Part I                    Part II

 

 

 

This is a reproduction of a copy of The Story of the Arkansas Mintons

The original manuscript was double spaced

Single spacing is used here to reduce the number of pages and conserve space

 

 

The Story of the Arkansas Mintons

 

By

Dr. Hubert Lee Minton

Grandson of Sylvanus Burl Minton

 

 

Part I

 

 

         Silvanus Minton, the earliest authenticated progenitor of most of the Mintons of Arkansas, grew up in a Quaker family on a farm located on Padgett’s Creek in the southern part of Union County, S.C.[1]  According to his Bible record now in possession of Dennis C. Minton, his great great grandson,[2] he was born August 27, 1791, but he gives no information about his parentage, nor is there any record about his early life.  He was given a good education, for his time, as indicated by the quality of handwriting in this record[3] and by other evidences that will appear later.  The best that can be surmised from the records is that he was born out of wedlock, as will be shown later, to one of the daughters of Thomas and Hannah Minton,[4] (probably Rebeccah) who came to this section of South Carolina sometime before 1774 (probably not long before, as we shall see later) and bought a farm on Padgett’s Creek from Richard Kelly in that year.[5] 

 

         He married Mary Morris on April 8, 1813, four and a half months before his twenty-second birthday, according to his record, and three days after Mary’s twenty-fifty birthday.  She was born April 11, 1788.  Although nothing is given about where she was born or under what circumstances the courtship developed, it is almost certain that she was a native of the same area[6] and that the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church was an environmental factor in the courtship.[7]  This church was established in 1784, as shown by the tablet in the front, and is still functioning with a large membership.  Mary and Silvanus probably attended this church quite frequently after the abandonment of the Quaker Church in 1802.  According to the USGS topographic Sedalia quadrangle this church is located about 14 miles southwest of Union, on state road 49, and about 2 miles east of Cross Keys on state road 18.  About 3 ½ miles farther east on state road 18 is the junction of the road (not numbered) leading to the old Quaker cemetery, about a half-mile off to the right.[8]  Here was located the Padgett’s Creek Quaker Meeting House.[9]  The farm on which Silvanus grew to manhood was not far from this church, and he doubtless attended services there many times as a child.  However, services were discontinued at this church about 1802, so, as a young man, Silvanus must have attended the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church not far away.  It may have been in this church that his religious faith took shape because he later joined a Baptist Church and was ordained as a Baptist minister.  And it may have been in this church that he and Mary Morris exchanged vows of wedlock.

 

         The Silvanus record shows the date of this marriage as April 8, 1813, and the date of their first-born (Reuben) is given as May 11, 1814.  Silvanus and Mary very likely stayed on the old farm, with his mother, his grandmother, and Uncle Joseph until they sold out and left Union in 1815.  He and Mary and their first-born then moved west to Pendleton District about sixty miles away.[10]  Here he established his home on Milwee Creek in 1816 or 1817 by the purchase of a farm from Simon Doyle of White County, Tennessee,[11] on which young Thomas Minton, the grandson of Thomas, Sr., was living at the time.[12]  This move by Richard Minton probably took place shortly after he was disowned in March 1786 and shortly after the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, which was made in 1786 or 1787.[13]  Although Richard had deserted the Quaker faith, he was surely influenced in his actions by the tenets of that faith, one of which was friendliness with the Indians and another was opposition to slavery.[14]  Moreover, the opening of new land to settlement was universally considered an opportunity for betterment, especially by subsistence farmers unskilled in the use of conservation techniques in maintaining soil fertility, especially in the Piedmont area where sandy and clay loam soils and rolling topography were the common lot of the farmer.  In fact the pressure for new lands began even before the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which gave to England all lands east of the Mississippi River.  After the treaty with the Cherokees a steady stream of settlers passed up the trail from Charles Town to the Cherokee Country with slight attention to boundary lines.  “South Carolina filled up rapidly after the Treaty of Paris, with the exception of the war period, 1775-1783.  But after 1783, settlement was again rapid.  The two new western districts (at this time) Pendleton and Greenville, which were obtained by treaty founded on conquest from the Cherokee Indians in 1777, filled so rapidly with inhabitants that in the year 1800 they alone contained upwards of 30,000 inhabitants.”  (Pendleton District is now Anderson County).  Grants of land were given to immigrants after the treaty with the Cherokees for an “office fee” of 20 £ (pounds) for 1000 A, “and annual quit-rent of one shilling for every hundred acres – they who could not advance the purchase money obtained their land on condition of their paying one penny annual rent for every acre.”[15] 

 

The best farmland was found in the valleys of the creeks and rivers but since the area was subject to heavy convectional thunderstorms in summer, these streams were subject to flash flooding.  Ramsay (op.cit.) describes the settlements as located about these valleys on the slopes bordering them but adjacent to their main farms in  the valleys, the flash floods notwithstanding, evidently because the floods were damaging to home buildings and livestock but usually did not last long enough to destroy a crop. 

 

         Thus Silvanus chose a farm on Millwee Creek with his cousin Thomas[16].  As stated above, “little attention was paid to boundary lines” by the early settlers.  In fact, most of them chose their farms according to the quality of the soil to grow corn and not according to prior ownership.  Many farmers settled on Indian lands as squatters even before treaties were signed,[17] although the Quakers were careful to abide by their tenets guided by legalization of their land occupancies.  Silvanus evidently was so guided by his Quaker background.

 

         Here on Millwee Creek, he came in contact with another Baptist church, Old Lebanon Baptist Church, located about three miles southeast of the present town of Pendleton.  Although, as stated, the exact site of the farm cannot be determined,[18] he doubtless lived within a mile or two of this church.  Moreover, his co-owner of the farm, Thomas Minton, probably attended it, and could have been a member.[19]  At any rate, Silvanus became associated with this Church group quite early after his arrival and probably first became identified as a Baptist here.  In June of 1824 he was elected clerk of this church and held this position until his ordination as a minister ten years later.  In 1834 he was the clerk of this church and recorded his ordination in the Church Minutes.  And he cites:  “The Church received by letter David Rainwater and granted a letter of dismiss ion to Eliminah Brock.”[20]  He also states that the church received into its membership “a black sister, Hannah” who had been the property of John C. Calhoun.  She joined by letter.  Later in this same year, Silvanus Minton was ordained to the Ministry by a presbytery consisting of Drury Hutchins, James H. Hembree and William McGee.  Mr. Minton’s position as church clerk was then given to Pressley G. Cobb.

 

The writer of A history of the Saluda Baptist Association states, with reference to the Lebanon Church, “In September Thomas McDonald and Silvanus Minton were granted leave to exercise their gifts in whatever way they thought the Lord required of them.”[21] 

 

         In the meantime Mary died with the birth of twins, (Silvanus Moody and Sarah Ann) in November 1827, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the old cemetery of the Lebanon Church, now abandoned.[22]

 

         Silvanus did not wait long for his second marriage.  Mary had left him with eight children ranging in age from 13 (Reuben) to infants (the twins).  On February 12, 1828, he married Janie Qualls,[23] and less than a year later (January 6) she was the mother of the first of ten children (Joseph Alphred) and two years later had twins, Martha Miles and Harriet Good.

