that he contributed in an equal degree with Sumpter and Marion to the liberation of the Southern States. After the war he served in the Legislature of South Carolina and the United States Congress. "This great and good military chieftain," as General Lee styles him, died August 11, 1817, at his seat in Pendleton District, South Carolina, which had been the scene of one of his earliest Indian battles. "He was," says Lee, "a sincere believer in the Christian religion, and a devout observer of the Presbyterian form of worship."
The first will presented in the County Court of Augusta was that of Robert Wilson. It was executed November 3, 1745, and was proved and admitted to record February 11, 1746, not 1745, as the record is made to say by a blundering copyist.
The first deed recorded, dated December 9, 1745, was from Andrew Pickens to William McPheeters, and conveyed twelve and one-half acres of land in consideration of five shillings. Deed Books, 1, 2 and 3, are occupied almost exclusively by the conveyances of William Beverley to various persons.
Beverley no doubt made many deeds previous to 1745, which were recorded in Orange; and from 1745 to 1755, no less than one hundred and sixty six of his deeds were recorded in Augusta. He never conveyed the two acres promised to the justices in 1745; but in 1749 he donated much more land to the county, as we shall see.
From the papers in an early suit we have ascertained the prices in the county of several articles in the year 1745. Money was then, and for a long time afterward, counted in pounds, shillings, and pence, one pound, Virginia currency, being $3.33⅓.[1] We state the prices here in the present currency. The price of sugar was 16⅔ cents per pound, two nutmegs 22 cents, half a pound of powder 33⅓ cents, one
- ↑ "We cannot account for the change in the currency. English settlers in Virginia, of course, brought with them the pound sterling of Great Britain, equal to about $4.85. When, why, and how the Virginia pound of $3.33⅓ was introduced, we have not been able to ascertain. Governor Spotswood, in a letter to the Lords Commissioners of Trade, dated May 24, 1716, alludes to "Virginia money" as something different from English currency. The change was probably caused by the lesser value of Virginia currency in England, compared with gold and silver.
