26 | 1308 | 1308 | Phillips Calvin | 30 M | Farmer | 50 | No. Ca. | X | P412 |
27 | 1308 | 1308 | Phillips Sarah | 27 F | | | So. Ca. | | P412 |
28 | 1308 | 1308 | Phillips James R. | 6 M | | | So. Ca. | X | P412 |
29 | 1308 | 1308 | Phillips Julia | 2 F |
Year: 1860 State: South Carolina County: Spartanburg Post Office: Grassy Pond Sheet No: 290B Reel No: M653-1226 Division: Northern Division Page No: 189 Enumerated on: August 11th, 1860 by: Jno Earl Bomar Transcribed by Christina Bishop for USGenWeb, http://www.rootsweb.com/census/. Copyright: 2004
http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/spartanburg/census/1860/p290a.txt
**
Grassy Pond is North of Gaffney between Gaffney / Limestone Springs and the North Carolina state line on Boiling Springs Road / Highway, Spartanburg County in 1860, Cherokee County from 1897 to today, South Carolina
They were Baptists and belonged to various Baptist Churches as did their children’s families.
A map of Gaffney, SC at 1894 (a bit after Calvin Phillips and his family were there – but the railroad is shown with its locomotive shed). There were a number of iron working industries in the area prior to that time and for awhile thereafter.
http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/SFMAPS&CISOPTR=2965&REC=4
**
This entry below includes Calvin Phillips, born in 1823 – married to Sally Richards, born in 1834
Calvin and Sally Phillips were buried in the Phillips-Cantrell Cemetery in White Oak Township, Polk County, NC in 1909 and 1888, respectively. The dates are included on the webpage below.
On the 1860 Census listed at the top of this post, Calvin Phillips is listed as North Carolina for his birthplace. Sally is listed as Sarah with a birthplace of South Carolina.
http://www.joecowart.com/Portals/1/Henderson/pafg2686.htm#76105
**
It lists their children by links, as –
James Romeo Phillips, born Nov. 16, 1855 – in Gaffney, SC (Spartanburg County / Cherokee County)
Julia Phillips, born May 17, 1859 – in Gaffney, SC (Spartanburg County/ Cherokee County)
(They are both on the 1860 Census for Spartanburg County, SC)
**
James Romeo Phillips, married Caroline A. Thompson in about 1877 – and the listing about them can be found here along with their children – (Also Polk County, NC – White Oak Township / Mill Spring – Columbus is the county seat, and at one time Polk County was part of Rutherford County and Henderson County.)
http://www.joecowart.com/Portals/1/Henderson/pafg2235.htm#63777
**
Julia Phillips, married Rufus Edward Waldrop in about 1875 – and the listing about them can be found on the link below – along with their children. They were also in White Oak Township, Polk County, NC.
http://www.joecowart.com/Portals/1/Henderson/pafg2240.htm#63889
**
The database listed above is absolutely brilliant and easy to use – simply by clicking on the various links to family members, children and parents can be located as far as Joe Cowart was able to find them.
Our line of the family comes through James Romeo Phillips to Elijah Phillips.
Elijah Phillips married Mattie (Minnie) S. Davis in 1909.
http://www.joecowart.com/Portals/1/Henderson/pafg2505.htm#69090
**
And from Elijah Phillips to Romeo Jefferson Phillips.
RJ Phillips (Romeo Jefferson Phillips) had a number of brothers and sisters which were not listed in the database –
I’ll add them here tomorrow – they are on 3×5 cards.
**
Before Calvin Phillips and Sally Richards were in Gaffney, South Carolina and who their parents were has been an interesting quest with no clear answers. There was another Calvin Phillips in Spartanburg County found in the 1830 census, but it looks like that family can be traced to Arkansas and probably is not the same Calvin Phillips, since our great, great grandfather, (however many greats it is), shows up in White Oak Township, Polk County, NC sometime between 1860 and the time of Julia Phillips being married in 1875.
So, in the process of discovery and wondering what Gaffney was like during the years when we know they lived there, my daughter and I have been looking at the industries of the area, neighbors and other families living there, Baptist churches because we know they were Baptists and active in church congregations. We found that iron works were prevalent in the area at the time making everything from guns to kettles, Franklin stoves, nails, rails for the railroad, railroad spikes, and various other things.
We also found the Limestone Springs Girls High School in Gaffney with its quarry that had been made into a girls’ college (although called a high school, the lessons taught and the 4-5 years young women spent there indicate it was a college) – from the Limestone Springs resort that it had been which included vibrant racing events along with the resort. There was a quarry there for limestone which was used in the iron works for rendering the iron ore into useable metal, canals were built, there were rail lines and numerous mining operations nearby. There was also gold mining, lead mining at one time, the various industries associated with iron works, banks, early post offices and lots of moneyed gentry from the coastal plantations, the coastal military academies and regional families coming into the area, as well as business money from the rest of Carolina for backing various iron works and rail projects.
– cricketdiane
**
In the process of finding information about Calvin Phillips’ parents and stuff about the Phillips family, this site is worth seeing. It has a list of Phillips family members that have served in government positions and elected / political offices. It is very interesting. This is the page with the Phillips family on it –
http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/phillips.html
**
This is probably the Sally Richards who married Calvin Phillips – found in the 1850 census for Spartanburg County which included Gaffney, since her birthdate of 1834 would make her 16 years old as of 1850.
20 | 2244 2244 | E Richards | 34 F | | SC | | R263 |
21 | 2244 2244 | Joseph Richards | 18 M | Farmer | SC | | R263 |
22 | 2244 2244 | Sally Richards | 16 F | | SC | | R263 |
23 | 2244 2244 | Tempy Richards | 12 F | | SC | | R263 |
http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/spartanburg/census/1850/pg238a.txt
**
Lookingt a little closer at that page of the census, it seems that Sally Richards lived in a family / dwelling which was a combined family with the head of her household listed as E. Richards, 34 Female and living with the Washburn family members together with some hands.
20 | 2244 2244 | E Richards | 34 F | | SC | | R263 |
21 | 2244 2244 | Joseph Richards | 18 M | Farmer | SC | | R263 |
22 | 2244 2244 | Sally Richards | 16 F | | SC | | R263 |
23 | 2244 2244 | Tempy Richards | 12 F | | SC | | R263 |
24 | 2244 2244 | Josiah Washburn | 48 M | Farmer 200 | SC | | W216 |
25 | 2244 2244 | Mary Washburn | 46 F | | SC | | W216 |
26 | 2244 2244 | S Washburn | 18 F | | SC | | W216 |
27 | 2244 2244 | R Washburn | 12 F | | SC | | W216 |
28 | 2244 2244 | A Washburn | 7 F | | SC | | W216 |
29 | 2244 2244 | Drayton Washburn | 1 M | | SC | | W216 |
30 | 2244 2244 | James Amop | 20 M | Hireling | SC | | A510 | Amoss
31 | 2244 2244 | Hannah Hand | 30 F | | SC | | H530 |
http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/spartanburg/census/1850/pg238a.txt
**
That is interesting and there are some other Phillips family names two farms over by proximity on the same page, but no town listed.