 

In 1835 a schism seemed to be growing in the Lebanon Church and Silvanus probably was involved.  The Church history cited above states:  “that the Church met after worship (date not given other than 1835) and ‘excluded from fellowship’ a man named “Majer Willbanks” for “not heeding the admonition of the Church”.  (in what way he had been admonished is not stated).  In this same meeting, the church refused to give “a letter of dismiss ion” to Thomas McDaniel “because of the present exciting circumstances”.  What these circumstances were is not stated.  However, Jesse Lewis was appointed to write McDaniel “a friendly letter”.  This incident supported by the incident cited above that Silvanus and McDonald were given their freedom “to exercise their gifts” provide strong evidence of a growing schism, which eventually broke the bonds of fellowship and caused the disruption that led to the location of a new church, four miles to the east.[24] 

 

         Silvanus very likely did not relish involvement in such a dissension and began seeking a means of escape.  He found it in the opening of new lands in Alabama, lands which had been opened up in 1803 in the northern part of the state, and to which people were rapidly moving in from the Carolinas and Georgia.[25]  The major part of the migration was to the southern part of the county and came after 1835 when the treaty of Echota was signed with the Cherokees.  Mrs. Stewart lists a number of families who came to this part of the county before 1830 but she gives no dates and the Minton name does not appear.  She says, “Many settlers entered and lived peaceably among the Indians prior to 1836, having bought their lands from the red man, and having made many improvements and having cleared hundreds of acres, and, need it be said, having taught the Indian the white man’s way of living.”[26]  Mrs. Stewart lists forty-three families by name who arrived in the southern part of the county during the first half of the decade of the 1830’s and eighty families by name who came in the second half, evidently affected by the Treaty.[27]  According to the Census of 1840, 132 families lived in the southern part of the county at that time, 42 having come in the first half of the decade (1830-1834) and 90 having come in the second half (1835-1839) and she lists nearly all these families in Chapter II.  In this list, she names, “Silvanus Minton and second wife, Jane Quarles (Qualls) settled on Terrapin Creek before 1832” (p.  91) and on p.  105 she says he came “in 1831 and settled on Hurricane Creek.”28a  On p.  139 she shows that Silvanus and his son, John Minton, bought sections 10 and 15, Township 12, Range 11, from the state of Alabama, joining sections.  USGS Topographic Sheets show Hurricane Creek flowing through these sections but not Terrapin Creek. 

 

         Reuben is listed in 1840, along with his father and brother John, in Benton County, which was not made a part of Cherokee County until 1843.28b  He was married in South Carolina in 1833 and came to Alabama in 1834 and settled on Hurricane Creek, no doubt with his father and brother John, according to his grandson, Frank Minton of Piedmont, Alabama.28c  There are no Mintons listed in Cherokee County in the Census Reports for 1840 but this is due to the fact that the southern part of the county, where the Mintons lived, was added to Benton County in 1836.  Silvanus Minton was appointed Justice of the Peace in Benton County in 1841 (ibid.  p.  167).

 

         As was the case in the earlier settlement in the Carolinas, the Cherokees were not strongly hostile to the coming of the whites into their territory.  Many of the whites had bought land from the Indians with trinkets and tools and were living peaceably with them.  Mrs. Stewart states (p.  41) “Efforts were made by the Government to keep all the white men out, but “agents” were required to bar the trespassers.  In the wild new lands of the Cherokees, far removed from law, the agents found it difficult to make Indian or White understand that the U.S. Government looked with disfavor on joint occupation of the lands.  Treaties called for a limited number of white settlers, but mutual helpfulness and benefit resulted in numerous squatters living within the Indian domain.”

 

         Regardless of the date of the Minton migration, it is certain that they lived for several years as squatters on Indian lands.  Not until the Government Land Office was moved into the area is there any record of land purchases by settlers.29  As stated above, Silvanus and John bought their lands, sections 10 and 15, Township 12, Range 11, from the state after 1840.  John bought section 15 in 1846 and Silvanus bought section 10 in 1848,30 and yet there is no question but that they both lived on these lands ever since they came to the state.

 

         The sites of these farms cannot be definitely located because the deeds simply give the locations of the entire tracts.31  There are no inhabitants on these tracts today (1974) but, as shown by these Topographic Sheets, there is a railroad and a gravel road passing through the two sections following the valley of Hurricane Creek.  The most likely locations are the southern part of section 10 as the home of Silvanus and the northern part of section 15 as the home of John.  Neither probably had more than 20 acres of cleared land and John probably had less because he was a tanner by trade and spent much of his time in the pursuit of this occupation.  No doubt his trade had much to do in the selection of his home site near a permanently flowing stream because of its requirement of an abundant supply of clear, near mineral-free, water.  Reuben probably lived two or three miles to the west in the Pleasant Gap Community.

 

         There were other settlers living along this creek, both above and below the Mintons32 and Silvanus wasted no time in making a survey of the possibility of the establishment of a Baptist Church.  He not only found enough interest to justify the effort but it extended beyond such effort to the formation of an association of churches.  He was the prime mover in the organization of the Salem Church, which was located about a mile and a half up the creek from his home.  (See document 12 and picture of the church)  The first meeting of the association (Tallassehatchie) was held with the Walnut Springs Church at which Silvanus gave the association sermon.33  Hosea Halcombe, in his “A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Alabama,”  published 1840, pp.  282-285, states:  “This association is situated in the northern part of the Creek Indian Country, principally in Benton County” (most of which was later added to Cherokee County and included the area in which the Mintons lived); “15 churches are in Benton – 5 in Cherokee (joining Benton on the north) – 3 in Randolph (to the south of Benton) and 2 in the state of Georgia.  The association was constituted in 1834 with 5 or 6 churches.  Their second meeting was held in New Hopewell, in Benton County, on the 11^th of September, 1835, when six churches were added to their little band, which with those received into the churches increased their membership from about 170 to 350.  Some of the churches in this Association were Mount Zion, Zion Hill, Walnut Springs, Salem, New Hopewell, Cedron, Lebanon, Cane Creek, Yellow Creek, Jacksonville and

Bethlehem.”  Other churches added from 1836 to 1867 are shown on the copy of the original document.

 

         The next hear he took part in the organization of Bethlehem Church, also in Benton County, assisted by W. Wilson and E. Berry, “and united with the Association in September following; their number of members was then 27:  they have increased since to 91.”34  Also he took part, with Hugh Quin, in the organization of the Yellow Creek Church in Cherokee County, which was completed in June 1835.  “In their petitionary letter to the Association, they say, - ‘Dear Brethren, We are but a small body, though at peace amongst ourselves, and we have a hope that our number will increase; therefore, dear brethren, pray for us, and visit us as often as convenient, and more especially our preaching brethren, as we have no pastor to attend to us.’  They have since increased from 12 to 56.”35  He evidently was popular in the Association as he is shown by the Record of the Association to have preached the Association Sermon three times and served as moderator once in the period 1834 to 1867.  Only two preachers in the Association held a better record.36  Moreover, Silvanus was probably absent from the Association from 1859 to 1867 because of the move to Arkansas.

 

         The Census of 1850 shows Silvanus, John, and Reuben, all three, in Cherokee County, each as a head of a family.  As indicated above they were listed in Benton County in 1840 but this area became a part of Cherokee County in 1843.  Silvanus is shown as 59, wife, Janie (Qualls) 42, James (Madison) (m) 16, Thomas (Abner) (m) 14, Nancy (Jane) (f) 12, Francis (Marion) (m) 10, David (Hampton) (m) 8, Edward (Priestly) (m) 3, and Sarah (Matilda) (f) 1.  John is shown as 31, wife Nancy (Rainwater) 32, Emily (Em) (f) 10, Sylvanus (Burl) (m) 8, Sidney Allen (m) 6, Martha (f) 4, Nancy (Nan) (f) 2, Matilda (Tilda) (f) 8/12.  Reuben is shown as 35, wife, Sarah (Embree) 35, Henry Frank (m) 16, Mary (Hardin) (f) 14, Robert (m) 12, Albert (m) 12, (twins) William Martin (m) 9, Gibson (Reuben Gilbert) (m) 7, Sarah (Bothwell) (f) 4, Martha (Thomas) 2/12.  On this census record, Reuben is listed first and John is next with five names between, then Silvanus with twelve names listed between his name and John.

 

         Thus it is clear that Silvanus and his two sons, Reuben and John were in Alabama in 1850 and were living relatively near each other, doubtless in the same or adjoining communities.  We know John and his father owned adjoining sections of land at this time and lived on them (page 10).  We have no record that Reuben ever owned land in Alabama, but according to his grandson, Frank, he lived in the Pleasant Gap Community some three and a half miles southwest of John’s home.

