Light Townsend

ID: I3630

Name: Light Townsend

Sex: M

Change Date: 17 APR 2006

Note:

Marie Townsend Butler in her "The Townsends of Marlboro 1764-1980" that she prepared in 1980 included a very interesting biography that was primarily about her great grandfather Light Townsend (1798-1870). Most of that biography is presented below:

“They moved away to other counties and other states, or died and left no heirs; thus a family once both prolific and prominent in Marlboro County, South Carolina, is becoming extinct.”

“Ever since Benedictus Townsend and his two sons settled on the east side of the Great Pee Dee, in what for a long time was known as Marlborough District, there have been Townsend’s in that area - in fact on some of the same land - until recently. The sons were named John and Light. The unusual name, Light, has been used generously by the family through the years, and is still found in Marlboro today - John Light Napier and William Light Kinney, both direct descendants of the first Light.”

“The name Townsend may be disappearing as a family name, but it is frequently found as a middle name. A few examples are: Robert Townsend Rogers and his daughter, Robin Townsend, in California; John Townsend Napier of Blenheim; Robert Townsend Richardson of Richmond, Virginia; Harold Townsend Mobley in Nashville, Tennessee; and little Ryan Townsend Butler of Myrtle Beach.”

“Though there were land grants to many of the older Townsend’s, the one who apparently built up the large estate held by the family for many years was Light Townsend (1798-1870). He was one of fourteen children born to John and Keziah Hays Townsend, who lived four miles east of Blenheim on what is now the Cousins family property, but for years was known as the “Kinney Bay Place”. Light was the third son, and after a stay in North Carolina where he was overseer of a large plantation, he returned to Marlboro and not only acquired his father's property (when other members of the family moved to Florida), but began building up his own estate.”

“Light was not a young man when he married Mary Ann Carloss, twenty-two years his junior. In the early 1850's they built a large Greek Revival plantation house where they reared a family of three daughters and one son. Judging from the property he willed to each of his children, he had become a sizable landowner before his death. As John Townsend tells it, “Grandfather owned a lot of land and left each of his three daughters a big farm, all adjoining, near Blenheim. Papa always told me his father's property joined Major Drake at the branch near Lower Marlboro school where C. P. Poleston has a fish pond. The line went from that branch back across to Jennies branch (behind the McCallum home place). Aunt Hattie Irby, so I was told, inherited all the property from the road running by the Townsend house to the Kinney Bay Place, and over as far as the creek on the Poleston farm. I heard she lost it once and Grandfather bought it back for her saying, “You let John run through it again and see what happens', and of course they did lose it”.

“Light and his son, John Robertson, were living on a farm he owned six miles out of Bennettsville when Light died. He left this farm (known as the Pledger Place and now owned by the Hollis family) to his son. By court approval the son, still a minor, and one of the daughters, Amelia Dudley, exchanged inheritances, and the plantation home remained property of a Townsend.”

“On one of Light's trips to Florida to visit his sisters and brothers he brought back a pocket full of acorns from the coniferous oaks and planted these in the yard of his new home. Many came up, and some of the huge, old trees are still living, though in deplorable condition as is the long abandoned house.”

“The plantation house consisted of eight main rooms (20 X 20) and a detached kitchen. There were only two closets in the house. The kitchen had an open fireplace and a walk-in pantry. Just off the dining room was a butler's pantry, as well as a storage pantry with shelves from floor to ceiling to take care of the many items canned and preserved on the farm. In 1912 John Robertson added two bathrooms, which formed bays on the south side of the house. In later years John Rogers added a large family room, which connected the kitchen with the main house.”

“Brick used in construction were made on the plantation, and the wide pine siding was all hand beaded. The interior millwork was of oak. Rift pine flooring was used throughout, while the walls were all plastered. The fourteen-foot high ceilings downstairs and the twelve foot ceilings upstairs were all ten inch boards.”

“The house sat within a twenty-five acre fenced grove. The yard immediately around the house was enclosed with a picket fence for many years. The outbuildings included the commissary, a smoke house, light house (for the carbide generator), pump house, shop, carriage house (later used as a garage) and, of course, the traditional "outhouse" of the time. There was at one end of the grove the cow lot and horse lot with its gear house and associated barns along with a tall brick wall protecting the deep, open well. On the other side of the grove, just outside the fence, was the cotton gin with its seed house, the saw mill and a fertilizer warehouse.”

“Wide porches on three sides of the house and the front step abutments were the ideal home for large potted ferns of various kinds. These were carried over year to year in the "pit" - an entrenchment on the south side of the house near the fruit orchard. This was constructed with brick walls and covered with heavy timbers, which could be opened on sunny days in the winter.”

