

27

Between Broad and Saluda Rivers

Third General Assembly

Lower District Between

1779-1780

Broad and Saluda Rivers

Fourth General Assembly Lower District Between

1782

Broad and Saluda Rivers

Fifth General Assembly

Lower District Between

1783-1784”

Broad and Saluda Rivers

28

APPENDIX I

John Berwick

N. Louise Bailey and Elizabeth Ivey Cooper, Biographical Directory of the South

Carolina House of Representatives, Vol. III, 1775-1790, (Columbia, South Carolina: University

of South Carolina Press, 1981), pp. 68-69. The following is a direct quote:

“BERWICK, JOHN (Berwicke) (d. 1784). Brother of SIMON BERWICK (d. 1783).

John Berwick was a cordwainer in Charleston. He and his brother Simon owned their

own tanyard and did a brisk business making and supplying shoes to both whites and blacks. In

addition, the brothers jointly shared two grants for a combined 700 acres at the fork of the Edisto

River and one grant for 500 acres in Orangeburg Township. However, John Berwick was the

sole recipient of a 500-acre grant with was also located on the Edisto. At his death, his estate

listed 645 acres at Haddrell’s Point in Christ Church Parish and 24 slaves.

At the beginning of hostilities between Great Britain and the colonies, Berwick took an

active stand on the patriot side. He served on the Committee of Correspondence (1774) and was

considered a member of the mechanics’ faction. Although he supplied the militia with

provisions, a sailing vessel, and slave labor, his major financial contribution to the war was the

lending of £42,245 to the Carolina government. St. Philip & St. Michael parishes elected him to

the First (1775) and Second (1775-1776) Provincial Congresses and to the First (1776) and

Second (1776-1778), and Third (1779-1780) General Assemblies. After Charleston fell to the

British (May 1780), he was exiled in November 1780 to St. Augustine as a prisoner of war and

remained there until exchanged in the summer of 1781. Returning home, he was chosen by

Christ Church for the fourth (1782) and Fifth (1783-1784) General Assemblies. Berwick also

served the Fourth General Assembly as temporary Clerk until a permanent one could be secured;

however, no other person was elected during the session and he evidently continued to act as

both clerk and member. Other offices and memberships he held included member of the

Fellowship Society (1773); commissioner, to stamp and issue currency (1776, 1777); and

commissioner for the sale of confiscated estates (1782).

On 16 January 1774, Berwick wed Ann Ash, daughter of Algernon and Elizabeth Ash

and widow of John Daniel (d. 1757) and Richard Cochran Ash (d. 1770). One child—Ann Eliza

(m. Thomas Legare [1766-1842])—was born to their marriage. John Berwick died 4 February

1784 ‘after a lingering indisposition.’

First Provincial Congress

St. Philip & St. Michael

1775

Second Provincial Congress St. Philip & St. Michael

1775-1776

First General Assembly

St. Philip & St. Michael

1776

Second General Assembly St. Philip & St. Michael

1776-1778

Third General Assembly

St. Philip & St. Michael

1779-1780

Fourth General Assembly

Christ Church

1782

Fifth General Assembly

Christ Church

1783-1784

Fourth General Assembly

Clerk

1782”

29

APPENDIX J

Charles Elliott

Walter B. Edgar and N. Louise Bailey, Biographical Directory of the South Carolina

House of Representatives, Vol. II, 1692-1775, (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South

Carolina Press, 1977), pp. 220-221. The following is a direct quote:

“ELLIOTT, CHARLES (1737-1781), Son of THOMAS ELLIOTT (1699-1760), grandson of

THOMAS ELLIOTT (d. 1731?); grandfather of WILLIAM WASHINGTON (d. 1830); brother

of THOMAS LAW ELLIOTT; son-in-law of THOMAS FERGUSON (1726?-1786); father-in-

law of WILLIAM WASHINGTON (1752-1810); brother-in-law of ARCHIBALD

STANYARNE.

Charles Elliott, son of Thomas Elliott and his second wife Susannah, was born in South

Carolina 17 August 1737. From part of the several thousand acres in Colleton County which he

inherited from his father, he created Sandy Hill and Live Oak plantations in St. Paul Parish.

Between 1767 and 1773 he obtained grants for 3,273 acres in Colleton County, 650 acres in

Craven County, and 450 acres in Granville County. In 1767 he formed a partnership with

Thomas Ferguson (d. 1786), Daniel Cannon, John Marley, Moses Kirkland, and John Ward, Jr.

(1732-1783) to build a sawmill on the Edisto River. Rather than use a middleman, in 1772 he

imported a cargo of slaves himself.

Elliott divided his time between Charleston where he had a house on Friend Street and

was a member of the St. Andrew’s Society (1763-1781) and Sandy Hill. He served the parish of

St. Paul as a commissioner, for building a church (1764); commissioner, for Cacaw Swamp

(1768); and as a member of the Twenty-eighth (1768) and Twenty-ninth (1769-1771) Royal

Assemblies. He was one of the “Unanimous Twenty-six” who voted on 19 November 1768 to

consider the Massachusetts Circular Letter which resulted in the dissolution of the assembly.

The election of 1769 in St. Paul was declared void by the House because there had been a riot at

the polls; in the ensuing special election, Elliott was reelected and qualified for the House 30

November 1769. Also in 1769 he was a member of the General Committee of the Non-

Importation Association. When the Revolution broke out, he lent the state £4,000. He continued

to represent his home parish of St. Paul and was a member of the First (1775) and Second (1775-

1776) Provincial Congresses and the First (1776), Second (1776-1778), and Third (1779-1780)

General Assemblies.

Elliott married twice. His first wife was Jane Stanyarne, daughter of Joseph Stanyarne.

They had two children, Charles and Jane Reily (m. William Washington). On 3 January 1766

Elliott took out a license to wed Ann Ferguson, daughter of Thomas Ferguson and his first wife

Sarah; their union was childless. Charles Elliott died 16 January 1781 at Sandy Hill and was

buried two days later in the Elliot family cemetery at Live Oak.

Twenty-eighth Royal Assembly

St. Paul

1768

Twenty-ninth Royal Assembly

St. Paul

1769-1771

First Provincial Congress

St. Paul

1775

Second Provincial Congress

St. Paul

1775-1776

30

First General Assembly

St. Paul

1776

Second General Assembly

St. Paul

1776-1778

Third General Assembly

St. Paul

1779-1780”

31

APPENDIX K

Survey for Charles Mathews

Plat Book A, page 193, Register of Deeds, Spartanburg County, SC.

The below is a survey for Charles Mathews dated December 29, 1804. It is included to

show the close proximity of the two shoals on Lawson’s Fork Creek. The Shoal on the right is

near the iron bridge at Glendale. The Shoal on the left is at the old Georgia Road. The survey

calls it the road to Hammits ford, but a contemporary Militia beat boundary outline located by

Joey Gainey and published by the Piedmont Historical Society identifies the Georgia Road as

going to Hammits Ford. Wofford’s iron Works was on the Georgia Road south side of Lawson’s

Fork Creek near the now existing fifty yard man made sluice for an undershot waterwheel.

Buffington’s Iron Works was near the dam and iron bridge. It is speculation, but possibly he used

an overshot water wheel. Buffington’s would be on the spot where an addition to Glendale Mill

was under excavation on the north side of Lawson’s Fork Creek in the early 20

th

century.

Michael Hembree and Paul Crocker located a newspaper article dated 1902 reporting discovery

of implements for a smelting and foundry operations. Much of the land in the attached survey

was purchased by Charles Mathews (Mathis) from Benjamin Wofford a son of William Wofford.

In a deed from William Wofford to Benjamin Wofford he conveys 20 acres on the “shoals” on

the “main road”. He said it included the cabin in which he once lived, and orchards. Looking at

the plat you can see such a house and possible orchard at the intersection of the road and creek.

You can also see how Joseph Buffington may have thought he owned all the lowers shoal but

built on a part he did not.

32

APPENDIX L

Survey for William Ross Smith

Plat Book A, page 77, Register of Deeds, Spartanburg County, SC.

The below exhibit is a survey for William Ross Smith dated September 27, 1803. It is for

940 acres on Lawson’s Fork and is included to visualize the road (hardly more than a path)

crossing Lawson’s Fork at the lower shoal. This survey adjoins the survey for Charles Mathews.

There seems to have been two William R. Smiths and two James Smith’s. From their deed

transactions they were related. They referred to one tract of land as being the “upper shoal” tract

(purchased from Charles Mathews) and the 940 acre tract of land as the “lower” mill or

Ironworks Tract.

33

APPENDIX M

State Militia Order for Spartanburg County

Joey Gainey, “Brigade Orders,” Spartanburg County Deed Book, “W”, p. 1, Item No.

820, June 2, 1836 Piedmont Historical Society,

<http://www.piedmont-historical-society.org/milit1.html>. The following is a direct quote:

“Brigade Orders, Battalion Muster ground, February 12

th

1834.

To Brigadier Gen. Joseph G. Shelton.

Sir pursuant to your Orders, we have this day met and laid off the first battalion, thirty fifth

Regiment of the Sixth Brigade, of the fifth division of the South Carolina Militia (Viz)

Company No. 1, from the rolling mill on broad river (sic.) to Isaac Peelers, thence in a straight

line, to the mouth of the blew Branch (sic.), on thickity (sic.), thence to the green river road

(sic.), thence along said road, to the Regimental Line, thence along said line, by Rices (sic.)

Mountain, to the North Carolina Line, thence along said line, to Broad River, and thence along

said Line (sic.) to the beginning.

Company No. 2, From (sic.) John Wilkins to Pacolet River at the trough shoal, thence in a

straight line to Tollisons (sic.) Old place, thence to Abraham Gossets, thence to Gibb’s

Mountain, thence to Lawson Fork, where the Georgia Road crosses it, thence with said Road to

Hammetts (sic.) Ford, on Pacolet, thence in a Straight (sic.) line, to Prices (sic.) Mountain, thence

down the green River Road (sic.), to the beginning, (sic.)

Company No. 3, from the mouth of the blew branch (sic.), down thickety (sic.) Creek, to Jeffries’

Ford, thence to Gawdeys (sic.) [or Gandeys (sic.)] store, thence to the sandy Ford (sic.), on

Packolett (sic.), up said River (sic.) to the mouth of the Sandy Run, thence up sandy run (sic.) to

the Union Road, thence up said Road (sic.) to Tollisons (sic.) old place, thence to the traugh

(sic.) Shoals, on Pacolet, thence to John Wilkins, and thence to the mouth of Blew Branch, (sic.)

