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To return to the children of Captain Peter Gaillaid :-2. Elizabeth who
married John Stoney. It was for her marriage November 27, 1805 that work
on the Rocks house was hurried to completion. The tapestry picture of Bo-Peep
and her sheep and lover, which hangs on the wall of our living room in
an oval gilt frame was her work. A tiny steel engraving of her used to
hang on the wall of the parlor at Belvedere:- a rather imposing looking
lady. with a quite modern looking hair-do of a mass of curls piled high
on the head. She is the ancestress of the Stoneys we all know (see Uncle
Thomas book). Sam Stoney, author of Plantations of Carolina Low Country
is her great grandson. |
|
3. Lydia married Wm. E. Snowden. Her daughter Anne was cousin Clermonde.
Sinkler's mother. She. Anne Snowden. married Col. Peter Charles Gaillard,
son of James Gaillard of Walnut Grove. Lydia is the ancestress of the Snowdens
of Blue Hole, etc. |
4. James who was given Walnut Grove plantation or rather was first given
Laurel Hill and then an exchange was made with his brother Thomas, He,
James, married 1st Harriet Porcher, daughter of Samuel and Harriet Porcher
of Mexico plantation. They bore Peter Charles who married Anne Snowden,
Samuel Porcher who married first Mary Peyre and second Mary Gaillard: -
Cousin Nenna and Lou's father, James, who married his first cousin Elizabeth
Ann Gaillard daughter of Samuel
Gaillard of The Rocks and
Henrietta Palmer of Springfield. Arthur Philip who died unmarried. James
Gaillard of Walnut Grove's second wife was Henrietta Gourdin who had married
Dr. Ravenel and had one daughter Henrietta Ravenel. The children of James
and Henrietta Ravenel were Christopher, who married Lydia, daughter of
Samuel Gaillard of the Rocks; John who married first Elinor Porcher of
Walworth and second Eliza Gaillard of Heydon Hill; Theodore, who married
Marion Huger and moved to Alabama (I believe) his family after his death
moved to Rome, Ga. I remember one of his daughters Patty being at the Rocks
for a visit in the early 90s. |
|
5. Fifth child of Peter Gaillard and Elizabeth Porcher was Thomas, the
much quoted Uncle Thomas of the Gaillard family book and chart. He married
Marianne Palmer, daughter of Thomas Palmer of Gravel Hill plantation. His
plantation was Laurel Hill. In the late forties, 1845 perhaps, he moved
to Alabama. They had numerous children. I remember once Cousin Alice Palmer
reading me a letter from his eldest daughter, cousin Nan Spratley. One
of his daughters married a Howard (see book). |
|
6. The child of Peter and Elizabeth was Catherine who married John White
and they were St. Clair White's parents. Another daughter married Lucas
and was Lewis Lucas' mother (White Hall Plantation). |
7. David who was given Belmont plantation. He married 1st Elizabeth Ann
Palmer of Springfield. They had one son, Joseph Peter, who died young.
After her death he married Louisa DuBose, sister of Samuel DuBose whose
pamphlets are such authority on our family history. I remember dining at
Woodlawn plantation with Cousin Ellen Ravenel who was Mr. Samuel DuBose's
daughter, and she read me a letter from her Aunt Louisa who was then a
very old lady living in Winnsboro, and she wrote
that she knew she had not
long to live and was writing family history to Cousin Ellen that she wanted
her to know. Cousin Ellen's mother was a daughter of Anne Palmer and O'Neill
Gough Stevens:- this Anne Palmer was the second wife of Peter Gaillard
of The Rocks. She was the daughter of John Palmer (my great grandfather)
of Richmond plantation and Peter Gaillard was one of the executors of his
will. |
|
8th Child of Peter and Elizabeth Gaillard was Samuel who married Henrietta
Palmer of Springfield plantation. He joined the navy; there is a
letter here still to him from his father, telling him of Mr. John C. Calhoun
being instrumental in getting him a berth as midshipman on the frigate
Constitution. There were some of his letters at The Rocks but his nephew
James (Arthur's father) thought best to burn them. I think there are also
some of his letters at Numertia. His father Captain Peter wanted him to
leave the navy but he would not do so until his father promised to leave
him The Rocks. He died at the age of 29, leaving his widow and three daughters;-
Elizabeth Ann who married James Gaillard of Walnut Grove, Lydia Catherine
who married Christopher Gaillard of Walnut Grove, and Henrietta Samuella
who married Henry Stevens and they lived at Northampton plantation which
formerly belonged to Gen.Moultrie. James Gaillard came, after his marriage
to Elizabeth Ann, to live at The Rocks and he bought from his wife's two
sisters their shares in the estate and became its owner. James and Elizabeth
Gaillard had 15 children. Several died in infancy. The two eldest were
twins;- Harriet and Eliza. The latter died at the age of fifteen in1868.
