On July 3, 2001 my husband, daughter and I made the trip of my lifetime to Abbeville, South Carolina. This trip was important to me as my ancestors lived there way back in the 1700's. The two lines that I am researching from the Long Cane area are Mathews/Matthews and Calhoun.

If it wasn't for some WONDERFUL people on the Long Cane Mail list, I wouldn't have found most of these places. A very special Thank You goes to JOHN BLYTHE. Without his help and support (and explicit directions!) I wouldn't have been able to find everything I was looking for.

Our first stop was in Edgefield Town Square. Unfortunately it was late in the day and the Courthouse was closed and the next day was a holiday.

As we got back in the vehicle and I pulled out my directions emailed to me by many wonderful people, I felt a feeling well up in me that is hard to explain. When my 3rd Great Grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Mathews, left Abbeville, SC to start a life in Pontotoc, MS, I would be the first of his descendants to visit the first place he called "home". Thomas, known as TJ, left Abbeville, SC after 1850 as he is found on the 1850 Census still living there. By 1860 he was living in Pontotoc, MS with his second wife, Mary Jane Fortescue Mathews. I have some transcribed letters from TJ Mathews to his sister in law, Nancy Elizabeth Fortescue, who was living in Abbeville that were written in during the Civil War. They can be seen by clicking here.

On July 4th we drove to the Long Cane Massacre Site where my 6th Great Grandmother, Catherine Montgomery Calhoun, was killed by the Indians. To read more on this story click here and here .
I took pictures on our way to the Massacre Site and at the Massacre Site, to see the thumbnails of these pictures click here .

In a few day's I will have the pictures of The Old Calhoun Cemetery uploaded and added to this. I have been working on this page for almost a month now and need a few day's rest. Today I uploaded some scanned copies of Hobert Burns research that includes the transcribed memoirs on Anne Calhoun Mathews, my 4th Great Grandmother. These can be seen by clicking here.

as of August 17, 2001

Click on the mailbox to send me an email.