Maybe they are cousins to Calvin Phillips or a brother? and he was visiting and fell in love with Sally – maybe . . .
Just a thought.
I’m going back to rocket science – it is a lot easier than genealogy.
– cricketdiane
**
Adding quickly to this – and how I am related to these families –
Romeo Jefferson Phillips (RJ) and Helen Ruth Jackson Phillips (Mimi) - my granddaddy and grandmother - parents of my father, BC Phillips
***
These are my grandparents, Romeo Jefferson Phillips and Helen Ruth Jackson Phillips.
His oldest surviving son is my father.
RJ’s father and mother are Elijah Phillips and Mattie (Minnie) S. Davis, son of James Romeo Phillips and Carolyn A. Thompson.
and James Romeo Phillips, (Sr.) is the oldest son of Calvin Phillips, b. NC and Sally (Sarah) Richards, b. SC.
My great, great grandmother is Carolyn A. Thompson and my great, great grandfather is James Romeo Phillips (Sr.) of White Oak Township, Polk / Rutherford / Henderson County, NC (and of Gaffney, Spartanburg / Cherokee County, SC where James Romeo Phillips and his sister, Julia Phillips were born).
My granddaddy Phillips’ brothers and sisters are –
Romeo Jefferson Phillips, my granddaddy
Aubry Phillips (married Ella Johnson)
Charles Phillips
Ruby Phillips (married Henry Cox)
Lockie Phillips (married Fred Jones)
Jim Phillips (married Sue Turner)
Lois Phillips (married Ed Collins)
Ben Phillips (married Merle Paris)
**
My grandmother “Mimi” Helen Ruth Jackson Phillips is the daughter of William Pinckney Jackson and Minnie Lee Greer.
Her brothers and sisters are –
Helen Ruth Jackson Phillips, my grandmother
Thula Jackson Buchanan (married Wade Buchanan)
Ethel Jackson Copeland (married Pete Copeland)
Clyde Jackson (married Claire)
Lottie Jackson Wood (married James Wood)
Frances Jackson Smith (married J.B. Smith)
***
My mothers’ family has done extensive research on the various lines of our family for their side of the genealogy. I thought it was about time to claim the Phillips family relationships as far back as we could find and to learn more about the kinds of family history that have been brought through our family influences from their understanding of things. It would really be impossible to separate the two – although colleges and churches have influence within families, it still matters what is carried forward from the intimate settings of our homes. The Phillips family motto, although it comes with the family relationship in Wales and Britain, which may or may not belong to us – precisely defines the living words of our family and throughout our lineage, our members have applied them and lived them and taught them to their children – “The love of country compels me.” (roughly translated.)
– cricketdiane
**
Note – although in studying the history of our Phillips family over the last few weeks, I found hordes of information, historical references for the areas where they lived and other nifty stuff, I’m not including it here – because Dad said to keep it under a hundred pages and I haven’t figured out how to do that yet . . .
**
And I hope they don’t shoot me, but this is the backside of a $20 note bearing the Jackson family motto, with the words in the exact order that are verifiable through British heraldry sources – found here –
http://www.nd.edu/~rarebook/coins/ColCurrency/CurrencyImages/SC/SC-12-23-76-$20.obv.jpg
SC-12-23-76-$20.obv - Actual $20 note printed in 1777 with Jackson family motto in Latin on the back, Charles Town, USA
**
SC-12-23-76-$20.rev - Actual $20 note from Charles Town, 1777 - with the Jackson family motto on the back
**
Both found in this database –
http://www.nd.edu/~rarebook/coins/ColCurrency/CurrencyImages/SC/
**
Here is an interesting look at the businesses in Gaffney, SC after the war – in 1909 – both a Coca-Cola and a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant, among other things –
Reports and resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of …, Volume 2
By South Carolina
pg. 873 (of the google book) about Corporate License Fees –
http://books.google.com/books?id=HshMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA873&lpg=PA873&dq=South+Carolina+Manufacturing+Company+land+Gaffney+Iron&source=bl&ots=mDb8dxLP5N&sig=LDAXqxwUmvQ1PJv02Yk0kSokPP8&hl=en&ei=LuxITqOtPJSt0AGJq9jUBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
**
An extensxive look at the iron works and its history – includes South Carolina 1860 iron works descriptions and explanations –
http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofmanufac00swanrich/historyofmanufac00swanrich_djvu.txt
**
Carolina’s historical landscapes: archaeological perspectives
By Linda France Stine
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1qdQkrcRsRgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA113&dq=1850+Historic+Businesses+Gaffney+SC&ots=6XVvX0PrdH&sig=4N5SUaA71UheO91xdIGdGGXRqrs#v=onepage&q&f=false
pg. 116 – 119 / 120 A bit more about the ironworks generally in the area and the participants in creating the businesses surrounding them –
William Henry Drayton and William Wofford through Wilson Nesbitt’s Furnace, the Fewell and Stroup partnership on pg 120
**
Limestone Springs Girls School (College) – 1855 Catalogue and Graduating Class, Students attending, Faculty and Lessons taught – it wasn’t a hair and makeup school, nor a place teaching women needlework – although they may have done some of that, too, (my note).
http://www.archive.org/stream/annualcatalogueo1855newy#page/n5/mode/2up
This has the actual document above to see it online and this is where I found it –
http://www.archive.org/details/annualcatalogueo1855newy
**
And this part which is just too nifty, to let it go without saying something about it –
http://www.gaffneyledger.com/news/2011-03-04/Local_News/SC_stone_in_Washington_Monument_came_from_Gaffney.html
S.C. stone in Washington Monument came from Gaffney
By BOBBY MOSS County Historian
George Byars quarried the stone in Gaffney, SC from Limestone Springs Female College quarry to be placed in the Washington Monument for South Carolina
After the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument on July 4, 1848, each state of the Union was invited to contribute a memorial stone of material representative of its geographical boundaries. South Carolina was among the first states to respond.
Before offering a stone from Limestone Quarry, located on the campus of Limestone Springs Female High School and in the village of Limestone Springs (today a suburb of Gaffney), Dr. Thomas Curtis ordered a rectangular stone be cut from the quarry and roughly dressed. The task fell to George W. Byars, a twenty-two year old quarryman. Byars cut the block from the rock near the surface of the ground at the western end of the quarry near where the water now drains from the quarry. Tradition has associated the name Solomon Camp and the father of Daniel Anthony with the act of transporting the stone to Columbia. Camp was a prosperous farmer near Limestone Village and Anthony was in the business of building wagons at Limestone Village.
Just too nifty (my note) – definitely go and read the entire article, it is amazing. Apparently there is a Welsh inscription on one face of the Washington Monument – my land, my language, my freedom (or something like that) – I would have to look it up again to find it.
