Person Page - 26

     William Cameron Wofford Jr. was Member of the Gerogia Legislature for over 20 years and for a period, President of the Senate. He was born in 1748/49. He died in 1795.

     Nathaniel Wofford witnessed Application of Lydia Wofford for Bounty Land

On the first of January, A. D., one thousand Eight hundred and ninety-four (This obviously should be 1794.) for twelve months or during hostilities towards the citizens of the United States he served between two and three years on the frontier of the State aforesaid she has no way publick or private in her power here to Establish that length of her Husband's service the old Settlers being dead or removed. She can establish ten or eleven months of his service by one James McCracken who served in the same company with him towards the close of the war for near Twelve months. She further States that her husband volunteered in the Franklin County, Georgia, and continued in actual service for some over two years that he was honorably discharged at Fort Carnes in Franklin County, Georgia, on the Twenty second day of December A. D. one thousand seven hundred and ninety six as will appear by the Muster rolls of Said Company his certificate of discharge being lost or mislaid so that she can not come at it. She further states that She was married to the Said Nathaniel Wofford in Burk (Burke) County, North Carolina, A. D. one thousand seven hundred and Eighty nine by William Wofford, a Justice of the Peace within the county of Burk (Burke) and State aforesaid. That her name before she was married was Lydia Hopper that her said Husband died in the state of Arkansas in February A. D., one thousand Eight hundred and forty six and she is still a widow. She further states that there is no record publick or private to Establish her marriage But the same appears herein below presented. She makes this declaration for the purpose of obtaining The bounty land to which She may be entitled Under the Act passed September the 28th, 1850.
Lydia [her X mark] Wofford.¹
He began military service. He was in Cherokee war 1794 and war of 1812 british war. 1744-75

Was given on Mouse Paine - Oo Ka ne gee.

Was Married By His Father Col. William Wofford, who was Justice of the Peace-

Maj. Nathan never returned to Ga. Cherokee's Called Him Ned-De. Last March Of Indian From Ga. Maj. Nathaniel Wofford died 2-1846 in Ark.² He was born in 1766 at Spartanburg, South Carolina. He married Lydia Ann Hopper circa 1789. Nathaniel Wofford died in February 1846 at White, Georgia. He witnessed Sworn and subscribed before me the day and year above written.
State of Georgia
County of Habersham
Personally before me, Robert Davidson, an acting Justice of the Peace within the county and State aforesaid James McCracken and after being duly sworn according to law, saith on oath that he was a private in a company Commanded by Jno. Collins on the Frontier of the State aforesaid in the year A. D. one thousand Seven Hundred and ninety-sixe that he served in the same company nearly nine months before He was discharged that he found Nathaniel Wofford in the Same Company when he came that he does not know how long Said Wofford had bin In the Service before he attacth himself to Said Company. That the Said Wofford and himself served in Said Company together untill they were both Discharged at Fort Carnes on the 22 day of December A. C. 1796 one thousand seven hundred and ninety six. That Nathaniel and Lydia Wofford was living together as man And wife in the fort and it always was reputed down to his death that they was married and they lived together as such.
James McCracken

Sworn to and Subscribed before me
This the day of Febrauary 1851
Robert Davidson, J. P. in February 1851.³

     Ann Wofford married William Bright. Ann Wofford married Clark (?) Ann Wofford was born after 1766.

     Charlotte Wofford was born before 1768.

     Benjamin F Wofford was born in 1768. He died on 12 May 1836.

     Lydia Ann Hopper was Her father was a wealthy Hollander, Quaker. She was born in 1778 at North Carolina. As of circa 1789,her married name was Wofford. She married Nathaniel Wofford, son of Col. William Wofford and Sarah Cameron, circa 1789. Lydia Ann Hopper died in 1862 at Fairmount, Georgia.

     William Bright married Ann Wofford, daughter of Col. William Wofford and Sarah Cameron.

