BENJAMIN HAGOOD FAMILY, Pickens County, S.C. Subject: Newsletter, Volume II Issue 2, Spring 2005 Version 1.0, 01-May-2003, GB-04.txt ******************************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/southcarolina/oconee.html DATAFILE INPUT : Paul M. Kankula at gcgenweb@bellsouth.net in May-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Margaret "Gary" Hagood Brightwell at ghb90@hotmail.com in May- 2005 ******************************************************************************** EXCERPTS FROM: VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2, SPRING 2005 Hagood Family Newsletter A Newsletter for the descendants and kin of Benjamin Hagood & Adaline Ambler of Old Pendleton/Pickens District, SC EDITOR: GARY HAGOOD BRIGHTWELL PICKENS MILL, Pickens, SC HALLMARK OF HAGOOD FAMILY CURRENTLY BEING DEMOLISHED William Milliken Hagood, son of James Earle Hagood and grandson of Benjamin Hagood, founded PICKENS MILL, Pickens, SC, in 1906. A pioneer leader in the south's textile industry, W.M. Hagood had previously established Glenwood Mill in neighboring Easley, SC. He was the first President of Pickens Mill & Glenwood, and served until his retirement in 1925. At that time he was succeeded by his son, Clarence Bruce Hagood. With the death of C. Bruce Hagood in 1933, Ben Folger Hagood, a nephew of W.M. Hagood's, took over the Presidency of the mill. Ben Folger Hagood successfully guided Pickens Mill through the dark days of the Depression and the unsettled world of World War II. Mayfair Mills, Arcadia, SC, purchased the Pickens Mill plant in 1964. Ben Folger Hagood retired and the former Pickens Mill, now known as Mayfair Mills/Pickens Division, was succeeded in leadership by his son, Ben Folger Hagood, Jr., named Vice-President, Mayfair Mills. When Ben Folger Hagood Jr. retired from the mill in 1994, an eighty-eight year old tradition of Hagood leadership with Pickens Mill ended. Several years after Mr. Hagood's retirement, with foreign textile competition strong, the mill closed and was purchased by another textile concern, only to be closed again. Recently a developer from NC bought the property in order to sell the salvage timbers and bricks for upscale homes. The inside of the mill has been totally stripped and demolition of the structure has begun. A sad day for Pickens County history and for our Hagood family. Zachariah Hagood (1792-1875), brother of our Benjamin Hagood Previous Hagood Family Newsletters have covered Benjamin's sisters: *Susannah(Susan) and **Rebecca DR. ZACHARIAH HAGOOD AND NANCY NASH HAGOOD—PIONEERS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL Dr. Zachariah Hagood was probably the first physician to practice medicine in either Blount or Jefferson Counties, Alabama, and he continued his practice until after the War Between the States. Dr. Hagood came to Blount County in 1817 and probably moved to lands now located in Jefferson County late in 1818. He was physician, counselor, friend and leader to the people in the Mt. Pinson section of Jefferson County. Seventh child of James and Martha West Hagood, born in Edgefield District, SC, November 21, 1792, he moved with his parents to Pendleton District, SC, in 1798. His family lived on a farm located on the Saluda River at Hagood's Bridge (sometimes called Earle's Upper Bridge). The Saluda was the boundary line between Greenville and Pendleton Districts. As a young boy he lived with his parents. When about seventeen he lived for a year with his older brother, James, at the old home place in Edgefield District. This plantation was owned and operated by James Hagood, Sr. When James, Sr., moved from Edgefield in 1798 he left his eighteen year old son, James Jr, .to run the place under the direction of his uncle Benjamin (brother of James Hagood Sr.), who operated a neighboring plantation. In 1809 when Zachariah returned to Edgefield, James Jr. was a married man with a family, twenty-nine years of age. The plantation in Edgefield was located on the waters of the Savannah River, Benningfield's Creek (also known as Bedingfield's and Bennfield's). The land was originally granted to James Hagood Sr. in 1785 and sold by his son Benjamin in 1814. While in Edgefield District, Zachariah Hagood decided to be a physician. In 1810 Zachariah returned to Pendleton District and in the same year moved to Pendleton to study medicine with a practicing physician of that community. He lived with the physician more or less as an apprentice. During the time he was living in Pendleton he met his future wife, Nancy Nash, daughter of George and Elizabeth Nash. Nancy Nash was born in Pendleton District February 14, 1798, and on her sixteenth birthday married Dr. Hagood. In 1816, George Nash formed a large party of family, friends, and neighbors for the purpose of moving to Alabama. Most of these people came from Pendleton District, South Carolina, but a few of them came from Greenville, Spartanburgh, Abbeville and Edgefield Districts. Zacharaiah and Nancy Hagood with their baby, Robert Jackson Hagood, were members of this party. George Nash sold part of his lands and about a dozen slaves preparatory to the trip. He brought about