Preface

“Every day that minute local histories of these states are deferred is an injury to posterity, for by means thereof more of that knowledge which ought to be transmitted to them will be irrecoverably lost” (words of Dr. Ramsay quoted by A. S. Salley in the introduction to his History of Orangeburg County).

Since the area of present-day Bamberg County has been included in four other counties or districts during the different eras of the settlement of South Carolina, it is impossible to compile an accurate list of Bamberg settlers or soldiers of early wars. Before 1897, when Bamberg County was formed, the first settlers and military men were included with the names of those from old Colleton, Orangeburg, Winton, and Barnwell districts. In the early census records, the same problem occurs.

As the first concern of settlers was the availability of water, they depended heavily on the water courses cited in descriptions of the lands involved as to whether they were actually located in present Bamberg County or present Colleton, Orangeburg, or Barnwell counties. Hundreds of pre-Confederate War plats, grants, deeds, and wills were examined to obtain a somewhat accurate list. Fortunately Bamberg County is well supplied with water courses.

Early land grants, deeds, plats, and wills quoted in this history were found in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History or Barnwell County records unless otherwise noted. To quote volume and page number for each record would overburden the reader with footnotes. Acts creating roads, bridges, and other public utilities were found in Statutes at Large in the South Caroliniana Library of the University of South Carolina. More recent events were largely gleaned from the old files of The Bamberg Herald, which date back to 1892. The spelling of names (as well as other language and terms of the day or period) as given in the document is used; in other cases, the accepted present-day spelling is given.