“The Sharon Depot is nearing completion.” – Nov. 6, 1889 the Yorkville Enquirer. On July 16, 1890 the paper reported, “The Sharon Depot is finished and the railroad agent has taken possession.”
The YV Enquirer reported on March 20, 1889 – “Good and Plexico have placed in operation a shingle machine.” Also on this date the paper reported – “Mr. Joseph M. Plexico will soon move his family into his new house. Also, Mr. John B. Ross has moved his family into their new house.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Feb. 18, 1891 – “The second story of the Ross and Fuller Shop has been fitted up as a skating rink. The young people are enjoying this activity, despite frequent and sever contact with the floor.” The paper also reported – “Mr. John A. Graves now occupies his new house which only needs a few finishing touches.”
The YV Enquirer reported on Jan. 20, 1892 – “The PO at Bagdad in York County has been closed and mail for that point will now go to Sharon.”
The YV Enquirer reported on Jan. 31, 1894 – “The new school building at Sharon is nearing completion. Prof. Stanford is coming from Decatur Ga., to have charge of the school.”
On Sept. 25th 1895 the YV Enquirer reported – “Ratchford, Sims and Co., are adding 30 feet to their storehouse in Sharon.”
City Directories and History: On March 6, 1889 the YV Enquirer reported – “A new PO has been established at Sharon on the line of the 3CCC’s railroad and Mr. J.D. Hamilton has been appointed postmaster.”
John D. Hamilton (John H.), was first postmaster for town of Sharon and operated at the mercantile business of Hamilton & Carroll.*** In 1889 he was named as one of the Commissioners of the town’s first election for wardens and Intendants to be held 2nd of January 1890. At that election, he was voted in as one of the town’s wardens. Other Commissioners were: W. S. Plexico and J. H. Saye. In August 1889, the town hosted its first “picnic and day of fun and entertainment” in charge of the day were John D. Hamilton, Dr. J. H. Saye, Robert T. Riggins, and J. H. Sherer. In 1893 he was considered one of the town’s most eligible bachelors.
W. T. “Tom” Sims, one of the first two mail carriers for routes out of Sharon; W. Preston Youngblood was the other. Upon Sims’ retirement he was replaced with Grover Brown of Hickory Grove. Sims began carrying the mail 1 August 1904, one month before he was eighteen and served for thirty years in that capacity. When he and Youngblood began their routes they traveled some worst roads in Western York County. But, only a snow storm February 1921 hindered them from leaving town with the mail. At the time they had missed only four days in eighteen years. By 1924 the roads were so improved from a horse drawn vehicle to an automobile. During those thirty years he was off the job less than three months in total when laid-up by a case of mumps and a case of measles. Tom Sims he never had an accident and had used nine horses and one mule named “Kit, nine buggies and seven automobiles to make his rounds. When beginning his route was only twenty-four and one-half miles long and less than fifty boxes. When he retired, the route was forty-six mile long, with 175 box holders representing 1,454 people and required four hours by can to complete his rounds. In 1924 Tom Sims was elected President of the Farmer’s Mutual Telephone Company, and in 1937 he was elected to the Town Council. In December 1925 a drug inspector came to his drug store telling him that he could not sell household remedies such as aspirin and tea without hiring a pharmacist. Behind this crackdown was a union of pharmacists who were threatening to sue violators. Sims was given thirty days to comply or close the drug store. Understandably, Sims worried that his business would be ruined unless he hired a registered Pharmacist which he believed he could not afford. However he saw a way clear and remained in business for about fifty more years. [Contribution by J.L. West]
The Herald reported on March 7, 1889 – “A new post office was established in Sharon last week. Mr. John D. or H. Hamilton is the postmaster.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Jan. 21, 1891 – “Mr. William Smith, who for several months has been running a blacksmith shop at Sharon, left this week for his home in Smyrna.”
The Enquirer reported on Feb. 25, 1891 – “Mr. R.R. Plexico has bought the house and lot recently vacated by his brother, Joseph M. Plexico. ” Later on Sept. 25, 1895 the paper reported – “Mr. R.R. Plexico is adding two rooms to his dwelling.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on June 17, 1891 – “There have been big rains in the Sharon area. There is damage to Mr. S.M. Scott’s Mill property. The top portion of the dam washed away but the mill house was not damaged.” (R&R is unable to determine the location of Scott’s Mill.)
The Enquirer reported on Aug. 5, 1891 – “Ms. Eliza Scott is teaching school at the Carroll Building on Main Street.”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on April 19, 1899 – “Mr. Eli Ramsey has been appointed Postmaster at Sharon, S.C.”
The Rock Hill Record reported on Nov. 30, 1908 – “Sharon is growing. Within the past two years, there have been eight new residences, two livery stables, four mercantile stores, a barber shop, and a restaurant.”
