City Directories and History: This abandoned 19th century farmstead, is indeed much older than it actually appears. The SCDAH survey suggests a date of ca. 1910, and Mintor House, identified by the Union Co. Historical Society suggests a ca. 1850 date. It is indeed similar to and consist with numerous other Gothic Revival structures featuring Bargeboard casings from the mid 19th century. However, this is one historic house which can’t be dated by looking at the exterior alone!
Stewart family historian, G.H. Stewart, Jr. stated, 2019 – “The Minter – Stewart house was originally a two room log house built around 1840 by a Dr. Bobo (Wm. Johnson Bobo). John Russell Minter bought the house – small farm after the Civil War, where he was boss. In 1881 a fire damaged the home, resulting in two deaths. The home was known as Sedalia.”
R&R NOTE: Sedalia, is like so many others across the Carolinas, having started as a simple cabin, (center section), with additions on both ends of the central house. It is clear this house predates the period of 1840. R&R’s preservationists would instead suggest a date of ca. 1790-1820, with subsequent additions and ornamental updates to the interior as well as the exterior. It is most unfortunate the dwelling is in extremely poor structural condition, and appears to have been neglected, for the past few decades. Yet it remains a wonderful piece of Southern architecture worthy of further study and preservation.
QUERIES FOR MEMBERSHIP INPUT:
- What was the name of the store across the street from the Minter House / who started it?
- Was this house the original Bobo house prior to Barrum Bobo’s construction of the brick Cross Keys home?
- Does the Tavern shown on Mill’s ca. 1820 map, in the same vicinity, have anything to do with this house?
- Are there earlier images of the house and Minter family images associated with Sedalia?
- Where were the foundations rocks quarried? They are identical to those from the Giles House. Perhaps the Hill’s Quarry at Carlisle?
- What other events in local history occurred and are associated with this home and the families it housed?
Click on Colton’s 1850’s Map and find Dr. Bobo’s House listed in Southern Union Co., the location of what became Sedalia. Comments always welcome at bottom of the page.
Recollections of G.H. Stewart, Jr. – 2019: Dr. Bobo, William Johnson Bobo (1800- 1863), owned the property around 1840. He built a two room log cabin and had a small farm. As slavery took a bigger foot hold in the area he had concerns. It is said he was a abolitionist. In the mid 1840’s there was a large movement to the west. He sold the farm and he and his family ended up in Panola County, Mississippi. (This is certainly consistent with the mass exodus of Quakers from the region due to their issues with slavery. The Quaker Meeting House was within a short walking distance of the Bobo home. Dr. Wm. J. Bobo was the son of local planter and businessman Barrum Bobo of Cross Keys Plantation of Union Co., S.C. who constructed his fine home about four miles west of Sedalia.)
The plantation was the center of commerce in Sedalia. I believe John Russell Minter, even built and supported, the Enoree Presbyterian Church down the street. The barn and store, across the street from the main house, I believe was the center of Sedalia. I went in there one time and saw carriages and a large long counter with mail slots behind on the wall. It was used as the Sedalia Post Office for decades.
The Minter family went bankrupt around 1928. My grandfather bought the farm from the bank for pennies on the dollar. The Minter family went to court to fight the sale but lost. The Stewart family owned the farm until the late 1980’s. My grandfather passed in 1973 and my grandmother in 1974. My aunt Elizabeth Stewart Hunter did her best to keep up the appearance of the farm house. The cost became to great and she reluctantly sold the farm house and property, it became a hunt club.
My grandfather William D. Stewart ( Willie David Stewart), was the Minter farm manager around 1910. In ca. 1913, there was an earthquake in South Carolina. It did some damage in that part of Union County. The old well house on the farm collapsed. The Minter’s told my grandfather to construct a well house to withstand an earthquake. What you see today is the well house he had built. Still standing 106 years later! When we went to the farm to visit, we would pitch pennies against the far corner of the well house with the local African American farm boys. We would always have a lookout for Papa Stewart. If he caught you gambling, he would switch you.
IMAGE GALLERY – 2019
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