I have spent many hours, many months, many years researching Richard Jefferson Fowler. I was convinced -- really hoping -- that he was the son of my Andrew Fowler (b. 1804) of Union County, SC. He seemed like a fairly good fit. Richard Fowler was born to Andrew Fowler and wife Mary Scisson in or…

The first things I noticed the first time I visited Foster's Chapel United Methodist Church were the old stone foundation and the old brickwork. Unlike many of the churches nearby whose original structures built of wood burned and were replaced over the years, this church looked old and true. I later discovered that Foster's Chapel…

"I couldn’t see the forest for the trees." "The answer was staring me in the face." "He was hiding in plain sight." There was his headstone -- in the graveyard at Bethlehem Methodist Church. The stone marking the grave of E. Jack Fowler stands tall. It almost feels as if it is guarding the final…

"My father's name was Joseph. He moved to Texas in 1852 and died the same year, and was buried at Rusk Court House, Cherokee County. I was then about twelve years old. My mother moved back to South Carolina the same year." ~~ Godfrey Butler Fowler Joseph Fowler was born in Union County, SC in…

Martha Jane Johnson. Born December 12, 1856. Died January 8, 1934. Martha Jane Johnson is the center of the mystery which surrounds her three children born before her 1883 marriage to Wright Fowler. Who was Martha Jane Johnson? She was the daughter of William Johnson and Mary Carothers.(or Weathers). She was the wife of Wright…

Henry Ellis Fowler (d. 1808) was the great grandfather of Mahala Rebecca Worthy. Henry Ellis Fowler was the grandfather of her husband, Walter Gaines Fowler. Husband and wife were first cousins once removed. This was only one of many marriages between “kissing cousins” in Union County, South Carolina in the 1800s. It was an accepted practice, being both…

I have had this Confederate money in my possession since 1968. I did not know the historical significance of the bills when they fell into my hands. I took them to my seventh grade history class in 1971 and the teacher passed them around to all of my classmates. I did not go out of…

His grave lay undisturbed for one hundred and fifty-seven years. The headstone marking the final resting place of Lemuel Holter Fowler was buried in the ground -- not as deeply as the bones over which it stood guard -- but deep enough that it had perhaps been unseen by decades of descendants. Lemuel Fowler John…

Samuel Hodge lived a long life. It is thought that he was born in Ireland before his family immigrated to the Americas. Born in Ireland, or born in 1766 in Reading, York County, Pennsylvania, he made his way south to Union County, South Carolina and settled on the Pacolet River near Grindal Shoals. He was…