twenty slaves to Alabama with him. Most of the party had a few slaves. The party took a route north through Georgia and Tennessee, circling the Indian Country and coming into Alabama north of Huntsville. They stopped at Huntsville a few days, checking their land information, then continued almost due South to Murphree Valley in Blount County. They settled land several miles south of Onsonta, part of which was undoubtedly in Jefferson County of today. They arrived in this section sometime in 1817 and made crops as early as 1818. The Nash party had a squabble with a Tennessee group over land in the Blount County area which was not settled until George Nash secured land grants for the disputed locations in 1819. It was 1821 before the land they cleared and tilled in Jefferson County was secured by grants. Most of the grants were made to George Nash and transferred by him to other members of the party. Dr. Zachariah and Nancy Nash Hagood had five children; three sons, and two daughters. Their oldest child, Robert Jackson Hagood, was born in Pendleton District, SC, January 23, 1815. Amanda G. and Elizabeth, their daughters, were born late in 1816 and 1818, respectively. Thomas M. was born in Jefferson County February 22, 1820, and George Mansfield in Jefferson County January 6, 1823. (Mansfield Hagood's tombstone shows January 6, 1826. This is apparently an error.) These facts and dates, gathered from many sources, check with the 1830 census of Jefferson County, which shows the family of Zachariah Hagood as composed of: Males: One 5 to 10 years of age One 10 to 15 " " " One 15 to 20 " " " One 30 to 40 " " " Females: Two 10 to 15 " " " In the winter of 1823-24, Dr. Hagood made a visit to Pendleton District, SC, to see his parents and to attend to some business for his father-in-law and for himself. In going back to SC, he traveled on horseback over the same trail followed in coming to Alabama, as the "Indian Country had not been ceded." While in SC he sold land that his father had given him some years before; his father joined him in making the deed. The stated consideration was $1000 cash. The deed also recited that Dr. Z. Hagood was living in Jefferson County, AL. On his return trip he was held-up by highwaymen but most of his money was saved by being hidden in the horn of his saddle. This was his last visit with his parents as his father died in 1828 and his mother in 1829 and both are buried near the Old Pendleton District home place on the Saluda River. Nancy Nash Hagood died March 10, 1829, and was buried on a plot of ground dedicated as a cemetery by her father, George Nash. This cemetery in known today as the Greene Cemetery and is entirely surrounded by land belonging to the late Harvey Woodward's estate. In 1831 Dr. Hagood married Mary A. Erwin daughter of John and Margaret Erwin and eight children were born to this union: James, Martha, Fannie, Mary, Margaret, John, Susan A. and Kitty. Dr. Hagood's oldest son, Robert Jackson Hagood, married Nancy M. Hale in 1834, his daughter Amanda married John F. Hanby in 1835, and his daughter, Elizabeth, married Josiah Truss about 1839. His son, Thomas M., never married and his youngest son, George Mansfield, married Elizabeth S. Talley, June 1, 1846 (Newsletter editor's note: Robert Jackson Hagood's (above) son, Rufus Hansom Hagood, had a daughter Laura Hagood (Jefferson Co., AL), who married Claude Hagood Alexander. Claude was the son of Mary Elizabeth ("Mage") Hagood, daughter of James E. Hagood & granddaughter of Benjamin Hagood. Thus, Claude Hagood Alexander and his wife, Laura Hagood, were third cousins and reconnected our Hagood family via brothers, Benjamin and Zachariah.) At the age of forty, June 22, 1851, Mary A. Hagood, second wife of Dr. Z. Hagood, died. She was born in 1811. Later in the year Dr. Hagood and Nancy Erwin Watson, widowed sister of his second wife, were married. Mrs. Watson had a family of three children by her first marriage and Dr. Hagood a family of eight living at home. To this third marriage four children were born, two of whom lived to maturity. William Calhoun and Dora (Medora C.), the other two children died unnamed in infancy. William Calhoun Hagood, born in in 1854, died December 1936. He and his father lived in at least part of the administration of each individual President of the United States (1792-1936). The early 1850's were prosperous years with the Hagood family. Dr. Hagood served his community as physician and farming was simplified by somewhat improved communications and roads. However, cotton still had to be hauled to Selma to get the advantage of a good market and this continued even as late as 1860. An interesting item in connection with the collection and transfer of funds is illustrated by a letter from Dr. Hagood to his nephew, James E. Hagood at Pickens Courthouse, SC, June 10 1858: ********** Mt. Pinson, Alabama June 19th, 1858 Dear Cousin: Enclosed you will find the right end of a fifty dollar bill, Bank of Mobile. I cannot procure any other kind at present and I suppose that is as current as any. I received your letter and you stated that you are willing to risk it by mail and hereby comply. I