“I think every home has an echo of the people who lived there before.” Aiden Waite "Being Human"

 

I decided to unravel a thread in our home's history.

A bit of a back story here....

Saluda County was formed in 1896 when Edgefield County was divided up. Scarlett stands not too far from the two county lines: one that separates Aiken County and Saluda County and the other that separates Edgefield County from Saluda County. So, from it's build date of 1850 to 1896, Scarlett was in Edgefield County and from 1896 on, it was in Saluda County. Got it? Good! Remember that. There will be a test later!

On Monday, I was cleaning the parlor and noticed that our little Ridge Spring history book was on the coffee table so I picked it up and flipped through it. Our house, known locally as the W. H. Stuckey house, has a very small mention as the home of a Dr. J. Boyd DuBose. The street across the road from the house is called DuBose Street. Maybe named after this family?

A blurry cell phone photo of DuBose Street on a foggy morning. Very noir, no? This was taken from the front steps at Scarlett.

We had been told when we purchased the house that "it" (a certain room, we thought at the time) had been a doctor's office. After asking around, we learned that the room was added on in the early 1960s when a teacher had been the owner of the house and was restoring it. After finding the name and reference in the Ridge Spring history book, it's possible that the house was used as a doctor's office. This will require some research! I love research! What I know so far is that Dr. John Boyd DuBose (born 11/11/1840 - died 02/15/1895) was the owner of the home at some point between 1850 and his death in 1895. Dr. DuBose had 4 children; at least three of which are mentioned as past owners of the house. I've visited the Saluda County courthouse and been able to trace the home's owners back to April 15th, 1897 (here's where that brief history lesson comes in!) when "Miranda D. Asbill and W. D. Barnwell" owned the house and 161.3/20 acres of land. At this time, the land butted up to land owned by Sumter Boatwright. I am assuming that Miranda D. Asbill was Miranda Scarborough DuBose (born 08/23/1871 - died 11/1960) who married Dr. Fletcher Gladstone Asbill in 1895 and that W.D. Barnwell is Wilhelmina DuBose (born 09/11/1868 - died 05/09/1899) who married Rev. Robert Woodward Barnwell in 1885. Dr. DuBose died in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland and is buried in the Ridge Spring cemetery. Because Saluda only has records back to 1897, I will need to visit the Edgefield County office to trace the house to it's original owner. I will continue to research Dr. DuBose and his descendants. I look forward to the challenge of finding more information!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite shots of the house taken this Spring....

 

Sorry about the randomness of the blog currently. This is my first attempt at blogging and I'm still getting the hang of it! Hopefully, you'll stick around and I'll get a bit more organized! I am currently looking for old photos of the house and it's previous inhabitants. Research takes time that I am desperately trying to find more of!