A link in the Jefferson Davis Trail
The night of April 29-30 Davis spent the night at the home of Mrs. J. R. R. Giles seven miles southwest of Union. At noon on April 30 dinner was eaten at the home of Mrs. Warren Davis at Cross Keys. On April 30th the group “watered their horses at the Riser House on the present Joanna-Whitmire road.” This was at the home of the N. A. Shouse family (in 1957). The group reached Martin’s Depot late in the afternoon of April 30. Sloan, James P. “Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy Passed Through Joanna in Flight from Yanks.” Joanna Way, February 1957, 9-11. This article was first published in The State Magazine, January 31, 1954.
A Double-Pile “I” House @ the Brick House Crossroads on the edge of Laurens Co., S.C.
City Directories and History: “A landmark on the Whitmire-Joanna Road is referred to by many in the vicinity as the Riser house and by others as the Shouse house.
It is believed that Doctor F. F. Calmes built the house in the early 1800’s. At any rate the Calmes family is said to have been living in the house around 1830. William Calmes, at the age of twelve, had accompanied his father to South Carolina, and they settled on property which was a part of a grant to a man by the name of Pennington. The property was willed by William Calmes to his son, F. F. Calmes, about 1782. Calmes who moved to the town of Newberry to practice his profession sold the property to Major Samuel Young.
Major Samuel Young, also a doctor by profession, was born in 1792 and died in 1865. The Major, great-grandfather of Mrs. Elizabeth Young Steadman of Laurens, was one of the five persons in Laurens County that owned more than one hundred slaves in 1860. Samuel’s father, Major Thomas Young, came to South Carolina from the Susquehanna River section of Pennsylvania. Both Thomas Young and his wife are buried in the cemetery of Duncan’s Creek Church.
The property passed from Major Samuel Young to his son, the Reverend William Young, a Baptist minister. He lived here until 1878. For a period of several years there is no record on the brick house. In 1903 it was purchased by the Riser family and it is still owned by their descendants, the Shouses.
Tradition says the house was a convenient stop for the stagecoaches and for a time it was used as such. Later it gained added prestige because the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, and his party rested and watered their horses at the brick house as they made their way from Cross Keys to Martin’s Depot (now Joanna) on April 30, 1865.
The house stands today, a large two-story brick building with its thick walls extending from the ground to the roof. It is said that plaster was applied to the bare bricks on the interior. The bricks were made on the grounds. During the latter years, the Riser family and then the Shouse family have kept the landmark a comfortable and attractive dwelling, thus preserving a distinct style of architecture which is fast disappearing.”
Information from: The Laurens County Sketchbook, Author – J.S. Bolick, 1973
“Smith, John of “Red Brick House” plantation. Born Mar. 15, 1795 (S.C.); married Jan. 1, 1817, Jane Franklin (Apr. 23, 1798-Dec. 7, 1838) and Mary Ann B. Hellams (died June 22, 1873) ; died Mar. 9, 1861. Church: Baptist. Public Service: State Representative. Slaves: 142 (Laurens District).”
“Young, Maj. Samuel of “Young’s Quarter” plantation. Born Aug. 15, 1792 (S.C.?) ; married Mary Young; died Apr. 9, 1865. Church: Presbyterian. Public Service: Major. Slaves: 138 (Laurens District).”
The Last Foray, C. Gaston Davidson, SC Press – 1971
The Brickhouse (Site 2167) is a second example of the double-pile I-house. The land on which the home sits was on property that was part of an early grant to a man named Pennington. The two-and-one-half story home was constructed by Doctor F.F. Calmes in the early 1800s using brick made on the creek near Stomp Springs. Calmes moved to Newberry to practice medicine and sold the property to Major Samuel Young whose family had relocated to South Carolina from Pennsylvania.
Young turned the once passive Brickhouse Plantation into a profitable operation, with approximately 100 slaves living and working on the plantation at the time of the Civil War. The property then passed from Major Young to his son Rev. William Young, a local Baptist minister who lived there until 1878. In 1903 the home was purchased by the Riser family and is still owned today by their descendants–the Shouses. Local legend says that the home was used as a stagecoach stop on the Whitmire-Joanna Road and gained prestige because Jefferson Davis stopped there briefly to water his horses on 30 April 1865.89 The Brickhouse was a local landmark. Located on the Laurens County/Newberry County border, the home sat at the intersection of Brick House Road and the Whitmire-Joanna Road. The rectilinear structure has a simple facade containing evenly spaced nine-over-nine, double hung sash windows with gauged arches and stone sills and a central entry door crowned with a fanlight and decorative arch. The home has paired exterior end chimneys and a stone foundation. Courtesy of the Architectural Survey of Eastern Laurns Co., S.C. – SCDAH 2003
R&R NOTE: I remember Mrs Bessie Riser Chase with her daughter, Isabel Chase Shouse, and her family living in the “Brick House”. Isabel’s husband was Newman Shouse. Her children are Alston, killed in an auto wreck, Elizabeth Ann S. Pitts (Chick) of Clinton, SC, and Thornwell (Mary Dale) of Whitmire, S.C.
