xt7ngf0mw97z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7ngf0mw97z/data/mets.xml Oconee County, South Carolina South Carolina Historical Records Survey 1939 Prepared by the Historical Records Survey, Division of Women's and Professional Projects, Works Progress Administration; 133 pages: illustrations and maps, 27 cm; Includes bibliographical references and indexes; UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries; Call number Y 3.W 89/2:43/So8c/no.37 books English Columbia, South Carolina: Historical Records Survey This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. South Carolina Works Progress Administration Publications Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina, Number 37 Oconee County (Walhalla) text Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina, Number 37 Oconee County (Walhalla) 1939 1939 2015 true xt7ngf0mw97z section xt7ngf0mw97z \1T> w&Ȣw/gx: .,N.mMm
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INVENTORY OF COUNTY ARCHIVES
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
R >
2 g Prepared by r
g Tl i The Historical Records Survey
é E”§ Division of Professional and Service Projects
g g 2 Works Progress Administration
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_ Columbia, S. C.
i 1 The Historical Records Su vey
V _ June 1959 `
X I
_ i
:
R The Historical Records Survey I
Luther H. Evans, Director
John C. L. Andreassen, Regional Supervisor I
Anne K. Gregorie, State Director
Division of Professional and Service Projects I
Florence Kerr, Assistant Administrator 4.
Blanche M. Ralston, Chief Regional Supervisor
Margaret D. Davies, State Director
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION .
F. C. Harrington, Administrator A
V Malcolm J. Miller, Regional Director g
Lawrence M. Pinckney, State Administrator Q
·
· FOREWORD
C The Inventory of County Archives of South Carolina is one of a number
of bibliographies oT—historical materials prepared throughout the United
States by workers on the Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress
Administration. The publication herewith presented, an inventory of the
archives of Oconee County, is number 37 of the South Carolina series.
The Historical Records Survey was undertaken in the winter of 1935-36
for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy u empleyed histori-
ans, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers. In carrying out
this objective, the project was organized to compile inventories of histori-
cal materials, particularly the unpublished government docu ents and rec-
A ords which are basic in the administration of local government, and which
provide invaluable data for students of political, economic, and social his-
tory. The archival guide herewith presented is intended to meet the re-
. ` quirements of day-to-day administration by the officials of the county,and
also the needs of lawyers, business men and other citizens who require
facts from the public records for the proper conduct of their affairs. The
volu e is so designed that it can be used by the historian in his research
in unprinted sou ces in the same way he uses the library card catalog for
printed sources.
The inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey attempt to
do more than give merely a list of records - they attempt further to sketch
in the historical background of the county or other u it of government, and
to describe precisely and in detail the organization and functions of the
. government agencies whose records they list. The ceu ty, town, and other
local inventories for the entire countqywill, when completed, constitute an
encyclopedia of local government as well as a bibliography of local archives.
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records Survey,
even in a single county, would not be possible without the support of the
, public officials, historical and legal specialists, and many other groups
in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged. -
The Survey was organized and has been directed by Luther H. Evans, and
l operates as a nation-wide project in the Division of Professional and Ser-
vice Prejects, of which Mrs. Florence Kerr, Assistant Administrator, is in
charge.
; _ F. C. HARRINGTON
Administrator
Q 4
V PREFACE
_ The Historical Records Survey·was begun on a nationewide scale as part
* of the.Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, and
became in October 1956 an independent part of Federal Project No. l. Under
the national leadership of Luther H. Evans, formerly of Princeton, the Sur-
vey has inventoried state, county, city, church, and, to a limited extent,
private records. At present, it is preparing for publication in a condensed
form, descriptive lists of public records of the local units of government.
In each state the counties are nu bered in alphabetical order, and treated
as separate units, each with an introductory section giving the historical
background and a description of the present government and records system.