     William Benton Wofford witnessed According to Patsy Childs, He fathered several children out of wedlock with Rachel Dill,he went to court to get them all declared legitimate, after their marriage he had several more children by her. A total of nine children. I had a copy of that record but not sure where it is. By now it may be online.

From what I was told by descendants, Mary Thurmond was a well to do older widow woman who he married, probably for her money and class, but until Mary's death, he was having the affair with Rachel, and she was having child by child by her.^1,2 He was Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Senate of Ga. He began military service He was a General (Need more information.) He was Senate of Georgia. He was born on 13 May 1791. He married Mary Thurmond (Lane) on 8 August 1812. William Benton Wofford married Rachel Dill on 23 October 1845 at Georgia. William Benton Wofford died on 9 June 1858 at Baldwin, Georgia, at age 67.

     Charles Wofford was assigned to help take the Cherokee Indians on the "Trail of Tears" to the west. Settled in Arkansas. He was born in 1793 at GA. He died in 1846 at Oklahoma.

     James Whitney Wofford married Althea McCracken. James Whitney Wofford was born on 23 December 1801 at Spartanburg, South Carolina. He died on 2 February 1866 at Cartersville, Georgia, at age 64.

     Thomas Jefferson Wofford witnessed They had 6 children:

William Lafayette Wofford 1835–1906
Thomas Jefferson Wofford 1837–1912
Mary S. Wofford 1840–1855
James M. Wofford 1843–1928
Andrew Jackson Wofford 1849–1917
Martha Alice Wofford Jones 1855–1930. He married Martha Lewellyn Wofford. Thomas Jefferson Wofford was born on 6 June 1812 at Cartersville, Georgia. He died on 16 October 1900 at Cartersville, Georgia, at age 88.

     Sarah "Sallie" Wofford was born on 2 May 1800 at GA. As of 1816,her married name was Grant. She married William Burdine Grant in 1816. Sarah "Sallie" Wofford died on 2 May 1882 at GA at age 82.

     John Thomas Wofford witnessed John Wofford married Rebecca Cochran 8-23-1829 Habersham Ga. They had kids; Sarah b-1830,Narcissus b-1832,John Thomas b-1838,James Charles b-1840,William Benton b-1842,Martha Patsey, Charles C.
Rebecca died in 1847 and John married Caroline Robinson 1849. They had kids; Thomas Jefferson b-1851, Mary Rebecca b-1853, Nathaniel Lovert b-1854, George b-1856, Andrew I b-1858, Benjamin Drury b-1860 and Chester Lee b-1862. He began military service Captain and veteran of the Seminole Indian War in which he was commisioned to ride with inportant dispatches to Washington on horseback, receiving for his service $500 in gold. He died at Orlando, Fl; buried near orlando? He was born on 23 October 1808 at Tennessee. He died on 13 April 1895 at Orlando, Florida, at age 86.

     Mary Thurmond (Lane) married William Benton Wofford, son of Nathaniel Wofford and Lydia Ann Hopper, on 8 August 1812.

     Rachel Dill was born on 8 August 1812. She died on 29 January 1898 at age 85.

     Agnes Pettit was Anges was an Indian. She died in 1843.

     Rev. Benjamin Wofford witnessed Martha Llewellyn was a religious woman, but her husband was not. After years of attending worship services by herself, or with one of her sons in tow, Joseph went along, and eventually was converted. So was the young Benjamin, who, after hearing the preaching of Rev. George Dougherty and Rev. Lewis Myers, soon felt a call to preach. Traveling to the west, to central Tennessee, Benjamin Wofford was licensed by the Rev. William McKendree, a future Methodist bishop, and he preached as a local pastor for a year under the supervision of another minister in western Kentucky. In 1806, he applied for admission on trial as a member of the Western Annual Conference, and had the recommendation of the circuit he was serving. The conference moved to admit him on trial with the condition he take steps to free the two slaves he owned in South Carolina. He continued to work in 1806 and into early 1807, but apparently left before the 1807 conference and did not pursue ordination there.