The Rock Hill Record reported on March 29, 1909 – “News from Sharon. Mr. Sidney Grover has his handsome five room cottage just about finished. It is on the York Road, just beyond Mr. Purty Kennedy’s house. Mr. Grover and his bride will soon set up housekeeping.”
*** S.C. Postal History by Harvey Teal, 1989 states: Sharon Valley was begun as a post office in 1856 being operated by Postmaster, Andrew F. Love.
From the Western York County Gazetteer:
By December of 1888, the people around the budding community of Sharon were jubilant over the coming of the Charleston, Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad, or the “3C’s as it was best known. The tracks had reached Hickory Grove and it was just a matter of time before they reached the site of the new town and area formerly known as “Sharon Valley”. Great anticipation of an economic boom was being felt; two large store building were under construction; one by John L. Rainey and the other by R. M. Carroll. W. S. Plexico’s establishment was already doing a good business. Travel had increased and some were seeing the need of a board house for the community.
All of this activity was based on an agreement between the town fathers and the railroad officials that a depot with full facilities for passengers, freight and telegraph would be conveniently built to serve the town. At the time, no permanent depot had been constructed, but John L. Rainey had given six or seven acres of land for the site and a temporary depot had been placed there for immediate use.
Suddenly and without warning, the 3C’s dismantled the temporary depot and told the community leaders it had no plans, now or ever, to build a depot in Sharon. The town’s jubilant spirit was crushed! Disappointment turned to anger when a rumor began to circulate that the merchants of York had offered the railroad officials $10,000 to scrap their plans for a depot in Sharon.
Whether the rumor was true or not, it had a auspicious ring of truth and greed. The merchants of York could already see that Hickory Grove was in a tremendous boom because of a full-service depot had been built in the town. Three new stores had opened by the previous September and two more were soon to be in business. W. S. Wilkerson was completing his store, a twenty-five by seventy foot frame structure. T. M. Whisonant was building a large home in Hickory Grove and soon Jason Caulter would build himself a new home. Over seven-hundred bales of cotton had been purchased and shipped out of the Hickory Grove depot and the town was drawing business from the eastern portion of Union County, up and down the Broad River, as well as the far reaches of Western York County to the boundary of Cherokee County.
Undoubtedly the York merchants realized Sharon would be not an exception. Sitting on the edge of an economic boom, Sharon was becoming a magnet for the farming communities of Blairsville, Hoodtown, Bullock’s Creek, as well as much of the northwest region of Chester County. It was reasoned by the people of Sharon that the merchants of York feared a depot in Sharon could shift the center of economy further west than York hoped.
Three miles away, in Blairsville, the folks had shared Sharon’s excitement over the prospects of growth and prosperity. The Blairsville correspondent for the Yorkville Enquirer was indignant toward the businessmen of York concerning the possibility of their involvement to deny Sharon a depot. With fiery courage he lambasted them for their interference in Sharon’s progress and for their greed and lack of prudence. But the correspondent in nearby Hoodtown considered the businessmen of York too kind to be involved in such shenanigans. The editor of the newspaper expressed his appreciation for his friend in Hoodtown.
Blairsville remained allied with its neighbor to the north; and when a celebration was had in the town in the Spring of 1889, the Blairsville Cornet Band was there to supply music for the festivities. They were especially proud that Spring since they had purchased a new set of parson’s instruments in the preceding June and were ready with a full repertoire of music. The absence of the Hoodtown Brass Band was suspicious.
The town fathers made an appeal to the South Carolina Railroad Commission and had been promised the situation would be thoroughly investigated. The Summer of 1889 seemed to drag long and tedious as the little town waited for the final decision that could make it boom or bust. Since the temporary depot had been dismantled, anyone wishing to catch the train had to go out of Sharon to the water stop to board.
On the 19th of August the Railroad Commission arrived in Sharon to begin its investigation “of the sudden and previously unannounced withdrawal of railroad and telegraph facilities from Sharon.” Court was assembled in the new, but unfinished, store of S. S. Plexico. The citizens of Sharon were represented by W. B. Wilson Jr. of Rock Hill and D. E. Finley of York.
John Rainey testified that on the 24th of July, 1888 Dr. John G. Black of the 3C’s requested the people of the area to select a suitable and convenient location for a depot. He said they met the next day and selected a spot which was to be known as “Sharon.” He further testified that on the 25th of September, Major John F. Jones called on him at his home and secured a deed for six acres of land at the selected site. Major Jones told Rainey that he approved of the location, above “those d___d swamps and hills!” But Jones argued that he had obtained the land from Rainey only as a starting point for locating a depot; that it was their normal way of doing business and often did not use the titles they procured.