 

         The Census of 1860 shows Silvanus and Reuben still in Cherokee County, but John has disappeared.  Silvanus still had two children at home, Edward Priestly, 13, and Sarah Matilda, 11.  These are both shown to have been born in Alabama.  James M. (Madison) is also shown as head of a family and to have been born in Alabama.  He was 26 at the time, was married and had two children, Sarah, 3, and John, 3/12.  He is the third born of Silvanus and Jane (Janie) Qualls.  The Silvanus Bible record shows his birth date as June 1, 1834, and the census record shows the place of birth as South Carolina.  Therefore the move to Alabama by Silvanus must have been after June 1, 1834, and, as cited above with regard to his connection with the Old Lebanon Church in South Carolina, he must have made the move later in that year, and most likely after his ordination.37 

 

         Francis Marion, seventh born of Silvanus and Janie, counting the twins as separate births, is also shown in the 1860 census as head of a family and living in the same County.  He is shown as 19 and his wife, Mary, 19, both born in Alabama.  They had one child at the time (July), Julia, 1, and probably a relative, James Qualls, 12.38 

 

         The Census of 1860 shows four Mintons living in Calhoun County, which joins Cherokee on the south and which was established as a county in 1868.39  The first of these Mintons was James M. 30, his wife Emily 30, and children L. R. (m) 8, Marjorie (f) 6, Morris (m) 4, and Calainey (m) 1.  James was born in Georgia but Emily and all the children were born in Alabama.  The address is given as Jacksonville, eight miles (air line) south of the Cherokee line.  The second was Joseph Minton 31, his wife Ann 36, and children Mandy (f) 11, Jas (m) 10, Virginia (f) 6, Josephine (f) 3, and George Houston (m) 1.  Joseph and Ann are shown as born in South Carolina and all children born in Alabama (Post Office not given.)  The third was Thomas A., or Thomas F., 84, Lucy A. (f) 19 and Ruby E. (f) 2/12 – Lucy is probably a granddaughter and a widow.  Thomas and Lucy are shown as born in South Carolina but Lucy’s two-month-old baby was born in Alabama – P.O. is given as Abbernatha which is not shown on any maps available to the writer.  The fourth was David, 64, and Minnie 75, both born in South Carolina.40  The post office is given as Oxford, which is seven miles southwest of Anniston in the southern part of the County.  The relationship of these Mintons to Silvanus has not been found at this writing but the fact that three of them were born in South Carolina (the fourth very likely the son of a South Carolina parent) plus the fact that Thomas, Joseph and James are common names in the Silvanus line suggest a blood kinship.  Moreover the timing of their coming to Alabama is also significant.

 

         It is to be remembered that Silvanus and his sons Reuben and John lived very near the southern border of Cherokee County after the addition from Benton County.  Frank Minton, a grandson of Reuben, lives at this writing in Piedmont, which is only two miles south of the Cherokee line.  Thus the evidence, though some of it is circumstantial, seems to indicate that all the Mintons in Cherokee and Calhoun Counties in 1860 were blood kin, but the exact relationships have not been established.

 

         What led to the trek to Arkansas?

 

         Several factors played a part in this movement.  In the first place, as stated on p. 5, the urge to find new farmlands to replace the eroded lands of the hill countries of the older settled states was ever present among the farmers of these sections.  Naturally, the incentive was to find good farmland at a low cost.  Consequently as new lands were opened for settlement the trek began and continued until there was no more new land to open.  The opening of new lands acquired from the Indians in both South Carolina and Alabama was a factor in both moves of the Mintons.  In fact, as previously stated, many farmers moved to new lands before they were opened officially for settlement.  Arkansas was a part of the Louisiana Purchase acquired in 1803 but was not fully made available for settlement until after the treaty with Spain in 1819.  At this time Arkansas was made a territory.  However, there were many squatters in the territory by that time, which marked the advent of a great influx of settlers so that by 1836, when Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state of the Union, it was estimated that 50,000 people had come to make it their home.41 

 

         A second factor was the reputation of the state, or area, given it by these first settlers who sent glowing reports back to their friends and relatives about the “land of milk and honey”.42  Since these early settlers were mainly subsistence farmers and since corn was the staple subsistence crop, the emigrants were concerned chiefly with the prospects of growing corn in the new lands.  (See p.  6)  They had learned from experience in the rolling lands of the Piedmont in the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama, and in the rolling hills of East Tennessee and Kentucky, that a close correlation existed between certain species of the native vegetation and yields of corn.  The species of timber that best expressed this relationship were white oak, especially the large sweet-acorn white oak, shagbark hickory, mulberry, and the sumac shrub.  They favored the forestlands because of their need for timber for buildings, furniture, fences, implements and firewood.  In their migration to new lands they followed the parallels generally because the climate was found to be similar in the new lands to that of their old homes.  They favored the rolling lands because of the quality of drinking water in the streams of these hills, most of them fed by springs.  They knew from experience that these lands favored a healthy, though perhaps a hardy life.

 

         A third factor was simply the love of adventure – the Daniel Boone type of individual who loved the freedom of a pioneer and the challenge of the unconquered wilderness.  Other factors included personal reasons such as escape from paying taxes, fugitive from justice or simply because of an altercation or quarrel with a neighbor or relative.

 

         And finally the spread of slavery in the South caused disagreements among the people on religious or other grounds.  Especially was this true of the Quakers who bitterly opposed the institution of slavery.43  The dissension over this question brewed in the South for several years and with the election of Lincoln as President led to the division between the North and the South.  By late 1860 South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Texas had seceded from the Union and in early 1861 had set up the Confederacy as a new nation.  Arkansas was one of the last to join the secession and even then a strong element in the Ozark region of the state strongly opposed the secession and many moved across the line to Missouri.44

 

         Silvanus and his family were living in Alabama as the prospect of a civil war became eminent and all the children were married except Edward Priestly and Sarah Matilda.  Reuben and John Morris had sons old enough to be subject to military service, and John Morris, especially, was concerned about his sons being conscripted into the Confederate Army.  Moreover, Silvanus’ oldest daughter, Rebeccah, and her husband William (Billy) Hendricks, had moved to Arkansas about 1849 or earlier – why?  We don’t know nor do we know when or where they were married.  Both were born in South Carolina, Billy in 1812 and Rebecca in 1817.  Their first child was born in Arkansas in 1849 or 1850 which means that they were both in their 30’s when they got married or delayed in starting their family or lost one or more of their first born by death.  Their grandson, Leo Rogers, now living on state highway 38 between Des Arc and Hickory Plains, states in an oral interview that they were married in Old Austin.  If so, why and how did they come to Arkansas?  Was it a case of a lovers chase?  He doesn’t know.45  According to the Census records of 1860 and 1870 for Prairie County, their oldest surviving son, Andrew J., was born in Arkansas in 1849 or ’50 but by 1870 A. J. was married to a Tennessee girl and had an eight-months old daughter, Elizabeth.  At any rate, through the contact between Rebeccah and her brother, John, was induced to come to Arkansas and possibly to escape having his boys serve in the Army.45a  Accordingly he have up his home in Alabama early in the year 1860 to make the trip.46  He evidently came to Little Rock and from there to the northern part of what is now Lonoke County, then Prairie County, to the little town of Austin, near the present town of Cabot, where his sister Rebecca lived.47  He was a tanner by trade and made various articles out of leather.  He immediately set up a tan yard there and began to ply his trade, using Little Rock as an outlet for his products.47a  An interesting by-line incident to this move is in relation to Sylvanus Burl, the older son of John Morris.  He was 18 in March 1860 and when his father set the time for the move to Arkansas Burl said he would not be going with them.  When pressed for an answer as to shy he wasn’t going, he admitted that he was about to get married.  Whereupon his father offered no objection, but insisted that they have the wedding soon and both come with him, and this was done.48  Burl married Martha Bently on March 23, 1860.  Martha lived just across the line in Polk County, Georgia, somewhere near the little town of Etna which is now located on a railroad.49 

 

         In February 1861 Burl and Martha’s first child Victoria was born at Old Austin and died there in November 1862.  She is buried at the Old Austin Cemetery.  On March 19, 1862 Sylvanus Burl joined the Confederate Army under Captain McCoy, Co. G, Turnbull’s Btn, later Co. I, Arkansas Infantry.  He was captured at the battle of Murfreesboro near Nashville, Tennessee December 7, 1864 and was sent to Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Illinois for the duration of the war.  He was discharged on June 19, 1865 and made his way back to Arkansas partly on foot.

