Commentary of Civil War and Reconstruction

Historical context is so important to our understanding our ancestors and the world in which they lived.....
So, now I will speak briefly about the Civil War and Reconstruction, and how our folks in Marlboro reacted to events thrust upon them during this period.
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South Carolina, especially Charleston, was the hotbed of the secessionist movement.  When Lincoln was elected in 1860, his victory was the last straw, and the impetus for SC to be the 1st state to secede from the Union.  By the 1860's, Marlboro's planter elite had the same interests as planters throughout the state.  By leaving the union, slavery would be protected, and perhaps even spread within a new Southern Confederacy. 
Now, if you recall, half of Marlboro's population were not slaveholders....so why did the smaller landowners and yeoman support South Carolina in the rebellion against the United States?

As written in the last post, only 8 families in Marlboro owned greater than 100 slaves.  But, the thing is, these large plantations were extremely important within the community.  They provided employment, for example.  Planters hired teachers, lawyers, skilled artisans, overseers, and even white laborers for their farms.  The poorer yeoman farmers also depended upon planters to gin their cotton and transport their crops to sale.  So, there was loyalty there.
Also, a great indicator of wealth was the number of slaves one owned, and people were always aspiring to do better economically.  There was a desire among poorer whites for slave ownership.

Now, there was a problem...which was the great disparity between the rich and poor Whites. The planter elite had to appeal to poorer (and greater number) of the less well to do for their political support.  This division among Whites was along economical AND a social lines.  There was no real equality.  As a matter of fact, when visiting these large plantations, the less well to do had to call at the plantation's back door.  There was no love lost between the two social groups.  Furthermore, a big fear among the elite, was the relationship between poorer Whites, free people of color, and the enslaved. The affluent had to contrive of ways to separate dealings between the poor Whites and Blacks.  The solution was (as is ever,) fear mongering.  In order to gain the support of the poor, the planters had to present the White race as superior, and the yeomen as members of their society.  There were none who desired membership among the disenfranchised inferior group of non-whites.

Then along came the Civil War.  The Planter elite viewed it as the only solution for continuation of a slave keeping society,  the end of abolitionists, and race-mixing (miscegenation.)  The elite promised to take care of the families of the poor while the men were at war. 

When war was proclaimed in April 61' the first wave of men eagerly enlisted, rich and poor....but things would change, and promises were not kept...
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So the war came.....
Both the Federal Government and the Confederacy passed legislation to aid their war efforts.  Of course the Union possessed more manpower and resources to draw from, but the south fought on.
There were laws in the south permitting persons holding a certain number of slaves exempt from serving in the war, which did not go over well with the small or non-slave holding population.  Additionally, enlisted men found themselves serving until the war's duration.  Officer's (often those with greater community standing and money) could resign. 
With greater numbers of men needed, the southern home front was taxed, and many families of the less well to do began to suffer.  There were no men to put in crops, nor to earn money, and soldiers began receiving distressing mail from their loved ones.  The elite were not keeping their promise to care for the less fortunate, which resulted in many men deserting home (risking their lives.) There was a famous instance of women rioting in Richmond, due to their inability to feed their families, thus widening the breach between the rich and poorer Whites.

Back in southern communities (across the Confederacy,) friends and relatives fed and harbored deserters.  This was also the case in Marlboro.  Some residents also fed and hid escaped Union soldiers from a Confederate prison camp in nearby Florence, SC.  There was dissidence in the county between the 'home guard' (men watching out for deserters, keeping the slave population under control) which at times rose to violence.  Marlboro, (like other southern communities,) also had it's share of Unionists, who wisely kept their views hidden (under the peril of their lives.)

Towards the end of the conflict (March 1865) the war physically came to Marlboro.  General Sherman's Army, after marching through Georgia, marched northward through SC.  Sherman sent out foraging parties acquiring every type of product required for military use.  No farms were exempt, even slave quarters were raided.  Slavery in Marlboro continued on as usual even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.  There were no Union troops in the area to undermine the institution or to permit slaves to follow in their wake for protection. 
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After the war, citizens in the North and South were given the opportunity by the Federal Government of claiming the value of seized property by Union soldiers during the war.  This was known as the "Southern Claims Commission."  It was operated under the Freedmen's Bureau during the Reconstruction Years.  These documents were never meant to be a source for genealogical purposes or primary historical documents, but they are.  In the next chapter of this blog, we will finally hear how things progressed during and after the war through these documents filed by Whites, Free persons of color, and the formerly enslaved from Marlboro County.

