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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Smith | June 9, 1876 | near R. H. Anderson's Tanyard | Accident | ||
Henry Davis | October 30, 1857 | at Anderson Courthouse | Accident | ||
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 | ||
James Robinson | May 20, 1883 | n.a. | Natural Causes | ||
Jane | slave | March 10, 1863 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | |
Peter Knox | July 23, 1878 | near Calrandellers[?] Ferry on Tugalo River | Accident | ||
infant | January 13, 1868 | at Anderson Court House | Natural Causes | ||
Alfred | runaway slave | June 16, 1862 | At Williamston | Homicide | |
Samuel McCulley | December 29, 1839 | in Broadway Creek | Accident | ||
John Seawright | October 22, 1881 | on the public road leading from Craytonville to Anderson Court House | Natural Causes | ||
Sloan | freedman | November 19, 1866 | At Williamston | Accident | |
James Wilson | March 27, 1846 | at the house of Alexander Moorehead | Natural Causes | ||
Major Crawford | July 21, 1880 | at Anderson Court House | Accident | ||
Morriss unknown | free man of color | January 7, 1858 | at Grief Tater's residence | Natural Causes | |
Hewlet Swangum | July 21, 1883 | at Pelzer, SC | Accident | ||
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 | ||
David McClellan | November 27, 1857 | at residence of David McClellan | Accident | ||
James Drake | December 7, 1854 | at residence of James Drake | 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 | ||
Meredith Crawford | July 3, 1861 | At the residence of Meredith Crawford | Unknown | ||
Sam Williams | May 30, 1876 | in the streets of Pendleton | Homicide | ||
Sophia Hall | March 19, 1859 | at or near Samuel Martin's residence | Natural Causes | ||
Franklin A. Ragsdale | July 23, 1867 | at the house of Franklin A. Ragsdale | Unknown | ||
Joseph Poor | December 17, 1857 | at William Holand's residence | Other | ||
Fanny Payton | colored woman, free from birth | June 20, 1870 | at residence of Harry Gallard[?] | Natural Causes | |
Aaron Hardin | June 24, 1845 | at plantation of Mr. Moses Chambles | Accident | ||
Strather Freeman | March 2, 1876 | at Flat Rock Church | Natural Causes | ||
white child | white child | January 20, 1871 | at Wilson's Bridge | Homicide | |
Minnie Cason | June 9, 1883 | at Williamston | Accident | ||
colored | colored | April 24, 1874 | at Dr. J. A. Todd's | Accident | |
Jack | slave [runaway] | November 21, 1835 | at Andersonville | Accident | |
John W. Meeks | May 4, 1872 | at Brown & Rice's Mill | Homicide | ||
Samuel Ward | July 19, 1859 | at Church Cross Roads | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas D. Cook | April 10, 1854 | at Stover's Ferry on Savannah River | Accident | ||
Daily Thompson | December 8, 1876 | at Daniel Thompson's | Suicide | ||
Thomas Dalton | February 8, 1882 | at Williamston | Accident | ||
Robert L. Elmore | at sawmill | Homicide | |||
Jane Laniere | August 13, 1880 | at the residence of G. B. Whiton | Natural Causes | ||
Lila Gambrell | October 21, 1875 | at the house of Ran Duckworth | Natural Causes | ||
Sarah Martin | July 14, 1844 | at residence of Mrs. Sarah Martin | Natural Causes | ||
Clarissa Campbell | freedwoman | March 29, 1867 | at the residence of Sarah Campbell | Natural Causes | |
John M. Bonds | December 16, 1850 | at Isom R. Bond's | Natural Causes | ||
James Coleman | September 16, 1873 | at or near Mrs. Fantt's residence and one and 1/2 miles south east of Anderson | Natural Causes | ||
Martha Morris | January 9, 1881 | at the residence of Warren Morris | Natural Causes | ||
Bessie Gambrell | Suicide | ||||
George Norris | November 23, 1876 | at Anderson Courthouse | Natural Causes | ||
Joe Jenkins | October 8, 1881 | at the residence of Matilda Rud | Natural Causes |