He had definitely returned to South Carolina by July 1807, because on July 30, 1807, he married Anna Todd. His new bride was the only child of Thomas and Ann Todd, who were among the wealthiest landowners in southern Spartanburg County. Ben’s desire to marry was probably chiefly responsible for his decision to leave the active ministry, for his ownership of slaves would not have prevented him from serving in South Carolina. With his new wife, Ben settled into a house built for them by Anna’s father. They lived there for two years, until Thomas Todd died in 1809, when they moved into the larger house with Ann Todd.

During the years they spent on the Todd family farm, Ben was no doubt busy managing his mother-in-law’s property. However, he was able to renew his service in the Methodist ministry. In November 1814, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Francis Asbury at Mount Bethel Academy in Newberry and continued his service as a local pastor. In 1816, he was admitted to the South Carolina Annual Conference on trial and appointed as the junior preacher on the Enoree Circuit, where he served in 1817. In that year, he and Anna gave an acre and a half of land to build a Methodist meeting house near their home, in which Ben worshiped and preached for many years. He was appointed to serve the Reedy River Circuit in southern Greenville County for 1818, and at the 1818 conference, was ordained an elder in the Methodist Church. He returned to Reedy River for 1819. This would be his last appointment, though he continued to serve as a local pastor for the rest of his life.

Ann Todd’s death in 1818 made Anna Todd Wofford a wealthy woman, and that wealth is the seed from which Wofford College later grew, but it also quite likely was the reason for Ben’s second decision to leave the active ministry. At the 1820 conference, he located, or ceased taking annual appointments from the bishop, though he retained his ordination and his right to preach. The work of managing the Todd family farm, and the possibility that an appointment would take him far away from Spartanburg, made his retirement from the active ministry necessary. Anna and Benjamin, who had no children, continued to live on the Todd family farm for some seventeen more years. One of Ben’s nieces came to live with them to help Anna with her work.

From the ministry, Ben turned to making money. As a large landowner, he could influence the type of development that occurred in his part of the county. As early as 1816, he sold some land to Phillip Weaver, the man who built the first small textile factory in Spartanburg. Later, he sold sixty acres along the Tyger River to the South Carolina Manufactory for another early textile factory. These did not survive, though others did. Early on, Benjamin Wofford moved into investing, lending money to help people start businesses. He invested in several of the state banks. In a place like Spartanburg, with no banks in the village, men with funds like Ben Wofford played an important role in the growth of the local economy. It appears that he left the more speculative type of investments to others, concentrating on making money through interest and dividends.

His marriage to Anna Todd Wofford remained childless, and on October 2, 1835, at the age of 51, Anna Todd Wofford died. Within a year, on September 6, 1836, Benjamin married again, this time to Maria Scott Barron, who lived at the time in East Tennessee. Maria Barron Wofford, at age 33, was 23 years younger than her husband. Apparently a woman of some wealth herself, Maria brought additional assets to the marriage. She did not want to live on the Todd family farm, and Benjamin himself seems to have grown weary of rural life. He had been spending winters in Columbia for several years. The new couple moved into Spartanburg village, living near the courthouse square in a large house.

We presume that Benjamin Wofford continued, after his marriage to Maria Wofford and his move into the village, continued his life about as he had lived it before. He was involved in the founding of Central Methodist Church in Spartanburg in 1837-38, serving as a trustee. In an arrangement with other leading members of the church, he purchased a piece of land on the northeast corner of today’s Daniel Morgan and Church streets for use as the church’s parsonage. His investments would have helped to build the growing village, which had been chartered in 1831. His wealth and standing in the community would have brought him into contact with others in the town who were advocating for economic development.

Supporting Methodist higher education had been in Ben Wofford’s mind for some time, if we can infer a few things. Along with other South Carolina Methodists, he had contributed to Randolph-Macon College in Virginia in the 1830s. In 1844, he attempted to purchase land near Limestone Springs, in present day Cherokee County, apparently intending to give it to the Annual Conference to found a college. The deal fell through over a small amount of money, and the land was later purchased by a Baptist clergyman for $10,000. It eventually became Limestone College. Ben apparently felt rebuffed, later saying that he thought the clergy in the conference did not want to start a church-related college in the state.

