Person:William Bearden (17)

William (Buskie) Bearden was born on 10 Apr 1810 in Pickens, South Carolina. He was a blacksmith by trade and skilled as a gunsmith, who owned most of "Nubbin Ridge" as Oakway, South Carolina was called when he lived there, and had traded 4 flintlock muskets to a "Mr. Major" for a thousand acres. He later sold the land for $250 that he used to start his gun business that he named Keowee Gun Works. He found a site that had a little waterfall located about 2 miles from the Tugaloo River where he built a dam to have the water supply to pull a large water wheel, and fired his forge with charcoal that he produced from local forests. Sales were slow at first, but with the beginning of the Civil War (or the Yankee Aggression as he preferred to call it,) his gunworks thrived. He had a contract to manufacture rifles for the Confederacy. He had married Elizabeth McGuffin Able after her 1st husband died, on 29 Nov, 1837. The ceremony was performed by Rev. W.A. Lee at Bachelor's Retreat in Oconee County, SC. In addition to the four children that Elizabeth had when he married her, they had 6 more sons and 3 daughters. At one time, 5 of their sons were fighting for the South. When the South surrendered in 1865, no one needed rifles anymore, as the returning soldiers brought their guns home with them. The Keowee Gun Works was disbanded and the family went back to farming. Joseph, his son took the tools and equipment and continued to work some at repairing guns. William died on 20 Mar 1882 in Oakway, Oconee, South Carolina. He was buried in the Baptist. Cemetary, Bethel Church (known as Nubbin Ridge in the early days of the settlement of Oakway, SC.)

NAME: William (Buskie) Bearden<@obit/E.McGuf.> Information on Keowee Gun Works from account by Randolph Jaynes of Westminister SC written 4 Aug 1987. Randolph was Joseph Bearden's grandson

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census. (Name: Name: Name: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.comOperations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to;;)
   Year: 1880; Census Place: Center, Oconee, South Carolina; Roll: 1236;Family History Film: 1255236; Page: 316C; Enumeration District: 121;.

   William Bearden (70) born: abt. 1810 in South Carolina, Father, born:South Carolina, Mother, born: North Carolina, Occupation: farmer; wife, Elizabeth Bearden (71) born: about 1809 in South Carolina, Father born; Ireland, Mother born: South Carolina; Showed 2 farm workers living with them: Stephen J. Edgar (21), and Thomas Conally (18) 1880 Residence place: Center, Oconee, South Carolina. (as of 8 Jun 1880)

   Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1880United States Federal Census (Name: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to), Original data: 10th Census of the US, 1880; NARA Microfilm #: T9, 1,454 rolls; Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29, National Archives, Washington D.C.Year: 1880; Census Place: Center, Oconee, South Carolina; Roll: 1236; Family History Film: 1255236; Page: 316C; Enumeration District: 121;. William Bearden (70) born: abt. 1810 in South Carolina, Father, born: South Carolina, Mother, born: North Carolina, Occupation: farmer; wife, Elizabeth Bearden (71) born: about 1809 in South Carolina, Father born; Ireland, Mother born: South Carolina; Showed 2 farm workers living with them: Stephen J. Edgar (21), and Thomas Conally (18) 1880 Residence place: Center, Oconee, South Carolina. (as of 8 Jun 1880).

2. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census. (Name: Name: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.comOperations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data - Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau o;;)
   Year: 1850; Census Place: Western Division, Pickens, South Carolina;Film # 444820, Roll: M432_857; Page: 439B; Image: 339; House 1002; Family: 1047 .

   William Bearden (39), Born: abt. 1811 in South Carolina, Occupation:Gunsmith; wife, Elizabeth (40) Born: South Carolina; dau, Armisse (21); dau, Elizabeth (15); son, Joseph Bearden (10), Born: abt 1840 in South Carolina; son,Thompson W.(9); son, Andrew(7); son, John W(5); son, James(3); dau, Amanda(0); 1850 Residence place: Western Division, Pickens, South Carolina. (as of 29 Oct, 1850)