My mother, Margaret Alien Palmer, had taught as governess at The Rocks;
and', when I was born in 1866, I was named for her Eliza. She was always
called Lieze and I have always been so called. The family bible is here,
with all the names in due order. I will only mention those who reached
maturity, except Edmund the youngest child who died aged twelve from injuries
resulting from a fall from a donkey. |
|
1. Harriet married Theodore Snowden, and had six children:- first Mary
Lee, who married Wm. H. Sinkler and died December 24, 1898. Next James
G., who married Laura Baker, and they have three children Barney, James,
Jr. , and Virginia. Third, Theodore (Dee) married Amaryllis Jervey, no
children. Four, Elizabeth (Bet) married Robert Haig, two children, Mary
Lee and Alex. Five, Harriet Porcher, (Hallie) unmarried, lives in Charleston.
Six, Edmund, died quite young. |
2. Julia Cain married Henry Milner Palmer, lived at Poplar Hill. Two children
Peter and Eliza died young, Then Henrietta (now dead) married Clarence
Gourdin, two children - Wm. Gourdin married Marie Cosby, and Julia married
Gregg. Next Mary Louise (dead) married John K. Gourdin, three children
ElJule married Everett, Mary married Montgomery, Peter married ___________.
Third James (dec'd.) married Annie Seabrook, two daughters. Fourth, Elizabeth,
died 1898 unmarried. Fifth
Harriet Jerman married Wm.
H. Sinkler, four children - one daughter Elizabeth (dead), Clermonde married
Norman Walsh, son. William Henry married Madeline Champy, two children,
H. Claire and Wm. H, 5th - Elias Prioleau. Sixth Henry Milner married Elizabeth
Spiers, three children, Peter unmarried, Julia married John Weiking, Mary
married Fred Mishoe. |
|
3. Ida married K. Lewis Simons, Pond Bluff, nine children. One Keating
L. married Mary Lee Crutchfield, nee ___________, no children, Houston,
Tex. Two Annie Cleland married Wm. P. Palmer, no children, widow,
Eutawville, S.C., Three James Gaillard married Anna Burgess, one child
Julia married Parker Talbert, one daughter Frances. Four, Edmund G. married
Laura Slocum of Pittsburgh, no children. Five, Sarah L. died in infancy,
Six, Edward T. married Marguerite Wilson, even children, Edward married
Sarah Hume, Isaac unmarriedo Ida married M. H. Cole. Melvin, unmarried,
Keating, James, Emily, adolescents. Seven Gennie married Charles T. Smith,
Columbia, two sons Charles T. and K. Lewis. Eight, Joseph Palmer (dec'd.).
Nine Julia Palmer, unmarried. |
|
4. Mary Smith (dec'd. ) unmarried. |
|
5. Arthur Philip married Leize Palmer, two children, Arthur P., Jr., twice
married, Grace McNeill died October 1937, married September 19, 1939 Florence
Cobb. Arthur Died at Veterans Hospital, Columbia, September 19, 1940. Margaret
Alien, unmarried, |
|
6. Frances Gendron married Win, Shingler, one son Wm. Gendron born December
12, 1888. She died December 24, 1888. Wm, Gendron Shingler twice married,
one daughter, one son. |
|
7. Henry Stevens married first Henrietta R, Cain, daughter of Joseph Cain
and Mary Macbeth of Somerset plantation. She died on the first anniversary
of their wedding December 1898. In November 1902 he married Maria Ravenel,
daughter of Dr. Rene Ravenel and Isabelle DeVaux of Pooshee plantation.
Henry Stevens Gaillard died September 17, 1903 at The Rocks. |
Arthur P. Gaillard. at this time, was Postmaster in Eutawville and living
in the summer home owned by his father James Gaillard. After his brother
Henry's death, he resigned as postmaster and moved back to The Rocks to
be with his father and sister Mary and look after the work of the plantation,
where he and his family lived until after his father's (James Gaillard)
death, when The Rocks plantation was sold to T. L. Connor and the proceeds
with the rest of the estate divided between the six heirs:- Mrs. Theodore
Snowden of Charleston, Mrs. H. M. Palmer of Poplar Hill
plantation, Mrs. K»
Lewis Simons of Pond Bluff plantation, Arthur P. Gaillard, Mary S. Gaillard,
Wm.