Testimony proved that the 3C’s had given the town officials every impression that a depot would be placed there and that numerous people had located their homes and businesses there because of that impression. Dr. John May Jr. testified that he would not have opened an office in Sharon if he had not been assured of a depot by Major James F. Hart, attorney. J. A. Thomas came forward with further proof that the 3C’s did have prior plans to build a depot on Rainey’s site. He told the Commission that timber for the Sharon Depot had already been delivered by a Mr. Arrowood, a contractor who had built the depot at Hickory Grove, as well as several others along the line.
It was further shown that when the 3C’s placed a temporary depot on the site proved they had plans for a more permanent one. It was proved that the depot was not there just for the convenience of the railroad construction, but that W. I. Moore, an agent for the railroad, had placed the car at the site and had functioned as agent and telegraph operator, selling tickets, receiving and loading freight, and given shelter to passengers the whole time.
As further proof that the area people believed the 3C’s would make Sharon a stop on the line, Colonel R. A. Johnson, General Manager of the Massachusetts & Southern Construction Company placed a letter before the Commission. The letter stated that the people of Bullock’s Creek Township had agreed to raise $15,000 for the construction of a depot. As a point of technicality, J. A. Hope testified that he had assisted in surveying the township lines and that Sharon did not fall in the Bullock’s Creek Township, but in the Broad River Township instead.
Dr. J. H. Saye supported Rainey’s testimony that the site was a good location for both the area people and the railroad, as it would be a center of trade for 15 square miles. It was estimated that about 5,000 bales of cotton would be shipped by rail in a season if the depot was located in Sharon. James Ross came forward saying shipments to and from Sharon had already amounted to $10,000.
The Commission came to a quick and swift decision. They were confident that the officials of the 3C’s had promised the town a depot on the line and they were in breech of that promise when they withdrew the plans. The town received a letter from M. L. Bonham Chairman of the Railroad Commission, dated August 31, stating if the 3C’s did not comply with their resolution to reestablish the depot in Sharon within sixty days, the matter would be placed in the hands of the Attorney General.
In compliance, a conference between the Town Committee and railroad representatives was held on September 17, 1889. At this meeting the representatives agreed to make Sharon a stop on the line and that a depot would be built by the town. With this news, the little village returned to a jubilant mood. Soon W. A. Robison and Robinson and Robert R. Plexico announced they would locate a furniture store in Sharon. The following October, William Lawrence Hill of Sandersville purchased a lot in Sharon with plans to relocate his mercantile business. By November, the depot was finished and the agent was in place. The boon was on again!
“Sharon (“Level Country”), 1796, York County. See Isaiah 35:1 and 2—“The desert . . . shall blossom abundantly . . . the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
GRIST GOES DOWN OLD PINCKNEY ROAD
(The following is taken from A. M. Grist’s weekly column, “Just A Rolling Along the Way,” published in the Yorkville Enquirer, Nov. 24, 1931.)
Coming out into the old Pinckney road near the Gourley place, formerly the Carroll place, where the Lockhard-Sharon road forks, we proceeded on down the pike .. . [once it was] one continuous mud puddle, worse some times than of others. The first improvement on that road, made more than thirty years ago, was by the chain gang under the superintendency of Clarence Mendenhall, now living in Charlotte. From that time onward the road to Bullocks Creek has been improved from time to time, the last spasm being made by the gang five or six years ago under the superintendency of Andy Parrott On we went down the road and presently reached the old house on the left of the road where Jim Warlick once lived with his family. He was a shoemaker and one of the best in the country. He used to make all my father’s shoes—low shoes for spring and summer wear and high-topped boots for fall and winter wear—
A little further on is the place where the late John L. Rainey lived when I first knew him and where he lived until he died. He was very much of a farmer and acquired considerable property in his day. He came back from the Civil War with little of the world’s goods, went to work, and worked, saved and got ahead _________
Across the road from the Rainey place Sam G. Carroll lives with his family and operates his farm. Been living there quite a good many years. Just below on the right, Mr. Rainey’s ginnery and mill was located, now gone. A few hundred yards down the road to the left, is the old Blair house site, and I am told that it was here that there was an old time stage coach stopping place. Many notables used to stop there going and coming from Pinckneyville court house located there in the early days of the last century.
Further on where J. H. Sherer now lives. When I knew this place first Robert Riggins lived there. Mr. Riggins was one of the leading citizens of the community. I first became acquainted with him nearly fifty years ago when I used to go to Sharon to preaching. My father had a great admiration of the late Rev. R. A. Ross, D. D., pastor at Sharon for fifty years and often he would drive out there on a Sunday morning to hear Dr. Ross preach. It meant an all day proposition as Dr. Ross preached two sermons on the days he preached there at that time. Mr. Riggins was a member of the church choir, along with several of the sons of Dr. Ross, the Maloneys and others, and say, talk about congregational singing, they had it at Sharon in that day and time, and if anybody back there had even suggested the introduction of an organ the suggestion would have started a riot. Weli, anyway they didn’t need any organ.
