Mills, Columbus 20 June 1808–10 Dec. 1882

In 1833 (June 5), Columbus Mills witnessed, and was named in the codicil of, the will of his first cousin Marbill F. Lewis of Greenville District, SC [son of Henry Lewis and Mourning Mills). The codicil reads: "I desire that my negro boy, horses and barouch, which I left in Columbus, with Maj. Camp, be sold by him and Dr. Mills, and the proceeds of sale, when realized be remited [sic] to my friend William Choice, and his receipt taken by them for it. Of the lot of the cigars (being seven thousand) I desire Dr. Mills to have one thousand and that he sell the remainder and pay J.W. Fannin $33 dollars, being the amount I owe him for passage money and the duty he paid for my cigars, and appropriate the residue to incidental expences [sic], etc...." http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/Thumbnails.aspx?reco...

In 1849, Columbus Mills, Joseph Carson and David Porter were named as commissioners from North Carolina to join SC Commissioners aiming to develop a railroad from Spartanburg Courthouse to Chester District. http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/Thumbnails.aspx?reco...

In Spartanburg County, he and his brother Govan owned land on Chinquepin Creek and also on Lawson's Creek. there were interwoven connections to the Richard Thomson and H.H. Thomson (his son) family land n Spartanburg, as indicated in the following transactions (some of which only involve Govan and some which say "C & G Mills"):

p. 253-255. [No day] June 1848. Deed of Conveyance. J.W. Tucker of Spartanburg Dist, to H.H. Thomson & J. Waddy Thomson of Spartanburg & Union Dists, for $250 sold 59 acres called the Neighbors tract which I bought at Public auction from the Executors of R. Thomson Decd, on Lawsons Fork creek. Wit: Govan Mills, Revd. Benj. Wofford. Signed, J.W. Tucker. Witness oath, 23 July 1849: Signed, Benj. Wofford to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Release of Dower, 23 July 1849: Signed, Emily A. Tucker to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered Examined & certified 23rd July 1849. Original delivered to ~~ H.H. Thomson.

p. 257-260. [no day] June 1848. Deed of Conveyance. J.W. Tucker to H.H. Thomson of Spartanburg Dist, for $2931 sold (5) tracts in Spartanburg Dist and (1) in Union Dist. In Spartanburg Dist: (1) 91 acres called the Crocker Tract on the Wills Road, bounded by Chapman; (2) 180 acres called the Bagwell Tract No

1; (3) 97 acres, Bagwell Tract No

2 bounded by Bagwell Tract No

1; (4) 131 acres, Bagwell Tract No

3, bounded by David Thomson, a branch on the Cane Brake Track, Bagwell Tract No

2; and (5) 600 acres called the Spratt Tract bounded by Colter’s Ford Road near Hine’s Fence, across a branch of Peter’s Creek, crossing the Furnace Road and a branch of Caseys Creek. In Union Dist: 79 acres on Broad River called the Bankhead Tract, bounded by Hamilton, being the whole of the Bankhead tract which R. Thomson Decd, seized and possessed of Except one acre on the west side of Broad River including the banks & ferry known as Howels ferry as deeded by Richard Thomson to H.H. Thomson which deed is proven & recorded at York Court House. Wit: Govan Mills, Benj. Wofford. Signed, J.W. Tucker. Witness oath, [no day] June 1848: Signed, Benj. Wofford to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Release of Dowerm 23 June 1849: Signed, Emily A. Tucker to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered 

