The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-05-14


Before the year 1880, the whole cen
tral area of South Carolina was occu
pied by Indians. Mills, in his Stats
tics Of South Carolina, speaking O
Orangeburg. says on page 656-'57, 1.-The
first white inhabitapt who settled in
this section of country, was named
Henry Sterling. His occupation, it is
supposed, was that Of trader. He To-
Gated himself on Lyons creek, in the
year 1904; and obtained grant for j
tract of land at present in the posses
sion of Col. Russell P. McCord.
sit was not until 1875, that any con-
siderable accession OF whites took place.
At this period a considerable colony OF
Germans arrived, and settled in several
parts of the district. From the third
year of their settlement, they had the
benefit of religious instruction from
the Rev. John Gisendanner."
Very probably this is the same name
as Geisenhainer, sometimes Geiselhart,
who preached in Dutch Fork, before
the days Of Parson Waller
"One of his children, born in 1742, is
still alive, lin 1926, the date of publica-
ton of Mills Statisticsl. The first child
that be christened, born in 1876, is also
alive, lin 1S26,-S7 years oldl. This
reverend gentleman continued to Off
ciate among the emigrants for twenty
years after their settlement in Orange
burg; and his register is exact. Three
or four individuals had previously SET
tied at the Cowpens, northwesterly of
the low country white settlements.
These and the Cherokee and Catawba
Indians were all the inhabitants who
had proceeded the Germans. In 1869,
another colony of Germans settled here,
which with one of Irish, much in
creased the population. The district
H. e. Orangeburgl originally embraced
all the country from Savannah river to
Santee; and from Charleston and Beau
fort districts to Edgefeld, including
the Dutch Fork"
This quotation from Mills indicates
the way in which emigrants to the in
terror of South Carolina obtained titles
to the lands on which they desired to
settle. When Henry Sterling applied,
in 1904, for a grant to secure his rights
to certain lands in Orangeburg, the
person authorized by the King Of En-
gland to superinterd such transactions
with the settlers was Nathaniel John
son, one of Proprietary Governors.
Fifteen years afterwards, change took
place in the titles Of these dignitaries.
After l719 they were styled Royal
Governors,-having received their ap-
pointment directly from the crown,
instead Of from the Lords Proprietors.
Therefore, when John Adam Summer
came to the section of conntry now
called 1.-The Dutch Fork" and drove
into the ground, the pine-knot-stake
to designate the place Of his future
home, the person from whom he
received the grant that confirmed
him in his ownership was very proba-
bly, the Royal Governor William Bull
1877, or James Glen 1913.
I cannot refrain from making anoth-
er quotation from Mills on page lis,
not only to fix the date when the
Cherokee Indians had ceeded by treaty
to the King of England nearly all their
lands in South Carolina, but also to
corroborate, by beautiful incident,
the supposition Of some learned anti
ouarians that the North American In
dians are the continuous dispersion OF
the Ten Lost Tribes Of Isreal, Having
crossed over to America at Behring's
straits. The transmission of an event
to posterity by impressing it upon the
mind of very young boy, so that
when he becomes an old man he may
hand it down to some one Of the next
generation for the perpetuation Of his
torical knowledge, results among the
Indians, very likely, from the lingering
of an ancient Israelitish custom. (See
Exodus, xiii: II, and Deuteronomy,
xxxii: l..
"When Governor Glen"-So writes
Mills-'met the Cherokee warriors IN
their own country, and held treaty
with them, after he had finished bis
speech, Chulochculla arose, and IN an
swer spoke to the following effect.
What I now speak our father the great
king should hear. We are brothers to
the people Of Carolina; one house
covers us.all.' Then taking a boy by
the hand he presented him to the Gov
ernor, saying, We, our wives, and our
children, are all children of the great
King George; have brought this child,
that when he grows up, be may re-
member our agreement on this day,
aud tell it to the next generation, that
it may be known for ever Then open
ing his bag Of earth [see2 Kings V: L. J,
and laying the same at the governors
feet, he said: We freely surrender a
part of our lands to the great king.
The French want our possessions, but
we will defend them, while one Of our
nation still remains alive Then de-
livering the governor s'ring Of wam-
pun. in confirmation of what he said,
he added: My speech is at an end; it's
the voice of the Cherokee nation. l
hope the governor will send it to the
king, that it may be kept forever
Mills Statistics OF Somh Carolina, page
lis.
In regard to John Adam Summer, it