City Directories and History: Goodgions Mills (pronounced Goodjines) was formerly known as Allen’s Shoals, according to the late C. A. Power as contained in the History of Trinity Methodist Church compiled for the church’s special services on May 10,1934. The nearest to confirmation the writer could find is Records in the County Court House, Book N, Page 214, where Charles Allen and Others sold to Joseph Goodjoin (spelled Goodjoin and Goodgion in the records) 290 acres on Rabon Creek, on January 1, 1838. However, an item in the Report of Commissioners of Roads and Bridges for Laurens District, of December 11, 1856, would lead the writer to believe there were two separate mills. Quote: “October 6, 1856, to amount paid the same (S. Parks to pay J. F. Leopard and William Waddell) for removing raft from bridge at Allen’s Mill on Rabon Creek, $5.00”. In the same year, on January 7, 1856, “to amount paid W. A. Goodgion, for repairing bridge at Goodgions and removing raft from same, $10.88”; again, on September 25, 1856, “to amount paid R. S. Goodgion for removing raft from the bridge at Goodgions, $3.60.”
Leland Bolt, of the State of Oregon and formerly a resident of the County of Laurens, remembers Goodgions Mills being in operation around the turn of the century. Located one-half mile from the present Shiloh Methodist Church on South Rabon Creek, Mr. Bolt recalls family and group picnics held on the sandbars and wading in the shoals. William Spruell was the miller during Bolt’s childhood.
Mrs. Ernest Bramlett of Laurens, recalls going to Goodgions Mill in the late 1890’s, as a help to her father at busy harvest time. She did not know about the miller’s fee, or toll as it was called (one tenth of the ground product) and as she climbed into the buggy hardly large enough to lift the horse’s reins said in a very business-like manner—-“My father will pay you for this service on his next trip over.”
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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Also see this page: These PDF’s list was compiled as part of a study of grist mills in upcountry S.C. in 2005. The survey was conducted by Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. Researchers should recall that in 1880, many of S.C.’s counties had not yet been formed. Therefore, some grist mills as per this survey of 1880 will be listed in their original county locations, perhaps not in the current S.C. county location.
R&R Note: This list is certainly considered a great research project but it does not include many “locally” documented gist mills that operated during the late 19th century.
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