COLUMN: The names of cities, town, places in the Pee Dee

Everybody — well nearly everybody around here — knows where Florence, city and county, got their name.
It was from Florence Harllee, whose father, Gen. W.W. Harllee, was president of the first railroad that was built through here in the1850s. Her name was given to the locality’s first depot.
But did you know for whom the city might have been named? The North Eastern Railroad wanted to name the new village at the railroad junction Wilds. That was for Samuel Wilds, pretty big around here long ago.
Neighboring counties have some interesting name sources, none more than Darlington County.
There have been ideas in the past. Robert Mills, the famous architect, wrote in 1826 that it was named for Col. Darlington of the Revolution, but research has found no Col. Darlington.
Others have speculated that it was named for Darlington, England, perhaps because somebody from that part of England was among earlier settlers.
A smart aleck columnist once speculated that it was descriptive because Darlington was a “darling town.” Let’s hope that was not the case.
Most likely — it seems to me — is that the name came from the town in England. York, Lancaster, Chesterfield and Chester were named after towns in Pennsylvania which were named for places in England. A large number of people migrated overland from Pennsylvania to South Carolina during the early days. Settlers often gave the names of places they came from to the places where they settled.
Maybe some day somebody will figure that out, but if Horace Rudisill couldn’t, I doubt that anybody can.
While Florence County is named for a little girl, heroic men’s names went on some neighboring counties. Marion County was named for the Swamp Fox, Gen. Francis Marion, Sumter County was named for Gen. Thomas Sumter and Lee County for Gen. Robert E. Lee. Marlboro County apparently was named for John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. Williamsburg County was named for King William of William and Mary renown, and Clarendon was named for Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, one of the Lords Proprietors who colonized the Carolinas.
Dillon city and county were named for the Dillon family, the S.C. Legislative Manual says, but probably more specifically for J.W. Dillon. He and his son gave property to the developing railroad provided the Dillon name was given to the depot.
While there have been new counties created from time to time in the area, I think there has only been one instance in which a county seat was moved. That was when the courthouse of Marlboro County was moved from Carlisle, across the Pee Dee River from Society Hill, to Bennettsville for a more central location. Carlisle vanished, and only a marker saying that was the site of the first courthouse remains to remind people of the village. The new town was named for Thomas Bennett, who was governor at the time.
Florence, Darlington and Chesterfield counties and their courthouse towns have the same names, but Kingstree, seat of Williamsburg County, has an interesting story. A tree found in that area was marked for possible use as a ship mast, making it a king’s tree. The Kingstree name developed from that.
Clarendon County’s seat of Manning was named for John Laurence Manning, also a governor and member of a distinguished family.
Lamar probably has the most impressive namesake, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar of Mississippi, who was the first southerner to go on the Supreme Court after the Civil War.
Then there is the name of Lake City, which causes great anguish because some people go there expecting a fine lake and don’t find one. People seem to worry a great deal about this and comment on it all the time.
It’s funny. I don’t remember ever hearing anybody greatly concerned over Mount Pleasant being flat or Orangeburg not being orange or Indiantown having few if any Indians, but they worry themselves sick over absence of a big lake at Lake City. Besides, Lake Swamp flows by Lake City, and while those same people would probably be concerned over Lake Swamp not being a lake, I would point out that neither is Sparrow Swamp a sparrow.
Lake Swamp flowing by is excuse enough for the name, and besides, Lake City sounds much better than Graham’s Crossroads.

— Thom Anderson is a retired journalist who has 40 years experience with South Carolina newspapers, including the Morning News. He can be reached at THIDBIT@ aol.com.