Gendron Shingler, son of
F. Gendron Gaillard and Wm. Shingler. |
|
After the division of the estate, Arthur Philip Gaillard and his wife Leize
Palmer and their two children Arthur Philip, Jr. and Margaret Alien moved
to Hagood, Sumter County, S.C., July 1907. In 1911 they moved to Ninety
Six, Greenwood County, S.C. and the Hagood place was sold to BoFo Myers
who still owns it. T. L. Connor gave The Rocks to his second son J. Rutledge
Connor who married Estelle Harrison of Fairfield County, Ridgeway or Winnsboro,
I am not quite sure which. They improved The Rocks house, installing electricity
and water system, built new front porch and double brick steps and did
a great deal to beautify the grounds. |
When the curse of Santee Cooper Authority descended on the land, The Rocks,
like many other beautiful old homes was sold to the S.C. Authority but
The Rocks house was saved from destruction by Rutledge Connor, at great
expense, having it moved about 1 mile and a half or perhaps three quarters
to a part of Belmont plantation which he owned. Now the muddy waters of
the Santee sweep over what was once the lovely expanse of water at the
back of the house which we knew as the
little pond and the big
pond, with a causeway between, which Mrs. Coxe said was as lovely as the
far famed Addison's Walk in England, and over the lawn on which so many
tilts and tournaments took place, where brave and skillful knights won
the right to crown fair maids "Queens of Beauty". Back of the house, down
to the edge of the little pond stretched the old garden made by my Aunt
Henrietta Palmer, wife of Samuel Gaillard, son of Captain Peter. I remember
well when I came there, a bride in 1890 there were still remnants of Aunt
Henrietta's garden, two roots of a LaMarque rose which had once covered
a summer house just back of the dwelling, a Zephyrina rose near the back
steps and a
Sweet Olive tree on the
west of the house, which bloomed in November and was so fragrant the odor
was perceptible as you entered the "woods gate" to the lawn nearly half
a mile away from the tree. Down on the edge of the pond near the blacksmith
shop was a flowering pomegranate. These were all that was left of Aunt
Henrietta's garden in my recollection. My mother-in-law, her daughter,
I always called Aunt Bet, although she was really my first cousin and I
also called her two sisters Aunt:- Aunt Lyd Gaillard of Numertia and Aunt
Etta Stevens of Northampton. My father having married late in life, I was
much nearer in age to the daughters of these ladies than to them; and I
just called them by the names the other girls used. Then too Aunt Bet and
Aunt Lyd wrote to me (then a little girl living in Richmond, Va.) occasionally
and always signed the letters Aunt. When Arthur and I were married in 1890
and came to The Rocks to live, there were only Uncle James and Aunt Bet,
Mary, Henry
and Gen. (Wm. Gendron Shingler,
son of Frances Gendron, youngest daughter of Jas. and Eliz. Gaillard) She
died on Christmas Eve twelve days after Gen's birth in 1888, Mary had the
entire charge of Gen until he was old enough to be off to school; after
that he spent his vacations with his father in Ashburn, Ga. He had married
again and had two daughters. Mary took Gen out to visit his father once
or twice when he was a little fellow. |
In 1892 we started to build our own house at Lime Spring and, after delays
caused by storms, finished it and moved into it in November 1894. In June
1896, Aunt Bet died. She and Uncle James had celebrated their 50th wedding
anniversary in 1895. Only three of the big family were now left in the
old home; Uncle James, Mary, Henry and Gen. In November 1897 Henry married
Henrietta Ravenel Cain, daughter of Jos. P. Cain and Mary Macbeth Cain.
So another bride came to The Rocks. Her time there was very brief; on the
first anniversary of their wedding, clad in her bridal attire, she was
laid to rest in the Rocks Church Yard. On November 1902 Henry married Maria
Ravenel, daughter of Dr. Rene Ravenel of Pooshee Plantation, and Isabelle
DeVaux of Belle Isle. Their married life was as brief as his first marriage
as Henry died September 1903. Uncle James and Mary were
thus left alone at The Rocks.
