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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daniel Brown | October 8, 1881 | at the plantation of Willis Watkins | Natural Causes | ||
Truman Miles | October 22, 1839 | at Anderson Courthouse | Accident | ||
Olin Smith | Natural Causes | ||||
John Saylor | August 6, 1870 | at or near the Ridge road near E. R. Cobb's residence | Natural Causes | ||
Lewis Green | free man of color | September 17, 1859 | at the Williamston Hotel | Homicide | arsenic |
Caroline A. Kinnan | January 13, 1872 | at L. C. Neals[?] | Unknown | arsenic | |
Allen S. Barksdale | June 23, 1876 | at the house of Robert A. Gray | Homicide | axe | |
Reuben Parker | August 22, 1830 | at house of Edwerd Sherman | Homicide | chair | |
Celia King | September 8, 1857 | at Peter King's residence | Suicide | hank of cotton thread | |
John Vandiver | March 28, 1845 | at residence of Daniel Gentry | Accident | horse | |
Edward Whitt | March 1, 1846 | near John Baurman's | Accident | horse | |
Bill Reese | December 12, 1872 | at Pendleton | Homicide | knife | |
Adeline Agnew | May 14, 1871 | near the residence of Ephraim R. Cobb | Homicide | knife | |
Robert H. Pettigrew | December 27, 1872 | at James H. Wiles house | Homicide | knife | |
Nelson Right | September 6, 1873 | at or near...Darm Creek | Homicide | knife | |
Ephraim Mayfield | April 1, 1847 | at the plantation of Ephraim Mayfield | Suicide | knife | |
James Hembree | September 24, 1835 | at the house of Jesse Hembree | Homicide | knife or dirk | |
John Sulivan | December 17, 1859 | at B. D. Garison's residence | Suicide | laudanum | |
Unknown | April 15, 1861 | At Pendleton | Accident | laudanum | |
Sam Burton | December 9, 1876 | Accident | laudanum | ||
Matthew Gambrell | August 12, 1843 | at James Mattison's | Suicide | manilla rope | |
Samuel A. Geer | January 15, 1866 | at David Geer's House | Homicide | metallic instrument | |
Jacob Cromer | December 4, 1867 | at the residence of Jacob Cromer | Accident | mule | |
Jack | slave | September 4, 1862 | at Mrs. Ann Johnson's residence | Homicide | pistol |
Thomas W. Harrison | November 23, 1860 | At Pendleton | Homicide | pistol | |
William Davis | June 11, 1881 | at Mr. Jeb Davis's residence | Suicide | pistol | |
Clara Burress | February 25, 1878 | at the house of Caty Burress on the plantation of Dr. A. G. Cook | Homicide | pistol | |
Robert H. Holliday | January 20, 1874 | at Calhoun | Homicide | pistol | |
Giles Guess | colored | February 2, 1882 | at the hosue of John Smith | Homicide | pistol |
Amaziah Payton | colored man of New York | July 20, 1866 | at the house of Richmond Payton | Homicide | pistol |
W. A. McConnell | January 30, 1867 | at Belton | Suicide | pocket knife | |
Will | slave | November 18, 1854 | at William Nevitt's | Homicide | rail |
Charles Kelly | August 14, 1866 | at the town of Anderson | Homicide | razor | |
John Hayne | May 16, 1861 | At the house of Capt. John Hayne | Suicide | rifle | |
John G. Gorley | July 26, 1866 | Homicide | rope | ||
Nancy Steele | December 11, 1842 | at the Poor House | Suicide | rope | |
Hutson B. Sulivan | August 13, 1866 | at Kely Sulivan's [?] residence | Suicide | rope or cord | |
John King | May 1, 1833 | at plantation of the deceased John King | Suicide | sharp pocket knife | |
Eli David Junkins | July 24, 1871 | at or near the hosue of John Martin (colored) near Richard Robinson Mill | Accident | shotgun | |
Moses | Slave | April 10, 1844 | at Clayton Webb's Plantation...near the Spring Branch | Homicide | shotgun |
Julia Long | November 22, 1883 | at the residence of David Long | Homicide | shovel | |
Jefferson Kitsinger | June 17, 1876 | at Broadway trestle on the line of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad | Accident | train | |
Anna G. Goodrich | November 10, 1881 | at Pelzer, SC | Accident | train | |
John Calhoun Clemson | August 11, 1871 | at Pendleton | Accident | train | |
T. J. Blaydon | November 30, 1878 | at or near Hugh Mahaffey's on the Greenville and Columbia Rail Road about two miles below Williamston | Accident | train | |
William Roberts | April 11, 1883 | at Belton in Anderson County | Accident | train | |
N. T. Hooper | November 7, 1881 | n.a. | Accident | train | |
Henry Thompson | June 17, 1876 | at Broadway trestle on the line of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad | Accident | train | |
Allen Johnson | June 17, 1876 | at Broadway trestle on the line of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad | Accident | train | |
N. W. Lafoy | June 17, 1876 | at Broadway trestle on the line of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad | Accident | train |