And one last thing –
The Phillips family motto is carved into the marble over the back entrance of the Union League in Philadelphia – which I think is just amazing . . . There are pictures of it online.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acordova/3301823703
This explains what the Union League is –
http://www.unionleagueclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=292362&ssid=172858&vnf=1
and when they elected a first woman president of the League in 1986 with a photo of the building and its grounds in Philadelphia –
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2010/12/14/union-leagues-first-female-president-takes-office/
and the Iron Works text linked above called –
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON IN ALL AGES, AND PARTICULARLY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO 1891.
ALSO A SHORT HISTORY OF EARLY COAL MINING IN’ THE UNITED STATES AND A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE INFLUENCES WHICH LONG DELAYED THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALL AMEKICAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
BY JAMES M. SWANK,
SECRETARY AND GENERAL MANAGER OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL
ASSOCIATION FOR TWENTY* YEARS, FROM 1872 TO 1892.
SECOND EDITION, THOROUGHLY REVISED AND GREATLY ENLARGED.
PHILADELPHIA:
THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION,
NO. 261 SOUTH FOURTH STREET.
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1891,
BY JAMES M. SWANK,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.’
http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofmanufac00swanrich/historyofmanufac00swanrich_djvu.txt
***
This is a NYTimes article from their archives that describes the Washington’s Birthday celebrations in Philadelphia in 1863 –
Published: February 24, 1863
http://www.nytimes.com/1863/02/24/news/washington-s-birthday-its-observance-this-city-vicinity-chimes-parades.html?pagewanted=all
**
Also found this which is fascinating to me – look at the list of people involved – very nifty . . .
http://www.historync.org/railroad-WWRR.htm
The first railroad company to operate in North Carolina was the Wilmington & Raleigh Railroad (renamed the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad in 1854). Chartered in 1834 to build a railroad from Wilmington to Raleigh
– (etc.) –
at 161 1/2 miles it would become the world’s longest railroad when opened. It would connect with the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad which had pushed its line nine miles into North Carolina. The change was approved. Construction began on October 25, 1836.
My Note – it shows a stock certificate and everything – and a “station” – not what I would’ve expected.
**
(none of which may have anything to do with our family lineage – but is all nifty just the same and it might after all – We are Americans.)
But this probably does –
1862 |
Apr 16 |
Confederacy enacts the first national draft law, given that there were few volunteers. All men between 18 and 35 are made members of the army for 3 years. This automatically reenlists the one-year volunteers for 2 more years. Later legislation changes the ages to 17 through 50. Union would enact militia act on 17 July 1862. Union draft occurs Aug 4, 1862. |
Millet & Maslowski, For the Common Defense, 196-7. |
*** and ***
1864 |
Mar |
Confederate enrollment in Graham, NC. “There is a great many troops going down on the railroad now…The men from ??? that had substitutes had to go. Some sent up petitions. They had some of the Raleigh Guards there as soon as they were enrolled to march them off under guard. The citizens were very much displeased about it to see true men taken up and sent off in that way.” |
Mary Jane Allen to JMA, April 1864. John Mebane Allen Papers, SHC. |
(from)
http://srnels.people.wm.edu/iron/timeline.html
Also found there, which is interesting –
1868 |
June 16 |
Atlanta Constitution begins printing. 1st extant issue is 17 June. (started by Col. Carey W. Styles) |
Atlanta Constitution. (Clarke, Atlanta Ill., 53.) |
**
Also found this – which may or may not be the same Calvin Phillips, but it is the right time period, area and generally the same family focus on business activities that meet the current needs of the area – mechanical, engineering, scientific, practical, necessities, surveying, producing something that is needed nearby immediately and in an ongoing manner, etc. – which seem to go hand-in-hand with them – (so, it is possible) –
From “Public Laws of the State of North Carolina passed by the General Assembly [serial]” – NC, 1871
126
1870-’71.— Chaptek 64.
CHAPTEK LXIV.
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD
AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Capital.
Shares.
Location of rail-
road.
Corporators. Section 1. The General Assemhly of North Carolina do
enact, That E. M. Davis, Henry C. Davis, Shreve Acklej,
Harvey Shaw, Calvin Phillips, Tod R. Caldwell, Edmond
“W. Jones, James C. Harper and G. W. F. Harper, and
snch other persons as may be associated with them, and
their successors, be and they are created a corporation and
body politic, imder the name, style and title of the ” North
Carolina Kailroad and Manufacturing Company,” with a
capital of five hundred thousand dollars, with the power of
increasing the same to any sum not exceeding one million
dollars whenever the directors may deem it expedient, to be
divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, for the pur-
pose of constructing a railroad from any point on the line of
the Charlotte, Wilmington and Rutherford railroad, between
the towns of Lincolnton and Shelby, or from any point on
the line ot the Western North Carolina railroad, between
the towns of Hickory Tavern and Marion, to any point in
the state line between the state of North Carolina and the
states ot Virginia or Tennessee.
Sec. 2. That the said company shall have power to pur-
chase, hold and improve lands along and near the line of
said railroad ; to obtain therefrom any and all timbers, ores,
or other valuable substances ; and to construct such houses,
works, mills or factories as maj’ be necessary to effect such
purposes, or to develope or to bring into market the resources
of the region through which said railroad shall pass.
Further powers. Sec. 3. That the said company shall have power to sell,
lease or mortgage the lands so acquired, and to construct
railroads from any point on the main trunk line to such
other points situated within the boundaries of the lands so
acquired by them as the said company may deem necessary.
May issue bonds* Sec. 4. That the said company shall have power to issue
Powers of com-
pany.
1870-’71.— CiiAFfER 64r—Qo. 127
bonds to an amount not exceeding its capital stock, at the
lesral rate of interest, redeemable at auv time not less than
ten (10) years from the date ot their issue ; said bonds to be
secured by mortgage on the railroad, lands, and other property
acquired b}’ said corporation.
Sec. 5. That all railroads constructed by said company Guage.
shall have a guage ot not less than two (2) feet, and not more
than the jruage of the Xorth Carolina railroad.
Sec. 6. That the said company shall have the privilege of
suing, shall be liable by its coi^orate name, may have a
common seal, and may make such laws, rules and regulations
not inconsistent witli the constitution and laws of this state
and of the United States, as may be needful for the well
ordering of its affairs.
Sec “t. This act shall go into efiect from and after its i-ati- jv^^cn act to take
fication.
Ratified the 10th day of February, A. D. 1871.
(from)
http://www.archive.org/stream/publiclawsofstat187071nor/publiclawsofstat187071nor_djvu.txt
**
And this part was very interesting too, about the railroads when they were being built –
http://www.polkcounty.org/county/landrum/landrum.htm
A small town on the state line next to Tryon, NC and considered to be part of the three towns making up our triangle.
Inman, Landrum, Tryon and Saluda share one thing in common. The quartet, of the same age, were sired by a railroad.
Long before the Civil War, an effort , spawned in Charleston, was made to connect Charleston, S. C. with the Ohio River by rail. The goal was to divert midwest traffic and trade from the Mississippi River piecemeal the railroad reached Spartanburg in 1857.
Then the War came.