Gen had gone off to school, someone had to be with them as Uncle James
was then over 80 years of age. |
Arthur was then postmaster in Eutawville and we were living in The Rocks
summer house. None of the younger members of the family (grandsons I mean)
were so situated that they could assume the responsibility at The Rocks,
and after consulting with my father and Cousin Henry Palmer, Arthur's brother-in-law,
and by their advice, Arthur went back to The Rocks to try to help his father
in any way he could. We moved back there in November 1903; Uncle James
had practically turned over all the management of plantation work to Henry,
but in some wonderful way he seemed to experience a remarkable rejuvenation
and took over a great deal of the oversight of work. Every morning his
horse
was saddled and brought
to the front steps and she (Daisy) was so well trained she knew just how
to stand so he could mount from the steps. He always carried his walking
stick which had a crooked handle and he knew just how to make Daisy sidle
up to the gate so he could open it with his stick and go through without
dismounting. All morning he rode over the place; sometimes with a bag slung
over his shoulder carrying salt for his sheep. Often you would look out
from porch or window and see him riding up and down the rows in the fields,
or galloping across the lawn or along the road. When
the horn blew for twelve
o'clock he would come up to the house. He rarely went out again after dinner,
but would take a nap and read The News & Courier and he read a great
many books, novels, etc. His extreme deafness made conversation difficult
and he read to pass the time away. This was the pattern of his life until
he passed away in March 1906. |
Arthur
was his father's executor; the will provided a division of all property
between the six heirs, four daughters, one son, and one grandchild. Arthur
was most anxious to keep The Rocks, but it was an impossibility. When it
was put up for auction it brought a price far beyond what he was able to
pay. Mr. T. L. Connor bought it and Arthur has always spoken of how considerate
of him Mr. Connor had been; that he would not bid until he knew Arthur
was through bidding. Mr. Connor gave The Rocks to his second son Rutledge,
and so far as I know all the family are glad to have it in his pos-
session. He did so much
to keep in order and improve the place. When the house was being moved,
Arthur and I went there several times and watched the men at work. It gave
me a most eerie uncanny feeling to see that big house, after weathering
the storms and vicissitudes of 136 years, moving, truly not very far at
a time, but really intact, a complete unit, moving getting away from the
coming inrush of water to a safe place where, who knows how many more years
it will shelter a family and extend gracious hospitality? Last Spring we,
Arthur and I, had a delightful sample of that hospitality; we spent a day
and night with Rutledge and Estelle. It was a queer experience in a way;
inside the
house, was just the same,
the same rooms, the same beautifully carved mantels and cornices in the
parlor and dining room, the same big front porch where so often Uncle James
sat at the head of the steps with his dog beside him. But, outside so different,
gone the beautiful ponds, the big front yard with its noble old trees,
its beautiful shrubbery, its memories of tilts and tournaments, its lawn
where they took place. Memories of picnic dinners, of horses and riders
and carriages and autos, of blazing hearths and open windows, of big Christmas
dinners when all the family gathered, gone all gone, only a pile of broken
brick left and a vast expanse of muddy water; but we, what are left of
the family are glad that the old house in its new setting remains in the
hands of those that love it and can take
care. of it. Much has been
done to clear the grounds and beautify them, and soon the new grounds will
be softened and mellowed to tone in with the old house. Some few cherished
relics adorn the grounds, a table made from part of an old saw from the
sawmill and of the old C-spring Mexico carriage. Also a part of a water
wheel from the old mill. This mill was still in use on my first visit to
The Rocks in 1884 and daddy Flanders was the miller. He was the body-servant
or in modern terms the "valet" of Samuel Gaillard who inherited The Rocks
from his father Captain Peter. |
Christmas Dinners
When I knew The Rocks, and it was evidently even then a custom of long
standing, was the family gathering there on Christmas Day. Sometimes Aunt
Bet would have them all come back another day during the holiday week.
