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A History of Londonborough Township, South Carolina
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In 1761, The Bounty Act was a
direct result of the French and Indian War (1756-1759 in the colonies) and
the Cherokee War (1760) in South Carolina. This Act provided cash money to
anyone who brought settlers to the "upcountry" area of South
Carolina - again, to serve as a deterrent against future Indian attacks on
the colony. Three new "townships"
were established as a result of the Bounty Act of 1761, much like the earlier
townships of 1730.
Once again, these three townships
did not survive into the modern era. The American Revolution brought about
the factions of Loyalists (Tories) and Freedom Fighters (Revolutionists), and
the many years of conflict during the war caused many of the new settlers to
pack up and move to other parts.
In 1765, Londonborough Township
was established and settled by 300 Swiss/Palatine immigrants, mostly German
and a good number of French-Swiss. This new township was located in what are
present-day Edgewood and McCormick Counties, straddling their common boundary
- certainly the new western frontier of the colony at that time, very close
to the Cherokee lower towns in northwestern South Carolina.
The 1768 District Court Act
established seven new districts, and the Londonborough Township was situated
in the newly-created Ninety-Six District. This place was also known as the Belfast Township (see
plat below), but few used that name and it was not found on many maps with
that name.
A group of Germans established a
settlement named Londonborough along Hard Labor Creek early in 1765. Minutes
of the Provincial Council list land grants to 56 persons, presumably heads of
families, but there are no records to show how many of them came here.
They were sometimes referred to as
Palatines from their native Rhine Valley region, the Palatinate, and also
were called "Dutch", a corruption of their own word,
"Deutsch," meaning German. The same designation was applied to
Pennsylvania "Dutch" and the "Dutch Fork" settlers in
central South Carolina - they were Germans too.
Our German pioneers were victims
of misfortune from the beginning, and their community, Londonborough, was
never a thriving one. Many left after only a few years to join older and more
prosperous German settlements in Newberry, Richland, and Orangeburg counties.
Names of those who remained, though not at their first settlement, include
Dorn, Durst (first recorded as Dorst), Strom (Strum or Straum), Clem,
Zimmerman, Flick and Swilling (Zwilling).
The initial promoter of the German
expedition was Colonel John Henry Christian de Stumpel, former Prussian army
officer. He persuaded several hundred (accounts vary as to number) German
Protestants to sell their property and emigrate to America, going by way of
London where he was to make arrangements for passage and grants of land.
Whatever his motive, good, visionary, or dishonest, Colonel de Stumpel failed
to get land grants, but collected all the money the Germans had and
disappeared, leaving them stranded in London.
Their plight is described in
"An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South
Carolina and Georgia," by Dr. Alexander Hewatt, published in London in
1779 and reprinted in 1836 in "Historical Collections of South
Carolina," compiled by B. R. Carroll.
Hewatt wrote that the Germans were
in London "without money, without friends, exposed in the open fields
and ready to perish through want a humane clergyman, who came from the same
country, took compassion on them and published their deplorable case in the
newspaper." Help came from "a great personage" (obviously, the
king) with "a bounty of three hundred pounds and tents from the
Tower." London citizens followed this example with medical attention and
food, plus money. "His majesty, sensible that his colony of the South
Carolina had not its proportion of white inhabitants, and having expressed a
particular attachment to it, signified his desire of transporting them to
that province," Hewatt added.
Two ships were engaged and fitted
but for the voyage. "A hundred and fifty stand of arms were ordered from
the Tower, and given them by his majesty for their defense, after their
arrival in America," Hewatt wrote. The October 1764 issue of Gentlemen's
Magazine, published in London, had this item: "The Palatines broke up
their camp in White Chapel Fields and embarked on board the ships appointed
to carry them
to the Carolinas."
Minutes of the Dec. 24, 1763
meeting of the Provincial Council in Charles Town carry the following:
"His Honor the Lieutenant Governor (William Bull) informed the Board
that he had this morning sent an Express to Patrick Calhoun to desire him to
proceed directly to the spot where the Dutch People were to be settled and
there to build a large Log House to shield them on there arrival from the
Inclemency of the Weather, That he expected Wagons in Town in about Ten days
to carry up their baggage, That he should write to Mr. Fairchild the Deputy
Surveyor to proceed with them and survey Lands for them and settle them on
them immediately, That they might avail themselves of the earliest
opportunity in raising there Hutts and there planting there Crops and several
of them attending they were Called in when they were sworn to their petitions
and also took the Oath of allegiance."
Then the minutes list 56 names and
allotments of land from 100 to 400 acres each. The route of the Germans and
their baggage wagons to their new home is not given. The council minutes for
Jan. 31, 1765 note that two Charles Town merchants, William Woodrop and
Andrew Cathcart, presented petitions for "bounty" due them "as
agents for the Committee in London for the relief of poor German protestants
lately arrived." Named in the minutes are 175 adults and children over
12, bounty of five pounds sterling apiece; 86 children between two and 12
years old, bounty of three pounds sterling each; and 45 names of persons who
died either aboard ship or after landing in Charles Town.
