There are so many Philip Porchers that I had problems finding this one. A mention here and a paragraph there let me put all these pieces together and have woven the web back to a beautiful tapestry of family brilliance. By the way, not one of them is related to me in any way, but I was fascinated and could not stop. This is a family which ended up in Aiken SC and who started the Aiken newspaper.Inquiries to susanaldridge2000@yahoo.de
It all started with books I found in my mother's library in Aiken SC. Books inscribed with the signatures of Henry E. Pellew, his daughter Marion Jay Pellew whose mother was descended from John Jay, a founder of our country, as well as books from their friends Louise Pettigrew Ford and her sister Marianna Porcher Ford.
It led me to Charleston and New York. Apparently some Charleston families had long term friendships spanning generations with New York founders families. proof of that was when I stood at the graveyard in Aiken at St. Thaddeus and saw that Marion Jay Pellew
was buried right next to Marion Johnstone Porcher Ford and her husband Arthur Peronneau Ford. The oldest family names in America buried next to one another. I found out the Pellew house is the one Mrs Thomas Hitchcock bought in order to found Aiken prep School for Boys. It is the mansion which comprises the center of the school. The Ford girls lived across the street at "The Heights" at the present 602 Barnwell St., Aiken SC. They did a LOT of stuff with birds. They also appear to have participated in a yearly Fair in Marion Pellew's old home up the Hudson -Bedford?. Members of a bird watching society, etc. I think Marion (maybe a little simple) had the money and Louise her paid companion. Henry Pellew's will would give a lot of answers. Marion Pellew founded the Aiken SPCA.
I used census data for the Pellew family, as well as a site where a man in Augusta GA had found a diary in an Augusta warehouse written by Henry Pettigrew to his second wife Augusta Jay. Fortunately I found on line books which I read about the Porcher and Pettigrew families. Philip Johnstone Porcher was a slave and real estate broker, of Fairlawn Plantation, on the Cooper River, later Keithwood near Georgetown and 1851 Otranto dubbed "Gosli
ngton" in Goose Creek, Berkeley Co, SC. He was married to Louise Pettigrew on the 13th of October, 1829 at Badwell, Abbeville, SC .
Her Birth:Mar. 8, 1808 Death:May 25, 1869.
her tombstone
His work with brokering slaves seems to have ended about 1855, probably influenced by his famous learned patriot brother in law James Louis Petigru (he spelled his name the old way) who was against secession.
Below a photo of their daughter Marion Johnstone Porcher. Her grandfather was
Peter Porcher -tombstone
b: 23 Dec
b: 23 Dec 1764 in Oldfield Plantation (may have another name now), Berkeley, South Carolina c: in St. Stephen's Parish, Berkeley, South Carolina, Died Apr. 24, 1807 and her grandmother was Marion Johnstone. 
Born 1780 Died Mar.23, 1812 buried at First Scots, daughter of Charles Johnstone and Mary Mckenzie. Her great grandparents were Philip Porcher and Mary Mazyck of Oldfield Plantation near Okatie River, Okatie, Beaufort County Original plantation lands were located off SC 170 in the vicinity of present-day Oldfield Golf Club – Other names – Wigg’s Bluff, Indigo
About Us: History: The History of Oldfield
The “1732” under the spreading live oak is the year this land was granted by the English Lord Proprie
1850 United States Federal Census > South Carolina > Charleston > St Michael and St Phillip
P J Porcher 44 broker $8000 (slave broker till 1855)
Louisa Porcher 39
Philip Porcher 15 (graduated 1st in his class at West Point 1855)
James L Porcher 13 (James Louis)
Mary Ann Porcher 11
Louisa P Porcher 8 (Louise Pettigrew)
Charles P Porcher 6
Marion J Porcher 2 (
Marion Johnstone)
Philip J Porcher 52 (67) real estate broker
Louisa Porcher 50 (65)
Mary Porcher 32
Jane Porcher 25 (not sure who she is)
James Petigru's sons - Albert 1818-1826 died at age 8, Daniel 1823 at age 41. Daniel attended St Marys College in Maryland and then Princeton and became a lawyer. His oldest daughter, Jane Caroline (Petigru) Carson (1820-1892), The Roman Years of a South Carolina Artist: Caroline Carson…a noted portrait artist and watercolorist, married 16 Dec 1841 to William Augustus Carson (1800-1856) of Dean Hall Plantation next to Cypress Gardens. Carson's sister Laura Carson and Jane Amelia Postell attended the fashionable ladies' school of Mile. Datie. Caroline fled Charleston at the start of the Civil War, first to New York City for several years and ultimately to Rome, where she lived among other American expatriates and died in 1892. All his family except his daughter, Caroline, were Confederate sympathizers. Her father had sent her North to be educated. Caroline Petigru during her early years went to school in Charleston to Miss Susan Robertson. The cardinal principles of this school were punctuality, demeanor, and English grammar. On the recommendation of Mr. William Drayton she was sent, in April, 1834, to the school of Madame Binsse in Varick Street, opposite St. Johns Park, New York City. Miss Cruger had, after Madame Binsse, the government of the child and devoted herself to the little Hamilton and her. While she was at school in New York she said that Miss Cruger taught her her fine manners and the finer points of social tactics.Caroline was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. His younger daughter, Susan DuPont (Petigru) King Bowen b. Oct. 23, 1824 d. Dec.1875, married 1st on 30 march 1843 Henry C. King (partner in her father's law firm and killed at the battle of Secessionville) 2nd Christopher Columbus Bowen born in RI ~*YankeeBelle*~) US Congressman. Susan was sent, at the age of fifteen, to the fashionable ladies' school of Madam Giyou of Philadelphia. She made a name for herself as a novelist and is now coming into critical attention. 
Busy Moments of an Idle Woman (New York: Appleton, 1854); Crimes Which the Law Does Not Reach (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859); Gerald Gray's Wife (New York: Stockton & Co., 1864); Lily (New York: Harper, 1855); and Sylvia's World (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859) are her most significant works.
Louisa Porcher 18 (22)
In 1860 he had 70 slaves in St Johns parish, Berkley Co Goose Creek SC and a JP Porcher has 150 slaves under W.F.Blewer. From what I have read from his daughter Marion, Philip brokered slaves for other people but never sold his own slaves and kept them as families. Seems that after 1855 he went into real estate brokering and stopped slave brokering.
Phillip Johnstone Porcher (died 1872) obtained "Otranto" in 1851, the estate which his son james Louis called "Goslington" near Goose Creek, SC. The builder was probably Arthur Middleton who lived on that property. The land had gone thru several hands after Middleton till Alexander Garden (medical practitioner and botanist) bought it. His wife was Elizabeth Peronneau. Their son Alexander Garden II born 1757 was given the 1687 acre plantation when his parents sailed back to England, fleeing the Colonies during the Rev. He was educated in England but returned to the states when the Rev started and served under Light Horse H
arry Lee and Gen. Nathaniel Greene. He married Mary Anna Gibbes.
But back to Marion Johnstone Porcher...
she married Arthur Peronneau Ford and they were writers who founded the Aiken Recorder newspaper and are buried together at St Thaddeus Episcopal Church in A
iken. This was part of Barnwell Co at one time.
Arthur Peronneau Ford was born at Manchester P
lantation St John's, Berkley Co SC 12 Apr 1843, baptized at St. Peter's, Charleston, died Aiken SC, 1
5 Feb 1910, buried at St. Thaddeus Church in Aiken SC, next to his wife, 2 daughters and Aug
usta Jay Pellew, from one of the New York families which they were close to.
Arthur P. Ford was descended from Arthur Peronneau born 1734 who died 15 Oc
t 1774 and who married Mary Hutson 12 June 1762. Their dau Ann Motte Peronneau b
24 Oct 1774 married Jacob Ford on 21 January 1797. Their son Frederick Augustus Ford b 20 Dec 1805 married Rose Butler Drayto
n. The family bought a lot in their summer residence of Aiken, Barnwell CO SC in 1858 and moved there during the Civil War.
1850 Charleston SC (near Lamboll and King Streets)
Frederick A Ford 45 attorney
Rose B Ford 44 (Rose Butler Drayton)
John Drayton Ford 20 stud
ent of law
William H Ford 19 student of medicine
Rose D Ford 11 (unmarried Rose Drayton Ford buried at St Thaddeus in Aiken)
Esther T Ford 9 (unmarried Hester Tidyman Ford buried at St Thaddeus in Aiken)
Arthur P Ford 7 (Arthur Peronneau Ford buried at St Thaddeus in Aike
n)
Frances L Ford 5 (Frances Lavinia Ford)
William Hutson Ford was named after his ancestor who was a Reverend at the Circular Congregational Church in Charleston. Young William H. was born Oct. 29, 1836 Death:Oct. 5, cant read...
Their ancestor Mary Hutson was the daughter of Mary Woodward (she wrote books) and Rev William Hutson. Mary Hutson married Arthur Perronneau. Their daughter Ann Motte Peronneau married Jacob Ford of Morristown NJ and they lived in Charleston SC. Their son was Frederick Augustus Ford who married Rose Butler Drayton, whose son was Arthur Peronneau Ford. I have in my living room a letter written by Mary Woodward Hutson to her husband Rev William Hutson while he was in London about 1750.