And when all got together they made a goodly number. Besides The Rocks
family, my father and his family from Springfield were always there, Uncle
Mazyck Porcher from Mexico was always a guest, Cousin Hadgie Snowden, the
eldest daughter; and her five children came from Charleston, usually for
the week, Cousin Julia, second daughter; and Cousin Henry Palmer and their
six children from Poplar Hill, Cousin Ida, third daughter, 'Mr. Simons
and their eight children from Pond Bluff, Arthur and I and our two children,
- At first we were living there and afterwards we came from Lime Spring,
then often some of the grandchildren would bring a guest, some school friend
who was spending the holidays with them. Then, of course, some of the children
were babies and had to
have their nurses. The little
children were given their dinner in the pantry, itself a large room. Such
a dinner, it seems now like a fairy tale. Long before Christmas day, Aunt
Bet had begun preparations. Hogs had been killed and sausages and black
puddings had been made, though they were not for dinner, they graced the
breakfast table with hominy and buckwheat cakes. Turkeys and chickens,
and perhaps a sheep, were killed and hung in the big safes in the meat
pantry. Little black Sukey had come in from the negro quarters and stirred
cake in the big yellow bowl, sitting behind the big stove in the kitchen,
plain pound cakes, black fruit cakes, and dozens of little patty pan fruit
cakes. Aunt
Bet herself or Mary, if
Aunt Bet was unable, made pastry for pies and tarts. Most of the dessert
was made the day before Christmas, only the Syllabub was left for the very
last. |
Christmas morning after breakfast, the dining room was put in order, the
dining table stretched to its fullest extent and covered with one of the
beautiful Irish damask table cloths, of which there were four. Aunt Bet
had gotten Mr. Richard Walker, a Charleston merchant, to buy them for her
on one of his trips to Ireland. They were five yards long and two and a
half yards wide. The dinner was always the same. At one end of the table,
a turkey stuffed with spinach (the housegirl or cook plucked a huge dishpan
of spinach and washed it thoroughly, then as much butter as was conveniently
spared
probably a half pound or
maybe a little more was put in a big frying pan on the stove, the spinach
dumped into it and as many eggs as you could muster stirred into that,
and then stirred and stirred until that mass of spinach and egg made a
gigantic pile of green scrambled egg, and you stuffed the turkey). At the
other end of the table another turkey stuffed with the more usual bread
crumbs, egg, etc. At various places along the table were a boiled ham,
a large one, a huge roast of mutton, leg and loin, from four to six boiled
chicken big ones with a very rich sauce with hard boiled eggs stirred up
in it, dishes piled with snowy rice. I asked Mary once how much rice did
she have cooked for that dinner, and she said a peck of raw rice, and a
negro from the negro quarters cooked it out in the yard in an iron wash
pot. In addition there were big pans of macaroni, sweet potatoes, Irish
potatoes, creamed artichokes sometimes, glass dishes of whole artichoke
pickles, a decanter of whiskey and two or three decanters of wine. |
|
Then for dessert; Charlotte Russe, wine jelly and Syllabub, and always
four kinds of pie coconut, lemon, mince, and sweet potato. I don't remember
whether there was cake or not, perhaps I was just too full to be impressed
by it. |
|
The young people had been driving hither and yon, perhaps to the village,
Eutawville, for mail, perhaps making plans for a tilt and tournament later
in the week, or maybe a dance that night and they were ready for a hearty
meal, and the older ones weren't far behind their. One year Henry put four
mules to the old C-spring carriage from Mexico and piled in all the children
it would hold and took them for a ride, so they could tell their children
they had ridden in their great-great-grandfather's carriage. And after
dinner, the young folks went off riding again or strolled around the pond
and the men talked crops and such on the big piazza. The women folk gathered
round the blazing logs in the parlor and had their "talk fest" and another
Christmas had passed into the halls of Memory. |
Tilts and Tournaments
Tilts and tournaments were a much famed form of entertainment and amusement.
In 1879, a cavalry company was organized with Charles St. George Sinkler
(afterwards Brigadier General) as Captain and John Stoney Porcher as 1st
Lieutenant, "The Eutaw Light Dragoons". There was always a^friendly rivalry
between this company and The Charleston Light Dragoons. They would compete
with each other for a trophy, a silver cup. One year the Charleston Company
would come to Eutawville and another year the Eutaws would go to Charleston.
Whenever one company won the three times in succession it became the property
of that company. The Rocks lawn was the place used for the tilts.
These tilts were a form
of cavalry practise. A smooth clear place was chosen for the track about
one hundred fifty yards in length. First to be removed was a leather head
from a low post on the right side of the track, the post about the height
of a man on the ground lying down or just rising, next a post with an arm
and drop holding a ring, possibly six feet from the ground and about twenty
five yards from the first head. Then at an equal distance on the left side
of track a post with a head on it
about as high as a man standing
up (the head attached to the post with a wooden pin about an inch in diameter
and showing about two inches to cut). At the same distance but again on
the right side a post about a foot higher than the first ring holding post,
again holding a ring. Then again at the same distance on the right side
a post holding a head about as high as a man kneeling. The contestant on
horseback and using his cavalry sabre had to gallop at full speed, cut
off the first head, take the first ring with the point of the sabre, cut
off head on left, take second ring on sabre, and cut off last head,
making the whole run in
a required number of seconds. Certain positions of the sabre had to be
maintained. The contestant was judged on points and prizes were given.
