https://johnsonvilleschistory.org/files/original/98748cea1263293f51f51e37c3fa0e22.pdf d287acb08113402270c0ced5595bfdb8 PDF Text Text I • Vol. 3 No. 20 Hemingway, S. C., 29554 Thursday, January 15, 1976 10 i'' ages 1 s· '•• • l Our Human Heritage ers • ( ( ( •· 1rs • • I I ( touched the pretty things. The male of the family pretended to be above such ... - • - . , • • Old Johnsonville School Singing Class · Above are member.s of the Old Johnsonville School singing class, the area's first graded school. The photo, taken about 1906 includes: first row center, unknown: second row seated, left to right: Blondelle (Cockfield> Johnson, Kenneth <Huggins> Calhoun, girl on right, wiidentifled; standing,left to right, not Including woman In center: Leah (Eaddy) Mercer, Lessie (Cannon) Ingraham; Eva <Venters> Grimbal,, Ethel Chandler <music teacher from Virginia), Alma Chapman, Fairy <Huggins) Cox and Ela Cannon ~who became a missionary). Standing, center of groupl Alberta (Flowers) Shine Clapp. <Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles by Mrs. Elaine Eaddy dealing 'With the history and heritage of some of the early families of the Hemingway.Johnsonville area. The series called ••our Human Hedtage•• Is being published every two weeks.) ' • ~ 1 t By E. Y. EADDY Note: The first portion of this story is largely drawn from the family chrOJlicle of the late Mrs. Elii;aheth Waddell Eaddy. The latest kitchen convenience was the Home Comfort stove. The salesman came through in a spring wagon with a i:ange on its back. He dramatically demonstrated his product's unbreakable quality by hurling the stove lids to the ground. Then the oven door was let do\vn 'and the horse led up to place his front feet on the door. These demonstrations effectively convinced the prospective customer of the lasting value of the Home Comfort range. Its most esistable feature, however, was the cooper lined reservoir at its side, ueping a quantity of water hot for many "'lies. These ranges cost $175" and were ~id for in inst.ailments. Plodding down the . i:oad at fairly ular in wu Wu-k skinned WfttJ,a · hlatjq)r wa.the d1er I tl ~ ~Qc paJ:)t th ~ w;itlop• tP • r11, 111o!ib 1rigaos, bead$, ~vp,,_e, ginghttm and ~-)'Eld the ~ck -'· · ~ childishneirs. • The peddler, usually an Italian, was a shrewd fellow, however, and when he saw the wife's attention fixed on some piece of ''finery ' ' he usually talked at the man, swiftly cutting his price and extolling the quality of this wonderful bargain . SeldQm did he miss making a sale. Most of the peddlers followed the same route year after year, penetrating into the most remote habitations , knowing byways and paths that few others ever traveled. There was then the tinker, who could often be heard before he was seen . He came in a little cart of covered van or by horseback, the new pots and pans that he carried clattering loudly in his pack. He also carried solder and soldering iron for mending holes in old pots and pans. The housewife brought out her worn out kitchen utensils, and watches while the tinkei; mended them. She also sought news of distant . neighbors and friends whom the tinker might have visited recently. . Still another visitor sent a thrill of both excitement and fear through the hearts of · those he visited. He was a swartny man with black, unkempt hair and beard and flashing white teeth. At the end of a chain shuffled his dancing bear, the source of his livelihood. The bear performed a few tricks, and then the owner took up a collection. Nearly everybody gave a few pennies. They felt a sense of pity for this strange foreigner without a home. They had little, but this man had less. He and his bear usually spent the night in the open. If the weather was rough, he sometimes received permission to sleep in a barn. So unprepossessing was this foreigner that all breathed a sigh of relief when he moved on. . At the beginning of this century there were several settlements having some potentiality for growth. In Johnsonville, S. B. Poston had a large mercantile business, not only supplying the necessities of life in his store, but operating a lien business, supplying farmers with fertilizer, dry goods and groceries and taking a lien on the next year's crop or mortgage on the fann itself. At Lambert's, W. Hemingway and Co., which engaged in bitsiness under several other titles,~ Poston's COl•nterpart. '!he l:l~ingway family was to have a fa.r~ effect on the area's history. At this time, however, Lambert't was bot ane of several general stor-es, post offices and 1eatteriag of farms and bor11es. Such a settlem~nt was at Rhem's e¥t of Laniber.t · H«~n west of c. .J~ ~- ; OJ.d:.J~Dlt\Jl\ri*i v'jJJe itp4 iifd ere~ ...., ~~ Q: .