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| "Something
about the people of Williamsburg County, South Carolina, from the First
Settlement by Europeans About 1705 until 1923" Chapter I - Before Williamsburg had a Name. "The territory in Southern North America claimed by the British at the beginning of the seventeenth century was called Virginia. In 1663, that portion South of the parallel of latitude 36° 33' was separated from Virginia and named Carolina in ;honor of Charles II, King of England. This territory however, had been designated Carolina by Charles I when he made in 1629 a grant of land to Sir Robert Keith. Charles II granted Carolina in 1663 to eight noblemen, known as Lords Proprietors. At that time, ther were a few scattered settlements along the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers, in what is now North Carolina, but none other in all the vast territory denominated Carolina |
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| Chapter III
- Original Settlers From 1735 to 1737, a great many settlers came to the new township on Black River and practically every acre of land had been taken up by these settlers within a year after the township had been surveyed. Every man settling here was granted a half acre town lot and fifty acres of land in the township for himself, his wife, and each one of his children. |
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| These are the names of the heads of families who had settled in Williamsburg Township up to 1737: Robert Allison, John Anderson, James Armstrong, David Arnett, James Adams, John Athel, John Ballentine, John Barnes, George Barr, Joseph Barry, John Basnett, Benjamin Bates, Matthew Bernard, Joseph Bignion, James Balkely, John Blakely, John Bliss, John Borland, Jonathan Bostwick, James Bradley, Thomas Brown, George Burrows, William Camp, William Campbell, William Cochran, John Connor, William Copeland, William Cooper, James Crawford, Thomas Dale, John Dick, Nathaniel Drew, Thomas Dial, Robert Ervin, Francis Finley, Robert Finley, James Fisher, John Fleming, John Frierson, William Frierson, Aaron Frierson, David Fulton, James Gamble, Roger Gibson, Gabriel Girrand , John Gotea, Roger Gordon, Francis Goddard, Hugh Graham, Hugh Green, George Green, Richard Hall, Thomas Hall, Archibald Hamilton, William Hamilton, Christopher Harvery, William Harvey, John Herron, George Hunter, Peter Hume, John James, William James, John Jamison, William Johnson, Joseph Johnson, David Johnson, Abraham Jordan, Samuel Kennedy, John Know, Crafton Kerwin, Richard Lake, John Lane, James Law, Patrick Lindsay, William Lowry, Richard Malone, John Matthews, Samuel Montgomery, Daniel Mooney, John Moore, William Morgan, Joseph Moody, John McCullough, Nathaniel McCullough, Daniel Murray, David McCants, John McCants, James McCauley, James McCutchen, James McClelland, Alexander McClinchy, William McCormick, William McKnight, John McElveen, Thomas McCrea, Alexander McCrea, William McDole, Hugh McGill, David McEwen, James McEwen, Andrew McClelland, James McGee, Edward McMahan, Matthew Nelson, John Nicholson, William Orr, James Pollard, John Porter, John Pressley, William Pressley, Edward Plowden, John Robinson, Joseph Rhodus, Andrew Rutledge, John Scott, James Scott, William Scott, James Smith Charles Starne, James Stuart, John Stubbs, John Sykes, William Syms, James Taylor, Willian Turbeville, William Troublefield, Matthew Vannalle, John Whitfield, William Williamson, Henry Williams, Anthony Williams, David Wilson, John Wilson, William Wilson, David Witherspoon, Gavin Witherspoon, James Witherspoon, John Withersopoon, Robert Witherspoon, Robert Wilson, and Robert Young. |
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| These original settlers in Williamsburg Township came from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and from the New England States, Pennsylvania & Virginia. They were all about the same class of men. They were people who had been non-conformists as to State-Church religion, and nearly all of their families had lost their property in the religious conflicts of the seventeenth century. The greater number of them had lived in Ireland for many years before coming to America. They had migrated from England and from Scotland to Ireland on account of fair promises on the part of the English King. These failing them, they sought refuge in America. |