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COPIED FROM THE SCRAPBOOK-A COMPILATION OF HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT LAURENS COUNTY, S. C. "POWER, SOUTH CAROLINA" "In 1835 Lewis Power left the home of his father Alexander Power near Warrior Creek Church and bought lands where Rabun and Warrior creeks head, about five miles from Fountain Inn on the Charleston-Greenville stage coach road. He built a home; a saw mill for making lumber; a cabinet shop where furniture, caskets, wagon, buggies and other wooden things were made; a blacksmith shop where horses and mules were shod and metals were made into needed materials; a cotton gin for processing cotton and a U. S. post offce was established. Cram's ATLAS OF THE WORLD 1888 list Power as having a population of 60 persons. Several years later the buildings burned and the post office was moved two miles down the road to Rapley which name was later changed to Owings. The house and land are still owned by the Power family." In a recent trip to Laurens, S. C., we were able to walk
the grounds where all the above was located and visited his elderly great
grandson who still owns this land and the home. The home is still
beautiful despite the age but he has had it remodeled and had planned to
occupy it after his retirement but his health declined and this was not
possible.
COPIED FROM " A LAURENS COUNTY SKETCHBOOK by Julian Stevenson Bolick with A Brief Sketch of the Development of Laurens County by Edna Riddle Foy" "POWERS SHOP, OWINGS: Four miles from the Greenville
County line a small settlement developed around Powers Shop. This
was a place of mail service and supplies among families of men serving
in the army of the Confederacy. Mule riders could be seen leaving
the shop daily, some clutching written messages which had been "backed
to" loved ones and sent by the men on the battle front. Many riders
left the shop empty handed, for the mails were irregular in those trying
years. In the late 1800's a place of business was established about one
mile southeast of Powers Shop. Soon a cotton gin and other services
were found at the new location, the site being nearer the county courthouse.
The new community, little more than a railway flag stop, was called Owings
in honor of a prominent citizen who had moved his family from Duvall's
Crossroad to the higher elevation of the county. Gradually the patronage
of Powers Shop passed to Owings. In answer to a petition to establish
a post office at the new center of activity, the citizens were notified
that there was already a hamlet called Owings in South Carolina. It was
then that the inhabitants agreed to use the Christian name of their good
friend, F. Rapley Owings; and the government accepted the
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