By W. R. “Bob” Braddy
Each year on February 5th, Dillon County celebrates its birthday. On that date in 1910 a large delegation of Dillon County citizens gathered in the office of Governor Martin Ansel to witness his signing of the bill which created the new county.
February 5th might also be called our Independence Day. The struggle for our county’s independence was not won with guns and soldiers, but it required fifteen long years of skilled leadership, five elections, at least three surveys and lots of determination to win it.
Why did the people of Upper Marion County want to establish their own county?
There were several valid reasons:
• These were “horse and buggy” days, and the long trip over poorly maintained dirt roads to take care of business in Marion, the county seat, was arduous.
• Although the population of the northern part was about half the population of the southern part, property taxes totaled more, because the appraised value of our rich farmland was greater than the sandy soil of the lower half.
• Because of the greater population, virtually all of the elected officials, including state senators and representatives, lived in lower Marion.
• Most of the tax revenues were spent in lower Marion and maintenance and creation of our roadways suffered badly.
In 1888, thanks to the vision and generosity of J.W. Dillon and his son T.A. Dillon, our new railroad had been completed and Dillon had its municipal charter. It was clear to our leaders that Dillon had a bright future and needed to pursue it independent of Marion County.
The citizens of Marion, on the other hand, realized they had a lot to gain by hanging on to the upper portion of the 75-mile long county. The tax revenues from that area were significant, and they controlled the purse strings and the political power. They did not want to let that get away!
Thus, the battle lines were drawn. In the beginning, the statutory requirements for the formation of a new county were virtually insurmountable. The law specified that the new county must contain at least 625 square miles. Marion County contained about 900 square miles, so this was too much to hope for. An attempt to annex a portion of upper Marion to Marlboro County was easily blocked when the Marion delegation to the legislature objected.
The first real opportunity to form the new county came in 1895 when a new state constitution was passed. This time the size requirements for a new county were reduced to 400 square miles, $1.5 million in assessed land values, and 500 square miles remaining in the parent county. Also, no county line came within 8 miles of a county court house. If all of these requirements were met and a petition was signed by one third of the voters in the proposed new county, the governor could call for an election. If two thirds of the voters approved, the General Assembly could pass the law creating the new county.
This seemed achievable, and the battle began in earnest!
The press fired the first salvos. The Marion Star immediately began trying to convince the citizens of Upper Marion that large tax increases would be needed to build a courthouse, jail, new roads and other facilities necessary for the new county. The argument was strongly made that the new county would benefit Dillon and not the county as a whole.
“The new county advocates, in their mad zeal to help the town of Dillon and promote its growth, are willing to inflict on the people more taxes and therefore force the county to pay tribute to the town,” said The Marion Star.
“This statement no more stopped the new county movement than it did the flow of The Little Pee Dee River,” observed Durwood Stokes in his excellent book, “The History of Dillon County”. This book, published in l978 by The USC Press, is the source of most of the information contained in this article. It is available at the Latta Library.
Fortunately for Dillon, A.B. Jordan had arrived in 1897 and had taken over the editorship of The Dillon Herald. He quickly entered the fray on the side of the new county, and his writings more than offset the negative arguments of The Marion Star. There was one attempt for a referendum in 1895 but it never materialized. Undaunted, the separatist leaders convinced Gov. John G. Evans to decree a referendum for Jan. 12, 1897. Predictably, this referendum failed—405 to 690—amid charges of fraud and dishonesty.
Almost immediately plans began for another referendum. William Ellerbee, from Marion, was governor at that time, so the New County leaders bypassed him and went
straight to the legislature. The Marion delegation would not agree to it, so the election was never officially decreed. However, our leaders decided to hold it anyway on April 6,1898. This time the results were quite different, the vote being 942 for the new county and 634 against!
This was all in vain, however. Upon Marion’s protest to the Supreme Court, the election was set aside. The court based its ruling on the fact that the constitution of 1895 required a 4 year waiting period between elections and it had been little more than a year since the first one.
With the realization that it would be four years before another election could be scheduled, efforts to create the new county subsided. Meanwhile, the upper area continued to grow, and the 1900 census showed Dillon with a population of 1,015 and Latta with 467.
In early l902 the third election was set. The outcome was heavily in favor of the new county, but it still fell a few votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to meet the constitutional requirement.
The results of this try prompted The Marion Star to crow: “Now that the third effort of this kind has so signally failed, we suppose another one will not be made.”
