Johnsonville SC History

Browse Items (910 total)

  • Ellerby Poston, Minnie Turner Poston, Mrs Kelly, Jack Sawyer, Mr Boyd, Mr Kelly, cutout, Percy Poston.jpg

    L to R: Ellerbe Poston, Minnie Turner Poston, Mrs Kelly, Jack Sawyer, Mr Boyd, Mr Kelly, cutout, Percy Poston
  • Fairalee Poston and Hicks Lance.jpg
  • Ellerby Poston 1941.jpg
  • Delance, Betty Jo, and Louise Poston.jpg
  • Cottage Lunch 1952, Delance Poston head of table with glasses after lower state championship.jpg
  • Bus Drivers 1930s or 1940s.jpg
  • Broadway and Poston Grocery 1941 - New Theater and Esso station signs visible.jpg

    This 1941 image of Broadway Street in Johnsonville has views of Poston Grocery, owned by Ellerbe Poston. Also visible are the New Theater (later Prosser Theater), owned by Chives Prosser, and an Esso gas station.
  • Betty Jo, Louise, and Delance Poston.jpg
  • Betty Jo, Delance, and Louise Poston.jpg
  • Arthur Bobo left, Dad Bruce Hyder.jpg
  • Arthur Bobo.jpg
  • 1941 - Percy Poston middle, possibly Ellibee Poston sitting with cane.jpg

    Percy Poston middle, possibly Ellerbe Poston sitting with cane, 1941
  • Josh - Copy.jpg
  • Bubba and Lillian Hanna McCleod.pdf
  • Strom Thurmond cuts ribbon.jpg
  • Memoirs of Judith Grier.pdf

    This is the “Memoirs of Judith Grier” whose grandfather was John Tillman of the Ark Plantation. It is believed that Ms. Grier was born at the Ark Plantation in Surfside Beach. This
    document was donated to the town of Surfside by Stan Barnett, from Mount Pleasant, a descendant of Judith
    Grier.
  • Williamsburg Building Supply grand opening May 1954.pdf
  • West Side Free Will Baptist Church Chartered, 1965.pdf

    Westside puts in notice of official charter. The church began meeting in 1956.
  • Johnsonville Town Hall purchases new lawn equipment 1954.jpg

    Photo of lawn equipment in front of town hall, 1954
  • Johnsonville Agriculture and Cannery, pre-1950.jpg

    Shows the "log cabin" at the old Johnsonville High School campus.
  • PeeWee Gaskins Mugshot.jpg
  • Old Johnsonville Students 1904.jpg

    1st Row: Lillian Cockfield Powell, Myrtle Poston Redfern, Eva Venters Grimball.
    2nd Row: Hattie Cribb Newell, Myra Oliver
    3rd Row: Eunice Huggins Brown, Zelma Ginn.
    Professor S. H. Brown stands in the back
  • Al and Hannah Altman Erwin - First wedding at Westside FWB - July 4 1957.jpg

    Al and Hannah Altman Erwin - First wedding at Westside FWB - July 4 1957. Westside's sanctuary was completed in 1956.
  • 1791 Petition for incorporation of Aimwell Presbyterian Church.jpg
  • 49864792_10100211449236663_4448572867151396864_n (1).jpg

    William Arthur (W.A.) Altman Jr. (1921-1984) and Bertha Mae Cribb Altman (1925-1991). W.A. worked at Haselden Brothers Ford. He was the son of William Arthur Altman Sr. and Wilma Grace Edwards. Bertha Mae Crib was the daughter of Charlie Anderson Cribb and Nettie Baxley. Mrs. Altman attended Pleasant Hill High School.
  • Vox Crossroads google street view 2008.jpg

    Various images from Vox Crossroads:
    Vox Crossroads - Google Street View 2008
    Mike, Ken, and Ronnie Powell circa 1949
    Vox Grocery - run by Ted and Norma Hanna circa 2000
    Ken Powell circa 1949
    Vox Grocery - Ted Hanna circa 2000
    Bill Burris leaving Altman's Grocery - late 1970s
  • Ballou and Maisie - Saturday Jun 28 1968 - Wellman club opening night.jpg

    Sanford and Maisie Ballou attend the opening night of the Wellman Country Club.
    Saturday, June 28, 1968
  • Johnsonville High School 1939.jpg

    This photo from the 1939 Gold and Black yearbook shows the high school building before the wings were added in 1940.
  • 22424574_10102315891412054_3302920299133229247_o.jpg

    Aimwell Presbyterian Church was located along what is now Old River Road, approximately at the intersection of Old River Road and McWhite Circle. The approximate coordinates are 33°56'28.2"N 79°29'50.4"W.

