Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter XIV Traditions From Col. John Covington 1897
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Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER XIV.
TRADITIONS FROM COL. JOHN COVINGTON.

  A chapter of traditions obtained from Colonel John Covington two months before
his death. The Colonel was a remarkable man, born in "Hebron, the garden spot of
the sacred soil of Marlboro," as he would characterize it, in the year 1801. He
lived a quiet, useful life among his own people, and when interrogated could
recall the names and deeds of many no longer known on earth. Never stout and
strong physically, his cheerful, hopeful spirits, his joyous, fun-loving
temperament, gave him a young heart in his old age. Although looking, waiting
for the call to join his loved ones gone before to the "shining shore," he was
not averse to telling of the men and women whom he knew in the days of his youth
as the companions of his sports. He was familiar with many of the traditions of
the old people which had been handed down from parent to child—traditions which
should be treasured by those now living, and in turn, handed down by them to
future generations. The daily newspaper was in those days unknown and the book
agent had not found his way to the homes of Hebron, for "Hebron" it was called
in the Colonel's boyhood. His old uncle, Nathan Thomas, "Gumfoot," as he was
nicknamed from his cork bottom shoe made to lengthen a leg broken by a fall from
his wagon, had, in the century past, given the beautiful section this name in
memory of the fair inheritance given the patriarch Caleb in reward for his
fidelity and valor.

  John, the grandfather of the Colonel, had won the affections of Elizabeth, the
daughter of Rev. Robert Thomas, and, leaving his five brothers in Richmond
county, North Carolina, had settled upon the north side of Little Pee Dee in
Robeson, North Carolina, and was building up a comfortable home when the
revolution came on. His sympathy with the patriot cause soon made him an object
of dislike to his loyalist neighbors, who stripped him of his means of living
and left him with nothing but his family. Leaving his wife and babies with her
friends, he sought his revenge in the ranks of the patriot army. When the war
ended, he settled upon a farm beside his brother-in-law, Nathan Thomas, upon the
plains of Hebron. His children were William, "Truss," Robert, Nancy, Polly and
Thomas. The last named married Miss Sallie Cook and left a numerous posterity.
Robert and Tristram seem to have died childless. Nancy married an Easterling and
Polly a Mr. Conner. William married Miss Mary Bridges, who had previously
married a Mr. Connor, and was the mother of Ira and Nancy, who became Mrs. Fred
McDaniel. The children of William Covington were John, Henry, Tristram, Nellie,
first wife of Lewis Spears, and the first wife of Daniel Parham, and the first
wife of Wm. Baggett.

  All the sons of Wm. Covington, who was a man of excellent character, were men
of more than ordinary prominence in the affairs of the country. Tristram, both
in his own conduct and in that of his sons, has commanded the respect and
confidence of his countrymen. He and his oldest son, James, have held positions
of trust and responsibility in county affairs. Henry was for a long time
successor to the Colonel in command of the Hebron company during "ante-bellum"
times. Harris, the only son of Capt. Henry, arose to a captaincy in the late
"war between the States." He was a lawyer of much prominence, and was considered
one of the most brilliant young men in the country. His friends ran him for a
seat in Congress after "reconstruction," and, while he received a large vote, he
was defeated by the solid colored majority. Gifted though he was, he died in the
prime of life, and his manly form sleeps in the same cemetery where lies so many
of Hebron's sons.

  John Bridges, the maternal grandfather of the Covingtons, came to Carolina
from the province of Maryland sometime before the Revolution, and was soon
followed by others of his family.

  Our friend, Col. Covington, remembered hearing Frank Bridges, a kinsman,
relate at a dinner party that when a boy he had enlisted in the army. Because of
his size and extreme youth General Marion kept him about his own person,
sometimes as a courier and sometimes as a cook, and that he it was who roasted
the "historic potatoes" that Marion set before the British officer. The family
of this Frank Bridges removed to Alabama in after years, and he is supposed to
have been the ancestor of the late Judge Bridges, of Alabama, who married a
daughter of David Bethea, elsewhere mentioned. John Bridges, tradition says,
left his wife and children behind when he started south in search of a better
country. When his eyes rested upon the beautiful, well-watered, fertile plains
of Hebron, he concluded that "the better land" was found. Being a good mechanic,
he went to work to build a house. He hired and sent a messenger back to Maryland
for his wife and children. Mrs. B. was, however, afraid to make the pilgrimage
with a stranger. How did she know that he was a "true man" and that her husband
had sent him? She declined to undertake the journey. The messenger insisted that
he was a "true man," and that Bridges had sent him. Finally the doubting wife
consented that if the messenger would return to Carolina, and take back to her
the horse that her husband had carried from Maryland, that she would know that
her husband had sent him and would believe that he was a "true man" and
willingly go with him. Back to the goodly land of Hebron the messenger came.
Bridges loved his wife and babes and could rely on the promise. The old Maryland
steed was saddled, and the messenger furnished with another horse, and across
two States he again pursued his way. When Mrs. Bridges saw the sleek old
charger, token of her husband's love, her scruples gave way to her devotion to
the man she loved, and mounting, she rode on horseback across two States to the
husband of her youth, bringing her two children with her to her new southern
home. "Heroines in that day"! Yes, and Rebeccas since the age of Abraham and
Isaac. Don't ask me why Bridges did not go himself. His grandson did not know.
He did say that Mollie, one of those little ones brought on horseback from
Maryland, grew up to womanhood and first gave her young affections to John
Stubbs, and after his death she became the fifth wife of John David, who had
already several children in his house. She carried three more and Eliza was born
in the forty-sixth year of her mother's life. Another daughter of Mr. Bridges,
Elizabeth, married Lewis Stubbs, the great-grandfather of our fellow citizens,
William, and Wyriott, and the late Albert Stubbs. Sallie, another daughter,
married Jonathan Cottingham, from whom the Hebron family of that name sprang.
Nancy became Mrs. Conner first and then Mrs. Covington, mother of the Colonel.
John Bridges, son of William, married a sister of Jonathan Cottingham, and
bargains of this sort have been so frequent among the good people of Hebron
until it is hard to find families not related to each other, and some of them
can scarcely tell what kin they are to each other.

  Another old resident of this community was Richard Edens. He was the father of
Allen, long known as a Methodist preacher, whose first wife was Miss Fuller, a
sister of the Henry Fuller of ginger-cake notoriety. They became the ancestors
of several well-known citizens of Marlboro in later years. Asa, Alfred, Henry,
who went into the late war as Captain of cavalry; Allen, a lieutenant of the
same company, and T. Nelson, Colonel of militia, a member of the Legislature of
the celebrated Wallace House. He was re-elected in 1878 and again in 1888. After
the death of his first wife, Reverend Edens married Mrs. Ann McDaniel, the
daughter of Nathan Thomas, who bore him two daughters, one of whom is the wife
of Alex. Heustiss.

  Jonathan Meekins was an early resident of this community. He lived and died at
the forks of the road, where Capt. J. T. Covington, who married a granddaughter
of Mr. Meekins, now resides. It is quite probable that Jonathan's parents lived
somewhere in this section, for a sister of his married the elder James Spears,
in 1777. Jonathan, like most of his neighbors, raised a large family, and
possessing large tracts of land, settled them around him. Their farms were noted
for their neat, beautiful buildings and fences. But amid the changes of time no
man of the name lives now upon the inheritance, although the blood of old
Jonathan yet tells in various families of other names. Philip P., of
Bennettsville, bears the marks and some of the characteristics of his worthy
ancestry. "A place for everything, and everything in its place." "System, order,
the law of life," were prevailing influences in that home from cellar to garret.



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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