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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim Mason | free man of color | January 9, 1850 | near the residence of William Poole | Accident | |
Mary Magdalene Saxton | December 6, 1876 | at the house of Enoch Saxton | Unknown | ||
Barbary Havard | wife of Mark Havard | November 5, 1840 | in the house of Mark Havard | Suicide | |
Patsy Wilson | colored free woman | June 17, 1857 | at the residence of Robert Wilson | Suicide | |
Lena Hutchinson | October 20, 1873 | Accident | |||
infant | June 12, 1872 | Homicide | |||
John Edmonson | July 26, 1854 | near the road leading from Anderson Court House to the Double Branches. | Other | ||
Anna G. Cason | June 10, 1883 | at Williamston | Natural Causes | ||
Charity Bozeman | June 11, 1880 | at the house of Aby McAlister | Natural Causes | ||
John Williams | February 9, 1879 | at the house of Newton Perry [?] on the plantation of Thomas Cox | Natural Causes | ||
Sarah McCulley | wife of Barney McCulley | September 1, 1841 | at the house of Barney McCulley | Accident | |
Mary May | April 14, 1854 | at J. W. May's | Natural Causes | ||
John Maddox | June 15, 1881 | at Williamston | Accident | ||
Harry | slave | December 17, 1855 | at Jesse Gray's residence | Natural Causes | |
James Jenkins | May 30, 1875 | at Robert Spence's [?] Mill | Accident | ||
Mary Waters | March 20, 1883 | at or near the residence of Thomas J. Reynolds | Unknown | ||
William McCode | January 20, 1870 | at Luke McCoy's [?] | Accident | ||
female daughter of | female daughter of | November 28, 1841 | at graveyard at Hammonds Old Field | Homicide | |
Elias Smith | August 24, 1869 | in the county of Anderson | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | slave | October 5, 1854 | at the plantation of James W. Harrison | Suicide | |
Peter Williford | May 2, 1876 | at Daniel Williford's | Natural Causes | ||
Beller McAlester | March 11, 1876 | at house of deceased | Natural Causes | ||
Israel | slave | November 3, 1845 | on the plantation of David Gentry | Natural Causes | |
male infant slave | male infant slave | July 10, 1851 | at Jacob Pickle's | Unknown | |
infant | January 23, 1873 | at residence of M. A. Snipes | Natural Causes | ||
infant | March 30, 1874 | at Silas Kay's | Unknown | ||
Robert Brownlee | July 26, 1883 | at Seneca River | Accident | ||
Sally Williams | July 19, 1880 | n.a. | Natural Causes | ||
Charity Norris | May 29, 1869 | at B. F. McGee's residence | Homicide | ||
infant | November 27, 1870 | at William Stuart's residence | Natural Causes | ||
Anthony | slave | July 2, 1853 | at Samuel J. Hannond's plantation | Accident | |
Harry | slave | July 7, 1855 | at Pendleton village | Natural Causes | |
Freedwoman | Freedwoman | October 23, 1867 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | |
Hardy McKinney | freedman | July 28, 1867 | at an old field near F. Wyne's | Natural Causes | |
P. W. Morris | April 27, 1872 | at Anderson Court House | Suicide | ||
Mary M. Williams | March 20, 1860 | at William William's residence | Suicide | ||
Abram Clement | October 6, 1868 | at Martin Williamston's residence | Accident | ||
John Dean | December 29, 1848 | on the publick [sic] road leading from William McMurry's, Esq to J. L. Kenedy's | Accident | ||
Caleb Chappell | January 22, 1835 | at or near house of John Ledbetter | Other | ||
Samuel | Negro Man | Accident | |||
Frances Pagett | April 15, 1853 | at William Pagett's | Natural Causes | ||
Nancy Drake | August 21, 1872 | at Mrs. Elizabeth's Anne Keaton's | Suicide | ||
John Brownlee | June 7, 1863 | at Williamston | Natural Causes | ||
John H. Megill | September 22, 1867 | at J. D. Tucker's | Unknown | ||
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 | ||
Mary Thompson | June 12, 1878 | Accident | |||
Gabriel Hill | Colored | April 28, 1868 | on the plantation of John N. Wilson | Suicide | |
George C. Mitchell | September 19, 1874 | at residence of Marion Mtchell | Suicide | ||
Bonaparte Bates | March 26, 1856 | at the Fuller old field | Accident |