By the end of the two decades following the war, the South’s economy had recovered sufficiently to revive railroad building fever. Colonel William Coleman, New Orleans to the Atlantic and Charleston by an Captain Charles Pearson laid out a route from downtown Spartanburg to Asheville, via the Mills Gap Road (Hwy 9), through Polk, Henderson and Uncombe Counties. The route left the Mills Gap Road near present day Beulah Baptist Church and went into Columbus via the present Pe4niel Road. From Columbus, the route was surveyed out so as to climb Skyuka Mountain into Howard Gap, and on across the Continental Divide into the village of Hendersonville.
All along the route the Rev. John G. Landrum and others of a civic mind, urged local people to buy stock in the new enterprise and bonds of the corporation. Spartanburg and Union Counties bought $200,000 in bonds respectively. Polk County was asked to buy $40,000 in bonds.
Some of the Polk County people were opposed to the bond issue. A group claimed the cars would bring bar rooms and other corruption’s to Columbus, and that the cars would be noisy and running on Sundays. In a summer election the bond issue failed.. Opposition to the railroad led Polk County farmers to refuse right of way. This fever spread down into Spartanburg County, well below New Prospect.
Railroad directors asked Captain Pearson to find another route with damned little as possible going through Polk County. The Captain did find another route, coming up the New Cut Road from Spartanburg to Gowensville. The clever engineer was unable to find a feasible route from Gowensville to Howard Gap that would be compatible with the railroad’s budget. The project seemed doomed, but Pearson kept on trying.
He found a ridge, broke only by the South Pacolet River valley, running from Spartanburg to The Block House, a distance of 23 miles. By sheer cleverness, he worked out a route from the Block House up the North Pacolet River valley, climbing the side of Melrose and Warrior Mountains, through Paces Gap, and across the Green River, into Henderson County. He later worked out a route on into Asheville.
Each of the four towns were established as construction progressed along the route.
The Earl’s and the Landrum’s, anxious to see the railroad built on the third or last route, offered right of way, and four acres additional for a station to be built at the intersection of the railroad and the Salem, Statesville, Rutherfordton and Greenville Stage and Mail road. When the offer was accepted by the directors, the Landrum’s and Earl’s employed William C. Camp, a noted land surveyor, to lay out some lots and streets. By an agreement between the railroad and the Landrum’s, a site for a station was selected approximately a quarter mile from the actual intersection. This avoided digging a well to supply water for the station agent at the depot. Two hollows ran right up to the right of way, and each had a bold spring.
Construction of the road beyond Landrum was stymied over a year and a half while a crew of 400 workmen cut through a rib of North America’s hardest granite at the foot of Bird Mountain. Railroad officials decided to start train operations from Spartanburg to Landrum Station.
http://www.polkcounty.org/county/landrum/landrum.htm
It also says –
Electricity was brought to Landrum during the War. The first telephone appeared in Landrum in 1902.
and it offers this as its source – although there is a lot more information on the page that is fascinating, as well –
Special thanks to J W Lawrance for the history of Landrum
**
There were some really large operations of iron works in the area around Gaffney, and Blacksburg, but many of them looked like this –
Cowpens Iron Furnace Location: Cherokee County, South Carolina Nearest city: Gaffney, South Carolina Built: ca. 1807 rebuilt 1834 - from Wikipedia - Cowpens Furnace Site
(from)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpens_Furnace_Site_%2838CK73%29
**
**
This is about one of the larger iron works of the area and its operations – along with a historical reference about why it was a “thing” –
JB manager of Nesbitt Iron Works
Dr. Bobby Gilmore Moss has authored several works on the history of Gaffney, S.C. and the surrounding area. ( . . ) The following article by, Dr. Moss is an unpublished work.
COOPERVILLE: Iron Capital of South Carolina
B. G. Moss, Professor of History at Limestone College, Gaffney, SC
( . . . )
It was not by chance, therefore, that the American Revolution centered around the major iron-producing areas. Although Massachusetts and South Carolina had to be subdued because they were centers of rebellious spirits, it was the capacity for iron production in those two states more than the capacity for armed revolt that influenced British commanders to pay special attention to the need for military operations in these areas. It is of interest to note that South Carolina and Massachusetts had their “tea party,” both had their Liberty Tree, and in both states iron production was a major industry during colonial and post-Revolution periods. Both before and during the Revolution, iron was of such importance that the British prohibited its manufacture in America, while the colonists refused to curtail it. Thus, at the beginning of the Revolution, South Carolina, attempting to enlarge its number of iron furnaces, offered liberal premiums to those who would establish additional ironworks. The citizens responded slowly to the proposition because the major iron ore deposit lay in the Piedmont, and the settlers of the area, who were chiefly Scotch and Irish, were not concerned with the war until Ferguson invaded the Up Country. This invasion and the destruction of the existing ironworks were the factors which tipped the scales in their decision to enter the conflict.
After the furnaces were destroyed, the patriots’ surreptitious manufacturing of iron became a chief means of expressing rebellion, and several furnaces and forges were erected on the Broad and Catawba rivers. When Yorktown fell and peace returned to the Piedmont, additional furnaces and forges were built and iron production became a major industry of the Piedmont.
In 1810, when Tench Coxe, the United States geological surveyor, conducted his survey of ore and mineral production in South Carolina, he listed two bloomaries, or forges, in Spartanburg County, four in Pendleton County, two in Greenville County and one in York County. His survey is important , but since he makes no reference to blast furnaces or independently own ironworks, his statistics are incomplete.
To obtain a better picture of iron production in the state, it is necessary for one to include eight additional furnaces which had been constructed by 1856. One was constructed in Union, one in York, and six in Spartanburg District (all but one of the eight being located in what is now Cherokee County). Four of these furnaces produced 1,506 tons of charcoal iron in an average year.
At the same time three rolling mills operating alongside the furnaces produced 1,210 tons of bar iron and nails. There were also two bloomaries which jointly produced 640 tons of pig iron. These statistics are clear evidence of the national importance of South Carolina as an iron-producing state.
Of these iron manufacturing facilities, the Nesbitt Iron Manufacturing Co. was the largest and the most important. When the company organized in 1835 with a capital of $100,000, the stockholders immediately purchased land and began to set up a blast furnace, near the junction of People’s Creek and Broad River. A village was begun and named “Cooperville” in honor of Dr. Thomas Cooper, President of the University of South Carolina and a stockholder in the company. During the same year, a hotel was built at Limestone Springs (four miles from Cooperville) and an Up-Country resort was developed.
Both villages grew as the iron industry profited, and received national recognition within a short time. Both became important: one as an industry, the other as a resort. Cooperville had one citizen who became a correspondent for Porte’s Spirit of the Times, and he kept the racing world informed on events at the Limestone Springs Race Course.
The South Carolina Legislature recharted the company in 1836 with a capital stock of $300,000, and the company began construction of the Ellen cold-blast furnace one mile up People’s Creek. One-hundred thousand dollars was invested in each furnace and the land necessary for its operation. The legislature, however, anticipated the company’s growth and granted the organization the privilege of increasing its stock to $1 million within the next 14 years. That this was an attempt by South Carolina planters to enter the manufacturing field can be surmised by noting the names on the list of stockholders. Dr. Thomas Cooper, Gov. Pierce Butler, Franklin H. Elmore, Dr. James Nott, John C. Brown, J. M. Taylor, Joseph S. Shelton, Moses Stroup, Boyis J. Earl, Wade Hampton II, Congressman Wilson Nesbitt, and B. F. Elmore were the chief stockholders.