40 Spartanburg District Conveyances Examined & certified 23rd July 1849. Original delivered to ~~ H.H. Thomson. 

p. 288-290. 9 June 1848. Deed of Conceyance. H.H. Thomson, Junius W. Thomson & J. Waddy Thomson, Executors of Richard Thomson Decd, by authority of the will of R. Thomson and a decree of the Court of Equity for Spartanburg Dist in the case of Govan Mills & wife and others against H.H. Thomson and others, did, after duly advertising, sold the following tracts of land at public outcry: (1) A 150 acre tract called the Cleveland tract partly in the Incorporate limits of the Town of Spartanburg on Chinquepin Creek, sold to J.W. Tucker for $1525; and (2) The Neighbors tract, 59 acres on bank of Lawson’s [Fork?] sold to J.W. Tucker for $250. Wit: Revd. Benj. Wofford, John Linder. Signed, H.H. Thomson, J. Waddy Thomson, J.W. Thomson, as Executors of Rich. Thomson Decd. & by the Court of Equity. Witness oath, 5 Sept 1849: Signed, Benj. Wofford to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered Examined & certified 5th Sept. 1849. Original delivered to ~~ H.H. Thomson. p. 290-293. 9 June 1848. Deed of Conveyance. H.H. Thomson, Junius Thomson, W. Thomson & J. Waddy Thomson, the Executors of Richard Thomson Decd, by the will of R. Thomson Decd, and a decree of the Court of Equity for Spartanburg Dist in the case of Govan Mills & wife

44 Spartanburg District Conveyances and others against H.H. Thomson and others, did duly advertise and sold at public outcry the following tracts of land which were owned by Richard Thomson at the time of his death: (1) The Crocker tract, 91 acres, bounded by the Well’s Road and Chapman Tract, sold for $171 to J.T. Kirby and transferred to J.W. Tucker of Spartanburg Dist; (2) The Bagwell Tract No

1, 180 acres, which was bid off by J.W. Tucker for $65;. (3) The Bagwell Tract No

2, 97 acres, bid off by Jacob Zimmerman and transferred to J.W. Tucker, for $37;. (4) The Bagwell Tract No

3, 131 acres bounded by David Thomson, bid off by J. Zimmerman for $536 which bid was transferred to J.W. Tucker. The boundaries of all the above tracts, in Spartanburg Dist, will more fully appear by Plats made by Geo. Nichols & A.S. Camp under order of the Court of Equity. (5) The Spratt Tract, in Spartanburg Dist, 600 acres, bounded by South side Coulter ford Road near Hine’s fence, crossing a branch of Peter’s creek and furnace road and branch of Casey’s creek, bid off by J.W. Tucker for $300; (6) The Bankhead tract in Union Dist on Broad River adjoining Hamilton and containing all of the Bankhead tract which R. Thomson owned, except an acre which includes the west bank of Howels ferry as Deeded by Richard Thomson to H.H. Thomson at York Court House, by reference to the deed will more fully appear and leaving 79 acres bid by J.W. Tucker for $1202. Wit: Benj. Wofford, John Linder. Signed, H.H. Thomson, J. Waddy Thomson, J.W. Thomson, as Executors of R. Thomson and by order of the court of Equity. Witness oath, 5 Sept 1849: Signed, Benj. Wofford to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered Examined & certified 5 Sept. 1849. Original delivered to ~~ H.H. Thomson. 

p. 300-301. 3 Sept 1849. Deed of Conveyance. Executors of the last Will & Testament of Richard Thomson, H.H. Thomson, J. Waddy Thomson & Junius W. Thomson, in obedience to the order of the Court of Equity for Spartanburg Dist made in the case of G. & C. Mills and their wives against the Executors of Richard Thomson deceased. This day the land was exposed to public outcry for sale at the risk[?] of the former purchaser and the Turner tract, 86 acres on the waters of Lawson’s Fork was sold to James W. Tucker for $366. The land adjoins Jane Martin and R. Thomson’s homestead Tract. Wit: George W.H. Legg, J.B. Tolleson. Signed, H.H. Thomson, J. Waddy Thomson, J.W. Thomson, Executors of the Estate of Richard Thomson. Witness oath, 8 Sept 1849: Signed, G.W.H. Legg to J.B. Tolleson, Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered Examined and certified 8th Sept. 1849. Original delivered to ~~ H.H. Thomson.

p. 329-331. 3 Sept 1849. Deed of Conveyance. H.H. Thomson, J. Waddy Thomson & Junius W. Thomson, Executors of R. Thomson Decd, by order of the Court of Equity for Spartanburg Dist, in the case of G. & C. Mills and their wives against the Executors of R. Thomson Decd, sold, at the risk of the former purchaser to the highest bidder, sold to G.W.H. Legg for $1,500, sold 258 acres called the Lancaster Tract on Chinquepin Creek, bounded by Jesse Cleveland. Wit: J.B. Tolleson, Govan Mills. Signed, H.H. Thomson, J. Waddy Thomson, J.W. Thomson, Executors. Witness oath, 27 Sept 1849: Signed, Govan Mills to J.B. Tolleson Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered 27th Sept 1849.