All records are organized under the office of origin, which is carefully de-
scribed as to history, functions, and required records. Each type of record
is given a nu bered entry showing the comprehensive dates for which it is ex-
tant, the quantity, an interpretation of contents, and details as to nature
of recording, indexing and location. State, municipal, church, and other
records will be described in separate publications. _
The Historical Records Survey was begun in South Carolina on March 1,
1956. From the beginning it has had the active aid and cooperation of the
University of South Carolina, through Professor Robert L. Meriwether, head
of the department of history. Acknowledgments are also gratefully accorded
the officials of the Works Progress Administration, in particular Mrs. M. D.
Davies, director of the Division of Professional and Service Projects, for
splendid support and cooperation. _
The Oconee unit was opened on May l8, 1956, by Marvin M. Smith, of Wal—
halla. On May 25, Frances Walker,of Westminster, was assigned to the unit,
and Mr. Smith was transferred to the state staff in Columbia for state-wide
field work. Miss Walker completed the survey of county records on Ju e 18,
and in August was transferred to Columbia to specialize on church records.
The legal and historical research and the preparation of introductory essays
are the work of the state office; the pattern of the inventory is the work
of the national office of the Survey. The first draft of the inventory was
checked from the records by Mr. Smith in November 1957; and was spot checked
in February 1959, by Fred A. Wood of Anderson, who added the records for the
Board of Public Welfare and the Soil Conservation Board. The final draft
was typed by Florence Worthy; essays, citations, and entries were checked by
Vivian Barnette, who also drew the floor plans and did most of the mimeo-
graphing; illustrations were cut by Paul Jordan and Sallie Hester; the index
was prepared by Lena Lanning; Mrs. Willah Brown proof read the stencils of
the text, which were cut by Sallie Hester.
The fortyesix separate volumes of the Inventory of Cou ty Archives of
South Carolina will be issued in mimeographed form foY_free EIS£T15U£1OH—¥b
state and local public officials and to a selected group of public and insti-
tutional libraries. Requests for information should be addressed to the date
director, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
April 24, 1959 _ Anne K. Gregorio ,
State Director i
, Historical Records Survey 4
. _l_
_ TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Oconee County and its Record System. Page
l. Historical Sketch. ...........................~................ 5
2. Governmental Organizations and Records System., ...... ......... ll
Development of Cop ty Government. Status
of the Cou ty. Present Government in
Oconee County. Records System.
5. Housing,—Gare, and Accessibility of the Records..... .... ...... I6
4. Abbreviations, Symbols, and Explanatory Notes ...... ........... 25
B. County Offices and Their Records
I. Legislative Delegation ....... . ............................ .... 27
II. Supervisor and Advisory Board. .... . .......... .. .... ........... 28
Minutes and Reports. Claims and`Warrants.
Miscellaneous. Correspondence.
III. Clerk of Court as Register of Mesne Conveyance .... ....... ..... 35
Real Property: Deeds and Plats; Mortgages.
Personal Property. Statutory Liens. Attach~
ments. Business Registrations. Official
Bonds. Miscellaneous.
IV. Commissioner of Location (defunct). .... .. ....... .......... .... 4O
vi COur·b•l|IOlIII•|OlOIlIODIOICOOIUOIOIOIt•llIOl|I•I|I|I
Cou ty Officers and Licensees. Business
Registrations. Accounts and Receipts. Motor
Registrations. Military Records. Pensions.
Liquor Records. Voters and Elections, Bond
Issues. Reports. Vital Statistics.
VI. Circuit Court of General Sessions ........... . ............... .. 48
Sessions Papers. Calendars. Hhnutes.
Records of Clemency. Reports. Jurors. Fines
and Forfeitures. Warrants.
VII. SO]-icilborlllIlllllUOUOQIDOIOIIIIIOOOBUIIIIIIIIIIOIOOOO
JurylOi|lIlIIllIDIOIIIIOQCI|Ii0lOO||tI|lIOIIIIIOIQIIIIII
IX. Board of Jury Commissioners.................. ..... ............ 55
(
4
- 2 ..
