[Extract from
Minutes of the Convention of the
Granges of Darlington County, at its
Session at Darlington Court House,
May 13th, 1874.]
Resolved, That the Committee on
Immigration be directed to prepare a
Pamphlet descriptive of the County and
its resources, for distribution among
the Granges of the other States of the
Union.
J. A. LAW,
President.
JOHN W. WILLIAMSON,
Secretary.
-----
DARLINGTON COUNTY,
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND HISTORY OF
SETTLEMENT.
Darlington County lies in the Eastern
portion of the State of South Carolina, and is a part of
the rich and extensive valley formed by the Great Pee
Dee and its tributaries.
The General
Assembly, in 1785, by what is known as the County Court
Act, divided the famous old Precinct of The Cheraws into
the three Counties of Chesterfield, Darlington, and
Marlborough. In 793, n the abolition of the County
Courts, these, as well as the other judicial divisions
of the State, received the name of the State, received
the name of Districts. The State Convention of 1868
declared that the judicial divisions of the State
should, thenceforth, be denominated Counties.
The County is
bounded on the Northeast by the Great Pee Dee River,
which separates it from the County of Marlborough;
Northwest by the County of Chesterfield, from which it
is divided in part by Cedar Creek; Southwest by Lynche's
Creek, separating it from the Counties of Sumter and
Kershaw; and Southwest by the County of Marion, and
Lynche's Creek separating it from the County of
Williamsburg. It is of a very compact shape --
approximating a square in form -- contains 576,000
acres, and is, on an average, thirty miles square.
Darlington and the
adjacent Counties lying along the Great Pee Dee, date
their settlement from 1737, when a Colony of Welsh, from
Pennsylvania, located on that River. To this Colony
were added, shortly afterwards, a number of English,
Scotch, and Irish families, some from Virginia, and many
directly from across the Atlantic. The people of the
Pee Dee Valley are justly proud of these first
settlers. Honest, energetic, intelligent, and
religious, the impress of their character is still
conspicuous in the country of their selection, despite
the many changes that have taken place, nd despite the
incoming of men of every nationality; their form of
Protestation -- the Baptist -- still dominates; and
among the prominent men of the valley their names have
still a large representation.
The Welsh selected
the Pee Dee Valley for the cultivation of hemp and flax,
but the great natural inducements to stock raising --
the extensive ranges the fine native grasses, the
abundant mass of the forests, and the immense
canebrakes along the streams -- directed their attention
to that more profitable business. Soon "Cheraw Bacon"
became famous in distant parts of the country, and
immense herds of cattle and horses were driven South to
Charleston, and North as far as Philadelphia.
About the year 1745
the fortunate discovery was made that Indigo grew
spontaneously in the Province, and was found almost
everywhere among the wild weeds of the forest. Seed was
imported from the West Indies, and soon the cultivation
of this plant was found to be the shortest and easiest
road to wealth. Stock raising still, though as a
subordinate industry, received attention; Lumber was
sent off in large quantities; Wheat, Corn, and Tobacco
were produced in abundance, and Tar, Pitch, and
Turpentine were among the exports. "Wealth poured in
upon the Colonists from a thousand channels. The
fertility of the soil generously repaid the labor of the
husbandman, making the poor to sing, and industry to
smile through every corner of the land. None were
indigent, but the idle and unfortunate. Personal
independence was fully within the reach of every man ho
was healthy and industrious."*
With the beginning
of the present century Indigo gave place to Cotton, as
the chief source of wealth, and with what result is
shown by the fact, that before the late war Darlington
was among the very wealthiest of the purely agricultural
Counties of the United States.
This brief history,
which cannot be gainsayed, is in itself a demonstration
of the wonderful agricultural resources of the County.
We see a country which, in its brief history of not much
over a century in duration, has presented to its people
three distinct industries, of a character so remarkably
profitable as to make to all, except the unfortunate or
the criminally inert, the road to wealth short and easy,
and to concentrage upn each, in its turn, to the neglect
of other occupations, the energies of the people,
physical and mental.
-------
*Ramsay's "History of the Revolution in
South Carolina," vol. 1, p. 7.
The
County has within its borders four
thriving villages: Darlington Court
House, Society Hill, Florence, and
Timmonsville.
Darlington Court House, the seat of
justice for the County, situated near
its centre, is a beautiful village
embowered in a grove of shapely and
majestic evergreen oaks, with a
population of between 900 and 1000.
Here the Court of Common Pleas and
General Sessions for the County holds,
annually a Spring, a Summer, and aq Fall
Session.
Society Hill, the oldest of the
villages, is situated in the Northeast
corner of the County, on high and
healthy sand hills, one mile from the
Great Pee Dee River. A good bridge
across the River connects the place with
the County of Marlborough, and makes it
the point of shipment, by River and
Railroad, of much of the produce of that
County. Society Hill had its origin, in
the need felt by the planters of the
River low lands for society and a
healthy residence, and still deserves
its name, its white inhabitants being
distinguished for refinement and
hospitality. It numbers between 500 and
600 inhabitants, is one of the loveliest
villages of the State, and unsurpassed
as a healthy and delightful place of
residence.
At
Florence, near the Southeastern border
of the County, three Railroads meet, one
of which, the Northeastern, has there
its workshops. Its population is in the
neighborhood of 1000. Florence is a
thrifty and enterprising little town, is
growing rapidly, and regards the future
with grand and not unreasonable
expectations.
Timmonsville, in the Southwestern part
of the County on the line of the
Wilmington, Columbia, and Augusta
Railroad, is a busy and hopeful village
of some six hundred inhabitants, having
a fertile and well settled country
around it, and shipping a large portion
of the produce of the County.
Other villages are springing up, the
most prominent among which is
Cartersville, a Station on the
Wilmington, Columbia, and Augusta
Railroad, in a mile of where the Road
crosses Lynche's Creek, and passes
beyond the limits of the County
|
Next: Rivers, Creeks,
Roads and Market Facilities, pages 8-12
Population --
Colored Element, pages 12-15
Religion --
Education, page 16
Soil --
Productions, page16-21
Minor Industries
and Resources -- Orchards -- Gardens -- Organizations of
Farmers, pages 21-26
Climate --
Health -- Invitation to Immigrants, pages 26-
