Page 27
News & Herald, Friday May 17, 1901
FEASTERS AND COLEMANS
Andrew Feaster (the name was then spelt Pfister, 1740) emigrated to this State from Bucks Co., Pennsylvania. His father, Peter Feaster, died on the road and was buried somewhere in Virginia. From him was descended the present family of Feasters on the Beaver Creek section of the country, better known as the Feasterville township. He had a cousin, John Feaster, who came at the same time and settled in Edgefield County. He was the great-grandfather of Laurens Feaster of the "Dark Corner" section.
Andrew Feaster was twice married; by the first wife only one daughter, who married William Colvin, of the Sandy River section of Chester County, now known as the Halselville township, near where John Simpson now lives. She moved with some of the children to Greene County, Alabama, and lived to be quite an hundred years of age. His second wife was Margaret Fry Cooper, who had by a former marriage, two children, Adam and Eve Cooper, both of whom lived to be quite old. Eve married Jacob Stone, whose mother was Ruth Lyles, a member of the Chester branch of that family. Jacob Stone was a soldier in the Revolution and drew pension as long as he lived. Andrew Feaster's children by the second marriage were: John, who married Drucilla Mobley, daughter of Samuel Mobley. She died April 15, 1807. John's children were John, better known as "Squire Jake," Andrew, Savilla, Susan, Mary, Chaney, and John M. Savilla married Robert Gregg Cameron, and now lives near White Oak. John M. married Keziah Pickett. He now (1886) is living in Florida, on Indian River. Jacob Feaster, son of John, married Isabelle Coleman, daughter of David R. Coleman, than whom a better man never lived. Jacob Feaster lived and died near Buckhead. His children were: Jacob F. who married Elizabeth Stone. Moses C. Feaster is the only living child of that marriage.
Edith D. Feaster married Henry J. Lyles. They had four children, three of whom are now living. John C. Lyles married Miss Sallie Lyles, youngest daughter of the late Col. William S. Lyles, by his first marriage to Miss Woodward. Susan E. Lyles married S. J. Simons of Lexington County, South Carolina. David R. Feaster married Miss Victoria E. Rawls of Columbia. S. C., by whom he had several children. His first wife died in January 1877, and in December 1878, he married Mrs. Harriet E. Coleman, nee Porter, a daughter of Rev. C. M. Porter, of Ridgeway, South Carolina. By her former marriage she had five children. By her marriage to D. R. Feaster, she had four. They have one of the largest families in the county. Sixteen children and six grandchildren. There were two girls younger than D. R., Isabelle and Mary N., both of whom died quite young.
Andrew Feaster, John Feaster's second son, married Mary Norris of Edgefield County, by whom he had eleven children, 5 sons and 6 daughters. The youngest son, T. D. Feaster, is now living near the old homestead. He is the only one of this family now living in this county. The eldest son and daughter are living near Columbia. The fourth son, Elbert H. was blind from infancy, and was educated at Boston, Mass. He was a remarkable man. He knew everyone by their voice. Once having been introduced and conversing with the veriest stranger, he would ever after know him by his voice, no matter where he met him.
Nathan A. Feaster, second son of Andrew, was thrice married; first to Maria Louisa Rawls, of Columbia, by whom he had one daughter, who married John G. Wolling, of Feasterville. His second wife was a Miss Brown, of Anderson County, a sister of Col. Newton Brown, by whom he had one daughter, who is now the wife of a Mr. Tribble, of the town of Anderson. This third wife was a Miss McClanahan of Greenville County. There are two children by this marriage now living in Greenville, a son and a daughter.