This proved to be wishful thinking. The campaign continued with renewed vigor on both sides. Marion leaders began to think in terms of strategies other than defeating the new county at the polls. New county leaders were confident, and began to talk about a name, and at that time “Pee Dee” seemed to be the most likely choice.
Marion decided that they would try a “sneak attack”. Their Senator, J. D. Montgomery, introduced a measure to change the distance of any new county lines from eight to ten miles from an existing courthouse. If this had become law, the lines for the new county could not possibly have been drawn without approaching nearer than ten miles to Marion’s courthouse. All hopes of creating “Pee Dee County ” would be gone.
Fortunately, Senator T.I. Rogers from Marlboro County, who supported the creation of the new county, spotted this amendment to an otherwise innocuous bill and alerted the New County leaders to its danger. Our leaders rallied and headed for Columbia. A. B. Jordan alerted his readers in The Dillon Herald of the threat, and the combined efforts led to the measure’s defeat in committee. This caused Editor Jordan to write, “Our victory in Columbia is glory enough for one year!”
It was time to begin preparation in earnest for the next election, which could be held in 1906. This time, our leaders were determined to be ready. A mass meeting was held at Dillon High School in March 1906. A committee was formed, with R. P.
Stackhouse as chairman. Sub-committees were appointed, with the leading sub-committee named the New County Central Executive Committee. It was to direct the campaign until the final victory was won. These men meant business!
The first hurdle the new committee faced was the rule change which had been made by the 1905 legislature. This provided that hereafter, before an election could be held, two commissioners must be appointed, one from the proposed new county and one from the parent county. They, then, were to appoint two engineers to survey the area and determine if the requirements for the square miles and the distance from a county seat could be met. It specified that the two engineers must both be from outside the areas involved. One more thing- they were to be paid for their work by the County Treasurer!
On December 31, 1906 the petition for another election arrived in the office of Governor G. D. Heyward, who was then in his final hours of office. Because of this, he left the appointment of the commissioners to his successor, Gov. Martin Ansel, who later proved to be a friend of the new county in its struggle for independence.
There followed much wrangling and maneuvering, and almost two years passed before the two surveyors were selected as the new law required. The Dillon Herald jubilantly announced, “Messrs. Hamby and Beattie, with their assistants, helpers – and camping outfits, left Dillon early on the morning of August 17, 1908 to begin the project.”
Their assignment-to survey the entire boundary of Marion County and run a line which cut off 400 square miles to form the new county. They worked diligently for a month, then presented a bill for services to date– $1,316.16-to the treasurer of Marion County, as the law specified.
“I have no funds authorized for this purpose,” was the response from Marion’s treasurer J. D. Montgomery. No amount of arguing, pleading or cajoling would budge him, and the new county proponents found themselves up against a brick wall. What could be done?
“We will pay for the work ourselves,” was the response from the Dillon leaders. Ten prominent citizens dug into their pockets and came up with $3,800, the amount estimated to be needed to complete the project. The engineers went back to work.
Bad weather in the fall of 1908 delayed the work and it took six months instead of three to complete the survey. Final cost- $6,406, all paid by the Dillon leaders. News of this situation was widespread, and The Charleston News & Courier stated “The county owes them $6,000, which they may never get.” They were right about that. There is no record that the New County proponents were ever reimbursed for this expenditure.
After all of this, when they engineers finally got around to check their figures they found—an error had been made! The proposed area for the new county contained less than 400 square miles!
Some quick computations showed that the engineer who had run the line dividing the new from the old had started at a point too far up on the Marlboro County line. This called for a new petition for an amended survey within a short time frame. Our friend, Governor Ansel, gave permission for an amended petition, and it arrived on time. The surveyors went to work to correct the error.
By this time the defenders of the old county had seen the handwriting on the wall. They knew they had to pull something out of the hat in a hurry or the new county would soon be a reality. They came up with a neat idea. If they could get the community of Woodberry to be annexed into bordering Horry County there would not be enough square miles left to meet the 500/400 miles requirement. They even offered to pay half the cost to build a bridge across the Little Pee Dee so that the people of the Woodberry could have easy access to Conway.
They petitioned Governor Ansel to grant this annexation, but he rejected it immediately, with the backing of the Supreme Court. This whole affair stirred up quite a controversy and led to heated debates in The Herald and The Star, with new county proponent John C. Sellers and Marion advocate James W. Johnson taking center stage.
