South Carolina Education - Abbeville County




South Carolina Education - Abbeville County

Year County Established	County Webpage Herein	County Seat Webpage Herein
1785	Abbeville County	Abbeville
On March 16, 1778, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Salem Society. This organization was authorized to build and manage a school in the Ninety-Six District near the Little River Meeting House. This school was built at what became the town of Cambridge, was taught by Rev. John Springer, and seven (7) years later became Cambridge College. In 1785, this school was in the new Abbeville County. This school would have been in present-day Greenwood County.
On March 19, 1785, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to establish three colleges, including one in the Ninety-Six District at the new town of Cambridge. This college was soon to be within Abbeville County. What became Cambridge College did not last very long, but its location would be in present-day Greenwood County.
On February 27, 1788, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Friendly Cambridge Society. This organization was authorized to promote the prosperity of Cambridge College. This college was then in Abbeville County. What became Cambridge College did not last very long, but its location would be in present-day Greenwood County.
On December 21, 1792, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to authorize the trustees of Cambridge College to establish a lottery to help raise money for the college. This college was then in Abbeville County. What became Cambridge College did not last very long, but its location would be in present-day Greenwood County.
On December 21, 1799, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Upper Long Cane Society. This organization was authorized to build and manage one or more schools where orphans and children of the poor are to be taught for free.
On December 21, 1799, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to allow the Agricultural Society to sell of some lands of the estate of Dr. John DeLa Howe to help pay for the setup of a school per Dr. Howe's bequest.
Dr. John De La Howe, a French physician, came to South Carolina in 1764 and settled in the New Bordeaux community by the 1780s. His will left most of his estate, including Lethe Plantation, to the Agricultural Society of South Carolina to establish a home and school for underprivileged children. The Lethe Agricultural Seminary was founded here after De La Howe's death in 1797. Initially restricted to 24 boys and girls from what was then Abbeville County, with preference given to orphans, the school emphasized manual training, or instruction in operating a self-sufficient farm. In 1918 it was turned over to the State of South Carolina, opened to children from every county in the state, and renamed John De La Howe School. It is now a group child care agency serving over 200 students a year. [Note - this school was opened in Abbeville County. In 1916, this school was then in the newly-created McCormick County, where the above marker is.]
On December 17, 1803, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which authorized four named men to sell all assets of the Cambridge College and to provide the next proceeds to help pay for a new grammar school in the Abbeville District. On December 19, 1805, this Act was repealed by another Act (sections IV, V, and VI) because the buildings were planned to be used for another school.
Two miles southwest is the site of the famous classical academy which was established in 1804 by Rev. Moses Waddel, D.D., one of the greatest educators of his day. Here from 1804-1819 he taught hundreds of ambitious boys of great potentiality who became some of the South's most notable men. Their record is his greatest monument. [Note - this academy only existed when this location was in the Abbeville District. It was long gone by the time that McCormick County was established. However, the above marker is currently in McCormick County.]
On December 21, 1814, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Coronaca Circulating Library Society in the Abbeville District.
On December 19, 1816, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Cambridge Library Society, with assets authorized up to $10,000.
TABERNACLE CEMETERY - 1000 feet east is Tabernacle Cemetery on the site of Tabernacle Methodist Church and Tabernacle Academy. Buried Here are Generals M.W. Gary and N.G. Evans and other Confederate veterans. From Tabernacle Academy organized in 1820 by Stephen Olin developed Mount Ariel and Cokesbury Conference School. [When established, the Tabernacle Academy was in the Abbeville District. It was moved and renamed Mount Ariel, which was later renamed Cokesbury. In 1897, the town of Cokesbury was then in Greenwood County. The cemetery retained its original name - Tabernacle Cemetery.]
On December 21, 1822, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Tabernacle Academy in the Abbeville District (Section VIII), with assets up to $10,000 and the charter authorized for fourteen (14) years.
On December 20, 1826, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Diamond Hill Library Society of the Abbeville District, with assets up to $5,000 authorized (Section XVI).
On December 19, 1827, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of The Mount Ariel Academy Society of Abbeville District, with assets up to $50,000 authorized (Section 7).
On December 20, 1832, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to authorize remaining trustees of the defunct Cambridge College to transfer all assets to the endowment and eslablishment of a school in the town of Greenwood, in the Abbeville District.