Company No. 4, from the mouth of blew branch (sic.) Down (sic.) thickety (sic.) to John Jeffries

(sic.) Ford on thicaty (sic.), thence to Gawdeys (sic.) Store, thence to the sandy ford on Pacolet,

down said river to the skull Shoals (sic.), thence thence (sic.) to Hopes (sic.) Mills, on thickety

(sic.), down thickaty (sic.) to its mouth, thence up Broad River, to the rolling mill, thence to

Isaac Peelers, thence to the mouth of the blew branch (sic.), on thickaty (sic.) Creek to the

beginning.

Commissioners present: (Commissioners) John Kerby, Edward Patterson, James Jeffries,

Samuel Otterson.

NB. Your commissioners would recommend the following places, for Elections as the most

Central, (Viz)

)

34

For No 1. at Richard Arnolds (sic.) old place

)

For No 2. at Col. Edward Pattersons (sic.).

) McBridesville

For No 3. at Maj’r John Kirby’s.

)

For No 4. at Aaron Wilkins (sic.) old place.

)”

35

APPENDIX N

Cupola Furnace

N1: Cupola Furnace at Bivingsville

The cupola furnace at Bivingsville (Glendale)--during the Civil War--was probably used

in connection with the foundry operation. A cupola furnace is not designed for smelting iron ore,

but for melting pig iron or even scrap iron to pour into various molds. The “process” of melting

pig iron and smelting iron ore is basically the same. The major difference is there is little slag in

melting pig iron and, of course, mining for iron ore. However, given the pressing nature of the

need, it could be used for re-smelting trough runners and heavy slag. As to the type of iron

smelting done on Lawson’s Fork Creek by Joseph Buffington before and during the American

Revolution, we submit the following article by Grace A. Ayers. It is based primarily on smelting

in a cold climate area and an area without slave labor. Also, local ore, surface or mined, not “bog

ore” would be used; and furnaces in the South may not have been as large as their northern

brothers. Otherwise it should generally outline smelting used by Joseph Buffington and William

Wofford.

N2: Iron Making: From Bloomery to Blast

Grace A. Ayers, “Iron Making: From Bloomery to Blast,” 2004,

<http://www.furnacetown.com/The%20Blast%20Furnace.pdf>, (7/30/2009). The following are

quotes:

“Early History

Evidence shows that man has worked iron for many centuries but the first recorded

example of iron making appeared in a region of Germany in A.D. 1311. At that time, iron

making was done in great secrecy but the men who worked the little forges slowly spread their

knowledge throughout the European continent and forty years later cast iron items were being

made in southeastern England. The first recorded English example of cast iron was a gravestone

dated 1450.

Early forges were primitive and consisted of a hearth, a tuyere (sic.) and a short stack.

Each forge produced a lump of iron that was hammered and reheated to achieve a bar of iron.

These forges were located in forested areas because charcoal was the fuel used in smelting and

trees were needed to make charcoal. A type of bellows, powered by man or animal, was used to

produce the blast of air.

In England, the forges were called bloomeries. As they grew in size, larger bellows were

required. Water soon became a better source of power. As a result, bloomeries began to emerge

from forests into more open areas near streams and rivers.

Colonists migrating to America brought the art of making iron with them. Not many

records of forges in colonial times exist. The Pilgrims discovered bog ore in marshy areas and

formed the Company of Undertakers of the Iron Works of New England. Their first attempt at

36

iron making in Massachusetts failed but the second attempt, in Saugus, was very successful. The

furnace was fired in 1648 and operated off and on until 1675.

The Saugus Ironworks was hailed as the birthplace of the American iron and steel

industry and is now a National Historic Park with a reconstructed blast furnace, a forge, a

refinery, a rolling mill and worker housing.

The Bloomery Forge

Early American iron makers used one of two very difference processes to smelt iron—

bloomery or blast furnace. Wrought iron was made in a bloomery forge. It was a soft, carbon-

free iron easily hammered into nails, wheel rims and horseshoes.

The bloomery forge was very popular. With a small investment of time and money, one

was easily set up. A bloomery was 6 to 8 feet square, had a 3 to 4 foot high hearth, a bellows and

in many cases, a water wheel. Charcoal and bog iron ore (called the charge) were loaded into the

bloomery and heated. As the charge melted, a bloomer used long iron tools to constantly turn and

fold the charge. He worked out pieces of stone and other non-iron material, called slag. When all

the slag was removed from the charge, a bloom remained. The bloomer removed this from the

hearth with long tongs.

It was hammered to squeeze out the remaining non-iron particles, reheated and

hammered again. The process was repeated until the bloom was shaped into a long, thick bar of

iron that was cut into pieces or rolled into smaller bars. Waste material left in the hearth was

removed and discarded. The hearth was recharged with charcoal and bog ore and the process was

repeated.

The bloomery process was inefficient and wasted a lot of good iron. The blooms were

small and produced a few pounds of iron at a time. The British were not willing to share the

latest iron making techniques employed in Europe and American bloomers were sorely lacking

in technology.

In spite of its inefficiency, the bloomery forge remained popular for a number of reasons:

the bloomery cycle ended with the removal of the bloom from the hearth, it consumed less fuel

than the blast furnace and it was able to meet the immediate needs of area blacksmiths.

Bloomeries made a significant contribution to the iron market and they thrived in remote areas of

the U.S. into the late 1800’s.

The Blast Furnace

Cast iron, also known as pig iron when molded into ingots, was made in a blast furnace.

The large carbon content in cast iron made it too hard to hammer. It had to be molded, or cast

into ingots, tools, cannonballs, cooking utensils, pipes and other desired items.

The blast furnace was a major development in the making of iron. Significantly larger

than the bloomery, the early 19th century stack was 25 to 30 feet square at the base and rose 30

to 40 feet high. Built of stone (and sometimes brick) masonry, the stack sloped slightly inward as

it rose so that the top area was smaller than the base area. The large bellows that supplied the

draft or blast of air was powered by a water wheel. The “blast of air” is how the blast furnace got

its name.

The construction of the stack was critical. It was usually built next to a hill or an

embankment to keep the length and slant of the charging ramp to a minimum. Pairs of horizontal

iron rods or flat iron straps called binders were embedded in the walls of the masonry. These

served to hold the masonry together as well as to prevent shifting caused by expansion and

37

contraction during the charging process. The outer wall was tapered inward to reduce the size of

the opening at the top. The inner wall was tapered inward to allow for the shape of the bosh, the

cavity in the furnace. The top part of the bosh was called the shaft. There was a foot of space

between the bosh lining and the inner wall. The crucible and hearth were located directly below

the bosh. The molten iron and slag collected in the crucible.

Arches were an important characteristic of the blast furnace. The number of arches varied

from two to four. The largest was called the work arch and was spacious enough to allow

ironworkers to work the hearth. The other arches housed the bellows and provided additional

work areas. A wooden structure with a sand floor was built against the work arch. Called the

casting house, it protected casting operations from the weather.

Iron ore, charcoal and limestone were the three ingredients used to make iron. They were

prepared for smelting and then put into the furnace in the proper ratios needed to obtain the best

possible quality of iron. Charging carts were used to bring each load of materials to the top of the

charging ramp. Once there, bridge men dumped the materials into the charge hole. The

limestone, called flux, chemically united with the impurities in the bog ore as the two were

heated to produce a waste product known as slag. Charcoal was the fuel. The furnace was lit and

the temperature brought to about 3000° F to liquefy the ingredients.

It took about twelve hours for the ingredients to melt. At the end of that time, the

taphole (sic.) was opened and the molten iron was allowed to run out. Just prior to the pour,

channels were cut in the sand floor of the casting house. The main channels had numerous side

channels branching off at right angles. The configuration resembled a sow nursing piglets, hence

the term pig iron. The molten iron flowed into the channels and was allowed to cool and harden

before being handled for shipment to a manufacturing site.

As the charge liquefied, the slag, which weighed less than the molten iron, was poured

through the slag taphole (sic.) onto sand and was hauled away from the work area.

The slag remaining in the crucible was skimmed from the molten iron as it was poured.

Cold blast furnaces used unheated outside air and required great quantities of fuel to smelt the

ore. The efficiency of the furnace was especially affected during the colder months of the year.

Most blast furnaces did not operate during the winter season because streams and rivers, the

source of power, froze and the water wheel was inoperable.

The efficiency of the blast furnace was determined by the amount of charcoal needed to

make a ton of iron. The design of the stack played an important role in the amount used. The best

stack height was about 35 feet . . .

. . . Sometimes large pieces of ore or charcoal slipped into the furnace unnoticed by the

bridge men working near the charge hole. These large pieces expanded when they neared the

hotter end of the bosh and sometimes caused a blockage. The charge above the blockage stopped

moving and became “frozen.” It was necessary to loosen the blockage quickly because as

pressure built up inside the bosh, the stack was in danger of collapsing. If the bosh ruptured,

molten iron and slag spewed into the casting shed causing severe, and many times, fatal injuries.

The bridge men watched the charge carefully and were quick to notice when it stopped

moving through the bosh. When a blockage occurred, they first turned the blast off and on

several times in rapid succession. If that didn’t dislodge the blockage, a bridge man ran a long

iron rod inside the furnace from the top to try to “unstick” the charge. If neither procedure

worked, the tapholes (sic.) were opened to let the iron and slag run out of the hearth and iron

rods were run up the bosh from the hearth to dislodge the blockage. A few ironworks kept a

38

small cannon on hand to remove the “frozen” charge. The cannon was loaded with small shot

and fired upward to dislodge the blockage.

A piece of iron that hardened early inside the furnace was called a salamander.

Often shaped like a salamander, it formed a large obstruction and caused the charge to freeze.

Very large pieces of prematurely solidified iron were referred to as bears.

. . .charcoal, [which was] made by burning wood slowly with little or no oxygen, was the

preferred fuel. Wood in its natural state contained too much moisture to provide a fire intense

enough to melt bog ore. Slow burning removed the moisture and left a fuel that, when fed a blast

of air, would reach temperatures hot enough to liquefy iron ore.

Woodcutters and/or colliers set to work felling the trees on the site. The best trees for charcoal

making were hardwoods, such as chestnut, maple and oak. The trees were cut during the winter

months when the sap wasn’t running. As a result, the wood dried better and the charcoal

produced was hard and heavy. The wood was cut to 4-foot lengths and stacked in billets 2 to 6

inches square.

