Browse Items (910 total)
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Anthony "Tinkum" Skinner and Pearl Skinner
Anthony Tinkum Skinner (1903-1972) and Pearleen Flowers Skinner (1902-1999) farmed in and around the Johnsonville area. -
Pete and Everlina Jacobs
Pete Jacobs (1924-2011) and Everlina Skinner Jacobs (b. 1928). Everlina and Pete were the first family to move into the Bluefield community when it was still an old mule road in a field with tobacco barns. In their time they've seen Bluefield thrive, age, and decline through the years. -
Cooperative Attitudes Aid Johnsonville's Big Growth
Story of Johnsonville's recent growth due to Wellman, plus article about new church, Westside Free Will Baptist -
Johnsonville Looked Good To a Boy From Possum Fork
JOHNSONVILLE LOOKED GOOD TO A BOY FROM "POSSUM FORK"
JOHNSONVILLE - Half way between Florence and Georgetown - which is to say that particularly favored location location wherein the Low Country comes rushing up to greet the Pee Dee area - is a town called Johnsonville. Two things alone hold together the community - the Wellman Combing Co., with more than five-hundred employees, and an indomitable will on the part of its one-thousand citizens.
AS towns go, Johnsonville is not old; but it is old enough to have firmly established itself in the affections of those whom therein dwell. One such man is D.B. Haselden. Since the last-named merchant has been a resident without interruption of the town for the past 33 years: and since Haselden was born within 2 and one half miles of his present residence, the stor of D.B. Haselden is the story of Johnsonville. Here it is in Merchant Haselden's own words:
"When I came to live in Johnsonville there were no paved roads in or out. To a boy from Possum Fork, however, it looked real good. Anyway, I opened a small grocery business here on Oct. 5, 1926. My business kept up with the town - neither grew one iota. In 1927 a lumber outfit moved in unasked but very welcome. The Bennet-Walker Lumber Co., was composed of a planing mill and 5 or 6 sawmills, and remained in business here until the death of John Walker - about 1942. Walker's son still lives here. Much later the Combing Company moved in, and saved what was left of Johnsonville."
What was left?
"Yes. In Jan. 1931, in the dead of night a fire broke out. By dawn the Main street looked like Flanders Field after a heavy rain. Only two shops were left standing; a drug store and - you guessed it - the D.B. Haselden Grocery. The heck of it was that folks seemed to be in no hurry about rebuilding. I used to feel like a shopkeeper in the destroyed city of Pompei, I tell you. It looked like that fire was to prove a fatal blow to our town. Do you know, it was not until about 1944 that they started rebuilding from the ashes? Thirteen long years I kept shop on a street all but obliterate. Why it must have been all of twelve months after the fire before the charred smell left Broadway. That's the name of the main stem, you know..."
The long and lean Mr. Haselden suddenly leaned back and roared with laughter.
"Pardon me," he said finally. "I was remembering a song which was popular along about those same disheartening days. It went: 'Bright lights on Broadway, sunshine down in Dixie,' et cetera et cetera. We had the sunshine alright but not much illumination on our Broadway.
"I believe I mentioned Possum Fork a little earlier? Well that's where I was born. If Johnsonville was a bit on the isolated side brother, you should have know the Fork back when I was a boy. It was almost literally out of this world. I recall a school teacher who came to teach out there - they put him up in a deserted house back in a thicket. He wanted. The told him without cracked to know if the place was haunting a smile, that the 'houses were all too small, at Possum Fork, to hold a ghost.' I reckon though, that ma didn't believe them. He didn't stay long.
"The Fork is still there - only a little better than two miles from Johnsonville. Some folks will say I have no shame - disclosing conditions as they were back fifty years ago. But I am downright proud of being from Possum Fork. If this story reaches the paper, I'll bet there will be hundreds of people who will know that I am telling the truth.
"I didn't see a train until I was 12 years old. The nearest railroad was at Lake City. I never visited either Florence or Georgetown until I was a married man of 23." Haselden's eyes took on a far away look.
"I can recall going to Allison's Landing - that's on the Pee Dee - with my father, after we'd heard the boat whistling. Dad used to buy his staples at Georgetown - flour, rice, coffee and sugar, and have them brought up the river. It was about six miles to the Landing, we'd travel by mule and cart. When I was a boy, I thought of Georgetown as the beginning and the end of civilization. My father used to float logs and cross ties to Georgetown, you see. He'd be gone on those trips from five to ten days. Have to walk back, you know. Anyway, upon his return he would tell we children of the wonders of Georgetown; of its bulging shops, its find houses, etc.
