Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter XVII Recollections Of Alfred Parish 1897
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/sc/scfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 5, 2007, 12:31 pm

Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER XVII.
A CHAPTER OF TRADITIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. ALFRED PARISH.

  Mr. Parish* is one upon whose head rests the frosts of four-score winters, and
yet he is a man of remarkable vigor, both of body and mind, a man too, who for
this long period has maintained amongst his neighbors the standing of one of
solid worth. No man can call his word into question or impeach his honesty, he
being a lover of good order, and scorning everything tricky or mean.

*Since died.

  He has been three times married, and is the father of thirteen children, ten
of whom are living. His first wife was the daughter of William Spears, who was
the mother of John, Joel and Henry Parish, noted for their successful farming in
the Clio and Red Bluff regions. His second wife was Miss Mary McDaniel, and his
third wife was Ellen, a daughter of Daniel Parkham. His parents, Noel Parish and
Willie Lawrence, came to Marlboro from Granville county, N. C, in the early part
of the present century, and lived first at what is now known as the Ervin place,
two miles from Bennettsville. This ancient couple had five daughters who became
mothers to several Marlboro families. One of them, Nancy, married Conner
Cottingham, from whom sprang Andrew, Elkana and David. Mary married William
Bolton, a kinsman of Capt. Frank Bolton, who has so efficiently filled the
office of County Treasurer- and County Commissioner, and was a gallant soldier
in the late war, where he lost an arm. Lucy Parish married Mr. Bristow, the
father of the well-known family of that name, which has given to Marlboro two
Sheriffs and a clerk of long standing, and which is still an extensive family in
the country.

  A daughter of Mr. Bristow married Mr. Webster, the grandfather of William,
Robert and George. Four brothers of Mr. Parish, Milton, Willey, Caleb and David,
moved to Alabama many years ago. When Mr. Parish remembers the country first,
Toler McDaniel lived on the road leading from Beauty Spot to Cheraw. Near him
was Mrs. Parham with four sons, Avery, James, Lemuel and Wesley, and near the
Beauty Spot Fork was Joseph McDaniel. On Carter Branch was Col. W. G. Feagan,
and there his body rests. He was the son of the old schoolmaster, Neddy Feagan,
who is said to have taught three generations of young ideas under the old regime
oi "birch and brawn." There are a number of worthy people in the county who are
descended from this old schoolmaster, and many an old land-paper bears the lines
made by W. G. Feagan, "District Surveyor."

  On the hill on the east side of the creek, on the road from Bennettsville to
Hebron, lived Jonathan Cottingham, a brother to Conner, already mentioned, and
the father of a large family. In his house, and cared for by him, was an old
man, his father, Charles, whose body was the first interred in the Cottingham
graveyard on the west side of the creek. The late Charles Cottingham, the son of
Jonathan, an honest man and good citizen, was the father of most of those
bearing the name in Marlboro. James, the "old singing-master," and for many
years Major of the Lower Battalion of the 30th Regiment of Militia, moved to
North Carolina and was kille [sic] by Federal soldiers—a helpless old man, but
has descendants in Marlboro county.

  When Mr. Parish first recollects the Hebron community, the old men William
Bridges, William Covington, Nathan Thomas and Jonathan Meekins, were living in
quiet contentment upon their little farms—with abundant pasturage in the forest
and meadows, fish in the streams and ponds, deer and wild turkeys in the woods.
Now, immense fields of cotton and grain occupy the attention, and reward the
industry of a dense population of thrifty people. Mr. Parish thinks that the
Conners came from Maryland. He remembers a widow Conner who had a daugher, [sic]
that married William Spears, father of Lewis and Harris. After Conner's death
the widow married John Breeden, who had a son, Lindsay, by a former marriage,
and who was the father of our fellow citizens; Wm. K., James B., Peter L.,
Joseph L., Thomas, Andrew, and John L., deceased. After the marriage of the
widow Conner and the widower Breeden, a son, the late Major Aaron Breeden, was
born. Few families have attained to more prominence and thrift in business
circles than this one, the progenitor of which is remembered by Mr. Parish as he
lived in Adamsville. Nor has he forgotten how, in his boyhood days, he beheld
and tasted the sweet cider as it flowed from the press of old Mr. Breeden, an
attraction to the boys of the neighborhood. Upon one of the tributaries of
"Three Creeks" in the Beauty Spot section was Fuller's old mill, gone to decay
before Mr. Parish's time. But he remembered Henry, the husband of "Aunt Betsy,"
the maker of the historic "Fuller Cakes," which every old man can remember in
his boyhood, as sold from her "cart "on the courtyard and muster-field. Nor has
Marlboro ever seen any "ginger cake" since, that has equaled "Aunt Betsy's," has
been the verdict of the people for years.

  Near the old mill lived Shadrach Fuller, from whom Mrs. Crawford Easterling is
descended. A sister married John H. David, the father of Dr. W. J. David, and
another sister married James Stubbs, from whom D. C. Odom sprang. The mother of
Shadrach and his sisters was an aunt of Mr. Parish. She was Miss Lucy Parish
before she married.

  The McDaniel family seems to have been a numerous one, and to have
intermarried with some of their neighbors already mentioned. We find them in
different places, about a hundred years ago. In Beauty Spot were Thomas, Joseph,
and Mrs. James Cook, mother of the Bennettsville family, from whom descended
Mrs. Rachel Thomas and John B. In Hebron was George, with several sons, Wiliam,
[sic] Fred, and Thomas McDaniel. Some of the Brightsville Stubbs claim a
maternal descent from this name. Mr. Parish is connected with one, if not two
branches of the family, and if all have sprung from the same original stock, it
must have been one of the first upon the ground.

  There was one tradition our friend was not averse to telling. That two of his
father's brothers were soldiers in the patriot army while the family had their
home in North Carolina. Who shall blame him if he is "proud of that fact? "

  One other name was remembered by Mr. Parish as contributing a full share
toward the peopling and civilization of the country, Mr. John Murdock, living
near the Beauty Spot church. He had several sons, John, Andrew, James, David and
Alexander. Several were prominent men, but the name is now extinct. A number of
good people amongst us descended from the noble old Scotchman who sought to
train his children for honor and piety. The old home is yet occupied by his
descendants, children of Capt. McIntyre.


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.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/marlboro/history/1897/ahistory/chapterx25gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/scfiles/

File size: 7.8 Kb