 

         Another byline incident to the war is told by the widow of Sidney Albert Minton, the son of Sylvanus Burl.  Martha Jane, wife of Sylvanus Burl, and her sister-in-law Emily, daughter of John Morris and Nancy Rainwater, both continued to live at Old Austin during the war and had their homes raided by Union bushwhackers and robbed of nearly everything they had of value.  They followed the soldiers on foot to Union headquarters in Little Rock and retrieved their home utensils, pots and pans and the like.50 

 

         At the close of the war both Sylvanus Burl and his brother Sidney Allen came back to their home in Old Austin and made plans soon thereafter to move farther west in Prairie County.  Their Uncle Billy and Aunt Rebeccah (Becky) Hendricks had made the move to Arkansas earlier, as cited above, and had settled in Old Austin, evidently as squatters, or renters, as no records have been found of their purchase of land in the area.51  Apparently, sometime before May, 1866, the whole Minton flock moved to a new location about twenty miles southeast of Austin and about a mile southeast of the village of Barrettsville.51a  They bought land in Section 33, T3N, R6W, but the date of purchase cannot be found.52  The 1870 Census shows all of them, John Morris, his two sons, Sylvanus Burl and Sidney Allen, Uncle Billy (William) Hendricks and son Andrew J. as family heads and living in Center Township in Prairie County.  Section 33 cited above, is located in this township.

 

         The oldest land record of a Minton in Prairie County is a Deed of Trust or mortgage on a farm given by D. H. Minton and Blaylock to John Wright.  It is dated November 1, 1866 (BK AA, p.  15).  This Minton is evidently David Hampton, a half brother of John Morris and twenty three years younger, but we don’t know the location of this farm except that it was located in Center Township (Bks. D.D. p.20, and F.F. p.  273).  Circumstantial evidence, however, indicated that it was located in the vicinity of section 33 and could have been a part of it. 

 

         The next land entry of a Minton in the county records is a Deed of Trust made by Minton and Hendricks to David Gates, a known credit merchant in Des Arc, and dated July 12, 1872.  The makers of this mortgage were evidently John Morris and Billy Hendricks, since they were brothers-in-law, and the location was undoubtedly in section 33 because John Morris and his son Sylvanus Burl gave a mortgage to the same merchant “on J.M.’s land” in this same section dated May 9, 1874 and again in 1875.

 

         Sylvanus Burl and Sidney Allen, sons of John Morris and Nancy Rainwater, made a Deed of Trust five days later on a farm – probably a part of the same farm or on an adjoining farm, to the same merchant (Bk G p.  164).  These Deeds of Trust, or Mortgages, were usually made in the spring for supplies for making the next crop.  From these records it seems that all the Mintons and Hendricks came to this area before July, 1866, or at least John Morris and his sons must have done so, as stated in footnote 51a.  Sylvanus Burl’s oldest son, Jesse Morris, the father of the writer, was born here on May 18, 1866.

 

         They may have failed to buy land immediately upon their arrival or had the records of earlier purchases destroyed in the courthouse fire.  More likely they rented land from the time of their arrival until their next move a few miles to the east.  When they bought their lands in section 33 they either bought the lands on which they were living or other lands in the same vicinity.53  Whatever the location, they lived here until the fall of 1875 or the spring of 1876 when Sylvanus Burl bought a quarter section of land (NW 4 Sec 30 T3N R5W) four miles east and one and a half miles north of the Barrettsville site.54

 

         Thus the story of the movement to Arkansas seems to be headed by William (Billy) Hendricks and his wife Rebeccah Minton who was two years older than her brother John Morris.  They came to Prairie County shortly after the 1850 Census was taken, as no Hendricks is listed in the county for that year, or it could have been that they were on the road to Arkansas at the time and missed the Census.  However, their names appear in the 1860 Census with a family of four children, all of them as born in Prairie County between 1850 and 1860.55  As stated on p. 17, we are assured that they stopped at Old Austin for a time before moving to their last home-site in Center Township.  As has been pointed out, too, their original home was still in Prairie County because there was no Lonoke County until 1873 and they had moved eastward beyond the county line by this time.  They were undoubtedly living at the Old Austin site in 1860 and were a factor in the move to the same area by John Morris.  If this be true, however, there is no record either in Prairie or Lonoke County of their ownership of land before 1872.  At any rate, John Morris was the next Minton to move to Arkansas and, as already pointed out, was interested in finding as escape from military service for his two sons.56 

 

         In the meantime, three half brothers of John Morris and Rebeccah Hendricks – James Madison (Jimmy), Francis Marion (Frank), and Edward Priestly (Priest) – sons of Silvanus and Janie Qualls, had moved from Alabama to Craighead County in Arkansas.  The first of these was James Madison, a Baptist preacher, b.  1834, who came from Cherokee County, Alabama, sometime between 1865 and 1868.57  The 1870 Census of Craighead County lists him and his family as himself, as head of the family, 36, born in Alabama; his wife Susan, 30, born in Alabama, Sarah F. 12, born in Alabama, John F. 10, born in Alabama; William R. 5, born in Alabama, and Albert H. 2, born in Arkansas.  Zachariah Minton 20, is listed with the family and is shown as having been born in Mississippi.  We don’t know his identity but he is evidently a close relative.  James Madison was followed in 1872 by two of his brothers, Francis Marion, born 1840, and Edward Priestly b 1847, also a Baptist preacher.

 

         This group, however, was not completely estranged from their relatives in Prairie County, more than a hundred miles away by the roads at the time.  This is shown by the fact that Edward Priestly joined his older brother, David Hampton in Prairie County, in the purchase of a quarter section of land in Section 25 T3N R6W.  This section joins section 30 T3N R5W on the west where S.B. (Burl) had already bought a quarter section four months earlier.  The deed states that “J. A. Buckner sold to E. P. and D. H. Minton, NE⁴ Sec 25, T3N, R6W of 5^th principal Meridian,” and is dated Nov. 2, 1872.  This transaction could mean that E. P. lived in Prairie County at the time and it most likely indicated the purchase of this tract as a joint affair.  Hamp had been living in Prairie County since 1865, as shown by the Deed of Trust cited above, given by him and Blaylock (evidently a partner) “on our farm” to John Wright, either a credit merchant in Des Arc or a local man in the community who had funds to lend to farmers in the neighborhood.  The location of the farm is not stated in the Deed of Trust which is dated November 1, 1866 or nearly seven years prior to the joint purchase by D. H. and E. P. in Section 25.  Hamp was probably a single man when he came to the county.  He was not yet 23, lacking four and a half months.  By 1872 he was evidently married, though no record of it has been found, and he may have needed financial help for the purchase price of $450.  Naturally he turned to one of his closest brothers for help.

 

         Apparently Hamp continued to live on this farm until his removal to Craighead County in 1889, which date is assumed by the date of his sale of the farm to David Burkhead on November 4 of that year.  However, he could have returned to his old home in Alabama because he is buried in the old Salem Church Cemetery.  He may have been a squatter or a renter from 1865 to 1872 and his purchase of the farm may have been necessitated by the need for a title to the land on which he was living.  And it could have been that his need for financial help may have been the occasion for the coming of his brother, E. P. to Arkansas at this time.  Or it could have been that the purchase was occasioned by the coming of E. P., who was then checking on conditions favorable to his calling as a preacher.  On October 28, 1887, Hamp bought out his brother and two years later sold out to David Burkhead.

 

         There is a difference here in the account by Williams in his statement of the relationship of Hamp Minton to Frank.  He says:  “Hamp Minton, who resides four miles west of this city (1930) is a son of Frank.”  (this is not true, as shown above p. 26) Francis Marion and James Madison are both listed in the 1880 Census in Craighead County.  James Madison is shown as 46 years of age and Francis Marion as 39.  James Madison is also listed in the 1870 Census but not Edward Priestly or David Hampton.  This could mean that E. P. was living, or visiting, in Prairie County with Hamp at this time.  These four were all full brothers, sons of Silvanus and his second wife, Janie Qualls.  Thus the first to get to Craighead County was James Madison, listed as a farmer in 1870.  He is listed by Williams as County Treasurer in 1882-1886 and as a preacher (p.  125).  We don’t know what attraction brought him to the county.  Williams says:  “In 1880 Jonesboro had several small stores and some other business enterprises and a population between 200 and 300” (p.  189).  But it seems clear that James Madison came to the county sometime between 1865 and 1868, and his brothers, except Hamp, came in the 1870’s.58 

 

         David Hampton as stated above, came to Prairie County, in the summer or fall of 1865 and could have come with his brother Frank who was only three years older and doubtless his most intimate companion.  But he had relatives in Prairie County, too, at the time – John Morris – a half brother, whose oldest son, Sylvanus Burl, was a little over a year older than he, and his half sister Rebeccah Hendricks who had been in Prairie County since 1850 or before.59  At any rate, as stated above, Hamp was in Prairie County in 1866.

