Person:Samuel Maverick (7)

Notes

• merchant, shipper in Charleston, SC
• partner in the very successful port-city firm Turpin, Wadsworth and Maverick, established by his uncle William Turpin, that carried on trade with many countries, including China
• buried alongside his wife's grave in a small cemetery situated on a knoll on the family's large plantation.
• at his death, Maverick owned hundreds of thousands of acres of land in many states of the South
• owned many slaves, some of whom he gave "free papers", according to instructions contained in his detailed will
• also willed twenty shares in the Pennsylvania United States Savings Bank, a Negro boy named Sumter, one thousand dollars in cash, a cow, a mule and some hogs, furniture and farming implements to a young slave named John Isaac Washington

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Samuel Maverick of Pendleton, South Carolina, was one of the richest men in the nation, in Old Pendleton District Newsletter
   22:10 (Nov 2008):16.

   ... After having settled in the Upcountry, Maverick purchased 4,400 acres of land on the south side of Eighteen Mile Creek, a tributary of Seneca River. He established a plantation there and built a fine home near the point where the old Cherokee trading path crossed Eighteen Mile Creek and extended on to the former site of Keowee Town, the principle settlement of the Lower Cherokee on the west side of Keowee River. The transplanted Charlestonian also established a grist mill on Eighteen Mile Creek. Moreover, he and John S. Lewis developed a business community on Generostee Creek at Rock Mills in what today is Anderson County, South Carolina. At that thriving and successful venture, they established several general stores, cobbler shops, a spindle factory, a sawmill and several distilleries.
   
   Maverick also began to acquire more land in what are presently Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties. During May 1827, after Pendleton District had been divided, he purchased several lots at the future site for Anderson Court House (present-day city of Anderson, S.C.). Fifty half-acre lots were sold to buyers for upwards of $8,000 each at the first sale of the town's lots. Maverick was also a surveyor, and he surveyed the site and laid off the plots for the proposed seat of Pickens Court House on the Keowee River. The first sale of lots for the new town was also held in May 1827 at Robertson's Ford on the Keowee.
   
   "Montpelier" was the name given to Maverick's plantation home, a title having been derived from Montpellier, the place in France where Margaret Coyer, a Huguenot ancestor, lived. (She fled from France to avoid religious persecution of Protestants.) Fire destroyed the first house built by Maverick near Pendleton, but many gold coins that the owner had stored in a cache were recovered from the remains of the dwelling. Then, in 1840 construction was started on the same site for another fine house-the one that is still standing on the old road from Pendleton to Greenville. The house contains eight large rooms (four on each floor) and two spacious hallways. Because Maverick was infirm and almost immobile when his second home was built, he had floor-length windows installed on the structure's first floor, so that he could easily escape in the event of another fire.
   
   Maverick planted many native plants and imported exotic shrubs and flowers around his home. He also cultivated extensive orchards in which apple, peach, pear and many other trees were grown. He became an expert at the growing of grape vines and the making of grape wine. He even corresponded with Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, concerning the growing of grapes. Wine produced at Maverick's vineyards was advertised in The Pendleton Messenger of July 9, 1828. It was available in five or three-gallon "anchors." Also for sale at the vineyards was aged peach brandy. On August 6, 1828, the industrious gentleman farmer and businessman advertised in a local newspaper that he was offering a stock of goods, including groceries, dry goods and hardware, at a store in Pendleton. Moreover, Maverick operated (probably with the help of his son, Samuel Augustus) a malt and brew house situated only one block away from Farmers Society Hall in Pendleton.
   
   In early November 1828, Maverick took a stalk of ribbon cane to the print shop of The Pendleton Messenger. The stalk measured almost two inches in diameter and contained eleven ripe joints. The newspaper's editor then wrote that Maverick was one of the first persons in South Carolina to have made cane sugar-and that he had produced some of it as early as 1808 from cane grown in his Charleston garden.
   
   Because Maverick was a business tycoon who spent much time making money, purchasing more land and tending to his extensive agricultural projects, he was not very active in civic, social and political affairs. With the exception of brief newspaper advertisements, his name rarely appeared in the local journal which was one of the first published in the Upstate. But his only surviving son, Samuel Augustus, was involved in some community affairs. In addition the son was a practicing attorney, and he operated a store in Pendleton. In an advertisement published in Miller's Weekly Messenger, issue of March 1, 1827, the son announced that he had received "early York and drumhead cabbage from the state of New York," as well as "Buncum seed." When Pendleton's fourth of July celebration was held in 1827, Samuel Augustus Maverick delivered a patriotic speech and was among community leaders who offered toasts to Vice President John C. Calhoun at a fine dinner provided by Doctor Robinson. Cavalry troops also paraded in front of the Robinson Hotel during the celebration, and thirteen cannon shots were fired in commemoration of the nation's Independence Day.
   
   In April 1831, Samuel Maverick's son was one of the chief sponsors of a dinner at William Hubbard's hotel in Pendleton. The dinner was in honor of John C. Calhoun for his "clear and conclusive vindication" (probably in reference to his election to the vice presidency the previous year). In 1825, Calhoun had moved to "Fort Hill", his family's plantation situated about three miles from Pendleton. Thirteen "regular" toasts were offered to Calhoun at the dinner. Additional "special" toasts were made by prominent men of the area, including Colonel Robert Anderson, Colonel F.H. Huger, General Joseph N. Whitner, Jesse P. Lewis, E.B. Benson, Dr. F.W. Symmes, R.M. Cherry, M.C. Livingston and Jacob Warley.
   
   Samuel Augustus Maverick and his father were both self-reliant, highly spirited, independent and individualistic. Apparently, they were also aggressive, possessing what today might be described as Type-A personalities. In the spring of 1834, the father and son became engaged in a heated discussion while standing on a street in Pendleton. While curious local citizens looked on, the discussion soon developed into a strong argument. To settle their violent disagreement, the two antagonists decided to fight a duel, and the father quickly fetched his boxed dueling pistols from his fine carriage. (In reality, the so-called "duel" did not follow the elaborate codes and procedures of the traditional unsavory and illegal duels of the nineteenth century.) Shots were fired by both combatants in Pendleton, but they did no harm. Later, the duo calmed down and settled their problems peacefully. But Samuel Augustus soon decided to leave Pendleton and to move to the West, having caught the "Texas fever" that was rampant at that time in the Upstate. Thus, several months after the "duel",the son, his wife and their first child migrated to San Antonio, Texas, and the trio received Samuel Maverick's blessings. Samuel Augustus Maverick later took part in the movement to obtain Texas' independence from Mexico, and on March 2, 1836, he was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. ... [more]