"Arthur Peronneau Ford was born in Charleston SC in 1843 He received his education at Charleston and at Aiken SC and was employed in a counting house in Charleston when the war began He enlisted in April 1861 as a private in Colonel Gonzales siege train which was later changed to a battery of light artillery and assigned to Maj Edward Manigault's battalion known as the Eighteenth South Carolina battalion Upon the reorganization of the army he re enlisted in his command for the war and served as a private until February 1865 when his battalion was changed from light artillery to infantry Immediately after the change they participated in a severe engagement on James island in which the casualties exceeded forty per cent For coolness and gallantry in this affair he was made corporal and served as such until he surrendered at Greensboro with Johnston He participated in all of the engagements on the coast in which his command took part up to the evacuation of Charleston and after that in the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville NC After the surrender he returned to Charleston and entered the mercantile business there and in 1879 he removed to Atlanta Ga where he remained until 1884 returning in that year to Aiken where he has been publishing the Aiken Recorder since He was married in 1873 to Miss Marion J Porcher of Charleston SC and they have two daughters Louise Petigru and Marianna Porcher He is a member of Barnard E Bee camp UCV at Aiken "
1860 census is missing for the Charleston families
1870 Charleston SC in a hotel
J D Ford 40 real estate broker (John Drayton Ford)
A P Ford 30 broker (Arthur Peronneau Ford)
E C Ford 30 female no job (John's wife)
B B Ford 6 f
T P Ford 4 m
1880: Bamberg, Barnwell, South Carolina (not far from Aiken)
A.P. Ford 37 planter (Arthur Peronneau Ford- the only male in the house was commuting to Atlanta at that time)
M.J. Ford 31 wife (Marion Johnston Porcher Ford)
L.O. Ford 4 dau (Louisa Pettigrew Ford)
M.P. Ford 2 dau (Marianna Porcher Ford)
R.R. Ford 75 mother (Rose Butler Drayton Ford)
R.D. Ford 40 sister (Rose Drayton Ford)
H.T. Ford 39 sister (Hester Tidyman Ford)
Aiken County, South Carolina Cemetery Inscriptions about Rose Butler Drayton Ford Birth Date: Jan 9 1806 Death Date: Apr. 30 1886 Cemetery: St. Thaddeus Church Cemetery Comments: Wife of Frederick
1900: Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina
Arthur P Ford 57 head, writer SC SC SC (from Planter to writer in the impoverished south)
Marion J Ford 57 wife Sc SC SC
Louise P Ford 26 dau b Jan 1874 SC
Marianna P Ford 20 dau b Aug 1879 SC
Nancy Tupper 51 lodger
1910: Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina
2 houses away from Henry Pellew and family
Louise Ford 32 head,
Marina Ford 32 sister, own income
Eleanor Mulholland 56 lodger, own income
1920: Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina
Louise P Ford 40 divourced SC SC SC
Mary Anna Ford 38 sister single SC SC SC
Eleanore Mulholland 66 boarder NY ireland NY
1930: Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina Barnwell Ave.
Louise P Ford 50 single b SC SC SC
Mariana R Ford 48 single sister b SC SC SC
Marion J Pillew 50 single boarder NY Eng NY
caught a second time in 1930
1930: Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina Barnwell and Pendleton Ave June 14
Louise P Ford 52 single
Marianna P Ford 50 single
Marion J Pellew 52 single lodger (she wrote a book with Louise about warblers in Aiken SC)
Augusta Jay who married Henry E. Pellew was born 1833 and her sister Eliza was born 1825, and when his first wife Eliza died in England, Henry and Augusta had to go to Austria to marry because marrying sisters was illegal in England. Their only daughter was Marion Jay Pellew who spent the winter in Aiken SC even after her husbands died.
The Ford girls' grandfather
Frederick Augustus FORD Birth: 20 DEC 1805 Death: 16 FEB 1880 Residence: 1850 St Michael and St Phillip, Charleston, South Carolina Great grandfather Father: Jacob FORD b: 15 MAR 1772 in Morristown,New Jersey Mother: Ann Motte PERONNEAU b: 24 OCT 1774 Frederick's wife
Marriage 1 Rose Butler DRAYTON b: 9 JAN 1806 in South Carolina,USA Married: 28 NOV 1827 in South Carolina,USA 2 1 Children Frederick Augustus FORD b: 4 OCT 1828 John Drayton FORD b: 23 FEB 1830 in Charleston,Charleston,South Carolina
Residence: 1870 Charleston Ward 6, Charleston, South Carolina Residence: 1880 Summerville, Colleton Co, South Carolina William Hutson FORD b: 29 OCT 1836
Death: 5 OCT 1908 in New York, New York Jacob FORD b: 7 SEP 1833 Thomas Prioleau FORD b: 6 JUN 1835 Charles Edward FORD b: 5 APR 1837 Rose Drayton FORD b: 19 FEB 1839 in South Carolina Alfred Rose FORD b: 31 DEC 1839 Hester Tidyman FORD b: 12 JUL 1841 Arthur Personneau FORD b: 12 APR 1843 in South Carolina Frances Lavinia FORD b: 1845 in South Carolina, became a doctor
Military History: Capers, Ellison; South Carolina edited by Clement Anselm Evans
Adèle Allston and Louise Porcher, sisters of James Louis Petigru, South Carolina’s preeminent lawyer who defined his family’s prominence in the nineteenth century, also faced the Confederacy’s fate as women alone without any males to provide protection from marauding Yankees. Adèle Allston had been widowed for almost a year since the death of her husband, Governor Robert Allston, the very wealthy Georgetown rice planter. With her daughters and a few black female servants, she fled their home at the Chicora Wood plantation on the Pee Dee River at the end of February 1865. They returned to the family’s inland Croly Hill farm, where they had lived in retreat much of the time since 1863. Burying the wine and silver before the Yankees arrived, they had neither a white nor a black man to protect them while federal soldiers unsuccessfully searched the house and grounds for the hidden valuables. No one was harmed.
Louise Porcher, like her sister Adèle, also faced the enemy without any male protector, after her husband Philip had been conscripted into the militia that February. At her Goslington home on the morning of February 21, 1865 she was told by retreating Confederate troops from Columbia to expect the Yankee army. A warning from an advance of federal officers threatened harm to both mistress and servants by black soldiers, at whose arrival Louise trembled. In her own words, “wild hideous figures naked to the waist brandishing their arms & pointing their guns as if to shoot us as we stood still on the piazza,’” the black troops devoured the supplies saved for the women who watched and waited. The Porcher house became the headquarters of the Union commander Gen R.B. Potter, who, after a little over two weeks, allowed Louise and her party to leave and take the train to Charleston. They were allowed to take some furniture, but not being able to transport to their home right away, when they send someone for it, it had all been taken away by yankee officers. Their Charleston home only had one table and a bookcase left standing in it. It had been looted.
Will:
James Pettigrew (Louise's grandfather) left a will, dated December 18, 1784, in Ninety Sixth District, South Carolina. Witnesses were Handy Harris, and James and William Pettigrew. He named his wife, Mary Pettigrew, and children, John, James, George, Ebenezer, William (Louise's father), Martha Witherspoon, and Mary Verner. Inventory was made on August 14, 1789 by William McKinley, Handy Harris, and Moses Davis.
[James “Long Jim” Pettigrew b November 1761 was the eldest son of John Pettigrew and grandson of James Pettigrew, all living in Abbeville SC during the Revolution. “Long Jim” married Jane Harkness in Abbeville SC on 3 Nov 1785.]
The Porcher family
ON THE COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON page 21 HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Judge Smith states that at Goose Creek "The only exception to the English settlements was a settlement of Huguenots. . . . One of the first, or rather, the two first to settle there were the brothers, Abraham Fleury de la Plein and
p 22
Isaac Fleury de la Plein, who both received grants which became the center of a little French settlement. Isaac Porcher, the ancestor of the Porcher family in South Carolina, first settled in this country at St. James, Goose Creek, where he “lived his life and died."
It was sold and used as a hunting club called Otranto Club when Philip Johnstone Porcher died in 1872. It had also been the residence of Dr. Garden, well-known botanist and correspondent of Linnaeus, the naturalist, who named our beautiful Gardenia after his correspondent. "Subsequently," says Mr. Waring, "it was owned by Mr. Philip J. Porcher, and was once known as 'Goslington,' meaning Little Goose, a name said to have been bestowed upon it by the Hon. James L. Petigru (Philip J. Porcher’s wife Louise’s brother) on the occasion of a brilliant dinner party given in the ancient building, now the Otranto Club House.
Philip J. Porcher was married to Louise Pettigrew. Her sisters were Adele, wife of Robert Francis Withers Allston in 1836 and Harriette wife Henry Deas Lesesne. Their parents married on 14 July 1788 were Louise Guy Gibert, Hugenot dau of Jean Louis Gibert, from a farm called Badwell in New Bordeaux, near Long Cains settlement in Abbeville District in Old 96, and William Pettigrew b 26 Feb 1758 in Lunenburg County, Virginia, died 23 Jan 1837 in Badwell Estate, Abbeville District, South Carolina.