_ Table of Contents §
I
f Page g
_ X. Circuit Court of Common Pleas. ......... .................. .... 55 V5 v
' Judgments. Dockets. Initiatory Pro- g. X
p ceedings. Legal Notices. Attachments,
Injunctions, and Bonds. Minutes. Estate A
Records. Naturalization. Estrays.
XI! m·St€r¤••|||I|•IOIIIOOIIIDOIIIOOOOIIOIIIOIOIIIIIIIUIIIUOOIIII .
Special Referee.
mq (dSflmct)IOI|II||lIII••I•I|IllIIlIII|lI•iII|II•||
XIII. Judge of Probate.... ...... " ....... . ........ ..... .............. 65 E
Transmission of Property; Papers of Record
and Indexes; Transcripts. Accounts. Court
Procedure. Lunacy. Marriages. Pensions. ;
Liquor Permits. Fees. I )
XIV. Magistrates .......... ........ .... . ....... . ................. .. 72 F
XV! SheriflflllltIOOIIIIIOOIIOOOIIOOIIIOIIOOIIIIOIOOQI•IIIIII\IIIO
POliC€mOYI•••••••••»»•••••·••••¤•••••••••••••»••••••••••
XVII. Coroner ..................................................... . 76
XVIII. Auditor ................................................. . .... 78
Tax Records. Financial Records. Discon-
tinued Records. Administrative Records. Z
EqualizationtlllllllOIOIOIOIIUUIIDIIIOIIQIIIIIO||IO•
XX. Treasurer ....................... _ ......................... .... 84 ‘
Tax Records. General Cou ty Accounts.
School Accounts. Settlement Records. 7
Miscellaneous Reports and Correspondence.
I I N I I I I I I • I I O I I I I I I O I I I O O I I I D O I O I I |
XXII. Superintendent and Board of Education........................ 90
Minutes and Reports. Financial Records. _
Teachers and Trustees. School Children.
Correspondence.
| I • I O Q | I O O I O O I O I I I I O I Q I I O O O I I
XXIV. Board of Advisors to the Comptroller.. .... ..... ..... ......... 95
. COmPJGrO1lQr|•|IIlII|•|•O•II|III••OIOOIOIIIOIIIIIOIOOII
County Records. School Records. Sinking
I Fund Commission and Bond Records.
| Ragistrationa••••¤•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• _'
%_
3;. V ll *_` "”’*"`”"`““""
Q Table of Contents U
it I Page
; G XXVII. Commissioners of E1eotion........ ......... . .......... ......... 99
i XXVIII. Democratic County Com ittee..... ................. .. ..... ...... 99 A
(d·9f\mct)I•l••IIOO|O|lIllllllll IOIUIQQIOO
XXX. County Board of Public We1fare..... ........... _ ..... . ........ ..1OO
Case Records. Administrative Records.
XXXI. Board of Honor............ ...... ...... ...... . .... .............lO3
Unit•••••••••••¤••¤••••••••»••••·•·••••.••••••••••¤••••].O4
Reports. Examinations and Treatments.
Child Health. Midwife Records. Ac-
counts and Correspondence.