It required a high degree of horsemanship and the horse had to be trained
as well as the man. |
|
A tournament was purely social and gave the young men - chance to display
their prowess and pay the young ladies tribute. The same track was used,
except that three posts were erected at equal distances apart, each holding
a ring. The contestants on horseback and with lance at rest had to run
their horses at full gallop and take each ring in turn on the point of
the lance in a given number of seconds. There was always a ball or dance
that night and the knight making highest score crowned "The Queen of Love
and Beauty" at the dance and following in the order of their scores the
winners crowned maids of honor to the queen. The last big affair that I
remember at The Rocks was a tilt between the Charleston Light Dragoons
and the Eutaws in 1892 during Christmas week. Everybody had guests, the
Charleston dragoons being entertained overnight and some of them for several
days. The tilt was at noon and there was to have been a picnic dinner on
the lawn afterward, but a light fall of snow that morning made it too damp
to have dinner outdoors, so it was served in the house. Then the parlor
had to be cleared and put in order for the dance at night. Quite a number
of girls stayed on at The Rocks:- had brought their evening dresses and
after having coffee, etc., went upstairs to dress for the ball. Dr. and
Mrs. Kollock were among the Charleston guests and we were much interested
in her showing the home girls a new "skirt dance" while they were dressing.
Henry was Captain of the Eutaws then and Aunt Elizabeth had made great
preparations for the picnic supper. All the families of the Eutaws were
supposed to contribute to the supper. I don't remember much about the dishes
that they sent, but I do remember very vividly the huge bowls of chicken
salad we made and the cut glass dishes or rather bowls of Charlotte Russe
and wine jelly Aunt Elizabeth brought out, and the piled up plates of little
patty-pan fruit cakes and cocoanut tarts. Violins furnished music for the
dance. Colonel James Armstrong was an honored guest, an elderly bachelor
and a great ladies man. Old and young came to the dances, the older ones
looking on and enjoying seeing the young people have a good time. |
"The Elephant"
One of my earliest memories of The Rocks was a huge mahogany press, nine
feet high, five feet wide, and two feet deep which stood between the chimney
piece in the dining room and the door that opened into the back hall. It
was made in three sections, the lower part divided into two parts, a partition
in the. middle, a deep drawer on each side at the top, quite a space below
them and then
a shelf and a space between
the shelf and the floor. A top section of two compartments, each v.'ith
wo shelves and its own door was held firmly by wooden pins on top of the
bottom section. It was topped by c wide cornice. Each of the four section
doors had its own lock and key, not interchangeable. Everybody called it
"The Elephant", It came from Walnut Grove, the home of Mr. James Galllard,
Uncle James father. After his death Walnut Grove was sold, and all furniture,
etc., was divided between his. heirs. When Uncle James came home after
the division, Aunt Bet asked him what he had drawn. He said, "The big mahogany
press for one thing no one wanted it, it was too big, but as it will fit
in exactly the same place at The Rocks that it was built to fit in at Walnut
Grove, I took it." "Oh!" said Aunt Bet, "We, surely have an elephant on
our hands". And 'The Elephant' it remains to this day standing in our hall.
I asked Aunt Harriet, Uncle James "Sister" to tell me something about it,
and she said her father
had drawn the plans for it to fit in the above mentioned space at Walnut
Grove and had bought $100 worth of mahogany boards and had a Charleston
cabinet maker make it. During Hartwells' raid in the War Between the States,
a Federal soldier stuck his bayonet under the left hand door and broke
off a piece of moulding because the key could not be found immediately.
He
evidently thought valuables
were locked up in it. Aunt Harriet said one thing she remembered they took
and carried off with them was nine dozen beautiful linen damask napkins. |
| * Items on Building The
Rocks House taken from Captain Peter Gaillard's plantation Account Book: |
| Sept. 1, 1803
Began to make bricks for Rocks House. |
| May 11, 1803
Began this day to saw cypress and get shingles for Rocks. |
| May 24, 1803
A large cypress tree split up produced 6500 shingles 21" x 5" x 3/4". |
| Oct. 12, 1803
Mr. Bowles began to make sashes for Rocks house. |
| Nov. 16, 1803
Mr. Bowles finished my sashes, 708 lights in 31 days and the work well
executed. |
| Nov. 21, 1803
Mr. Walker, carpenter, began to work at Rocks @ $1. 50/day. |
| Nov. 26, 1803
Mr. Perry, carpenter, began to work at Rocks . |
| Feb. 22, 1804
Laid first brick in foundation of Rocks house. |
| Mar. 13, 1804
Agreed with three white brick layers to work on foundations of house and
on 24th finished the work. |
| April 4, 1804
Began to raise house at Rocks, finished April 7th. |
| June 3, 1804
Agreed with Mr. Walker to have my chimney pieces and doors made at North
this summer, to be delivered in Charleston in November, The doors to be
double worked, two chimney pieces to be done in genteel but plain style
and five others being for bedrooms to be very plain viz:- Seven chimney
pieces and twenty-three doors the whole to be done in a workmanlike manner.