 

         A problem is found in lack of records for Joseph Alphred.  His name is not found in the Census records of 1860 as a head of a household in Cherokee County Alabama nor in Prairie or Craighead County in Arkansas.  Yet we are sure he came to Prairie County but have no dates.60  Mrs. Bertie Sparks Minton, widow of Sidney Albert Minton (son of Sylvanus Burl Minton and grandson of John Morris Minton) remembers him.  She is 92, was married in 1898 (still living in May 1974).  Alphred married Ann Cann and they had three children according to Mrs. Minton:  (1) Jim m __ , who had two daughters (names not given); (2) Virgie m Jim Colson (they had three daughters, Evie, May, (who married Duncan Nash) and Ollie; (3) Minnie, who married Warner Fuller and they had four children, Alpha (probably named for her grandfather Alphred) born about 1884 or 85; Luther, born about 1887; Jim, born about 1890; and a daughter born about 1897.  This family is shown in the group picture given at the end of this book, along with Alphred’s widow, Ann, and Minnie Fuller’s mother.  We also have a record of a deed to 80 acres of land given by Charles Fuller to S. B. (Sylvanus Burl) Minton, S1/2 SW1/4 Sec 19 T3 R6, dated 10-26-84.  This tract lies six miles west and one mile north of Sec 30 in T3 R5, which was the home of Sylvanus Burl.  Charles is undoubtedly a close relative (but exact relationship not known) of Warner, Ezekiel and Steve, all brothers whose pictures are given in the group referred to above.61

 

Sarah Matilda, the last child of Silvanus and Janie, born February 1849, came to Prairie County probably with her parents in the early 70’s and married Josh Davis but we don’t know for sure nor do we know how long after her arrival was her marriage.  She was 21 at the time of the Census in 1870 but the record is so poorly written or copied that it could not be read with assurance.  She first married Minor Sparks, who was a war casualty, and later married Joshua (Josh) Davis.  The writer’s father always referred to Matilda as “Aunt Tilda” or “sister Tilda” as she was his great aunt.  She was seven years younger than Sylvanus Burl.  She was also a member of the Mount Pleasant Primitive Baptist Church, the members of which all referred to each other as “brother” or “sister”.

 

To recapitulate on the coming of the children of Silvanus Minton to Arkansas:  Rebeccah Hendricks and John Morris Minton are the only ones by Silvanus and his first wife on which we have positive proof of their coming.  Rebeccah came sometime, probably shortly, before 1850, and John Morris followed in 1860.  Then came the children of Silvanus and Janie:  James Madison and David Hampton 1865-68 and possibly Joseph Alphred at about the same time followed by Francis Marion and Edward Priestly in 1872 and finally Matilda came with her father about 1875.

 

         The final act in the migration is attested by three corroborating testimonies.  One is the article in the Hazen Newspaper by Naomi Hendricks McCuin, the granddaughter of Silvanus.  This article is given here in its entirely.

 

         The second is the History of Center Point Baptist Church by D. B. Scott who was a member of that church for 56 years (as of 1948), senior member of the Board of Deacons and Church Clerk for 15 years.  He says:  “The preponderance of testimony seemed to be that it (the church) was organized by Elder William Patterson. . .assisted by Sylvanus Minton and Dr. Gilbert of Carlisle, Arkansas. . .and as the testimony of no two witnesses agreed in their entirety, we fix the date of the Church’s organization at about AD 1877.”62  Finally the Census report of 1880 for Prairie County shows the families of William Hendricks and Silvanus Minton together – William Hendricks 68, Rebeccah 62 and immediately under their names are listed Silvanus Minton 89, and Jane 73.  Silvanus and Janie were evidently living with the Hendricks at the time.  Silvanus died in November of that year – his final act was taking part in the organization of the Center Point Church in 1876 or ’77.

 

         Why was he not buried in the cemetery of this old church?  Probably for two reasons:  One was the fact that his funeral was arranged by his son John Morris and grandsons Burl and Sidney who were members of the Mount Pleasant Primitive Baptist Church, established in 1871, whereas the Center Point Church was established in 1877 and may not have had its cemetery under way yet as the church was probably not fixed in its new site or had not started its cemetery.63  Moreover, the Mintons of the Mount Pleasant Church had started a family plot there and doubtless favored placing the body of their progenitor in that plot.  There are one or two vacant spaces in the line of Minton graves without grave markers.64  These were believed to be the graves of Silvanus and Janie, though there is more doubt about the gravesite of Janie than there is about the gravesite of Silvanus.64a  The writer has heard his Uncle Sidney Albert say that he (Sid) has always understood that Silvanus is buried there and that he (Sid ) would put a marker to it if he knew positively where it is.  (Sid died in 1964).

 

         Now a word about the division of the Mintons into two religious groups, Missionary Baptists and Primitive Baptists:  When John Morris (Minton) and his two sons, Sylvanus Burl and Sidney Allen, moved from Old Austin to near Barrettsville they found themselves relatively near two existing churches, both to the west of them.  One was Walter’s Chapel, a Missionary Baptist, three miles west and three miles north of their home site in Section 33, and a Primitive Baptist Church at Mt. Zion, two miles farther west and one mile south.65  Sylvanus Burl joined this church in 1870 and in 1871 took part, with his brother Sid, in the founding of the Mount Pleasant Primitive Baptist Church on the southeast corner of Sec 28, T3N R6W or less than a mile northeast of his home in Sec 33.  Others who took part in the founding of this church were:  Rufus Sparks, Josh Davis, son-in-law of Silvanus, William Sparks, Leasel, or Easel, White Elder E.C.W. Kirk, and Elder John Van de Vender.  “Brother Van”, as he was called, was a blacksmith and cabinetmaker and made the pulpit.  The first building was built for a schoolhouse.  Elders Kirk and Van de Vender66 served as pastors of the church since both loved in the community.  We have no record as to when the Mt. Zion or Walter’s Chapel churches were founded but Elder W. S. Helm was pastor of the Mount Zion Church in 1870 and it was under his pastorate that Sylvanus Burl was baptized into the fellowship of this church.67  No doubt his brother Sid and his father also joined this church at about the same time, as they are found active in the Mount Pleasant church shortly after its establishment in 1871.

 

         So we now leave Silvanus to rest in peace in the Old Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Prairie County, Arkansas, though there are some who contend that he is buried at Pleasant Gap in the southern part of Cherokee County, Alabama.  Who were the parents of Silvanus Minton and from whence came they to South Carolina?

 

 

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Part II

 

 

         It is the firm conviction of this writer that Silvanus was born out of wedlock to one of Thomas Minton’s daughters; either Margaret or Rebecca, probably the latter.  This conclusion is arrived at by the following facts:  First is his Bible record which he kept himself, still extant, and in possession of his great grandson, Frank Minton, of Piedmont, Alabama, in which he gives the date of his birth as August 27, 1791, but does not give the names of his parents nor the place of his birth.  It is conceivable that he didn’t know his father, but it is inconceivable that he didn’t know this mother.  Why did he not name her?

 

         In the second place, all the early records in which he is named show that he was a member of the Thomas Minton family of Union District (County) South Carolina.  His name first appears in these records as a witness to the sale of “350 acres of land on Padgetts Creek, a branch of Tygar (Tyger) River” by Joseph Minton to Philip Whitten, “granted to Richard Kelley in AD 1772 and conveyed to Thomas Minton AD 1774.”1  This deed is dated November 9, 1815 and witnessed by Silvanus Minton, who was then past his 24^th birthday and therefore legally eligible to sign the document.  Thus he is surely related to Joseph Minton, the son of Thomas Minton.  The father-son relationship of Thomas and Joseph is shown by a deed to 100 acres of land “on Padget Creek to Philip Whitten” and signed by Thomas’ heirs, Marget Minton, Joseph Minton, Lidda Minton X (her mark) Hopkins, Samuel Kanady and Rachel (Minton) Kanady, witnessed by Joseph Minton and Jacob Wiggins.2  This deed is dated January 4, 1815.