Over half the money from this second issue of company stock was used to purchase additional materials and to assemble them in order that the furnaces could be put into full production. Fifty-four thousand dollars was paid for 11,000 acres of land; $60,000 was used to erect dams, canals, buildings, and to install machinery; and the rolling mills and other improvements cost $70,000. The remaining money was used to purchase slaves, horses, mules, cattle, and hogs.
So that the river might be utilized as the chief means to transportation for the finished products, a canal was dug from the river to the South Twin furnaces. The entrance of the canal was upriver about one fourth of a mile, and in order that the natural flow of the river could be used, the canal was dug on a level below the river bed and a 300 yard long dam across Broad River. Water flooded the canal to a depth of six feet or more. As a precaution against overflooding, the canal was turned sharply away from the furnaces and angled downstream. A large earth dam impounded the water near the downriver end. As the water reached the level of the river, the river stopped flowing into the canal. Near the entrance of the canal, a waterlock held water in a square reservoir used to float barges out into the river.
A wooden tramway was constructed from Limestone Springs to the furnaces so that horses could draw wagons of lime to the industry for use as flux. (Years later a railroad track was laid on the old roadbed from the river to Gaffney.) The works consisted of several units: two high furnaces (cold blast), one puddling oven, one rolling mill of great power, one laying foundry for casting, two reheating ovens, one large machine shop, one flour and grist mill (the company owned 600 acres of corn land), one sawmill, one set ore stamper, a fine-nail factory containing seven machines, one store, a post office, and a dwelling housed the superintendents and slaves.
The stamping mill was designed so that it could use the available water power to lift the mechanical hammers. A water system which contained over 25 miles of canals carried the water from every stream that emptied into People’s Creek to a huge wheel which operated the stamping hammer. A trompe utilized part of the water to turn the fans which forced the air into the furnaces. Each of the other departments -the furnaces, the forges, the casting division, for example depended on their own waterwheels for power. The eight waterwheels were kept operative by Wheelwright W. R. Reid.
A bridge facilitated transporting ore and charcoal from the east side of the river, and for a small toll, the public could use the bridge. Local citizens proudly claimed that it and the Ellis Bridge were the only two bridges over the Broad River in the Piedmont. As evidence of the superiority of their section of the state, they pointed out that the bridges were located within a few miles of each other. Iron manufacturing opened a number of jobs for the local citizens. Miners, waggoners and charcoal burners represented the largest number of self employed people to benefit from the thriving industry.
The prospects for a profitable business looked good. However, a serious financial problem developed for the company because of a series of events; chiefly the feud between President Andrew Jackson and the Bank of the United States, a widely spiraling inflation, and the stockholders’ slowness in paying their installments. Only F. H. Elmore, Wade Hampton, and Wilson Nesbitt paid their entire subscriptions. Before the company could collect in full from the other subscribers, the United States Bank charter was vetoed by President Jackson. Local banks began to over-speculate, because the federal bank was no longer able to put pressure on them. It was this over-speculation that brought about the state wide financial crash of 1837.
When local banks refused to issue specie, cotton prices fell. Because of this the Cooperville investors were unable to pay for their stocks. The company managed to survive, however, by the superb management of funds secured on short-term loans. At this time Wilson Nesbitt stepped aside and the company elected B. F. Elmore as its new president. Elmore realized that these small loans, never exceeding $50,000, were not enough to get the industry into full production; therefore, early in 1839, F.H. Elmore and P. M. Butler journey north in search of capital. Dr. Thomas Cooper wrote to his old friend Nicholas Biddle, former president of the United States Bank, to ask for help in raising a loan of $150,000.
After making inquiries of capitalists in New York, Biddle sent Cooper a disheartening report: “the prospects of obtaining the loan is not flattering.” Biddle had read the signs correctly, for Elmore and Butler failed to secure the funds they sought. Almost immediately, negotiations were opened with English investors, but again terms could not be agreed upon. Later, Cooper asked President Van Buren for government assistance, but his plea was to no avail.
To sustain operations, seven of the company’s stockholders borrowed individual amounts of money totaling $91,898.97 from the Bank of South Carolina. These loans were made on the strength of the company’s operations under the management of J. B. Mintz, and the samples of iron which he had sent to the Washington Navy Yard for testing. The navy found that these samples included 7/8 inch wire whose strength exceeded by 3.4 tons of a ton meeting the requirement that of other equal size iron wire tested at the yard, and 1 inch iron wire which came within seven-tenths requirement for 1 3/4 inch iron wire.
Since the samples surpassed the maximum requirements imposed by the Navy, the Nesbitt Co. received a contract for iron wire, shot and shell in 1847. After F. H. Elmore’s death, shortly after he acceded to the vacant Senate seat of John C. Calhoun, the Nesbitt Co. was sold. In 1850, a charter which included the rights to the company, was issued to a firm known as the Swedish Iron Manufacturing Co. With Charles W. Hammerskold as manager, the Swedish company was able to prosper even though it had a number of problems. Among its chief problems was the securing of fuel. Fifteen years of cutting oak timber and burning it into charcoal had denuded the timber land and left behind a strip of land south of the present sites of Blacksburg and Gaffney which are to this day called, “the Coaling Grounds.”
Pressure was brought upon the South Carolina Legislature to build railroads and canals so that coal could be brought into the area, but talk of secession took most the legislature’s time and nothing was done immediately about the needed transportation. Another problem which the company faced was how to extract the ore from its depth in the earth. The shaft method of mining was employed , then abandoned, as the company came to realize the high cost such operations entailed.
1856 could be cited as a normal year of operation for the Swedish company. Although records of the North Twin and Ellen furnaces are not available, it is known that the South Twin produced 816 tons of metal, the Cherokee Ford works (rolling mill) produced 400 tons of merchant bars and the Cherokee Ford bloomary produced 240 tons of pig iron blooms. The chief finished products were guns, shells, cannon balls, farm tools, millworks, rice mills, sawmill parts, Franklin stoves, cob mills, cooking stoves, nails, kettles and washpots. Not many records exist to show the quantity of items produced: however, the records which do exist show that the stamping mill produced one ton of nails per day.
Shortly after the outbreak of the War Between the States, the Swedish investors sold their initial investment to the Magnetic Iron Company. Almost immediately the works were given more contracts by the Confederate government than it could meet. Cooperville took on new life and the future looked bright. The manufacture of iron was so important to the Confederacy that A. M. Latham, who had become the manage of the works, requested and received deferment from military duty for his workers. It is a tradition that some of the ironplating produced at Cooperville was used to construct the Confederate ironclads.