Coaling began in May and continued through the early fall. Charcoal hearths were built

on a level spot. The area selected for the hearth was large enough to contain a pile of wood 30 to

50 feet in diameter and was protected from the wind. The men who worked the charcoal pits

were called colliers.

A pole or “fagan” was placed in the center of the hearth. At least 10 feet or more in

height, the fagan was green wood and didn’t burn easily. Lapwood (sic.), short, small pieces of

wood, was used to build a three-cornered chimney around the fagan. Billets were then placed

snugly against the chimney. The first section or tier, called the “foot” was about 4 feet high. The

second tier, called the “waist” was also 4 feet high. It was placed upon the first tier. The collier

carefully built the mound around the chimney, alternately adding billets to the foot and then to

the waist to prevent reeling and twisting. As the mound grew in height, the top of the billets

sloped toward the chimney. Lapwood (sic.) was used to fill the cracks and spaces. The tier above

the waist was called the “shoulders” and the top tier was known as the “head.” Billets smaller in

diameter were used for those tiers. They were placed horizontally around the chimney. A foot

wide hole was left over the chimney and small vent holes about 1 foot from the ground were

opened around the sides. It took about 30 cords of wood to construct a charcoal pit, equivalent to

a 1-acre woodlot. The huge mound was covered with thin layers of leaves, earth and charcoal

dust. The covering was necessary to control the burn.

The collier filled the chimney with wood chips and dropped in burning tinder and ashes

to start a fire. He opened and closed the side vents as needed to provide a sufficient draft. When

the chimney was thoroughly heated, he added dust to the mound and closed the top. It was the

collier’s job to make sure the fire didn’t burn too hot. When that happened, he was in danger of

losing the entire mound as well as his life.

As the wood slowly reduced to charcoal, the mound began to sink. When holes and soft

spots called “mulls” appeared in the covering the collier dug those areas out and filled them with

dust. To do that, he walked on the hot, smoking covering. It was imperative that no air be

allowed to enter the mound because oxygen-rich air created the risk of a major fire. Sometimes

he used a long iron rod to probe inside the mound to “settle” hot coals.

Dust was continually added to the settling and shrinking mound until it stopped

“smoking.” When smoking ceased, the pit was allowed to cool for 4-5 days. The charcoal was

then raked out carefully, a little at a time. The collier was always alert for embers and kept a

barrel of water nearby to douse an unexpected blaze. Wooden rakes and carrying baskets were

39

used to avoid damaging the fragile charcoal. The coaling process took 2 to 2 ½ weeks and

yielded 30-35 bushels of charcoal per cord of wood burned.

The charcoal was stored in a cooling shed for a day or so to make sure no embers

remained. It was then shoveled into a storage area. It deteriorated if left in storage too long and

was generally used within a few weeks.

The collier was kept very busy during the coaling season. Pits were built 100 feet or so

apart to allow him working room as well as to keep fires from spreading. The pits required

supervision twenty-four hours a day. Several colliers were able to tend 8 or 9 pits at a time . . .

GLOSSARY

Arch: A curved masonry construction that spans an opening.

Bear: A large solid mass of furnace charge.

Bellows: A leather or leather and wood box with flexible sides that expand and contract; air

enters through a side vent and is expelled through a nozzle.

Billet: A “packet” of wood usually cut to 4 foot lengths and 2 to 6” square.

Binder: Cross-rods inserted in blast furnace masonry to prevent reeling and twisting.

Blast: A blowing of air into the furnace.

Blast Furnace: A furnace with a tall shaft; operated by a blast of forced air.

Blockage: A large “frozen” mass that blocks the flow of charge through the stack.

Bloom: A mass of wrought iron produced in an early forge.

Bloomery: A forge that made wrought iron blooms.

Bog Ore: Iron ore found in wet, swampy areas.

Bosh: The bottom of the furnace cavity; sloped inward.

Cast Iron: An iron that contains a large amount of carbon.

Charcoal: Carbon made by burning or charring wood without air.

Charcoal Pit: An earth-covered mound used to char wood.

Charge: A specific weight of ore, shells and fuel put into the furnace.

Charge Hole: A large hole at the top of the furnace into which the charge was dumped.

Charging Ramp: A slanted bridge extending from the bottom of the furnace to the top; used to

transport the charge.

Coaling: A name for making charcoal.

Cold Blast: Furnace blast at outside or air temperature.

Collier: A charcoal maker.

Crucible: Bottom part of the bosh used for melting iron.

Draft: A blast of air from the bellows that maintained burning/combustion in the furnace.

Fagan: A pole of green wood used to help form the chimney in a charcoal pit.

Flux: A material added to the charge that combined with the impurities in the melting ore to form

slag.

Forge: A term that includes a furnace or a hearth where iron is heated before shaping.

Hearth: The floor of the furnace.

Hot Blast: A preheated blast of air.

Ingot: A bar of cast iron.

Lapwood: Small, short pieces of wood.

Lock: A structure placed between two bodies of water that served to raise or lower the level of

one to equal that of the other.

Mound: A large, carefully stacked pile of wood to be covered and charred; a charcoal pit.

40

Mulls: Soft spots in the covering of a charcoal pit.

Pig Iron: A cast iron run directly from the furnace into channels cut into sand; the channels

resembled a sow nursing piglets.

Salamander: A piece of hardened iron that obstructed the furnace; shape was similar to that of a

salamander.

Schooner: Sailing vessel with two masts used to transport ingots of pig iron from the locks at

Nassawango Creek to manufacturers bordering the Chesapeake Bay.

Slag: A covering that formed on molten iron as a result of combining flux with the impurities in

the ore; a waste product poured or skimmed off.

Slag Taphole: An opening in the furnace above the level of the molten iron through which slag

was poured.

Smelting: The process of melting ore to obtain iron.

Stove: A special box used to preheat the blast; was placed at the top of the stack to utilize hot

gases or was separate from the furnace.

Taphole: An opening in the furnace that allowed molten iron to pour.

Tapping or Tapped: Opening the taphole to allow molten metal or run from the furnace.

Tuyere: An iron nozzle through which blast was sent to the furnace.

Wrought Iron: An iron that contains very little carbon and is easily hammered.”

N3: Blast Furnace Schematic

This schematic sketch on the next page gives a very basic concept of iron smelting. This

could be the basic design used on Lawson’s Fork Creek. There are many variations of method,

but the concept is fairly uniform. Charcoal, iron ore, and limestone are transported to the

blasting furnace charging hole over a charging ramp. In a mix approved by the iron master, it is

dumped into the furnace and the charcoal ignited, as directed by the iron master. To facilitate

reaching intense heat, a bellows is used. Some used more than one bellows. The designs vary.

Some used a waterwheel to raise the bellows to a given height, then “trip” releasing support for

the bellows. A heavy weight would fall and hence a “blast’ of air would enter the furnace-- thus

the term “blast furnace.” The process would be repeated. Some used the waterwheel to close the

bellows and a counterweight to open.

In this sketch, water from a good source operates a waterwheel which turned cams and

pumped the bellows forcing air (hence oxygen) into the furnace. The water leaves the premises

through a leat. The waterwheel in this sketch is an overshot waterwheel (water entered the wheel

from the top)--some were undershot (waterwheel sat directly in the stream and water exerted

force from the bottom--this seems to be the method of the upper iron works as is evidenced by

the sluice). The lower iron works probably used an overshot, as is evidenced by the dam. When

the contents of the crucible became molten the impurities combined with the limestone, and

being lighter, rose. The molten iron, being heavier, settled in the crucible at the bottom. In the

appropriate order, the iron master directed removal of the slag (impurities) to be disposed of and

the molten iron into a pig bed and where molds were formed for transporting. At this point, it

was called “pig iron” because the mold resembled a sow nursing her piglets.

41

42

APPENDIX O (See Appendix A, p. 11)

John Thomas

N. Louise Bailey and Elizabeth Ivey Cooper, Biographical Directory of the South

Carolina House of Representatives, Vol. III, 1775-1790, (Columbia, South Carolina: University

of South Carolina Press, 1981), pp. 708-709. The following is a direct quote:

“THOMAS, JOHN (Sr.) (1720-1811). Father of JOHN THOMAS, JR. (1751-1819).

John Thomas was born 5 April 1720 in Cardiff, Wales. With his family he immigrated to

Chester County, Pennsylvania. During the French and Indian War, he served under General

Edward Braddock and participated in the battle at Fort Duquesne (July 1755). Moving to South

Carolina circa 1755, Thomas settled first near Fishing Creek in Camden District. Before the

outbreak of the American Revolution, he relocated (ca. 1762) and resided near Fairforest Creek

in the area that became Spartanburg County. Here, he helped found the Fairforest Presbyterian

Church. After the war, he moved to Greenville District.

Active in the military, Thomas took part in the Cherokee War (1759-1761). At the

beginning of the Revolution, he supported the Whig cause and helped organize the Spartan

Regiment of militia (August 1775). Elected colonel of this regiment, he was involved in the

Snow Campaign (December 1775) and the expedition against the Cherokee Indians (July-

October 1776). Thomas served as colonel of the Spartan Regiment until Charleston fell to the

British (May 1780). Accepting parole from the British, he returned home. In the summer 1780,

he was arrested by the enemy and spent fourteen months in prison at Ninety Six and Charleston.

In addition to is military service, Thomas represented the Lower District Between Broad and

Saluda Rivers in the second Provincial Congress (1775-1776) and First General Assembly

(1776). He was also a member of the Second General Assembly (1776-1778). Locally, he

served on the committee to enforce the Continental Association in the fork between the Broad

and Saluda rivers (1775) and as commissioner of location for the north side of the Saluda River

in Ninety Six District (1784).

Before moving from Pennsylvania to South Carolina, Thomas was married circa 1740 to

Jane Black, daughter of Robert and Ann Black. They were the parents of nine Children: John,

Jr., Robert (1753-1781), Abram (1755-1780), William Davies 91756-1814), Ann (m. Joseph

McJunkin), Jean (m. Joseph McCool), Martha (b. 1744?; m. Josiah Culberson), Letitia (m. James

Lusk), and Ester (m. Robert Carter), Jane Black Thomas predeceased her husband on 16 April

1811. John Thomas died on 2 October 1811 in Greenville District. In his will, written 18 April

1811, he indicated that he owned at least twelve slaves.

