In a message dated 98-03-06 21:34:57 EST, you write:

 My grandmother told me she grew up in Prosperity, SC, but I can't find it
> on any maps.  She used to say that it was a German settlement.  Does
> anyone know any history about it?


A previous reply seemed a bit impersonal, so....  Prosperity is located
between Newberry and Lake Murray, and along the railroad from Columbia to
Newberry.  It is on the map! (any decent one that is).  It probably was
either settled by Germans originally or they came along later, because most
of the communities around Lake Murray in Lexington Co. (Prosperity is in
Newberry Co.) have a higher than normal (for SC) percentage of German
settlers.  I have heard, although I can't recall right now why that is, but
I can find out (my sister-in-law from that area is of German heritage).
Prosperity's fairly typical of small farm towns, and as you might expect,
was more prosperous in the early part of this century, when farms and
railroads were the driving force of the economy.  Today, people with lake
homes on the upper end of Lake Murray provide much needed business for the
town.  The Hamm's (German surname, right?) run the local hardware store.
Bedenbaugh runs the seed store.  There is a little restaurant on Main Street
called The Back Porch, serving typical southern cuisine.  A small Piggly
Wiggly is the only supermarket.   I haven't done any genealogical research
in the town as I'm not aware of any direct connections, but a quick scan of
the phone book reveals the following surnames as some of the most common:
AMICK  BEDENBAUGH  BOOZER  BOWERS  COUNTS  DOMINICK  EPTING  FULMER  GALLMAN
HAWKINS  KINARD  KOON  LESTER  MOORE  MORRIS  SHEALY  STOCKMAN  TAYLOR
WHEELER  WISE  (of course Smith and Jones too)

Newberry College library would probably be one good source of history on the
town.  There is a general info web page http://www.newberry.edu but I didn't
see a link to the library.

Michael Crocker
[email protected]
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/2335

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