Their 1st son was
James Louis “Brother” PETIGRU (changed his spelling) 
supported the Union 
b May 10, 1789 died March 9,1863 m Jane Amelia Postell buried at St Michaels d/o Capt James Postell. 
Postell 
supported the Union b May 10, 1789 died March 9,1863 m Jane Amelia Postell buried at St Michaels d/o Capt James Postell. Postell John G. PETTIGREW 1791 -Capt USN, attended West Point, went west and came back. Called "Jack" in James' letters.
Capt. Thomas PETTIGREW USN b 1 Jun 1793 –m Mary “Ann” La Bruce buried 6 March 1857 Badwell Cem, McCormick CO SC. He lived at Cedar Hill next to Badwell when he was not at sea.
Mary “May” Cochran PETTIGREW never married and mostly lived with her relatives as a very beloved and valued guest. 1834 in Charleston. By 1845 in Abbeville. 1860 in Goose Creek.
Jane Gibert PETTIGREW 17 Aug 1800 -d 5 Nov 1863 m her cousin John Gough North died in 13 February 1836 lived in Georgetown SC and 3 children. A woman of brilliant intellect, strong in character, and of commanding presence. She posses- sed many of the characteristics of her brother, but the basis of her character was the absolute unselfishness and constant desire to make other people happy.
Louise PETTIGREW 17 Feb 1803 died 13 Feb 1872 buried Badwell Cem. married Philip Johnstone Porcher on 13 October 1829 -another cousin of Jane Amelia's. They lived at Keithfield and in Charleston, and then in 1851 at Otranto.
Adele PETTIGREW 1805 married 21 April 1832 to Robert Francis Withers Allston, lived at “Chicora Wood” Robert graduated from West Point in 1821 and became govenor of SC.
Charles PETTIGREW 1806 attended West Point 1825, graduated 1829 and died 6 Oct 1835 after being appointed to the post at Appilachicola, Tampa Fla., from fever, unmarried
Harriet PETTIGREW m April 1836 to Henry Deas Lesesne, partner in her brother James’s law firm
Harriet, Adele, and Louise went to live with James Louis Petigru in 1826. He educated them. Mary came to live there after Louise and Adele married. She was living there by 1835 and close to Harriette.
Another partner in James's law firm was James Johnston Pettigrew (1828-1863) who is (UNC archives)
"perhaps the most famous antebellum student to graduate from the University of NC. He was born in Tyrrell County, NC, the eighth of nine children of Ebenezer and Ann Blount Shepard Pettigrew. Educated at Bingham's Hillsborough Academy, Pettigrew entered the University at fourteen. He joined the Philanthropic Society and graduated first in his class of thirty-six students in 1847, the year President Polk attended the commencement exercises. A talented mathematician, Pettigrew became a professor at the National Observatory, but he left after six months to travel in Europe and study law there. Upon his return in 1852 he joined the Charleston, SC, law firm of James Louis Pettigru, his father's cousin. In 1856 he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. A Union man, Pettigrew nevertheless became convinced that a long civil war was inevitable, and he remained active in the militia throughout the 1850s, becoming a self-taught military engineer and returning to Europe to fight with the Italians in their war against Austria. When the Civil War broke out, Pettigrew enlisted as a private in Virginia's Hampton Legion, declining several commissions and promotions on the grounds that no one should command men who had not previously led them in battle. By the beginning of the Peninsula campaign, however, he accepted a commission as brigadier general. Shot several times, captured, and exchanged for other prisoners, Pettigrew was wounded during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, then was shot again in the stomach during the retreat from Pennsylvania. He died three days later."
(Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 5:77-79)
Memorial of the late James L Petligru
Proceedings of the Bar of Charleston SC
March 25 1863
New York Richardson & Co
640 Broadway 1866
8vo pp 43
The late Mr Pettigru whose name has long been a household word in the United States was of Huguenot descent lie received bis academic education under the Rev Dr Waddell of the Willington Academy and his collegiate education in the South Carolina College under the Rev Dr Maxcy. He pursued his legal studies in the office of and under the late William Robertson Esq an influential and respected lawyer of Beaufort. For fifty years this distinguished man left an impress upon the society the bench and the bar of South Carolina. His eminent learning, his genius piety, and fascinating personal qualities may account for the influence he enjoyed in his long life and for the profound sorrow which is still fresh around his grave and in the circles bereft of his presence, but these do not fully account for all that is now associated and will continue to be forever associated with his name and fame. If we add to the qualities we have already enumerated the still higher virtue moral elevation which lifted him above the surges of passion at the outbreak of our Civil War and enabled him to live unscathed and walk unharmed amid contending brethren, we shall have done but simple justice. The death of this gifted and beloved citizen called forth the warmest tributes of respect and affection in the North as well as the South. His nationality of sentiment and undaunted patriotism are now historical If is gratifying in this age of irreverence and neglect of the past to note what seems to us a beautiful evidence of filial piety. The family of Mr Pettigru shared the misfortunes incident to the rebellion and his accomplished daughter found a home among her father's friends and her own in New York where she has bravely exercised her talents to maintain herself and at the same time graced an intelligent and sympathizing social circle yet from her scanty earnings she has found the means to provide a beautiful monument to the memory of her noble father. In the marble yard of Bird & Fisher in East Houston Street New York may be seen an upright slab of white marble with granite base which is soon to be erected in the Church of St Michael's Charleston b C It bears the following inscription.....
James’s epitaph on his tombstone in Charleston. He remained faithful to the founders of our country and did not join the Confederacy:
James Louis Petigru
St. Michael's Churchyard, Charleston, South Carolina
Born at
Abbeville May lOth 1789
Died at Charleston March 9th 1863
JURIST. ORATOR. STATESMAN. PATRIOT.
Future times will hardly know how great a life
This simple stone commemorates-
The tradition of his Eloquence, his Wisdom and his Wit may fade:
But he lived for ends more durable than fame,
His Eloquence was the protection of the poor and wronged;
His Learning illuminated the principles of Law-
In the admiration of his Peers,
In the respect of his People,
In the affection of his Family
His was the highest place;
The just meed
Of his kindness and forbearance
His dignity and simplicity
His brilliant genius and his unwearied industry
Unawed by Opinion,
Unseduced by Flattery,
Undismayed by Disaster,
He confronted Life with antique Courage
And Death with Christian Hope.
In the great Civil War
He withstood his People for his Country
But his People did homage to the Man Who held his conscience higher than their praise
And his Country
Heaped her honors on the grave of the Patriot,
To whom living,
His own righteous self-respect sufficed Alike for Motive and Reward.
"Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail,
Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise or blame; nothing but well and fair
And what may quiet us in a life so noble."
Busy Moments of an Idle Woman (New York: Appleton, 1854); Crimes Which the Law Does Not Reach (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859); Gerald Gray's Wife (New York: Stockton & Co., 1864); Lily (New York: Harper, 1855); and Sylvia's World (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859) are her most significant works.James Louis Petigru was elected as the solicitor of Abbeville County, South Carolina. He became the attorney general of South Carolina in 1822. In 1830, after having lost a bid for a seat in the South Carolina Senate, he was elected to fill a vacant seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was the leader of the anti-nullificationists in that body. After South Carolina seceded in 1860, Petigru famously remarked, "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum."
The original marriage settlement shows that James Louis Petigru and Miss Postell were married on August 17, 1816, by his old school teacher, Dr. Waddell, at the farm of her grandfather- Colonel Postell, not far from Badwell. The maternal grandfather of Miss Postell was Paul Porcher, 2d, the great grandson of the emigrant. He was the progenitor of the Black Swamp Porchers. His brother, Peter, was the progenitor of the Santee Porchers. The Porchers were great people; and like many of the Huguenots of South Carolina, their genealogical records are to be found in the old books of heraldry. Paul Porcher, 2d, married Jinsey Jackson, July 6, 1775, and probably her people gave the name to the town of Jacksonboro, S. C* The other grandfather of Miss Postell, Colonel James Postell of Abbeville, had been an officer during the Revolution — one of Marion's right-hand men. On account of a bullet hole, whenever he drank water he had to apply his finger to his cheek. At the age of seventy, although many times a grandfather, this enterprising old soldier married the belle of the district. Miss Sally Birtwhistle, a handsome, dashing girl of sixteen. He always treated her with great consideration, and with pride spoke of her as "that young heifer." When he died he left her all his possessions. The widow afterwards married Mr. Huston, Her descendants are well-to-do people at Augusta, Georgia, who delight to speak of Mr. Petigru's visits and friendship for their mother, whom he always most deferentially hailed as "Grand- ma." Mr. Petigru's gentle mother would have been pleased with her daughter-in-law beyond measure if she could have tempered a gay defiant nature and taste for fashionable life with something of the elder lady's constancy of spirit and quiet self-control. As it was, the bride charmed every one as she pleased, her young *See will of Captain John Jackson, probated January 5, 1724; and will of Cap- tain John Jackson, probated May, 1748; The S. C. Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XI, p. 13. 60 J^ijs, Letters and Speeches sisters of the household especially, with her lively and unaffected manners and the grace and loveliness of her face and person. At the close of the summer the young couple returned to their home at Coosawhatchie. Here they were received by their dear friend Dr. Edward North, who afterward removed to Charleston. Dr. North occupied during the winter season a plantation near the town called Northampton, and the newly arrived pair from Abbeville spent their first winter after their marriage at his place. During the year 1818, at a hired house in Coosawhatchie, their eldest son Albert Porcher was born. Some time after the family removed to a new house built by Mr. Petigru himself in the out- skirts of the village. It stood on the main road about a mile south of the court-house; it was the best building of the neighbor- hood, and the successful architect of his own fortune took some pride in this portion of his handiwork. He used to say that he had made his mark in the village borders. It was the first trophy of success. The house passed from him to Dr. Francis Y. Porcher, a first cousin of his wife, and after changing hands several times finally disappeared, and its site during the Civil War was a camp and parade ground for troops of the Confederacy. At the end of 1819 Mr. Petigru's practice had greatly increased and by the urgent advice of many friends he removed from Coosawhatchie to Charleston. It was difficult for the young couple to find a suitable house at moderate rent, and here for some months they again found a temporary home with their steadfast friends, the Norths, who had preceded them in moving their household gods to the city. Their house was in Queen Street.