He finding materials and paying freight to Charleston, to be paid the Charleston
price, to be valued by workmen of judgement. He has undertaken to make
my window shutters in his own time at $ 3,50 for each window 29 windows.. |
| July 9, 1804
Began to lay on second coat of pain on my house |
| Jan. 20, 1805
Finished drawing shingles, had 23000 heart and 8000 sap. (Arthur remembers
when the roof of the Rocks house was renewed in 1870. Not a single rotten
shingle was found, only the exposed ends were worn away by acttion of the
weather.) |
|
The house was finished, so they moved in in time for the wedding of the
oldest daughter Elizabeth Gaillard to John Stoney of Charleston, November
27, 1805. There was a bill for the two mantle pieces for parlor and dining
room, cornices, door-knobs, and other hardware, but it has disappeared. |
"Will of Captain Peter Gaillard of
Rocks Plantation"
|
"In the name of God, Amen; I Peter Gaillard, Sr., of Charleston, S.C.,
do make and declare this to be my last will and testament. |
|
1. I give to my daughter, Elizabeth Stoney, the use of my lot and buildings
in Charleston - purchased of Dupre and the use of my lot north of my present
dwelling, measuring about 200 feet by 60 feet and after her death to be
given to her children equally. |
|
2. I give to my daughter Lydia Snowden, the use of my lot and buildings
in Charleston, purchased of Williamson and the use of that plantation in
St. Johns, Berkeley County, purchased of Gourdin called Blue Hole and after
her death to go to her children equally. |
|
3. I give to my daughter Catherine Porcher the use of my lot and buildings
in Charleston purchased of Daniels and after her death to her children
equally, the said lot to consist of the original one built on by Daniels
and the southern half of two other lots, one bought of said Daniels the
other of Mrs. Everingham, making the whole lot of about 200 feet by 60
feet and all of my household and kitchen furniture, plate and groceries. |
|
4. Having put in possession and given to my sons at different times sundry
properties in lands and negroes, I here confirm the same to them respectively
and to their heirs and assigns forever. |
|
5. I give the rest and residue of my estate as follows: - one share each
to my sons Peter, James, Thomas, David, and to my daughters Elizabeth,
Lydia, Catherine, and one share to the daughters of my deceased son, Samuel,
making eight shares in all. |
|
6. It is my will that every article and thing given in my lifetime or in
this will to my daughters be considered as given for their sole use during
their respective lives and after their death to go to their children equally
and in no case to be liable for the debts of their parents or any future
husband. As it may appear from this clause of my will that I entertain
unfavorable opinion of my sons-in-law, to do away with such suspicion,
I declare that I have entire confidence in them all and that for the purpose
of guarding against unforseen misfortunes, I have introduced such a provision
in my will. |
|
7. I nominate my son James and my son-in-law Wm. E. Snowden, executors
of this my last will and testament, to whom I give full power to sell any
part of my residuary estate that they may think necessary for a division.