 

         The father-son relationship is also shown by the will of Thomas Minton3 in which he names his two surviving sons, Richard and Joseph, as sharing equally in the division of land of his “plantation.”  Incidentally, Richard was disowned by his father on March 25, 1786, evidently for marrying “out of unity” with the Quaker faith to which Thomas Minton, Sr. belonged.4  But Joseph remained loyal to the faith and was rewarded by being designated in the will as guardian for his mother.

 

         In the third place, the Census reports indicate that Silvanus grew up under the care of Hannah the widow of Thomas Minton.  When the first census was taken (1790) it shows Thomas as the head of a family consisting of two males over 16 (himself and his son Joseph, who was 22 at about the time the census was taken) and seven females.  The older son, Richard was married and disowned.  Since there were nine girls in the family, three of them evidently were married, because the seven females include Hannah, the mother of the family.  Four of the girls, Rebeccah, Elizabeth (Betty), Parthenia and Rachel were still at home as indicated by the time they were disowned, assuming that they were disowned shortly after their marriage (see document 1) which occurred after 1790.  The three girls that were married at this time were probably Lydia, Mary, and the second “Hannah”, as indicated by Hinshaw.  However, this Hannah is evidently a misnomer by Hinshaw, as there could hardly be two sisters with the same given name.5  She is doubtless the Sarah Cooper named in the will though only 16 at the time.  Lydia is shown as a signer of a deed given by the heirs of Thomas Minton and dated January 4, 1815.6  Her name is shown as “Lidda X (her mark) Hopkins”.  She was 23 at the time of the census.

 

         The first daughter Hannah, who was approaching her 28^th birthday when the first census was taken, was evidently afflicted.  She is named in the will of her father as recipient of an annual legacy of 12 ½ Pounds Sterling from each of the sons.  Hannah’s name does not show up on any document as an heir of Thomas Minton, which fact indicates that she could not sign her name or make her mark.  She could have died before the 1790 census and certainly was not living in 1800 because at that time Hannah, the mother, is listed as a widow and head of a family with four children, one male under 10 – Silvanus was not quite 9 at the time the census was taken – one female under 10, one female over 16 but under 26 and one female over 45 – Hannah, the widow of Thomas.  The female under 26 could not be Hannah because she would have been 37 (unless they misrepresented her age to the Census taker).  This leaves Margaret (Marget) as the only one unaccounted for.  We are assuming however, that Margaret was living in 1790 and that her age, 17, was properly given.  In 1800 Hannah, the daughter evidently was deceased as indicated by the absence of a member in the group as being over 26 and under 45, to which she would belong.  The one over 16, under 26, could be Margaret who was 27 then and may have misrepresented her age.  She was still going by her maiden name in 1815 (see document 6).  More likely it was Rebeccah, b Jan. 28, 1775.6a  The other three children listed are evidently grandchildren and the male under 10 fits the age of Silvanus who was 8 if the census was taken before August 27, his birthday.

 

         The 1810 Census shows Hannah, the mother, still living in Union District as the head of a family, consisting of one male over 16 and under 26 (Silvanus was 18), one female under 45, his mother, and one female over 45, herself.  Margaret was then 37.  The fact that she was not married lends support to the possibility of being his mother.  Other evidence, however, indicates that Rebeccah could be the mother of Silvanus.  She was the next younger daughter who probably was born in 1775.  Her age would fit the age bracket of the Census reports.  If she be the mother she could have been disowned in February, 1792 for the act of having an illegitimate child in August, 1791.  The reason for her disownment is not given whereas Margaret was not disowned.  She was old enough to be his mother, as she lacked only one day of being 16 years and 7 months of age at the birth of Silvanus, or 15 years and 10 months at time of conception.  The possibility of Rebecca being his mother is strengthened by the fact that Silvanus named his first daughter Rebecca.

 

         Finally, there is a tradition among the older members of the tribe of Silvanus Minton that he was a “foundling”.  The writer has heard it stated from his father, also from his aunt Bertie Minton.

 

         Silvanus, therefore, was a grandson of Thomas Minton, who came to South Carolina probably with his father, Richard, in 1774, or a short time before.  Thomas was a Quaker, as shown by the Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends, the record of which is given by Hinshaw, op. cit, p. 1022.  His father, Richard, may have been a Quaker also, as shown by his close relationship to his son, but Hinshaw does not list him as such.  They probably came together, or at least near the same time, because they lived on adjoining farms on Padgetts Creek in Union District, now Union County, in 1787.7  No record has been found of the death of Richard, the father of Thomas, but it probably occurred in 1794 as one record shows that a tract of land of 100 A passed from him to his son Thomas in that year.8  It could be that Thomas was his only son, as no reference is found to any other member of his family.  He and his son are doubtless both buried in the Old Quaker Cemetery near the site of the Minton farm on Padget Creek.9 

 

         Whence did they come and why?  No definite answer to this question has been found but their Quaker affiliation provides some plausible hypotheses.

 

         Quakerism arose in England, as a sort of aftermath of the Reformation, under the preaching of George Fox (1624-1691).10  Their beliefs, customs and manner of dress so differed from those of the Church of England (the Established Church) that they soon came under severe persecution in England and were driven to seek asylum in places where they were accepted.  Such places were found in Ireland, Holland, the island of Barbados in the West Indies and in parts of America, particularly in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Carolinas and Georgia.  Other colonies forbad their coming especially Massachusetts and Virginia.  For instance, D.S. Brown in his book, Lynchburg’s Pioneer Quakers pp. 7-10, lists the persecutions in Massachusetts against the Quakers from 1660 to 1676.  According to this writer, a law was passed in this colony in 1657 forbidding Quakers to enter the colony, the penalty being, “for the first offense the loss of one ear, for the second offense the loss of the other ear, for the third offense the tongue bored with a red hot iron, finally banished from New England upon pain of death” (p. 23).  He states further (p. 43) that in 1658 a small group of Quakers came to Goose Greek, near Bedford, Virginia.  “They came into the area in covered wagons and ox-carts, some from England and the European Countries.  Others stopped over for a time in Barbados.”  On pp. 54 and 55 he gives a list of names of these Quakers, but there is no Minton listed.

 

         In Virginia, according to Sadie Mangum Leach Weeks, in her book, Southern Quakers and Slavery, a law was passed in 1643 to “suspend and silence” any minister “who undertook to teach or preach without the ordination of the Church of England and if he still persisted he might be expelled from the province.”  It also stipulated a penalty of one hundred Pounds Sterling against any shipmaster bringing a Quaker into Virginia and that “all Quakers who have been questioned or shall hereafter arrive shall be arrested and imprisoned without bail or main prize till they do abjure this country or put in security with all speed to depart the colony and not to return again.” 

 

         This same writer states that shipmasters were “fined 500 pounds of tobacco for bringing in Quakers to reside and must take them out again on the next voyage.”  To escape the penalty of this law the shipmasters did not include the names of Quakers in the list of passengers, a practice that makes it extremely difficult to trace a family lineage through Quaker ancestors from European countries.  It may be noted that the penalties assessed against them were largely directed at individual violators in Massachusetts, whereas the penalties in Virginia were directed largely at the shipmasters who brought them in, as well as upon the Quakers themselves.11  Thus they were spread over the colonies according to the degree of tolerance given them. 