While here, their second child was born, January 4, 1820, and called Jane Caroline, after Mrs. North. In two months from that time they took possession of the house in King Street near Smiths Lane; and each year, as their circumstances improved, they removed to better quarters. Their third removal was to a residence on South Bay, next door to Mrs. Grimke's. At this place, March 1, 1822, their second son was born and was named after his god-father, Daniel Elliot Huger. After two years they moved to Orange Street, nearly opposite to Mr. J. R. Pringle. It was here, October 25, 1824, that their youngest girl was added to the household, now including two sons and two daughters. She was named Susan Dupont, after her god-mother, the most intimate friend of Mrs. Petigru.
On the 13th Sept 1826 his oldest son died after falling from the top of the stairs while trying to climb on the banister. Calamities never come singly, and the day after the death of his son, his mother died. He had loved her all his life with great tenderness and with reverent devotion that could not be sur- passed. She had led a life of patient sacrifice, devoted to the love and training of her children. On her tomb at Badwell we find inscribed:
To the memory of Mrs. Louise Petigru
Nee Gibert
Born in Charleston, 14th September 1767
Died on this farm where she had
spent more than forty years of her life
14th, September 1826
This memorial is placed by her
children who are indebted to her
for a virtuous education to which
her own excellent example
contributed the best of lessons.
Mr. Petigru and his wife immediately hastened to Badwell to give sympathy and aid. The household consisted of his father, and his five sisters, ranging in age from twenty-six to twelve years. His brother, Jack, had been sent west to seek his fortune. His second brother, Thomas, had entered the Navy as mid- shipman in 1812. His third brother, Charles, whom he had educated, was a cadet at West Point, where he graduated in the famous class of 1829. His chief concern was about his sisters. They all showed their French origin and were handsome, bright and attractive. In passing, it may be said that the physiognomy of the brothers was distinctly Irish. He desired to take the three youngest girls to his home and consulted his wife on the subject. It was no small matter to ask a young woman devoted to fashionable society and amusement, to receive into her household three green country girls whom she James Louis Petigru IS hardly knew. But she cheerfully rose to the occasion and agreed not only to receive them, but to welcome them. Accordingly, leaving the two elder sisters with their father at Badwell, he brought the three younger — Louise, eighteen; Adele, sixteen, and Harriet, twelve — to his home in Charleston. They became his constant companions, and on his return home at night, after a hard day's work, he devoted himself to their entertainment and amusement. With parental affection he attended to their very liberal education; he watched over their future happiness, and was their guide, philosopher and friend even after they were established in life. One of these sisters always spoke with enthusiasm of the way in which Mrs. Petigru did everything to make them feel at home and happy. In 1827 he bought a summer residence at the east end of Sulli- vans Island. This he used until 1843, when he moved to the more convenient west end of the island to a house, heavily mort- gaged, that he obtained from General James Hamilton, Jr., in exchange for a debt. His eldest sister, Jane, married on 13th of August, 1827, John Gough North, the son of Dr. North, who was Petigru's friend when he practiced law at Coosawhatchie.
SOUTH CAROLINIANA LIBRARY UNIVERSITY SOUTH CAROLINIANA SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS COLLECTIONS Marion A. Wright Papers On 6 February 1950, attorney Marion A. Wright (1894-1983), a Marion native then recently retired to Linville Falls, N.C., wrote District Judge J. Waties Waring (1880-1968), of Charleston, that for some time he had been toying with the idea of attempting to write an article on him "along the line of the Profiles which appear in The New Yorker," feeling that the thing about the judge's career which would command the interest of readers would be his "connection with so many and such crucial Civil Rights cases." Wright stated that he intended trying to sell the prospective article "to the magazine section of the Sunday New York Times, or perhaps some other national magazine" and asked if Waring would "consent to fairly extensive interviews." While Wright admitted that "this article might be better written by a professional writer," he also thought that "it might have a certain value as being written by one South Carolinian about another." This collection of sixty manuscripts, 1950-1952, is the file of letters and other items resulting from this overture to Judge Waring. The three principal correspondents are Wright and Judge and Mrs. Waring, but there are also letters from various magazine editors, as well as from University of South Carolina political science professor George L. Sherrill, whose confidential assistance Wright solicited in securing copies of the anti-Waring resolutions which had recently been made by the South Carolina General Assembly. The chief focus of interest is the revealing content of the letters written to Wright by the Warings. In his initial response to Wright's request, Judge Waring wrote, 9 February 1950, that he was "very sincerely and deeply gratified" by his overture and promised to cooperate with him in every way towards the preparation of the article, not out of the desire "of being publicized for any personal reasons, but because I think that anything we can say and that gets to the outside world as coming from the South is most valuable." "You have graduated from South Carolina and you are living in a much clearer atmosphere in North Carolina," he goes on to say, "but I am still surrounded by all of the old fog of prejudice. I am sure that your approach to this whole subject would be extremely valuable." He remarks that "the old Klan spirit" was still active in Charleston and that he had received information that a petition was being circulated in parts of the state asking for his impeachment. In this letter he also had occasion to speak his mind "in regard to Hodding Carter, [Ralph] McGill and others"--"For a time, I, too, thought they were doing good work. I have now come to the conclusion, however, that Hodding Carter and what he stands for is our great menace. The old line Dixiecrat intolerance as expressed by Ball of the Charleston News and Courier and Congressmen and others from this state can be beaten down by reasonable expositions. But the Hodding Carter gradualism and appeasement is dangerous. It has so much sweet reason to it. You should read a recent address delivered by Aubrey Williams of Montgomery...on `gradualism' in which he points out unerringly the dangers of this half-loaf method....To my mind, the most important goal to which we should strive is the abolition of legal segregation." In a letter to Wright of 7 April 1950, Waring congratulates him "most heartily on signing one of the briefs in the Sweatt case" and says that the Supreme Court "has the great issue of segregation put squarely before it, and I believe that these decisions will either forward or retard the course of history many decades." He also refers to "the epitaph on the [James Louis] Pettigru tomb" and calls his attention to the fact that "it was not an inscription devised by Pettigru's opponents in Charleston, but was placed there by his daughter who left here and lived in Italy as a result of his and her persecution. It is true that they do honor and boast of him now. I do not dare to compare myself with him in any way, but it is amusing to see that the politicians including Congressman Rivers say now that they have no complaint with my decisions giving the Negroes the right to vote. And I have newspaper clippings showing their outcries when these decisions were filed."
James Louis Petigru's niece Marion Johnstone Ford and her husband Arthur Peronneau Ford founded the Aiken Recorder in Aiken SC.
