Betsy Barmore, William Barmore's eldest daughter, married Samuel Hill. He died in a few years. She afterward married William Hodges. She raised one son and two daughters. Her son, Coleman Hodges, was a noble, pious young man. He fell in the battle at Gettysburg, PA, July 23, 1863; had never married. The children and grandchildren of the eldest daughter, Nancy Hill Richey, live in Lee County, Mississippi. Her second daughter, Sarah J. Hodges, with her children and grandchildren, live in this county.
Sallie Barmore, the second daughter, married William Braden. They emigrated early in life to Tennessee. She died soon after their emigration--left five children, three sons and two daughters. Her sons did active service in the Confederate army. Francis, her third son, died a few years after the war from the effect of a wound received while in service for his country. The last account we had of Sallie Barmore Braden's descendents, there were four children and several grandchildren.
Permelia Barmore, the third daughter, married Ezekial Razor. She raised four sons and five daughters. The youngest daughter died when about sixteen, in blooming girlhood. The eldest, Nancy Razor Pyles, with all her family, went with a colony from Cobb County, Georgia, in the fall of 1865, to South America. Mrs. Algary, the fourth daughter, died a few years ago. Her children are with their father in this County. The descendents of the other two daughters are all in this State. The four sons are still living, all with their children and grandchildren in this county, except James C. Razor, whose home is in Laurens. He is the oldest living descendent of George Barmore, Sr., in South Carolina. It was to him his maternal grandfather said the day of his infare (housewarming): "Jim, the day I married my first wife, my grandfather Barmore said to me, 'Bill, I have been young, now I'm old, and I have never stolen the valuation of a pin from any man.'"
We veritably believe that that noble Christian grandson, Jim, who is a very old man now, can truthfully reiterate to his grandchildren and his kindred's grandchildren the wholesome admonition of his praiseworthy grandsires.
John Razor went out in Orr's first regiment, and was with the army from that time until the surrender. His brothers, who were physically unable to undertake active service, rendered of their means efficient aid to the Confederacy.
Polly Barmore, the fourth daughter, married A. C. Hawthorne. She had fourteen children. Her descendents at present are very numerous; some are in Mississippi, others in Arkansas; the majority, however, are in South Carolina. All except Mrs. Johns and family of Pickens, and Mrs. Hawkins and children, of Newberry, are in Abbeville County. She had sons and grandsons who did valiant service in the late war. W. Benton Hawthorne, her third son, a brave and worthy young man, sacrificed his life upon the altar of his country. Mrs. Polhill, an estimable Christian lady, whom none can know but to love, with her son and an invalid sister, occupy the homestead of her parents at Due West. Mrs. Polly Barmore Hawthorne died in July 1883, and was seventy-three years old.
Nancy Barmore, the fifth daughter, married Marshall Sharpe. She had twelve children; E. Marion Sharpe, of Donnalds, his children and grandchildren; Mrs. Sallie Riley, of Mt. Carmel, her two daughters, and one grandson; James Sharpe, of Coronaca; Mrs. Clara Mattison and Miss Lila Sharpe, two granddaughters, are all of her descendents who are in Abbeville. Several others are in the State, some in Anderson, others in Greenville and Laurens. One son with his family, in Texas. One daughter with her children are in Atlanta, Georgia; several grandchildren in Mississippi. She had six sons in the Civil War. James C. Sharpe, her third son, fell in battle in Georgia; E. Marion, her fourth son, in minus a limb lost while in service. She died in the fall of 1884; was seventy-two years old.
Malinda Barmore, the sixth daughter, married Harvey Brownlee. She had seven children, five sons and two daughters. They moved from South Carolina to Talladega, Alabama, in the fall of 1851. Her children were all small at the time of their emigration. her second and third son fell in Confederate service. Nannie, her oldest daughter, died when a young lady. Her surviving children with their children, so far as we know, are in Alabama. They were well-to-do praiseworthy citizens the last account we had of them. We disremember now what year Malinda Barmore Brownlee died, but it was somewhere in the (18)seventies.
Margaret Barmore, the seventh daughter, married William Donnald. She never had any children. She was an exemplary woman in many respects. As a worker in all church enterprises, as a model housewife given to hospitality, as a loving neighbor she had no superiors. She truly exemplified in her daily walk the fruit of the Spirit. She died February 14, 1869; was only forty-five years old.
Larkin Barmore, the eldest son of William Barmore, married Eliza Donnald, daughter of Major John Donnald. He settled on a plantation given him by his father on Ball's Road, just one mile above Mt. Hill. On said place he lived the remainder of his life.
He was a well-to-do farmer. Was also for many years in the mercantile business with his father and brother at Mt. Hill.
In business with his fellowman he was scrupulously exact. His motto, as was that of his Father of our Country, "I cheat no man and allow no man to cheat me."
