I think it would be a good idea at this point to spell out the Frierson generations in a little more detail (not too much though!), so you can get a feel for the people you’ve been reading about.  I’ll make a simple chart, applied to me, showing all my direct Frierson ancestors (starting at James Frierson), their birth and death dates, and their spouses.  For most Friersons in our line reading this, this will be correct chart for all but the last couple of generations.  So here goes…

James Frierson (d. about 1785) married Gamble(?). Land grant in 1765 north of Santee River, in what is now Clarendon County, SC.  Had 6 children according to his will (John, William, Susannah, Mary, Agnes, and Jane).

Maj. John Frierson (b. abt 1757, d. 25Aug1825) m. Rachel Davis McDonald.  He served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, lived at Wyboo Plantation on the Santee.  Rachel was his second wife and they had only 1 child, John James.

John James Frierson (b. June1792, d. 15Nov1839) m. Finetta Julia Vaughan.  Acquired much property, including Cherry Vale Plantation, in Clarendon and what is now Sumter County, SC.  Two children, John Napolean and James Julian.

John Napolean Frierson (b. 21Feb1818, d. 19Feb1887) m. Catherine Kellogg Converse.  He was born and died at Cherry Vale; added the front part of the house after their marriage in 1844.  His younger brother, James Julian, fought in the Civil War and afterwards lived at Wyboo.  JNF and CKF had 8 children (Augustus, Mary, Henry, James Julian Jr., Julia, Katherine, John Temple, and Clara).  Their oldest son, Augustus Converse Frierson, died in prisoner of war camp in Maryland in 1864 at the age of 19.

James Julian Frierson, Jr. (b. 9June1849, d. 16Feb1891) m. Elizabeth Nelson Nelson. They had 9 children (Nelson, Helen, William, Sarah, Henry, Emma, John, Elizabeth, and Julia). Several of these children lived at Cherry Vale off and on until it was rented out in the 1940s and finally sold in 1954.

John Lawrence Frierson (b. 4Sep1883, d. 30Jan1963) m. Georgia Dargan.  Youngest brother of James Nelson Frierson (subject of Post #1).  Two children, John Lawrence Frierson, Jr. and George Dargan Frierson.

George Dargan Frierson (b. 1921, ) m. Josephine Anne Daniels

Dargan Frierson, Jr. (b. 1946, ) m. Virginia Marguerite Wright

Below are two obituaries I just found for Catherine Kellogg Converse Frierson, the subject of the previous post.  The top one is unfortunately incomplete and the sources of both are unknown… Not sure what to make of the two additional headlines under her name – a complete obit would fill in some interesting details I’m sure.  I have her born on July 3, 1827 and died on October 7, 1899.

With all the discussions these days about Syria and whether the United States should become involved in another Middle East conflict, I thought it would be interesting to read about the worries expressed by Catherine Kellogg Converse Frierson (7/3/1827 – 10/7/1899) in a letter to her grandson, James Nelson Frierson, about another military involvement of the U.S. – the Spanish-American War.

To the left is a photograph of my great-great grandmother, Catherine Frierson, and to the right below is her husband, John Napolean Frierson (2/21/1818 – 2/19/1887).

She was the daughter of Mary Ann Kellogg Converse (5/2/1805 – 1/9/1848) and the Reverend Augustus Lawrence Converse (11/21/1798 – 3/21/1860) who was rector of the Episcopal Church of Claremont in Stateburg, S.C., from 1827 until 1850 and then of its present-day replacement Holy Cross Episcopal Church from 1850 until his resignation in 1853.   Reverend Converse was quite a controversial (some might legitimately say criminal!) character in our family – there will be much more to say about this fellow in a later post!

Uncle Nelson kept a folder of three letters written to him in 1898 from his grandmother Catherine.  They tell him of her worries about her health (she would die less than 6 months after the May 4th letter was written), about her estate including her plantation residence Cherry Vale, about the estate of her grandfather Daniel Kellogg (4/19/1780 – 5/4/1836), a very wealthy New Yorker who had died many years earlier and whose estate was still under litigation, and the war talk following the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February of 1898.  She seemed to be seeking advice about legal issues from her grandson who was “up North” in school studying law and in contact with her relatives – the full letter of April 2, 1898, is given in the figures below and I’ll quote from pages 3 and 4.

“… Well, there is nothing talked of down this way but War and they the fire eaters seem to think it is coming.  I think it is only one of those rumors of war we read of in the Book of Daniel.  I pity the President he is certainly trying to procure peace and if the papers speak the truth, the (illegible – Queen??) Regent is as anxious for peace as our President is.  But you don’t know what to believe.  I hope none that I love will have to fight in any more wars.  But it will not be far from us.  And we cannot spare any of our protectors.  I hear your uncle Jno Reid is forming a company and wants Uncle Temple to join!  They might be a “Home Guard”… ”

And from the letter of May 4, 1898:

“… Nothing is talked of now but war and I see by the papers we have gained a great victory!  I can’t for the life of me tell what we are fighting for.  Not for starving Cubans when they are fighting in the Phillipine Islands!  I pray that none of my loved ones will have to go to Cuba to get yellow fever.  We are surrounded now by Smallpox….  I begin to think that Profess (illegible) and old Dr. Anderson are right, certainly the end must be near.  ‘The signs of the times’ indicate it.  ‘Famine and pestilence’ and war at our very doors, and rumors of war at every point.  Does Cousin Alex think it will last long?  I never expected to see another war but I was thankful it was not a fratricidal one like the one in 1860, but the blue and the gray will be side by side again fighting for the same flag.”  

She ends this May 4th letter with:  “ … Lovingly, Grandma.  I am very blind and very feeble.  Groceries have risen enormously and we shall have to live on corn bread and potato coffee!”