Posted on: Anderson County, SC Queries Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/SC/Anderson/1860 Surname: KING, HARRIS, BROWN, STELL, TILLY, WATTS ------------------------- This KING family lived in Anderson County, Pendleton District probably from the early 1700's to perhaps after the Revoltionary War, when they apparently went north to Wilkes County, NC, then back south to Hall County, GA. Some of them may have remained in SC. Traditions of the King Family inform us that they were of English descent and came to South Carolina in the earliest days of the colony. They settled in the old Pendleton District, and brought with them wealth and affluence. They originally belonged to the established church of England, and believed in the Apostolic Succession. When, however, John Wesley visited this country, he retained his connection with that Church, but being far in advance in the theory and practice and faith according to his views of doctrine, and in evangelic work, the King family joined the Methodist Society, and still considered themselves inside the Church as to the continuous dogma of the Apostolic Succession. But unlike so many of the first settlers of South Carolina, they espoused the cause of the Colonies, as against the exactions of the mother country, and freely contributed their wealth and many lives to the success of the cause. Many are the legends and stories yet told among the descendants of the hardships and sufferings the family endured in the long struggle for liberty, and how they were reduced to absolute want for the necessities of life. We in this age of peace and abundance cannot realize the extremes to which our forefathers are subjected. An Incident. The Tories, who were the most dreaded in the neighborhood, were accustomed to ransack and visit their malice upon those in the Continental service, especially when they knew the men were absent, and they had only to deal with women and children. Knowing the Kings to be away, they marauded their home and destroyed everything in sight; but one of the older girls, of a fearless disposition, pretended to be "enceinte," and surrounding her person with all she could store away, seated herself upon sacks of meal and bacon, and claimed to be unable to move and considerably frightened. She was unmolested, much to her own surprise, and thus she saved the family from immediate starvation. The Tories devastated everything they could and drove all the stock away. Robert King, my maternal grandfather, married a Miss Smith, and they had seven children. Robert, (see notice following this paragraph:) William, who married Jerusha Harris; Jack, who married Henrietta Brown; Betsy, who married a Mr. Harris; Sallie, who married Dennis Stell; Rebecca, who married Stephen Tilly, and Catherine, who married Hope Watts. He lived to be a very old man; and he left behind him the reputation of great honor and usefulness. His widow survived him for many years and reached the remarkable age of ninety-five years or one hundred and five years, (record not clear) in possession of all her faculties unimpaired to the last; and many of the oldest of the family speak of her sincere Christian character. Their children settled chiefly in North Carolina, but we shall confine our record to the immediate line of our family, which is represented on the map as Group No. 3 1/2 A. (Allen, Penelope Johnson, "Johnson Family." Chattanooga: H.B. Miller, 1967. 53-57. As told by Ephraim Malone Johnson, husband of Rebecca King, granddaughter of Robert King, Sr.)