The Yorkville Enquirer reported on May 30, 1878 – “A rudely constructed telephone line connects the stores of Carroll and Co., and W.B. Smith, a distance of about 100 yards.”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Oct. 7, 1880 – “In Clover, Jackson and Jackson and Campbell and Campbell each have large buildings in course of construction. The Jacksons are building a hotel for the accommodations of local boarders and commercial travelers.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on March 23, 1882 – “Mr. J.R. Barron is laying the foundation for a new residence west of the railroad in the upper part of Clover.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on July 3, 1889 – “The directors of the Clover Cotton Manufacturing Company have selected a site and are now seeking to drill a well to provide water for the factory. W.B. Smith is Pres. of the company.” The paper stated on Aug. 21, 1889 – “Mr. Rubin McCall has the contract for the brickwork on the factory. He is making about 100,000 brick per week.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on May 1, 1895 – “Mr. J.R. Barron of Clover was recently in Rock Hill soliciting subscriptions for the new cotton factory in Clover.”
City Directories and History: The Rock Hill Herald of May 23, 1889 – “Last week the Sec. of State, issued a commission to the Clover Man. Company. The capital stock is proposed for $50,000. in shares of $100. each. The plant will manufacture cotton yard, wraps, and cloth. The incorporates are: A.W. Harnett, T.P. Whitesides, P.E. Moore, D.M. Hall, D.J. Jackson, L.K. Armstrong, E.W. Pressly, W.B. Smith, J.R. Barron, J.F. Jackson, James Fitchett, all of York County. J.J. Wilson, of Gould, N.C.
The Board of Directors consisted of (June 29, 1889) -” Includes J.J. Wilson, L.K. Armstrong, T.P. Whitesides, J.F. Jackson, W.B. Smith, J.R. Barron, D.M. Wallace, Z. Carroll, and W.R. Stroup. Capt. W.B. Smith was elected President and erection of the building will begin soon.” Later the YV Enquirer reported on Dec. 25, 1889 – “The cotton mill in Clover is nearing completion. It is located about a quarter mile north of town and about forty years west of the railroad. The one story building has a total of 17,520 sq. ft., and includes a main building, picker room, engine room, and boiler room. The power for the new Franklin Machinery will be provided by a 100 HP corless engine. The cottages for the operatives are under construction with two completed and six to begin soon. ”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Jan. 7, 1891 – “The clover factory has met with such success that the stockholders have increased the capital stock to $75,000. They are ordering new machinery and will soon have the capacity of 8,000 spindles.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Feb. 18, 1891 – “Capt. W.B. Smith, Pres. of the Clover Manufacturing Co., was in Yorkville and reported his mill is meeting with great success and additional machinery has been ordered.”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on March 30, 1901 – “A contractor has been drilling a well for the Clover Manufacturing Co. the contract calls for a depth of 1,000 feet but he has been drilling through granite and has encountered very little water. The well can generate 10 gallons a minute, but the mill requires at least 50 gallons a minute. The mill may drill deeper on a new contractor or may add pumps. ”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on April 4, 1903 – “Another cotton mill is to be erected in Clover, making eleven mills in York County. Mr. W.R. Morton will be in charge of a new mill funded by northern capital. Mr. Morton for several years was Supt. of the Clover Mills.”
GRIST SHARES A LETTER FROM MRS. LAURA E. PARISH – (In his column “Just A-Rollin’ Along the Way,” Yorkville Enquirer editor, A. M. Grist shares a letter from Mrs. Parish. These excerpts come from the August 22,1933 column.)
…. Mrs. Laura E. Parish of Orange, GA., a native of York county and a former resident of York county and a former resident of Yorkville, recently wrote me some interesting information about old mills on Allison Creek, and also gave some interesting information about her ancestry.
‘My mother was Isabella Patton Carroll, a great-granddaughter of Major McConnell and his wife, who was Isabella Patton, of a Virginia family, and also a great-great-grand-niece of Joseph Carroll, who was born in the lowlands of Scotland between 1685 and 1688. He was an ardent supporter of the old Covenanter Presbyterian church. On account of troubles of a religious nature, when a very young man he moved to Ulster county, Ireland. There he married an Irish- Protestant girl. From this Scotch-lrish union was born about 1699, Joseph Carroll II, who married an Irish peeress, Lady Swonce and came with her to America and settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania. He paid taxes there from 1747 to 1754. He with the Allison family organized the Presbyterian church on Octararo creek.‘
With a large company he came to York district, South Carolina, in 1752.1 Pennsylvania records show where he obtained by grant 5,760 acres of land. Joseph No. 1 was a soldier of the Prince of Orange and was given this grant of land, said to have been a league square. This grant was never held by himself (Joseph No. 1), but by the law of primogeniture descended to his eldest son, Joseph No. 2, sixty years after the services were rendered for which it was given. The grants were for land in York district and in the Waxhaw section of Lancaster district (or county) near the then Indian nation. Out of this grant Joseph No. 1 surveyed 840 acres for a homestead on the headwaters of Allison creek in York district. His home was built on the south side of the creek, and 12 miles from the mouth of the creek in that day.‘
He built a mill near the house for the grinding of wheat and corn about 1754. The mill was in operation from that date until 1870. Joseph 2nd died in 1786 and was buried at Bethany. Joseph 3rd inherited the mill and homestead. He died in 1803 or 1806 and his grave is also in Bethany cemetery. Henry Carroll, eldest son of Joseph 3rd, inherited the homestead and mill and sold the property about 1847 or 1848 to John Peters, who divided it between his two daughters—Mrs. Allen Lawrence and Mrs. J. Frank Jackson. ‘Mrs. Lawrence owned the mill and it was in operation up to the time that it was destroyed by an incendiary fire in 1870 or thereabouts……
Mrs. Parish also tells of another old mill that was built about 1850 on the lower Bethel and Yorkville road, near the homes of the late William and Marshall Campbell and Lawson K. Arrmstrong. This mill was built by Jonathan Fitchett, who was killed in battle in 1862 and is buried in Bethel cemetery. After the death of his brother, the property was bought by James Fitchett (father of Mrs. Parish). It was a mill for grinding wheat and corn and sawing lumber. It was in operation through the seventies. In 1870 James Fitchett had a stone dam built by the best masons he could find—the late Messrs. Thomas O’Farrell and A. C. Cody. The rock dam was wide and was used as a bridge across the stream. (The writer remembers this old rock dam.) (Information courtesy of and from: YCGHS – The Quarterly Magazine, March 03)
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