The people of the Woodberry community were outraged at the idea, and declared in no uncertain terms that they would not be forced to be a part of Horry County.
By this time it was clear to almost everyone that the creation of the new county was going to happen soon. Through all of the negotiations the people of Latta had been seriously questioning whether or not it was in their town’s best interest to be a part of the new county. It was not much farther to Marion than it was to Dillon. It was apparent that Dillon and not Latta would become the county seat of the new county. They realized that their property taxes would in all probability increase. They were reasonably content with things as they were. With these thoughts in mind, Mayor E. C. Allen called a special election in which the citizens of Latta approved the annexation of 4.71 miles of territory, a long, narrow corridor in the direction of Marion, increasing the total area of the town to 6.28 miles. This would make the town’s boundary reach the proposed new county line, and allow themselves to remain in Marion County. The election of February 24, 1909 confirmed the annexation by a large majority.
This called for a new boundary to be run which would leave Latta in Marion County and created what came to be known as the “Latta Keyhole”. Fortunately for the new county, the people of Latta had second thoughts about this move, withdrew the newly annexed land, and agreed to become a part of the new county. To this day Dillon is blessed by that decision. Latta’s contribution to the economic, cultural, educational and social welfare of Dillon County is beyond measure.
Page’s Mill, now Lake View, was also having reservations about being included in the new county, basically for the same reasons which Latta had. A petition signed by a number of Page’s Mill’s leading citizens asking that their community not be included in the new county, but the good citizens of that community quickly realized that without their area it would be impossible to form the new county. They put self-interest aside, withdrew the petition, and graciously accepted their future as a part of the new county.
Again, the new county was blessed by this turn of events. Lake View is an integral part of what makes Dillon County great. Over the years its citizens have made great contributions in politics, sports, agriculture and business. Today, a great spirit of unity and fellowship prevails and we can all be grateful that this fine community is a part of Dillon County.
In March 1909 the engineers reported to Governor Ansel their findings, that Marion County contained more than 900 square miles and that the area set aside for the new county contained 403 square miles. That left the required 500 square miles remaining for Marion County. It was that close! The matter appeared to be settled.
But Marion still had another card to play. Marion’s Commissioner Mace refused to accept the engineers’ report on what appears to be a technicality, and this postponed the election until the dispute could be settled. One engineer hired by Mace came up with the claim that the Great and Little Pee Dee Rivers, which form a part of the new county’s boundaries, had been mapped l/2 mile closer together than they actually were. Another surveyor alleged other discrepancies. Only Governor Ansel could settle this dispute, and he did it wisely. He hired Professor Horton Colcock of The USC Engineering Dept. to check the engineers’ work and determine its accuracy. Both sides agreed to this, and in October 1909 Professor Colcock reported his findings to Governor Ansel. The new county as drawn had 404 square miles and the remaining area in Marion County was more than 500 miles. The battle of the transit and chains was over! All that remained was the election, and Governor Ansel immediately called for it to be held on December 14, 1909. Although the outcome was virtually certain, there was a vigorous campaign for votes all the way to the day of the election.
A second question on the ballot was the choice of a name for the new county, with “Pee Dee” and “Dillon” being the two choices. Mr. J. W. Dillon, who had already succeeded in routing the new railroad through the new county with the land he acquired for its right-of-way, stepped forward again with his son Thomas A. Dillon to offer $25,000 and the land site for the new court house.
The election resulted in a landslide in favor of the new county and the selection of Dillon for its name. All that remained was the formality of passage by the General Assembly, and this was accomplished quickly.
February 5th was set as the date for Governor Ansel to sign the bill into law. A large delegation of leaders departed by train to witness the signing (see photo), and when they returned Dillon County was a reality.
Shortly before the election Editor A. B. Jordan wrote in The Herald the following:
“Happily it has been a strenuous but happy fight, full of good feeling, and now that it is nearly over there is no occasion for bitterness. The New County advocates have conducted a fair, frank and open fight, adhering in every instance to the letter of the law, and after the final issue on the 14th they will have nothing to look back upon with regret.”
What we today have to look back upon is pride and respect for our forebears who fought with such skill and determination to make our county a reality. In retrospect, it is apparent that the division was in the best interest of both counties, and the good will and mutual respect Dillon and Marion Counties have for each other bear witness to this fact.
Let us celebrate Dillon County’s its independence-with great pride in our past and optimism for our future. We have a great County.