p. 347-348. 25 Sept 1849. Deed of Conveyance. J. Waddy Thomson of Spartanburg Dist, to Rev. J.D. McCulloch of Spartanburg Dist, for $1795 sold 123 acres on Chinquepin creek partly in the incorporated limits of the Town of Spartanburg, North side of Road, Dr. Golding, Dean & Walker, Cleveland and near Junius Thomson. Wit: Govan Mills, J.W. Tucker. Signed, J. Waddy Thomson. Witness oath, J.W. Tucker Esqr to J.B. Tolleson Clk & Mag Ex iffo. Registered 30th Oct 1849. Original delivered to ~~ Rev. J.D. McCulloch.

p. 376-477. 26 March 1850. Mortgage. A. Brawley is indebted to H.H. Thomson for $75 by three sealed notes of $25 each due 1st Jany. 1851, 1852 & 1853, the purchase money of a 2 acre Lot in the Town of Spartanburg which A. Brawley bought this day of H.H. Thomson; beginning on SE back corner of the Parsonage lot and adjoining Jesse Cleveland. Wit: J.W. Tucker, Govan Mills. Signed, A. Brawley. Witness oath, 26 March 1850: Signed, Govan Mills to J.B. Tolleson Clk & mag Exoffi. Registered 26th March 1850. Original delivered to ~~ H.H. Thomson. 24th Jany 1851.

Henry H. Thomson's 1858 Spartanburg County will speaks of his lot bordering Dr. Columbus and Susan Ann Mills' lot and Govan and Nancy Mills' lot, near Main Street and the Palmetto House. http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/Thumbnails.aspx?reco...

In an 1858 petition to the SC General Assembly, GREENVILLE AND FRENCH BROAD RAIL ROAD CO., PETITION FOR AID IN CONSTRUCTING A RAILROAD FROM SPARTANBURG TO ASHEVILLE, N.C., THEN DOWN THE VALLEY OF THE FRENCH BROAD RIVER TO THE PAINT ROCK ON THE TENNESSEE LINE. [http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/Thumbnails.aspx?reco...] Govan and Columbus Mills are among the list of investors/guarantors.

In the 1860 slave schedule for Polk County, NC, Columbus Mills owned 46 slaves.

In the 1860 census for Polk County, NC, Columbus Mills's worth was valued at $12,400 in real estate and $50,785 in personal estate (i.e. slaves). His brother, "Govan Mills by Richard Mills, Agt." (his son who managed his Polk County estate while he lived on his Spartanburg County estate) owned 33 slaves. The 1860 census for Polk County lists "R.H. Mills, Agt." with a financial worth of $21,000 in real estate and $37, 860 in Personal Estate. The worth of these brothers is exorbitantly greater than most of the people, even the planter class, in this county, whose worth ran up to a few thousand dollars on average. Only the slave owners had Personal Estate values that were high, on average about $1000-1100 per slave. Most farmers are listed with real estate in the 100's if they owned real estate at all.

John C. Camp age 25 (living in the Columbus Mills household--a nephew, perhaps?--$5000 $14,979

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from The Millers of Millersburgh (on Googlebooks)

John de LaFayette Lewis, eighth child of Mourning Mills, was born in 1804, and died single, in 1857, at the home of Columbus Mills, Polk County, North Carolina. He was a very generous, free-hearted man, and very much respected and beloved by all. He was a soldier in the Seminole War in Florida.

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June 1862: North Carolina Reports Vol. 59 Cases in Equity Argued Before the Supreme Court of North Carolina from December Term 1860 to June Term 1863

By Hamilton C. Jones, Reporter Edwards and Broughton Printing Company, State Printers

p. 214

June Term 1862

JOHN C. CAMP and another against WILLIAM S. MILLS and others.

A bill in equity, for a discovery and an account, by one of two wards against one of two joint guardians, alleging that he had, exclusively, received the estate of the wards, in which bill the other guardian is made plaintiff, and the other ward defendant, is not multifarious.

CAUSE removed from the Court of Equity of POLK.

