Laurens Co., SC – BOOKS

I found the following information in the Laurens Co., SC mailing list archives. It gives good book suggestions for finding information on the county.

“The Scrapbook, A Compilation of Historical Facts About Laurens County, South Carolina.” It was published by the Laurens County HistoricalSociety and the Laurens County Arts Council in 1982. It is a fairly large,hardback book with history, maps and families. Very interesting. I don’tremember what I paid for it; I believe in around $25.00. It might possiblystill can be purchased from the Historical Society. This can be found at Duke Library in Durham, NC.

One of the most useful books on LC history and places I’ve found is ” Laurens County Sketchbook” by Julian S. Bolick and Edna Riddle Foy, about 1973.

“Stoddard-Sudduth Papers” by Mary Sudduth Stoddard (privately printed, date unknown, prob. about 1960). This book has a lot of ancient gossip in it that’s simply not available anywhere else, and I wish this whole thing could be put on the Net somewhere. Gloria Forrester said that parts of the “Stoddard-Sudduth Papers”by Mary Sudduth Stoddard are already online. It is only a small portion ofthe original paper, but it is very interesting. Fortunately, Bob Burgesshas a portion of these on the Laurens County SC GenWeb Page at http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/4492/studdard.htm

Another very useful book is “Abstracts of Early Records of LaurensCounty, SC, 1785-1820,” compiled by Sara M Nash, privately printed about 1982. Miss Nash, a lifelong genealogical expert, painstakingly copied all these abstracts on her battered old manual typewriter and had this 600-page book bound from photocopies of her typed sheets. Her niece is in the process of re-typing the records. Miss Nash used to charge $22.50 for her copies but I don’t know what they are now. If you want more info, contact me and and I’ll pass along your inquiry to the niece who probably has any remaining copies. Please include your snail mail address as she’s not yet on the Net. I hope others will pick up on this thread and let us all know about books they’ve found useful, and where they might be available.

RIDDLE family, Laurens Co., SC

Yesterday I stayed home from work while recovering from a cold / flu that was passed around my family during our family vacation last week in GA. While I was on vacation, I scanned a bunch of my grandfather’s old family photos. I found the photo of the Riddle family and posted that online for folks to look at. Although I didn’t get much response (The Riddle family mailing list is not currently active), I did spend the day looking through census reports for the Riddle family in Laurens Co., SC. I noticed that we did not have very much information on the Riddle family and I wanted to fill in the gaps.

The oldest Riddle family member that I located in Laurens Co., SC was John Riddle. He was enumerated on the 1800 Laurens Co., SC census report and supposedly married to a Mary Higgins. There were two other Riddle men, William Riddle, who married Levy Cheek; and James Riddle who married Lydia; These two men are thought to be sons of John and Mary Riddle, however they are not in John’s will, presumably because they were older and probably had already received their share of John’s personal property.

William and Levy Cheek Riddle had a son, William Marion Riddle, b. 23 Feb 1836 in Laurens Co., SC. William Marion Riddle married Pernecy Moore and they had a son named Greenlee Riddle, born in 1873 in Laurens Co., SC. I found census reports for Greenlee from 1900-1920 and I lost him in 1930.

I’ve made contact with two other Riddle researchers and have been able to share information on my Riddle family via emails this week. One researcher shared information on the family of William Marion Riddle (1836) with me. This researcher is a descendant of William Marion Riddle’s son, Marion Frank Riddle (younger brother to my Greenlee Riddle). I sent him my descendancy report on 6/5/07.

Here is a brief History of Laurens Co., SC:

South Carolina was first formed in 1682 as “proprietary colonies” of Berkeley, Colleton, and Craven.
In 1769, 6 or 7 “Districts” were formed including the 96th District on the North Western corner of the state.
In 1785, 34 “counties” were established within these districts
In 1800, The “districts” of Washington, 96th, Pickney, Camden, and Cheraws were abolished and the existing 34 counties renamed to “Districts” in their place.
In 1868, The “districts” were reassigned as “Counties”

James WILLIAMS, 96th District, SC (con’t)

Another To Do:

1. Read Williams Graves’ “James Williams, An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry”; 2002.

2. Copy the following article which can be found at the NC Genealogy Library (or the Olivia Raney History Library – closed stacks): Madge C. Frink. “Colonel James Williams: A Sketch of a Patriot and the Events Leading to the Battle of King’s Mountain.” Daughter’s of the American Revolution Magazine 118 (1984): 644-6.

Update: I could not find this article by Madge C. Frink in volume 118. This source has been cited for other family pages, so this is kind of strange. I did find another volume with an article about James Williams, but MY LIBRARY IS MISSING THAT VOLUME.

Too bad I can’t remember where I saw this source cited. I guess I need to keep better blogs

James WILLIAMS, 96th District, SC

In my previous post, I mentioned that my ancestor, Henry Williams of Caswell Co., NC had a brother, Colonel James Williams of the 96th District, SC who died in the Revolutionary War. I received the book I ordered “James Williams: An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry” by William Graves in the mail this week to confirm this relationship. Graves’ book gives an excellent account of the life of Colonel James Williams and includes familial activities and history based on primary sources of letters, wills, estate, and court records.

The author of this book confirms that my ancestor, Henry Williams, was in deed the brother of Colonel James Williams and says that Colonel James Williams transferred much of his assets, including his slaves, to his brother’s house for safe keeping from the Tories shortly before he died (p. 25-27).

Details of his whole estate were recorded in both Caswell Co., NC and in the 96th District, SC. This was a great find. As a side, my ancestor, Henry Williams, was also a Colonel in the Revolutionary War; Henry Williams’ great-grandson, Iverson Lea Brooks later became a General in the War between the States.

To Do:

1. Copy the Will of James Williams from the Caswell Co., NC Will folders at the State Archives [If not located, look for will recorded in Caswell Co Will Book A, p. 113, December Court 1780]
2. Copy the estate files of James Williams from the loose papers in the estate of James in Caswell Co., NC at the State Archives
3. Go through and index the Land Grants issued the Williams family in Granville Co., NC before 1800. - Updated: A summary of Land Grants was posted here.

James Williams of the 96th District, South Carolina, con’t

WILLIAMS family (Caswell Co., NC)

Last week I combed through some more WILLIAMS family entries in Katherine Kerr Kendall’s Abstract of Caswell County, NC Will Books, 1777-1843 that is posted online at ancestry.com. I found some correlations between my Henry Williams and his brother James Williams. Henry Williams administered the estate of James Williams who wrote his will in 1780 in Caswell Co., NC, having sought refuge from his home town of 96th District, SC.
Evidently this James Williams was a pretty famous Colonel in the Revolutionary War. Colonel James Williams died at the battle of King’s Mountain, Oct 1780 and is buried in Gaffney, SC.
I ordered the book “James Williams: An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry” by William Graves hoping to learn more about his family to see if he really was a brother to my Henry Williams.