Johnsonville South Carolina History

Hugh Hanna was the first known Hanna in the Lynches Lake and Vox region outside of Johnsonville, SC. He is the ancestor of most of the Hanna descendants in this area (excluding the families of Richard Hanna in the Hannah community.) Hugh Hanna (Sr.) was born circa 1759, possibly in Ireland or Scotland.  A soldier in the American Revolution, he came south with General  Nathanael Greene  and joined General Francis Marion's Brigade where he was wounded in battle. The bullet extracted was preserved by descendants but its current location is not known. Hugh was a large land and slave owner and farmer on Lynches Lake. He erected the first water wheel for operation of a rice and grain mill.  At the time of his death, Hugh owned the following known enslaved persons: Cupid, Young Scipo, Elvira, Peter, Venus, Dinah, Sam, Lizza, Crissa, Mercury, Juno, Young Mercury, Nellie, Young Juno, Young Sam.  Others were unnamed in his 1842 will .  1790 Land Plat near Lynches Lake A 1790 land plat recor

John Henry Woodberry  (1889-1974)  was born in Johnsonville on Feb 22, 1889 to Wattie Gamewell Woodberry, Sr. and Rosa Belle Eaddy (first woman mayor in South Carolina history). He was the great-grandson of Henry Eaddy.   General Woodberry described Johnsonville of his childhood in Elaine Y. Eaddy's  The Promised Land :   John Henry Woodberry  West Point Cadet, 1914 “Johnsonville, where I was born and lived in my youth, had a post office, a general store, and not much more. The settlement centered around the crossroads that went west to Lake City and Florence. The nearest railroad was 23 miles away (at Lake City) and roads leading thereto were sandy and rutty. Mail came in by road cart, usually daily. The Lynches River, two miles away, was used for floating timber to market, but was not suitable for powerboats. The Great Pee Dee River, into which the Lynches flows nearby, boasted at that time a weekly steamboat (The Farmer and later The Merchant) that brought bulk supplies from Geo

For more on S. B. Poston, visit Johnsonville SC History on the web In 1912, Sylvester Briley "S.B." Poston (1867-1932) divided a sandy pasture into lots and held a land sale, starting what would become the downtown area of Johnsonville.  Sylvester Briley Poston S. B. Poston was born in the Half Moon community, the son of Simon and Sarah Bartell Poston. For a number of years as a young man, he was engaged with his father in large merchandising, turpentine, and farming interests. He married Claudia Belle Weathersbee in 1900, and in 1901 the two made their home in what would later become Johnsonville. Claudia was a native of Williston, SC.  Their home was regarded as the first home in Johnsonville and S.B. and Claudia were the first residents of the newly planned town.   It was no doubt S.B.'s experience with merchandising that led him to hatch the idea of a centralized town plan to conduct such matters 11 years after establishing his homestead. The County Record newspaper c