XXXIII. Farm and Home Extension Service ........................... ....106
` BoardlltlllllillDOlIC!IlII|•I•|lQlIIC|IIQOQIIO7
Oconee County Officials...... ............. . ........... ... ..... 110
First Report of County Com issioners ..... . .......... . .... .....112
Bibliography... .... . ...................... . ......... ... .... ...113
Index
Chronological;••Q•••••l•|i•I|•¤til•••lUIIOQOOIO•••|•¤|||OI||1l5
AlphabeticalllttUnllIlI|IlOlI••I•ItIbl•||lI§II•·•|OC||lIIIOQ\]·l7
_ It ‘ Illustrations M_
W Oconee County Courthouse ........ . ............ ..... frontispiece
Map of Circuit Court Districts, 1769... .............. ..;.... 4
Map of Counties and Circuit Court Districts,
I A` 1791-QgbllllIIIQIQIIOIIIOOQIO 6
Map of Circuit Court Districts, 1800........................ 8
Map of Counties, l86S............... ......... . ....... ....... 10
Chart of County Government............ .................. .... 15
Floor Plan of Courthouse and Office Building..... ....... .... 17
Map of Oconee County..... ............... . ............ . ...... 26
Map of Cou ties, 1939, showing year of origin...............g§§
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éi 1. HISTORICAL SKETCH
The first white men to enter the area new called Oconee County is sup-
posed te have been DeSoto, who, in 1540, on his expedition to the Mississip-
· pi, is said to have crossed the southern part of the county in the vicinity
l of the present community of Fair Play near the Georgia state line.
The name of the county is of Indian origin, and is said to have been
g bestowed by refugee Creek Indians from Mexico, whose town Uk-oo-na was on
· Q Cane Creek near Seneca (J. W) Daniel, "Seneoa", in M. C. Doyle, Historic
Q Oconee, n. p., 1955, p. 9). It has also been suggested that Oconee may have
I beehfderived from Wocunny, a name of the Cherokee Indians (D. D. Wallace,
E History of South Carolina, N. Y., 1954, I, 448), whose lower settlements
were within the limits of the present county for more than a century after
= the English settled at Charleston.
The oldest building in the county, Oconee Station, a stone edifice
near Walhalla, is said to have been erected as a military post at the time
of the French and Indian War, when Li:utonantColoncl Archibald Montgomerie,
with 1200 Highlanders and 550 Carolinians, brought fire and sword to the
Cherokee villages. When the Indian bou dary was fixed in 1762, the Cherokee
\\<\ remained in possession, and they held the country u til, during the Revolu-
;;> tion, their crushing defeat in 1777 was followed by expulsion.
q The evacuated area was officially barred to settlement until the end
f_q of the war and reserved as bounty lands for faithful soldiers of the Revo-
lution. Because vagrants gave little heed to this law, the region was at-
tached to Ninety Six District, whose justices of the peace were given full
jurisdiction. (sim;. iv, 411.)
When legal settlement began after the Revolution, several of the resi-
dents of Abbeville received grants. Notable among these was General Andrew
Pickens, a partisan leader of the Revolution, as well as an Indian fighter
and treaty maker, who settled homes for himself at Hopewell and at Tamassee.
General Robert Anderson, his friend, settled Westville Plantation on the
Seneca River. Daniel Boone and "Horse Shoe" Robinson are said to have been
among the pioneers in the region. Another famous character was corpulent
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland,(Doyle, Historic Oconee, passim.]
The Cherokee Indians ceded the last remnants of their lands in north-
western corner of the present cou ty by the Treaty of Washington in 1816,
and left the state the following year (Wallace, History of S. C., II, 559).
As the courthouse at Abbeville was too far away for the settlers on
the Keowee, the area was set off in 1789 as Pendleton County of Ninety Six
M District, with provision for a local county court (Stat. VII, 255).
Two years later, Ninety Six District was divided and Pendleton became
a county of the new Washington District (Stat. VII, 262). The Washington
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Y For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 25-25. i
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Q Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 50)
District courthouse and jail were located two miles below the present town
of Easley in what is now Pickens Cou ty, on the lands conveyed to the com-
missioners by General Charles Coatsworth Pinckney (Stat. V, 210); and the
village which resulted was called Pickensville. At¢th€ close of the same
» year L 1500 was appropriated for the building of county courthouses and
jails in Washington District (Stat. V, 191).
