THE ENOREE AND LITTLE RIVER SETTLEMENTS The Enoree and its tributaries were settled by Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and North Carolinians who came down the Catawba Path from the Shenandoah Valley. They were largely of English or Scotch-Irish descent. Some of them, including John Gordon, Thomas Gordon, and Jacob Pennington, obtained patents from the Governor of North Carolina reciting that the territory between the Enoree and Tyger Rivers was in Anson County, North Carolina. Later these settlers had to apply for grants from the Governor of South Carolina for their lands. Lest it be thought that only the provincial government of North Carolina was ignorant about the upcountry, the confusion in South Carolina grants of that period is similarly revealing. The four coastal counties of Craven, Berkeley, Colleton, and Granville ran from the seacoast to the upper limits of the colony. The Santee River divided Craven and Berkeley, and there was no confusion about the boundary until it reached the junction of the Broad and Saluda rivers. From that point northward, however, there was doubt as to whether the Saluda or the Broad was the dividing line. The result was that grants to adjoining lands in the Fork between the rivers would refer to one as being in Craven and to the other as being in Berkeley. This confusion persisted until Ninety Six District was established, although the Saluda was the county boundary and present-day Newberry, Laurens, Spartanburg, and Union were in Craven County. The other principal early settlement in Newberry County was in the Little River-Bush River section which was also settled by Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and North Carolinians. This, with the Enoree and Dutch Fork settlements, constituted the early centers of population. >From time to time troops of rangers were employed as protection for the upcountrymen against the Indians. In the spring of 1748, two troops of fourteen men each were enlisted under Captains John Fairchild and James Francis to range the country "from the Congarees to Ninety-six and thence to the Catawba Nation." the range including the Fork between the Broad and Saluda. These rangers had orders to put to death all French and French Indians captured going to or from the Catawba lands. These troops were discharged a few months later. The French continued to poison the minds of the Indians and in May 1751, the Commons House of Assembly resolved to equip four troops of rangers, each consisting of a captain, lieutenant, twenty men, and Indian guides. They were commanded by Captains John Fairchild, Roger Gibson, James McPherson, and Christina Minick and remained in service for four months. Becoming alarmed at Indian depredations, such as the murder of the settlers on Buffalo Creek in November 1754, "the inhabitants of Saludy, Enoree and parts adjacent" presented their petition to Governor Glen and the Council on February 4, 1755, asking for a troop of rangers to protect them. The Humble petitioners could not banish from their minds the cruel and Inhuman treatment of their fellow subjects then lately perpetrated on Buffalo Creek by their Common Enemy, The Bloody fact of those Barbarians was stil fresh in their memory and would needs remain so, Whilst they were equally opposed as those unhappy Mortals were, and consequently liable to the like calamity Relying on the Providence of an Almighty God, they had more than once, Bravely withstood, and With Resolution, waited the Arrival of a Savage Enemy, when sufficient circumstances, and Credible Informations, gave them reason to expect a Visit, hourly from them, Neither should they be wanting to exert themselves on any Emergency, had they the like timely Notice, But how could they promise themselves that? They ought not expect Providence to work Miracles, for their Defence And the Enemy they had to deal with, might be compared to a Wolf - slyly stealing after his prey, which His Excellency and Honours well know to be the method of the Heathen Enemy, Then humbly presumed, it could not be thought otherwise than probable, that as those foresighted Barbarians, glutted themselves with the blood, they seem to take such delight in Spiling, and with impunity escaped free That either themselves or others of the like blood thirsty Disposition, flushed with that Success, would encourage each other, for another Attempt of the like nature, which to prevent, And that they might be disappointed, of their cruel and inhuman expectations, they Humbly prayed His Excellency and Honourable Council with the Honble House of Assembly, to enable them, by a timely assistance, to be prepared for their reception, They were certainly the people that lay open to the Inroads of those Savage Wretches, and a Defence there might be the Country's Safeguard, their Lands were rich and they wanted nothing but hands to make that a flourishing part of the Province, And they humbly presumed no method would prove more effectual, than the Completion of the request of this, their Humble Petition, They were that year preparing, and hoped to raise some hundreds of Indigo for Market, which they doubted not would quickly forward, the Cultivating of that profitable Weed in these parts, Would their generous legislature but fulfil their Humble request which was, a Troop of Rangers, of strength sufficient to withstand the Enemy, and Competent Wages to Encourage Men of Resolution, as well as to enable them to perform their Duty, and obey their Superiors, with alacrity & Vigour. They further hoped that it might seem reasonable to their Honourable and Worthy Patriots, that their Petition if complied with (which they humbly with one reverence prayed for) Would not only Dissipate the Anxious fears of their then Settlement but add a cheerful Vigour to their Industry, joined with a grateful sense of the regard taken of them, But also be a means of converting their Woods into Plantations, by encouraging hundreds to ride with us, that would otherwise pass by into Georgia, when they heard, and saw the Provident Care of Carolina of Her Frontiers... ------------ The footnote on page 9 lists the signers of the petition as: 15. Journal of the council for 1755, pp. 32-34. Those who signed the petition were Andrew Brown, Edward Paine, Bononi Fowler, John Odell, John F. Caisy, Isaac Pennington, John Gordon, Joseph Kelley, Jacob Pennington, Zach. Sparks, Abraham Pennington, Henry Pitts, Philip Thomas, Curdliss Cox, William Curry, William B. Bishop, James X Ronalds, William Daniel, Patrick Weldon, Henry Golman, Saml Ramsey, John Bostick, James Welch, Moses Singnefield, Dan'l Pitts, Robt Smith, Rich Tate, Wm McQueen, William West, Thos Ortetom, James Smith, Thomas Houghton, Thomas Anderson, Coonroad Gallman, Jos Page, Pheli Murphi, James Commerford, Wm Broadway, David Ball, Thomas Jones, Michael Minne, Wm Slow, Willm Turk, James Francis, Charles Banks, Willm Lyer, Jona: Reed, John: Gallman, Ed: Gampson, Jams Williams, Robt R. Box, John Helms, Benj. d. Dickins, Thomas Gary, charles Gary, John Pennington, John Carroll, Thomas Johnson, Thomas Callison, James Chapel, John Forster, Henry Forster, Willm Smith, Richd X (his mark) Jackson, James Mitchell, James Anderson, David X (his mark) Kelly, William Shinay, Edward Cob, Daniel Low, Benj Burgess, Wm Coe, Jacob Bony, T Singnefield, Patrick Kelly, James Dey, Thomas Gill, Enoch Anderson, Daniel Burnet, Joseph X Duckett, Saml Thomas, Richd Allison, John Bebery, John Turk, John Pondall, Pierce Costillo, Major Shavers, Willm Cross. ------------------------------------ next part 4 continued ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com