"Sometime during the early 1920s, a momentous thing took place. By popular vote Johnsonville was separated from Williamsburg County, to become part of Florence County. I suspect that Florence - the county, that is - wasn't really overcome with joy by our addition; but the people had spoken. The town itself is not old. Originally the land upon which it was built was part and parcel of the S.B. Poston farm. I can recall when the main street was sold off in lots.
"I operate the smallest grocery store in Johnsonville, but it's been a living. With the help of my wife - I married Emily Powell of Possum Fork, Dec. 1917 - I've been able to raise and educate five children: there's V.C. - he's practicing law down in Georgetown - Hubert L., who has some 18 years of Navy service behind him, Wilma Ruth, who serves as secretary in the Charlotte office of the FBI, Ken, now rounding out ten years wi the U.S. Air Force, and Reid Nettles, teaching at Johnsonville High.
World War II, says the Johnsonville merchant, wade for very slight change in the town's leisured pace. "There were no bases or defense plants nearby," he says, "and about the only real difference was in the absence of young people - the boys off to war, their wives (if married), following them to camps and places and cities here, there and everywhere located..."
Haselden took a deep breath. "And now, I am going to stick my neck out, but good! I believe that Johnsonville is as big as ever it will get. That's my very own and personal conviction, of course. I hope it proves to be in error - but I trust I will be pardoned and forgiven by my neighbors when I say I shall not lose any sleep if the town doesn't swell too rapidly. I like it the way it is."
Mr. D.B. Haselden, now 62, can look back proudly and declare that he has spent his entire life within a couple of miles radius of Johnsonville.
"It is fellows like myself," he says, "who account for the existence of small places like this one. On this score, may I had, I make no apologies." -
Gold and Black 1970
Gold and Black Yearbook, 1970 -
Broadway Street in Johnsonville looking East, circa 1954
Broadway looking East, circa 1954.
Pictured: Tomlinson's & Venters, P.D. Poston Grocery (later Turner's IGA). Not yet built are the Johnsonville Pharmacy or the old Johnsonville Post Office (which opened in 1958). -
Johnsonville State Bank circa 1954
Johnsonville State Bank is pictured here at an older location, circa 1954 at approximately 122 West Broadway Street. In June of 1956, JSB moved across the street to a new state of the art facility with air conditioning. -
Gold and Black 1963
JHS Gold and Black Yearbook, class of 1963 -
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Gold and Black 1974
Gold and Black 1974. This issue includes detailed history on the Johnsonville school system on the eve of the completion of the new Johnsonville High School. Great photos of school history are found here. -
Gold and Black 1969
Gold and Black Yearbook featuring the class of 1969 -
Aerial Views of Johnsonville, Early 1950s
These aerial photos show Johnsonville in the early 1950s. The old train depot, high school auditorium, and other buildings are visible, as well as many former homes and businesses. The Johnsonville Elementary school, completed in 1954, is not yet constructed in these images. -
Gold and Black 1962
Gold and Black yearbook, 1962 -
Briley Ham Stone Family Bible
A scan from the Family Bible of Briley Ham Stone (1812-1882) and wife Elizabeth Mary Eaddy (1825-1879). Briley and Elizabeth were married on September 11, 1834.
Briley Ham Stone was the son of Austin Stone II (1776-1832) and Zilphia Ham (1786-1872).
Elizabeth Mary Eaddy was the daughter of James Alexander Eaddy (1780-1850) and Elizabeth McDaniel (1794-1879).
Their children mentioned in this Bible are:
Ezra Levan Stone 1835–1850
Paluatier Stone 1837–1864
Frances Elizabeth Stone 1838–
Sarah Levina Stone 1840–1900
Mary Stone 1842–1850
Edwane Eaddy Stone 1844–1863
Narcessa Verline Stone 1846–1907
Zilphia Ham Stone 1848–1879
Briley Ham Stone Jr 1850–1872
Luellen Lizzina Stone 1854–
Permetian Mazell Stone 1854– -
Reverend Ebenezer Francis Newell, age 71
Birth: Aug. 30, 1775
Brookfield, Worcester County, Mass.