As a subdivision both of Ninety Six and Washington Districts, Pendle-
ton County functioned as a sort of magisterial district, with a court of
record presided over by Robert Anderson, Andrew Pickens, and Benjamin
Cleveland, justices of the peace and of the quoru , who sat in regular,
sessions to administer local government. As an election district, Pendle-
ton County was represented in the general assembly by one senator and three
representatives, elected at the courthouse, for the first time on the first .
Monday and Tuesday in May, 1790, and thereafter at the regular elections
(Stat. V, 105). Washington District ceased to exist on January 1, 1800,
aHd—Pend1eton County became Pendleton District (Stat. VII, 284). The new
> district courthouse and jail were built at Pendleton village.
. A generation later Pendleton District was divided into two counties,
Anderson and Pickens (1826, Stat. VI, 289). The next year, on December 19,
1827, an act directed that after the 2nd Monday in October 1828, Pickens
County should become Pickens District (Stat. VI, 541). This new district
included the present county of Oconee fbrrihrty years, with the courthouse
and jail at what is now called Old Pickens, on the west of the Keowee River.
’_ After the fall of the Confederacy, Pickens District was divided into
Oconee and Pickens Counties "by a line leaving the southern bou dary of
2 the State of North Carolina where the White Water River enters this State,
T and thence down the center of said river, by whatever names known,to
{ Ravene1's Bridge, on Seneca River, and thence along the center of the road
d leading to Pendleton Village, u til it intersects the line of the county
§ of Anderson ".the territory lying west of said line to form Oconee County“
5 l (Const. 1868, art. ll, 5). The boundary with Pickens was changed by con-
3 stitutional amendment in 1875 to substitute the Toxaway River for the
g White Water (Stat. XV, 494, 1014); it was defined in 1917 (Stat. XXX, 164);
_ and slightly altered in 1925 (Stat. XXXIII, 257). The state line on the
E _ Georgia boundary was fixed by tHE—Convention of Beaufort in 1787 (Wallace,
3 History of S. C., II, 558). Part of the northern boundary of the cou ty is
t J the North Carolina state line. Oconee, therefore, is bounded by states
5 » on all sides except the east and southeast; and it touches only two South
E Carolina counties, Pickens and Anderson.
F
E . The first delegation to the general assembly from Oconee consisted of
F — D. Bieman as senator, and O. H. Doyle and William C. Keith as representa-
3 tives. A special election for county officers was set for June 2 and 5,
i 1868. The directory of county officers, published in 1869, gave the fol-
§ lowing: clerk of court, J. W. Stribling; judge of probate, Richard Lewis; ·
’ sheriff, J. H. Robins; auditor, L. B, Johnson; treasurer, David Sanders; °
school com issioner, Richard S. Porcher; county commissioners, James {
W For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 25-25
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( Zachary as chairman, A. Lay and W. R. Davis; coroner, J. W} Holleman.
Qi (Keowee Courier, Walhalla, S. C., May 29, 1868; Jan. 22, 1869.)
§ The special commission named by constitutional ordinance (Stat. XIV,
i 291) for locating the county seat included Wesley Pitchford, W. E. Holcombe,
°§ Bry Fretwell, W) E. Mitchel, and Dr. 0. M. Doyle (Keowee Courier, Pickens,
g C. H., S. C., Feb. 8, 1868). They chose Walhalla, "Garden of the Gods", a
i' centrally located town, spaciously laid out in 1849 by John A. Wagoner, of
E the German Colonization Society of Charleston (Wallace, History of S. C.,
Q III, 5). The beautiful public square was selected as the site for the court-
h house and jail, with the understanding that the expense of these would bc
* borne by the citizens by private subscription (Keowee Courier, May 29, 1868).
At first it was planned to remove here the old Pickens District courthouse.
