Mayson Land Plats, Maps, etc.

Here are a few maps along with relevant references.  


My "guess" as to where his primary home was located would be near the present day end point of Frazier Road due to the newspaper articles below referencing the Frazier property being where the original graves were found.  This would be his "Glasgow Plantation" land and the Island Ford Road would have passed just to the south.  The "Peach Hill Plantation" would have been directly across the Saluda River in present day Newberry County.  The majority of these lands are now submerged under the waters of Lake Greenwood.  The Rosemont Plantation that was owned by Patrick Cunningham was upstream of James' lands and much of that land was not flooded and is currently on the National Registry of Historic places. Go to the bottom of this page for more on Rosemont and its history.


James Mayson's 1768 land warranty plat for 100 acres in Granville County, Saluda River at the Island Ford originally laid out to Samuel Cathcart. (Author note: This might be the Samuel Cathcart that can later be found living in Spartanburg.)
(SC Archives)


1786 plat to James Mayson, Jr. for 125 acres tract of land as "heir to his brother Luke" on the north side of Saluda on a branch thereof called Peach hill branch bordered on 2 sides by James Mayson's land and Wm. Young's land on a 3rd side. Is Luke a son of Lt. Col. Mayson or his brother? [1] (Author note: This might be Captain William Young, the Patriot solider or Major William Young, the Loyalist leader.)


Probably the most definitive document that we have for the location of Mayson's original grave and probable homesite is the November 2004 publication of the Upper South Carolina Genealogy & History that includes a story from the Spartanburg Herald dated July 13, 1939:


  • Remains....have been removed from their resting place of nearly a century and a half on the banks of the Saluda river....

  • ..the old family burying ground will be covered by waters of Buzzard Roost lake... (Author note - Buzzard Roost lake is now called Lake Greenwood)

  • ..The graves were on the banks of the river four miles east of Ninety Six on the old Frazier place, now owned by J.P. Abney and A.B. Hartzog.

  • ..found the original Mayson graves in 1934 near the site of the family home, "Glasgow," marked now only by a hole in the ground where the chimney once stood...



 


Old 1800s map showing Mayson's Creek on the Saluda River
The arrow I have added indicates a "jog" in the Saluda River that today is still a part of the river.  This "jog" can be used as a reference point.



Old 1800s may showing Mayson's Mill and Mayson's Creek




Modern day map (Google) showing Frazier Road


Modern day USGS map showing Mayson's Creek and Frazier Road
Note that only a portion of Mayson's Creek is still visible due to the creation of Lake Greenwood
Just north of Mayson's Creek is Frazier Road and it is about 4 miles from this location to Ninety Six.



William Henry Drayton map showing Island Ford, Mayson's Creek and the Saluda River proximity




Modern day Bing map showing Island Ford Road.  A portion of Mayson's Creek is still visible.




Note the "jog" in the Saluda River just south of the dam - this "jog" is shown on the 1800s map above.  This gives us a southern reference point.  Now note Mayson's Distillery that is shown on the 1800s map to be just to the north of Mayson's Creek.  This gives us a northern reference point.  We also have the Island Ford Road that runs North-South crossing the Saluda River.  Most likely there was an island in the middle of the Saluda River that made it a crossing point back in the early days.  With the creation of Lake Greenwood, this island would now be submerged.



Rosemont Plantation

As noted above, Rosemont Plantation was to the north of the two plantations owned by James Mayson.  Rosemont was the property of Patrick Cunningham.  He was a Loyalist but he was not a devout Loyalist.  He lost his land due to his Loyalist leaning but he was able to regain the land after the war and the land was owned by Cunningham descendants well into the 20th century.  Note that Patrick was the brother of Robert who owned Peach Hill Plantation before it was confiscated and apparently purchased by James Mayson.  Unlike Patrick, Robert played a key role as a Loyalist and he was not able to reclaim the Peach Hill Plantation.


The Rosemont Plantation land now appears to be owned by a conservation group.


South Carolina seems to be a long distance away from any connection with George Washington and it is quite ironic that a descendant of Patrick Cunningham was largely responsible for the preservation of Mount Vernon on the Potomac River, the home of George Washington.  It was Ann Pamela Cunningham, the granddaughter of Patrick Cunningham who was the lady that formed the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.



Rosemont, Peach Hill and Glasgow Plantations
USGS Map; Annotation by the author


Links for Rosemont Plantation and Ann Pamela Cunningham:









First Regents of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, taken at Mount Vernon, circa 1870
Ann Pamela Cunningham is seated and looking at the bust of George Washington
(Mount Vernon Ladies' Association website)




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[1] Luke Mayson is shown as a 1st Lieutenant with the SC 3rd in 1779.  We do not have birth dates for any of James' children but with James being born in 1733, the earliest likely date any child would have been born to him would have been around 1750 which certainly makes it possible that Luke would have been old enough to have been a Lieutenant in 1779.  
 



(This page was created on 8/11/2023)





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