THE FORD HOUSE (circa 1885) aka "The Heights"
602 Barnwell Avenue, NW
The Ford House was started in 1885 by Arthur P. Ford, who contracted with James M. Curtis to build the house. It was completed in 1886 at a total cost of $1,613. Ford was publisher of the Aiken Recorder in the 1880s, but achieved greater literary fame with the publication of his Civil War memoirs, Life in the Confederate Army and Some Experiences and Sketches. One of the previous owners of the house was Mrs. Robert Carter whose daughter, actress Joanne Woodward, visited her often
602 Barnwell Avenue, NW
The Ford House was started in 1885 by Arthur P. Ford, who contracted with James M. Curtis to build the house. It was completed in 1886 at a total cost of $1,613. Ford was publisher of the Aiken Recorder in the 1880s, but achieved greater literary fame with the publication of his Civil War memoirs, Life in the Confederate Army and Some Experiences and Sketches. One of the previous owners of the house was Mrs. Robert Carter whose daughter, actress Joanne Woodward, visited her often
:
Father: James PETTIGREW III b: 13 Apr 1713 in County Tyrone, Ireland Mother: Mary COCHRAN b: Nov 1712 in The Grange, N. Ireland
Otranto is a low structure with attics and dormer windows ; the porch is about one foot from the ground and extends around three sides of the building ; its roof is supported by heavy brick columns. It is situated on a hill leading down to Goose Creek, and is altogether charming in conception and execution. Frank
23
HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
CROWFIELD
Crowfield Hall, four miles from the Parish Church, was called after family property of the same name in England, said by Wm. Middleton as late as 1876 to belong to the family, and found in possession of Admiral Sr. G. Brook Middleton.When Wm. Middleton, the son of Arthur Middleton who first built on Crowfield, returned to England (1758-1784) to take charge of the English Crowfield, he neglected very much the Goose Creek namesake. Mr. Rawlins Lowndes bought it in 1776 and resold it to Thomas Middleton, 1778, who then advertised it again for sale in 1786 as “ containing 1400 acres of land on which stood a very commodious dwelling house of excellent brick, having twelve good rooms with fireplaces in each, besides four rooms in the cellar also with fireplaces." Crowfield, Hke Bloomfield, another Middleton place, boasted of unusually fine surroundings, comprising lawns, woodlands and formal gardens.Goose Creek and its vicinity was famous for its scientific horticulturists, and the gardens prospered accordingly. “ Not many miles from this locality," says Mr. J. I. Waring, *'was situated the botanical garden of Andrew Michaux, the horti- culturist. Its site has been located by the broken parts of many flower pots."Eliza Lucas, in a letter to her friend “ Miss Bartlett, “ gives a long account of an "agreeable tour" to Goose Creek, and describes Crowfield as ''a seat of the Middleton Family" . . .The tour was designed to show her those parts of the country in which are "Several very handsome gentleman's seats, at all of which we were entertained with the most friendly politeness. The first we arrived at was Crowfield, Mr. Wm. Middleton 's seat, where we spent a most agreeable week. The house stands a mile from but in sight of the road, and makes a very handsome appearance ; as you draw nearer new beauties discover themselves; first the beautiful vine manthng the wall, laden with deUcious clusters, next a large pond in the midst of a spacious green presents itself as you enter the gate. The house is well furnished, the rooms well contrived and elegantly
24
ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
furnished. From the back door is a wide walk a thousand feet long, each side of which nearest the house is a grass plat ornamented in a serpentine manner with flowers ; next to that on the right hand is what immediately struck my rural taste, a thicket of young, tall live oaks, where a variety of airy choristers poured forth their melody — and my darling the mocking-bird, joyned in the concert, enchanted me with his harmony. Opposite on the left hand is a large square bowling green, sunk a little below the level of the rest of the garden, with a walk quite round bordered by a double row of fine large flowering Laurel and Catalpas — wch afford both shade and beauty. My letter will be of unreasonable length if I don't pass over the mounts, wilderness, etc., and come to the boundary of this charming spot, where is a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle the top of which is level with the dwelling house, and upon it is a Roman temple. On each side are other large fish ponds, properly disposed wch form a fine prospect of water from the house — beyond this are the smiling fields dressed in vivid green."The property was in the possession of Henry A. Middleton at the time of his death, and in March, 1876, The Washington Chronicle says, Henry Middleton of Asheville, N. C, formerly of Charleston S.C. died yesterday at the residence of his brother, Commodore Middleton U.S. Navy, at the age of 79; he graduated at West Point 1816 but shortly after resigned his commission to engage in literary pursuits, married a niece of Sir Henry Pollock, resided for a long time in England and France, and was the author of several works of political character; his father, the late Hon. Henry Middleton, was Governor of South Carolina and member of Congress in 1816 where he served until appointed to represent our goverimient at St. Petersburg, his residence for 10 years. His grandfather was Arthur Middleton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and his great grandfather Henry Middleton was one of the presidents of the first Congress in 1774, the father of the latter, Arthur Middleton, was one of the first Royal Governors of the colony.
25
HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA OTRANTO
Otranto was another Middleton residence. While Edward lived at The Oaks, Arthur dwelt at the Otranto plantation, his residence being at the spot where the Otranto Club House now stands; but Mr. Waring states that "The place now known as “Crovatts” was the original Otranto, and was owned by the Hamiltons, who constructed a private race track, which started in front of the house and ran in a circle for one mile, in order that guests could sit on the piazza and have a full view of the course and races. ““From 1796 to 1806 the Reverend Mr. Porgson," says Dr. Burgess in his chronicles of St. Mark's Parish, “occupied the house known now as the Otranto Club House as a rectory."
THE OAKS
The beautiful manor house of the Middleton family was called The Oaks, and stood where Mr. Edwin Parsons has erected his magnificent home in colonial period architecture, a fitting and dignified successor to the old mansion which stood at the head of an avenue of venerable oaks which for nearly a quarter of a mile form a continuous arch over the broad approach to the house. These live oaks were planted, so it is said, in 1680, and the first mansion was built soon afterwards, survived the Revolutionary War and was burned in the latter part of the nineteenth century.With an instinct for what was appropriate, the moving picture director who filmed "Little Miss Rebellion" selected, for some of the scenes of this story starring Dorothy Gish, this house, and used the avenue of giant oak trees as part of a scene depicting Juvenile Royalty accompanied by her mounted suite. The ensemble of this company in gorgeous uniforms and courtly trappings for their mounts revived for a few brief moments upon the screen all that colorful and stirring life of colonial days and flashed into existence the atmosphere of "Courtly knights and Ladies Faire" native to this fine old place ; and that this type of life was by no means foreign to the Middleton family the following extract from the scrap book of Mr. Frank Hohnes shows:"Died at sea on the passage from London to Charleston, South Carolina, in October 1789, Lady Mary Middleton, the daughter of the unfortunate Earl of Cromartie and relict of the late Henry Middleton of S. C.“ The Earl had been banished from England for holding a correspondence with the 'Old Pretender,' who died at Rome in 1765 aged 78 years, his son Charles Edward at Florence in 1788 at an advanced age. His brother the Cardinal of York died at Rome aged 82 years. “ Besides the Sinklers, the Mazycks, Porchers, Palmers, Ravenels, Cordes, Marions, Dwights, Gailliards and Gourdins were found as original Huguenot settlers of St. John's. It is almost impossible to untangle these families, and anyone who is interested may read "Olden Times of Carolina," "Ramsey's Sketch of St. Stephen's Parish," Mr. Isaac Porcher's article on this section, or Samuel DuBose's "Reminiscences of St. Stephen's Parish." For instance, Mr. Mazyck Porcher, Carolina's Bourbon, lived at Mexico plantation, his grandfather, Peter Porcher, owned plantations called Peru, Ophir and Mexico. He lived at Peru and would often leave his home in the morning, ride to Ophir, a distance of 15 miles, thence to “Mexico” 12 miles, and back to “Peru” 10 miles, all in the same day. All of these men were fond of manly sports and in the Revolution Marion and Moultrie depended on them. In the struggle for American independence these men made fine cavalrymen. A few of the plantations upon which houses are still standing will be briefly discussed. “Old Field” plantation was owned by the grandfather of Philip Johnstone Porcher- Philip Porcher- who died in 1800. Philip J.'s grandparents were Philip Porcher and Mary Mazyck who paid taxes on over one-half million dollars worth of property, and had 464 slaves: among other real estate was a house in Archdale Street in Charleston, then a fashionable thoroughfare. Another Porcher residence was “ ?field,” at which the semi-annual meeting of the St. John's Hunt-
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ST. JOHN'S AND ST. STEPHEN'S
ing Club is sometimes held even now. Massive moss-draped trees and beautiful lawns mark this romantic spot.Dr. Isaac Porcher, the Huguenot emigrant, came to this country from the Province of Sainte Severe, France. He is described (Burke's Peerage) as being Isaac Porcher de Kichelbourg, doctor of medicine of the University of Paris, who married a Cherigny, of the Province of Touraine. Burke's account is incorrect, as has been proved by Mrs. Julia Porcher Wickham, a lineal descendant of Isaac Porcher. Mrs. Wickham made a pilgrimage to France to establish certain facts in connection with the Porcher family. Dr. Robert Wilson, President of the Huguenot Society in 1910, has also written much concerning Isaac Porcher. He states his ability to give with positiveness the origin of Dr. Porcher, from an old manuscript found years ago at Ophir plantation in St. John's parish, Berkeley, which runs as follows :"Isaac Porcher, ne a St'e-Severe en Beny, fils de Isaac Porcher et de Susanne Ferre. Isaac, Pierre, Elizabeth, Madeleine, et Claude, leurs enfants."The emigrant's bible, which is still owned by his descendants of the pure Huguenot blood in St. John's, at “Indianfield”, contains on the flyleaf the notice of his wife's death written and signed by the emigrant himself; the date of this bible being 1707.The refugee and his wife lived for some time in London, as records of the baptism of two of his children there prove, but he soon emigrated, and we find from an old document that he was in Charleston in the year 1687. He settled on land not far from Goose Creek where, in the old Huguenot cemetery there, his body is supposed to have been laid.Further enumeration of the history of the family in France would reveal much of the internal history of that country, as the French branch of the Porchers was concerned with all the great affairs of that time. The history of Abbe Porcher de Lissaunay is closely connected with the Chateau of Cote Perdrix, near Sainte-Severe, the only Porcher home in the old world of which we have any description. Mrs. Wickham wrote
Page 135
an account of this place which has been published in the "Transactions of the Huguenot Society."
HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
The last historic owner of "Peru" was Peter Porcher, whose fourth child, Major Samuel Porcher, had his plantation at "Mexico," and married Harriot, daughter of Philip Porcher. At the time of the Civil War “Mexico” was owned by Mazyck Porcher, whom Mr. Yates Snowden has immortalized as "The Carolina Bourbon" in his poem of that name. A Missionary Tour to Upper St. John's and St. Stephen's says...."Mary Hutson was the daughter of Mary Woodward (she wrote some books) and Rev William Hutson. Mary Hutson married Arthur Perronneau. Their daughter Ann Motte Peronneau married Jacob Ford of Morristown NJ and they lived in Charleston SC. They had a son Arthur Peronneau Ford who was Louise's father. I have in my living room a letter written by mary Woodward Hutson to her husband Rev William Hutson while he was in London about 1750."Arthur Peronneau Ford was born in Charleston SC in 1843 He received his education at Charleston and at Aiken SC and was employed in a counting house in Charleston when the war began He enlisted in April 1861 as a private in Colonel Gonzales siege train which was later changed to a battery of light artillery and assigned to Maj Edward Manigault's battalion known as the Eighteenth South Carolina battalion Upon the reorganization of the army he re enlisted in his command for the war and served as a private until February 1865 when his battalion was changed from light artillery to infantry Immediately after the change they participated in a severe engagement on James island in which the casualties exceeded forty per cent For coolness and gallantry in this affair he was made corporal and served as such until he surrendered at Greensboro with Johnston He participated in all of the engagements on the coast in which his command took part up to the evacuation of Charleston and after that in the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville NC After the surrender he returned to Charleston and entered the mercantile business there and in 1879 he removed to Atlanta Ga where he remained until 1884 returning in that year to Aiken where he has beenpublishing the Aiken Recorder since He was married in 1873 to Miss Marion J Porcher of Charleston SC and they have two daughters Louise Petigru and Marianna Porcher He is a member of Barnard E Bee camp UCV at Aiken "578 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY Confederate
'>http://books.google.com/books?id=NC8uAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA578&ots=ESNh31i7b9&dq=Aiken%20history%20marianna%20Ford&pg=PA578&ci=105,136,840,884&source=bookclip">Confederate Military History: Capers, Ellison; South Carolina edited by Clement Anselm Evans
"We drove towards “Mexico,” an old family place now the residence of Mr. M. P. The ground about the house is much more broken than usual, its slopes being studded with fine trees, oaks and cedars ; while the Santee Canal with its hedges and locks gives variety to the scene."
During the days of the stage-coach Hugh Legare often visited at the home of Philip Porcher, who had been his great chum at college. The house, which still stands, was built in 1812 by slave labor, and is of black cypress, the timber having been cut on the place. Its roof is of air-dried cypress or long- leaf pine shingles. It is called a double-story house, and stands on a nine-foot brick foundation the pillars of which are about six by three feet. The bricks were had from a brick kiln on the plantation; the hole where the clay was dug can still be seen on the edge of the woods. The interior decorations were done by a slave called Black Washington.
A most amusing story is told concerning an occurrence taking place at one of these houses during the courtship of Catherine Porcher (sister of Charles and daughter of Philip) by a Mr. Huger. He came a courting the lady, but evidently his manner of addressing her did not indicate that he would go mateless to the grave if she refused him, intimating that he would seek elsewhere. Thereupon she furled her fan and bid him begone to seek the other maid — a very proper display of spirit upon her part.
While in Charleston the Porchers occupied the house on Pitt Street now owned by Mr. Wm. Cogswell, which is nearly opposite to Bethel Methodist Church.
Charles Sinkler was born on Eutaw plantation, which partly covers the sight of the battlefield, and he inherited from his ancestors that intense love for the State which was the preeminent characteristic of the South Carolinian of the old regime. In March, 1836, he entered the United States Navy as a midshipman, was promoted, and soon after married ^liss Emily, daughter of Judge Thomas Wharton, an eminent jurist of Philadelphia. While serving as sailing master of the United States brig Perry, which had just returned from the seige of Vera Cruz, he was wrecked on Sombrero Reef, about thirty miles from Key West, Florida, on a voyage from Havana to Charleston, and a graphic description has been written by a brother officer, Lieut, (later Rev.) R. S. Trapier, of the cyclone through which they barely escaped with their lives.
In February, 1847, Mr. Sinkler resigned and came with his wife, a lovely young girl, to his estates in South Carolina. Here he lived the life of the ideal Southern planter, and fortunately for him and for the many beneficiaries of his bounty, the war and its more direful results made no essential change in him or his belongings. Belvedere, his beautiful home, was the scene of the graceful and bountiful hospitality which had characterized the homes of his friends in better days. At his death it passed to his son, Charles St. George Sinkler, and his wife, Anne W. Porcher. Dr. "Wharton Sinkler, of Philadelphia, who married a Miss Brock, of that city, was a brother of Mr.
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ST. JOHN'S AND ST. STEPHEN'S
Charles Sinkler, and his sisters were Caroline Sinkler and Mrs. Charles Brown Coxe, of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Charles Stevens, of Charleston.
Mr. Sinkler and his wife, Anne Wickham Porcher, have three daughters, all of whom have married and moved away, but the ancestral home is still the residence of Mr. Sinkler, His daughters are Mrs. Dr. Kershaw Fishburne, of Pinopolis, Mrs. Nicholas Eoosevelt, of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Dunbar Lockwood, of Boston, Mass. Pictures are given of both of the Sinkler houses, much alike in construction and detail.
ST. STEPHEN'S
Concerning St. Stephen's Parish, formerly known as Craven County, Dalcho's Church History gives the following information:
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
This Parish was taken from St. James, Santee, and was usually called English Santee. It was established by Act of the Assembly May 11, 1754. The Chapel of Ease of St. James' Church fell within the limits of the new Parish, and was declared to be the Parish Church by St. Stephen's.
ST. STEPHEN'S
Concerning St. Stephen's Parish, formerly known as Craven County, Dalcho's Church History gives the following information :
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
“This Parish was taken from St. James, Santee, and was usually called English Santee. It was established by Act of the Assembly May 11, 1754. The Chapel of Ease of St. James' Church fell within the limits of the new Parish, and was declared to be the Parish Church by St. Stephen's.”
“The Rev"* Alex'* Keith, A. M., Assistant Minister of St. Philip's, Charleston, was the first Rector of this Parish. The Church had been the Chapel of Ease to St. James', was old and unfit for use from its ruinous condition, and became too small. The inhabitants petitioned for a new Parish Church. An Act was passed 19 May, 1762, appointing James Pamor, Charles Cantey, Phihp Porcher, Joseph Pamor, Peter Sinkler, Peter Porcher, Thomas Cooper, Rene Peyre, and Samuel Cordes Commissioners to receive subscriptions, and to build the church on any part of the land of St. Stephen 's then used for a church-yard. The Church is one of the handsomest Country Churches in South CaroHna, and would be no mean ornament to Charleston. It is of brick and neatly finished. It is on the main river road and about twelve miles from the Santee Canal. Upon a brick on the south side is inscribed 'A. Howard, Ser. 1767,' and on another 'F. Villeponteux, Ser. 7, 1767,' the names of the architects.
"The Church was incorporated February 29, 1788. The family of the Gailliards lie here interred, as do the other old families of the neighborhood."
“The Rev"* Alex'* Keith, A. M., Assistant Minister of St. Phihp's, Charleston, was the first Rector of this Parish. The Church had been the Chapel of Ease to St. James', was old and unfit for use from its ruinous condition, and became too small. The inhabitants petitioned for a new Parish Church. An Act was passed 19 May, 1762, appointing James Pamor, Charles Cantey, Phihp Porcher, Joseph Pamor, Peter Sinkler, Peter Porcher, Thomas Cooper, Rene Peyre, and Samuel Cordes Commissioners to receive subscriptions, and to build the church on any part of the land of St. Stephen 's then used for a church-yard. The Church is one of the handsomest Country Churches in South CaroHna, and would be no mean ornament to Charleston. It is of brick and neatly finished. It is on the main river road and about twelve miles from the Santee Canal. Upon a brick on the south side is inscribed 'A. Howard, Ser. 1767,' and on another 'F. Villeponteux, Ser. 7, 1767,' the names of the architects.
"The Church was incorporated February 29, 1788. The family of the Gailliards lie here interred, as do the other old families of the neighborhood."
OAKLAND in Christ Church , (not Goose Creek)
Oakland Plantation, in Christ Church Parish, Charlestown County, is eight miles out from the village of Mt. Pleasant, on the Georgetown road, and was granted in a tract of one thousand three hundred acres, by the Lord Proprietors in 1696 to Captain George Dearsley but was settled by John Abraham Motte as agent for John Perrie (a later owner) then of Antigua, formerly of Youghal, Ireland. It was named Youghal in honor of Perrie 's birthplace and this name was retained through the successive ownerships of Cleland, Benison and Barksdale, only to be later renamed Oakland.
As Thomas Barksdale in his will dated July 2nd, 1850, refers to “my plantation called Youghal, my residence," the name must have been changed to Oakland by his son-in-law,
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
James Macbeth, next owner. This was done in recognition of the magnificent avenue of live oaks, which was either planted or extended by one of the Mrs. Barksdales, perhaps Mary, wife of Thomas the First. An old slave named Cain Bryan, who was living on the place when it passed from James MacBeth to Philip Porcher, said that in his boyhood he remembered going into the woods with his mistress to select the trees to transplant from the forest to the avenue.
