Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter X Several Old Families 1897
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Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER X.
SEVERAL OLD FAMILIES.

  Another of these first comers to the Pee Dee was William Terrell, or, as the
name was first spelled, Tarell. Bishop Gregg says of this old settler, that "he
was the grandfather of the late Captain John Terrell, a worthy descendant of the
old Welsh stock, and one of the best men of his day and generation." Captain
Terrell's father was engaged in the public service before the Revolution, but
did not survive that period. The Captain married Ann, a daughter of Major Robert
Allison, a lady every way worthy of her excellent husband; and, as the Captain
used to tell it, "the Lord greatly enriched them by giving them ten daughters,"
and among the Rogers, the Douglas and Beatties, this honored pair have a number
of descendants in the county to-day, and many more in Darlington and neighboring
States. Many a deed of kindness done by this godly pair brings blessings upon
their memory, and "though dead, they yet speak, and in example live."

  The late Rev. James H. Thornwell, D. D., a native of Marlboro, was a grandson
of Samuel Terrell, a brother of Captain John Terrell's father. Miss Martha
Terrell, the mother of Dr. Thornwell, first married James Thornwell, an obscure
man, and after the birth of two sons he died. The widow was a woman of
remarkable intellect, but, left in penury, she was kindly aided in the care of
her charge by Captain Terrell, till she became the wife of Mr. Ananias Graham,
and the mother of two sons by tha [sic] marriage. Young Thornwell began early to
manifest a taste for books, and* was furnished with the means of attending such
schools as the country afforded by the efforts of his mother and Captain
Terrell, until the attention of such men as General Gillespie, of Marlboro, and
Mr. Robbins, of Cheraw, became so interested in his behalf, that he was fitted
for college, and enabled to complete the course and receive his diploma, and
from thence his career was onward and upward, until few men in the State have
attained higher position in the field of thought. No son of Marlboro has perhaps
been more gifted, and surely no money ever spent has been more worthily
bestowed, than that contributed to educate his splendid mind. The whole State of
South Carolina and the Presbyterian Church of the United States felt the blow
when the fires of his great intellect consumed his feeble frame, and he fell
with his armour bright in the zenith of his power and influence, when the
troubles of the country seemed most to need the wisdom of his counsel.

  A younger brother of the doctor, Charles A., for whom he felt a paternal sort
of interest, and whom he aided in educating in the South Carolina College (where
he was for a time a professor, and then the president), was also a man of
superior intellect. After his graduation he studied law, was admitted to the bar
in 1842, located at Bennettsville, married first a daughter of Meekin Townsend,
and directly took a prominent stand among such competitor as David, Dudley and
McQueen, and seemed destined to eminence in his chosen profession. In 1852 he
was elected a member of the House of Representatives, and re-elected in 1854.
After the birth of two sons Mrs. Thornwell died, and he married Miss Hood, and
seemed to have a brilliant career before him, but stricken down with disease, it
was but a few days and all was over. His only surviving son, J. H. Thornwell,
lives in the community yet.

  In connection with the education of Dr. Thornwell a name was mentioned which
has been long and favorably known among the people of Marlboro, that of General
Gillespie. The name as it first appears upon the old records is spelled Galespy.
In 1743 James Galespy, a man of enterprise and energy, from the north of
Ireland, made his "application to the Council for three hundred acres of land in
the Welsh Tract," claiming to have six persons in his family. It is likely that
he had been upon the Pee Dee for sometime before this, as tradition makes him
the first man who ever brought a boat to Cheraw; a business which he seems to
have followed in copartnership with General Gadsden, of Charleston, up to the
time of the Revolution. He married a Miss Young, and had two sons, Francis and
James. The former died young, but the latter lived to bear his full share in the
stormy period of the Revolution; and was active both as a soldier and civilian.
He settled on the east side of the river, on the place the family have ever
since continued to live. His wife was Miss Wilds, aunt of Judge Wilds, a woman
worthy of her husband. From this pair was born "Francis, Samuel and James, and
two daughters, Sarah and Mary." Of these three brothers, James, or Gen.
Gillespie, as he was called from the earliest recollection of our oldest people,
attained greatest prominence. Modest and unpretending, never pushing himself
forward, he was yet too generous and* patriotic to resist when his countrymen
called for his leadership; and would no more decline a place on one of the
boards of commissioners than a seat in the Legislature of the State; a position
to which he was three times elected by his loving people. In Church or in State,
at home or abroad, he was everywhere a pure-minded, consistent, good man.
Splendid specimen of the old style Carolina gentleman. In ripe old age, reverses
came—war, depredation, oppression, bereavement, losses, yet patiently and calmly
he reposed his trust in the Lord. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright,
for the end of that man is peace."

