Anderson County, SC
Total population (1850): 32,318
Enslaved population (1850): 19,262
Percent enslaved: 60%
Extant nineteenth-century inquests: 153
Date range: 1830-1883
Percentage of violent crimes in county sample: 32% (49/153)
Anderson County was named for Robert Anderson, a Revolutionary War hero who helped wrest the land away from the Cherokee in 1777. The resulting cession was then broken into Pickens and Anderson Counties (technically Pickens and Anderson Districts) in 1826. Lacking a central county seat, Anderson Courthouse was built, which gradually became the town of Anderson, now known as 'The Electricity City' because it was the first in the country to have continuous power thanks to a water mill located in the high shoals. Like many counties in the area, Anderson became heavily invested in cotton and textile mills as the nineteenth century progressed.
Anderson County, SC Inquests
Name | Deceased Description | Date | Inquest Location | Death Type |
Death Method![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
male infant slave | male infant slave | July 10, 1851 | at Jacob Pickle's | Unknown | |
George C. Mitchell | September 19, 1874 | at residence of Marion Mtchell | Suicide | ||
Robert Brownlee | July 26, 1883 | at Seneca River | Accident | ||
George Hammond | June 24, 1871 | at Provosts Mill Pond | Accident | ||
Israel | slave | November 3, 1845 | on the plantation of David Gentry | Natural Causes | |
Gabriel Hill | Colored | April 28, 1868 | on the plantation of John N. Wilson | Suicide | |
Anthony | slave | July 2, 1853 | at Samuel J. Hannond's plantation | Accident | |
Smith | June 9, 1876 | near R. H. Anderson's Tanyard | Accident | ||
Harry | slave | July 7, 1855 | at Pendleton village | Natural Causes | |
infant | March 10, 1865 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | ||
Willis Watson | June 14, 1876 | at the river bank on Saulda one mile above Gambell old Bridge | Accident | ||
Charity Norris | May 29, 1869 | at B. F. McGee's residence | Homicide | ||
Jane | slave | March 10, 1863 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | |
John Dean | December 29, 1848 | on the publick [sic] road leading from William McMurry's, Esq to J. L. Kenedy's | Accident | ||
infant | January 13, 1868 | at Anderson Court House | Natural Causes | ||
Caleb Chappell | January 22, 1835 | at or near house of John Ledbetter | Other | ||
Samuel | Negro Man | Accident | |||
John Seawright | October 22, 1881 | on the public road leading from Craytonville to Anderson Court House | Natural Causes | ||
Mary M. Williams | March 20, 1860 | at William William's residence | Suicide | ||
Sloan | freedman | November 19, 1866 | At Williamston | Accident | |
Major Crawford | July 21, 1880 | at Anderson Court House | Accident | ||
Henry | slave | December 25, 1830 | on public highway from Pendleton to Pickensville [modern-day Easley] | Accident | |
Elizabeth McHolister | August 16, 1855 | at the house of Elijah McHolister | Natural Causes | ||
Eber B. Stevens | March 5, 1873 | at Pendleton | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Cobb | December 16, 1868 | at Warnock's Crossing on the Anderson Branch of the Greenville & Columbia Rail Road | Other | ||
John Brownlee | June 7, 1863 | at Williamston | Natural Causes | ||
David McClellan | November 27, 1857 | at residence of David McClellan | Accident | ||
Bonaparte Bates | March 26, 1856 | at the Fuller old field | Accident | ||
Truman Miles | October 22, 1839 | at Anderson Courthouse | Accident | ||
Olin Smith | Natural Causes | ||||
Daniel Brown | October 8, 1881 | at the plantation of Willis Watkins | Natural Causes | ||
John Saylor | August 6, 1870 | at or near the Ridge road near E. R. Cobb's residence | Natural Causes | ||
James Robinson | May 20, 1883 | n.a. | Natural Causes | ||
Franklin A. Ragsdale | July 23, 1867 | at the house of Franklin A. Ragsdale | Unknown | ||
Henry Davis | October 30, 1857 | at Anderson Courthouse | Accident | ||
Fanny Payton | colored woman, free from birth | June 20, 1870 | at residence of Harry Gallard[?] | Natural Causes | |
Strather Freeman | March 2, 1876 | at Flat Rock Church | Natural Causes | ||
Samuel McCulley | December 29, 1839 | in Broadway Creek | Accident | ||
colored | colored | April 24, 1874 | at Dr. J. A. Todd's | Accident | |
Peter Knox | July 23, 1878 | near Calrandellers[?] Ferry on Tugalo River | Accident | ||
John W. Meeks | May 4, 1872 | at Brown & Rice's Mill | Homicide | ||
Alfred | runaway slave | June 16, 1862 | At Williamston | Homicide | |
Samuel Ward | July 19, 1859 | at Church Cross Roads | Natural Causes | ||
Hewlet Swangum | July 21, 1883 | at Pelzer, SC | Accident | ||
Daily Thompson | December 8, 1876 | at Daniel Thompson's | Suicide | ||
Jane Laniere | August 13, 1880 | at the residence of G. B. Whiton | Natural Causes | ||
James Wilson | March 27, 1846 | at the house of Alexander Moorehead | Natural Causes | ||
Lila Gambrell | October 21, 1875 | at the house of Ran Duckworth | Natural Causes | ||
Morriss unknown | free man of color | January 7, 1858 | at Grief Tater's residence | Natural Causes | |
Clarissa Campbell | freedwoman | March 29, 1867 | at the residence of Sarah Campbell | Natural Causes |