In the last years of his life, Benjamin Wofford’s thoughts turned toward his legacy. He told one nephew that “It is growing on my hands. Here is nearly $150,000. Every year it is augmented. I must leave it behind me, so [as] to do some good. What shall I do with it?” Some sources indicate that he was planning to disperse his assets widely among a number of church-related charities. But, a visit from a good friend, the Rev. Hugh Andrew Crawford Walker, probably in the summer of 1849, helped settle Ben’s thinking. Walker advised him that spreading his resources out widely would have comparatively little effect. The gifts, Walker believed, would not last. “Why not found a college- spreading widely- increasing in power and goodness through the ages as they come,” the minister asked. After persuading Benjamin Wofford that the conference did indeed want to start a college for Methodists in the state, Walker took his leave, with the promise to write down a summary of their conversation and send it to Wofford. A few months later, on February 1, 1850, Benjamin Wofford signed a will that left $100,000 to found a college.

Ten months later, he was dead. Word quickly spread of his large gift of funds to found a college in Spartanburg. The size of the gift drew attention well beyond the state. Mrs. Wofford was, the stories go, less than pleased to see so much of his estate pass out of her control. When the college opened, the faculty went to great lengths to honor her as a co-founder. However, her late husband did not leave her penniless. Indications are that she owned land outside of the state, and brought some wealth to the marriage. She inherited money, land, and the household from her husband, items that were rightly hers, but that were also worth at least $17,500.

Benjamin Wofford has been the subject of numerous talks and articles over the years. He has been compared with everyone from Benjamin Franklin to Ebenezer Scrooge. His thriftiness has been counted as selfishness, his precision in business affairs has led people to think him a heartless and mean man. Most people comment on his grim appearance, best known from one drawing and one painting. Stories and anecdotes about his dealings with other businessmen in the village are few, but generally similar. He was described as an “earnest but methodical preacher,” which may imply that he was, at the very least, dull.

And some of this may, in fact, be true. Nevertheless, to focus only on these aspects of Benjamin Wofford’s life is unfair. Alumnus and trustee John B. Cleveland recognized this. In 1888, at the laying of the cornerstone of Alumni Hall, Cleveland spoke of Ben’s finer qualities. “Plain, simple, unostentatious, thus he worked from day to day,” Yet, as he grew older, he became more misunderstood. “His thrift was called avarice, his economy, selfishness, his business exactness, meanness. And yet let us suppose he was not all of these. Would we be here today?

Cleveland suggested another way that Benjamin Wofford could have lived. He could have lived well on his small fortune, with a nice carriage, fine food, expensive clothes, and a fancy home. Then, Cleveland suggested, his neighbors would have both admired and envied him, but they surely would not have called him a miser. For Cleveland, the true greatness of Benjamin Wofford is that he did not choose this type of life.¹ He was In August 1803?, he felt the call to preach. Founder of Wofford College. Several months later, at 25, he applied in 1806 to Presiding Elder William McKendree of the Cumberland District in the Western Conference. He retired from preaching when he married.
From 1833 to 36 he spent the winters in Columbia. He was buried at Wofford College Campus. He was Methodist. He was Preacher. He was born on 19 October 1780 at Tyger River. He married Anna Todd, daughter of Thomas Todd and Mrs. Todd, on 30 July 1807. Rev. Benjamin Wofford married Maria Sevier Barron on 6 October 1836. Rev. Benjamin Wofford died on 2 December 1850 at Spartanburg, South Carolina, at age 70.

     Anna Todd was Benjamin and Anna received a huge inheritance from her family, the basis of which Benjamin built upon. The focus on education was suggested or strengthened thru Anna. She was born on 23 July 1784. She married Rev. Benjamin Wofford, son of Capt. Joseph Wofford and Martha Llewellyn, on 30 July 1807. Anna Todd died on 2 October 1835 at age 51.