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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Green | free man of color | September 17, 1859 | at the Williamston Hotel | Homicide | arsenic |
John Sulivan | December 17, 1859 | at B. D. Garison's residence | Suicide | laudanum | |
Mary M. Williams | March 20, 1860 | at William William's residence | Suicide | ||
Cyrus | slave | September 15, 1860 | at the shanty [?] upon the grounds of the Blue Ridge Rail Road Company at Anderson | Accident | train |
Thomas W. Harrison | November 23, 1860 | At Pendleton | Homicide | pistol | |
Thomas J. Geer | November 23, 1860 | Thomas J. Geer's residence | Accident | ||
Unknown | April 15, 1861 | At Pendleton | Accident | laudanum | |
John Hayne | May 16, 1861 | At the house of Capt. John Hayne | Suicide | rifle | |
Meredith Crawford | July 3, 1861 | At the residence of Meredith Crawford | Unknown | ||
Alfred | runaway slave | June 16, 1862 | At Williamston | Homicide | |
Jack | slave | September 4, 1862 | at Mrs. Ann Johnson's residence | Homicide | pistol |
Jane | slave | March 10, 1863 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | |
John Brownlee | June 7, 1863 | at Williamston | Natural Causes | ||
infant | March 10, 1865 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | ||
Samuel A. Geer | January 15, 1866 | at David Geer's House | Homicide | metallic instrument | |
Amaziah Payton | colored man of New York | July 20, 1866 | at the house of Richmond Payton | Homicide | pistol |
John G. Gorley | July 26, 1866 | Homicide | rope | ||
Hutson B. Sulivan | August 13, 1866 | at Kely Sulivan's [?] residence | Suicide | rope or cord | |
Charles Kelly | August 14, 1866 | at the town of Anderson | Homicide | razor | |
Sloan | freedman | November 19, 1866 | At Williamston | Accident | |
W. A. McConnell | January 30, 1867 | at Belton | Suicide | pocket knife | |
Clarissa Campbell | freedwoman | March 29, 1867 | at the residence of Sarah Campbell | Natural Causes | |
Franklin A. Ragsdale | July 23, 1867 | at the house of Franklin A. Ragsdale | Unknown | ||
Hardy McKinney | freedman | July 28, 1867 | at an old field near F. Wyne's | Natural Causes | |
John H. Megill | September 22, 1867 | at J. D. Tucker's | Unknown | ||
Freedwoman | Freedwoman | October 23, 1867 | at Anderson Court House | Homicide | |
Jacob Cromer | December 4, 1867 | at the residence of Jacob Cromer | Accident | mule | |
infant | January 13, 1868 | at Anderson Court House | Natural Causes | ||
Gabriel Hill | Colored | April 28, 1868 | on the plantation of John N. Wilson | Suicide | |
Abram Clement | October 6, 1868 | at Martin Williamston's residence | Accident | ||
Henry Cobb | December 16, 1868 | at Warnock's Crossing on the Anderson Branch of the Greenville & Columbia Rail Road | Other | ||
Charity Norris | May 29, 1869 | at B. F. McGee's residence | Homicide | ||
Elias Smith | August 24, 1869 | in the county of Anderson | Natural Causes | ||
William McCode | January 20, 1870 | at Luke McCoy's [?] | Accident | ||
Fanny Payton | colored woman, free from birth | June 20, 1870 | at residence of Harry Gallard[?] | Natural Causes | |
John Saylor | August 6, 1870 | at or near the Ridge road near E. R. Cobb's residence | Natural Causes | ||
infant | November 27, 1870 | at William Stuart's residence | Natural Causes | ||
white child | white child | January 20, 1871 | at Wilson's Bridge | Homicide | |
Adeline Agnew | May 14, 1871 | near the residence of Ephraim R. Cobb | Homicide | knife | |
George Hammond | June 24, 1871 | at Provosts Mill Pond | Accident | ||
Eli David Junkins | July 24, 1871 | at or near the hosue of John Martin (colored) near Richard Robinson Mill | Accident | shotgun | |
John Calhoun Clemson | August 11, 1871 | at Pendleton | Accident | train | |
Caroline A. Kinnan | January 13, 1872 | at L. C. Neals[?] | Unknown | arsenic | |
P. W. Morris | April 27, 1872 | at Anderson Court House | Suicide | ||
John W. Meeks | May 4, 1872 | at Brown & Rice's Mill | Homicide | ||
infant | June 12, 1872 | Homicide | |||
Nancy Drake | August 21, 1872 | at Mrs. Elizabeth's Anne Keaton's | Suicide | ||
Bill Reese | December 12, 1872 | at Pendleton | Homicide | knife | |
Robert H. Pettigrew | December 27, 1872 | at James H. Wiles house | Homicide | knife | |
infant | January 23, 1873 | at residence of M. A. Snipes | Natural Causes |