Second Provincial Congress

Lower District Between

1775-1776

Broad and Saluda Rivers

First General Assembly

Lower District Between

1776

Broad and Saluda Rivers

Second General Assembly

Member

1776-1778”

43

ENDNOTES

1

South Carolina County Maps (Wisconsin: Thomas Publications, Ltd.), p.110. The Lawson’s Fork Creek is located

in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It is formed from headwaters in the northwestern quadrant of the county.

Fawn Branch, Shoally Creek, and Meadow Creek to the east of Inman, South Carolina, contribute to its formation.

It is a tributary of the Pacolet River.

2

Margaret M. Hofmann, Colony of North Carolina 1735-1764, Vol. 1, pp. 42. It is named after an early settler by

the name of Lawson. In a North Carolina Land Patent granted to Roger Lawson, dated February 23, 1754, we find

the patent to be on the south side of Broad River of the south side of Pacolet on a large creek now called “Lawson’s

Creek.” (Also see endnote #48 [caveat].)

3

North Carolina State Archives, “File No. 296, Roger Lawson,” 1754 & “File No. 929, Roger Lawson,” 1754,

<http://mars.ah.dcr.state.nc.us>, (7/15/2009). When the warrant was issued, it was just on “a large creek.” When the

survey and grant issued, it was now called “Lawsons creek (sic.).” (Also see endnote #48 [caveat].)

4

David Ramsay, M.D., Ramsay’s History of South Carolina: From Its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808,

Vol. 2, (South Carolina: W.J. Duffie, 1858), p. 307. Quote from book: “The first iron works in South Carolina were

erected in the upper country by Mr. Buffington in 1773. These were destroyed by the tories in the revolutionary

war, but several have been built since the peace of 1783.”

5

Rev. J.D. Bailey, “Spartanburg History: An Address by Rev. J.D. Bailey delivered at Glendale May 11, 1901,” Just

Cowpens and Ironworks, pp. 17-18. Quote from address: “Consequently, Draper, the historian, says that Col.

William Wofford ‘early emigrating to the upper country of South Carolina where, on Pacolet river he erected noted

iron works.’ He should have said Lawson’s Fork of Pacolet river. Ramsey in his history of the State says that the

first iron ore works in South Carolina were erected within the borders of the present county of Spartanburg in 1773.

Then we may safely say that in the year 1773 Col. William Wofford erected his, afterwards famous, Iron Works on

Lawson’s Fork. The site of the works was on the south bank of this stream, at the head of the present Glendale

pond, and about one hundred and twenty-five yards below the crossing of the Electric Railway. Until a few years

ago, when the pond was raised, a part of the old mill was visible, but since that time it is wholly submerged beneath

the water. It will be noticed that in the pages of history, these works are called Berwick’s Iron Works, and

Buffington’s Iron Works, as well as Woffords Iron Works. We have the solution of this. Draper says: ‘It was

probably on the fall of Charleston, when his (i.e. Col Wofford), iron works were destroyed, that he, to avoid the

British and Tories, who were over-running South Carolina, retired to the Upper Catawba, purchasing a fine tract of

nine hundred acres, with improvements, of one Armstrong, an enterprising pioneer in the Turkey Cove.’ About one

thing Draper is certainly mistaken, and that is the works were not immediately destroyed after the fall of Charleston.

On the 29

th

of September, 1780, the over-mountain men who were enroute to King’s Mountain, stopped at the home

of Col. Wofford which as then at Turkey Cove, in North Carolina . . . To recapitulate, Col. Wofford erected the

works in 1773, on Oct. 23, 1779, he sold them to the Berwicks, who owned them at the time of their destruction;

soon afterwards Joseph Buffington owned large adjacent lands and possibly the site itself. Hence, it is not hard to

see how they came to be called Wofford’s, Berwick’s and Buffington’s Iron Works.”

6

Dr. J.B.O. Landrum, History of Spartanburg County: Embracing an Account of Many Important Events, and

Biographical Sketches of Statesmen, Divines and other Public Mean, and the Names of Many Others Worthy of

Record in the History of Their County, (Atlanta, Georgia: The Franklin Prtg. and Pub. Co., 1900), pp. 117-118.

Quote from book: “In ‘Ramsey’s History of South Carolina’ (Appendix, p. 307), we learn that the first iron ore

works in South Carolina were erected within the borders of the present county of Spartanburg in 1773. These have

been called in the pages of history Buffington’s Iron Works, Wofford’s Iron Works, and Berwick’s Iron Works, but,

from what we have been able to gather, they were on and the same, possibly a joint stock company . . . Wofford’s

Iron Works, a name that has been made famous in the pages of our Revolutionary history, by reason of the battle

that was fought near by, were located on the left bank of the stream, Lawson’s Fork, about a half mile above the

44

present manufacturing village of Glendale . . . In another volume* (*See ‘Colonial and Revolutionary History of

Upper South Carolina,’ p. 341) we have given some account of the raid of the notorious ‘Bloody Bill’ Cunningham

to the upcountry of South Carolina in November, 1781. One of his most infamous acts of open incendiarism (sic.)

was the destruction by fire of this valuable property, which doubtless, by reason of the death of Mr. Berwick, a few

years later, were never rebuilt.”

7

A History of Spartanburg County, American Guide Series (Illustrated), Compiled by the Spartanburg Unit of the

Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of South Carolina, (South Carolina: The

Spartanburg Branch American Association of University Women, 1940), p. 67. Quote from book: “The lands

Buffington bought and leased for his plant lay in the region claimed by North and South Carolina before the running

of the boundary line in 1772, and he had much trouble about his titles, for William Wofford had established his

claim to the iron works tract on the basis of North Carolina grants. Buffington apparently operated with borrowed

capital, and soon lost control of the iron works, which became known as Wofford’s Iron Works, and kept that name

in popular speech until burned by Bloody Bill Cunningham in November 1781. After that it was for a time called

the ‘old iron works’ . . . The record of when the works were rebuilt and how Buffington regained control of the plant

has not been found, but in 1785 and act of the legislature ordered the sale of Buffington’s Iron Works, to satisfy the

unpaid debt on them. Possibly at this sale William Pool acquired the works, for there can be little doubt that this

same site (which is today Glendale) was that of Poole’s Iron Works.”

8

William Edwin Hemphill (ed.) and Wylma Anne Wates (asst. ed.), The State Records of South Carolina, Extracts

from the Journals of the Provincial Congresses of South Carolina, 1775-1776 (Columbia, South Carolina: South

Carolina Archives Dept., 1960), pp. 162-163. Quote from book: “Resolved, That a premium of one thousand

pounds currency be given to the person who shall erect a bloomery in this colony, that shall first produce,

manufactured thereat, one ton of good bar iron: A premium of eight hundred pounds to the person erecting another

bloomery, whereat the next like quantity of bar iron shall have been manufactured: And a premium of seven

hundred pounds to the person erecting a third such work, whereat shall have been manufactured a like quantity of

like iron. These premiums over and above the common prices of such iron.”

9

Bobby Gilmer Moss (ed.), Uzal Johnson, Loyalist Surgeon: A Revolutionary War Diary (Blacksburg, South

Carolina: Scotia Hibernia Press, 2000), p. 18. Quote from footnote in book: “William Henry Drayton (1742-1779)

was born near Charles Town, S.C. After completing his education in England at Westminister (sic.) School and

Oxford, he returned to S.C., where he married Dorothy Golightly on 29 March 1764. He turned his attention to

operating a plantation and to politics. He made himself unpopular by opposing the non-importation movement and

other acts of those who opposed the rule of the British government. He went to England but returned to America to

accept appointment as a judge. Soon he realized that he could be removed by an appointment made by Parliament.

When he was suspended form the Council because of his views he embraced the American cause with zeal. In the

summer of 1775, he toured the back country, trying to win to inhabitants to the American cause. On 1 November

1775 he was elected president of the Provincial Congress. Later, he was in the Continental Congress. DAB, V,

4480449.”

10

North Carolina Office of Archives & History—Department of Cultural Resources, “Troublesome Iron Works,”

2007, <http://www.ncmarkers.com/print_marker.aspx?id=J-16>, (June 15, 2009). Quote from Website: “Used in

the Revolution. Greene’s Army camped there after Battle of Guilford Courthouse, 1781. Washington visited, 1791.

Site is 1 ½ mile north. Essay: By 1770 an early colonial ironworks had been established on Troublesome Creek in

present-day Rockingham County. The ironworks, initially called the Speedwell Furnace, played a significant role in

the Revolutionary War. Before and after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, both British and Whig

troops camped at the site. George Washington retraced General Greene’s retreat from Guilford Courthouse during

his southern tour in 1791, and visited the ironworks at that time. The original site was partially destroyed by fire and

rebuilt in 1915. Joseph Buffington, an experienced Quaker iron master originally from Chester County,

Pennsylvania, constructed Speedwell Furnace on Troublesome Creek. He purchased the “mine hill” in southern

Rockingham County, as well as the land for the iron works. Additionally, Buffington constructed a rock dam to

create waterpower, a bloomery for pig, and an iron forge for finishing items. Unfortunately, Buffington soon

discovered that the iron deposits in the area contained far too much titaniferous dioxide to produce valuable iron.

45

He sold the works in 1772, and the site passed through the hands of various people through the course of the

Revolutionary War. In February 1781, General Nathaniel Greene led his Patriot troops over the Dan River into

Virginia as Cornwallis’s British forces pursued them, camping overnight at the Troublesome Creek works. Soon

after, Greene’s forces returned to North Carolina, where they camped at various locations including Speedwell

Furnace. Greene created earthen fortifications and gathered ammunition. After the Battle of Guilford Courthouse

on March 15, 1781, General Greene continued to plan for a second attack by Cornwallis, returning his troops to the

works at Troublesome Creek. For five days Whig forces camped at Speedwell Furnace, pursuing Cornwallis to

Ramsey’s Mill. After the Revolutionary War, three Whig veterans purchased the ironworks: Colonel Archibald

Lytle of Hillsborough, and brothers Peter and Constantine Perkins from Virginia. In 1782 the new owners

established a grist and flour mill at the site. Purchasing the site in 1790 were George Hairston and John Marr of

Virginia, who hired Benjamin Jones to manage the works. Jones managed the facilities between 1790 and 1792,

hosting President George Washington for breakfast at the works in 1791. The Troublesome Creek Ironworks

continued to operate under various owners through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, producing lowgrade

(sic.) iron ore and other goods. In 1954 local historian James McClamroch purchased the site and donated it to the

Rockingham Historical Society. References: Lindley S. Butler, “Speedwell Furnace: The Ironworks on

Troublesome Creek,” Rockingham Country Historical Society pamphlet (1972), Patrick O’Kelley, Nothing but

Blood and Slaughter, III (2005), Archibald Henderson, Washington’s Southern Tour, 1791 (1923), William S.

