Peter and Hattie

(Author’s note: Much of Peter’s early life is unclear, and has yet to be completely researched. Work has begun that will be completed following the Genealogical Proof Standard, however until new information arises, the following is the current genealogical assumptions.)

Peter Hilliard Christian Pound was born not long before the beginning of the South Carolina cotton season – July 11, 1850. Sad to say, according to researchers he was also likely born not long before his mother’s death as well.

It’s unclear exactly who Peter’s parents were – some say they were Jacob (alleged middle name: Hilliard) Pound and a woman named Joanna Crider; after researching the Orangeburg, South Carolina Pound’s, it seems a logical conclusion. Jacob Pound was enumerated on the 1850 census, the only adult in a household with six children. By 1870 all but one of these children were living with other families. Orangeburg was in the path of Sherman’s march to the sea, and according to an application with the National Park Service, by February of 1865 half the town was burned. It’s likely that this family’s information burned with it, so direct evidence has been limited. It’s also likely that Peter was born into the Pfund family, one of the many Swiss-German immigrant families who resided in the Orangeburg area.

Regardless of why, Peter is first recorded on the 1860 US Federal Census there, living with a family named Goodwyn (also: Goodwin). His age is given as 13, but this is likely an error on the part of the respondent – this family already had seven children of their own; forgetting the birthdate of an unrelated child doesn’t seem unlikely. The Goodwyn’s were farmers, and Peter probably spent much of his time working on their farm in exchange for his upkeep.

(Note: An 1870 census record is not found indexed for Peter, nor is one found for the Goodwyn family, or the family of Peter’s future wife, Lucy Younginer. While transcription error cannot be ruled out, this possibly indicates missing or illegible pages.)

Not found again until the 1880 census, Peter had by then married and begun a family of his own in nearby Lexington County. Peter worked at cotton mill while his wife, Lucy Ann (nee Younginer) took care of their four children.  In what could be called a cosmic twist of fate, Lucy Ann died sometime after the birth of their sixth child,  leaving Peter to face a similar situation as his alleged father. Around 1889, however, Peter married Hattie O’dell Hallman, a young woman nearly 20 years his junior. In doing so, he was able to keep his family together where Jacob had not.

Hattie was born to Thomas Wesley and Barbara Catherine Clark Hallman on January 22, 1869, twin sister to a brother, interestingly enough named Hilliard. Hattie, like her husband, was of German descent. Also like many families in rural South Carolina, Hattie had several brothers and sisters, and they worked together on the family farm. Hattie was literate, and it’s possible that she and her siblings attended school at home, learning to read and write between chores in the house and responsibilities on the farm.

(Note: It what appears to be an unfortunate coincidence, the Thomas Wesley  Hallman family has yet to be found on an index of the 1870 US Federal Census, limiting the information regarding Hattie’s first decade of life.)

After marrying, Hattie helped raise Peter’s younger children, adding eight more to the brood. While Peter was tending the farm they owned, Hattie tended to their home and their younger children while the older children attended school. Less than a year before the birth of my grandmother, Myrtie, Peter and Hattie experienced the death of their oldest child at the age of 7. They lost another child, their youngest boy, in 1914, when he was 11.

Peter continued farming until suffering a stroke in 1916. He was left with some measure of paralysis, unable to care for himself. On the morning of April 30, 1917, Peter passed away as his family was helping him to the breakfast table. He was 69 years old.

Hattie was able to maintain the family home for a while, as the farm carried no mortgage. In 1920 she was still tending to the house, and her younger children, while her older children took jobs to help support the family – two in the local cotton mill, one teaching grade school. Eventually, though, the family farm and home was sold, and Hattie and her remaining children moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, living in a rented home there. In 1930, Hattie lived with her daughter, Lillie, and her family in Charlotte, as well as her son Duffie.

Hattie’s children grew up and moved away, and Hattie purchased a home in Boiling Springs, South Carolina, where she had raised her family. She lived there with Duffie until he was drafted into the Army during World War II.

Hattie died in Columbia, South Carolina, on August 26, 1946.

Peter Hilliard Christian Pound b: 11 Jul 1850, d: 30 Apr 1917
  m: circa 1870
     Lucy Ann Younginer b: circa 1850 d: circa 1885
        1. Fred B    b: 1875 d: 1918
        2. Jacob      b: 1876 d: unknown
        3. Minnie    b: 1878 d: unknown
        4. Barbara  b: 1879 d: unknown
        5. John H    b: 1880 d: 1927
        6. Butler B  b: 1884 d: 1940
  m: 1889
     Hattie O'dell Hallman b: 21 Jan 1869 d: 26 Aug 1946
        1. Octavia   b: 13 Aug 1891 d: 5 Jun 1897
        2.  Lee         b: 24 Dec 1892 d: 20 Oct 1918
        3. Elsie        b: 22 Oct 1896 d: aft 1940
        4. Myrtie    b: 24 May 1898 d: 30 Dec 1992
        5. Winnie   b: 13 Feb 1900 d: Mar 1971
        6. Duffie     b: 23 Jun 1901 d: 25 Jun 1946
        7. Darby     b: 22 Mar 1903 d: 14 Dec 1914
        8. Lillie       b: 10 Apr 1909 d: 21 Jan 1986

Photo courtesy of Jen