The bill is filed in the names of John C. Camp and Columbus Mills against William S. Mills and William A. Mooney and Sarah Louisa, his wife, alleging that John C. Camp and Sarah Louisa Mooney are the only surviving children and heirs at law of James T. Camp, who died intestate in the year 1841, and that the plaintiff Columbus Mills and the defendant William S. Mills became their joint guardians, and entered into a joint bond in the sum of $20,000, with Govan Mills as their surety; that the defendant William S. Mills took possession of the property of the wards, consisting of lands and slaves; rented out the land and received the rents, and hired out the slaves and received the hires, during the whole period of the minority of the said wards, and that the said Columbus Mills did not at all interfere in the management of the wards, or their estates, or the incomes thereof. The bill states that the said Sarah Louisa intermarried with the defendant William A. Mooney in the year 1857, and the plaintiffs are ignorant whether any settlement, partial or complete, was ever made between her and her husband and the said W. S. Mills; that the plaintiff J. C. Camp became of age in the year 1854; that they are ignorant as to what amount of rents, hires and other estate of the wards came into the hands of the said W. S. Mills, and the prayer of the bill is for a discovery and for an account as to both of the wards, so that the plaintiff J. C. Camp may recover what is due to him, and the other plaintiff may be discharged of his liability on account of his joint guardianship with the defendant W. S. Mills, both as guardian for the plaintiff John C. and for the defendant Sarah Louisa Mooney. To this bill the defendant W. S. Mills demurred, on account of multifariousness.

The cause was set for argument on the demurrer and sent to this Court to be heard.

BATTLE, J. It appears from the bill that the plaintiff Columbus Mills and the defendant William S. Mills were, in 1842, duly appointed joint guardians to the plaintiff John C. Camp and the feme defendant Sarah Louisa Camp, and to secure the faithful discharge of the duties of their office, gave a joint bond in the penal sum of $20,000. If, after the marriage of the female ward, and the coming of age of her brother, the other ward, a suit in equity were necessary for calling for an account from their guardians, we can see nothing to object, but much to approve, in having it done in one, instead of two or more suits. It is manifest that a bill might have been filed in the name of both wards, as plaintifis, against both guardians, as defendants, in which the respective rights of each plaintiff and the liabilities of each defendant could have been ascertained upon which a decree might have been founded to secure such rights and to enforce such liabilities, with exact justice to each and all the parties. If one of the wards had declined to become a plaintiff, he or she might have been made a defendant, together with the guardians, and the same result might have been obtained. To a bill in either form, it is certain that the objection of multifariousness would not apply. Such objections may be divided into three classes of cases:

1st, those in which there are different persons plaintiffs or defendants (276) of which some have no kind of privity with others;

2dly, those in which the same party sues or is sued in different capacities;

3dly, those in which the parties are the same, and they sue and are sued in the same capacities, but several and distinct subjects are brought into question.

The present case is clearly excluded from either class; for there is no party that has no kind of privity with the others; there is none that sues or is sued in different capacities, and there are no several and distinct subjects brought into question. See Calvert on Parties to Suits in Equity, 89 (17 Law Lib., 52). It only remains to see whether making one of the guardians a plaintiff instead of a defendant, varies the case, and we think it does not. If the allegations of the bill are true, as by demurrer they are admitted to be, no relief is sought against Columbus Mills, and there is no necessity that he should have a decree against either of the parties. He is a necessary party to the suit, in order that he may be bound by the- final decree in the cause, and he will be equally bound, whether he be a plaintiff or a defendant; see Willsins 1). Fry, 1 Mer., 262. It follows that the bill is not multifarious, and the demurrer must be overruled. PER CURIAM. Demurred overruled.

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http://ncpedia.org/biography/mills-columbus

by William S. Powell, 1991

Columbus Mills, physician and regional political leader in western North Carolina in the counties bordering South Carolina, was the [grand]son of Eleanor Morris and William Mills, a pioneer settler of western North Carolina. He was the great-grandson of Colonel Ambrose Mills, a Loyalist officer executed after the Battle of Kings Mountain. Columbus Mills represented Rutherford County in the state senate in the session of 1846–47. He was elected by the General Assembly to a two-year term on the Council of State in 1852 (when his home county was reported as being Cleveland) but resigned in July 1854 when Rutherford County returned him to the senate. He was reelected and served until 1857, when he once more was chosen a member of the Council of State (with his home again recorded as Cleveland County). Mills served on the Council of State until 1860. In April of that year he was a delegate from North Carolina to the Democratic National Convention, held in Charleston, S.C.

