Joseph Newton Steele – A History

JOSEPH NEWTON STEELE by Miss Leila Steele, daughter Joseph Newton Steele was a grandson of Captain Joseph Steele who served under General Francis Marion during the Revolutionary War, and a great grandson of Archibald Steele, the 1st, also of Revolutionary fame. He was born on September 18th, 1833, three miles south west of Rock Hill, S. C., on the old Steele farm originally leased from the Catawba Indians in 1772. In 1858, he married Miss Martha J. Partlow, mother of E. Partlow Steele of Ebenezer, and grandmother of Earle Partlow Steele who served as 2nd Lieutenant in Company A, 18th Division in the American Expeditionary Forces during the World War.

War clouds were gathering in little Rock Hill, far-removed from most of the issues that were dividing the country, all of which leads to this question: Who is the York District area was orchestrating the rattling of sabers and the beating of drums?  The rank-and-file people of York District had no zeal for secession or for killing their Northern neighbors.  And, too, there was a large, strong group of York people who actively opposed Negro slavery, witness the anti-slavery ministry of William Cummins Davis of Yorkville and his fellow members of the Independent Presbyterian Church.  An examination of an account of the meeting to organize The York Rangers reveals that it was the leaders of the planter class who took charge of affairs: Col. Cadwallader Jones of “Mount Gallant,” Maurice A. Moore of Yorkville, the attorney Allen Robertson, Col. Edward Avery of Ebenezerville, Newton A. Steele, George Eli McDuffie Steele, Daniel Williams, and Capt. E. R. Mills. (Correspondence via Wm. B. White, Jr., to WBF 2007)

In 1861 he volunteered in Company H, 12th South Carolina Infantry, which became a part of the Army of Northern Virginia. This Regiment was known as the “Fighting Twelfth,” and he took part in all the battles in which his Regiment participated. In 1862, he came home on furlough and when he arrived, he found that his wife had been buried several days before. During the four years, he received only two wounds; the first on the 2nd of September, 1862 and the second on the 5th of May 1864.

After the war, he married Mary Brice Roddey, widow of Thomas Roddey, also and Confederate veteran and brother of Captain W. Lyle Roddey. She is the mother of Miss Leila Steele of Rock Hill, S.C. He lost his second wife in 1872. On December the 20th, 1883, he married Miss Sallie Miller, sister of Joseph H. Miller. There were no children to this union.

Mr. Steele was a charter member of the First Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill. S. C. and in 1912, he became a charter member of Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church of the same city. Altogether, he served these two churches forty-five years as Deacon. He died on October the 9th, 1917 and is buried in historic old Ebenezer Cemetery.
—Found in papers of S. D. Barron Chapter, U. D. C., Rock Hill, S. C.

The Herald reported on April 5, 1902 – “Mrs. J. Newton Steele and children have moved to the City. They are occupying a cottage on Hampton Street.”

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HOME OF CAPT. JOSEPH STEELE – Falls Rd., Rock Hill, S.C.)

HOME OF J. N. STEELE – Squire Rd., Rock Hill, S.C. (Walker’s 1910 Map)

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