City Directories and History: “Farmington, ten miles north of Winnsboro on Wateree Creek, was purchased by Theodore Marion DuBose about 1836. Born in the low-country St. John’s Parish, a descendant of French Huguenots and kinsman of General Francis Marion’s brothers, Job and Gabriel, Mr. DuBose was a graduate of Yale College. Soon after his marriage to Jane Porcher, he and his wife moved to Winnsboro, living on Congress Street, where their son, William Porcher DuBose was born April 11, 1836. This son became the eminent Episcopal theologian and professor at The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. The house in which Dr. DuBose was bom on Congress Street has since been moved to College Street. Their son’s birth, that the elder DuBoses built Farmington, which became one of the important scientific farms of the up-country. In describing life at Farmington, Bishop Theodore DuBose Bratton, another Fairfield native, wrote in 1936, “The classics were the common possession of the household, often read aloud in the family circle of an evening. . . . The agricultural treatises were the Master’s study. . . . About the patriarchal family life, with its rounds of duties and happy social twilights, a steady religious influence was thrown by Mr. and Mrs. DuBose, and by their children as they grew in age and grace, through Bible reading and teaching, as by example in Godly living.”
Farmington was later the country home of General John Bratton after he married Betty DuBose, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Samuel DuBose, and sister of Dr. William Porcher DuBose. The Rt. Rev. Theodore DuBose Bratton, Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi, and head of St. Mary’s College, Raleigh, and Chancellor of The University of the South at Sewanee, was born here, the son of the former Betty DuBose and General Bratton. Farmington was the Brattons’ country home while Wynn Dee was their town house, near Mount Zion, convenient for their sons attending the College here in winter.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
“DuBose, Capt. Theodore Samuel of “Farmington” plantation and “Roseland” near Winnsboro. Born May 16, 1809 (S.C.); married Nov. 20, 1828, Jane Sinkler Porcher (Apr. 25, 1808-May 31, 1862); died Feb. 13, 1862. Education: Yale College (1825-27). Church: Episcopalian (Warden, St. John’s and St. Stephen’s, Fairfield District). Public Service: Captain; Commissioner of Free Schools. Other: Board of Visitors, Mt. Zion schools, member, S.C. Historical Society. Slaves: 204 (Fairfield District).”
The Last Foray, C. Gaston Davidson, SC Press – 1971
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