In November of 1834, the trustees of the Tabernacle Academy turned over to the Dougherty Manual Labor School trustees two properties in their possession - the Mount Ariel Female Academy and the Mount Ariel Male Academy at Cokesbury. Both academies were renamed as Cokesbury Female Academy and Cokesbury Male Academy, commonly known as the Cokesbury School (see 1835 below).
On December 17, 1834, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Cokesbury Manual Labor School of the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, chartered for twenty-one (21) years, and authorized assets up to $10,000.
On December 19, 1835, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Cokesbury School in the Abbveville District, named eleven (11) trustees, and authorized assets up to $50,000. The school was chartered for twenty-one (21) years. [When incorporated, the Cokesbury School was in the Abbeville District. In 1897, the school was then in Greenwood County.]
On December 19, 1835, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Greenwood Association of Abbeville District, for the Promotion of Education (Section XXVII).
On December 21, 1836, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which authorized "The Greenwood Association of Abbeville District, for the promotion of Education,'' "The Trustees of Cokesbury School," and "The Abbeville School Association," each to be entitled to hold, receive and recover, to the uses and for the ends of their incorporations, respectively, one third of all property within the District of Abbeville, which has been or may hereafter be liable to escheat: provided, that the value of such property to be received by each of said societies shall not exceed ten thousand dollars.
On December 20, 1837, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Mount Carmel Female Academy in the Abbeville District, and authorized that one-third (1/3) of escheated property in the Abbeville District be vested in said Academy, up to $10,000 (Section VIII). In Section XIX of the same Act, they also incorporated The Clark and Erskine Seminary, named seven (7) trustees, and authorized assets up to $50,000.
On December 21, 1839, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which authorized the Cokesbury School to have assets up to $100,000 (Section XXIV).
On December 17, 1841, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Cokesbury Female Institute of the Abbeville District for twenty-one (21) years, named nine (9) trustees, and authorized assets up to $20,000.
On December 19, 1848, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Hodges and Fuller Institutes in the Abbeville District, was chartered for fourteen (14) years, and authorized assets up to $20,000.
On December 19, 1849, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Mount Hill Female Academy at Greenville Church in the Abbeville District, authorizing assets up to $20,000, and chartering the academy for fourteen (14) years (Section IV). In the same section of the same Act, they also incoporated the Euphemian Literary Society of Erskine College in the Abbeville District, with assets authorized up to $20,000 and a charter for fourteen (14) years. In Section X of the same Act, they re-incorporated the Greenwood Association of Abbeville District for the Promotion of Edcuation and extended its charter for an additional fourteen (14) years.
On December 20, 1850, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate Erskine College at Due West in the Abbeville District, named thirty (30) trustees, and chartered the college for twenty-one (21) years.
On December 16, 1851, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of the Abbeville Clear Spring Association, for educational purposes, and named eighteen (18) trustees (Section XIV).
On December 16, 1852, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the renewal of the charter for the Abbeville School Association in the Abbeville District for an unspecified length of time (Section V). On the same date, the General Assembly passed another Act, which included the incorporation of the Philomathean Literary Society of Erskine College in the Abbeville District, authorized assets up to $1,000, and chartered the society for fourteen (14) years (Section V).
On December 20, 1856, the South Carolina General Assembly pased an Act, which included a renewal of the charter for The Cokesbury Manual Labor School of the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (Section IV).
On December 21, 1857, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included the incorporation of The Euphemian Society and The Philomathean Society, both of Erskine College, and authorized assets up to $50,000 (Sections I & II).
Also on December 21, 1857, the South Carolina General Assembly passed another Act to renew the charter of the Cokesbury School in the Abbeville District for an additional twenty-one (21) years. The Act also named seven (7) new trustees.
On February 6, 1863, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act, which included incorporation of the Erskine Theological Seminary in the Abbeville District, named twelve (12) trustees, and authorized assets up to $200,000 (Section V).
On December 14, 1866, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Union Academy in the Abbeville District, named ten (10) trustees, and chartered the academy for twenty-one (21) years.
