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MOVING NORTHEAST TO SOUTH CAROLINA (1789-1791) Prior to the Civil War, South
Carolina had political districts in addition to counties.
In 1790, there were seven of these districts, the northwestern most being
called “Ninety-Six District”. By
1800 the old Ninety-Six had disappeared and the area consisted of eight
political boundaries, some called counties, and some still called districts.) Settlers of this portion of South
Carolina, if the settlers came from the north, would have followed the old
Indian Trails. The main trail
through western South Carolina and Spartanburg was called “The Lower Cherokee
Traders Path”, and would have come from North Carolina and, among others, the
following present day counties: Rockingham,
Guilford, Randolph, Rowan and Mecklenburg, essentially traveling southwest.
From Spartanburg, the trail went through Pendleton District, split into
two in that area, and the southern route continued on into Georgia, was called
“The Pecatonica Trail”. It went
through the present day counties of Franklin and Jackson as it entered Georgia,
turned south and continued through western Georgia and Florida to the Gulf
Coast. Not far from this trail are
the future counties of Walton, Newton, Jasper, Jones, Monroe and more as one
heads south. The northern trail out
of South Carolina into northern Georgia entered in the Rabun – Habersham area
and continued west across the state and on to the Birmingham area of Alabama. But in our case the people
settling in South Carolina came from Georgia, back over the trail were most were
heading the opposite way. In
an attempt to be thorough, many records were searched.
One problem is that South Carolina did not have regular marriage records
prior to 1911, the marriage law not taking effect until July 1, 1911.
During the Colonial Period, the parishes of the Church of England were
supposed to record all marriages within the parish, but after the Revolution, no
marriage license statute was passed until 1911.
Also searched were: Spartanburg County deed abstracts 1785-1827;
Spartanburg County Marriages Implied in Probate Records 1785-1911; Spartanburg
County Minutes of the County Court 1785-1799; Spartanburg County common pleas;
Spartanburg County general sessions; Spartanburg County equity records (not
begun till 1821); State Plats COM Index for land records, which includes
neighbors. Bud MULLINS’ name
never surfaced. In studying this period, one of the main sources would be the 1800 Federal Census for South Carolina. Besides Matthew Sparks II, whose family we have been following, there were only five MULLINS families in South Carolina. Each of these will be addressed. |
