Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-07-02

iCopnty, va, IoVlasIoh anu az ''i'0i
the latter born in L742, married Mar
garet Daily in i!61 and this is the
early pioneer WI ..se memory we are
here to perpetu .;e and who settled
this spot and elseied the original
forests. In 1772 he moved from Vir-
ginia to South Carolina, settling first
on the Congaree River near our beau
tiful Capital City and in December
of that year moved to Cedar Fields
lin Edgefeld District. When he left
Virginia he had three children, John,
William and Nancy and the youngest
son, Eldred, seeing the light of day
at Cedar Fields, and in this burying
ground a streak of sunlight touches
the marble shaft erected to Eldred
Simkins, born in the stirring year of
1775 and who died in 1881; a splen-
did lawyer, a promoter of education
and religious activity, a member of
Congress and law partner of George
McDuffie, who was one of the coun-
try's greatest orators. The old site of
Cedar Fields is still recognizable, an
avenue of very ancient and bare look
ling cedars leading to cabin now oc'
cupied by negroes, the original man.
sion having been torn down. anl the
timber used to- help build the Tomp-
kins residence at Centre Springs and
the residence on the Edgewood es-
tate. These cedars tell the stcrJ of
the past in their bleak and gloomy
appearance, for they have been left
these many years as sentinels to hold
lin secret the history of this once hap
DIV and handsome home. True, the
storms of centuries have marred
their beauty and symmetry, and they
are different now from the days
when Judge Simkins rode beneath
their shadow to the brightness and
beauty and JOY of this home to which
they led. They have heard the merry
prattle of little children, the hustle
of plantation fife, with the hundreds
of slaves.
There groups of merry children play
ed,
There youths and maidens, dreaming,
strayed,
All are scattered now and dead,
And when I ask with throbs of pain,
When shall they all meet again?
The ancient cedars make reply:
Never here, forever there,
When all this parting, pain and care
And death and time shall disappear.
These silent sentinels witnessed the
HAPPY marriage celebrations, and saw
time after time the sad procession as
lit wended its way to the family bury
ing ground where one by one they
all passed and are sleeping their last
sleep, undisturbed, because in this
secluded spot there is an atmosphere
Of pathos and solemnity that slack
ems the sread and bushes all the rude
sound. The iron gate has rusted and
fallen from its hinges but this matters
not for marauders and ghouls never
enter here.
Judge O'Neal in his "Bench and
Bar of South Carolina" says: car
thur Simkins was of the most respec-
table class from the Eastern shores
Of Virginia, and emigrated early in
life to Edgefeld District. He came
first to the Congaree, but being solely
dissatisfied with that locality, passed
onward to the more distant and less
frequented forests of the Savannah
side of the state. After several years
of observation he ultimately settled
fine body of land on the waters of
Log Creek, in Edgefeld District, a
plantation still remembered by many
as the "Cedar Fields" Here he lived
and died. He was County Court
Judge under the old system and was
looked up to as standard of worth
and probity by all who lived within
/, the sphere of his influence. When the
Revolutionary War broke out, he of
course sided for independence of the
colonies and served his country faith
fully and with hero's devotion. He
was a member of the General Assem-
bly, of South Carolina after the Rev.
olutionary War and also of the con-
vention which adopted the Federal
Constitution. He voted against the
adoption of the Constitution, as did
nearly all the delegates from the
Ninety Six District. General Sumter
and Governor Pickens were both op-