Powell, ed., Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006), Location: US 158 and SR 2422 (Monroeton road) at

Monroeton, County: Rockingham, Original Date Cast: 1939.”

11

“Iron-Works,” Supplement to the South Carolina Gazette, (Charles Town), Monday, September 19, 1774, No.

2014, p. 2, col. 3. Quote of article: “Joseph Buffington, Having lately purchased the High-Shoals or Great Falls of

South Catawba River, in Tryon County, North-Carolina, within a few Miles of the South-Carolina Line; one of the

most advantageous Situations for Water Works he has ever seen, where he has already built a Saw-Mill, and nearly

completed a Grist-Mill; where there is Water sufficient to work 20 or 30 Mills, a natural Fall of between 20 and 30

Feet, and the Seat out of Danger of Freshes (sic.); in a helthy (sic.) plentiful Country, of good Land, well timbered,

with Plenty of Iron Ore thereon, which he will presume to say, is as good as any that has yet been made Use of in

America; and where Hundreds of Barrels of Shad may be caught with Ease (sic.):--having settled himself thereon,

with a View To erect IRON-WORKS, It being a Part of the Country where Iron can scarse (sic.) be had, at Five

Pence Sterling per Pound;--but, finding himself, at present, unable to build and hold above Two Thirds of an Iron

Work; and being an entire Stranger here, he takes this Method of acquainting any Gentlemen willing to encourage,

or be concerned in, the manufacturing of IRON, that if they will immediately furnish him with the Sum of £. 300

North-Carolina Currency, and £. 400 Value in Goods, he will lodge the Conveyances for his Lands, Mills, &c. in

their Hands for Re-payment of the same, for the said Sum, and oblige himself to bring the said Works to Perfection,

to the Satisfaction of any reasonable Iron-Master in America.—He is so well convinced that the IRON-WORKS will

succeed in that Part of the Country, having been brought up entirely in that Business, that he is desirous of beginning

immediately, with Lots of Time: Therefore, whoever may be inclined to encourage, or be concerned with him, are

desired to apply to him, at Mr. HERMAN NEUFER’S in King-Street, before Tuesday next, the 27 Instant, where

they may receive further Information, in Regard the these Matters and to his Character. N.B. A few good active

NEGROES that could learn to work at the Iron-Works, would be very advantageous in this Business.”

12

R.W. Gibbes, M.D., Documentary History of the American Revolution: Consisting of Letters and Papers Relating

to the Contest for Liberty, Chiefly in South Carolina, from Originals in the Possession of the Editor, and Other

Sources. 1764-1776, (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1855), p. 106. Quote from book: “Resolved, That the Hon.

W.H. Drayton, and the Rev. Wm. Tennant, be the two gentlemen to make a progress into the back country, to

explain to the people the causes of the present disputes, between Great Britain and the American Colonies.

Resolved, That the following commissions and powers be given to the Hon. William Henry Drayton, and the Rev.

Wm. Tennant. South Carolina—In the Council of Safety. July 23, 1775. The Council of Safety elected and chosen

by the provincial Congress, begins to be holden (sic.) the first day of June last; by these presents testify—that they

have nominated appointed and commissioned the Hon. Wm. Drayton and the Rev. Wm. Tennant to go into the

interior parts of this Colony at the public expense, there to explain to the people at large the nature of the unhappy

public disputes between great Britain and the American Colonies—to endeavor to settle all political disputes

between the people—to quiet their minds, and to enforce the necessity of a general union in order to preserve

themselves and their children from slavery; and that the said W. H. Drayton and W. Tennant may proceed in this

business with safety and advantage to the public—all the friends of the liberties of America are hereby requested to

46

afford them every necessary aid, assistance and protection. By order of the Council of Safety. HENRY LAURENS,

President. South Carolina—In the Council of Safety. Charles Town, 23d July, 1775. GENTLEMEN,--In order to

give you every necessary and proper support and protection in your progress into the country in execution of our

commissions of this date, you are hereby authorized to call upon all and every officer of the militia and rangers for

assistance, support, and protection; and they and each of them are hereby ordered to furnish such assistance, support,

and protection, as you shall deem necessary. By order of the Council of Safety. HENRY LAURENS, President.

Hon. W. H. Drayton. Rev. Wm. Tennant. Ordered that the above Commission and powers be engrossed.”

13

John Drayton, L.L.D., Memoirs of the American Revolution, from its Commencement to the Year 1776, Inclusive;

as Relating to the State of South-Carolina: and Occasionally Referring to the States of North-Carolina and Georgia,

Vol. 1, (Charleston, South Carolina: A. F. Miller, 1821), p. 411. Quote from book: “In the mean time, Mr. Drayton

has gone up to his iron works, and to the people about Lawson’s Fork; where, he will do something.”

14

Collections of the South-Carolina Historical Society, Vol. 2, (Charleston, South Carolina: South-Carolina

Historical Society, 1858), p. 64. Quote from book: “Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Oliver Hart be applied to, to join

Mr. Drayton and Mr. Tennent, in their progress to the Back Country. And the following letter was written by Mr.

President to Mr. Hart: Rev. Sir—The Council of Safety having had it represented to them that your presence in the

Western and Northern frontiers of this Colony may be of great service, by explaining to the inhabitants, in a proper

and true light, the nature of the present dispute unhappily subsisting between Great Britain and the American

Colonies, have ordered me to request you will join the Rev. Mr. Tennent, and the Hon. William Henry Drayton,

esq., who are going into those parts of the Colony, and who have particular directions from the Council on this head,

which those particular directions from the Council on this head, which those gentlemen will lay before you for your

further information. Your compliance will be esteemed by the Council of Safety as an instance of your zeal in the

public service, when the aid of every freeman and lover of constitutional liberty is loudly called for. State House,

26

th

July, 1775. The Rev. Mr. Oliver Hart, Charles-Town.”

15

William T. Graves (transcribed and annotated), “Reverend Oliver Hart’s Diary of the Journey to the Backcounty,”

Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, Vol. 2, No. 4, pg. 28, April 2005, . Quotes from magazine:

“Friday Augt. 18

th

: . . . We then took up into the country for Lawson’s Fork (Footnote: This is a fork on the Pacolet

River in Spartanburg County. See, Mills, Atlas, Spartanburg County Map), came in the evening to Captain John

Woods (Footnote: No such officer is listed by Moss. However, in the pension application filed by George Salmon,

he states that he served as a lieutenant in the Spartanburg militia under Capt. John Wood. See,

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/nirvana/621/salmon.html.) Saturday Augt. 19

th:

. . . Rode this morning from

Capt: John Woods to his brother James Woods, about 6 miles . . . Monday, Augt. 21

st

: Rode to Capt: Waford’s

where I met with Mr. Drayton, and a large number of people assembled together; Mr. Rees opened the meeting by

singing and prayer, then Mr. Drayton spoke to them, above an hour, on the state of affairs in the nation; the people

gave good attention, and upwards of 70 signed the association. A beef was barbecued, on which we dined, I then

rode home with Capt. John Wood, and lodged there.”

16

A.S. Salley, Jr. (ed.), Documents Relating to the History of South Carolina During the Revolutionary War,

(Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1908), pp. 3-4. Quoted petition: “[Petition and Remonstrance of

Joseph Buffington to the Provincial Congress.] South Carolina To the Honourable (sic.) Wm: Henry Drayton

Esquire, and the rest of the Gentlemen Members, of the South Carolina Provincial Congress, now in Charles-Town

Assembled, The Petition and Remonstrance of Joseph Buffington (Iron Master) and now A resident of Said

Province—Sheweth (sic.), That You Petitionor (sic.) who is lately removed from the province of North Carolina

where he had resided, for many Years and carried on with great Success in the business of Making of Car Iron in all

its branches, from an Ore, as may appear from many Certificats (sic.) under the hands of Several Gentlemen of

Charrector (sic.) residing in that province That on Your Petitionors (sic.) Arrival in this Goverment (sic.), upon a

strict and Deligent (sic.) Serch (sic.) for Iron Ore he fortunately discovered a large body not Inferior to any hitherto

discovered in the Northern Colonies, being on a water Course, well known in this province by the name of Lawsons

fork (sic.) a branch of Broad River, where it appear’s (sic.) to your Petitionor (sic.) that Nature had designed and laid

it out, to Every Advantage necessary for Carrying on so valuable and and (sic.) Necessary branch of business and

perticularly (sic.) in so remote a part of this province, being About Two Hundred and Thirty Miles distantt (sic.)

from Charles Town, That after Your Petitionor (sic.) had made repeated Essays or Trials of the Ore and finding it to

be very good and Equal in fineness to any he had heretofore wrought to the Northward, he was Induced and

47

Incouraged (sic.) by the whole of the Inhabitants in that part of the Country to proceed to Errect (sic.) A Bloomery,

with great success untill (sic.) the work was above half Compleated (sic.) in such a workmanlike manner as to meet

with the General Approbation of those, well skill’d and avers’d by long Experience and knowledge in Iron works in

other provinces, but your petitionor’s (sic.) not being as present in Such Easy Circumstance for want of Ready

money to Enable him to Carry his Laudible (sic.) Design farther into Execution without assistance, he Greatly

Dispairs (sic.) of being able to Compleat (sic.) his undertakeing (sic.), Consequence of which will tend to the Ruin

of himself and his family, and an Injury to the province in General Your Petitioner therefore Relying on the wisdom

and Goodness of this Congress, wishes, and hopes that upon their Serious Reflection of the Benifit (sic.) and utility

which may hereafter accrue to this province in General by giving proper encouragement to works of this nature, he

hopes; and will Engage that the Bloomery which he has hitherto Carried on by his own labour (sic.) and Industery

(sic.) will be Completely (sic.) finished within Two years to the Satisfaction of the Congress and the Province in

General; And in Order to Secure to the public Such Monies as may be thought Necessary or Sufficient to finish the

said undertakeing (sic.), your Petitionor (sic.) proposes, that if the Congress will be pleased to appoint Colonel John

Thomas Together with any one or more Gentlemen, to Take a Bond from your Petitionor (sic.) with personal

Security, to Reimburt (sic.) the like Sum with Interest (if required) to such person or person as shall be appointed to

receive the same on behalf of the public in some reasonable time, after the works are finished, and further, he

preposes (sic.) That after the works are completed (sic.); The Congress on Behalf of the public shall be Intitled (sic.)

to one moiety or half part of all Iron &ca. as shall be hereafter made at these works and for the better and more

Effectual Security of this his promise and undertakeings (sic.) he propses (sic.) to make over the whole of the land

wherein the ore, is and the works are to be Erected in such a manner as shall or may be thought more Elegeble (sic.)

by this Congress—Joseph Buffington Charles Town Feby (sic.) 17

th

1776 Endorsed: The Petition & Remonstrance

of Joseph Buffington (footnote: The following names, in the handwriting of William Henry Drayton, are written

below this endorsement: Col. Powell, Col. Thomas, Mr. Kershaw, Major Henderson, Dr. Farrar, Col. Richardson,

Mr.—Prince, Mr.—Tennent).”

