The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-04-25
Mr.. CLEMSON'S REQUEST.
A STATEMENT OF TIE PROBABLE
EXrkNT OF THE GIFT.

A STATEMENT OF TIE PROBABLY
EXrkNr OF THE GIFT.
A Large Quantity of Land ant Some Per
sonal Property Given for q College where
Agriculture aud Other Branches Shall
Be Taught.
(From the Greenvile Daily News, April IA.
No e7ent of recent years has aroused
more interest among the farmers, an6
the people generally, than the death, last
Saturday, Of Thomas G. Clemson, the
venerable son-in-law and heir of John G.
Calhoun, and his bequest of "Fort Hill,
Mr.. Calhoun's home during the latter
days OF his life, TO the State Of South
Carolina for use as an agricultural CO..
lege.
A reporter for the Greenville Daily
News went to Fort Hill on yesterday tc
obtain particulars in confirmation Of and
addition to the few facts heretofore given
the public. He was fortunate enough 'tc
meet there the Hon. R. W. Simpson,
Mr.. Clemson's trusted friend and agent
and executor, who had gone from Pen
dleton to Fort ELL with Mr.. Lee, Of
New York, who married Mr.. Clemson's
daughter, and Miss Lee, very young
lady, tie dead mans only grand child
and the great-grand-daughter of Mr..
Calhoun.
Miss Lee has not been to Fort Hill be.
fore since she was a small child and
there was a very picturesque scene soon
after her arrival when the old family
servants, some of them with snow white
hair and beard, gathered in the old fash
ioned, moss covered porch of the home
stead to see and pay their loyal respects
to the youngest representative of the
family with which they have been iden-
titled SO long.
Mr.. Simpson is the only living person
who has seen and read Mr.. Clemson's IS
Will, and as he has not yet probated it
he was evidently reluctant to talk of its
contents in detail. As SO much has been
published, however, most of it based on
statements made by Mr.. Clems n before
his death and some of it incorrect, Mr..
Simpson communicated the most i'm
portant facts.
Mr.. Clemson's will was drawn several
years ago by the late Col. Jas. b. Rion,
but several amendments and additions
more recently made were drawn by Mr..
Simpson. He bequeaths to his grand
daughter, Miss Lee, $4,000 in money
and securities and $50 acres of the Fort
Hill place, with the provision that that
tract NAV be bought in and added to the
remainder of the estate at fixed price.
Other legacies amount to $4,000, of
which $1,000 was paid before his death.
All the remainder of the Fort Hill estate,
with the buildings and the magnificent
collection OF rare pictures, except the
family pictures, which go to Miss Lee,
Mr.. Calhoun's furniture and books re-
manning in the house and the stocks,
bonds, money and other securities OF
Mr.. Clemson, go to the State for the
establishment and maintenance of an
agricultural college.
The Fort Hill place contains l,l50
acres. OF this $50 acres, as already
stated, go to Miss Lee, but can be pur-
chased to keep the estate intact at q
fixed reasonable price. Those intimate
ly acquainted with Mr.. Clemson's affairs
estimate that the securities and cash re-
naming after the payment of all encum-
brances and expenses will be between
S5O,0OO and $4,000, available for de-
Yeloping and endowing the college.
The magnifcence of the bequest can
noS well be appreciated without an
understanding Of what and where Fort
Hill is.
It is in Oconee county just at the point
where Oconee, Pickens and Anderson
unite. 1t runs for some distance along
the Seneca river and thence back into
rolling uplands and heavi y timbered
woodland. The house stands on the
crest of a gently rising bill in the midst
of wide park, an avenue Of old and
beautiful cedars leading to it. From the
front there is glorious view directly to
the mountains until their purple lines
mingle with the horizon; on another
SIDE the view over looks the Seneca,
vending its way among the hills, and
the old British fort, from which the place
takes it's name and which is on the Sort
Hill plantation.
The residence is in sight Of the Rich
mond & Danville railroad track, at a
distance of half mile, and is four miles
from Pendleton, on the Blue Ridge rail-
road, four miles from Central, on the
Richmond 4 Danville road, and seven
miles from Seneca City, the meeting
point of the two railroads mentioned.
T. is hard to imagine requisite for
an agricultural college which Fort Hill
does not possess. It has nearly 200 acres
of the finest bottom land, creek and
river bottom, cleared upland, pasture
land in wide stretches and great belt
of first growth timber, and its upland
soil is partly gray and partly red land.
It is abundantly watered with springs,
wells and creeks and has all possible
natural convenience for dairy, bathing
houses and laundry purposes. Where a
creek on it empties into the Seneca river
there is good water power which has
been used for mill which did the neigh
borhood grinding.
A fair estimate of the value Of the real
and personal property included in the
bequest makes it exceed 500, 600, with
oul, of course, including the pictures and
furniture, which are priceless. Contrary
to general expectation, the library is a
very ordinary one, most OF the more