At the war’s end, the company was near bankruptcy. It had lost all of its slaves, and its capital consisted of Confederate cash and bonds, which had become valueless. Even though the industry continued to operate until near the end of the century, iron manufacturing was to die in South Carolina. Today South Carolina and Vermont are the only two states in the country where iron manufacturing has been wholly abandoned. Only the ruins of the buildings, furnaces, forges, tramway, and canal remain as a monument to Cooperville: Iron Capital of South Carolina.
http://www.mindspring.com/~cdmintz/JB-manager.htm
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Also an interesting look inside Limestone College during the days –
http://lib.limestone.edu/pdffiles/Chapter_5.pdf
An earlier May Day is referred to in a letter from Mary Caroline Blackburn Gary, who entered the school in 1848, and was graduated in July, 1851. Mrs. Gary gave to the State of South Carolina three judges, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Eugene B. Gary, and Circuit judges Ernest Gary and Frank B. Gary. She reminisces at the age of 81, in a letter to Dr. Sanders, of happy Limestone days:
“Every Friday night the large parlors were thrown open and every girl had to be there, but bad to be occupied in some way, either reading, sewing, writing, or in any manner that she preferred. There was a visitor there one night, a young medical student of the Medical College of Charleston, and the teachers carried him around and introduced him to all the girls. When they came to where I was sitting, I immediately picked up a piece of embroidery and pretended to be embroidering, but had neither needle, thimble or thread. I did not think anyone noticed it, so I was greatly surprised when, among other things be wrote with regard to the college, this young man said, ‘and especially did I admire the young lady who did such beautiful embroidery without needle, thimble, or thread.’
“One day when Emma Farley and I went to the spring, not far from the college, we found there a stranger. We were feeling very good and thought we would talk in French to show off before him. Emma was a fine French scholar, but I knew very little about French, so when she asked me a question, she would then whisper me the answer in French, and I answered it aloud. The young man didn’t seem to be paying the slightest attention, but the next day he saw Dr. Curtis, whom he knew, and told him how amused he was at us. It turned out that he was a fine French scholar himself….
“When I was on my way back to Limestone from home on the 15th of April, with my uncle . . . we spent the night at Union. That night there was a very heavy snow, and he made the carriage driver roll up a large ball of it in the horse blanket to carry on to Limestone. There was very little snow on the ground at Limestone when we got there, and the girls were delighted when I told them I had brought some with me. Dr. Curtis suggested to the girls that they put it in the ice-house and have it on May Day, which they would celebrate in a short time. They did this, and enjoyed eating snow on the first of May. At the time of the snow the roses were in full bloom, and covered with snow.
(pg. 93 – Limestone College)
http://lib.limestone.edu/pdffiles/Chapter_5.pdf
**
There is a picture of the Limestone Springs Baptist Church on pg.33 of the document – and somewhere there are some other letters from the girls (young women) there which tell about the cadets coming from Charleston to camp at the school and attend a spring social – it may be in the letters for one of the other chapters. (my note)
The School Continues to Flourish –
In 1856 the two transplanted Britishers took their entire student body to the Cowpens Battleground to enjoy the ceremonies attendant upon the unveiling of the newly-erected monument commemorating the victory won there by the American colonists in 1781 when the British cavalry under Tarleton was defeated by Daniel Morgan’s men.
The Washington Light Infantry of Charleston had marched across the State with their baggage train and equipment, and bad pitched their camp on the old battlefield. Having completed their work the company changed their fatigue dress for their full dress uniform and formed in a double column around the monument for the unveiling service. There were several brief preliminary speeches, but the main speech of the day was made by the Reverend John G. Landrum,” who figures prominently in this story later on and gave to the school his
heartiest support in an hour of need.
http://lib.limestone.edu/pdffiles/Chapter_5.pdf
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And from this part – this link has pictures and this letter about festivities at the College –
The first letter to her friend is dated December 22, 1852, and the last one May 21, 1855. The following, includes a description of a visit that the Citadel cadets paid to the Springs in May 1854:
“Limestone Springs June 4’hs 1854. /. . ./
I wish you & she [Miss Riley]. . . . would both come to Limestone during your vacation, I am certain it would be the best thing either of you
could do-Limestone seems like a charmed spot that harm cannot approach. /. . ./ Mrs. Curtis’ Mother arrived here yesterday, and has taken up her abode in the match house—opposite the Dr’s with them. The house has been put in thorough repair, repainted, carpeted & furnished with very handsome furniture Mr and Mrs Curtis got when they went north in the vacation. The hall has a handsome matting upon it & in fine weather Mrs Curtis has sofa and chairs brought into it, & sits there with her work, it looks just like a parlour.
Mr Curtis’ study is the first room on the right hand and a most comfortable room it is. They remain over there all day, but come here to eat and sleep. Next year they intend to keep house there entirely, I believe. Where do you think we have been taking our meals ever since we came back? Why, no where but in the romping room. The dining room floor was newly cemented after we returned & the weather has been so damp that it has not hardened sufficiently to be used. We have three tables too, there being so many more girls than we have had before. / . . ./
We had a very grand May party—200 persons were present, that is visitors, & in the evening a musical entertainment was given them by the whole school, with Mr Blaisdell at their head. The first part of the evening only the parlour was open, then the chapel was thrown open and exhibited the whole school on a rising stage, Mr Blaisdell with the prain a little on one side, & seats, & benches down each side for the anchenier. When we had all taken our seats the whole school rose & began a grand chorus. Then the little zephyrs (about a dozen of them all of them under twelve years) sang; after that we had solos, duets, glees & choruses all coming in one after another. They sang from a work called “Flora’s Festival—descriptive of the events of a day. It was very pretty & seemed to please the people very much. We never before had such a respectable assemblage of people of May day—but supper was grand & we had three days to decorate the rooms. The 2nd May was the day of celebration. On the following Saturday the Cadets from Charleston & Columbia arrived & pitched their camp in the little wood close by Dr. Otterson’s.
The Curtises were very kind, & sent them refreshments, as did also the Governor. When the evening came Mr Curtis took us all out to see their camp lighted up, & it was a very pretty sight. Some half dozen girls had brothers & cousins there, & were very glad to meet with them. I went with the teachers into the Commandant’s tent, & found him a very gentlemanly man, & full of fun. The band played for us the whole time, & escorted us home; many of the cadets spent the evening here with their sisters and friends. They had asked permission through their commanding Officer to be allowed to come to church—so the chapel was prepared, one whole side being allotted to them, whilst the folding doors. were thrown open, & the parlour was occupied by the ordinary visitors.
A little before 11 the cadets arrived in Military Order, & took their seats in the chapel. But on the first girls arriving at the top of the staircase, they all rose in a body, & remained standing until we had all entered & had taken our seats, they then resumed theirs, & behaved with the utmost decorum, paying the strictest attention to the Dr’s Sermon, which was very good, particularly when he turned to them & appealed to their noblest & best feelings. They came again to the evening service when the ceremony of the morning was reenacted, & were just as attentive to that, Mr Curtis said. It was not possible for any young men to behave better than they did all the time they were here-the whole of Sunday we neither heard nor saw them, although they were so near, & would not have been aware of their vicinity except when at service but for the occasional tap of the drum to call them to meals, & change sentinels.