Jacob N., Andrew's third son, was twice married, and is now living in Florida. The eldest daughter married Dr. T. J. Rawls of Columbia. The doctor is dead, and Mrs. Rawls and her only child, B. A. Rawls, are now living in Columbia. The second daughter married William Williams of Anderson County and moved to Texas after the war, and there died. Belle, the third daughter, married William Lonergan of Charlotte, North Carolina, by whom she had several children, only one now living, the wife of G. W. Coleman. Julia, the fourth daughter married Robert H. Coleman who died at Augusta, Georgia, during the late war. Mrs. Coleman now lives in Florida. Sallie, the prettiest of all the girls, married George Butler, and died without issue. Narcissa M. Feaster died a few years since, unmarried.
Susan, John Feaster's oldest daughter, married Robert F. Coleman, a son of the patriarch, D. R. Coleman. Mrs. Wesley Mayfield is the only one living of that family. The second daughter, Mary, married H. Jonathan Coleman, by whom she had sixteen children, eleven of whom lived to be grown, 9 sons and 2 daughters.
Truly it may be said that Feasterville township was benefited by the issue of this marriage. It gave to the township three of the very best physicians, two of whom, Drs. Preston and Franklin Coleman, gave up their lives in Virginia for the "Lost Cause." Only two of the boys are now living, D. R. Coleman of Feasterville, and G. W. Coleman of Cash's Depot, South Carolina. Allen lost his life at Petersburg; Jacob died at Wilmington, N. C. in 1864, Dr. R. W. Coleman, better known as "Dr. Bob" was one of the best nurses that ever lived. He married Nancy McConnell, by whom he had several children. He was as game as a Ku Klux to the day of his death which occurred in May 1873.
John Feaster, the eldest, married a Miss Gladden and died in February 1856. His wife died the following April, leaving six small children to the cold charities of the world. But the noble old Roman, H. Jonathan Coleman, was equal to the occasion. He and his married children took these orphans and raised them in their families as one of their own children. His widow is now the wife of David R. Feaster. Dr. Preston Coleman married a Miss Secrest of Lancaster. He was captain of Company C, 17th South Carolina Regiment and had his leg shot off at the knee at the Second Battle of Manassas. He and Dr. B. J. Coleman were educated at the Citadel Academy. Dr. B. F. was Lieutenant in his brother's company. He was wounded and died a few months after at Winchester, Virginia, where his body now lies. Dr. Coleman had his eyesight impaired by a blast during the construction of the S. & U. Railroad. G. W., the youngest son, went to the front at the age of 17.
Elizabeth married Beverly C. Mitchell; both now live in Americus, Georgia.
John Feaster's daughter Chaney, married H. A. Coleman. There were eight children by this marriage, only three now living. J. A. F. Coleman is now living at the old homestead, a man of high social qualities and industrious habits. He is better known by the sobriquet of "Beeswax". David A. Coleman married Sarah A. Younge, who survives him, he having died during the war. She has reared as noble a family of boys as there is in Feasterville Township. J. A. F. Coleman married a daughter of Samuel H. Stevenson, who lives in the hearts of his neighbors and friends, and everybody knows "Uncle Sam", and it will not be left to the future generations to do so, but the present one calls him blessed. Henry A. Coleman married Rebecca Younge. He was wounded three times at the Second Battle of Manassas, and did not live long after, leaving an only daughter, now living with her mother in Winnsboro, S. C. Robert C. Coleman, the youngest son of "Uncle Henry's" was drowned while bathing at Church Flats in 1862.
The eldest daughter married William Younge, son of Robert Younge. The second daughter married James Levy Hunter of Chester County, but now of Powder Springs, Cobb County, Georgia. Isabelle, the third daughter married Thomas L. Manning of Marietta, Georgia. The fourth daughter married A. J. McConnell, better known as "Dick". She died a short while after her marriage. He was first lieutenant of Bailey's Company, 17th Regiment, and was killed the day of the "blow up" at Petersburg.
John Feaster's youngest daughter (Savilla), as has been mentioned before, married R. Gregg Cameron. She raised seven sons and four daughters. James the eldest emigrated to Florida to look after the interests of John M. Feaster, whose daughter he afterward married. He died not long after, leaving a widow with one child. John married Mrs. Hoffman, nee Robinson. She did not live long, and John died in Columbia 8 or 10 years ago.
