Notes for William JOHNSON, JR.

James Eaddy Family JAMES EADDY FAMILY

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Notes for William JOHNSON, JR.

JOHNSONVILLE WAS NAMED FOR WILLIAM JOHNSON, JR.

A strategic crossing on the Lynches River in the northeastern area of
Williamsburg County was Witherspoon's Ferry, which was vested in J. D.
Witherspoon in 1801 and remained in his charge until his death in 1815,
according to the terms of John Witherspoon's will.

William Johnson, Jr., was born 1787 and succeeded J. D. Witherspoon at
the ferry on a plantation purchased in 1825 from the Witherspoon estate.
The 1850 Census of Williamsburg County shows William Johnson (Jr.), to be
a man of considerable wealth for his time and place. He was living just
below where the American Legion home now stands in Johnsonville, South
Carolina.

Enumerated, by the 1850 Census of Williamsburg County, in the household
were William Johnson (Jr.); his wife, the former Sarah Crosby; son James.
H., age 23, daughter Sarah, 21. Boarding in the household were: Joseph
Costellen, a fisherman from Italy; John C. Dye, a merchant from North
Carolina who witnessed William Johnson's will; and Herman Zadix, a
merchant from Austria.

Johnson's Ferry was the crossing point on the Lynches River at which the
stage coach driver stopped to exchange horses. As the stage coach passed
east over Lynches River on the ferry, a Johnson Plantation slave in
charge of the ferry mules announced the number of passengers with blasts
from a fox horn. He gave one blast for each passenger, to inform Mrs.
Johnson of the number of places that should be set for the meal. The
passengers were served a meal during the change of horses and then
proceeded to Union for the next stop.

The Johnson's closest neighbors were their daughter Margaret Johnson and
son-in-law Thomas Rothmahler Grier. Henry Eaddy, a large land owner,
also operated a cotton gin near the ferry. Most roads led to the ferry
before the railroad appeared in 1912. A bridge spanned Lynches River
about two years later.

Johnsonville had received its name about 1843, from the action of the
above named William Johnson, Jr. who had settled at Witherspoon's Ferry
and renamed it Johnson's Ferry. Dr. Samuel McGill wrote of this event in
"Reminiscences of Williamsburg County."

"At the solicitation of Capt. William Johnson and A. W. Dozier of Pee Dee
River, Dr. McGill settled at the Ferry House. For the first few months
Capt. Johnson and family resided in the old ferry house situated on the
bluff of Lynches River, but soon we all moved down into his new home
situated at the junction of the Indiantown and Stage Coach Road. The
family was very kind and Mrs. Johnson the most motherly of women. Thomas
R. Grier, who had married their eldest daughter, was living with them at
the time. Their eldest son Nicholas F. Johnson lived at the Captain's
new house which was later owned by Mr. Grier. James Harvey Johnson, the
youngest son was the farming boy and a great comfort to the young doctor."

Henry Eaddy (1778-1855) and Capt. Johnson requested the Dr. Samuel McGill
to assist in writing a petition to the Postmaster General at Washington
for a post office to be established here, and Mr. John Gerard appointed
its postmaster. The petition was granted and its name became
Johnsonville. Mr. Henry Eaddy and Dr. Samuel McGill were securities to
the bond of Mr. Gerard.

Soon this section of the country was called Johnsonville, after the man
who was responsible for securing a post office at this place. The stage
coach stopped at the house of William Johnson, Jr. All the mail for the
surrounding communities was left in his care. This provided excellent
reasons for him to request a post office be granted.

Johnsonville and the ferry were busy places for a period of time. Almost
a ghost town after the Civil War, Johnsonville was kept alive by the
turpentine business, and about the only people who accumulated any
property were those who worked in pine timber and related industry. Some
early turpentine dealers and workers had migrated into Williamsburg
before the Civil War began. Some of the dealers in naval stores and pine
products who made fortunes in this part of the country were J. F.
Carraway, R. H. Kimball, and F. Rhem and Sons.

Despite their opposition to working for anyone except themselves, many
young farmers engaged in part-time work collecting naval stores
(turpentine). They also cut and floated their own timber to market.
They would ride the logs down Lynches and Pee Dee River to Georgetown and
walk the long distance back home. By the end of the 19th century, the
turpentine industry had begun to decline, and tobacco was introduced as a
money crop.

Brigadier General John Henry Woodberry described the Johnsonville of
that period.

"Johnsonville, where I was born and lived in my youth, had a post office,
a general store, and not much more. The settlement centered around the
crossroads that went west to Lake City and Florence. The nearest
railroad was 23 miles away (at Lake City) and roads leading thereto were
sandy and rutty. Mail came in by road card, usually daily. The Lynches
River, two miles away, was used for floating timber to market, but was
not suitable for power boats. The Great Pee Dee River, into which the
Lynches River flows nearby, boasted at that time a weekly steamboat (The
Famer and later the Merchant) that brought bulk supplies from
Georgetown. The nearest landing was Alison, some five miles across the
Lynches River. Neither rivers has bridges at that time. Hand propelled
flats were used for crossing.

Besides the general store, there was a cotton gin, a grits mill, and a
blacksmith shop. The old turpentine still and the rice hulling mill,
along with the barrel factory and the stage stables were visible but
abandoned structures. The general store was not only the grocery store,
but the supplier of credit for fertilizer, labor costs, and farm supplies
of every nature. In my early days it was operated by Georgetown people,
who controlled the steamboat. 'H. Kaminski, King of the Jews, humpback
britches and brogan shoes' was a popular ditty back then.

Meat, other than butts meat, was largely from hogs raised locally, and in
our case, in the Pee Dee swamp, Marion County side. The rivers supplied
fish and the swamps wildlife. Hog meat was cured by immersing in brine
or smoking in the family smokehouse, or both.

Fresh beef came in occasionally, when a Mr. Britton came around in his
wagon, hauling a freshly killed cow resting sanitarily on a bed of fresh
pine needles. When his delivered price went up from five cents to six
cents a pound, there was a general howl, but it was the only beef that
could be bought. There being no ice available except occasionally in the
winter months, the average farmer hesitated to kill his own cows.

Schools operated when youngsters were not required for farm work, usually
from October to March. Kids walked from two to five miles daily. Books
were what one could get. There were no classes or grades. In about
1903, a graded school (Old Johnsonville) was established at Ard's Cross
Road, three miles from both Johnsonville and Hemingway."

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