Study of Darlington Co. SC Shirleys and connections

A letter written May 9, 1935 by Sally Betts in Shreveport Louisiana to her cousin Winnie Haynes in Harbor City California. Exerts from letter...

My dear Cousin:

Our ancestors came from England. Our grandfather, James Shirley married Winifred Johnston whose mother died at her birth, and who was reared by an aunt, Unity Faircloth. Grandmother Shirley, (Winifred Johnston), had four brothers who, I'm told were men of means.

Our grandparents, James and Winifred Shirley, had three sons, Hamilton David, Kelley, Burrell Shirley; and four daughters, Unity, Malissa, Rebecca and Sarah, your mother.

The oldest son and child, Hamilton David and my father was born Aug 10, 1820 in Darlington District of South Carolina. He studied law and went in his young manhood to Alabama where he abandoned law and took up the teaching profession. He married there in 1843 or '44 Jemima Thomas. To this union was born two sons and four daughters, the youngest myself, who will be 73 July 1st. My oldest sister, and the oldest child, Julia Ann (Shirley) Tyner is now past 90, and Josephine Dendey, also my sister, is 88 years old. They both are living with me. My sister next older than myself died last October 27th.

My father died Oct 10, 1864 when I was just a little past two years old. I do not positively remember him. His brother, Kelley, married Lucinda Barnett. Don't know his children or how many. Burrell married Narcissa Cartwright and they had five boys and three girls. The old people are all dead. The children, some of them, did live in Monroe Co. Alabama. You might find out something about them by writing to the post master at Burnt Corn, Monroe County Alabama.

I did not know until your letter came that grandfather Shirley was married a second time.

My father's oldest sister, Unity, married a second or third cousin, Jacob Shirley (called Bud) the first time, and after his death a Mr. Scoggins. They all came to Texas years ago. Mallissa married first Joe Hannm Herndon. Later she married Billy Key. After he returned from the War he took his daughter and went to Texas. Rebecca married "Bud" Floyd who never returned from the War. Aunt Malissa had five Herndon children, Jim, Jacob, and three girls.

I do think everybody should keep a complete family record. My father did have one pretty complete, but I never knew what became of it.

The depression has buffeted us fearfully. How did you happen to go to California? One more bit of information. Grandfather Shirley moved from South Carolina to Alabama in 1845.

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NOTE: Nancy Rogers wrote saying....Hamilton David Shirley was her great great grandfather and he was 24 when he married Jemima who was 20 years old. The two sons not named in the letter were Sheridan Shirley who married Malinda Stephens and James Calhoun Shirley (Nancy's great grandfather), who married Amanda Jennette Sanders. Hamilton David and Jemima are buried in the Goodhope Baptist Cemetery 6 miles west of Troy, Pike County Alabama.

One of our Shirley Association members sent the following information from a cousin who had supplied him with family info many years ago. She refers in her letter to visiting with Sally Betts. A "special page" was referred to in her letter and this info is from that Special Page! 

While James Shirley was living with Winifred Johnston Shirley in Darlington, S.C., for some reason she left James and went to either Charlotte or Wilmington North Carolina and stayed with her family. (She had 6 brothers). When she returned to Darlington S.C. to James Shirley, she found him with a bastard son by a Mrs. Temperance Wingate whose maiden name was Hudson. James Shirley had custody of the child, a boy, named Rosier (see next item below). He was reared by James and Winifred Johnston Shirley, but he kept his mother's name, Wingate. James gave his children a common grammar school education but educated Hamilton David through law school and college. Rosier was sent to college and was a professor of a school in Camilla Georgia (item below doubts he was a professor), to be where his mother lived with him until she died. 

NOTE: SEE ITEM BELOW ABOUT THE SURNAME OF WINIFRED BEING "ROSIER" AND NOT JOHNSTON?

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The following item was sent by Charles Davis 

POSTED: November 14th, 2006 

The Camilla Enterprise

Camilla, Georgia

June 16, 1909

Mr. Rosier Wingate Claimed by Death

A prominent farmer and citizen succumbed after a long and useful life.  Last Sunday evening at about 9 o’clock, the inevitable hand of death was laid upon one of Mitchell County’s  oldest and most venerable citizens and the soul of Mr. Rosier Wingate was transplanted from the bed of pain and suffering on this earth to that eternal city whose maker and builder is God.  The end came not unexpectedly, for Mr. Wingate had been sinking slowly for the past two weeks or more, and although the entire community was saddened by the announcement, it had been expected for several days.

Mr. Wingate was stricken with paralysis last February and since that time has not been able to leave his bed.  The ravages of disease and the natural infirmatives of old age made the fight a hopeless one from the time he was first stricken, nevertheless, children, grandchildren, relatives and friends gathered about the sufferer’s couch and no loving ministration was overlooked or medical skill neglected that tended to make his passing less painful. 

Mr. Wingate was one of the oldest settlers of this section and has been counted one of the county’s best citizens longer than many of us can remember.  He was a devout member of the Camilla Baptist Church and has always, as long as health permitted, taken an active part in the up-building of that institution.  He was a plain man, unostentatious and true, who lived according to his belief and practiced his religion in everyday life.  A man who always had a lot to do and little to say, who carried out his promise to the letter and whose honor and integrity remained unblemished and unquestioned throughout his long residence.  His faith in God was unshakable, and he died like he had lived – sure of his ground and content with the fight he had made.

Mr. Wingate was born in North Carolina 80 years ago and moved to Georgia when quite young.  When the war began,  he joined Company A (Capt. John A. Davis) Eighth Georgia Cavalry, which was a part of Derring’s Brigade.  He saw 4 years of hard service in Virginia and North Carolina, and was seriously wounded while on picket duty at Nause River, near Washington, N.C., the bullet ranging from near his mouth down through his shoulder.  After the war, he returned to this county and has since been rated one of our most successful farmers.

The funeral service was conducted at the Baptist Church in this city last Monday afternoon at 4 o’clock by the pastor Rev. B. W. Davis, who after reading a brief passage of scripture, dwelt entirely upon the character of the deceased and the fine Christian example he had set for the community.  The interment was made at the new cemetery in the family burial plot.

Mr. Wingate leaves an aged wife, Martha Ann Shiver Wingate, and four children, Messrs. Ransom and L. G. Wingate, and Mrs. Thos. Mulford, all of this county, and Mrs. John Hall of Worth County, besides a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren to mourn his death.

The Enterprise joins a host of friends who feel deeply the community’s loss and extends sympathy to the bereaved family and relatives.

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Posted Oct 31st, 2006

Email from Jerry Heard