He was liberal with his means, yet never allowed his left hand to know the beneficence of the right. He did not give to every petition presented to him. Being a man of discriminating judgment his donations were judiciously bestowed.
We, the elder members of Turkey Creek, remember what a shining light he was in our midst, loving at all times the praise of God more than the praise of man, his watchfulness, his faithfulness in counseling, encouraging and, when necessary, censuring his brethern, was worthy of commendation. He was so conscientiously zealous for the cause of his Master as a deacon he was regarded the best disciplinarian we ever had in our Church. He was a walking epistle in the orthodosey of his Church; his circumspect deportment was a rebuke to all evil doers. It was, however, in his own family that his religious influence was most deeply felt. The writer from her earliest recollection was a frequent visitor in his house. In her childhood she and his second daughter were so fond of each other they were each as much at home in the other's house as in her father's, and she knows that family prayer was as regularly observed in that house as were the daily meals. She would not have been more surprised had she been sent to bed without her supper than she would have been had a night passed, and the family had not been summoned to participate in prayer at the family altar. He raised ten children, one son and nine daughters. He lived to see them all married and settled happily in life. He died August 5, 1876; was seventy-five years old; was interred in Turkey Creek cemetary.
Enoch Barmore married Sarah Ann Morrah, daughter of Hugh Morrah, Esq. He was a successful farmer; a merchant, also. his dwelling and storehouse were on the west side of the Five notch Road just opposite his father's dwelling on the east; the location known then as Mt. Hill, there being a post office there by that name. Since the days of the Columbia & Greenville Railroad the place is known as Barmore's Turn Out.
When he was only twenty-one years old he had developed such fine business talent that his father put all his important matters into his hands, which trust was faithfully prolonged nineteen years--until the death of his father. Like his ancestors and his brother, he was conscientiously exacting in all his dealings with his fellow man. when his father wasd about to arrange his effects, he said to him, "Enoch, you have managed my affairs so judiciously and so faithfully, I think you deserve more of my property than your brother and sisters. By your painstaking, your watchfulness and good judgment, I am enabled to do considerably more for all my children than I otherwise should have been. I purpose leaving you such and such portions of my estate. I think you are entitled to that amount. Will that satisfy you?"
"No, father," Enoch replied.
"Do you understand me?" his father asked. "The amount I think of leaving you is a good deal more than I can leave to any other one child."
He replied, "Certainly, father, I understand you, but you don't seem to understand me. It is true that I have had the exclusive care and management of your affairs since I was a mere boy. I know, as my brother and all my sisters admit, that your property mas multiplied exceedingly since I have had the control of it. I rejoice that I have been able to manage it so satidfactorily to all concerned; and you on your part have amply renumerated me for all my time and labor given to the matter. I don't want to dictate your will, but since you press me, I'll tell you my wish is to share alike with my brother and sisters. I want no more nor no less in the distribution of your estate."
The will was so written, and when it was read after his father's decease, much surprise was expressed, for all expected "our Benjamin" as his oldest sister called him, to get considerably more than the others, for, she said, "Enoch, you made the greater portion of father's property, and you ought to have more than the others." He simply replied, "Father paid me for all my service." He and his step-mother alone knew what he had declined.
He was remarkable for his unstinted hospitality. The store, the postoffice, the public backsmith shop, gin and thresher, made his a very public country site. No matter how many were present when the call-bell summoned his to his meals, all business was suspended at once and the cheerful invitation to all present, "Come, let us go to the house and hove something to eat." We think William McGee and his brother Jesse, who still live in the community, will verify the above statement. They have often spoken of it since his decease.
He was a great reader. From the earliest recollection of his eldest child he was a daily Bible reader. His choice of secular literature was biographies. he regretted all his life that he had not enjoyed the advantage of an education. It was mainly through his influence that the neighborhood had the benefit for several yeasrs of the Mt. Hill High School.
He possessed a meek disposition--was able at all times to control his tongue. When great provocations crossed his path, he maight be indignant, the flash of his eyes and the grieved expression of his countenance would indicate the suppressed emotions of his feelings, but never an angy word escaped his lips. He always evinced the utmost regard for the feelings of inferiors. If it was necessary for him to correct an obstinate child or a refractory servant, it was always done privately. a few days after his death the Rev. James kay who married his step-mother, remarked to his children, "Your father has left his family a competency, with proper management on your parts to live in the ease with which you have been accustomed, but should your property take wings and fly, he has left you with what the world cannot take from you," and with an emphasis he added, "His unsullied character." he died June 30, 1854; was forty-six years, two months, seven days old. The concourse that attended his burial was said to be the largest assembly that had ever convened in the community. The funeral was preached in the church yard, the house not being large enough to meet the audience. At his death there were of his descendants six daughters, three sons, and one grand-daughter.
SOURCE: History of the Barmore Family by Miss N. Jane Barmore. 1890.