 

         The Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States shows the location of 310 Friends Churches in 1773-1776, thirty in North Carolina, (seven in the region north of Albemarle Sound and east of the Chowan River), eight in South Carolina (two in the coastal area near Charleston, two on the North Carolina border and three in the upper Piedmont), three in Georgia near the South Carolina border between Atlanta and Greenville, thirty-four in Virginia (twelve along the Upper Potomac, the rest in the Shenandoah Valley and the southeast counties near the North Carolina line).  The rest of the 310 churches are scattered in all states to southern Maine but chiefly in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.  The 1790 Census shows Mintons in North Carolina in Wake, Bertie and Wilkes Counties – David Minton (single) in Wake County; Benjamin and Thomas Minton in Bertie County (Benjamin as single and Thomas with two males under 16, one male over 16 and three females); Medrith or Meredith Minton in Wilkes County with three males under 16, two males over 16 and two females.12 

 

         Hinshaw states in Vol. I that the first Quaker centers in South Carolina were settled “in the last half of the eighteenth century in Kershaw, Marlborough, Newberry and Union Counties.  The earliest was in Kershaw about 1750.  Fredericksburg Monthly Meeting, also called Wateree, was set up in this county about 1755, or earlier, discontinued (“laid down”) about 1782.13  He states further that Bush River Meeting was established in Newberry County in 1770 and Cane Creek in Union County was established in 1799.  Some early settlers of the Bush River Meeting, he says, were:  John Furnas, David Jenkins, William and Benjamin Pearson and Robert Evans.  From this statement, it would seem that the Mintons came to Union County after 1770.  “Meetings for worship reporting to Bush River were:  Bush River, Raburn’s Creek, Tyger River, Padgets Creek (the home church of the Mintons), Mud Lick, Allwoods, White Lick, Edisto, Charleston and Rocky Springs.

 

         In a book by Rufus M. Jones, The Quakers in the American Colonies, is a map at the end of the book which shows Quaker localities in South Carolina as Charleston, Edisto, Camden, Columbia, Newberry, Henderson’s Cave Creek and Raburn’s Creek.  All of these are located in the central part of the state except Charleston and Edisto, and possibly Henderson’s, which cannot be located.  Also is shown Piney Grove and Gum Swamp on the North Carolina border (p. 351).  No date is given but it is certainly late in the 1700s.

 

         Again, referring to Hinshaw Vol. VI, prior to 1771 there were 41 names of Quakers in Norfolk county Virginia, in the southeast corner of the state, listed by him in the county records and meetings.  The name, Minton, does not appear in this list.  He says “In lower Virginia, Quakers flourished with the first generation but with the second they began to decline, partly because of the great migration to North Carolina and partly because of the failure to win new converts to take the place of those who moved.”  In the list of names of Quakers in Chucatuck and Nansemond Counties, Va., given by Hinshaw, the name Minton does not appear.

 

         In a Compendium of American Genealogy Vol. VI, First Families of America is listed Jacob Minton (1725-1804) of Morris County New Jersey.  Lemuel Minton, son of Jacob, married Hannah Howell, “said to have been a major in the American Revolution” James Minton, son of Lemuel, was the father of Emily Caroline who married a Pullman and her son was George M. Pullman who developed the Pullman sleeping railroad car.

 

         In Hopewell, Friends, History of, a map is given on p.  38 which shows 15 meetings of Friends in the lower Shenandoah Valley and four on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains opposite the Shenandoah.  The date is about 1750.  There is not a Minton listed on any of these records.  J. P. Bell in his book, Our Quaker Friends, gives the minutes of Quaker Meetings in Hanover and Campbell Counties Virginia.  Not a Minton is names in these records.  Thus it is fairly certain that Thomas Minton and his father, Richard, did not come to South Carolina from any of the Quaker settlements of the states to the north except possibly North Carolina.

 

         Another possibility is that they came directly from England or Ireland to Northeast North Carolina or by way of the island of Barbados to Charleston and thence to the Piedmont, which was practically free of slaves.  This island in the West Indies was discovered in 1605 by the crew of a British ship and has remained a British colony ever since.  Settlement of the island began in 1628 and became at once a haven for political and religious refugees.  The first census was taken in 1684 and showed a population of 20,000 whites and 46,000 slaves, all of the whites English speaking.14  The economy was almost exclusively sugar production on large plantations on which slaves provided the labor.  It is easy to understand how the Quakers used the island only as a temporary domicile while they searched for a more favorable area for a home site.

 

         The Carolinas were opened to the Quakers for settlement in 1670 when a proprietary form of government was set up and a proprietary governor appointed.  The first settlement was on the site of Charleston in 1663 and was composed of settlers from England, France (French Protestants) and Barbados, most of them fugitives from religious persecution.  It was largely due to the connection with this island that South Carolina for many years was more closely associated with it than it was with the continental colonies.15 

 

         One of the attractions to South Carolina for the Quakers was the fact that a complaint had been made in 1663 by Sir John Carleton to the Lords Proprietors in the Colony stating:  “Settlers would not come (to Carolina) without an assurance of liberty of conscience.”  This request soon brought a response from the proprietors and religious freedom was granted to all settlers.16 

 

         Another attraction of the colony to the Quakers was the more or less special favor given them in the latter part of the seventeenth century.  By 1690 there were quite a few Quakers in the colony and one of them, John Archdale, was appointed governor of the colony in 1694 and served for two years.  He was liberal with the Quakers and actually encouraged their coming.  By 1706 the number of Quakers and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians had grown to the point of offering strong opposition to the action of the controlling political group – the members of the Church of England – in the passage of an act making the Church of England the Established Religion of the Colony.  This opposition was strengthened by a rebellion of frontier settlers against the failure of the state leaders to provide protection to them from the Indians.  The result was that the ruling group of proprietors was overthrown and the colony brought under direct royal control.  James Moore, a leader in the rebellion, was elected the first governor of the royal colony.  As a royal colony, however, the political rise of the Quakers was soon ended.  The British Parliament passed an act requiring all persons holding public office to take an oath of allegiance to Queen Anne.  The Quakers being opposed to the taking of an oath in any form were soon thrown out of office.17  But by 1725 the liberal treatment of Quakers was returned to the Colony, which led to the coming of still larger numbers, and for the next fifty years “there was a constant flow of Quakers from Pennsylvania, New York, New England and from the mother country.”18

 

         Nearly all of these early settlers were farmers, though some of them called themselves craftsmen.  However, there was little opportunity for them to ply their trades until towns and villages came into being.19  As farmers, therefore, these settlers were concerned primarily with conditions affecting the success of farming.  Particularly were they concerned with the type of soil (see p.  5)  As stated on page 15, corn was the main subsistence crop in the entire area.  The reason for this was the fact that corn was the near ideal crop for the subsistence farmer.  It was not equal to wheat as breadstuff because it was lower in vitamins and protein but when supplemented with pork, potatoes and field peas, which were common to practically all the early farmers of the South, it provided a near-balanced diet.  Moreover, corn was well adapted to a variety of soils, especially forested soils, and could be grown with a minimum of cultivation.  It was the universal crop on “new ground” because its rapid growth enabled it to compete with weeds and bushes for the first two or three years of cultivation.  And it could be given an early start because of its ability to stand the spells of cold weather, which frequent the springtime.

 

         Another advantage of the crop was its versatility in the way it could be prepared for the table.  It could be eaten as “roasting ears”20 as soon as the grains were near maturity and when the grain became too hard for roasting; it could be grated on a homemade grater to make grits.  After it was fully matured and dried it could be ground into meal on a gristmill from which “corn pone” and “hush Puppies” were made.  By soaking the dried grain in lye-water, made from wood ashes, the husks were removed to make hominy.  Finally it often yielded more food than could be consumed by the family which surplus could be converted to whiskey (squeezins) in homemade stills and carried out in bottles or earthenware jugs.

 

         It is very likely that Richard Minton and his son Thomas had heard of the advantages of the Piedmont region for subsistence farming and its disadvantages for plantation agriculture, which was largely dependent on slave labor.  Because of these advantages many farmers were attracted to this region as soon as it was opened up for settlement.

 

         This area in South Carolina was officially closed to white settlement until the treaty of 175521 because it was claimed as hunting grounds by the Cherokee Indians who fought to protect it against the whites.  However, there were many white squatters in the area before the treaty was signed by which the Cherokees agreed that the land between the English fort of Ninety Six and the Indian Village of Keowee22 should be settled by whites for the protection of both the Indians and the whites.  Following this treaty a settler could receive a grant of land in the area from the state of South Carolina by signing a sworn statement that he and his family were of the protestant faith.23  As a result of this requirement the people who came to live in the area were predominantly Scotch-Irish Presbyterians.24 

 

         The dividing line between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain is known as the Fall Line because of the outcropping of a ledge of hard rock, which resisted the erosive power of the streams flowing over it on their way to the sea.  The Fall Line therefore marked the upper limit of navigation on these streams.  In fact the name arose from the fact that falls and rapids occur in all streams as they flow over this ledge of outcropping.  A line of cities grew up along this line during the steamboat period and these cities persist to this day.25

 

         In J. P. Brown’s Old Frontiers, he states:  “by treaty with the Cherokees in October, 1768 at Hard Labour South Carolina, a hundred square miles of Cherokee land was ceded to the whites.  This area extends between the Savannah and Wateree Rivers near Columbia to Greenville.”  Evidently this reference of “a hundred square miles” is meant to be “a hundred miles square,” or ten thousand square miles.  The distance between the Savannah and Wateree, “near Columbia” is nearly a hundred miles and the distance between Columbia and Greenville is over a hundred miles.  This area therefore includes the area covered by the treaty of 1755.

