Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-06-02

then ClerKlnB IOT a mercantile nrm IN
YOrkville, formed copartnership
with Mr.. Hugh Burris and opened a
business under the style of Moore &
Burris. They built storeroom in
which to do business near the present
store of ]. p. Williams G. Co., and did
lucrative business, mostly in dry
goods and millinery, and as the ladies
of this community were noted. for
dressing up to the height of the fash
ion and, the men for paying their bills,
Moore & Burris had a soft snap in
making money.
The Civil war soon broke out, the
portf and all outside means of get
ting goods cut off, merchandising
from 1852 to 1856 was lost.art. The
people used parched rye for coffee,
sorghum molasses for sweetening and,
the ladies had to fall back to the
styles Of colonial days after their sup
ply of store clothes were worn out
and wear homespun and the men did
likewise, so Moore & Burris had to
close up SHOP because they could not
set any goods to sell. Mr.. Moore told
me the firm collected all their out
standing claims in Confederate mon
ey, invested most of it in Confederate
bonds and, as q result the firm lost
practically everything they owned.
Soon after they commenced business
the u. S. government established a
post office here which was located in
the storeroom of Moore & Burris. I
think Mr.. ]. p. Moore was the post
master and continued to hold his Of
flee under the U. s. and Confederate
government until the surrepder, when
the office was discontinued on account
of no man in the community: who
could take the ironclad oath which
required all persons taking office un-
der the United States to swear that
they never gave aid either directly or
indirectly to the Confederate> states.
People from this community got their
mail from Charlottesville Miss Jane
Guthries was the postmistress there
in 1872. Mr.. "A. f. Lindsay, who was
clerk for Moore G. Hemphill was
appointed postmaster, the oath being
modified so he could take it,
After the war Mr.. j. p. Moore and
Samuel Hemphill formed partner
ship and commenced business in the
old stand of Moore & Burrs. Their
business was on a small scale at first
but gradually increased until they
had very fair business. In 1879 Mr..
f. N. Crawford built store room
just across the railroad opposite Moore
& Hemphill and he, with Mr.. A. +.
Lindsay opened n store selling prac-
tically everything kept in n country
store.
Mr.. A. +. Lindsay, the postmaster,
moved the post office from the Moore
e. Hemphill store to the store Of
Crawford G. Lindsay. Sometime after
Moore &Hemphill sold out their busi-
ness to J. o. Moore and +. d. Will
liams. Mr. f. N. Crawford about this
time built shop in which he con-
Quoted a general repair work on wag-
ons, buggies, horse-shoeing, etc. The
place now commenced to take on new
life, residences were erected and bus
mess began to expand.
Dr. w. NJ. Love and H. f. McCon-
nell opened up offices and did the
practice of community with McCon-
nellsville as headquarters.
In 1870 / was chosen teacher for the
McConnellsville school. At that time
there were only three houses where the
village now stands, viz: The resi-
dences of Capt. Jno. d. Mcconnell and
j. p. Moore and the store room OF
Moore t& Hemphill The school build
ing was located about Il quarter of n
mile east of the station and was Il
very crude affair, both as to it's con-
struction and equipment and, entirely
out of keeping with the financial con-
ditons of the patrons. However, |
got along nicely as l had the full CO.
operation of the patrons and the at
tention of the pupils. The patrons of
this school lived within a radius of
two miles with McConnellsville as
center. They were above the average
in intelligence and picty, were we'll
fixed financially and taught their chill
dren to be obedient and to read the
bible and observe the Sabbath day.
They might have been divided into
four families, viz: Ashes, Loves, Nc
Connells. and Burris. and il any one
did not have one of these names he or
she was kin to some one of them
They were all distinctly Presbyterlans
in their religion. A few attended
Zion now Lowryville Presbyterian
church. Others Old Olivet, which
stood about three miles west of Nc
COnnellsville and, whose membership
was made up of New School Presby-
terians, Associate Reformed Presby-
terians and Old School Presbyterians.
When the churches in York county of
the New School Presbyterian were
absorbed by Bethel Presbytery, Olivet
was taken under the care of Bethel
Presbytery and the Associate Re-