17

State Records of South Carolina, Extracts from the Journals of the Provincial Congresses of South Carolina,

1775-1776 (Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Archives Dept., 1960), pp. 249-250. Quote from book: “The

report of the Committee, to whom were referred the petitions of Joseph Buffington and William Wofford, Esq.,

being taken into consideration, and amended; the Congress came to the following resolutions thereupon: Whereas it

appears, That the fifty acres of land, upon which iron works are to be erected by Joseph Buffington, are not his, but

the property of William Wofford, Esq., or others; and that there is an incumbrance (sic.) upon the said works,

already begun; and that the carrying on the said works will be a public benefit: Therefore, Resolved, That the said

incumbrance (sic.), being two thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds, eight shillings and ten pence half-

penny, due to the Hon. William-Henry Drayton, be paid; and that the sum of four thousand pounds be lent, for the

carrying on, and completing the said works, upon the following terms, viz. That when the said William Wofford, or

others, having legal right so to do, shall have made, to the said Joseph Buffington, good and sufficient title, in fee

simple, to the said fifty acres of land; saving to the said William Wofford, his heirs and assigns, that on no part of

the said fifty acres of land shall any grist or flour mill, to work by water, be erected, and that the water shall not be

stopped to the detriment of the said William Wofford, his heirs and assigns; and the said Joseph Buffington shall

then have made to John Neufville, William Gibbes, and Peter Bacot, Esquires, in trust for the public, good and

sufficient titles in fee simple, and also titles in like manner to one thousand acres of land, with timber, for fuel,

contiguous thereto, and Mr. Drayton shall have transferred to the said John Neufville, William Gibbes, and Peter

Bacot, Esquires, for the use of the public, all such securities as he may have for the payment to him of the said

incumbrance (sic.); then the said sum of two thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds, eight shillings and ten

pence half-penny, shall, by the Commissioners of the Treasury, be paid to Mr. Drayton; and the said Commissioners

shall also then pay into the hands of Col. John Thomas, Capt. James Williams, and Mr. John Prince, the said sum of

four thousand pounds, to be, by them, expended and laid out, as Commissioners, for erecting and completing the

said works. And that, if the said sum of six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds, eight shillings and ten

pence half-penny, shall not, by the said Joseph Buffington, his heirs or assigns be repaid to the Commissioners of

the treasury for the time being, within four years next ensuing, then the said lands, with all the improvements

thereon, shall be sold, and the public reimbursed the said six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds, eight

shillings and ten pence half-penny, of the money arising from the sale; and the overplus (sic.), if any, be paid to the

said Joseph Buffington, his heirs or assigns. And whereas the establishment of another iron work will also be of

48

public utility: Therefore, Resolved, That the sum of three thousand pounds, for that purpose, be granted to William

Wofford; upon his giving full and sufficient Security for the re-payment of the same, within four years, to the

commissioners of the Treasury for the time being. Provided nevertheless, That the said sum three thousand pounds

shall not be lent to the said William Wofford, until he shall have made, or caused to be made, good titles as aforesaid

to the said Joseph Buffington, to the said fifty acres of land. And also, It is hereby declared, That the two iron works

above specified, shall not be intitled (sic.) to receive the premiums already declared for the encouragement of iron

works.”

18

Brent H. Holcombe, South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1776-1783, Books Y-4 through H-5, p. 88. Regarding the fifty

acres, quote from book: “B-5, 270-271 . . . John (sic.) Mackilroy of Fairforest Settlement, Province of South

Carolina, Gunsmith to Joseph Buffington, Ironmaster, of Tryon County Province of North Carolina, for £5000 SC

money, 50 acres on Lawsons (sic.) Fork . . . Lower end of 350 acres granted 22 Dec 1768 . . .” Deed to Buffington

dated 1776. Signed James Mackelroy (sic.) recorded 9-13-1779. For plat of 50 acres, see deed. For grant to

Mackelroy, see File #805, Grant Number 75, Bk 23, p. 327 for 350 acres dated 12-22-1768. For plat see File #0265

James Mackilroy, 350 acres both sides Lawson’s Fork. North Carolina State Archives. ; South Carolina Department

of Archives & History, “Mackelroy, James to Joseph Buffington, Lease and Release and Plat,” 1779, S. S363001,

Vol. 05B0, p. 00269, <http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/RecordDetail.aspx?RecordId=133709>,

(8/1/2008).

19

This deed has not as yet been found but is treated as having occurred in other deeds. See deed of William Wofford

to his son Benjamin Wofford, dated November 20, 1790, and recorded November 11, 1794, in Deed Book C, Pages

304-305, Register of Deeds for Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It is a grant of twenty acres. (Wofford had

reserved this acreage to himself and his wife Mary in his grant of a three-quarter interest to Simon Berwick, John

Berwick, and Charles Elliott.) The deed states it is from the 300 acres McKilroy granted to him. The deed also

states it is the land on which he (William Wofford) had lived.

20

Holcombe, pp. 88-89. For the security to the State, see p. 88, B-5, 274-275. For deed, see p. 89, B-5, 275-279.

21

Thomas Cooper, M.D.—L.D., The Statutes at Large of South Carolina; Edited, Under Authority of the

Legislature, Vol. 4, Containing the Acts from 1752, Exclusive, to 1786, Inclusive, Arranged Chronologically,

(Columbia, South Carolina: A.S. Johnston, 1838), pp. 404-405. Quote from book: “A.D. 1778, No. 1065. AN ACT

for vesting six hundred acres of land, whereon the iron works of Joseph Buffington are, in the Treasurers of this

State, for and upon certain uses and trusts; and also vesting another parcel of land in the said Treasurers, for the use

of this State. (Preamble) WHEREAS, the late Congress of this State, desirous of encouraging the manufacture of

iron within the same, have advanced, on loan, to Joseph Buffington, of Lawson’s Fork, in the said State, the sum of

six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds eight shillings and ten pence current money, for the carrying on

of such manufactory, on condition that William Woffard and others, having any title to fifty acres of land conveyed

to the said Joseph Buffington by James Macilroy, and whereon the said iron works were supposed to be erected at

the time of such loan, should release such their title therein to the said Joseph Buffington; and the said Joseph

Buffington, in consequence of such resolve, hath mortgaged to the public treasurers of the State aforesaid, the said

fifty acres of land, and a tract of one thousand acres conveyed to him by Thomas Ferguson, Esq. as a security for the

said sum of six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds eight shillings and ten pence, and in trust that, if the

said Joseph Buffington should not pay into the treasury of the State aforesaid the said sum of six thousand three

hundred and eighty-one pounds eight shillings and ten pence, within four years from the time of such mortgage, the

said fifty acres of land and the iron works thereon, and the said tract of one thousand acres, should be then sold by

the treasurers of the State for the time being, for the payment of the said sum of six thousand three hundred and

eighty-one pounds eight shillings and ten pence, paying the overplus (sic.) to the said Joseph Buffington, according

to the said resolve of Congress; and whereas, it is now found that the said iron works, by some mistake, are not

erected within the limits of the said Joseph Buffington’s tract of fifty acres, conveyed to him for the aforesaid James

Macilroy, as aforesaid, and by him mortgaged as aforesaid, but are without the same, and on lands not granted, but

still vacant, on Lawson’s Fork, a branch of Pacolet river, in the State aforesaid; and that William Woffard hath, by

fraudulent means, by warrant of survey, obtained in the name of Thomas Waddill, for the surveying of six hundred

acres, and by another warrant of survey, in the name of Robert Hamet, for the surveying of five hundred and fifty

acres, endeavoured (sic.) to obtain a grant for the nominal number of eleven hundred and fifty acres of land,

contiguous to the aforesaid tract of fifty acres, but in fact for a larger quantity of acres, so as to include the said iron

49

works, to the great injury of the said Joseph Buffington, and to the prejudice of the security which is is (sic.) given

by him for the payment of the aforesaid sum of six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds eight shillings

and ten pence; fore remedy whereof, in order the more effectually to accomplish the end of the said resolve of

Congress, and the agreement of the said Joseph Buffington, I. Be it enacted by his Excellency John Rutledge, Esq.,

President and Commander-in-chief in and over the State of South Carolina, by the honorable the Legislative Council

and General Assembly of the said State, and by the authority of the same, That immediately after the passing of this

Act, it shall and may be lawful for the public treasurers of this State for the time being, and who are hereby directed

and required, to appoint a lawful surveyor to make a just and accurate survey of the number of acres contained in the

survey already made by the aforesaid William Woffard, and ascertain the exact number of acres contained in such

survey, and also to parcel off from the said number of acres, so surveyed, the quantity of six hundred acres, in a

distinct parcel or body, contiguous to the fifty acres conveyed to Joseph Buffington by James Macilroy, as aforesaid,

so as to include the iron works of the said Joseph Buffington; such survey to be returned, duly certified on oath, into

the treasury of this State, within four months thereafter. (The aforesaid lots to be accurately surveyed.) II. And be it

further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the parcel of six hundred acres of land, so to be surveyed as

aforesaid, together with all the buildings and improvements thereon, shall, immediately after and from the time of

such survey, become and is hereby declared to be vested in the commissioners of the treasury of the State aforesaid,

and their successors in the said office of treasurers, for the following uses and purposes, (that is to say,) in trust that

if the said Joseph Buffington shall, within four years next ensuing, from the eighteenth day of may, in the year of

our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, pay into the public treasury of this State, for the use of the

same, the aforesaid sum of six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds eight shillings and ten pence, without

interest, that then and in such case the said six hundred acres of land, with the buildings thereon, as aforesaid, shall

become vested in and remain the property of the said Joseph Buffington, his heirs and assigns, for ever (sic.); but if

in case the said Joseph Buffington shall not pay the said sum of sic thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds

eight shillings and ten pence, within the time limited as aforesaid, that them and in such case the said commissioners

of the treasury of the State aforesaid, or their successors, shall sell and dispose of the same for the payment of the

said sum of six thousand three hundred and eighty-one pounds eight shillings and ten pence; and the balance of the

money arising form such sale, after deducting the usual commissions, shall be paid by the said commissioners of the

treasury to the said Joseph Buffington, his heirs or assigns. (Land vested in the public treasurers, for certain uses

and purposes.) III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That after parceling and allotting the

aforesaid tract of six hundred acres, in manner as aforesaid, the remainder of the number of acres found by the

survey to be made and returned into the treasury of this State as aforesaid, shall become, and is hereby declared to

be, vested in the commissioners of the treasury of the State aforesaid, in trust, and to and for the uses of the said

State. (Disposal of overplus (sic.) of land, after the survey.) IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,

That any grant which shall hereafter be made of any of the lands before mentioned, and to be so surveyed as directed

by this Act, by any person hereafter impowered (sic.) to grant any of the lands of this State, shall be null and void,

and of no force or effect whatever. (Grants of the said land, hereafter made, declared null and void.) HUGH

RUTLEDGE,

Speaker of the Legislative Council. THOMAS BEE, Speaker of the General Assembly. In the

Council Chamber, the 5

th

day of March, 1778. Assented to: J. RUTLEDGE.