 

         Assuming that Thomas and his father, Richard, came to South Carolina together during this period of rapid settlement, there were three possible areas from which they could have come.  One was the one mentioned above as being from England or Ireland by way of Barbados.  A second possible area was New Jersey or Pennsylvania by the land route through the Shenandoah Valley.  As cited above (p. 42), there were thirty-four Quaker meetings (churches) in Virginia, mostly in the upper Potomac region and in the Shenandoah Valley, seventeen in the Shenandoah Valley alone.  It is therefore almost certain that Quakers “from the North” came by this route.  S. B. Weeks in his book, Southern Quakers and Slavery, (Vol. 15, pp. 103-105) states that of 132 Quakers who came to North Carolina during this period and who gave their place of origin, 73 came from Pennsylvania and 50 from Virginia.  However, Hinshaw does not list a Minton as a member of any of these meetings, nor does he list a Minton as a member of any Quaker meeting in Pennsylvania.  The 1790 census lists a Savannah Minton in Washington County in the southwestern part of the state but evidently there was no Quaker meeting there or more likely she was not a Quaker.  From all these facts, it thus seems very unlikely that Thomas and his father came directly from the area north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

 

         This leaves the third source as the most likely region from which they came directly to South Carolina.  This region lies in southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina.  There were several Quaker meetings in the area in 1767 according to one writer26 and these meetings doubtless included some Mintons because we have records of Mintons in the area at about this time.  According to Virginia Colonial Papers, a Richard Minton was living in Louisa County, Virginia between 1782 and 1787, located about forty miles northwest of Richmond.  He is listed simply as a voter, paying a poll tax and owning no slaves.  There is also listed a John Minton in Washington County in the far southwestern part of the state (Bristol as the major city).  He is listed as a voter, paying no poll tax and owning no slaves.

 

         All other Virginia Mintons, of which we have records, are listed as living in the southeastern part of the state.  Mills Minton listed in Southampton County, paying no poll tax and owning fourteen slaves.  The 1790 census lists another Mills Minton in Nansemond County simply as two whites.  This census also lists Bowler Minton in Lower Middlesex County as two whites, Elisha Minton in Isle of Wight County with six members, James Minton in Nansemond County with four members, John Minton in Cumberland County with four members and one slave, William Minton in Cumberland County with six members and seven slaves, another William Minton in Cumberland County with eight members and Martha Minton in Nansemond County with six members.  All of these are listed without reference to ages or sex.

 

         In North Carolina there are four Mintons listed in the 1790 census, three in the northeastern part of the state and one in the northwestern part.  Benjamin and Thomas are listed in Bertie County and David Minton in Wake County, all in the northeastern part of the state.  Benjamin is listed as single; Thomas is listed as having a wife and two sons under 16 and two daughters.  David is listed as single and over 16.  The fourth Minton is Meredith in Wilkes County with a family of two males over 16, three males under 16 and two females.

 

         We have no information as to whether any of these Mintons were Quakers.  Hinshaw does not list them with any Quaker meeting in Virginia or North Carolina.  However, some of them could have been because it is known that a strong element of Quakers lived in this area for a long time prior to the outbreak of the Revolution.  Hinshaw lists seven Quaker meetings in 1775 in the region north of Albemarle Sound.  Most likely in Chowan and Perquimans Counties, some of them as early as 1683.27  There are no Mintons in any records of these meetings but since Bertie County is just across the Chowan River from this region it is possible that other Mintons might have come from New Jersey or from Barbados to this region and remained for a time before moving on.  There must have been other Mintons in the area who were not Quakers, and thus their names would not appear in Quaker lists.

 

         The name Thomas Minton in Bertie County, North Carolina, suggests a possible family connection with Thomas Minton in South Carolina, since given names tend to run in families as a means of honoring ancestors.  Further evidence of the possible presence of Mintons in this area is the existence of a town in southern Gates County named Mintonsville.28  The date of its founding is unknown but it is reputed to be one of the early villages of the region.  Moreover, it is located just four miles from the border of Perquimans County in which were located seven Quaker Meetings in 1775.29  Thus there is a high probability that there were Mintons in the area at the time they appeared in South Carolina and some of them could have been Quakers and failed to become affiliated with any of the meetings of the area.

 

         The treaty between the Cherokee Indians and the state of South Carolina in 1777, as noted above, opened up a large area of land in the western part of the state to white settlement but the coming of immigrants was halted during the Revolutionary War.  After the close of the war these new lands were rapidly filled up with non-slave holding settlers.  “The two new western districts, now called Pendleton and Greenville, which were obtained by treaty founded on conquest, from the Cherokee Indians in 1777, filled so rapidly with inhabitants that in the year 1800 they alone contained upwards of 30,000 inhabitants.”30  The 1790 census report shows Greenville District with population 6,503, including 615 slaves; Pendleton District with 9,568, including 837 slaves.

 

         As noted above, these non-slaveholding settlers were attracted to the new lands not only by the treaty, but by the quality of the soil for growing corn and by the low cost of ownership.31  However, in spite of the low cost of obtaining land, many of these early settlers were squatters and were little concerned with legal titles to the land.  They were the real pioneers who were ever pushing the frontier farther westward and who were chiefly responsible for the conflicts with the Indians.  They were also responsible for the pressure placed upon the territorial government for their protection against these Indians. 

 

         It will be noted from the map p.     , that there are many streams crossing this area from northwest to southeast.  These streams have an average gradient of about five feet per mile, which, with a rainfall of about fifty inches per year with the maximum in summer has resulted in heavy erosion of the entire area.  Moreover, the soils are composed of sand and clay loams with a heavy red clay subsoil (forested pedalfers), which are easily eroded.  Thus the streams have cut rather deep valleys across the land but have built up flats in many parts of their courses, which provide some of the best farmland of the region.  Some of these “bottom-lands” were so high in clay content that they were swampy and could not be used for crops without artificial drainage.  Moreover the streams were subject to frequent overflows, which often destroyed crops and necessitated the farmsteads to be built on bordering uplands (See p. 5).  Many early settlers chose their farmlands so as to have access to both uplands and bottomlands for crops, especially along the smaller streams where poor drainage and overflows were less of a problem.  This relationship is clearly shown by the road pattern on the early maps of the time.  The roads tended to stay on the higher ground of the interfluves, as much as possible, paralleling the stream courses to the narrowest or otherwise most suitable crossing places on the streams where they then turned straight across the valley.32

 

         Thus the opportunities for subsistence farming in this Piedmont region were exceptionally good.  Moreover, these rolling uplands with their many narrow interfluves practically shut out plantation agriculture with its attendant institution of slavery.  For instance, Union County in 1790 had 6,430 whites and 1,263 blacks, or one fifth as many Negroes as whites.  Whereas Charleston County had 11,801 whites and 34,846 blacks, a three to one ratio of blacks and Colleton County to the west of Charleston County had 3,601 whites and 16,737 blacks or a ratio of nearly five to one of blacks.33  The fact that the Piedmont farmers were largely non-slave holders was an attraction to the Quakers.

 

         It thus seems most likely from the available evidence that Thomas Minton and his father, Richard, came to Union County, either directly from England or Ireland, by way of Barbados, or from northeast North Carolina or southeast Virginia where it is known that a number of Quakers lived for many years prior to their appearance in South Carolina and where it is known that a number of Mintons lived at the time.

 

         Thus endeth this story of the Mintons.  Perhaps it may stimulate further research into the origin of this tribe.  For the sake of the interest that progeny may have in a more complete genealogy of the family, let us hope it will do so.

 

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