~ eOtl tbeP~ ~ Tri chlll'Cbea it 8Y ·&; however, it had contacts denied this area through a railroad. The money crop ' of1lie-ti ii'ie--cotton--had to be shipped by boat to Georgetown and sold there. Only the post office department seemed active . Many tiny post offices were reaching out from Lake City. One carrier had the contract for a round trip he could make in one day. Of most interest in the development of Old Johnsonville was the Venters Post Office established a t Ard's Cross Roads when N. M. Venters charted a route and signed a contract to carry the m.ail between Lake City and Ard's Cross Roads , which was thereafter for a time called Venters. With a church already located at Old Johnsonville, almost indistinguishable from Ard 's Cross Roads, at least three progressive men had a visionof a better school than the one room, one teacher peripatetic institution that educated the area's youth for 50 years. These men were S. B. Poston at Johnsonville, Jeff Rollins at Venters and Dr. Hemingway at Lambert's. They envisioned a comfortable and spacious building, of classifying the children into grades, of bringing college graduates into the community. Their dream began to be realized in 1902, when the upstairs of the Belin Store at Ard; 's Cross Roads was partitioned into three classrooms and a principal and two teachers undertook ciassifyiilg the pupils into six grades. Dr. Hemingway, Rollins and Poston were elected trustees and served as long as Old Johnsonville was the center of the • • community, some 24 years. Miss Cora Huggins was one of the teachers. She was not -only a ''home'' girl, but a college graduate and took an even greater interest in the school than did the other teachers. During the first year, through her efforts, the teachers worked up and presented three entertainments which netted her sufficient funds to buy a piano for·the school. The Old Johnsonville School was built on the church grounds. Money for the building was raised largely by. 1 subscriptions. Money for equipment was raised through entertainments aod suppers. For three years the school was taught in the Belin Store, and then wu moved into the new building. The first year these fm•r teachers were enga~ and the student body grew rapidly. Ita first class of seven graduated in l!M11 (rwn the- tenth grade. · Among the teachers In this first $4>called graded school of ~ area were at least two unusually able women. TbQ were Miss Cora Ht1ggins mentiOllilCl above and Mrs. RQsa Belle CEa Woodberry Dickson. <;ora Estelle lluggins W.t• ter of Robert '11~ June 8, 18", ~- ~ ~ EJl:r.a'l.>eth ~ 1851, 4ied M8tch 6", ~w<!i,Bbo .N91. 4, t • I J • I • ( •' Old Johnsonville School Above are members of Old Johnsonville School. First row, left to right: Lillian <_Cockfield> Powell, Myrtle (Poston) Redfern, Eva Venters Grimbal. Second row kneeling, left to right: Hattie <Newell) Cribb, Sue <David) Ginn, Myra Owens . Third row standing, left to right : Eunice (Huggins) Brown, Professor Solomon Henry Brown a nd Zelma Ginn. I ea's First. Grade School Continued from Page I Jan. 10, 1916. Rosa Belle Eaddy was born of that college in 1900. She taught school August 11, 1868, and died Nov. 26, 1953. for several years. On June 10, 1909, she She was twice married, first to Wattie married Dr. Liston Bass Johnson of Gamewell Woodberry, and second to R. Georgetown County, a widower with two B. Dickson. children, One son, Allen Huggins Some of her former pupils, now Johnson, was born to this couple. nearing 80, remember her as a creative Mrs. Johnson studied at Pratt teacher who was also principal, pianist, Institute School of Library Science, music director,and reformer who Brooklyn. N. Y ., receiving her banished the common dipper from the certificate there in 1929. From 1929 to school room and had each child furnish 1935 she was assistant librarian and his own tumbler or cup. She played the instructor in library science at the piano for church serv!ces at Old University of South Carolina and from Johnsonville, taught a Sunday School 1929 to 1931 librarian of Caroliniana. A class, and served a term as biographic~! sketch of Cora Huggins Johnsonville's only woman mayor who Johnson appears in Who's Who In may also have been the first woman Lirbary Science in 1933. mayor in South Carolina. Rosa Belle Eaddy was the daughter With all this, she reared four sons, ~·enr.y,..Edi~on Eaddy ,,botn ,Mar.ch 8.,_ _....1two of whom wpre-gr~~es of th,e S. 1832 1 died June 21 1 1912, and Eliza Louisa Military A~d~ an4 '*h ~en Ann Huggins, born Mary 3, 1834 and died note. ( 4 I I I ~ ·t s • � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Weekly Observer Description An account of the resource The Weekly Observer was published out of Hemingway, SC from 1973 until printing ceased in 2012. The paper continues as an e newpaper on scnow.com Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-2012 Subject The topic of the resource Local Newspaper covering the Johnsonville and Hemingway communities. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Area's First Graded School Was Old Johnsonville, 1-15-1976 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1-15-1976 News Newspaper Weekly Observer