22

Holcombe, p. 259. Lease and release dated August 18 & 19, 1779 (Deed Book H-5, 341-344); South Carolina

Department of Archives & History, “Buffington, Joseph and Wife to William Henderson, Lease and Release,” 1783,

S. S363001, Vol. 05H0, p. 00341,

<http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/RecordDetail.aspx?RecordId=134070>, (8/1/2008); “Buffington,

Mary, Wife of Joseph Buffington to William Henderson, Renunciation,”1779, S. 136009, Vol. [1

st

year]. 1775, p.

00274, <http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/RecordDetail.aspx?RecordId=34732>, (8/1/2008).

23

Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, (Baltimore, Maryland:

Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983), pp. 436-437. The identification of William Henderson is very tentative

but believed correct. There were at least three William Hendersons between the Broad and Saluda Rivers in this

time span. Quote from book: “Henderson, William, BLWt 1102-450-Lt. Col. B. 5 March 1748 d. 29 January

1787/1788 m. Mrs. Letitia (Davis) Nelson. He became a major in the Sixth Regiment on (29 February) 17 June

1775 and a lieutenant colonel on 16 September 1776. On 11 February 1780, he was transferred to the Third

Regiment and was taken prisoner at the fall of Charleston. He was exchanged during November 1780 and was

50

transferred to the First Regiment on 1 January 1781. He was wounded in the battle at Eutaw Springs on 8

September 1781. On 30 September 1781, he was promoted to colonel. He served to the close of the war and during

1781 an1782 he was a brigadier general of state troops. P.I.; Heitman, p. 285; S.C.H.&G., VIII, 221; XXVIII, 108-

111; A.A. 3528; C383; E107; S254; N.A. 853; Journals; Drayton.”

24

Holcombe, p.108. Joseph Buffington purchased this one thousand acres from Thomas Ferguson May 9 & 10, 1776

(Deed Book C-5, 43-46); South Carolina Department of Archives & History, “Ferguson, Thomas to Joseph

Buffington, Lease and Release,” November 17, 1779, S. S363001, Vol. 05C0, p. 00043,

<http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/RecordDetail.aspx?RecordId=133831>, (8/1/2008).

25

William Edwin Hemphill, Wylma Anne Wates, and R. Nicholas Osberg (eds.), Journals of the General Assembly

and House of Representatives 1776-1780, The State Records of South Carolina, published for the South Carolina

Department of Archives and History, (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1970), p. 195.

Quote from book: “Saturday, September 4, 1779 . . . Mr. Justice Burke presented to the House of Petition of William

Henderson, Esq., and the same was received and read, setting forth, That to enable Joseph Buffington to complete

certain iron works he was erecting on Lawson, the Legislature had lent him £6,381:08:10 and vested in him 600

acres of land adjoining, to furnish fuel for the said works, on condition that the sum lent should be repaid by the 18

th

day of May next. That the petitioner hath lately purchased the said works and lands, but apprehends to 600 acres are

insufficient for the purpose intended. That there are about 2,924 acres of vacant lands adjacent to the said works fit

for the said and no other purpose. And praying that the same or such part thereof as may be thought sufficient be

vested in the petitioner, upon his paying into the Treasury the money lent to said Buffington within the time limited.

Ordered, That the Petition be referred to a Committee. And it is referred to Mr. Justice Burke, Capt. Caldwell, Capt.

Jones, Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Berwick.”

26

Columbian Herald, April 24, 1788, p.4, col. 2. Ad reads, emphasis theirs: “Pacolet Springs, and Valuable Iron

Works FOR SALE. On Thursday, The 15

th

day of May next, WILL BE SOLD, At PUBLIC AUCTION, Near the

Exchange, 4574 cres (sic.) of Land on Pacolet river and Lawson’s Fork (a branch of that river) containing the well

known valuable Iron Works, formerly Buffington’s and the highly (illegible) Pacolet Springs. The conditions will

be declared at the time of sale. 74 John W. Gibbs & Co.”

27

Salley, Jr., pp. 3-4.

28

State Records of South Carolina, Extracts from the Journals of the Provincial Congresses of South Carolina,

1775-1776 (Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Archives Dept., 1960), pp. 249-250.

29

Will Graves, “Henry Pettit, W5528,” Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements, June 18, 2006,

<www.southerncampaign.org/pen/>.

30

South Carolina Department of Archives and History, “Buffington, Joseph, Account Audited (File No. 883) of

Claims Growing Out of the American Revolution,”1776, S. S108092, Reel: 0016, Frame: 00059, 1776 C. or later,

<http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/RecordDetail.aspx?RecordId=118251>, (August 1, 2008).

31

C. Leon Harris, “George Davidson, W283,” Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements,

<www.southerncampaign.org/pen/>.

32

N. Louise Bailey, Mary L. Morgan, and Carolyn R. Taylor, Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate

1776-1985, Vol. 1, (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1986), pp. 132-133. Quote

from book: “BERWICK, SIMON (Berwicke) (d. 1783). Simon Berwick was a successful cordwainer and

ironmaster. In Charleston, he and his brother John (d. 1784) were the owners of a tanyard which provided the

leather for the shoes they made and sold (ca. 1760-1776). The brothers also were joint recipients of three grants for

a combined 700 acres at the fork of the Edisto River and for 500 acres in Orangeburg Township. Seventy-three

slaves were listed in his inventory, although an undisclosed number of them were also the property of his brother.

Acting on his own, Simon Berwick was the sole proprietor of an upcountry ironworks at Lawson’s Fork on the

51

Pacolet River. During the American Revolution, he supplied the militia and Continental troops various sundries

including iron and horseshoes from his forge. In retaliation for his political leanings, a Tory unit led by William

Cunningham burned the Berwick Iron Works in November 1781. A leader of the mechanics faction, Berwick

served on the General Committee of the Non-Importation Association (1769) and on the committee which sought to

implement the Continental Association in St. Matthew Parish (1775). St. Matthew elected him to the First (1775)

and Second (1775-1776) Provincial Congresses and to the House for the First General Assembly (1776). The Upper

District Between (sic.) Broad and Saluda Rivers (Spartan) chose him as its representative to the state Senate for the

Fourth (1782) and Fifth (1783-1784) General Assemblies. Other offices he held included the following:

commissioner, for clearing New Cut (1777); tax inquirer and collector for the Upper District Between (sic.) Broad

and Saluda Rivers (1783); and commissioner, for dividing Ninety Six District into counties (1783). While traveling

from Charleston to his plantation in Ninety Six District following the first session (6 January-17 March 1783) of the

Fifth General Assembly, Simon Berwick was murdered 26 March 1783 approximately twelve miles north of

Dorchester. Fourth General Assembly Upper District Between Broad and Saluda Rivers 1782 Fifth General

Assembly Upper District Between Broad and Saluda Rivers 1783* [*SOURCES: Aud. Accts., 464. Biographical

Directory of the House, 1:156, 160, 171; 3:69-70. Charleston Co. Inventories, A(1783-1787), 112-13. Grand Jury

List, 1783. Landrum, Spartanburg County, pp. 13-14, 15. McCrady, 2: 651n. Pope, p.53. Reynolds & Faunt.

Royal Grants, 26: 198; 27: 224; 37: 310. Salley, Orangeburg County, p. 258. SCHM, 18: 39; 34: 202; 60: 126,

141n. SC Statutes, 4: 532, 561; 7: 522. Walsh, pp. 8, 50, 65.]”

33

Mabel L. Webber (ed.), “Marriage and Death Notices from The South Carolina Weekly Gazette,” The South

Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XVIII, (Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins Co.,

1917), p. 147. John Berwick was brother to Simon Berwick. He was a member of the general assembly from Christ

Church Parrish and a commissioner of confiscated estates. His death was reported by the SC Weekly Gazette on

Friday, Feb. 6, 1784; Mabel L. Webber (ed.), “Josiah Smith’s Diary, 1780-1781,” The South Carolina Historical

and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XXXIII, (Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1932), p. 100. He was a

prisoner listed by the British as being on parole November 25, 1780.

34

Joseph W. Barnwell, “Garth Correspondence,” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol.

XXX, (Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1929), p. 225. Quote from magazine’s footnote: “Charles

Elliott born Aug. 17

th

, 1737. Married 1

st

, Jane Stanyarne; 2

nd

Ann. Ferguson. One of the unaminous (sic.) 26 who

approved the Massachusetts ‘factious’ letter, buried Jan. 18

th

, 1781.”

35

Henry A.M. Smith, “Historical Notes: The Grave of Col. William Washington,” The South Carolina Historical

and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XXXI, (Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1930), p. 20.

36

Mabel L. Webber (ed.), “Death Notices from the South Carolina and American General Gazette, and its

Continuation of the Royal Gazette,” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XVII,

(Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1916), p. 157.

37

Caroline T. Moore, Abtracts of the Wills of the State of South Carolina, 1760-1784, (Columbia, South Carolina:

The R.L. Bryan Co., 1969), pp. 333-334.

38

Albert Bruce Pruitt, Spartanburg County/District South Carolina: Deed Abstracts Books A-T 1785-1827 (1752-

1827), (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1988), p. 282.