Recommended Readings

The Diary of Mary Chestnut: A Diary from Dixie Mary Chestnut ©

Battle Cry of Freedom  James McPherson © 1988

A Short History of Reconstruction  1863-1877  Eric Foner ©

The South vs. The South: How anti-Confederate southerners shaped the course of the Civil War William W. Freckling © 2001

Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War 

Charles B. Dew © 2001 

Confederate Reckoning Stephanie McCurry © 2010

The Quicks of Marlboro County II

A Brief History of Marlboro County SC

Marlboro County lies in the northern part of the state, directly across from North Carolina, specifically Scotland County and Laurinburg.  Also notice the proximity between Smithville and Brightsville.  Our ancestors lived largely within these locations. This map was accessed from the North Carolina Archives.  https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/267

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Prior to European settlement, present day Marlboro County (bordered in the west by the Pee Dee River), was inhabited by Native American tribes known as the "Pee Dees" and the "Cheraw."  Coastal Charleston was the first site of European settlement in the early 1700's, with the promise of religious tolerance.  In order to further populate the back country, the colonial government laid out townships in the interior of South Carolina offering settlers 50 acres per person in each household.

1737-1741   1st Wave Marlboro Settlers

The first European settlers began to colonize Marlboro (169 miles from Charleston.) They were Welsh; some emigrating from populated Welsh colonies in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and some directly from Wales.  The area became known as "Welsh Neck."

1745-1775   Ethnicity of Early Inhabitants

During this time frame, additional colonists emigrated to South Carolina claiming origins in England, Ireland, Scotland, the German Palatinate, and Africa.  Although there were some free Blacks in Marlboro during the colonial period, many others arrived enslaved.  Native Americans residing in the region were labeled as free persons of color (FPOC), sometimes Black, and sometimes White in the colonial censuses.

In order to feed their families, early settlers raised corn, and hunted wild game and fish. Other crops raised were cotton, oats, wheat, potatoes (sweet and Irish,) rye, rice tobacco, sugar cane, hay, melons and fruits.  However, to raise cash for other supplies, settlers captured and sold wild cattle, horses and hogs.

Road to Revolution

Regulators- 1767-1769

During the mid 1760's there was an increase in lawless activity in the colony.  Because no assistance was forthcoming from the government in Charleston (Charles Town,) locals (including Marlboro pioneers) organized vigilante groups in order to restore law and order,  with the goals of establishing effective local government, and fair representation. They were successful. 

In 1769 a circuit court was accepted by the king establishing 7 judicial districts in this back country, including Cheraw, which included Marlboro at that time.

In March 1785 Cheraw district was split into Chesterfield, Darlington, and Marlboro districts.  In 1868, these districts became counties.

American Revolution 1775-1785

Many founding settlers of Marlboro were active participants in the Revolution serving in many capacities, and active military service. Some of these men were from North Carolina, but settled in Marlboro after the war.  We will examine our family members association and roles in this momentous event through primary documents.

The post Revolutionary War period witnessed an increase in settlers to the region from other states.  People emigrated from New York, Maryland, Virginia with the greatest number from North Carolina.  By 1790 Eli Whitney's cotton gin began to dramatically increase cotton production.  As a result:

• Slavery increased
• Quakers moved north as slavery took a foothold
• Some Marlboro families moved south for richer soil to lands in Georgia and Alabama

Antebellum Marlboro Stats 1825-1860

• Marlboro County was one of the smaller of South Carolina's 30 counties, ranking 20th in the amount of improved acreage, and 14/30 in the production of cotton.
• The number of slaves doubled during this period with 1/3 of slaves belonging to the 8 largest plantations of Marlboro
• The largest slaveholders in Marlboro included Anne (Robertson) Ellerbe Prince and son, possessing 221 souls; Samuel Sparks with 166; John Witherspoon with 110; Planters owning greater than 100 souls were S.W. Evans, Benjamin N. Rogers; Thomas Weatherby; Light Townsend and Colonel Isaac D. Wilson
• More than 50% of Marlboro citizens were NOT slaveholders in 1860, leading up to the Civil war beginning April 1861

My next post will concentrate on Marlboro's attitudes toward Civil War, the goings on in the county during the war, and finally Reconstruction.  In order to study genealogy, we need this backdrop in order to understand our ancestors, their actions, race relations and a glimpse of newly freed people claiming their status as United States citizens.

