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The map drawn below shows eleven colonial plats surveyed at the head of Four Hole Swamp over a period of thirty-two years. I have inserted the modern names of two roads to help viewers orient themselves to this location. What is now called the Belleville Road was actually shown as a “broad path” on several of these early surveys (plats 6, 7, 8, and 9). There is actually also a hint of what is now US Highway 176 shown as a path on plat 10.

Bruck, Faure, Haigler, Lockwood, Miller, Myers, Smith, Tenison, Till

From the time these lands were granted until the first federal census in 1790 much of this property changed hands through various methods such as sales, marriages and inheritance. Most of the records that would detail these events were lost in the destruction of the courthouse records of Orangeburgh District. A few records have survived, though, because they were filed in Charleston or are still held in private collections. Some of those records can give us an idea of who lived in this vicinity at the time of that first enumeration.

On May 3, 1764, Joshua Lockwood, watchmaker of Charleston, sold the two tracts (plats 2 and 3) that his father, Joshua Lockwood had acquired in 1736. In one of the deeds, Joshua the watchmaker refers to his father as a trader of Orangeburgh Township. Given the location of one of the elder Lockwood’s plats (number 2) on the broad path (that led from Orangeburgh Township to Amelia Township), this would make sense. Joshua sold this plat to Melchior Smith, who already owned plat number 7 at the time and would later acquire plat number 11. [3]

On the same day Joshua sold his father’s other tract (plat number 3) to Martin Zimmerman. [4] Martin died before July 14, 1770 when his eldest son John sold 100 acres of this tract to Nicholas Shuler. (This 100 acres is shown as plat 3A on the next map.) [5]

Melchior Smith had 300 acres surveyed in April 1767 (plat 11) but waited until June 5, 1770 to get his grant for it. Shortly thereafter, Melchior sold 200 acres of this tract to Barnard Smith. Barnard’s wife, Sovia Buckert, sold this same 200 acres on September 27, 1770 to Adam Buckert. [6] On October 9, 1770 Melchior sold the other 100 acres of this tract to Paul Shirer. [7]

In 1784 Jacob Moorer purchased the Bruck tract (plat number 6) from Jacob Bruck’s son, William. [8] On December 24, 1785 Daniel Kemmerlin had a survey done for 150 acres in this same area (but not shown on this map). [9]

By the time the census enumerator came through this area some of the property boundaries had changed from the initial surveys because of changes in ownership. There are also no  known documentary clues that indicate where the various home sites were located. With what records are available though, we can at least approximate where two of the households may have been located in 1790.

Bookhart, Keller, Kemmerlin, Moorer, Rush, Switzer, Whetstone, Zimmerman

Daniel Kemmerlin had several plats surveyed in this area before 1790 but I have not mapped all of them yet. If any of my readers are aware of any connections between the Sovia Buckert (who married Melchior Smith), the Adam Buckert to whom she sold the land and the John Burchard of this census, I would be delighted to hear from you.

Sources:

[3] Clara A. Langley, South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1719-1772, 4 volumes (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1983-1984), 3: 365.

[4] Martin Zimmerman memorial, 1768, Memorial Books (Copy Series), 1731-1778, volume 9, page 464, item 1; Auditor General’s Office Series S111001; South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.

[5] John Zimmerman to Nicholas Shuler, Release, 14 July 1770; original, family copy, Jackson Family Papers; photographed by Margaret Waters, May 2011.

[6] Langley, South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1719-1772, 4: 170.

[7] Brent H. Holcomb, South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1773-1778 (Columbia: SCMAR, 1993), page 62.

[8] Jacob and Polly Moorer to Henry Moorer, Title to Land, 22 August 1808; original, family copy, Jackson Family Papers; photographed by Margaret Waters, May 2011. This deed explains how Jacob’s father, Jacob, acquired the land from the Bruck family.

[9] Daniel Kimmerlin plat, 24 December 1785, State Plat Books (Charleston Series), 1784-1860, volume 16, page 319, item 1; Surveyor General’s Office Series S213190; SCDAH, Columbia.

[10] Lynn S. Teague, “The Early Moorers: Part 1,” Orangeburgh German-Swiss Newsletter 14 (Fall 2011), 91.

[11] Carolyn Luttrell, Honoring Adair K. Whetstone, M.D., Citizen, Physician, Humanitarian, Christian (privately published, 1953), page 77. Luttrell gives the source of this information as loose papers from a family Bible owned by an elderly Whetstone descendant.

Orangeburgh District was created in 1769 as one of the seven original districts of South Carolina. It covered a huge part of the state, encompassing 4,540 of South Carolina’s 31,189 square miles. When the first Federal census was taken in 1790 the district was divided into a north part and a south part, each covered by one enumerator. The dividing line between the two areas followed no designated jurisdictional lines but ran along the North Fork of the Edisto River (where the North and South Fork came together) to the village of Orangeburg. From there it crossed the North Edisto and followed the road that ran to Ninety Six between the North and South Forks of the Edisto.

So, if your ancestor appeared in the 1790 census of Orangeburgh District, how can you tell more specifically where he lived? This is the first in a series of postings I will be doing about household locations in the 1790 census, similar to those I am doing for other early enumerations. I have assigned household numbers for this first census, similar to what I’ve used for the 1800 through 1820 and 1840 Orangeburgh District enumerations.  I have not yet published a listing of the 1790 census with the household numbers but plan to do so once I identify the areas that later became Barnwell and Lexington Districts. Bear with me; this is a big task but I have to start somewhere!

The household locations shown on the drawing below are based on plats that were located relative to the 1845 survey shown on my blog entry of February 20, 2012. Other survey plats in the neighborhood confirm the locations of these but have not been included in the drawing to keep it easier to read.

Connor, McInnis, Platt

Note: Polk Swamp was originally called Poke Swamp, through at least 1825 when Mill’s Atlas was published. The name evolved to Polk Swamp by the early twentieth century (Bowman 1921 15 minute quadrangle topographic map).