Anderson County, SC
County Name:
Anderson
State:
South Carolina
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
Displaying 1 - 50 of 153
| Name | Deceased Description |
Date |
Inquest Location | Death Type | Death Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel | Negro Man | Accident | |||
| Olin Smith | Natural Causes | ||||
| Robert L. Elmore | at sawmill | Homicide | |||
| Bessie Gambrell | Suicide | ||||
| Reuben Parker | August 22, 1830 | at house of Edwerd Sherman | Homicide | chair | |
| Henry | slave | December 25, 1830 | on public highway from Pendleton to Pickensville [modern-day Easley] | Accident | |
| John King | May 1, 1833 | at plantation of the deceased John King | Suicide | sharp pocket knife | |
| Caleb Chappell | January 22, 1835 | at or near house of John Ledbetter | Other | ||
| James Hembree | September 24, 1835 | at the house of Jesse Hembree | Homicide | knife or dirk | |
| Jack | slave [runaway] | November 21, 1835 | at Andersonville | Accident | |
| Truman Miles | October 22, 1839 | at Anderson Courthouse | Accident | ||
| Samuel McCulley | December 29, 1839 | in Broadway Creek | Accident | ||
| Barbary Havard | wife of Mark Havard | November 5, 1840 | in the house of Mark Havard | Suicide | |
| Sarah McCulley | wife of Barney McCulley | September 1, 1841 | at the house of Barney McCulley | Accident | |
| female daughter of | female daughter of | November 28, 1841 | at graveyard at Hammonds Old Field | Homicide | |
| Nancy Steele | December 11, 1842 | at the Poor House | Suicide | rope | |
| Matthew Gambrell | August 12, 1843 | at James Mattison's | Suicide | manilla rope | |
| Moses | Slave | April 10, 1844 | at Clayton Webb's Plantation...near the Spring Branch | Homicide | shotgun |
| Sarah Martin | July 14, 1844 | at residence of Mrs. Sarah Martin | Natural Causes | ||
| John Vandiver | March 28, 1845 | at residence of Daniel Gentry | Accident | horse | |
| Aaron Hardin | June 24, 1845 | at plantation of Mr. Moses Chambles | Accident | ||
| Israel | slave | November 3, 1845 | on the plantation of David Gentry | Natural Causes | |
| Edward Whitt | March 1, 1846 | near John Baurman's | Accident | horse | |
| James Wilson | March 27, 1846 | at the house of Alexander Moorehead | Natural Causes | ||
| Ephraim Mayfield | April 1, 1847 | at the plantation of Ephraim Mayfield | Suicide | knife | |
| John Dean | December 29, 1848 | on the publick [sic] road leading from William McMurry's, Esq to J. L. Kenedy's | Accident | ||
| Jim Mason | free man of color | January 9, 1850 | near the residence of William Poole | Accident | |
| John M. Bonds | December 16, 1850 | at Isom R. Bond's | Natural Causes | ||
| male infant slave | male infant slave | July 10, 1851 | at Jacob Pickle's | Unknown | |
| Frances Pagett | April 15, 1853 | at William Pagett's | Natural Causes | ||
| Anthony | slave | July 2, 1853 | at Samuel J. Hannond's plantation | Accident | |
| Thomas D. Cook | April 10, 1854 | at Stover's Ferry on Savannah River | Accident | ||
| Mary May | April 14, 1854 | at J. W. May's | Natural Causes | ||
| John Edmonson | July 26, 1854 | near the road leading from Anderson Court House to the Double Branches. | Other | ||
| Sam | slave | October 5, 1854 | at the plantation of James W. Harrison | Suicide | |
| Will | slave | November 18, 1854 | at William Nevitt's | Homicide | rail |
| James Drake | December 7, 1854 | at residence of James Drake | Natural Causes | ||
| Harry | slave | July 7, 1855 | at Pendleton village | Natural Causes | |
| Elizabeth McHolister | August 16, 1855 | at the house of Elijah McHolister | Natural Causes | ||
| Harry | slave | December 17, 1855 | at Jesse Gray's residence | Natural Causes | |
| Bonaparte Bates | March 26, 1856 | at the Fuller old field | Accident | ||
| Edward Lawrence | March 29, 1856 | at Pendleton village | Accident | wagon | |
| Patsy Wilson | colored free woman | June 17, 1857 | at the residence of Robert Wilson | Suicide | |
| Celia King | September 8, 1857 | at Peter King's residence | Suicide | hank of cotton thread | |
| Henry Davis | October 30, 1857 | at Anderson Courthouse | Accident | ||
| David McClellan | November 27, 1857 | at residence of David McClellan | Accident | ||
| Joseph Poor | December 17, 1857 | at William Holand's residence | Other | ||
| Morriss unknown | free man of color | January 7, 1858 | at Grief Tater's residence | Natural Causes | |
| Sophia Hall | March 19, 1859 | at or near Samuel Martin's residence | Natural Causes | ||
| Samuel Ward | July 19, 1859 | at Church Cross Roads | Natural Causes |