In witness hereof I set my hand and seal this 13th day of December in year
of our Lord 1832." |
|
Peter Gaillard, Sr. |
| In Presence of Thomas I,
Green |
| George Ingraham & James
Fox |
Beef and Lamb Messes
|
Like all good old fairy tales, this begins with "Once upon a time", we
had no cards and stamps with which to buy meat, incredible as it may seem
to this generation. Saturdays brought us each an eighth of beef and Wednesdays
a quarter of lamb, and we did not have to produce 13 stamps for every pound,
or, as I did last week, pay $3. 25 for a forequarter of lamb. No, indeed,
we managed things differently in Upper St. Johns. In the Spring the "young
men's fancies might turn to thoughts of love", but, when the lambs had
grown sufficiently, the older men's thoughts, no doubt stimulated by their
wives housewifely instincts, turned to "The Lamb Mess." Four heads of families
agreed to butcher a lamb each week in turn and each to have a quarter,
the one who did the butchering to have a hindquarter and those m valued
tidbits, the head and liver. A roster was made out so that each person
received in regular rotation his portion of the meat, and at the end of
the month each family had eaten a whole lamb. As I remember there were
two such messes in our community, there may have been more at times. It
was a friendly custom for different persons to contribute a lamb and put
the resident minister "in the mess", which meant that when the ministers
turn came to supply the lamb, whoever was giving the lamb for him butchered
it and sent it around to the proper persons. Some always killed nice, big,
fat lambs, but, as always happens, some did not. When a poor little blue
skinny piece of lamb came, great was the scorn and indignation heaped upon
the unfortunate killer. I remember one summer Uncle James was asked to
fill in a place on the second mess. Aunt Elizabeth was not enthusiastic
about it. but we were a sizeable family and all liked meat. so he agreed
to join. Imagine our disappointment, but also amusement, when the first
installment appeared or- the Table, a tiny, lean, stringy little shoulder
of lamb, not bigger than a man's hand and of course the cook had put it
on a biggest platter she could find. |
Fortunately, not all were like that, often they were fat and tender, and
we thought there were few things more succulent and toothsome than a brown
well cooked leg and loin of lamb flanked by new potatoes and tender little
green peas. The head, liver and tripe properly cleaned and prepared furnished
a delicious soup. They were boiled until the meat could be separated from
the bones, the bones carefully removed and the meat chopped rather fine
and returned to the. liquor in which it was
boiled. Thickened slightly
with either Irish potato or a little flour mixed with browning, seasoned
with salt and pepper and for a DeLuxe edition a slice or two of lemon,
some spice, cloves and allspice, a wine glass of wine and tiny little pates
made of brains and floating on top of the soup in the big tureen - for
in those halycon days soup was served in a tureen and the hostess ladled
it into plates with the big silver ladle:- all this made. a dish fit for
a king or a South Carolina planter. The beef mess was organized on the
same lines with eight families instead of four. The beef was divided into
eight parts; the. hindquarters into leg and loin, the forequarters into
rack and brisket. As with the lamb, the killer kept the loin, also the
head, liver, tripe and feet. The head made a soup like the lamb, but Uncle
James always called it a "soup maigre" and it did not seem to be considered
quite as epicurean a dish as the lamb. Of course the tongue was a much
valueddish, also the liver. The tripe was considered a great treat by all
but myself. Whenever it was our turn to kill, I always sent the tripe to
Mary and she had it cooked and gave Arthur a piece to eat. The feet made
the much liked calves foot jelly of the old recipe books. Boiled
until all bones could be removed, and only a small amount of liquor remained,
carefully skinned to remove all grease, whites of eggs, stick cinnamon.
lemon, sugar and wine compounded together and strained through a flannel
bag it made a most nourishing and delectable jelly, which shook so much
that it was difficult to serve. We always had a roast from the loin, and
T-bone steaks and sometimes jerked steaks, which I had never seen anywhere
else. They were usually cut from the leg, rubbed with salt and saltpeter
an; spread out on a dish and allowed to stand several days. When
we had brisket, we often made corned beef, just dropped the pieces into
a tub or keg of pickle made of sugar, salt, saltpeter, pepper and water
in which the heat would be preserved for some time. We had no ice, in those
days, except in cases of serious illness when it had to be brought from
Charleston. Some families had "dry wells" deep pits dug in the yard, and
covered over by a small house built over it, with stairs leading down to
the bottom. In it meat, milk, and melons were kept cool. |
In early fall a shoat was sometimes killed instead of a lamb, if lambs
were running scarce. I remember once Henry was having a little roasting
pig killed just for the family and he was called away on some business,
leaving "Pearce" one of the lot hands, to finish the butchering. Much to
our amusement and amazement. he cut up the pig just as he would have done
with a large hog and instead of a brown little pig with an apple in his
mouth, there appeared on the table a big platter bearing two little hams,
two little shoulders, etc. Our cousin Hattie Cain who was a guest and full".
shared our amusement, and
she turned to Uncle James and said, "Oh, Jeems I'll never be quite happy
'till I can have a Pearce and a little pig for him to cut up for me". |
We
can only recall these lavish days for the entertainment, perhaps amusement
of the younger generations. Perhaps in these rationed days of this awful
war they may wish there could be still some such solutions to food problems,
perhaps there may be. For us to whom those times bring such vivid memories
of so much more than food, so much of gracious, happy, serene living, simple
pleasures, safety and security and dear companionship, there comes, in
looking back, an inevitable touch of sadness for we know, "the tender grace
of a day that is gone can never come back to us". But we look forward to
that brave new world that our gallant brave boys ore fighting end loving
down their- lives to make for future generations. |