At the time that Mr. Porcher came into possession, Oakland was a thoroughly equipped plantation and country estate, comprising in its grounds extensive gardens and an orchard. The outside buildings included the regulation plantation kitchen with brick oven in the side of the chimney, a brick smoke-house and a brick dairy (which flanked the house at the head of the avenue), a carriage house, a barn and gin house, poultry houses, extensive negro quarters, and last but not least a day nursery for the little slave children, who were left there during the work hours of their mothers in the care of an old “Maumer."
The dwelling house at Oakland is an unpretentious but fine example of an eighteenth century plantation home, with quaint Dutch roof and large livng- rooms, with chimneys in the comer of each room, and odd seats in the upstairs dormer windows.
The timbers of this building are hand-hewn black cypress and the woodwork indicates that it was done by skilled carpenters among the slaves. The low foundation on which the residence stands is of brick made from oyster-shell lime. The age of the house can only be surmised, but it is apparently the oldest in the parish and was probably built by George Benison or his successor, Thomas Barksdale, about the year 1750, although the exact date cannot be announced. The gable end of this house, with its Dutch roof, is similar to another Motte place, near Monks Corner, which is significant in connection with the fact that a Motte settled Oakland for John Perrie.
The ghost at this fascinating old place is described as a gentle wraith who comes to pray at the bedside of those who sleep in the "Ghost Room," but it is said that she comes very rarely and no one knows who she is or was.
OAKLAND PLANTATION, MT. PLEASANT, FRONT AND REAR VIEWS
A Colonial house now owned by A. K. Gregorie
FROM DOVER TO CALAIS
An interesting story told of the Revolutionary days is that just as the Barksdales were about to dine, a British soldier spurred his horse into the dining-room and carried off from the table, on his sword point, a roasted fowl. Another tradition connected with this historic house is that General Sherman while stationed at Fort Sumter prior to the War of the Confederacy was a welcomed visitor as he was in other homes in and around Charleston. The cause of the general's feeling against South CaroUna is said to have had its origin in an affair of the heart. He fell in love with a beautiful Charleston girl, who did not, however, reciprocate his affections but coquetted with him in an obvious manner. This attitude on her part so offended him that he revenged his feelings on the entire South.
The window panes of the dining-room have long been used as a guest 's register. Among many other is the signature * “I " or “S," Wilham Bull. The oldest inscription is ascribed to Thomas Barksdale and is dated December 21, 1802, but the most interesting pane of glass is no longer in its place. Joseph Pillmoor, one of John Wesley's Missionaries says in his journal that on March 9, 1773, he was at Mrs. Barksdale's where he was kindly received and spent the evening worshipping God and rested in peace. Before leaving he wrote on one of the window panes at Oakland in very clear and well-formed characters:
“Jos. Pilhnoor, March 10, 1773. Exalt Jehovah our God." Followed by the quotation repeated in Hebrew.
This frail memorial went through the perils of two wars and survived in its place more than a hundred years. In October, 1877, it was presented by Mr. Porcher to Wofford College, where it is now framed and hangs in the library.
During the troublous days of the Confederacy while Mr. Porcher was with the army, his young wife and children took refuge with her parents and the plantation, being abandoned, fell on evil days and the house stripped of its belongings. The large wall mirrors were set out on the roadside and used as
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
targets by Union soldiers, while books and book cases were carried away with other furniture. Fences around the place were used as firewood, and goats and cattle destroyed the shrubbery.
At the close of the war during the Federal occupation of the country, Oakland had a narrow escape. Col. Beecher of the Union Army and his wife visited the adjoining plantation, Laurel Hill, then owned by Dr. Peter Porcher Bonneau, one of the signers of the Ordinance of Secession. The house was the handsomest in the parish, but they burned it to the ground, and it is said that Mrs, Beecher set fire to the place with her own hands. Not content with this it is said that they came on to Oakland and Mrs. Beecher had lighted her torch to serve it in like fashion, when some of the slaves on the place begged her to give the house to them to live in instead of burning it. Thus she graciously bestowed it on them, and when Mr. Porcher returned after the war he found each room occupied by a negro family. A "meeting" was in progress in the dining-room, where the sideboard served as a pulpit. The negroes refused to give him possession, saying the house was theirs and he had to appeal to Gen. Sickles, the Union Commander in Charleston, then living in the house on Charlotte Street now occupied by Mr. Sottile, who sent soldiers to clear the house and restore it to the rightful owner.
The dwelling survived the poverty-stricken days that followed the war and though building after building subsequently went down in ruin until of all the buildings, only the smoke-house, dairy and kitchen were left, this dwelling withstood two wars, storms and earthquakes.
In 1917 Mr. Porcher sold Oakland to his daughter Anne, Mrs. Ferdinand Gregorie, and it is now, in the possession of her family, emerging from ruin, and taking again its rightful place as a typical southern home.
The Porchers of Christ Church Parish are descended from
Phihp E. Porcher, who came to the parish from St. Stephen Parish in 1859, and all of the Porchers are descended from the emigrant, Isaac Porcher
The birthplace of General Marion has been disputed by
many people, but, according to General Irvine Walker, Mr. Philip E. Porcher, aged 88 years, of Christ Church Parish, was told by his granduncle, Francis Cordes, that Marion was born at Goatfield plantation opposite "Chacan gate," not far from Cordesville. The remains of Marion repose at Belle Isle, a plantation near Ingleside. His grave was for many years neglected, but was later cared for through the efforts of Shirley Carter Hughson, of Sumter, S. C, now better known as "Father Hughson."
Plantation: Otranto of Berkeley County , SC
Location
18 Basilica Ave. (Goose Creek, a branch of the Cooper River)
Hanahan, SC
History
Other names: Yeshoe, Yeowee, Goslington
Owners: Dr. Alexander Garden, Arthur Middleton (1768), Philip Porcher (1851)
Timeline: 1768 - Earliest known date of existence; 1790 - House built by Dr. Alexander Garden; Before 1800, the house served as a parsonage for a Goose Creek church. For a brief period thereafter, it was called Goslington. The owner at that time was Philip Porcher.
Current Status: Until recently, Otranto served as a hunt club. During this time it was gutted by fire but quickly restored. It is located in the Otranto subdivision.
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King William II granted to James Pettigrew a tract of 300 acres in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. On this acreage James Pettigrew built his home in 1682 and named it, "The Crilly House." The large stone and slate home of three stories, was occupied by Pettigrew families until 1945 when the Pettigrew family became extinct in the area. "The Crilly House" at the present date, 1972, is owned by a family named Vaughan.
This James Pettigrew, the second one listed to this date, 1682, married Martha Moore in 1682. Nine children were born to this union. Among the nine, was a son, James Pettigrew, born April 1713 at the Irish estate, "The Crilly House." This James, the third mentioned to date, was sent to Trinity College in Dublin to study medicine. After two years of study, he eloped with Mary, the daughter of Captain George and Rachel (Higgenbotham) Cochran of "The Grange." Mary was the prize winning beauty at Trinity College.
In 1743 the couple sailed for America to seek their fortune. They were accompanied by three of their children, one daughter and two sons. The oldest daughter was left at "The Crilly House" with her grandmother, but died in later years aboard ship, en route to America to join the family in Pennsylvania.
This James Pettigrew (1713) is the first American ancestor of the Pettigrew lineage that has been traced and established. James with his wife, Mary, and three children, landed at New Castle, Delaware and pushed into Pennsylvania where he secured 300 acres of land on Marsh Creek, near the present location of Chambersburg. He is said to have been of a daring disposition and adventurous. Somewhere near the year 1744 he became very religious. He was well acquainted with the notables of the time, one of whom, was Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who strongly advised James Pettigrew to continue his career in medicine.
The family remained in Pennsylvania until 1756, then moved to Virginia, and settled later in North Carolina and later moved into South Carolina where he spent the closing years of his life.
An interesting episode in the lives of this family is told. James Pettigrew, after his return to religion, became so strict in the observance of the Sabbath that he allowed no cooking to be done on that day. It is to this interesting bit of history, that his family averted being massacred by Indians along with all the other inhabitants of the village. It is supposed that the Indians upon seeing no smoke coming from his chimney, presumed the home unoccupied.
To this union 13 children were born, 12 of whom, six boys and six girls, reached maturity. The fifth child, Charles Pettigrew, born 1743, the first child to have been born to the union in America, was born in Pennsylvania.
But life on the Pennsylvania frontier became so perilous, and after Braddock's defeat in 1755, James Pettigrew moved his family to Lunenburg County, Virginia. His last and 13th child, William Pettigrew, was born in Virginia in 1758.
Later James Pettigrew moved his family to Greenville, N. C. where he remained 10 years. He gave the land in this area for the establishment of a Presbyterian Church.
In 1768, James Pettigrew and family reached "Long Cane Settlement" about seven miles above Abbeville Court House, South Carolina. They remained in this locality for four years. In 1773, James Pettigrew bought a farm in what is known as "flat section": of Abbeville District, situated on Little River, South Carolina. An outbreak among the Cherokee Indians in 1776 forced all the settlement folk to abandon their plantations, and seek safety in the Huguenot Fort of James Noble, which was commanded by Patrick Calhoun, father of John C. Calhoun. Settlers were able to return to enjoy life on the plantations after a short time, until the American Revolution swept to the locality in 1779.