will send the balance as soon as collected, if I don't go to see you all and if I do, I will take it to you. Nothing more at present (Signed) Z. Hagood I send the other half of this bill to your father. Editor's Note: The father of J.E. Hagood was Benjamin Hagood, brother of Z. Hagood. Benjamin was born in Edgefield District, SC, Dec 11, 1788) ********** Instead of sending the balance by mail when collected, Dr. Hagood and his grandson, Rufus H. Hagood, made the trip to Pickens C.H., SC, in the latter part of 1858 and early in 1859. While in South Carolina they visited with the entire family connection, purchased slaves, and made tentative arrangements to buy goods in Charleston, SC. (Note: Robert J. Hagood & Son had been purchasing merchandise for supply and re-sale in Mobile, AL) In his letter thanking J.E. Hagood and family (of Pickens) for their hospitality while in Pickens, SC, Dr. Hagood states: "I sowed thirty-three bushels of wheat and raised about five hundred and have sent off three loads of flour." He also tells of an excellent cotton crop and a very wet season in 1859. The letter was dated August 24th, 1859. With the beginning of the War many of Dr. Hagood's sons and grandsons entered the Confederate army, including his sons, John and James, and his grandsons, Rufus H. and Thomas Z., and several grandsons, children of his daughters. The pinch of war times is well described in his letter to J.E. Hagood of Pickens, SC, upon being informed of his (Zachariah's) sister, Rebecca Hagood (Hightower) (Barton's) death: ********** Dear Nephew: I embrace the present opportunity of answering your kind communication which came to hand yesterday morning. I was truly glad to hear from you all, but I was pained to hear of the death of your Aunt, but why should I grieve; it is the Lord that gives and the Lord takes away. I trust our loss is her eternal gain. This leaves me and family in common health, except your Cousin John (John Hagood, Dr. Z's son) who is in a bad state of health at this time. He was severely wounded by a collision on the train between Chattanooga and Marietta, Ga. I had a Negro boy badly wounded at the same time and place. I brought them both home, but I don't know whether they will finally get over it or not. The rest of the connection are all well as far as I know. There is and has been a great deal of sickness in this country. Times are extremely hard. Everything is up to the highest notch. Bread stuff is plenty in this country. I made an ordinary crop of wheat and I have made the best crop of corn I have ever made since I came to the State. But meat is scarce owing to the hog cholera. It will demand just what a person will ask for it. I don't think I will have enough to do on without buying some. James, I would be glad to come out this winter and see you all one more time, but it will be beyond my power to do so as I do not think I would be able to stand the trip at this season of the year again. I want you to write me when the sale of your Aunt's property comes off, if there should be anything worth coming for. I will try to come out next Spring when the cold weather breaks. I want you to write and let me know how your father and the rest of the connection are doing. Inform me all you can about the death of ***James Painter. I learned he was at Greenville in September, then heard he became deranged and was sent to the Hospital at Atlanta, Georgia, and died there. I wish you to give me the particulars about him. I also wish to know what has become of your brother John. I heard he had been in two prominent battles in Virginia and I have never heard from him since. I want to know what has become of him. I will now close this communication for this time by subscribing myself your affectionate uncle until death. (signed) Z. Hagood When you read, please hand it over to your father, then your *Aunt Susan and ~Dr. Miles. ********** Editor's Note: James Earle Hagood (J.E.), recipient of this letter was the son of Benjamin Hagood,Zachariah's brother. ~Dr. Miles was Dr. Francis Miles, husband of Benjamin's daughter, Eliza Hagood. ***Son of *Susannah (Susan) Hagood (Painter), sister to both Zachariah and Benjamin Hagood. Dr. Hagood's sister, **Rebecca Barton, was a wealthy woman. (See Winter 2005 Issue of Hagood Newsletter) Her will, written March 6, 1862, bequeathed $10,000 in special legacies to her brothers, sisters, and their children; a connection named Ben Holder, and $100 each to four slave boys. She left the residue of her estate to her brothers: Benjamin, Zachariah, and James. (Note: Benjamin Hagood was a prominent citizen of Pendleton District, later Pickens District, SC, and James Hagood was a Methodist minister and planter of Forsyth County, Georgia.) The 11th item of Mrs. Barton's will provided: "I wish all of my Negroes to have the privilege of choosing their owners, and the children to go with their mothers. To this end, I wish all to be valued or appraised by three competent, disinterested men, and taken at valuation. I do no wish any of them sold otherwise. I wish my women, Viny, to go with her daughter Harriett and work entirely for herself, as she has done with me for