39

Spartanburg County Register of Deeds, Book I, pp. 501-502.

40

Ibid.

52

41

“Dec. 13: Report on petition of William Wofford, ironmaster of Burke County,” 1786,

<http://mars.ah.dcr.state.nc.us>, North Carolina State Records. Handwritten petition as follows: “To the General

Assembly of the State of North Carolina, The Humble Petition of William Wofford of the Turkey-Cove, in Burke-

County, Iron-Master, Sheweth, That your Petitioner in the Month of March, in the Year of Our Lord 1780,

Purchased the (illegible) Turkey-Cove and the Land adjacent called the Slime-Kilns, at a Very high price, with an

intention to Breif (sic.) and Carry on a Compleat (sic.) Set of Iron-Works; being at that time in Partnership with

Gentlemen of the State of South-Carolina, who were very able, and had high Ideas of that Branch of Buisness (sic.).

But unfortunately, by the Reduction of Charlestown &c they are all dead, by which means, Together with your

Petitioner’s Own Iron-Works being burned down by the Enemy, and other (illegible) by the War, (illegible) you

Petitioner unable to Carry on that Expensive, but Useful Branch of Buisness (sic.); and the Purchase as aforesaid no

his chiefly Useless. Your Petitioner apprehends that the best means that he can now think of to Obtain Partners is to

Obtain a Quantity of Lands; and as the Taxes Consequently to defray the Expences (sic.) of the late Unatural (sic.)

War, must be Considerable, Your Petitioner is not able to pay the Taxes for such Barren and Useless lands to the

Citizens in General, as Your Petitioner does hereby Nominate That your Petitioner informs your Honourable (sic.)

Body that the lands he hereby Means to Pray for, for the Use aforesaid is not fit for Culture, and great Part of it

unacceptable by Rocks and Mountains. Threfore, Your petitioner Prays that You will Grant him Ten Thousand

Acres, or what Quantity you may see fit to Grant, Clear of Taxes as long as an Iron Works shall be kept up by Your

Petitioner or (illegible). Your Petitioner apprehends that a Grant Similar to what he hereby (illegible) prays for is of

no (illegible), or a Very inconsiderable one to the State; and if an Iron-Works should be there Erected, would be of

great benefit to the Publick (sic.) Individually; and be the means of bringing and dispersing Cash and Trade in our

Remote Parts. Therefore if your Honourable (sic.) Body Veiws (sic.) it in that Way of Usefulness, and that the

Granting such a Quanity of lands on such Conditions, will be but a Small Expence (sic.) to the State, which will be

overbalanced by the good to the Publick (sic.) &c. For any similar (sic.) Grant Your Petitioner, as in Duty Bound

will ever Pray. November the 24

th

, 1786. William Wofford.”

42

Dr. James L. Reid (ed.), Upper South Carolina Genealogy & History, Vol. XXI, No. 2 (Spartanburg, South

Carolina: The Piedmont Historical Society, 2007), p. 75.

43

Columbian Herald, July 14, 1788, p. 1, col. 2. Ad reads, emphasis theirs: “ALSO, One undivided moiety or half

share of a tract of Land, containing 300 acres, whereon William Woofford (sic.) formerly resided, and on which Iron

Works were erected, and in situated on both sides of Lawson’s fork of Pacolet river, including a large Shoal and

Mill Seat. ALSO, One undivided moiety or half share of Eight other Tracts of LAND in the vicinity of the aforesaid

Iron Works, viz. 1 Containing 450 acres, more or less; 2 Containing 650, more or less; 3 Containing 200, more or

less; 4 Containing 300, more or less; 5 Containing 400, more or less; 6 Containing 300, more or less; 7 Containing

150, more or less; 8 Containing 211, more or less. The titles and boundaries of each tract may be known at my

Office. Conditions and farther particulars will be declared at the Sale. At the same time and place will also be Sold

. . .”

44

John Drayton, A View of South-Carolina, as Respects Her Natural and Civil Concerns, (Charleston, South

Carolina: W.P. Young, 1802), p. 151. Quote from book: “In Spartanburgh (sic.) district, worked by the waters of

middle Tiger (sic.) River, a set of iron works on a smaller scale is situated, belonging to Messrs. William & Soliman

(sic.) Hill.”

45

The Carolina Spartan, June 14, 1855, Vol. 12, #16, p. 3, col.3. All the land and assets of the Bivingsville Cotton

Manufacturing Company (it occupied the area once Buffington’s Iron Works) was advertised for sale by the sheriff

on June 14, 1855. Included was the foundry and the machine shop; June 14, 1855, Vol. 12, #25, p. 3, col.3. John

Bomar (successful bidder) on August 16, 1855, advertised the property for rent. It included a “cupola furnace.”

46

The Carolina Spartan, November 4, 1858, Vol. 15, #37, pg. 3, col. 2; November 11, 1858, Vol. 15, #38, p. 3, col.

2; November 18, 1858, Vol. 15, #39, p. 3, col.3; November 25, Vol. 15, #40, p. 3, col. 1; December 2, 1858, Vol.

15, #41, p. 3, col. 3; and December 23, 1858, Vol. 15, #44, p. 3, col. 3. John Brooks ran the following advertisement

in The Carolina Spartan (emphasis theirs): “BIVINGSVILLE CUPOLA FURNACE, the subscriber has rented the

above establishment, and is now already for business. Machinery of all descriptions for Factories, Molases Mills,

53

&c, made to order. Particular attention will be given to fitting up machinery. I respectfully solicit a share of

patronage from my old friends in extending my business at the Furance. J. Brooks.”

47

J.D.B. DeBow, DeBow’s Review: Industrial Resources, Vol. VII, Nos. I & II, January/February 1862, p. 332,

http://books.google.com/books , (July 15, 2009). There appears a short overview of the inhabitants and resources of

the mill at Bivingsville operated by John Bomar. It mentions the Cupola Furnace. Quote from book, emphasis his:

“South Carolina. Spartanburg—The firm of John Bomar & Co. now own what was formerly called the Bivingsville

Cotton Manufacturing Establishment, of about one thousand five hundred spindles, twenty-six looms, wool-carding

machine, with all the necessary preparation; besides, a good machine shop, well fitted up with turning lathes (five in

number), cog cutter, plainer, upright drill, etc. also, grist and flouring mills, blacksmith shops, saw-mill, cupalo (sic.)

furnace, cotton gin, wheat thresher, a good grain farm, on about one thousand four hundred acres of land, well

improved in good buildings and operators’ houses—all forming a very pretty little village of about one hundred and

fifty inhabitants. This location is on Lawson’s Fork creek, a bold stream of the Packolet (sic.) river one and a half

miles from the Spartanburg and Union railroad, and six miles east of Spartanburg village. The water privilege is

hardly equaled in the state, having two very superior water-falls, in either of which the water, by a short canal, will

rise to an elevation of thirty to forty feet—all the buildings can be placed beyond the reach of high-water mark

(entirely safe). The upper water-fall is so formed by nature as to need no dam, and the water cannot by any

improvement on it be retarded from flowing down the stream in ten or twenty minutes at a time; the same may be

said of the lower shoal, they are about five or six hundred yards apart—water entirely sufficient to operate extensive

machinery, both in cotton and wool, each being at a separate place, very convenient to each other. These privileges,

if improved to their capability, are sufficient to turn off from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars

worth of goods per annum, and sustain a population of five to six hundred inhabitants. The sufficiency of these

would tell well for the people of the Southern Confederacy, but as it now stands the improvements are very limited,

and operation equally so, owing, in part, to the great difficulty of getting oil suitable (fine oils); also, card clothing

and other incidentals which are not made South, and we fear will, eventually, check our operations down to a low

figure. Winter strained sperm, parafine (sic.) and kerosene oils, are all that is about suitable—any oils that are fine

and clear of gum.”

48

Caveat: Endnotes #2 and #3 attribute the name of Lawson’s Fork Creek to Hugh or Roger Lawson. Most all

writers have naturally felt that Lawson’s Fork Creek was named for early settlers by the name of Lawson. That

honor has generally been placed on Roger and/or Hugh Lawson

—

previously set forth in these end notes. Most

claims were based on the two previously cited grants; and, an uncited petition ca. 1755 to the Government at North

Carolina seeking assistance against the Indians from inhabitants of this area. Roger Lawson and Hugh Lawson had

signed it. However, the claims are shaky

—

if not refuted by the following. My argument proceeds on the fact that to

date no other grants or transfers have been located associating Roger or Hugh Lawson with Lawson’s Fork Creek;

and, the plats for the grants they did receive no longer seem to exist. The “shucks” were empty when documents

were transferred from Anson County, NC to the NC State Archives. Those references cited previously in these

endnotes do not support the claim because: (1) Charles Moore received land in 1763 (SC Archives Series S213184,

Vol. 7, Pg. 307, Item 3). His plat is dated February 16, 1763 and places the land on Tyger Creek. To confuse

matters it states that the land is on Tyger Creek formerly called Lawson’s Creek. His neighbor is Roger Lawson. (2)

Hugh Lawson had a grant undated (File 937, Mars id. 12.14.27.926, NC Archives) locating land off Broad River on

a creek named Lawson’s Creek. However, Lawson’s Fork is off Pacolet River and Tyger River is off Broad River.

(3) It appears Hugh Lawson sold his land 4-21-1777 (N-5, 500-501, South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1783-1788,

Brent H. Holcomb, 1996). It is identified as a grant to Hugh Lawson 2-23-1754 consisting of 600 acres. At the time

of sale in 1777 it was bounded by Charles Moore and Roger Lawson. It is also identified as being on the south side

of Broad River on Lawson’s Creek, a branch of Tyger River. (4) Finally Roger Lawson of Halifax Dist. Ga. (Vol. 2,

Pg. 156-158, Mecklenburg County Deeds) sold 1,000 acres to Charles Moore. It is identified as Roger Lawson’s

grant of February 23, 1754. But we note that his original grant (There is a record of two; each are dated February 23,

1754. They each contain a word for word description, location, and metes and bounds. Secretary of State Land, Land

Grant Record Book, 1693-1960, S.108.160.3, Vol. 10, Pg. 40, Roger Lawson and Secretary of State, Land Grant

Record Book, 1693-1960, S.108.160.1, Book 1, Pg. 99, Roger Lawson) was only 600 acres. Acquisition of the extra

400 acres is not documented. It is identified as on Lawson’s Creek. The conclusion is Roger and Hugh Lawson were

centered around Tyger River not Pacolet River; or, Lawson’s Fork.

54