A Brief Tale of How We Got Here
In Greenville County, South Carolina, September 6, 1843, William Dunkling Garrison was born. His parents were Edmond Barksdale Garrison and Sarah Cureton Garrison. They were a farming family. W.D. as he was called grew up in the Sandy Springs community amid a collection of aunts and uncles.
In due time while still in his teens, he joined the Confederate forces and served in the War Between the States rising to a rank of captain. After the war, he moved to Anderson County and began working as manager for Autum Manufacturing Company, now LaFrance Industries, as manager of their cotton farm. It was a practice of many cotton mills in those days to grow cotton as well as purchase it.
We don't know when or under what circumstances W.D. met Easter Annie Reid. She was the daughter of Thomas Little Reid and Annie Sitton Reid, and was born April 7, 1847. W.D. and "Essie" were married December 17, 1868. The marriage must have been a loving and happy one because Essie writes lovingly of W.D in her scrapbook. The scrapbook is a family treasure and has been published my our cousins Martha Nelle Craig(Mrs. Jim) Ligon and her daughter Polly Ligon O'Grady.
On December 4, 1872 when he was 29 years old, W.D. bought from William M. Rampley 273 acres on land between the Blue Ridge Railroad and General's Road and bordered by land belonging to his father-in-law. He paid to MR. Rampley $2800. This General's Road was so called beause the Revolutionary War hero Andrew Picken traveled the route from his home in Abbeville County to a fort located in what later became Pickens County. The road was later called Clemson College Road and is now know as U.S. Highway 76/Clemson Boulevard.
It is unclear where W.D. and Essie lived the first several years of their marriage, it was apparent that they needed a house! They had 13 Children. Eleven survived to adulthood and most married and stayed in the area. More details about the family are available in the Denver Downs Family Cookbook and the Garrison Family History which is compiled by Frances Garrision (Mrs. Joe Kinny) Jordon.
The farm house was built in the mid 1970's. The design was a common style for those Victorian days. It was two-story with a wide central hall on each floor with two large rooms on each side of the halls. There was a wide porch on the front and east side of the house.
Thomas Edmond Garrison (Tom) was the youngest of W.D.'s and Essies' children. It was the custom that the youngest son stay at home and care for the parents. He married Nettie Clifton McPhail on January 17, 1917. Tom and Nettie had four children: Sara, Lounelle, Ed (Thomas Edmond, Jr.) and Nancy.
When Tom died in 1945, he willed the house and farm to his widow and four children in equal parts. Ed who had returned from serving in the Air Force in World War II was interested in farming and bought from his three sisters and his mother their parts with the understanding that he also would provide his mother with a comfortable home.
Ed began milking 10 jersey cows by hand in 1945, he would fill up the milk cans and take them to a neighboring farm to be put into smaller bottles to be sold. For 43 years Ed operated a dairy and general farm program. Ed served 30 years in the state legislature.
In 1955, Ed married Juanita Bartlett of Cochran, GA. Juanita grew up on a peach farm and finished the University of Georgia with a Journalism degree. Juanita was working in Seneca, SC, as a newspaper reporter for the Seneca Journal when she and Ed were set up on a blind date.
Ed and Juanita built a house across the road from the farm house and lived there until Nettie Garrison died in 1972. Then Ed and Juanita made renovations and moved in the farm house in May of 1973.
Ed and Juanita had 6 children or as Ed says "4 children and the twins." The "spring crop" of children are Carol Gaye Garrison Sprague, Thomas Edmond Garrison, III, (Tom), James Bartlett (Bart) Garrison (*1960-1990), and Anita Lee Garrison Smith. The "fall crop" was a bit of a shock as 11 years after Lee was born Juniata delivered not one but 2 babies Elizabeth Reid Garrison and Catherine Anne Garrison Davis.
Back Row (L-R): Lee, Gaye, Elizabeth, Catherine, Tom
Front Row (L-R): Juanita, T. Ed
All 6 children followed their father's lead by graduating from Clemson University.
In January 1989, Tom and Bart leased the farm from their father Ed and continued the dairy and gerneal farm program. On May 9, 1990, Bart, age 29 died in a tragic silo accident on the farm and is buried in Welcome Cemetary where his grandparents and great-grandparents are buried.
In April 1994, the dairy herd of Holsteins was sold and the farm program changed to corn, soybeans, small grains, and beef cattle and vegetables.
All of W.D.'s and Ester's children have died. Many of their grand children, great grand children, and even great grand children live in the area. It is hoped by the Garrison family that presently occupies W.D.'s and Ester's house that all the family will feel that this is their heritage and that they are always welcomed here.
We hope Ester and W.D. approve of how we have kept their land and house.
Other information
Welcome Baptist church was founded in the front parlor of the farm house in 1889.