years past." During the War Between the States, John Nash, one of the older brothers of Nancy Nash Hagood, moved back to Mt. Pinson and spent his last years in the Hagood home, where he died in 1870 and willed his property to Moses Fields, John C. Watson, Miss M.C. (Dora) Hagood, and Dr. Z. Hagood. Prior to the War he had been wealthy, but his estate in 1870 yielded very little except a beautiful horse which was specifically willed to Miss M.C. Hagood. (Miss Hagood was sixteen at the time and Dr. Hagood's youngest living child.) Of average height and slight stature, Dr. Hagood's chief characteristic was unflagging energy, which he displayed in rising before the sun and working into the dusk. He was a strict disciplinarian with the male youngsters of the family. Julius Greene tells a story about Dr. Hagood and his son, John. John and a young man named Worthington of the Trussville section, had attended a square dance in a nearby community prior to the War. Returning home, John invited his companion to spend the night with him. Next morning, Dr. Zachariah called John and told him to feed the stock. Returning to the house himself he passed John's door and saw the cover bulging with a sleeping figure on John's bed. He immediately snatched up a buggy whip from the corner of the hall and proceeded to flail the recumbent figure. He was astounded to learn that he had whipped a neighbor's boy. (John had obeyed the command and was still outside.) After the War Between the States, he often visited his grandson, Rufus H. Hagood. With unfailing regularity, at the first crack of dawn, he was outside calling in a loud voice: "Rufus! Get up! Or you'll beg for your bread!" Dr. Zachariah Hagood died at his home near Mt. Pinson February 21, 1875, age 82 years, 3 months, the best beloved man of his part of Jefferson County. Written & researched by: Rufus Hagood Bethea, May 16th, 1941. (Copy of this research given to your editor by Frances Bruce Bethea Parham of Atlanta, GA, in March, 2005. Thank you, Cousin Fran, for all of your wonderful help!) HAGOOD NEWS FROM THE PAST: "Mrs. Elvira Robinson died last night at the home of her son, J.E. Robinson. Mrs. Robinson was a member of a prominent Pickens family. About a year ago, her brother, Col. J.E. Hagood, died at his home in Pickens. He was for many years clerk of the United States Court at Charleston. Her surviving brother is John Hagood of Greenville county, and her sisters are Mrs. F.A. Miles of Greenville, and Mrs. EBE Martin of Greenville county. She leaves five children, who live in and near Easley. J.E. Robinson, John Robinson, Arthur Robinson, W.W. Robinson and Mrs. E.E. Lenhardt. Her remains will be interred tomorrow in the old Hagood family burying ground near Pickens." Source: newspaper clipping, not dated. Elvira Caroline Hagood (Robinson) died May 19, 1905. Dr. F.A. Miles, who at one time was a resident of Pickens, died at his home in Greenville on last Sunday, at an advanced age. He leaves a wife who was Miss Eliza Hagood, youngest daughter of the late Benjamin Hagood, of this county, besides a host of relatives and friends to mourn his death. His remains were Interred in the cemetery at Greenville on the day following his death. Source: Pickens Sentinel, June 18, 1903 "Old Aunt Malinda Hagood, wife of Jackson Hagood, colored, died last Saturday on Col. J.E. Hagoods Twelve Mile Farm, age about 90 years." Source: "Pickens Sentinel" Thursday10 March 1892 "Col. J.E. Hagood and daughters, Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. J. McD. Bruce and Miss Queenie returned from Charleston. Miss Queenie went on to Birmingham to visit relatives." Source: "Pickens Sentinel" Thursday 12 May 1892 (Yet more evidence of the continued connection between the descendants of brothers, Benjamin & Zachariah Hagood! MGHB/editor) A most exciting and dangerous looking scrape occurred on South Main Street just in front of the Easley Hotel last Saturday about 6 p.m. as Mrs. H.C. Hagood was driving through town on the way to their beautiful home in East Easley, accompanied by W.E. Mays, bookkeeper at Glenwood Cotton Mill, who boards with them. The horse attached to the buggy became frightened at the actions of a pair of mules attached to a wagon loaded with iron which was rattling. The horse shied and some portion of the harness or buggy broke. About that time a small dog ran out barking at the horse and he commenced to kick. Mr. Mays, holding Mrs. Hagood's baby boy Jack, either jumped or fell from the buggy. The horse continued to rear, plunge and kick. To onlookers it seemed certain that Mrs. Hagood would be killed, so vicious were the actions of the horse. By a miracle, Mrs. Hagood got out of the buggy either by falling or jumping. The horse then ran with great force against the brick store occupied by Mr. J.A. Sheppard and from there he ran down the sidewalk on Table Rock street, causing a stampede of the people and a scatteration of signs, samples, chicken coops, etc. until he got clear of the buggy which was a complete wreck. Strange to say, however, no one was hurt and the horse was only slightly scratched and bruised. Source: The Easley Progress, April 5, 1905