George Samuel Briley Huggins

George Samuel Briley Huggins

George Samuel Briley Huggins was wounded at the Second Battle of Manassas and remained disabled for the rest of his life. He was a prayerful Christian man who walked across the old footlogs over Muddy Creek Swamp every Sunday to attend Old Johnsonville Church.

Huggins served in Company K, 6th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, under Capt. William Smith Brand of Sumter District.

George Samuel Briley Huggins was born June 18, 1831. He was the eldest son of the 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 Darlington District and a member of the 32nd South Carolina General Assembly, and his wife, Letitia Montgomery. He was the great-grandson of Capt. John Huggins, a justice of the peace for Darlington District who commanded a cavalry troop in Gen. Francis Marion’s brigade during the Revolutionary War, and his wife, Elizabeth White Simmons.

Huggins died November 28, 1914. His will was probated January 2, 1915, at the Williamsburg County Courthouse and is recorded in 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 in 1883. She was the mother of all his children. Following Elizabeth’s death, he married Emily Timmons Stone Eaddy, a widow and sister of his first wife, on March 11, 1884, at Old Johnsonville Church. The wedding took place on Emily’s birthday. Following Emily’s death in 1900, he married Narcissa Verline Carter on September 21, 1905.

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

After the Civil War, he returned to his farm near Muddy Creek, South Carolina, and resumed his Methodist ministry at Muddy Creek and Old Johnsonville.

One of his granddaughters, Lillian Maude Buck McDaniel, recalled that, as a child, her mental image of God incorporated some of her grandfather’s characteristic features: his strong but kind face, leonine head of white hair and beard, and authoritative tone and demeanor. She remembered him praying at home and in church, where he knelt despite his injured knee and addressed the Lord in a manner that she believed elicited a readier response than most mortals were privileged to receive. She also remembered that he prayed so earnestly that he sometimes lost track of time and had to be nudged by his wife when others began to tire.

At Christmastime, Huggins personally poured the Christmas syllabub. He was also known for his good wines, which he dispensed judiciously.

Huggins enlisted in Company K, 6th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, at its organization under Capt. W. S. Brand of Clarendon on April 22, 1862. Except for several months of recuperative furlough, he served with the company until the surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

He was wounded in the right knee by a Minié ball at the Second Battle of Manassas on August 30, 1862. His name appears on a list of prisoners taken and paroled at Warrenton, Virginia, on September 29, 1862. After recovering at home, he was assigned to detached service with the Commissary Department in Williamsburg County and reported to J. B. Chandler. He remained 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. An article about the celebration appeared in The County Record on June 25, 1908.