James Pettigrew III was a Whig. He served the Colonial troops in the Revolutionary Army with several of his sons, sons-in-law and grandsons. At the age of 71 he died on December 24, 1784. His wife survived him by two years and died October 7, 1786.
The written declaration for Revolutionary pension of James Pettigrew III is on file in the Pension Bureau of Washington D.C. The record shows him to have been a grandson of James Pettigrew, Sr., and also show him to have had a brother, William Pettigrew.
In the land records in the secretary of state's office at Columbia, South Carolina, there is the following group of records: James Pettigrew, Granville County, S. Carolina on Calhoun's Creek, 250 acres, June 19, 1772, Vol. 26, Page 48; James Pettigrew, Granville County, S. Carolina, on Lone Cane, 300 acres, July 8, 1774, Vol. 31, Page 363; James Pettigrew, Granville County, S. Carolina, Long Cane, 150 acres, September 30, 1774.
The will of James Pettigrew III is recorded in Book I, page 14, "Wills of Abbeville District, S. Carolina." The will was made December 18, 1784, a matter of a few days before he died. The will was proven July 7, 1789. The will mentions his children and wife, Mary. Children mentioned are Martha, who married a Witherspoon, John Pettigrew, Mary Pettigrew Verner, Jean Pettigrew Tilley, Hames Pettigrew, George Pettigrew, one dollar each, if demanded. Land to sons, Ebenezer and William Pettigrew. William Pettigrew qualified as administrator on November 29, 1788.
THE CHILDREN OF JAMES PETTIGREW (1713-1784) AND MARY COCHRAN PETTIGREW
1. Daughter, eldest, died aboard ship as a child en route to America to join the family.
2. Martha Pettigrew, born 1734, County Tyrone, Ireland. Came with the family to America in 1743. She married John Witherspoon of the family of Dr. John Witherspoon, President of Princeton College. She died May 1796 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
3. John Pettigrew, born 1736, County Tyrone, Ireland. He came with the family to America in 1743. Died November 8, 1806 in Abbeville District, South Carolina.
* The lineage and heirs of John Pettigrew will be given in full on the following pages. The American Pettigrew heirs descended from John Pettigrew.
4. James Pettigrew, Jr. (the fourth James Pettigrew mentioned to date). He came with the family to America in 1743. Moved with them to South Carolina. Served in the American Revolution. He is mentioned in his father's will and in many other records.
5. Charles Pettigrew. The first child born to the union in America. Born March 20, 1743 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Died April 8, 1805. Charles remained all of his life in Tyrell County North Carolina. He owned landed estates in both Tyrell and Pasquotank Counties. In 1773 he was a master of a school in Edenton, North Carolina. He became a minister and during the year 1774 was admitted to The Holy Order and ordained by the Bishop of London and Rochester in England. He returned to America on the last boat to sail before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
2. Martha Pettigrew, born 1734, County Tyrone, Ireland. Came with the family to America in 1743. She married John Witherspoon of the family of Dr. John Witherspoon, President of Princeton College. She died May 1796 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
3. John Pettigrew, born 1736, County Tyrone, Ireland. He came with the family to America in 1743. Died November 8, 1806 in Abbeville District, South Carolina.
* The lineage and heirs of John Pettigrew will be given in full on the following pages. The American Pettigrew heirs descended from John Pettigrew.
4. James Pettigrew, Jr. (the fourth James Pettigrew mentioned to date). He came with the family to America in 1743. Moved with them to South Carolina. Served in the American Revolution. He is mentioned in his father's will and in many other records.
5. Charles Pettigrew. The first child born to the union in America. Born March 20, 1743 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Died April 8, 1805. Charles remained all of his life in Tyrell County North Carolina. He owned landed estates in both Tyrell and Pasquotank Counties. In 1773 he was a master of a school in Edenton, North Carolina. He became a minister and during the year 1774 was admitted to The Holy Order and ordained by the Bishop of London and Rochester in England. He returned to America on the last boat to sail before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
Charles was a man of wealth, a physician, pastor of a church, slave owner, built a church for his congregation at his own expense in 1787 which is standing today. He was elected Bishop of North Carolina. He was married twice, first on October 29, 1778 to Mary, daughter of Colonel John and Sarah Elizabeth Blount of "Mulberry Hill." The second marriage was June 12, 1794 to Mary, daughter of James R. Lockhart of "Scotch Hall." There were two children by the first union, and three children by the second union.*
* Children of the two unions will be given later.
6. Mary Pettigrew, sixth child of James and Martha Cochran Pettigrew, was married to John Verner and settled in Anderson County, South Carolina. Some of the descendants of this union removed to Alabama.
7. George Pettigrew was born circa 1746.
8. A child who died young, leaving no heirs.
9. Jean Pettigrew born in 1750 in Pennsylvania. She died in 1838 in Gwinette County, Georgia. She was married to Stephen Tilly.
10. Ebenezer Pettigrew, born 1752 in Pennsylvania.
11. and 12. Two daughters who died during the fever epidemic, of 1770 leaving no heirs.
13. William Pettigrew, born February 1758 in Lunenburg County, Virginia. Married Louise Guy Gilbert. To this union James Louis Petigru* who practiced law with his cousin, James Johnston Pettigrew in Charleston, South Carolina before the Civil War, was born.
* Children of the two unions will be given later.
6. Mary Pettigrew, sixth child of James and Martha Cochran Pettigrew, was married to John Verner and settled in Anderson County, South Carolina. Some of the descendants of this union removed to Alabama.
7. George Pettigrew was born circa 1746.
8. A child who died young, leaving no heirs.
9. Jean Pettigrew born in 1750 in Pennsylvania. She died in 1838 in Gwinette County, Georgia. She was married to Stephen Tilly.
10. Ebenezer Pettigrew, born 1752 in Pennsylvania.
11. and 12. Two daughters who died during the fever epidemic, of 1770 leaving no heirs.
13. William Pettigrew, born February 1758 in Lunenburg County, Virginia. Married Louise Guy Gilbert. To this union James Louis Petigru* who practiced law with his cousin, James Johnston Pettigrew in Charleston, South Carolina before the Civil War, was born.
THE CHILDREN OF WILLIAM PETTIGREW (1758) AND LOUISE GUY GILBERT
1. *James Louis Pettigru chose the original French spelling of family mane after he reached maturity.
2. Thomas Pettigrew, Captain, U.S. Navy
3. Charles Pettigrew, U.S.A.
4. John G. Pettigrew. Who went west.
5. Mary Pettigrew, who never married.
6. Jane Gilbert Pettigrew, who married her cousin, John Gough North.
7. Louise Pettigrew. Married Phillip Johnson Porcher.
8. Adeline Pettigrew, who married Robert F. A. Aliston, Governor of South Carolina. Adeline was a writer. She wrote "A Woman Rice Planter" and "Chronicles of Chicora Wood."
9. Harriet Pettigrew married Henry Deas Lesesne.
2. Thomas Pettigrew, Captain, U.S. Navy
3. Charles Pettigrew, U.S.A.
4. John G. Pettigrew. Who went west.
5. Mary Pettigrew, who never married.
6. Jane Gilbert Pettigrew, who married her cousin, John Gough North.
7. Louise Pettigrew. Married Phillip Johnson Porcher.
8. Adeline Pettigrew, who married Robert F. A. Aliston, Governor of South Carolina. Adeline was a writer. She wrote "A Woman Rice Planter" and "Chronicles of Chicora Wood."
9. Harriet Pettigrew married Henry Deas Lesesne.
When William Pettigrew died in 1837, his slave quarters held more than 350 slaves.
University of SC collections of Prints and photos
Thirty photographs, four albums, one halftone, and one silhouette, 1890-1915, of the Ford family of Aiken. Arthur Peronneau Ford and Marion Johnstone Porcher Ford (d. 1907) came to Bamburg in Barnwell Co in the 1860s and built their house on Barnwell Avenue in Aiken (not far from Bamburg), just west of Rose Hill, in 1886. Arthur established the Aiken Recorder in 1871 and continued on as editor until his death in 1910. The family was active in St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church. Possibly compiled by daughters Louise Petigru Ford (d. 1943) and Marianna Porcher Ford (d. 1965), the albums feature images of identified horses, unidentified women, dogs, gardens, Aiken house, Liberty Hall plantation, Fairhaven, African Americans plowing with ox and working dikes in rice fields, and a trip to the North in 1903. Among the loose photographs are studio portraits of Arthur and Marion; a young woman on a bicycle; the house; and the Ford sisters in the garden, inside the house, and with groups of young people. Of interest are two milk-glass photographs of young Arthur and Marion. Also included are a carte-de-visite of young John Drayton Ford in 1874; a photograph of baby John Drayton Ford in 1911; a silhouette of Louise; and the halftone of Arthur in Confederate uniform used in his book Life in the Confederate Army (1905). Photographers represented include O.N. Cripps, of Aiken Photo Studio; C.D. Hardt, of Aiken; Holland’s Studio, of Charleston; and Y.M. Van Wagner, of Nyack, N.Y.
I just traced my family history back to a Maria L Porcher, slave owner to my ancestors. D0 you know if they have names of the slaves they owned?
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