First on was the home of the late Rufus Carroll. He was a big land owner and a progressive farmer forty years ago. Just below the Carroll place was the Russell home and incidentally the Blairsville post office, with Mrs. Russell, mother of James N. Russell, who lives with his family at the old Russell place, as postmaster. That, of course, was in the star route days with mail coming first one day a week, then two and three and finally a daily horseback mail service.
The next place down the road is the home of Sam L. Blair on a little knoll or rise, where Mr. Blair built some fifteen years or more ago. There is quite an interesting story connected with this housesite. When I first began going down that way the knoll was covered with a dense growth of small trees, underbrush, etc. I was at the old “Hoge place.” That meant nothing to me in those days. It was just another place to me, where at sometime or other in the long gone past there had been a home site. But in later years I have heard many things about the Hoge denizens of those parts. The name is spelled H-o-g-e, but it is pronounced Hog—just like the ordinary porker’s cognomen.
I never did hear anything of particular credit to Hoge family. It seems that there were several of the Hoges and there was always a bad odor to them and their domicile. In late years I have heard stories to the effect that they were a quarrelsome set and always ready for contentions with neighbors over the most trivial matters. One story is to the effect that they claimed some land that belonged to a neighbor and to settled the matter the neighbor went to his field where the Hoges had already planted some crop, carrying a shotgun. The neighbor wasn’t to be bluffed, an before the matter was settled, then was a little shooting scrape, with one of the Hoges getting hit. Another of the stories concerning this bunch tells of a case way back before the Civil War to the effect that a man in Chester county named De Graffenreid was murdered. Two of the slaves of the Hoge outfit—they may have been living in Chester County at the time—were accused of the killing, but as a slave was forbidden by law to testify against his master the court ordered the jury to not pay any attention to the evidence of the slaves against Hoge. The negroes were convicted for the killing, while Hoge was released. However, he didn’t quite go free. The story is that when he came out of the courthouse the men most concerned about the murder of De Graffenreid gathered about him and gave him just a few hours to put distance between him and that community and he was run out of the country and stayed away for many years.
Another story told of this outfit concerns the plans of one of them to marry a widow. She was willing to marry Hoge all right, but she declared she wouldn’t marry him unless he changed his name to Johnson, the same as her name was at the time. This he did, but whether by act of the legislature or not I have no information.
…. not until about a month ago did I know that there was a Hoge graveyard in that vicinity. There is. It is located on a little knoll about a mile across west from the old Hoge settlement. Went there the other afternoon with Sam Blair and James N. Russell. Around about way to get there. Left the Pinckney road at the Rufus Carroll place and went out by the Alex Minter place and turning there traveled southwest about four or five hundred yards by a Mr. Ferguson’s, who is incidentally a good farmer… .A little further on we stopped the Green Chevrolet in the yard of Ira Grant and from there walked on to the burial ground of the Hoge family. The first headstone reached read: “Sacred to the memory of James Hoge, who died Jan. 13, 1835. Aged 87 years.” Then there was one that told us that E. McNeely died in 1819, and another that M. McNeely passed across in 1916. The next one was to the memory of Robert McNeely, who died Nov. 16, 1842, aged 62 years. Most of the other headstones there are at the graves of members of the Hoge tribe, as witness: E. Hoge, 1813; Tom Hoge, 1822, Thomas Hoge died Sept. 30, 1842; another Thomas Hoge died June 4,1839, aged 23 years……. (Information courtesy of and from: YCGHS – The Quarterly Magazine)
Open the MORE INFORMATION link (found under the primary picture), to view an enlargeable, 1896 Postal Map of York County, S.C.
Stay Connected
Explore history, houses, and stories across S.C. Your membership provides you with updates on regional topics, information on historic research, preservation, and monthly feature articles. But remember R&R wants to hear from you and assist in preserving your own family genealogy and memorabilia.
Visit the Southern Queries – Forum to receive assistance in answering questions, discuss genealogy, and enjoy exploring preservation topics with other members. Also listed are several history and genealogical researchers for hire.
User comments welcome — post at the bottom of this page.
Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.
Do you have information to share and preserve? Family, school, church, or other older photos and stories are welcome. Send them digitally through the “Share Your Story” link, so they too might be posted on Roots and Recall.
User comments always welcome - please post at the bottom of this page.
Share Your Comments & Feedback: