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RAMSAY'S HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
From ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1670 TO THE YEAR 1808.
by David Ramsay, M.D. 
Preface dated "Charleston, December 31st, 1808"
Published in 1858, by W.J. Duffie, Newberry, S.C.  
Reprinted in 1959, by the The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, S.C.   

Volume I, CHAPTER I, pp 8-13
CIVIL HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. CHAPTER I.
Population.
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Soon after the conclusion of the treaty, between Governor Glen and the
Indians, the settlers began to stretch backward, and occupied land above an
hundred and fifty miles from the shores of the Atlantic. New emigrants from
Ireland, Germany, and the northern colonies, obtained grants in these interior
parts; and introduced the cultivation of wheat, hemp, flax, and tobacco, for
which the soil answered better than in the low lands near the sea. Their
cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses, multiplied rapidly; having a country of vast
extent to range over, they found plenty of provisions in almost every season.
New settlers were invited to these hilly and more healthy parts, where they
labored with greater safety than among the swamps. By degrees, public roads
were made, and they conveyed their produce in wagons to the capital, where
they found an excellent market for all their productions.

The lands thus obtained by treaty form the present districts of Edgefield,
Abbeville, Laurens, Newberry, Union, Spartanburg, York, Chester, Fairfield and
Richland. Their value, in a few years after their cession, was enhanced by the
peace of Paris, in 1763; for the stipulations therein contained gave security
to the frontiers, and settled all disputes about the boundaries of the English
colonies. By the cession of Florida it removed troublesome neighbors, and left
the savages so much in the power of the English as to deter them from future
hostilities. The population of the newly acquired territory, form that period,
increased with unusual rapidity. The assembly, desirous of strengthening their
frontier, wisely appropriated a large fund for bounties to foreign
protestants, and such industrious poor people of Britain and Ireland, as
should resort to the province within three years and settle on the inland
parts. Two townships, each containing 48,000 acres, were laid out to be
divided among emigrants, allowing one hundred acres for every man, and fifty
for every woman and child, that should come and settle in them. The face of
the country in those interior parts, is variable and beautiful. The air mild
and wholesome, and the soil exceedingly fertile. The salubrity of the climate,
connected with the provincial bounty, and the fertility of the soil, induced
great numbers to fix themselves in these western regions.

About the same time, a remarkable affair happened in Germany, by which South
Carolina received a considerable acquisition. One Stumpel, who had been an
officer in the King of Prussia's service, being reduced at the peace, applied
to the British Ministry for a tract of land in America; and having got some
encouragement, returned to Germany, where, by deceitful promises, he seduced
between five and six hundred ignorant people from their native country. When
these poor palatines arrived in England, Stumpel, finding himself unable to
perform his promises, fled, leaving them without money or friends, exposed in
the open field, and ready to perish through want. While they were in this
starving condition, a humane clergyman took compassion on them, and published
their deplorable case in a newspaper. He pleaded for the mercy and protection
of government, until an opportunity might offer of transporting them to some
of the British colonies. A bounty of three hundred pounds was allowed them.
Tents were ordered for the accommodation of such as had been permitted to come
ashore, and money was sent for the relief of those that were confined on
board. The public spirited citizens of London chose a committee to raise money
for the relief of these poor palatines. In a few days these unfortunate
strangers, from the depth of indigence and distress, were raised to
comfortable circumstances. The committee, finding the money received more than
sufficient to relieve their present distress, applied to the king to know his
royal pleasure with respect to the future disposal of the German protestants.
His majesty, sensible that his colony of South Carolina had not its proportion
of white inhabitants, signified his desire of transporting them to that
province.

Accordingly two ships of two hundred tons each were provided for their
accommodation, and provisions of all kinds laid in for the voyage. An hundred
and fifty stand of arms were given to them for their defence after their
arrival in America. Every thing being ready for their embarkation, the
palatines broke up their camp and proceeded to the ships, attended by several
of their benefactors, of whom they took their leave with songs of praise to
God in their mouths and tears of gratitude in their eyes.

In the month of April, 1764, they arrived at Charlestown, and presented a
letter from the lords commissioners for trade and plantations to Governor
Boone; acquainting him that his majesty had been pleased to take the poor
palatines under his royal care and protection; and, as many of them were
versed in the culture of silk and vines, had ordered that a settlement be
provided for them in Carolina, in a situation most proper for these purposes.
The assembly voted five hundred pounds sterling to be distributed among them.
That they might be settled in a body, one of the two townships was allotted
for them and divided in the most equitable manner into small tracts, for the
accommodation of each family, and all possible assistance was given towards
promoting their speedy and comfortable settlement.

