Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-02-28
BIRTHPLACE OF JACKSON
W. F. Stevenson UphOldS the Truth
Of History.
old MYTHS ARNIHILATED BY FACTS

yond Question That Old Hickory
First Saw the Light in the County Of
Lancaster, on the South Carolins
Side of the State Line.
Speech delivered in the house Of rep
resentatives by Hon. w. F. Steven
son on Thursday, February %, and
printed in the Congressional Record
of yesterday.
The house In committee of the whole
house on the state of the Union had
under consideration the bill Oh. r. TO-
559) making appropriations for the de-
partments of Commerce and Labor for
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1873,
and for other purposes.
Mr.. Stevenson. Mr.. chairman and
gentlemen, 1t is an old controversy, but
recently I have discovered that in the
last edition of the Congressional
Record, the permanent one, the myth
that Andrew Jackson was born on the
McKemey plantation in North Carolina
has been engPafted on our Congress
sional Record and I desire to contro-
vert that proposition and once for all
place before the congress and this
country the evidence as to the BIRTH
The controversy about the birth OF
Andrew jackson is one which should
be settled on the evidence and not on
personal preferences. l myself am
native of North Carolina; left there
after / was 81 years of age; was born
and reared in the Scotch-Irish settle
ments about so miles from where jack
son was born, and have no reason to
question the claim Of North Carolina
to his birthplace except that truthful
ness Of history My admiration for the
state of my birth would forbid my un-
dertaking improperly to take away any
Of her claims of distinction. But this
controversy arose first in the mistake
of the surveyors in locating the lines
between the provinces. They were di-
rected in 1875 to start at the mouth OF
Little River south Of Wilmington and
run to the thirty fifth parallel of lati-
tude, and that parallel was then to be
followed to complete the northern
line. BY error they stopped IL miles
short of the thirty fifth parallel, and
when they started to complete the line
they found when they got to Waxhaw
creek that they were II miles south of
their line. The line was to run around
the Catawba Indian nation, which had
144,000 acres of land, which would run
the line at that point above the thirty
fifth parallel. That line had been run
In 1863, and the eastern line at Its
southern point had reached Twelve
Mile creek 3 miles below the thirty
fifth parallel and stopped on Gum Cor
ner, and the state line should have cut
that line, therefore, miles above
Twelve Mile creek. When it was
found to be miles below, they es-
fkxI1 ~ al of "ov Ifa xxr
creek and the line between that rock
corner and the Gum corner on Twelve
Mile creek was not settled finally until
1915.
You see, here on the map Is the line
They were to come up to this parallel,
but for some unknown reason they
stopped IL miles south Of the parallel.
That stood until 1765, when they were
directed to go there and finish it. In
the meanwhile the Catawba Indian
reservation was run out here, as you
see on this map, containing 144,000
acres Of land, and it was understood
that II was to be entirely in South
Carolina, The line was run around
that in 1853 and came to Twelve Mile
creek. which is shown here, at which
they established corner known as the
Gum Corner, which is still extant.
Mr.. Little. Will the gentleman yield
for a question?
Mr.. Stevenson. / will yield to the
gentleman from Kansas.
Mr.. Little. The gentleman says ut
was understood What does the
gentleman mean by understood"
Mr.. Stevenson. 1t was agreed be-
tween the two provinces of North and
South Carolina, I am informed. Then
when they went to make the northern
line here, that was to be the thirty
fifth parallel clear through here, and
then run around it and to take the
thirty fifth parallel again and complete
the line. That was the understanding
between the provinces. But when they
got here they found they were IL miles
below the thirty fifth parallel and 8
miles below. the corner of the Indian
reservation, and they lay down and
quit and placed a stone corner by two
oaks near Waxhaw creek. (See map.)
That was in 1865. Then in 1772 they
took up this line and ran the northern
line from the Catawba river west, and
rather than surrender this piece Of
territory south of the thirty-fifth par
allel, east of the Indian reservation, a
piece north of the thirty-f fifth parallel
and west of the Catawba river was
given in exchange for it. But the g.
mile line here from WaXhaw creek
where they established rock corner in
1865, to Gum Corner, on Twelve Mile
Creek, was in dispute. The state Of
South Carolina claimed that it was a
straight line and the state Of North
Carolina claimed that 1t followed the
road, and all the maps, as l will show
you by one of them presently, carried 1t
by the public road, which threw the
James Crawford grant of land largely
into North Carolina. Meanwhile the
Crawfords were granted tract Of land
by South Carolina, and the same tract
Of land was granted by North Carolina
to Gen. Andrew Pickens, that being the
place on which Gen. Jackson was born.
So that from 1865 until an agreement
was reached in 1915 the Crawford land,
on which Jackson was born, according
to one claim was in North Carolina and
according to another was in South
Carolina, and the map showed the
Carolina road as the dividing line, and
that threw the Crawford land largely
into North Carolina, though the Craw-
ford house was in South Carolina.
Therefore, while the claim was set up
that Jackson was born in North Caro-
| lima, it was we'll established and every
body admitted that he was born on the
! Crawford plantation. There was no
dispute about that. The dispute was
whether the Crawford place was in
North or South Carolina.
Now, in 1913 the two states reached
an agreement and sent a commission