“S.C. rural stores provided their clients banking, bartering, burial, medical, news, postal, and voting services.”

Two of the earliest store journals, found in the S.C. upcountry, were digitized by R&R in 2014. These are from the Lancaster County store of Mr. John Gettys, the store once stood on the old river road between Lancaster and Van Wyck, S.C.  R&R has provided select pages from the 1816 store journal for display.  Take notice many items were purchased with goods and services, no money was exchanged.  Weavers bartered with their cloth, farmers with their produce, etc.

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John Gettys took a second wife some time after the 1790 Census. Ann Thompson (c. 1775-1843) was probably from one of the local Thompson families who were neighbors in the Waxhaws.  Nancy Crockett’s papers at the South Caroliniana Library include a file showing an Ann Thompson, born in 1773 as a daughter of Robert Thompson and Jane (?) Thompson, who lived in the Waxhaws.  Further research should be done on this family to confirm this relationship.

John Gettys had a farm of approximately 524 acres in Lancaster County just south of Waxhaw Presbyterian Church.  The land is today along Riverside Road near where the L&C Railroad currently crosses it.  Nancy Crockett stated that John’s home may be one which is shown on Mill’s Atlas in the 1820s and is labeled “Pltn.” for plantation.  John operated a plantation store where many of his neighbors in the Waxhaws traded.  Some of the ledgers from this store operation were in the possession of the family of John Gettys Smith of Beaufort, South Carolina.  These ledgers have been placed in the South Caroliniana Library.  They are a valuable resource showing the names and accounts of many of the residents in the Waxhaw area in the early nineteenth century, and providing interesting insights into the mercantile practices of the era.

Both John and Ann are buried in the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church cemetery.  It is assumed that John was originally a member at Waxhaw, which had been established in 1755.  (Information written and contributed to R&R by Paul M. Gettys – 2016)

See comments at end of page!

Additional data on the family’s genealogy and history maybe read under the MORE INFORMATION link, found under the primary image.

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NAMES LISTED IN THE STORE LEDGER OF JOHN GETTYS – Dates in ledger range from 1816 to 1829

Widow Lethen or Window Lathan

Cabella (?) Barton

Richard Barton

John McCorkle

Mrs. Thompson

John Letham or John Latham

William Minton

Rebecca McCannon

John Lesslie

Sarah Mason

James Gettys

Mrs. Collans or Mrs. Collins

James McMurray

Moses Ward

John Mason

William Ross

Isaiah Thompson

John Causar or John Cousar

Margaret Bar

Randall Williams

James Thompson

George Gayon (?)

Jonathan Hood

William Nillson or William Nelson

John Reed

William Blair

Lee Barton

Capt. J. H. Witherspoon

William Dickey

James McTeer

Harper Blair

Sam Faulkner

Thomas Dunlap

Elizabeth Thompson

Sterling Chapman

John Blair

William Barton

Mrs. McGee

Agnes Forgison or Agnes Ferguson

Andrew Harper

Martha Higgins

Robert Thompson

James Moore

John Moore

John Rea

Elizabeth Wright

Martha Hood

Ellison Strawbridge

John Linn

David Lethem

James Taylor

Thomas Faulkner

Thomas McDow

James Ramsey

William Glenn

Thomas Barr

James Barton

Leeroy Vaughan

Nathaniel Craig

Martha Gettys & Ann

Peter Cassety

Allan Hood

Robert Crawford

William Roach

Thomas Ward

James Lessley or James Lesslie

John Cantzon

Mary Titus

James Faulkner

John Hutson

Mrs. Jane Simpson

Joseph Smith

Allen Anderson

Isaac Donnon or Isaac Donnom

William Harrell

Hugh Johnston

Mrs. Cantzon

Sarah Collins

Robert McTeer

Mary Mason

Samuel Robinson

Nenan (?) Montgomery

Galand (?) Hincher

Daniel Cantzon

Abner Bell

John Stewart

Sarah Taylor

Malinda Dunlap Hood (Dunlap is crossed out)

James Strain

Thomas Couser or Thomas Cousar

Eli Crockett

Andrew Crockett

Josiah Price

Andrew Linn

John Craig

Jonathan Craig

William Mason

David Letham or David Latham

John Stedman

William Dunlap

James McTear

Andrew Sprat

____ Bell

George Bell

____ Young

Hugh Black

John Huey

Emley McDow

____ Long

____ McCorkle

Robert White

William Mason

 

 

Note: Spelling of names is reproduced as is appears in the ledger.  Names are listed in order from beginning of the first ledger book to the end of the second.  When names are repeated, they have not been repeated in this list.

Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

 

FROM THE 1816 GETTYS STORE LEDGER