In the same year Carolina received 212 settlers from France. Soon after the
peace of Paris, the Rev. Mr. Gibert, a popular preacher, prevailed on a number
of persecuted protestant families to seek an asylum in South Carolina. On his
of solicitation, the government of England encouraged the project, and
furnished the means of transportation. Mr. Gibert repaired to England, and
directed the movements of the refugees. They found it necessary to leave
France privately, at different times, and in small numbers. After leaving
their native country, they rendezvoused at Plymouth, and sailing from that
port arrived in Charlestown in April, 1764. They were received by the
Carolinians with great kindness and hospitality. They, generally, retired to
spend the approaching summer in Beaufort. But in the month of October
following they returned to Charlestown, and set out for the back country,
having lost but one of their number since their landing. The province
furnished them with the means of conveyance to Long Cane. Vacant lands were
laid out for their use; and they received warrants for the quantities of land
granted to them respectively, by the bounty of the Provincial Assembly. On
their arrival at the place assigned them, they gave it the name of New
Bourdeaux, after the capital of the province from which most of them had
emigrated. They have been distinguished for their industry and good morals.
The climate has agreed so well with them, that they have generally enjoyed
good health, and several of them have survived their 80th year. The
manufacture of silk is still continued among them. The nephew of the original
projector of the settlement is one of the present representatives of Abbeville
district, in the State Legislature. This was the third groupe of settlers
Carolina received from France.

Besides foreign protestants, several persons from England and Scotland
resorted to Carolina after the peace of 1763. But of all other countries, none
has furnished the province with so many inhabitants as Ireland. Scarce a ship
sailed from any of its ports for Charlestown that was not crowded with men,
women, and children. The bounty allowed to new settlers, induced numbers of
these people to resort to Carolina. The merchants finding this bounty
equivalent to the expenses of the passage, persuaded the people to embark.
Many causes may be assigned for this spirit of emigration from Ireland, but
domestic oppression was the most powerful and prevalent.

Nor were these the only sources from which an increase of population was at
this time derived. Notwithstanding the vast extent of territory contained in
the provinces of Virginia and Pennsylvania, a scarcity of improvable lands
began to be felt in these colonies, and poor people could not find vacant
spots in them equal to their expectations. In Carolina the case was different;
for there large tracts of the best lands lay waste. This induced many of the
northern colonists to migrate to the South. About this time above a thousand
families with their effects, in the space of one year resorted to South
Carolina, driving their cattle, hogs, and horses over land before them. Lands
were allotted them in its western woods, which soon became the most populous
parts of the province. The frontiers were not only strengthened and secured by
new settlers, but the old ones began to stretch backward, and the demand for
lands in the interior parts every year increased. From the time in which
America was secured by the peace of 1763, and particularly for the twelve
subsequent years, the province made rapid progress in agriculture, numbers and
wealth.

In the revolutionary war which commenced in 1775, little addition was made
either to the population or settlements in South Carolina. But this was amply
compensated by the multitudes from Europe and the more northern parts of
America, which poured into the State, shortly after the peace of 1783. 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; which exceeded the population of the whole province in
the 64th year from its first settlement.

Hitherto Carolina had been an asylum to those who fled from tyranny and
persecution - to the exile - the weary and heavy laden - the wretched and
unfortunate - and to those who were bowed down with poverty and oppression. A
new variety of human misery was lately presented for the exercise of its
hospitality. The insecurity of life, liberty, and property, in revolutionary
France, and the indiscriminate massacre of Frenchmen in St. Domingo, drove
several hundreds in the last years of the 18th century to the shores of
Carolina. They were kindly received; and, such as were in need, received a
temporary accommodation at the expense of the public. Most of them fixed their
residence in or near Charleston.

These were the last groupe of settlers the State received from foreign
countries. The new States and Territories to the southward and westward, draw
to them so many of the inhabitants of South Carolina that emigration from it
at present nearly balances migration to it. Its future population must in a
great measure depend on the natural increase of its own inhabitants. So much
of the soil is unimproved, or so imperfectly cultivated, that the introduction
and extension of a proper system of husbandry will afford support to ten times
the number of its present inhabitants.

So many and so various have been the sources from which Carolina has derived
her population, that a considerable period must elapse, before the people
amalgamate into a mass possessing an uniform national character. This event
daily draws nearer; for each successive generation drops a part of the
peculiarities of its immediate predecessors. The influence of climate and
government will have a similar effect. The different languages, and dialects,
introduced by the settlers from different countries, are gradually giving
place to the English. So much similarity prevails among the descendants of the
early emigrants from the Old World, that strangers cannot ascertain the
original country of the ancestors of the present race.

[To be continued....]

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