A township totaling about 25,000
acres was allotted to the Germans. Its name Londonborough honored the
colonists' benefactors. The occasional use of "Londonderry" for the
township is incorrect. The boundaries of Londonborough Township are not
clearly defined by modern landmarks. There seems to be some overlapping of
territory with the previously established townships of Hillsborough to the
south and Belfast to the west and northwest. It was relatively uncharted
territory and that could account for discrepancies.
The site of the Londonborough
settlement was south or southwest of Powder Spring, a mineral spring near
Hard Labor Creek on the J. A. Bannister place. A large, flat field stone on
that place was the step to the community log house, tradition has it, and if
so, it is the only physical trace remaining. The Germans may have built
"there Hutts" close together for protection and companionship, in
the way European villages were laid out, with cleared ground for crops and
pastures surrounding the settlement. That is only surmise, however, as no
records have been found.
Governor William Bull, in a letter
dated March 15, 1765, wrote to London authorities as follows:
"I have the honor to acquaint
your Lordships that in obedience to his majesty's command, the German
Protestants are settled together about 12 miles south of Ninety Six which
spot was pitched upon by the first party who went out of town as most
eligible on account of their security, having many English settlers on their
Frontiers, who are more accustomed to see Indians and know better how to
behave toward them. The land where the Germans are seated is good but not
quite so rich as that which lies more westerly; this they were informed of,
but for the reason above mentioned declined going there. I have given the
name of Londonborough to this settlement in honor of the gentlemen of the
city of London by whose liberal contributions after his majesty's great
example, these emigrants have been maintained and sent hither. I have
appointed militia officers out of their own body and one of them to be
Justice of the Peace, with a book compiled for the instruction for the
justices of this province. This I hope will preserve good order amongst them
and prevent those jealousies which strangers are apt to conceive of their
being unproperly treated by the English, until they understand our language
and laws. To encourage a military spirit and attachment to the English I gave
them a set of silk colored with the name of their township wrought thereon,
and recommended them to some of the best English in that neighbourhood for
instruction in agriculture of our climate tho, I put them as well as the
French Protestants of Hillsborough upon going well with their whole strength
next year upon raising hemp by giving to each township several bushels of
seed now and advising that they should prepare for a future staple of silk by
planting mulberries. The party who went up in January last had finished their
huts by the beginning of this month; as all of them would have done, if it
had been their good fortune to have had their baggage with or soon after
them."
Hard times came in a few months.
Peter Dorst (Durst) and Henrick Adolph went to Charles Town and petitioned
authorities for help, reporting that money and food had given would have to
be abandoned unless aid was provided. Governor Bull told them no help was
available, but he allowed them 30 pounds sterling as expenses for their trip.
Charitable neighbors likely gave
assistance, but the Germans were still, or again in difficulties in the
autumn of 1767, as indicated by a diary reference of T. Griffiths, an English
traveler. Griffiths wrote of stopping at "Coffe Creek (Cuffytown), a new
neighborhood; here the people were all sick." He also wrote that he
bought "some corn for my horse and potato bread and a fowl for
myself," so the people did have food.
Two years later, in 1769, Governor
Bull wrote a cheerful report, shown in this extract from his letter to the
London Board of Trade:
"They (the Germans) have
surmounted the difficulties which naturally attended all new settlers,
especially to strangers to the climate and language. By their industry they
now enjoy all such conveniences as are to be found with the humble state of life-comfortable
houses, orchards, plenty of provisions, stock of cattle, hogs, poultry,
horses for labor. They now raise more than they can consume and consequently
add to their capital. Some raise flour and some raise hemp. They are loyal
and very useful and orderly members of the community . . . "
An Episcopal missionary, the Rev.
Samuel Frederick Lucius, was in the area in 1770, and his report back to
Charleston was headed "Cuffee Town." Additional Germans had come in
1770 and may have settled near Cuffytown Creek rather than at Londonborough
which was near Hard Labor Creek. If there was a settlement called
"Cuffee Town," as Lucius' report indicates, it is one of our
"lost" communities. See the chapter on churches for quotes from
Lucius' report and information on the German Lutheran Church of St. George
eventually established on the Long Cane road, just above the Winterseat
bridge over Hard Labor Creek.
Even before the Revolution, some
of the Germans moved away from this area, and others spread out before and
after the war to lands along Cuffytown Creek in the vicinity of Kirksey and
Sleepy (Slippy) Creek in Edegfield County.
Some of the Germans served the
American side in the Revolution, but many remained loyal to the British or
tried to be neutral, thereby showing gratitude to King George and the London
businessmen who had enabled them to get to America. As with all the settlers,
the choice of sides was an individual matter.
The German colony, as such, did
not last long, but hundreds of descendants, like their forebears, have been
"very useful and orderly members of the community."
Nearly 200 years after the first
group of Palatines came, a marker was unveiled on November 1, 1964, beside
state highway 48, near Powder Spring. It commemorates the Londonborough settlement
and was erected by the Edgefield and Greenwood County Historical Societies.
The West German government through its embassy in Washington sent a color
guard to participate in the unveiling ceremony. Three flags were flown at the
scene - those of Germany, Great Britain and the United States of America.
From "Greenwood County
Sketches-Old Roads and Early Families," by Margaret Watson, The Attic
Press, 1970
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