Monday morning we were invited to go in the spring lot to see them perform their daily evolutions-the Curtises very generously gave us a boliday, so we went, & saw them go through a great number of very interesting as well as amusing movements. We remained about two hours & then returned to the house to rest, & prepare for the party we were to give them in the evening. Meantime the Governor sent over a message to the Curtises requesting that the ladies might be allowed to escort the girls over to his house, in order that he might deliver a parting address to the former, & which I suppose he thought would be more effective if given in the presence of so many young ladies. At 5’oclock they came with their Major at their head on horseback, & the band in full play, & entering at the back gate came down the avenue till they got in front of the piazza in which the girls were collected.
Here they filed out, and the Major dismounting gave us an address which was distinguished alike for good taste, wit & delicate flattery. When he got through, on a hint from the doctor, he ordered the cadets close up under the piazza, & while they all looked puzzled what to make of it, down came such a shower of bouquets on them that they were all taken by surprise, but their looks now only expressed pleasure, & some of them got more flowers than were their share. They then separated into two rows, & the girls forming a procession in the middle,
escorted them to the Governor’s where they remained more than an hour & then came back. The most amusing scene was reserved for the evening—at 8 o’clock they came; as soon as the band was heard approaching the whole front of the house was lighted up as if by magic, two girls in every room lighting five candles the moment Mr. Curtis rang the bell—they then descended into the chapel & parlour to receive their guests. Major Capus, who is one of the funniest men I ever saw, marched the cadets into the house, & as soon as he had them in on line all round, the room, told them to face the wall, upon obeying which order they found themselves face to face with the girls. Before they bad time to feel awkward he told them to invite their vis-a-vis to take a walk round the circle on the illuminated side of the house, while the band was playing, & to get their introductions afterwards. They did so, & by that means every cadet, no matter how bashful, was furnished with a partner. There was just equal number of each, 90. The evening passed in conversation, promenading around the rooms, & in supper. They left at twelve highly delighted with their reception, & next morning departed from Limestone, but I hear they have not ceased to praise it wherever they went.
“. . . There has been an alteration made in the Sunday arrangements, instead of dinner at one, a large tray is brought into the parlour, & one also set on the side table for the teachers, consisting of cold bam, ‘butter and bread’, biscuits & cakes, of which we eat as much as we need, and then we have dinner and supper together directly after Sunday School at 5. We all like it very much, & Mr. Curtis introduced it in order
to allow the servants some rest on Sundays. . .”
(from pgs 64 – 66)
http://lib.limestone.edu/pdffiles/Chapter_4.pdf
**
My Note –
I think it was in the first link to Chapter 5 that talks about the women going to school at Limestone Springs Female High School going to church in town for Sunday, rather than having chapel services at the college, which means there was interaction between the community and the students there. It just seemed really neat actually to think about what it was like then – in Gaffney, SC – and in the area.
There were a few other things my daughter and I discovered as we researched the area, but it will have to wait for posting until I can sort out some of it and what it means – we did find a route between Charlestown and Polk County however, and a map – which I will add here and finish this post for today –
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/literature+%26+music/art75398
Exhibition: Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art, British Library, London, April 30 – September 19 2010This summer's spectacular from the British Library will display 100 of the greatest maps in the world, many of which have never been on public display before. Drawing on the Library's unrivalled four-and-a-half-million piece cartographic collection, Magnificent Maps will showcase treasures dating from 200AD to the present day.
**
No, that wasn’t it – but it was something nifty daughter found that is absolutely amazing ,. . .
This is it – The Old South Carolina State Road –
Old South Carolina State Road from Charleston to north of Polk County, Rutherford, NC - from wikifamilysearch.org
The Old South Carolina State Road connected the colonial seaport of Charleston with several important internal South Carolina towns as well as the Catawba Trail and Old Cherokee Path on South Carolina’s northern border near Landrum in Spartanburg County. Charleston was the largest European settlement in South Carolina, its capital, on the King’s Highway, and the start of several other trails.
The Catawba Trail connected the Old South Carolina State Road to Asheville, North Carolina and to the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap from Virginia and Tennessee into Kentucky. The Old Cherokee Path connected the Lower Cherokee Indian villages in South Carolina and Georgia with several Indian trails, especially the Great Valley Road an important migration route through Virginia to Tennessee.
The Old South Carolina State Road was opened to European settlers in 1747. The Old South Carolina State Road began in Charleston County, South Carolina and ended near Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The exact route is uncertain and may have varied over the years. The length of the road was about 180 miles (290 km).[1]
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Old_South_Carolina_State_Road
**
It was apparently a common practice to take a ship from New York to Charleston and then to travel up to the Piedmont SC area, to Gaffney, SC and Limestone Springs, to Polk County, Columbus and Rutherford – rather than to take the Philadelphia Wagon Road or Great Valley Wagon Road (same thing) as the only option.
Online there is also postcards which have been transcribed written by E. Phillips (1894, over two-three years) from the various hotels and venues where she played as an actress along with a traveling performance group – in one postcard, she talked about playing the part of the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Their troupe traveled by train, boat and carriages from New York to Charlotte and Nashville, Boston, New Orleans, and all sorts of places between here there and yonder. Someone was brilliant enough to transcribe her postcards and post them online with images of the original postcards from the hotels where she stayed or those that were nearby. That site also explained that in 1867 Pullman car was created – very nifty. And, years ago, when I was on vacation with some friends – there is a wondrous museum in Chattanooga, TN with Gloria Swanson’s custom railcar – absolutely amazing. (It wasn’t at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, I haven’t been there yet. But we did take a ride across Chattanooga in an actual steam locomotive, from one side to the other and saw the most incredible miniature train museum with the vast “play” trains that had somewhere become something far beyond a hobby. Absolutely wonderful.)
Well, back to it later – I do hope that some interesting things were found here for anyone researching our family or maybe even, related to us – someday, maybe my own family will read it and get a good chuckle here and there. –
Later,
– cricketdiane
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Here are the EJ Phillips postcards – this link has all of them with images of the original cards – these are a few that I found interesting –
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http://home.comcast.net/~m.chitty/hotels.htm
Washington DC
Nineteenth Century Hotels in the United States, Antiques Digest, orig. published 1927 http://www.oldandsold.com/articles25/hotels-13.shtml
Willard’s Hotel
O.G. Staples, Proprietor Late of the Thousand Island House 1891
The Willard Hotel (opened 1861) is still in business at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, but it is not the building EJ Phillips stayed at or where Julia Ward Howe composed the Battle Hymn of the Republic. (The present building opened in 1901). Mary Glen had tea there in January 1992 with Linda Barrett Osborne and Sara Day from her first post- college job at the Franklin Mint (which was splendid preparation for this project). She also had meetings at the Marriott in the next block of Pennsylvania Ave. in 2000 and 2001, and was pleased to see how close the National Theateris (just beyond the Marriott) and how close the White House was and is, and to be walking in EJ Phillips’ footsteps.
The Randall, Cor. Penna. Ave & 15th St.
