***Take note, sources are listed at the bottom.
Old Ben
Samuel Benjamin Weatherford also known as “Old Ben,” lived majority of his life in Marion County, South Carolina. When he was younger, he took upon himself farming. Samuel lived in an area that was surrounded by swamps. The swamps that surrounded Samuel helped with the drainage of excess water. As Samuel grew into an adult, he was a man of large stature with back problems caused by picking up a large fallen tree because of a bet he made among a group of men.
Marion Township was like a hamlet. In the public square there were native oak saplings that grew into trees, but really, they were hitching posts for the town’s peoples’ horses. When Samuel was a little boy, Marion population was small. In 1838, the population was about 150 to 200 people. As Samuel continue to grow, he witnessed the town’s growth because of the railroad. Samuel was a bystander of the construction and the completion of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad.
After the completion of the Railroad, the Civil War started less than a decade. With six months left of the war, and many Confederates soldiers deserting their post, Samuel volunteer as a Private in Company B, in the Third Regiment of the South Carolina State Troops.4 Samuel was not too far from home because of the regiment he was serving in, was the local defense and special services.
When Samuel left to serve in the war, he took his wife Mary’s (who is also known as “Polly”) horse. After having the horse for a little bit Samuel then sold the horse, who then delivered the foal. Polly was not too keen to the idea of her horse being sold. However, she as able to retrieve her horse back.
Years after the war, Samuel was one of the first trustees of the Bethesda Methodist Church. The building of this church was during the Reconstruction Era. As a white Methodist living in the Reconstruction era, Samuel did not encounter many trials because he like so many other white Methodists look toward the Heavenly aspect and the not the worldly turmoil.5
However, Samuel being a White Methodist was confronted of the Northern Methodist Church who were trying to absorb the South Carolina Methodist church. The Northern Methodist Church believed that the South Carolina Methodist Church needed to be saved because of the South Carolina’s ideology of succession and methods of slavery. Additionally the Northern Methodist Church assumed that since the destruction of South Carolina happened, the South Carolina Methodist Church would disband immediately because slavery was of nonexistence.
Samuel and his family were in living in the special mission field according the Northern Methodist Church. During the war the military seized the native Methodist church buildings. However, this did not affect the building of the Bethesda Methodist Church since it was not established until the Reconstruction. To add, the Northern Methodist Church’s attempt of absorbing the South Carolina Methodist Church was a slight success because South Carolina ideologies of slavery and succession were dead.
The justification of the South Carolina Methodist Church of proselyting to the slaves, was not able to protect their methods of the Methodist Church from the Northern Methodist Church. Samuel probably suffered through this hard time of his faith being ridiculed. However, Samuel was able to help in the cause of keeping South Carolina Methodism alive by believing in having Heavenly Salvation experiences.
As previously mentioned, Samuel attributed to the great cause of South Carolina Methodism’s spirit by establishing himself as one of the first trustees of Bethesda Methodist Church. Sadly, he was not able to see the building to be complete before his passing.
Although, Methodism in the South was not only affected by the Reconstruction, the growth of Marion Township dampened during and especially after the war. Samuel being affected by this dampened to growth was not able to sell what crops he had. The decrease in growth was not just only for a couple of years, but for fifteen years.
During Samuel’s lifetime, part of Marion County became Dillon County. Samuel traveled frequently to Latta, Dillon, South Carolina from Kerby Township of only being eight miles apart. Latta was a town full of ample opportunities of business. Indeed, there was a grade school established, which is a probable chance that Samuel sent his two younger children Thomas and Mary Weatherford there. It is extremely likely that Samuel did he is banking with Mr. Austin Manning who conducted a branch of the Merchant and Farmers Savings Bank of Marion in Latta. Samuel spent his time not only in Latta, and Marion, but also Dillon, Dillon County to visit his children and grandchildren.
On 12 March 1898, Samuel Benjamin Weatherford went to Latta to visit Dr. Watson concerning heart complications he was suffering from the last couple of months. After his visit, Samuel left to go visit a store owned by Mr. D.M. Dew to wait for his son to fill up the prescription he received a few minutes earlier from Dr. Watson. While waiting in line, he complained to the bystanders about a severe pain in the region of his heart. After he tumbled to the ground, the people in the store sent someone to retrieve Dr. Watson. Dr. Watson came quickly and did all he could do, but Samuel was dead a few minutes later. His body was sent back to Kerby Township the following day.
Source List
1. W.W. Sellers, A History or Marion County, (South Carolina, Cornell University Library, 1902) p.6.
2. Family Notes for Samuel Benjamin Weatherford, Derative, family copy from personal files of Shaunese Luthy 2017.
3. W.W. Sellers, A History or Marion County, (South Carolina, Cornell University Library, 1902) p. 551-552.
4.“U.S Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865,” Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed 14 November 2017), S.B Wetherford entry, Company B, 3rd Regiment, SC troops.
5. Francis Butler Simkins “White Methodism in South Carolina during the Reconstruction” The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 1 (January, 1928), p. 35-36.
6. Francis Butler Simkins “White Methodism in South Carolina during the Reconstruction,” p. 36.
7. Ibid.; 40-41.
8. W.W. Sellers, A History or Marion County, (South Carolina, Cornell University Library, 1902) p. 552.
9. W.W. Sellers, A History or Marion County, p. 556.
10. Obituary for Samuel Weatherford, clipping of an unknown newspaper article, family copy from personal files of Shaunese Luthy.
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