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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joseph Poor | December 17, 1857 | at William Holand's residence | Other | ||
Franklin A. Ragsdale | July 23, 1867 | at the house of Franklin A. Ragsdale | Unknown | ||
Fanny Payton | colored woman, free from birth | June 20, 1870 | at residence of Harry Gallard[?] | Natural Causes | |
Sam Williams | May 30, 1876 | in the streets of Pendleton | Homicide | ||
white child | white child | January 20, 1871 | at Wilson's Bridge | Homicide | |
Strather Freeman | March 2, 1876 | at Flat Rock Church | Natural Causes | ||
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 | ||
Aaron Hardin | June 24, 1845 | at plantation of Mr. Moses Chambles | Accident | ||
Thomas Dalton | February 8, 1882 | at Williamston | Accident | ||
Daily Thompson | December 8, 1876 | at Daniel Thompson's | Suicide | ||
Robert L. Elmore | at sawmill | Homicide | |||
Jane Laniere | August 13, 1880 | at the residence of G. B. Whiton | Natural Causes | ||
Sarah Martin | July 14, 1844 | at residence of Mrs. Sarah Martin | Natural Causes | ||
Lila Gambrell | October 21, 1875 | at the house of Ran Duckworth | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas D. Cook | April 10, 1854 | at Stover's Ferry on Savannah River | Accident | ||
John M. Bonds | December 16, 1850 | at Isom R. Bond's | Natural Causes | ||
Martha Morris | January 9, 1881 | at the residence of Warren Morris | 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 | ||
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 | ||
Thomas J. Geer | November 23, 1860 | Thomas J. Geer's residence | Accident | ||
Clarissa Campbell | freedwoman | March 29, 1867 | at the residence of Sarah Campbell | Natural Causes | |
Patsy Wilson | colored free woman | June 17, 1857 | at the residence of Robert Wilson | Suicide | |
infant | June 12, 1872 | Homicide | |||
Lena Hutchinson | October 20, 1873 | Accident | |||
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 | ||
Jim Mason | free man of color | January 9, 1850 | near the residence of William Poole | Accident | |
Barbary Havard | wife of Mark Havard | November 5, 1840 | in the house of Mark Havard | Suicide | |
Mary Magdalene Saxton | December 6, 1876 | at the house of Enoch Saxton | Unknown | ||
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 | |
Mary Waters | March 20, 1883 | at or near the residence of Thomas J. Reynolds | Unknown | ||
James Jenkins | May 30, 1875 | at Robert Spence's [?] Mill | Accident | ||
Sarah McCulley | wife of Barney McCulley | September 1, 1841 | at the house of Barney McCulley | Accident | |
John Williams | February 9, 1879 | at the house of Newton Perry [?] on the plantation of Thomas Cox | Natural Causes | ||
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 | ||
female daughter of | female daughter of | November 28, 1841 | at graveyard at Hammonds Old Field | Homicide | |
William McCode | January 20, 1870 | at Luke McCoy's [?] | Accident | ||
male infant slave | male infant slave | July 10, 1851 | at Jacob Pickle's | Unknown |