Jno. T. Trego, Propr., Near Executive Mansion & Opp. US Treasury
Dec 4, 1894 I have the White House, Treasury Building and Park in view as I write and the theatre is next door to me. From my window I can see the late Gen. Robert E Lee’s residence across the Potomac. Arlington the place is called and now the Soldier’s Cemetery where Phil Sheridan is buried & other great men.
The strenuous business of travel
The Pullman [sleeping] Car Co was organized in 1867, the same year the first hotel or buffet car was built and the first Pullman dinner car was run in 1868. 100 Years of American Commerce 1895
( . . . )
Omaha, Oct. 25, 1896 We closed our engagement here last night, but do not leave until tomorrow at 10 AM to go to Des Moines, Iowa. Consequently we have a day of rest here, for the second time only since leaving Boston last Spring. We are looking for another week of hard travels before reaching Milwaukee . We shall have six hours of ride tomorrow. Are due in Des Moines at 4:50 PM. The next day we shall take quite as long in going to Burlington Iowa]. On Wednesday night we go on board a sleeper at Davenport to take us to Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids to Dubuque and Freeport, Ill on Saturday night.
We are still on the same old lines travelling and playing, but it seems a little more like hard work. The journeys are long, tire-some & early rising quite fatiguing. But I hope we shall be able to pull through all right and you, Albert and Ted will be able to come for dinner at Hattie’s on the Sunday after Christmas.
Pittsburg, Pa Novr 28th 1894 Yesterday I was called to rehearsal and did not rehearse, and today no rehearsal for the first time in over five weeks. Here I am living next door to theatre, which is also a great rest to me, and I am beginning to feel quite like myself.
>We played Camille the past two nights, and the curtain did not fall on last act until 10 minutes of 12 each night. I being so near theatre got into my room at “14 of 12” but in New York and Philadelphia it used to be half past 12 before I got home, and it was very tiring to me.
I used to get to 3219 Clifford Street [Philadelphia] at from half past 12 to one AM every night. Get up at 10, take a breakfast and down to rehearsal, which would often not allow one time to go home to dinner, but I would get dinner at restaurant and go back to theatre to dress for performance. On Morning of the night we produced Romeo & Juliet, it was 5 in the Morning when I got home, we having a rehearsal after the performance of the Transgressor which began at 1 AM and lasted for me until 1/2 past 4. Then Hattie & I got into a cab and arrived home at 5 AM.
EJ Phillips played the Nurse to Olga Nethersole’s Juliet.
Pittsburgh, Nov. 30, 1896 I played at a Matinee on Thanksgiving Day in Toledo, at night, and on Friday night going to train after performance to be taken to Columbus, where we opened with a Matinee on Saturday and played Saturday night.
The last two weeks that we thought would be comparatively easy turned out not to be, with the St Louis week the three hardest weeks we have had. We feel tired out but will have no travelling for a week. And the theatre is almost next door so I hope to have a little rest before making my appearance in Phila.
Am feeling almost too tired to be able to rest. Think we shall have only two matinees this week, Wed & Sat & NO TRAVELLING. Just think what a luxury!
Central Hotel, Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 16, 1897 We start at 1:30 in the morning for Asheville NC — get there 3 PM. Next Morning start earlier for Knoxville — have a change of cars and get there late in the afternoon. But Mr. Zack has told me that after that – the trips will not be so hard.
They are as follows Knoxville, Tenn., 18th Chattanooga, 19th Birmingham, Ala 20th, Macon, Ga 21st Sunday, 22nd Savannah, Ga 23rd Charleston SC, 24th Augusta Ga, 25th & 26th Atlanta Ga, 27th Pensecola, Fla [sic], 28th New Orleans for a week. March 8th Cincinnati Ohio, 15th Phila, 22nd Harlem. This is all I know so far. I have heard we go to Buffalo and Chicago again — but not officially. Guess we will close about 1st of May. I am now going to take a rest – have not had my clothes off for two nights and feel uncomfortable.
Knoxville, Feb. 17, 1897 Have had some heavy traveling and loss of sleep. Left Asheville after performance last night at 1:30 AM. Got here at 4:45 AM. Went to bed soon as I got my room in the above hotel, and have remained there until 4:30. Am now dressed & ready for supper.
We leave after performance tonight at 4:30 in the morning. Get to Chattanooga at 11. Give a matinee at 2 and night performance. Then leave for Birmingham, Ala but exactly when I cannot say – but the untimely hours and loss of sleep – and the extra matinee rung in on us.
Saturday will be in Macon Ga., Savannah, Ga. Tuesday Charleston, Wed Augusta, Ga., Pensecola, Florida and Sunday New Orleans, when we shall have a little breathing time for a week. By that time hope to be able to tell you where we go after that – but at present it is doubtful.
Atlanta, Feb. 1897 Play this afternoon and tonight – and leave very early in the morning for Pensacola Florida. Play there tomorrow night and Sunday push on to New Orleans where we are to open on Sunday night.
This has been a most trying two weeks I have ever gone through in travelling, and I do not think I could stand another two like them. I look for pretty hard work and discomfort in New Orleans next week. The crowds will be annoying and the accommodations very scarce and expensive, but I hope to pull through.
They are sending some of the Co home to New York by boat – a five days ride, but Mr. Zack has said he will try and send me by rail – and I hope he will be successful. I do not care for boating in March on the Atlantic Coast.
New Orleans, Mar. 2, 1897 I was so tired on reaching here Sunday Morning and playing Sunday night that I had to put off writing until today. Great time of Mardi Gras is in full blast and processions and Balls & are all that people are thinking about. We have had two big houses, but the fun ends tonight and the Fast begins tomorrow. Then we may not do as well.
I have had very hard work for the past two weeks, but this week will not be so hard, only two Matinees, and no travel. We leave Sunday Morning and are due in Phila & New York Tuesday Morning, thus ending the long run of
Gay Parisians. I feel that I need a rest and am not sorry — much as I dislike to lose my salary.
Bibliography
Historic Lodging http://www.preservationdirectory.com/HistoricLodging/LodgingCategories.aspx
(from – with lots more – )
http://home.comcast.net/~m.chitty/hotels.htm
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It was fascinating to think of performance troupes going across the US including areas of the South giving performances of Shakespeare’s plays and other wondrous works of literature. That would’ve had to be difficult travel during those days. Absolutely amazing.
– cricketdiane
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And, I just saw the most amazing interview with Warren Buffet on Charlie Rose about an article he wrote for the NY Times – the interview was really different and there was one earlier today (Aug. 15, earlier) that was on France 24 with Paul Jorion, I think it was – who is an anthropologist studying the Wall Street and Economic Crisis currently underfoot. Also very interesting. He was right on target about the financial debacle that is ongoing now. And, both interviews were finally truthful, and accurate. The France 24 segment was on the show called “The Interview” for today and I suppose it is online on their website. I’m going to take a break from genealogy/history stuff and wander over to see those interviews again and make some adequate notes about them. There was a lot to learn from both of the interviews.
History in the making right now – also important . . .
– cricketdiane
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Last update on this post –
08-16-11 early am
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