“According to various records, Light owned more than four hundred slaves to work his holdings. Interesting stories have been handed down about how he caught wild hogs in Big Hilson Bay to help feed the slaves. He also supposedly had a dog trained to patrol the slave quarters, and if a strange slave showed up, the dog would go to Light's bedroom and awaken him, and lead him straight to the cottage where the stranger was.”

“Though not an educated man (his only formal education came after he was grown and hired a tutor) he was instrumental in helping establish several schools. Light told his son that he literally studied all the time when he had the tutor - except for a mile walk in the mornings, and when he was eating and sleeping. He began in the famous blue back speller, and after only nine months was able to do his own surveying.”

“Light also became something of a financier of his time. His grandson tells this story: “Grandfather stood security, as it was called then, for a merchant in Bennettsville for $33,000.00 and the merchant went broke. When Grandfather heard about it he got on his horse and went to Bennettsville and asked the man if the rumor were true, and the man said, “Yes, I don't even have a chicken to crow the time of day”. Grandfather said that was what he had come to find out – he guessed that meant he’d have to pay the debt... When he started to leave, the merchant said, “Don't go, Light, stay and have dinner with me” I’ve heard that Grandfather replied, “No, by God, I’ll go home and eat something that is paid for”. Uncle Tom Dudley settled that debt for $10,000.00 after Grandfather died.”

“When Light lived at what is now the Cousins farm he had two nephews from Florida living with him. They were sons of his brother, John and his wife, Vicie, who had died. One of the boys was trained as a surveyor and his Uncle Light gave him a horse and $100 when he returned to Florida. On one of the many trips to Florida (by horse-back) Light brought home a niece, Temperance, Dau. of his brother Allen. He sent her to Salem College where she was taken ill in a few months & died. She is buried in the Single Women's section of the Moravian Cemetery, but no identification of her parents is on the marker. Two of his sister Delaney's daughters came to Blenheim to live with him after their father died. They were Emma and Fannie Charles, and were living with the family when eighteen of Sherman's men came to the plantation house during their march through the Cheraw area. (For many year these sisters were the connecting link between the Marlboro family and their Florida relatives.)”

“Light's young son, John, accompanied slaves on wagons loaded with corn to feed the destitute people in the Cheraw area after the Union soldiers moved out. John frequently told his children how the soldiers camped for several days on his Aunt Hattie Irby's farm. When they moved on there was absolutely no food on the place. She finally found several sweet potatoes where the soldiers had torn down the potato hills, and some scattered corn where they had fed their horses. This was all she and the children had to eat until she could send to her father's home for food. On one of his trips the fifteen-year-old John brought home a sixty-pound cannon ball which had been left by Sherman's army. It is now in possession of Carlos Butler, a great, great grandson of Light.”

“Mrs. William A. Wyatt of San Marcos, Texas, who researched her Townsend ancestors over a long period of years, says that of the early Townsend’s, “only Light, left a family Bible with full records and he was the only one who left a will”. That Bible, which is still intact today, had a record of the births of “Blacks”(slaves on the plantation) as well as members of the family.”

“Light's young wife, Mary Ann, was the daughter of Dr. Robertson Carloss and Wilhemina Amelia Charlotte Poelnitz (b. 1772) and the granddaughter of Baron Charles von Poelnitz (b. 1734) who was widely publicized in the Carolina Series of historical novels by Inglis Fletcher. The Baron is buried in Marlboro County.”

Birth: 01 MAY 1798 in Georgia 1

Death: 17 MAR 1870 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina 2

Burial: MAR 1870 Mossy Bay Cemetery, Marlboro Co., South Carolina

Father: John Townsend b: ABT 1760 in probably Orange Co., North Carolina

Mother: Kiziah Hays b: 1772

Marriage 1 Mary Ann Carloss b: ABT 1816 in North Carolina

Married: 11 OCT 1838 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina 2

Children

Harriet Townsend b: APR 1839 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina

Sarah Townsend b: 20 NOV 1841 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina
Amelia W. Townsend b: 31 DEC 1843 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina
Carolina Townsend b: 30 MAR 1845 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina
Mary Ann "Annie" Townsend b: 10 AUG 1848 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina
John Robertson Townsend b: 20 NOV 1850 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina
James Alexander Townsend b: 20 NOV 1853 in Marlboro Co., South Carolina
Sources:

Title: DAR Application of Annie Florence Kinney, Item Info: Nat. #389553, 6 December 1948

Abbrev: DAR, Annie F. Kinney Application

Author: Kinney, Annie Florence

Repository:

Name: National Society DAR Library, Washington D.C. Copy in possession of writer

Title: The Townsends of Marlboro - 1764-1980

Abbrev: Townsends of Marlboro

Author: Butler, Marie Townsend

Publication: unpublished work,1980

Repository:

Name: Copy in possession of writer