Mr. Will Riser, Mr. John Riser, and Mr. Hugh Riser lived in Whitmire, S.C. The Shouse children attended the Whitmire schools and grew up in the Whitmire Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Chase and the Shouse family were also members.
Thornwell (Tony) Shouse and Mary Dale’s children are Alton (Jo) of Kinards, Susan Hunnicutt of Whitmire, Kay Roche (John) of Whitmire, and Ricky (Sally) of Clinton, S.C.
The Brick House is vacant and owned by Alton Shouse. (Information contributed by R&R user Willie Miller – 3/27/17)
General Area History: Laurensville lay between the two major routes from western North Carolina to the South Carolina markets at Augusta, Columbia and Charleston. Cattle and hog drivers as well as tourists in the antebellum period traveled from Asheville and the North Carolina interior on what was known as the Buncombe Turnpike, which connected to these trade roads in the South Carolina upstate. Farmers may have been able to sell their livestock or corn to the drovers, but the roads may have also increased social interaction with drovers and travelers, some who came from as far as Tennessee and Kentucky. While Laurens County farmers and merchants may have benefited from this relationship somewhat, their distance from these major trade roads meant that the town of Laurensville and other crossroad towns grew more slowly than they might have if they connected directly to these routes. Several communities in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century did develop along these roads, often organizing around a stagecoach stop or tavern, post office, or church. These communities or crossroads offered places to gather for mustering, political rallies or worship, but had few stores and most did not survive into the late 1800s. Bond’s Crossroads was one such stop. Located along present-day Highway 66 on the Laurens and Newberry County line, the Riser Brickhouse (site 2167) was constructed ca. 1830 and served as a stagecoach stop on the road from Whitmire to Martin’s Depot. Dr. F.F. Calmes constructed the house in the early 1800s using brick made on the creek near Stomp Springs. Calmes sold the home to Major Samuel Young around 1850. Young turned the Brickhouse plantation into a profitable operation, with approximately 100 slaves living and working on the plantation at the time of the Civil War. A map of Laurens County done by the Kyzer Hellams Company in 1883 shows the “Brickhouse” across from Liberty Post Office. (See 1856 enlargeable map of the Mountville Area, showing the Liberty Hall site. Courtesy of the New York J.H. Colton and Company, 1856; from Colton’s Atlas of the World )
Eastern Laurens County Historical and Architectural Survey, SCDAH – 2003
Furthermore: At the start of the Civil War, men in the eastern part of the county were mustered at Hamilton’s Old Field near Waterloo and at smaller community landmarks such as Hayes Station and the Brickhouse Plantation. At least 2,500 men from the county joined the Confederate Army. Although no battles were fought in Laurens County, residents suffered with other South Carolinians from the loss of family and friends, restricted access to food and supplies, and economic inflation. The war disrupted agricultural schedules and markets for years after as freedmen and women struggled to find their place in the new society, and former plantation owners resisted their loss of property.
Eastern Laurens County Historical and Architectural Survey, SCDAH – 2003, p. 15
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Ken Green says
This is a great bit of information to add to my bio of Major Samuel Young – thanks. There is one correction I have to mention however – his father was not the famous Revolutionary war hero Major Thomas Young – his father was actually Captain William Young. Major Samuel Young’s father William did indeed come from PA – he was born there in 1744, and he says so in his own words in his pension application. Samuel Young’s uncle Major Thomas Young, however, was a younger brother to William, and was born in South Carolina in 1764, after the family emigrated there from PA in the middle 1750’s. Both Major Thomas Young and Captain William Young in turn were sons of Thomas Young, Esq, born in PA about 1720, died in Laurens SC in 1791.
Willie Miller says
I remember Mrs Bessie Riser Chase with her daughter, Isabel Chase Shouse, and her family living in the “Brick House”. Isabel’s husband was Newman Shouse. Her children are Alston, killed in an auto wreck, Elizabeth Ann S. Pitts (Chick) of Clinton, SC, and Thornwell (Mary Dale) of Whitmire, SC.
Mr. Will Riser, Mr. John Riser, and Mr. Hugh Riser lived in Whitmire, SC. The Shouse children attended the Whitmire schools and grew up in the Whitmire Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Chase and the Shouse family were also members.
Thornwell (Tony) Shouse and Mary Dale’s children are Alton (Jo) of Kinards, Susan Hunnicutt of Whitmire, Kay Roche (John) of Whitmire, and Ricky (Sally) of Clinton, SC.
The Brick House is vacant and owned by Alton Shouse.