Works Consulted

Marlboro County South Carolina: A Pictorial History

Marlborough County Historical Society © 1996

 A History of Marlboro County: With Traditions and Sketches of Numerous Families

John Alexander Williams Thomas & William Evans Thomas © 1897

Our Quick Roots In Marlboro County SC

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     Hello cousins! As some of you know, I have been conducting genealogical research for a long time, and to be fair, this work never ends.  There comes a point, when I have to share my findings, and ask for your help.  Just as I have stories about people and events handed down to me from my mother and father, so do you.  We all know there will be variations, but it would be great to have your oral traditions.  Please leave remarks, and send me pictures!!!
     Conducting genealogical research is slow, and at times frustrating.  Until very recently, many studying African American genealogy hit "the" brick wall with the 1870 Federal Census. This census was the first after slavery.  Thankfully, there are many data sets available throughout the country never intended as documents for family research, but serve that exact role, and I'm all over them. Additionally, we now have the benefit of autosomal DNA, which reveals centuries and relationships, and is a gift for family researchers, especially African Americans or adoptees.  I have been compiling stories handed down to me along with a verifiable paper trail, and incorporating DNA results from myself, and 2 of my mother's siblings.  Additionally, I have researched many members of the Brightsville and Smithville communities in Marlboro, SC...free, formerly enslaved, White and in-between.  They are all strangely connected, dependent upon one another in fact, and they have these relationships with the backdrop of an invisible, impenetrable line, you dared not cross.  It is hard to grasp in this modern world.
     Although many data sets are now available online, there are still a plethora of non-indexed sets in a variety of repositories.  Yes, I have been down to the South Carolina State Archives twice, dragging my mother in tow, and yes, my husband and I took a trip down to Marlboro and Scotland Counties, and I did a solo trip to Chester County (for the Archie's.)  I've even been to the Family Research Library in Salt Lake, but you have to go onsite prepared, which I was not.  Do I see future trips? Yes.

Johnson Jones 1850-1906

The "Johnson Jones" reunion is a good place to start, especially since I have been researching in Marlboro.  For cousins of my generation, Johnson Jones was our great-great grandfather.  Johnson was born about 1850 in Brightsville, SC.  He married a Victoria Quick, and their family is only recorded in SC in the 1880 census.  I did speak with our great aunt about Johnson a few months back.  She told me that Johnson lived in Charleston, then moved back to Marlboro after the war.  (I can speculate why, but until I see documentation, I will say nothing.)  We have no records of the 1890 Federal Census because the majority burned at the Commerce Department Building fire in 1921.  The next Federal Census was taken in 1900, and we have Johnson and family living in Scotland County, North Carolina.  Although they had moved by 1910, they remained in Scotland County where Johnson farmed.
Johnson, regrettably, did not leave a huge paper trail (that I have discovered as yet!) We do know however, that he did have a younger sister named Elizabeth, but I cannot locate her after 1880.  Victoria, his wife, however, came from a huge family from Marlboro known as the Quicks.  What a paper trail this family has!  With that said, let me add this.  Johnson's son Sidney also married a Quick, her name was Mary Alice, and of course she was also from Marlboro.  Sidney and 'Alice' had Berkley Jones.  So my story will begin here and go back in time.

Berkley Jones 1909-1968

As we know, Berkley was born to Sidney Jones and Alice Quick on 9 November 1909 in Scotland County, North Carolina.  The family was living in Lower Williamson,  on the Gibson Road.  By 1920, the family was living in Stewartsville, on the road leading from Laurinburg to Hamlet, NC.  Oral tradition shared with me through my mother, Neil, explains that Berkley and Bessie met in Washington, D.C.  The story goes that Berkley was employed as an elevator operator.  When Bessie entered the elevator, he told her he would not let her out until she went out with him.  I am unsure of where their marriage took place.  I have no documentation.  At any rate, they eventually married, and raised 9 children.  My mother also relayed to me that once they were married, Berkley took Bessie down to his family's farm in Scotland Co.  My mother believed Bessie did not want to move to the country, especially after living in DC.  So, now we go to the documents....