  About the year 1742 another name which had been prominent in the affairs of
the country first appeared among the settlers on the Pee Dee. In July of that
year, Thomas Ellerby, who came from Virginia five years earlier, obtained a
grant of land on the west side of the river, and was soon an extensive planter,
and owned many slaves. Another, John Ellerby, settled on the east side of the
river, but seems to have remained in the country but a short time. Thomas
Ellerby married Obedience Gillespie, had two sons, Thomas and William, from whom
the extensive connection is descended. The spelling of the name, it is said, was
changed to Ellerbe, by a schoolmaster to whom Thomas and William were sent soon
after their father's death. Both of these men became prominent in the affairs of
the country, and were ardent Whigs. The family has been more numerous in
Chesterfield than in Marlboro. But William E., a son of the William mentioned
above, married a Marlboro lady, Miss Ann Robinson; and from that pair, Col.
William T. was descended, than whom, for a time, no citizen of the district was
held in higher esteem. For six years a member of the lower House, and four years
in the State Senate; wealthy, liberal, successful as a planter—the people loved
and honored him, and were grieved when in the maturity of his powers he was cut
down. Our young fellow citizen, George Hersey, is a grand-nephew of this gifted
man.

  Another scion of this worthy name, John C. Ellerbe, came from Chesterfield and
captured a fair daughter of lower Marlboro, Maria Wickham, and took her to
Marion ; and the excellent family of that name in Marion came from that union.
The present Governor of South Carolina, Wm. H. Ellerbe, is one of the direct
descendants, and, like his ancestor, came to lower Marlboro, and captured one of
her fair daughters for his wife, Miss Rogers, a sister of Hon. T. I. Rogers, of
Bennettsville. In various quarters of the country the descendants of old Thomas
Ellerbe may be found ; and whether they take the name, or trace the lineage
through a daughter's veins, the splendid form,handsome features, high-toned
generous impulses of the ancestors yet characterize the descendants. The old
men, Thomas and William, were distinguished in the Revolution, the former
commanding a company, first in Kolb's regiment, and afterwards in Benton's of
Marion's brigade. So, in later times, when war demanded the service of the
strong and brave, the descendants of these old heroes were not found wanting.

  William Forniss, another of the old settlers, occupied a fine place in the
neighborhood of Dyer's Hill. He, too, was a zealous supporter of the cause of
Independence, too old to be a soldier, but helping with his influence and means.
His son, an active boy, was ready with his fleet steed to carry intelligence
from one point to another in time of peril. He afterwards became known as Major
James Forniss, and reared a large family at, or, near the old homestead. But all
have passed away; or live in the West. The Major married a Miss Irby, and his
daughter married M. L. Irby, and Miss Fannie Irby, of Bennettsville, is, so far
as the writer is informed, the last of the Forniss blood in Marlboro.

  Mention has been made of the Brownsville branch of the Irby family. The first
of this name was Charles, who came from Virginia about the middle of the last
century, and settled in upper Marlboro, married Mehitabel Kolb, and became a
prominent man. A son Charles lived and died in Brownsville. Elizabeth became the
wife of Philip Pledger; another daughter became Mrs. Forniss, and yet another
Mrs. Annie Lide ; while his other son, James, married Miss Wright, of Marlboro,
and from this pair has descended the present families found in the township of
Smithville. Charles Irby of this branch of the family, represented his native
district in the State Senate, about the time the war came on, and lived only a
few years after peace was restored. He never married. Elizabeth Irby, a daughter
of the first Charles, became the wife of William Pledger, and the mother of the
late Mrs. Joel Emanuel, and of Major P. W. Pledger, both of whom sleep at the
old family cemetery on the Irby place. The latter left no representative behind,
and the name is extinct in the county. But Mrs. Emanuel left a large number of
descendants to honor her memory.

  The Pledger name first appears in the annals of Welsh Neck as early as 1752;
when Philip Pledger came from Amelia County, Va., and settled in what is now
Marlboro County. His wife was a Miss Ellis, of Virginia. He had two sons, Joseph
and John, who, with their father, were active Whigs. There were also two
daughters, one of whom married James Hicks, and the other first married a Mr.
Fields, from whom the family of that name is descended through William Fields,
who was a Major in the State Troops in the war of 1812. After the death of
Fields the widow married William Terrell, father of that good man so long and
favorably known as Capt. John Terrell. The Pledger name is no longer known among
us, but in the Donaldsons, and others above mentioned, the honorable
characteristics of the family are yet perpetuated among us. In this connection
it is proper to make brief mention of the Hicks, who, for a number of years,
were prominent people in Marlboro. In 1746 George Hicks, a man of English
descent, came to Pee Dee and married a daughter of Philip James, the first
pastor of Welsh Neck, and from this pair has descended a numerous progeny, among
them the Harringtons, Kollocks, Donaldsons, and perhaps others. A part of the
plantation long known as the "McFarland Beauty Spot Place," and latterly the
property of the late J. B. Breeden, was formerly occupied by the Hicks family.
"The high old house," where Mrs. Hicks lived, and where Dr. Jones, one of the
first practicing physicians of Bennettsville, got his wife, is yet remembered by
the older people as standing not a half mile from where J. F. Breeden now lives.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF MARLBORO COUNTY,
WITH
TRADITIONS AND SKETCHES OF NUMEROUS FAMILIES.

REV. J. A. W. THOMAS, AUTHOR.

A wonderful stream is the river Time
  As it runs through the realms of tears 
With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme,
And a broader sweep and a surge sublime
  As it blends with the ocean of years.
                        —TENNYSON.

ATLANTA, GA.:
THE FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY,
Printers and Binders.
1897.


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