    The Aimwell burial ground still exists and is the resting place of John Witherspoon, whose family operated Witherspoon's Ferry during the American Revolution.

    Aimwell is incorrectly listed as Hopewell in the Robert Mills Map of Marion District, 1825.
  • 46176941_338675970023900_5166692442719649792_n.jpg

    John Henry Woodberry as a cadet at Westpoint.
  • S.B. Poston - left - in story circa 1920.jpg

    S.B. Poston (left) stands in a store with other workers. This was most likely in the "Poston Block" - a group of stores and businesses at the Northwest corner of Broadway St. and Railroad Ave.
  • 20819230_10102233721261694_9176748998507048745_o.jpg
  • 20776391_10102233721256704_8818947348677261758_o.jpg

    First Row: Larry Taylor, Andy Richardson, Ammondine Taylor, Freddy Brown, ?, Randy Huggins, Nancy Taylor, Jean Furches.
    Second Row: Wayne Taylor, Lester Perry, Stafford Perry, Brenda Taylor, Linda Taylor, ?, ?, ?, Linda Marsh, Dorothy Rogers.
    Back: Bernie Huggins,Walter Brown, Louin Collins, Busman Haselden, ?, ?, Wilma Perry, S.R. Ballou, Sammy Marsh
  • 36279166_10102628691069034_5412406310543032320_n.jpg

    Article describes the land sale that led to the founding of Johnsonville
  • Henry Edison Eaddy.jpg

    Obituary for Henry Edison Eaddy
    It is the painful duty of the County Record to chronicle the death of Mr. Henry E. Eaddy, well known as the "Sage of Possum Fork". He died at his home near Johnsonville Friday morning about 2:30 o'clock.

    Mr. Eaddy was a man of rare personality. He was a self made man in every sense of the term. Intellectually he was a genius, being an expert mathemetician. He was a civil engineer by profession, a hospitable Christian gentleman in his home, and a man of charming manner to all who came in contact with him. He was of unusual vitality, both physically and mentally for one of his advanced age, having celebrated his eightieth birthday in March.

    The evening prior to his death he ate supper and was in his usual happy frame of mind and apparently in good health as he had been for some time and fell asleep. At 2:30 Friday morning he was found dead.

    Mr. Eaddy was born and reared and spent his long life in the vicinity of Johnsonville. In his young life he married Miss Eliza Louisa Ann Elizabeth Huggins of Timmonsville, a daughter of the late Rev. J.S. Huggins, inventor of the first cotton planter used in the south.

    He had represented the county of Williamsburg in the State Legislature several terms. He was first elected in 1890. He was one of the original founders of the Old Johnsonville Methodist Church and Trinity Methodist Church in Florence County and supervised the construction of the Old Johnsonville Church. During all of his public life he strove to render his county efficient service.

    Mr. Eaddy leaves a widow, the former Eliza Huggins, five sons and two daughters: Messrs. J.A. of Bushnell, Fla.; C.L.of Linden, Fla.; John M. of Kingstree; S.O. of Johnsonville; Dr.A.G. of Timmonsville; Mrs W. A. Hanna of Gifford; and Mrs. R.B. Dickson of Johnsonville.

    The funeral service, conducted by Rev. E.P. Hutton, took place in Old JohnsonvilleMethodist Church at 4 p.m. Saturday, and internment was made in the church burying grounds. Six of his grandchildren acted as pallbearers. The funeral exercises were largely attended.
  • George Samuel Briley Huggins.jpg

    George Samuel Briley Huggins was wounded at the battle of 2nd. Manassess and was crippled. He was a prayerful, christian man, and used to walk the old foot-logs across Muddy Creek Swamp every Sunday to attend Old Johnsonville Church.
    George Samuel Briley Huggins served in Co. "K", 6th Regiment, Confederate States Army, commanded by Capt. William Smith Brand, of Sumter District. Source: Morris Watsongen

    George Samuel Briley Huggins was born June 18, 1831, eldest son of Rev. John Samuel Huggins of Timmonsville, inventor of the first cotton planter used in the south and his wife Zilphia Ham. He was the grandson of George Huggins, one of the largest landowners in the Darlington District who was elected to the 32nd General Assembly and his wife Letitia Montgomery. He was the great grandson of Captain John Huggins, Justice of the Peace for the Darlington District in South Carolina, who commanded a troop of Cavalry in General Francis Marion's Brigade in the Revolutionary War and his wife Elizabeth White Simmons. He died Nov. 28, 1914. His will was probated Jan. 2, 1915 at the Williamsburg County Courthouse, Will Book E, Page 29.