J. Feaster Cameron was a man of education and refinement, a nobleman of today. He was colonel of an Arkansas regiment, was twice shot and left for dead,but he was spared to be living witness to the destroying power of ardent spirits. He was one of the best of lawyers, a hero of many battles, that fell a victim to our nation's curse, strong drink. The second son, Dr. Andrew S. Cameron, married Susan T. Arnette, a daughter of Mrs. Wesley Mayfield, of Buckhead. He died soon after the war, leaving a widow and one child. She having since died, her son is living with his grandmother, Mrs. Wesley Mayfield. Robert Camereon died during the early part of the war. Alex, the only surviving child, resides near White Oak. He married the second daughter of James W. Younge, son of James W. Younge, by his Crosby-Estes wife. The eldest daughter married Henry Younge, son of John I. Younge, from whom Youngesville took its name.
The second daughter married Dr. Christopher Simonton, a good man and first rate doctor. He moved to Florida, but lived only a short time. She returned to South Carolina with her two children, John and Robert. John, since arriving at manhood, returned to Florida. Robert is at the old John Simonton homestead, and is one of the most successful planters in that section. Sarah married John Simonton, a brother of Dr. Christopher; he also moved to Florida, where he soon died. The fourth and youngest daughter married Colonel Lee McAfee (Colonel LeRoy McAfee, according to his tombstone on Concord Presbyterian Church Cemetery. WTC), of North Carolina .
She was one of the prettiest women in the land. She and her husband died early, leaving an infant son, who was reared, and now resides with his grandmother in the old Cameron homestead. Out of this family of eleven children we now have living (in 1886) the old mother, her son Alex, and five grandchildren.
Andrew Feaster's second son, Jacob Feaster, married a Kennemore, and died without issue, leaving a good solid estate to be divided between brothers and sisters. One of Andrew Feaster's daughters married E. Wooley, who removed to Edgefield, and thence to Cass, now Bartow County, Georgia, where he died, leaving one son, Colonel A. Feaster Wooley. Another daughter married Rundley McShan. They had several children, all of whom removed to the west. The boys, Ferdinand and Andy, to Mississippi and Arkansas. One of the daughters, Judith, married Isaac Coleman. She died a few years since in Union County, S.C. at the home of one of her daughters, three of whom have married in the county; one to William Tucker (she is now a widow), one to to William Jeter, and another to John Jeper. Isaac Coleman still survives. Another daughter of Andrew Feaster married Moses Cockrell. There are only two children now living, John Feaster Cockrell and Margaret Stone, who married a son of the old Revolutionary soldier before mentioned. She is now 85 years of age. Of the stepson, Adam Cooper, all of his descendants moved to Mississippi. His son George Cockrell, the crack rifle shot of his day, married a Triplett of Chester County. His children all now live in Winston County, Mississippi. Adam Cooper's daughter, Margaret, married Captain William E. Hill, a brother of Simeon Hill, ..(words unclear here, I have paraphrased them. Evidently they lived in a section where the old elections had been held, known as Hill's Box), afterwards known as Feasterville, and it was then said that as the Hill box goes, so goes the county, and it verified, to the disappointment of many who had run well elsewhere; but Hill's box gave them "hell", as they expressed it, and this was so often said that they gave it the name of "Hell's Box." This same Simeon Hill was one of the "old-fashioned, plain, honest" men of the day of whom nothing could be said except in his praise.
Comment by webmaster: People ask me why Feasterville is called "Dark Corner". According to the above statement, before the area was named Feasterville, it was known as "Hill's Box" (I know the Hill family owned some land a mile of two east of Feasterville and Highway 215). Later politicians renamed Hill's Box "Hell's Box" because of the effect the area had on elections. Might "Dark Corner" be a euphemism for "Hell's Box"?