While a member of the General Assembly in 1855, Mills was instrumental in having Polk County created from portions of Rutherford and Henderson counties. The county seat, Columbus, was incorporated in 1857 and named for him. The town of Mills Spring, incorporated in 1885 (now known as Mill Spring but no longer active as a municipality), was also named in his honor.

Although details of Mills's schooling are unknown, he clearly was well educated. His articles appeared in the New York Post, and he was a friend of the South Carolina writer, William Gilmore Simms. He contributed mountain lore to Simms, and Mills himself appears as a character in Simms's "How Sharp Snaffles Got His Capital for a Wife."

On 17 June 1861, at age fifty-three, Mills volunteered his services to the Sixteenth Regiment of North Carolina Troops and was named regimental surgeon; he resigned in March 1863. During much of the war he served as provost marshal and on one occasion ordered a detail of Confederate cavalry to seize two brothers who were hiding refugees and deserters from the Confederate army. Soon afterwards a band of renegades attacked the Mills home, from which the doctor and his family barely escaped.

Mills had large farming interests and before the Civil War owned between sixty and seventy slaves. After the Grange was organized in March 1873 as a cooperative means of resolving some of the farmers' problems in the state, Mills was elected its first president. His antebellum home stood two miles east of Tryon in Polk County; many years later it was enlarged and converted into Mimosa Inn.

Mills married Susan A. Thompson of Spartanburg, S.C., but they had no children. They were both buried in Spartanburg.

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http://www.columbusnc.com/vertical/sites/%7BC40217A2-DBB8-4AAB-9690...

Dr. Columbus Mills, the Father of Polk County, was born in June, 1808 on nearby White Oak Plantation. He is known for his untiring efforts to establish Polk County, created from existing Rutherford and Henderson counties.

Dr. Mills became a physician and lived in Lynn. His home later became known as the Mimosa Inn. The original house burned in 1916.

He was elected to the state senate in 1846, and he also served in other state offices.

Dr. Mills led a long battle to create Polk County. He was a member of the General Assembly when Polk County was formed—both times.

Polk first became a county in 1846, but the act was repealed when the citizens were unable to determine a location for the county seat. It was to be named “Scuywicker” (English spelling, Skyuka).

When the county was formed the second time in 1855, the Assembly decreed that the county seat would be located within two miles of the geographic center and would be named “Columbus”, honoring Dr. Mills. The County Courthouse was completed in 1859.

Dr. Mills also served in the Civil War. He enlisted in Co. K, 16th North Carolina Regiment on May 20, 1861. He was promoted to surgeon on July 1. Dr. Mills resigned him commission in March 1863 and returned home. Local conflicts between Unionists and secessionists prompted Dr. Mills to move to Cabarrus County, South Carolina. He died December 10, 1882, and is buried in the churchyard of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

References:

John L. Cheney, Jr., ed., North Carolina Government, 1585–1979 (1981).

Walter Clark, ed., Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861–1865, vols. 1, 4 (1901), and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 15 (1898).

Clarence W. Griffin, History of Old Tryon and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina, 1730–1936 (1937).

Harper's Magazine 41 (October 1870). http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/moahtml/title/lists/harp_V41I2... (accessed August 5, 2014).

Weymouth T. Jordan, comp., North Carolina Troops, 1861–1865: A Roster, vol. 6 (1977).

A. R. Newsome, ed., "Letters of Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, 1856–1860," North Carolina Historical Review 10 (January 1933). https://archive.org/stream/northcarolinahis1933nort#page/44/mode/2up (accessed August 5, 2014).

Stuart Noblin, "Leonidas LaFayette Polk and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture," North Carolina Historical Review 20 (April 1943). https://archive.org/stream/northcarolinahis1943nort#page/102/mode/2up (accessed August 5, 2014).

Sadie S. Patton, Sketches of Polk County History (1950).

Stephen B. Weeks Scrapbook, vol. 8 (North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 12 2016, 21:58:41 UTC

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 8 2019, 22:50:26 UTC