Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Scottish Roots

He was born on May 10th 1821 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, the Great Grandson of a man who left Scotland and came to America, this family first settled in Culpeper County, Virginia before moving down to South Carolina. He farmed in and around the Pumpkintown, SC Community all of his life, He married around 1844 and raised 4 children with his first wife. After her death he married again and added 8 more children to his family.

He fought in Kershaw’s Company B, 2nd Regiment of the South Carolina Infantry Rifles as a private during the Civil War along with his Brother and two sons, the youngest of these two sons was barely old enough to carry a rifle much less be involved in a war but regardless of his young age he served as a Private in Rutledge's Company C, 4th Regiment South Carolina Calvary, he was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor Virginia in June 1864 and was discharged at Bentonville, NC.

He married twice and from the two marriages raised six children, his second marriage was to a woman thirty years his junior, he farmed with her in the Pumpkintown Community and Liberty, SC areas and died at the age of seventy five of a stroke, she died three days short of what would have been his ninety eighth birthday and they are buried next to each other at Mountain Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.

Their youngest son was born on May 30th 1914 he married sometime around 1933 and raised four children, two boys and two girls. He enlisted for the World War II Draft with the Army Air Force at Fort Jackson at the age of 31, He said he was the oldest man to enlist at the time and all the other guys called him Pop, he served in the US Air Force as a Staff Sergeant and a Cook, He also served during the Korean War, in December 1952 a radio interview with him was broadcast in his hometown of Easley, South Carolina, in the interview he mostly thanked everyone who had donated supplies for them to prepare Christmas dinner for the troops fighting the Korean War. A copy of this interview on LP record was sent to his wife by the radio station, this LP was later lost in a house fire.

Both of their sons served in the military one with the Air Force and the other did a short tour with the Army Reserves, the oldest son retired from the Air Force after having an almost duplicate career as his Father and died in 1976 of a heart attack, the Father also died of a heart attack in 1981.

The youngest son married and raised three children, he continues to work at a hospital system in South Carolina, the oldest of his children is a son who was named after him, this son is retired disabled from work and lives on the west coast with his wife, he proudly writes a blog called Jimmy’s Opinion.

14 comments:

  1. I love learning of your roots and Cindy's too. I can see you have done a lot of research of your family tree. It kind of makes me want to be more specific about my heritage...the dates and such...like you. I think the older we get the more interesting these things become to us.

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  2. Awesome! Perhaps we share some Scotch/Irish roots. Wouldn't that be a hoot!

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  3. Great story Jimmy. I love this stuff...
    Granny always said that people who die aren't really "dead" until nobody remembers them.

    You've also got me thinking about doing something similar. I think people would be surprised at my family tree...

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  4. This was really awesome. I'm seriously digging on the way you've written these posts. Really cool style.

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  5. Awesome post. Knowing your roots is so cool.
    My dad did this a few years ago, and wrote it all up. He even learned to speak Italian just so he could communicate with the locals when he went back to Sicily to look up distant living relatives.

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  6. You had me at Scottish...

    That is so neat! All I have is hearsay about my ancestors.

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  7. I have to chime in with Susie and say, "I love learning of your roots and Cindy's too!"

    It's like discovering more and more family treasures!

    Thanks for sharing, buddy!

    Enjoyed!

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  8. Hey Susie, “I think the older we get the more interesting these things become to us” this is so true I have come to realize and the hours I have researched my family over the years I can not count, it is a lot of fun though and I will add more hours to the total:)

    Ms A, You never know we could turn out to be related, as my Irish line is just as strong as the Scottish :^)

    Hey Pat, I am going to agree with Granny because she is right as long as we keep the memories alive the person is never actually gone. Thank You Sir.

    TS, Thank You my Friend I am truly honored to have you enjoy these posts, I love talking about my family and this genealogy research is a blast.

    Good Morning Joe, That is awesome that your Dad went so far as to learn Italian so he could communicate on the trip, learning your roots takes a lot of time but it is worth it in my opinion.

    Morning Kristy, “You had me at Scottish” this is a lot of fun finding all of this information and hearsay is just the beginning sometimes, the stories lead to facts :^)

    Hey Ron, Thank You Sir I am sure proud to have found these things on our families and keeping it to myself would just not be fair.

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  9. Great Great Story,

    I didn't even begin to appreciate the History of SC until well after I moved here!

    Awesome Buddy!

    John

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  10. Very cool, Jimmy! Loved learning about your family--such great details. Love the style you wrote this in.

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  11. You have a beautiful way with words. Thanks for sharing them with us.

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  12. Hey John, Quite the opposite with me I was raised there and didn't really appreciate it until I moved. Thank You Kind Sir.

    Thank You Betty, I appreciate you and am proud that you liked it. You are a Good Friend :)

    Hey Leanne, I am honored by your kind words and it was my pleasure to share this with you.

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  13. He married around 1844 and raised 4 children with his first wife. After her death he married again and added 8 more children to his family.

    Definately no television!!!

    Loved this! Glad they all made it through all that fighting and serving, to give us you!

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  14. Hey Heather,

    I have been truly amazed at how many served in the military and also that someone from both sides of the family has been represented in every war all the way back.

    Yes it is obvious there was no tv back then Ha Ha :^)

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