Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter XXXV Adamsville 1897
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Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER XXXV.
ADAMSVILLE.

  Adamsville township is not so named because all the people living within its
bounds are named Adams, but a goodly number do bear that name, and most of those
bearing the names of Newton, Fletcher and Gibson are related to the Adams family
either by blood or marriage; so that it is not inappropriate that the township
should take its name from the Adams family. The township lies in the
northeastern portion of the county and in every respect is a favored land. The
farmers in no section of Marlboro excel those of Adamsville in successful,
careful, remunerative farming. Nowhere are more comfortable dwellings and neater
out-buildings seen than in Adamsville. A large proportion of the land is under
cultivation and hence you can often have in sight several different farms, the
handsome dwellings, well-kept out-buildings, and fruit-laden orchards indicating
thrift and prosperity. By painstaking methods and the intensive system of
culture, the farmers of Adamsville have made themselves equal, if not superior
to any other section of the county, in successful, remunerative, "all-round
farming." Mr. John C. Fletcher, one of the young farmers of Adamsville, has just
been awarded a prize of one hundred dollars by the News and Courier for the best
"all-round farming" in the State of South Carolina for the year 1896, where the
contestants were allowed to produce "anything and everything that can be grown
or raised on a farm and consumed on a farm or sold for profit." The purpose of
the contest, as explained by the News and Courier, "was to prove that
diversified and all-round farming pays in South Carolina; to exhibit the proof,
and give public recognition to the farmer who makes the best showing." It is
quite complimentary to Adamsville, and especially so to John C. Fletcher, to
carry off the prize where all the farmers of the State might have been
contestants. It is to be hoped that his success in "diversified, all-round
farming," may be an incentive to others to adopt the same method pursued by him,
and thus bring prosperity to themselves and to the county.

  The plantation now owned by B. F. Moore, when purchased by his father, had
been "run down" by slipshod methods of farming till it produced only a few
"nubbins" per acre; and Wm. Moore was doubtless warned by his friends that
starvation would be his certain fate if he undertook to make a living on the
place. He not only made a living, but prospered, and "Ben Frank" is to-day
making as much cotton and fine corn per acre as any of his neighbors, and
constantly bringing his land up to a higher degree of cultivation. Capt.
Breeden's father, Lindsay Breeden, "in his day was considered a good farmer."
But it is, perhaps, safe to say, that Capt. Breeden on the same land cultivated
by his father, makes ten bales of cotton where his father produced one; and
other crops doubtless in the same proportion. For a continuous stretch of four
miles or more along the Bennettsville and Adamsville road the land is owned by
the Breeden family. Sheriff Green's plantation is included, but he married a
Breeden. On plantations embraced in that stretch Andrew and Wm. K. Breeden lived
and died. Their plantations were admirably and judiciously worked by them, and
now by their sons after them. Capt. Breeden, J. L. Breeden and T. J. Breeden,
while not residing in Adamsville, are partial to Adamsville dirt. The late James
B. Breerhn was a native of Adamsville. No man perhaps who has lived in the
county has had a more abiding faith in Marlboro land than he. He continually
bought land, but seldom sold it. When he purchased a plantation he immediately
built comfortable tenant houses, stocked it with mules and began to farm it at a
profit. While he was successful as a merchant, yet he had practically retired
from active mercantile pursuits, and at his death, March 3d, 1891,was devoting
his fine talent to farming on a very large scale. And he made it pay, for,
according to his own valuation, his estate was worth one hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars. He was among the first farmers, if not the very
first, to try the lavish use of fertilizers under crops. It must have paid him
or he would have discontinued it. Chief among the many plantations which he
owned when he died was the beautiful "Beauty Spot" plantation in Adamsville, a
large part of which is now owned by his nephew, J. Frank Breeden, who knows as
well how to work it as did his Uncle, James B.

  But there are other fine plantations in Adamsville besides those named. The
lack of time and space will forbid the mention of others. The truth is they are
nearly all fine and well worked, and the owners drive sleek, fat horses, plow
fine mules, kill fat hogs, and have barns filled with home-raised corn.

  This chapter would not be complete without a sketch of the Adams family.
Jonathan Adams, the first of the name to place his feet upon Marlboro soil, came
from Ireland prior to the Revolutionary War, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. He
married Miss Mary _____ and lived not far from the "burnt factory," a few miles
above Bennettsville. He fought through the Revolutionary War as a Whig, and
after the struggle had ended, and when within two days' march of home, sickened
and died. He left three sons, William, Shockley and John, to perpetual the name,
and a daughter, Divinity.

  William Adams was married four times. His wives were Mary Marine, Julia
Bullard, Elizabeth Gibson and Patsy Easterling. William and Mary Marine had
three sons, Jonathan, John P. and William, and three daughters, Bede, Hannah and
Mary. Jonathan married Mary Bright, and was the father of the venerable Rev.
Andrew Adams, a local preacher in the M. E. church who married Miss Margaret
Smith. Andrew Adams had several sisters who have married and left many
respectable representatives among the Fletchers, Gibsons, and others. John P.
married Julia Newton, sister of Rev. Cornelius Newton, and daughter of Younger
Newton, Sr. Their son, Jackson, also married a Newton, Miss Elizabeth. The
daughters of John P. married Newtons, Pates, etc. There are none of the Adams of
this branch living except a grandson, Archie Adams and his family. The only
surviving child of John P. is Mrs. Ann Pate, widow of Travis Pate, deceased, and
mother of John A. Pate. William (called "Branch Billie") of Adamsville, married
Sallie Newton and Sallie Fletcher, and Jonathan and Eb. are his sons. His
daughters married among their neighbors and kinfolk, Robertson married Miss
Betsey Fletcher and lived near Boykin church, of which church he was a
consistent member. His son lives at the old homestead. Shockley married Miss
Martha Fletcher, who left several children living in North Carolina. Shockley
belongs to the ministry of the M. E. church. Jephtha also married a Fletcher,
Miss Annie, making four brothers who went to the same house to get wives.
Jephtha's children are found in the communities of Gibson Station and McColl.
Wyatt Adams married Miss Nancy Leggett and lived in Robeson County, North
^Carolina. The daughters of William Adams, Sr., have descendants in Marlboro and
Richmond counties. The descendants of Shockley Adams, son of the first Jonathan,
are found among the Malloys and McIntyres, of Richmond County, North Carolina.
John Adams, son of Jonathan, and brother to William and Shockley just mentioned,
has descendants in Marlboro. His children were Welcome, Mrs. W. K. Breeden and
Mrs. Bethea, mother of B. F. and Welcome A. Moore.

  Robert Peele came from Wayne County, North Carolina, with Joshua Fletcher
about 1817. He married Mary, the daughter of William Adams. This couple had
sixteen children, and now they are so numerous one of the family remarked that
it would be impossible to count them. They are thrifty, industrious people and
have much force of character, and, being of Irish extraction, they have their
share of wit and humor, as well as intellect. They live in upper Marlboro and
lower Richmond. The Adams were formerly Quakers but now are mostly Methodists.


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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