The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-06-03
"REMINISCENCES
Of AN OLD MAN
Judge X. E. Hill Writes o
Things Long Ago in Abbe-
will County.

all Of them have long since passed
away, and their places have not been
filled by fresh importations-the fact
being that it is the rarest thing, these
days to meet with a man OF that ma
tionality who has just recently arrived
from his native home, and can Sing
OF the Sprig of Shillalah and Sham
rock so Green"
At that time the country was not
settled up in that uniform manner as
1t O is-but the people lived in what
was known as settlements-that is
there would be sections where fami-
lies lived in close proximity to each
other-and then there would be a
large scope of country in which there
would be very few living.
One Of these settlements was known
as the Upper Long Cane settlement,
which took in the country round
about where Davis Miller, Oscar Gro
mer, Tom CASTOR and others now live.
Another was the Buck Stand settle
ment, located six or seven miles above
Abbeville on the road leading to Due
West.
These two settlements were made
up almost entirely of Irish families.
My father emigrated to this country
from near Belfast in the County of
Antrim, Ireland, (the section of coun-
try where the trouble is threatened
over the Home Rule question: when
:, he was seventeen years of age.
The only business experience that
he had ever had was that Of a clerk
in his fathers store, who was a mer-
chant in the town of Ballynure.
After making up his mind to re-
main in this country, which he had not
fully determined upon when he left
his native home, he concluded to- en-
gage in the mercantile business which
he soon afterwards did in a little log
cabin which stood near the public
. read just in front of the house after
wards owned and occupied by the late
Peter Henry, deceased. grandfather Of
Mr.. Albert Henry, of the firm Of Phil
son and Henry, merchants Of this
town..
After my fathers death I found
among his papers, a letter, evidently
the first which he wrote to his father
shortly after he arrived in this coun-
try. The only way that 1 can account
for his having in his possession this
-; letter is upon the hypothesis that up
on his return to Ireland on a visit,
some fifteen years after his leaving
home, some member Of the family
gave him this letter, his father in the
mean time having died.
In that letter he said to his father
that he at first had thought Of open
ing his little store in the Upper Long
Cane Settlement, but afterwards con-
cluded to do so among the people OF
the Buck Stand, for the reason, as he
stated, that he had observed that the
men of the latter place were less CIV
en- to drink than was the case in the
Long Cane Settlement and that there
fore they would be more apt to pay for
what they might buy from him on a
credit
Among those living IN the Long
Cane Settlement were a very inter-
esting old Irish couple, known as
Jacky and Nancy Lathers.
I recall quite an experience which
1 once had with Jacky.
1t was the fall Of 1852, the first time
my father was elected to the office OF
Judge Of Probate. The election bid
fair to be a pretty close n and some
one Of my fathers friends brought
Jacky in to vote for him.
After the voting was over Jacky
got pretty tight and it fell to my lot
to take him home. This I undertook
to do in my fathers buggy, leaving
town only a short while before sun
down.
Being anxious to get rid Of my
charge as soon as possible, so as to
get home before BLACK dark" drove
pretty rapidly, and in going down the
long hill just beyond the Mile
house, Jacky, who was perfectly help
less and measuring as much around
his body as he did in height, which
was not more than five feet, slid down
into the foot of the buggy and was
about to get one of his legs between
the spokes of the wheel.
I managed to hold him until /
reached the bottom Of the hill, when
[ undertook to s~traignten him up, but
being quite small, and Jackey weigh
ing about two hundred pounds, l made
little or no progress in my efforts.
After Juggling at him for some con-
siderable time, and If I am not mis-
taking, crying a little, as | didn't
know what to do, fortunately a negro
man happened to come along, and we
managed to get Jacky's leg back into
the foot of the buggy, where he lay