    He married his first wife, Elizabeth Timmons on March 3, 1853. Elizabeth was born March 21, 1839 and died at Johnsonville on November 11, 1833. Elizabeth was the mother of all his children. After Elizabeth died, he married Emily Timmons Stone Eaddy, a widow and sister of his first wife, on March 11, 1884 at the Old Johnsonville Church. This date was Emily's birthday. After the death of Emily in 1900, he married Narcissa Verline Carter on September 21, 1905.

    George Samuel Briley Huggins was a trustee and one of the original founders of Trinity Methodist Church. He was also one of the original founders of the Old Johnsonville Methodist Church where he served as a minister. He also supported the Ebenezer Methodist Church at Muddy Creek where he served as a steward and was a minister.

    After the war, he returned to his farm near Muddy Creek, SC and to the ministry of the Methodist Church at Muddy Creek and Old Johnsonville.

    One of his granddaughters, Lillian Maude Buck McDaniel, recalled that as a child her mental image of God somehow incorporated the characteristic features of her grandfather - the strong but kind face, the leonine head of white hair and beard, and the authoritative tone and demeanor. She describes him at prayer, at home and in church , where he knelt, stiff knee and all, to address his Lord in a manner she was convinced that elicited a readier response than most mortals were privileged to receive. She also remembered that he was so earnest in prayer that he would forget the passage of time and would sometimes have to be nudged by his wife to realize that others wearied more easily than he.

    At Christmas time, George Samuel Briley Huggins would personally pour the Christmas sillibub - Portion Control! He was known for his good wines,also dispensed judiciously.

    He enlisted in Co. K, 6th South Carolina Regt.at its organization under Capt. W. S. Brand of Clarendon, on the 22nd of April, 1962. He served with the Company, except for a few months recuperation furlough, until the surrender at Appomattox on the 9th of April, 1865. He was wounded by a minnie ball blasting through his right knee at the Second Battle of Manassas on August 30, 1862. His name appears on a list of prisoners taken and paroled at Warrenton, VA,
    headquarters for the Army of Potomac, 11th corps, on 29 September 1862. After his recovery at home, he was placed on detached service to the Commissary Department in Williamsburg county and reported to J. B. Chandler. He was lame for the rest of his life.

    On June 18, 1908 more than 75 family members gathered at his home for a birthday celebration that included food, fellowship and musical entertainment by the children. This article was printed in The County Record on June 25, 1908.
  • Old Johnsonville Methodist Church.jpg

    Old Johnsonville Methodist Church - original sanctuary. 1872-1960.
  • Brigadier General John Henry Woodbury.jpg

    Brigadier General John Henry Woodbury (1889-1974)

    Woodberry was born in Johnsonville on Feb 22, 1889 to Wattie Gamewell Woodberry, Sr. and Rosa Belle Eaddy (first woman mayor in South Carolina history). He was the great-grandson of Henry Eaddy. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1910 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1914. Afterward he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Cavalry.

    He was transferred to the Field Artillery in 1916. During World War I, he was assigned to the Ordinance Department and participated in the design and construction of the aerial bombs used by Gen. "Billy" Mitchell in the test bombing of a captured German battleship. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1918 and was transferred to the Ordinance Department in 1920. Between World War I. and II., General Woodberry studied at Army Industrial College, 1927-28; Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1929-33; and the Army War College, 1934-35. He served in 1934-1939 as a member of the General Staff of the War Department. In World War II., General Woodberry served as Chief Ordinance Officer for General Douglas MacArthur's supply service (Southwest Pacific Area, 1944-45).

    General Woodberry enjoyed a successful career of 37 years with the U. S. Army. He held numerous patents on munitions of war. Among these were artillery fuse devices for control detonating waves used in most Army high explosive ammunition. He also developed cavalry machine gun equipment and conducted research and development in anti-aircraft and armored cars. An automobile tire pressure indicator was one of his civilian patents.

