Welcome to the Dorchester County Historical Society Website
Highlighting Historical, Current Events And Reflections On The Past
Of Dorchester County, South Carolina.
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KOGER - MURRAY - CARROLL HOUSE
(Ca Late 1780s)
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Originally it was thought that Joseph Koger, Jr. was the original owner but new findings reveal that Thomas Ferguson owned the property as early as 1775 and upon his death in 1786 it was sold to David Campbell. At this time it appears that David Campbell had the home built on the plantation along with three other homes for slaves and a large barn. In 1793 the property was transferred from David Campbell to John Milhous for a sum of four hundred pounds sterling. John Milhous married Abigail Sleigh and at the time of his death in 1797 had two children with a third unborn. With the untimely deaths of the children, Abigail inherited the entire plantation and when she married Joseph Koger Jr. in March of 1802 made provisions that the property would go to him upon her death. Abigail died 17 June 1812 and was buried near the Koger House. No markers remain but it is known that a cemetery existed there in the 1970’s.
Joseph Koger, Jr. married again in September of 1812 to Mary Murray daughter of William Murray and Martha McQuillan Murray of nearby Grover (then known as Murray’s Crossroads). They lived in the home until 1838 when he became disenfranchised with politics in the district and moved to Mississippi. He sold the house to John Soule Murray, a brother-in-law. John Soule did not live long after purchasing the home. He died in 1844 at which time the home was sold to John May the proprietor of May’s Ferry just up the road from the plantation.
John May sold the home to Chancellor James Parsons Carroll for a winter home. He lived in Aiken, South Carolina. In November 1900 the house was sold by Lewis E. Parler to Mattie A. Hartzog. The acreage accompanying the house had been divided and was now down to just a 100 acres. Subsequent owners have been identified as R.D. Canaday, Henry Allen Westerndorf, and then to the Fitzhugh Sweatman family in 1946. The house was donated to the Upper Dorchester County Historical Society in 2004 and restoration was completed in 2009.
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