The 1930 census establishes Berkley as a resident in Washington DC.  He is living in the household and identified as a nephew of Trussie Sparks.  Berkley's occupation at that time was as a janitor in an apartment building.  Of course, I had never heard of Trussie, but I did notice that another nephew in the household was named "Marlboro." 

Grandpa's house in DC.  Nice digs!

I did a census search on Trussie, and sure enough, he is listed in Smithville, Marlboro, SC in the 1900 and 1910 Federal Census.  If he wasn't a blood relative, there were close ties between families stemming back to the 1800s.

Shortly after 1930, Grandma Bessie and Berkley met. By 1932, they were married and had their first child, Berkley Jones Jr., (Uncle Junior) born in Hamlet, NC which is near Scotland County.  (I said my first sentence to him, had to do with a sandwich.) By 1935, they were living in Salisbury, Rowan County NC.  The 1940 census has the couple with 4 children, and one on the way (my mom!) Berkley at this time was employed as a florist in a greenhouse, and working 65 hours per week. I loved this information because it showed his dedication to providing for his family, and his love of gardening.  My mother told me he always kept a vegetable garden in the back yard, and no one was permitted to touch it (and I am an avid gardener as well.)  Another document surviving at this time is Berkley's WWII draft registration.  He lists his employer as "Marsh Greenhouse."  The family, at this time lived at 23 N. Long St. in East Spencer.

Berkley's WWII draft registration card

Berkley eventually had a career working for the Southern Railways as a boiler operator and retired from that service.  He passed away in Raleigh, NC in 1968. Bessie lived until 1995.
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Mary Alice Quick, was the mother of Berkley.  Our "Aunt Sister" was named after Berkley's mom.  Berkley's mom, our great-grandmother, was born 1879 in Marlboro, SC to Frank L. Quick and Charlotte Smith. The 1880 Federal Census confirms she and her family lived in Smithville, Marlboro Co. Oh, a little tidbit. Mary Alice had a younger brother named Berkley Quick.  That's where grandpa got his name!

1880 Federal Census Smithville, SC
Frank Quick family is 4th from top

Mary Alice, known more commonly as 'Alice,' had 5 children with Sidney Jones. She worked as a domestic, which was typical during that time. Alice passed away from pneumonia in 1920.  She was 38 years old and is buried in Laurinburg, N.C.

Berkley's father, Sidney was a farmer and was born in 1891 in Marlboro County SC to Johnson Jones and Victoria Quick.  After the death of his wife Alice, Sidney remarried.  He died in 1944 from heart disease in Scotland County, NC. I have to mention that one of our cousins named her son after Sidney. 😀 Also, one of Berkley's sisters was Frances Jones.  Hmmm...Aunt Frankie??

Death Certificate for Sidney Jones, Sr. 1944

So now we return to the Quick family.  As stated, "Alice's" father was Frank Quick.  Frank was also a farmer.  Below we have an 1880 Agricultural Census Schedule, which tells us much about Frank's farm.
Frank farmed 27 acres, which he owned.  He had 1 horse, 2 milk cows, 5 pigs, and 10 chickens.  During the year 1879, the farm produced 13 pounds of butter, and they collected 17 dozen eggs.  Frank grew 75 bushels of corn, 10 bushels of oats, 5 bushels of wheat, 6 bushels of peas and 18 bushels of potatoes.

For my next post, I will tell you more about Frank, and introduce our great great great grandfather Campbell "Cam" Quick, and the world of Marlboro. You will also find out about another part of our family, the Driggers.  You will love it, I promise.  I will be exploring voting registrations, Freedmen Records, and records from the Southern Claims Commission...and oh yes, our DNA, and findings from newfound cousins.
Please respond in "comments" and send pics or emails to: mygenealogyblogger@gmail.com

Thanks
Pam
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https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/267