Death: Mar. 8, 1867
This is the portrait in Rev Newell's book - Life and Observations of Rev EF Newell. This portrait was painted by WO Bemis, engraved by J Sartain of Philadelphia
He married his first wife, Fannie Butterfield on October 21, 1810. He married his second wife, Polly Blanchard on February 12, 1826. -
Hugh Hanna Land Grant of 1790
South Carolina:
I do hereby certify for Hugh Hanna a tract of land containing two hundred & forty six acres (surveyed for him the 15th January 1790) situate in the District of Georgetown on Lynches Lake and hath such form, marks, and boundings as the above plat represents.
Given under my hand the 29th April 1790
John Burgess
Francis Breman, S.G. -
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Gold and Black 1958
Gold and Black yearbook, 1958. -
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Johnsonville First Baptist Church members - New Sanctuary
The new sanctuary held its first service in September 1965. -
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Westside Free Will Baptist Church, 1956
Describes the founding of the church the previous year. -
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Indiantown Presbyterian Church, 1910-1919
Indiantown Presbyterian Church, after the front portch was added (sometime between 1910-1919). This was before the church was raised and a basement added (before 1927). -
Indiantown Presbyterian Church, 1900
Indiantown Presbyterian Church, circa 1900.
The church was organized in 1757. During the American Revolution, the church was burned by the British Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton. His act resulted in the citizens giving greater support to his opponent, the Continental General Francis Marion.
The rebuilt (and current) church building remained virtually unchanged from its erection in 1830 until the front porch was added in 1910. -
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Reverend John Morgan Timmons
John Morgan Timmons (1800-1863) was the founder of Timmonsville, SC. He was for 45 years pastor of Elim Baptist Church at Effingham, a large landowner, and a businessman. He was a Signer of the Ordinance of Secession on December 20, 1860, and died in 1869, He and the Timmons family are treated extensively in the book Happy Heritage, by Mrs. R. B. Cannon, The State Company, Columbia, South Carolina, 1943. -
Elizabeth Timmons Huggins (1839-1883)
Elizabeth Timmons Huggins (1839-1883) was the daughter of William James Timmons II (1802-1846) and Elizabeth Eaddy (1808-1898). She married George S. B. Huggins (1831-1915). After her death, Huggins married her younger sister, Emily Timmons -
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Gold and Black 1955
Gold and Black 1955. the 1954-1955 year was the year the Johnsonville Elementary School was built. This yearbook features the final year that the old school cafeteria was in use before students began sharing the new elementary school cafeteria in the adjacent school building. -
Gold and Black 1968
Gold and Black Yearbook, Johnsonville, 1968 -
Johnsonville School Opens
Johnsonville opens for the 1911-1912 school year. R.S. Major is principal. Teachers: Pauline Wilson, Elise Rollins, Pearl Reeves, Claudia Johnson, Elizabeth Wadill, and Emily Hutson. 5 October 1911 -
Johnsonville's West Side Plaza Announced, 8-3-1966
Announcement of the new Westside Plaza - Abe Lyerly and Odell Venters. 3 August 1966 -
Cablevision May Come To Johnsonville, 12-1-1977
Article details the first easements for cable television to be provided to the Johnsonville and Hemingway areas. 1 December 1977 -
Ground Breaking
Groundbreaking for Dr. Charles Maxwell's new dentist office on Broadway. 4 August 1977 -
Broadway Street at Georgetown Road new street signs installed, Johnsonville SC
New street signs are installed throughout Johnsonville, starting at Broadway Street and Georgetown Highway. Photo taken on June 16, 1977. -
Fire Destroys Old Prosser Movie Theater Building, 5-5-1977
Article details the fire that destroyed the inside of the Prosser Theater building and the tear-down of the remaining structure a short time later. 5 May 1977 -
GREAT Town Program Progresses, 1977
Johnsonville continues progress toward a South Carolina Great Town recognition. 14 April 1977 -
SC GREAT Town Program Explored, 1976
Johnsonville explores the possibility of aquiring South Carolina Great Town recognition. 23 December 1976 -
Johnsonville Council Moves To Raze Theater Building, 8-26-1976
City works to removed run-down and condemned buildings. 26 August 1976 -
Council, Mayor Swarn In
New council members and Mayor Connie DeCamps swarn into office. 17 June 1976 -
The Candidates Speak - DeCamps Announces Mayoral Run
Candidates for Johnsonville City Council speak to the Weekly Observer - Connie DeCamps announces a run for mayor. 26 May 1976 -
Will of Hugh Hanna, 1841
Transcription:
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN!
