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Brief History by Victoria Proctor
There was no town, per se, in Marion County until 1799 when a location
for the new county seat, courthouse and jail was selected. However, we know from
Bishop Gregg's History of the Old Cheraws that the area that became
the Town of Marion drew settlers much, much earlier. In the 1730s-40s, one "adventurer,"
as Bishop Gregg called him, traveled up the Big Peedee River and settled
on Catfish Creek near the present city limits of Marion.
Historians give 1754 as the earliest date that official documents locate
a permanent settler at this site, and John Godbold, an Englishman, is generally credited
with being the first white resident of what became known as the town
of Marion.
We do not know the names of everyone who may have resided near
the county seat before the courthouse was erected, but we do know, from Bishop Gregg,
that Col. Hugh Giles, "a distinguished character" during the Revolutionary War, lived
just over Smith Swamp, south of the site of the Marion courthouse, and it was for him,
after 1783, that the settlement was called Gilesborough.
MARION COUNTY HISTORICAL MARKER
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 Main Street c. 1916 Marion, SC |
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Copyright Victoria Proctor © 2003-2013 All Rights Reserved. |