Allen University, chartered in 1880, was founded by the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. It had its origin in Payne Institute, founded in 1870 in Cokesbury, in Greenwood County. In 1880 the S.C. Conference of the A.M.E. Church voted to move Payne Institute to Columbia. It opened in Columbia in 1881 and was renamed in honor of Bishop Richard Allen (1760-1831), founder of the A.M.E. Church. The first university building on this site was in use by 1888. Allen University, founded to educate ministers for the A.M.E. Church, also had primary and secondary courses, and college-level liberal-arts courses. It also offered courses in the arts and had one of the few black law schools in the South before 1900. Its primary and secondary programs ended in the 1920s and 1930s. Allen was also a significant center for civil rights activities in Columbia from the 1930s through the 1960s. [Note - The Payne Institute only existed in Abbeville County. If it had survived to today, it would have been in Greenwood County. The marker above is in Columbia, SC.]
On March 12, 1872, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to renew and amend the charter of Erskine College at Due West, in Abbeville County. Thirty-one (31) trustees were named, and the charter was extended for an idefinite period, or until repealed by the legislature.
On March 12, 1878, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to exempt all teachers and students of Erskine College at Due West, in Abbeville County, from road duty in the town of Due West and in the rest of Abbeville County.
On December 17, 1881, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to authorize the Trustees of the Estate of Dr. John DeLa Howe to suspend the exercises at the Lethe Farm School in Abbeville County, and to take all precautions to preserve the funds belonging to the estate. The Trustees are also instructed to re-open the school when a sufficient income can be materialized.
On December 22, 1883, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Abbeville County, named thirteen (13) members of the Board of Directors, and authorized assets up to $200,000.
On December 19, 1887, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to renew and amend the charter of the Due West Female College in the town of Due West within Abbeville County, named eight (8) new incorporators, and authorized assets up to $200,000. [The Due West Female College was established in 1859, but this Author has not found any Acts passed by the South Carolina General Assembly for the timeframe of 1859 to 1887 pertaining to this school. Maybe I just missed it.] Due West Female College - Main Building - 1907 Due West Female College - Carnegie Hall - 1907
On December 24, 1887, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to revive and renew the charter for the Cokesbury School at Cokesbury in Abbeville County for an additional fifty (50) years, and to accept all acts by said school since its charter expired (in 1878).
On December 16, 1891, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to authorize voters within the town of Greenwood School District to decide upon issuing bonds, up to $8,000, for the purpose of paying for school property and building one or more public school buildings in the town of Greenwood. May also levy and collect an additional special school tax to pay the interest on said bonds. On December 24, 1892, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to amend the 12/16/1781 Act, by adding a Section 6 - that the County Auditor and the County Treasurer shall each receive as compensation for the discharge of the duties prescribed in Section 4 of this Act two per cent, of the amount collected by virtue of said Act. On February 11, 1898, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to amend the Act of 12/16/1891, by removing all reference to Abbeville County and replacing it with Greenwood County. [When the early Acts were passed, the town of Greenwood was in Abbeville County. In 1897, it was the county seat of the new Greenwood County.]
On December 18, 1891, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to establish a new special school district in the town of Abbeville, in Abbeville County, named nine (9) trustees, authorized voters to decide upon an additional special school tax not to exceed two (2) mills on real and personal property, and authorized the issuance of bonds up to $12,000 for the purpose of purchasing lots and erecting one or more school buildings in the town of Abbeville. On December 15, 1892, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to amend the 12/18/1891 Act, by authorizing an additional $3,000 in bonds for public schools and to authorize voters to decide upon yet another additional special school tax not to exceed two (2) mills on real and personal property. On February 28, 1896, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to amend the Act of 12/18/1891, by requiring the special school tax to be computed annually to determine how much is needed to pay the interest on the bonds. Tax not to exceed four (4) mills on real and personal property.
On December 22, 1891, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to incorporate the Connie Maxwell Orphanage in Abbeville County, named thirteen (13) trustees, and authorized assets up to $500,000. The orphanage is to provide a home and an education for all children in its care.
On December 24, 1892, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to establish a new special school district from portions of Edgefield County and Abbeville County, to be known as the Union School District, named three (3) trustees, and authorized voters to decide upon an additional special school tax not to exceed three (3) mills on real and personal property.
On January 5, 1895, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to provide pupils of the free public schools in Abbeville County, Oconee County, and Pickens County with text books and other school supplies at cost.
On March 2, 1897, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to amend and renew the charter of the Cokesbury Conference School, in Abbeville County, named fourteen (14) trustees, authorized assets up to $50,000, and extended the charter an additional twenty-one (21) years.
On February 15, 1899, the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act to provide for the election of a Board of Trustees for School District No. 13 in Abbeville County, by an amendment to the overall "School Law" as issued on March 9, 1896 and amended on March 5, 1897.