I, Hugh Hanna, planter of the District of Williamsburg and State aforesaid; being of sound mind and memory, do make and declare this my last will and testament in manner and form following; to wit.
Item 1st. I give devise and bequeath unto my Son Calvin Hanna two (2) tracts of land on the Kill Branch; one of which he the said Calvin is now living on and; and the tract adjoining. I likewisegive and bequath unto the said Calvin Hanna the following named three (3) negroes, viz; Cupid, Young Scipo, and Elvira with the future increase of said Elvira, for and during his natural life, and at his death to the lawful issue of his body, begotten by him, if he dies leaving no lawful issue, begotten by him, I give and bequeath the abovetwo (2) tracts of land, and the above named three (3) negroes, with the issue of Elvira to my surviving children or, their children.
Item 2nd. I give, devise and bequath unto my two (2) sons Samuel D. Hanna and Joseph F. Hanna, all of my remaining lands.
Item 3rd. I give devise and bequeath unto my son Samuel D. Hanna, the following named three (3) negroes viz. Peter, Venus and Dinah, with the future issue and increase of the said females.
Item 4th. I give devise and bequeath unto my son Joseph F. Hannathe following named three (3) negroes viz. Sam, Lizza and Crissa with the future issue and increase of the said females.
Item 5th. I give devise and bequeath unto my two (2) sons Samuel D. Hanna and Joseph Franklin Hanna the following named two (2) negroesviz: Mercury and Juno.
Item 6th. I give and devise and bequeath unto my two (2) sons Samuel D. Hanna and Joseph F. Hanna all of my Plantation tools and my wagon and team.
Item 7th. I give devise and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Paisley the following named three (3) negroes viz; Young Mercury, Nellie and Young Juno with the future issue and increase of the said females.
Item 8th. I give devise and bequeath unto my daughter Margaret Barr, one (1) negro boy, Young Sam.
Item 9th. I give devise and bequeath unto all of my children the remaining part of my negroes; to be equally divided between them, the two sons of my son Hugh viz James Hanna and Hugh Hanna to have one share, the same their father would draw if living. Said share to be divided between them.
Item 9th. I give devise and bequeath unto all of my children all of my stock of cattle to be equally divided among them.
Item 10th. I give devise and bequeath unto all of my children, all the money I may leave after the expense of my burial is discharged, to be equally divided among them.
Item 11th. Should any of my children die without lawful issue, then all the above mentioned property assigned to them to be equally divided among my surviving heirs.
Lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my friends, James Graham, Sr., George Barr, William Hanna and James H. Stone, executors to this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all former wills heretofore made by me, or for me at my request. I do hereby give my Executors or either of them full power to execute this my last Will. Also full power and authority to call in three freeholders to assist to appraise and divide my Estate without petitioning any court of Law or Equity for a division and such division made by any one or more of them shall be as binding on my heirs, as if it had been made by the authority of any Court in this State. In witness to all and each of the things herein contained, I hereunto set my hand and seal this thirteenth (13) day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one (1841).
Signed in the presence of HUGH Hanna (L.S)
William Cox
Robt. G. Thomson
Joseph A. Thompson
James H. Stone
NOTE: This Will is on file and was probated in the office of the Probate Judge at Kingstree, County Seat of Williamsburg County, S. C.
Hugh O. Hanna
Attorney At Law
Hampton, S. C.Tags Hanna -
Bubba and Lillian Hanna
James Franklin "Bubba" Hanna (1900-1984) and Lillian "Day" Newell Hanna (1915-2006) -
Ancestry of Thomas Franklin Hanna of Johnsonville
Thomas Franklin Hanna married Nekoda Laharp Altman. Their children were:
James Franklin "Bubba" Hanna 1900–1984
Arles Timmons Hanna 1902–1986
Webster Olee "Pete" Hanna 1904–1967
Lucille Hanna 1908–1970 -
Gold and Black 1967
Gold and Black yearbook for Johnsonville schools -
Poston Post Office On Borrowed Time
Images of Poston train depot and post office, 1968. -
1962 Johnsonville High School Commencement and Graduation Program
1962 Johnsonville High School Commencement and Graduation Program