Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter XXVIII Blenheim 1897
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Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER XXVIII.
BLENHEIM.

  On August 13, 1704, the celebrated battle of Blenheim was won by the Duke of
Marlborough. This signal defeat proved fatal to the plans of Louis XIV. of
France, for the French and Bavarian army was almost annihilated in the battle.
The Duke of Marlborough, the hero of a hundred battles, was rewarded by his King
for the successful issue of the struggle. The manor and honor of Woodstock were
conferred on him by the King, and the Queen ordered that a palace should there
be built, to be called Blenheim, and there to-day in Blenheim Castle resides the
young Duke of Marlborough, who a year or so ago, came to this country and
persuaded (?) an American girl to return with him and act in the capacity of
Lady Marlborough.

  Blenheim, a little town lying seven miles south from Bennettsville, was named
in honor of the battle of Blenheim, or more properly speaking of the castle of
Blenheim. The late Donald Matheson saw the propriety of so naming it, and
suggested the name. He doubtless often wondered why the county seat of Marlboro
should have been called Bennettsville, instead of Blenheim, and when the
opportunity arose for having a Blenheim in Marlboro, he gladly embraced it. Mr.
Matheson was born in Alladale, Ross-shire, Scotland, July 19, 1810, and landed
in this country at Charleston, November 29, 1825. He remained there two years or
more, spent a year in Sumter, went from there to Marion, and from Marion came to
Marlboro. For a while he taught school, both in the Brownsville and Parnassus
neighborhoods; and for a few years was employed as a salesman by the Messrs.
Townsend near Parnassus, and afterwards by John McCollum at Bennettsville. He
married Miss Margaret McLeod, and settled first in Brownsville, but in a few
years moved to the place of his late residence near Blenheim. His death occurred
a few years ago. He was an intelligent, cultured gentleman, and good blood
coursed in his veins.

  For fifty years or more there has been a settlement at Blenheim. Several
wealthy planters who owned plantations near the river, built summer houses at
Mineral Spring, or Spring Hill (called by both names), where they resided during
the summer months. It being unhealthy on the river in the summer, they annually
moved out to the Spring for the double purpose of finding a healthy locality and
good cold water. Gen. John McQueen, Dr. Alexander McLeod, Samuel Sparks, and B.
N. Rogers, with their families, during the summer months, together with the
people living near by, made quite a pleasant, intelligent little community in
the years long gone by. The old people who formed that ante-bellum settlement
have all passed away, but their descendants and others have come upon the
ground, opened streets, built houses, and now have the town of Blenheim upon the
maps. The Mineral Spring, the pride of the town, was discovered by James Spears,
Sr., in the year 1781.

  A. J. Matheson, the merchant prince of the town, is a son of Donald Matheson
mentioned above.

  By indomitable energy and close attention to business, he has, while yet
comparatively a young man, amassed quite a snug fortune. He is the largest owner
of real estate in the county, and plants a larger number of acres in cotton, and
makes more bales than any man in the county. He also devotes a large share of
his time and attention to mercantile pursuits, and has been more largely
instrumental in building up the town of Blenheim than any other person. He was
the pioneer merchant of the place, and perhaps "builded better than he knew,"
when he established the first store there at the Cross-roads.

  The late F. B. Rogers shrewdly suspected that Blenheim would by a great point
for trade, and built a store on another corner of the cross, and bought the farm
of Geo. Dudley lying adjacent, as well as quite a number of other farms in the
community. Blenheim is a city of parsonages, three being located there, so that
preachers sometimes know how to appreciate a good thing when they see it.

  Forty years ago, living in the locality of Blenheim, and on both sides of the
creek, were a class of honest, honorable, intelligent and industrious men, who
did not cringe and beg the world for a living, but by hard and well-directed
licks made their own living. The McRaes, Jack and Philip; James Spears, and
Light Townsend, the father of John R., Mrs. T. E. Dudley, Mrs. John Irby, and
Mrs. W. F. Kinney, knew how to make money by farming. Major Drake, on some of
his broad acres, may have given his son, Z. J. Drake, valuable lessons in making
corn, which he used to advantage in his successful race against the world a few
years ago. The Major may not have thought it possible to make 250 bushels per
acre, but he doubtless made enough to keep his mules, sheep, hogs and negroes
all fat, and a surplus to sell besides. Daniel John taught his sons the
possibilities of the Marlboro soil, and they yet know how to make big crops of
big potatoes, heavy corn and heavy hogs, and plenty of cotton as a surplus crop.


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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