“The Spratt cemetery is also located nearby…”
City Directories and History: The historic Spratt house once stood just South of downtown Fort Mill, S.C., and was one of York County’s most important settlement
homes. When viewing the pictures of the historic house, pay special attention to two features: 1) the ghost marks along the front showing where there had once been an elaborate double porch, and 2) the multi paneled front door entrance. This house was not an ordinary farmstead, but rather an elaborate piece of important upcountry S.C. architecture. Note the similarities between the Spratt home and the Historic Rosedale home of the Caldwell Family of Mecklenburg Co., N.C. Not only were they neighbors but the Spratt family is well known in having socialized and conducted much of their business in Charlotte, N.C.
Thomas Spratt Sr. was a native of County Down, Ireland. His wife was Mary Clark, a widow. He is supposed to have arrived in America about 1732. Settled for a time in Western Pa. finally making his way to the settlements on Rocky River. He is said to have been the first man to cross the Yadkin in a wheeled vehicle. On account of Indian depredations he removed to where the city of Charlotte now stands. The Spratt cemetery is said to have been located under the present site of the Mercy Hospital in that city. The names of the children have already been given. Thomas Jr. removed to site of the present town of Fort Mill, where he was induced by the Catawbas to settle. They granted him a tract of land five miles square. He exerted a marked influence over the Catawbas acting as their adviser and keeping them kindly disposed towards their white neighbors. He was a valiant Revolutionary soldier, a man of much influence in his community. Colonel Polk, husband of Susannah was one of the most influential citizens in Mecklenburg County. He was commander of the Militia for a number of years, and held many offices of trust, he for a time acted as commissary for General Green. After the death of Col. Thomas Neel, Col. William Bratton and Col. Samuel Watson were elected commanders of the militia in the district between the Catawba and Broad Rivers, now York County. They remained in office until sometime after the fall of Charleston.
THOMAS “KANAWHA” SPRATT AT WAHAB’S LANE (Taken from an article titled “Susannah Smart,” Yorkville Enquirer, Thurs, March 6,1856.) “In this battle, i. e.: Skirmish at Wahab’s Lane in the Waxhaw settlement, Thomas Spratt then over fifty, received three bullet wounds, and was carried from the field to his own house. A party of British soldiers not long after arrived there. They were told that Mr. Spratt was ill; but they insisted upon having the house for their own sick and the owner was removed into the kitchen. It was here that Major Frazer of the British Army died, while Cornwallis and Rawdon both stood by his bed, and averred, with lifted hands that ‘he was one of the best officers who had crossed the ocean’. A Scotch physician was in attendance; he afterwards went into the kitchen to examine Mr. Spratt, ‘What is the matter with you maun?’ he asked, ‘I have a fever*. The physician felt his pulse and exclaimed, ‘Why, maun, you are wounded!* ‘And what if I am?’ said the patient. ‘Ah, I am fearful you have been fighting.’ ‘I have been fighting for my country and if I was well, I would do it again,’ replied Spratt. ‘Well, well, you are a brave soldier and I’ll dress your wounds for you,* said the Scotchman, and he did so, and attended on him as long as the British troops occupied the house. ‘These unbidden guests took from Spratt over 100 head of cattle, hogs, etc.”
Information courtesy of the YCGHS Magazine, March & June – 1998
Spratt’s holdings included some 4,535 acres which were later sub-divided into these parcels:
Andrew Heron Barnetts Francis Smart Hugh White James Spratt John Biggers John Garrison Martha White Mary Spratt Polk Sam Elliott Stephen Smith Thomas Spratt William B. Elliott William White Zebb Jackson
RAILROADS COME TO YORK COUNTY – Several additional facts about the rail line from Columbia to Rock Hill may be of interest to the reader. First, the men from York District who attended the convention concerning the building of a railroad from Charlotte to Columbia were Colonel W. C. Beatty, William A. Latta, John Miller Ross, Robert Gadsden McCaw, William Moore, W. Giles, J. Beatty Smith, and Joel W. Rawlinson. This initial meeting of interested parties was held at Winnsboro on May 24 and 25, 1847.
Subscribers for stock in the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad Company on September 9 and 10, 1847, were these: Colonel W. C. Beatty, John Miller Ross, Colonel William Wright, John S. Moore, W. I. Clawson, William A. Latta, George W. Williams, Colonel Edward Avery, Harvey Hugh Drennan, Rev. Archibald Whyte, Thomas D. Spratt, James D. Spratt, A. M. White, George P. White, William E. White, and Captain John Massey.
(Along the Landsford Road, by Wm. B. White, Jr. Vol., I – 2008)
See the PDF attachment under primary image for data on this important historic structure.
*** Thomas Dryden Spratt served as the first Fort Mill Postmaster from 1832-1833.
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