Genealogy in Ninety-Six District
South Carolina Genealogy
Image yourself in the woodlands, carpeted with grassy and wild pea-vine growing as high as a horse's back and wildflowers of every hue. The large trees were spaced wide apart, and there was nothing to obstruct the view of a deer or buffalo far away.
This was the upper country of South Carolina in 1775, a region where Cherokee Indians tracked and killed buffalo. The soldiers of the Revolutionary War often spoke of this scene, as it was often the cause of premature detection and defeat. After the British captured Charleston, South Carolina militia companies roamed these woods and made sudden attacks on British foot soldiers to prevent further occupation.
The wild pea grew chiefly on the highlands, while the cane flourished in the valleys and filled the streams' lower grounds. The rich soils of upper Carolina were the perfect grazing country.
That fertile section of the Old Ninety-six District was a prairie country with a magnificent view of hills and valleys in a rich cane growth, from five to thirty feet in height. It was in this area that Patrick and William Calhoun, with several others, built the first Scotch-Irish cabins.
When the first house was erected on the site of the old Abbeville Village, it was designed to be placed on the highest point of the hill; afterward, when the tall cane covered the whole spot, it disappeared.
Captain Andrew Hamilton built this house before the Revolution, and it became known as the Old Red House. Later on, one of the little shed-rooms of that same building became the law office of Mr. Calhoun. On that day, he could be seen on the sidewalk in front of this room, standing, bareheaded, engaged in inimitable conversations with groups of fellow citizens.
Genealogy Tip: Ninety-Six District included the counties of Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, and McCormick. The surviving records of the old Ninety-Six district can be found at the Abbeville Court House. However, a fire during the British occupation of Ninety-Six Town destroyed most district records. The counties bordering Georgia, Richmond, and Columbia should be researched, especially the deed records. I discovered that many families in Edgefield County were also in Augusta, Georgia.