    In 1945, he was appointed Ordinance Officer, Army Service Command D, Japan Army of Occupation and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. Retirement came for him in 1946. Gen. Woodberry received the Legion of Merit, was a member of the Army Ordinance Association, and wrote many technical papers on ordinance detonation. He was a Mason and a member of the Founders and Patriots of America. He and his wife are buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

    Information source from http://eaddy.biz/famtread/html/nti04826.htm
  • Gold and Black 1971.pdf

    Gold and Black Yearbook, Johnsonville High School, 1971
  • Gold and Black 1972.pdf

    Gold and Black yearbook 1972
  • Mama and Grandaddy Hanna.jpg

    Arles Timmons Hanna and Violet Elizabeth Carter Hanna
  • Morgan and Octavia Carter portrait.jpg
  • Vonnie in front of Old House - Hanna Farm.jpg
  • Johnsonville Map 1912.pdf

    Map of the Town of Johnsonville - Sold Aug 12, 1912

    This map shows the lots available in the Johnsonville land sale.
  • IMG_3692.jpg

    Grave of John Witherspoon (1742-1802), located at the old Aimwell Presbyterian Church burial grounds, Old River Road at McWhite Road.

    John took control of Witherspoon's Ferry (now Venters Landing at Johnsonville) after his older brother Robert Witherspoon died with no issue in 1787. Witherspoon's Ferry had already been in use during the Revolution, and this spot served as the backdrop for General Francis Marion's commission to lead the militia.

    John and Robert were both sons of Gavin Witherspoon and Jane James, who came from Knockbracken, Ireland to Williamsburg. John was a patriot during the American Revolution, serving as a private with Marion's Brigade in the Britton's Neck Regiment for 244 days in 1780 and 1781.

    In 1801 it was ordered that a Ferry should be re-established and vested in John's care. John married Mary Conn and had one child, Elizabeth, who later married David Rogerson Williams, Governor of South Carolina from 1814-1816.

    John Witherspoon died in 1802, and according to the terms of his will, the ferry was re-established and vested in John D. Witherspoon, executor and friend, for a term of 14 years beginning in 1815, “in trust for and having the sole benefit of the incorporated Presbyterian Church at Aimwell on the Pee Dee River." John's will also stipulated that William J. Johnson be given rights to the Ferry site under condition:

    "It is my will and desire that the trustees aforesaid or their successors shall give William Johnson the present use of the lands aforesaid the exclusive privilege of leasing the lands aforesaid for a term of 12 years provided the said William Johnson on the wisdom of the said trustees aforesaid shall conduct himself with propriety."

    It was John Witherspoon who vested the ferry lands in William Johnson, who later established the post office at Johnsonville which became the town we know today.
  • JPL000028.jpg

    John Briley Altman and Ethel Cox Altman. Ethel was the daughter of William James "Uncle Billy" Cox and Sarah Jane Stone Cox. John Briley was the son of was the son of John James Altman, first Postmaster for Vox.
  • Billy Cox and Sara Jane Stone.jpg

    William James "Billy" Cox Jr (1842–1921) and Sarah Jane Stone Cox (1850–1924) were the founders of Rehobeth Pentecostal Holiness Church.
  • 11174234_10101472424232044_3628880919553014699_o.jpg

    Photo displayed at the Centennial celebration of Rehobeth Church in 2009. A few of those pictured are Cortez, Merlyn, Gail, and Pam Cox, Ronald Cox, Cletus Cox, Sherrell Cox, and Vaughn Eaddy.
  • Billy Cox family.jpg

    This photo was originally contributed to the Johnsonville Library Altman Genealogy and Local History Digital Collections by Noonie Eaddy Stone. Pictured:
    Billy and Jean Cox with all of their children in front of house taken in Williamsburg County. (Back Row Left to Right) Ethel Cox, Elizabeth Cox (mother of Thetis Prosser), William Shell Cox, Mary Cox, Emily Cox, Flutte Cox. (Front Row Left to Right) Lille Cox, Bud Walter Cox, Jean Stone Cox, William (Billy) Cox, O'Rella Narcissus Cox, Jasper Cox
  • E.G. Beckman letter of organization.jpg
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