’ But in the spring of 1869 the contract was let to Reid and Wilson, contrac-
tors, for a new, two-story brick courthouse and a jail of wood, to be com-
· pleted by March 1, 1870. The plan and dimensions of the new courthouse were
* practically the same as those of the one at Old Pickens, which "every Judge
} pronou ced the most convenient and best arranged court house in the State",
Q with a passage lengthwise of the ground floor, and three offices on one side
D 1 and four on the other. (Ibid., May 2, September 17, 1869.)
The first court convened on Monday, March 8, 1869, Judge James L. Orr
~ ( presiding, in the new building of the Lutheran college (founded 1856, now
Newberry College) on what is now College Street, two blocks east of the pros-
' ent courthouse (Keowee Courier, Mar. 12, 1869).
In August it was announced that the first ground had been broken. for
the courthouse, but construction did not begin until September 1869. Never-
theless the building was sufficiently complete to be used for the November
term of court. (Keowee Courier, Aug. 15, Sept. 17, Nov. 5, 1869.)
‘ The present courthouse is the same that was completed in 1869. The
l large courtroom on the second floor, 60* x 40*, is said to have been reached
» by·a handsome single flight of iron stairsffrom the courthouse at Old Pick-
V ens) u til they were replaced with the present utilitarian double flight of
¤0¤crete steps. In 1902 a new jail was erected and the courthouse was re-
modeled through a loan of $12,000 from the state sinking fund commission
‘ (Stat. XXIII, 861, 1207, 1249). The cou ty offices were on the grou d floor
7 of the courthouse and in adjacent buildings until the need for space was re-
. lieved in 1955 by the erection of the commodious granite office building at
V the rear of the courthouse.
Oconee Cou ty lies in the mountainous northwestern extremity of the
` state. It has an area of 650 square miles and a population of 55,565, al-
most entirely of the white race. Agriculture is still the predominant inter-
, est but the availability of abu dant hydro-electric power is developing the
textile industry..Nantahala Forest covers 40,000 acres of the 200 square
miles of mountain lands, and abounds in wild life. Since July 1956 it has
‘ been part of Sumter National Forest, Oconee Division. Gold and copper veins
’ have been mined. (South Carolina, a hand book, Columbia, 1927, p. 555.)
T 4
Q For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 25-25 L
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;f@ 2. GOVERNMEETAL ORGANIZATION AND RECORDS SYSTEM
Ky Development of Cou ty Government V
U
§Qg The tribal government of the Cherokee Indians held sway over the area
EQ now comprised in modern Oconee County until after the Revolution. Immedi-
Q~ ately preceding that war, the English Government had established a sort of
JW consular service among the various Indian tribes, through white Indian agents,
i who fostered trade and attempted to build up friendly relations. The series
3 of Indian treaties for land cessions brought in their train the complicated
{ English laws for land titles; and, with the granting of vacant land to set-
Vi tlers, the justices of the peace came in as the first exponents of local
J government.
3*
? The enlarged jurisdiction of the justices of the peace as members of
, the Pendleton county court of l789, made them not only the judicial body
jr but also the administrative unit for road work, care of the poor, and tax
Qi assessments for the county (Stat. VII, 2ll-42), until they were replaced
two years later by three cou£E§7ceurt judges (Stat. VII, 266). In 1799 the
` county courts were abolished, and Pendleton District as a circuit law court
unit was erected within the limits of the dofu ct Pendleton County (Stat.
1 vii, 284)..
:5 i Under the constitution of 1790, the circuit law court districts, 1800-
Y§ 1868, were merely u its for the administration of justice under the com on
§ law. The local officials were the sheriff, the coroner, the clerk of court
§ (who also served as register of mesne conveyance and later as commissioner
° of location), the ordinary, and the justices of the peace and of the quorum.
‘¥ These were state officers paid by a fee system. Equity circuits were entire-
Q- ly separate, Election districts also were separate. Finance was handled by
Q* the state in a single appropriation act each year.
gi Since Pendleton District of 1800 and Pickens Districtof 1827, of which
%» Oconee was then a part, were merely judicial units, without district-wide fi-
; nanc