The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1859-05-06
From tn. Courier.
"DUE WEST cORNER".-ORIGIN OF THE
NAME.

Editors Courier IL notice in one OF your I
late issues brief paragraph. calling the atten.
sion of your correspondent to All article of tito
due West Telescope. asking for informut'on III
regard to the history and origin Of the real name
Of that rural seat Of learning nnd tho republican
virtues. This has not yet been subject uf my
special investigation, but Incidentally, have
CLEANED enough from the records, and from
Sonversations with aged Witnesses TO be assured
Of the comparatively recent origin OF its np.
pellative, due West 1t my be said in pal.
liation, however, that while most mcn and
paces find II Gitticu I to make one name fa
NOUS the en,crpri,ing people of the /" Corner
have, in the cuurse OF q hundred yenrs, sue
csedrd in rnsing two to quite M cnv,uble celeb
ri,y-the first being hallowcd by the recol.
lsciions Of the grent struggle Tor the rights OF
msu the last by his associations with the emo.
bling charucter.,,cs Of the pussi"g uge, its sci
snce and religion.
;. So far back, or so gradually hcgan tho dis
nee Of the fret, that the precise lime when
Duo est euuie to bc preferred, il, doubtless.
how enieinhcred by lew, If any, living i'll the
Diatrict. Yet. there is point in our up |
country history that may be more clearly es- |
tablislled than that Due West no, the name
known to those 10 whom the place was familiar |
before aud during the Rcvoluiiun.
Irecollrci on one occasion. Of showing to nh
aged revolutionary soldier. who had heard the
original name ull his life, old muster roll con
tanning the names Of the men with whom he had
served through the war, and on my reading it
aloud to him, he quickly exclaimed ri one Of
them. ALI! yes. knew him well lie lived
near Due Wrs, Corner"
I regard this spontaneous. unnskcd testimony
OF tho old soldier. as more valuable, III son,e re-
spects, than even any documentary evidence;
for the ortl'ography Of proper names nj that pc.
Rod, particularly in the upper country; wa.
exceedingly irregular aud detective. and this Of
Dewitt or Drwct ID 10 exception. In the simple
uitersnce Of the name, IN he had used i'll his
youth, and heard others use it more familiar
with il thnn himself, he fixed. with little room
for reasonable doubt. it's cont.mporaneous pro-
nunciation.
This Testimony can he Displaced only by de-
eided evidence 10 the contrary. from old records
containing the original name but there without
exception ns far as have had opportunity to
sxsn,,ne them, give the snrne or nearly the sume
appeliative.
I would first refer you to Cook and Mou-
CONS maps, aa infinitely copied in " Currolfs His
torical Collections" one of them published il,
l77l, and the other only four years later. 1t is
there inserted, and written Deuet Corner. 1t
must, therefore, have been place Of some little
note, at lenst, as early as the commencement OF
tho Revolution, aud was familiar to the people
OH the border, aud 10 few in Charleston, who
looked higher up on the old provincial maps than
Boundary. street. rs Drwets Corner. The cor
respondent Of the 're-scope mentions an
cient deed which had been seen in that neigh
borhood, securing lands in and around the
"Corner7 to a man bearing the narno Of Dew
tits
There can be no doubt of the fact, and fur.
ther investig ntio,, particularly i'll the ancient Of
fec of Mesne Convcyances for Ninety Six dis.
trict, will disclose additional proofs Of IL, thut at
an early period in the history Of the settlement
Of that remote section Of the Province, pioneer
of the name of Dewitt or Dewet. built his cabin
at that spot and an Indian trading house which
in a shcrt time became quite place Of resort
The difference in the pronunciation Of this name
thus var;ously spelt, is slight, aud SO like Du
West, as TO be easily suffered to degenerate int
it. a. the circumstances Of its history gradual,
faded from the memory of The people. Th
chief difficulty is TO account for The additions
appellation Of "corner" Of this have two ex
plantations, either Of which appears to me suth
oienty satisfactory.
A. did the Gowdies at old Ninety Six, Dewitt
built his trading house imme dintely the fs
nous Indian path, still Remembered the kec
wee Trail Al the spot where ic fixed his build
ings tho old thoroughfare forked, and these stoo
close to, if not on. the immediate angle OF tn
bifurcation this branch of the ancient highwa
ran directly South along the ridge between tn
present Little River and Long Cane Creek, mn
BY the modern site Of Abbeville village. tt
Keowee Trail was. at that period, the creates
central highwny-if a trading path may be cnl
cd Auch-in Carolina and the few forks MI
crosses that occurred upon it, became conspicuo,
points, even without cabin trading house.
Gowdey's fort aud store. al Ninety Six. occupi'
the weil-known spot whero the great trail fro
Charleston by the Congarees, running up Il
Saluda, united with the Keowee path"
These circumstances were certainly sufficie
to give rise to the surname Of "Corner," and it
quito possible for them to have been the SOUR
Of its origin.
This conjecture would seem to be put beyor
peraventure, by reference to MI old diagram
Drayton's Memoirs of Major Wamson's rol
from the border through the Indian nation. III
famous Cherokee expedition. In addition
the unmisakable position given there, to
.Corner" md it's surroundings, the situation
his camp, which he so long occupied near tn
place, is thus described: che en- can.ped
Holmsy Field, on Hogskin Creek about fo
nilss from the Cherokee boundary line. at De
1ass Corner"t This then, would fix the site
Mn. latter place at tho mouth Of the stream 81
Known ~ Conner Creek, and Immediately at
iuucture of the old trail with the Indian hour
ssy line Hence obviously, the nntno ol
Geek and Of Dewtts Corner
n this bo true and the authority is quite re-
sle. the good people of the "Corn-r" must be p
parsd for the announcement that the present
oftheir village is even further removed from
stnation occupied by the Dewit.'s Corner OF
oldsu time than their modern name from thai
the original founder.
Again, when Dewitt settled here, If We m
b guided by tho map III CAROLS collections,
aneient Chrrokee boundary line. already IN
toned still ran but short distance North OF
cabin he was within fifteen miles Of the extr'
Nort,west corner Of tho Province, and held.
hsp. the first, at last for number Of years.
most important settlement i'll thai remoteregi
hence, just MS a more famous house once bull
Dunc."by's Head in remote North Scotland,
came world renowped John O'Gtoat's ho
40 this was carly Known as Dewitt's Corner.
ihe.srp+llaton Of ''co1"er" has been eve. 8
iftsruted. and the fourisling Districts Of CIR
.ille. Anderson and Pickens, have come to o
~ the wild hunting ground Of the indians.
Mills, in his Statistics. men,ions it under
nsmeof Dewit,'s Corner. His authority
dorb,l.ssahe records in Columbia; it is not T
s.,nsd. Suayer, either in the journals or tn,
disn books anterior to 1850. I infer from
and c,ier circumstances. that it wa: not Sc
iii 1865 the old Iapd grant, or deed' would
ue ,hi, point beyond question:
Tho frr mention made Of Dew!tts Corne