tions to that period, when it will rank among the most useful 

 and respectable institutions of the kind in America." 



It is to be hoped that the renewed interest recently awak- 

 ened in the Charleston Museum may fulfil the prophecy made 

 for it almost a hundred years ago. 



Dr. Shecut's scientific tastes have descended in a measure 

 to his grandson, Major Edward Y/iliis. Major Willis has al- 

 ways been very fond of Natural History, and has made fine 

 collections of minerals, shells and fossil remains. He was 

 early identified with the mining of phosphates from the river 

 beds, and particularly of those owned by the State, and for 

 years furnished information and statistics on this subject for 

 the United States Government. The Charleston Chamber of 

 Commerce appointed him to write the history of the discov- 

 ery of phosphates in South Carolina. 



Dr. Shecut v/as the founder and for a length of time 

 President of the American Homespun Company, estab- 

 lished in 1820, in association with William Laughton 

 Smith, and it operated, we believe, the first cotton mill 

 in the State. It was built near the lot of land now known 

 as Barton's Mills, on the west side of Rutledge Avenue, 

 opposite the lake. 



Dr. Shecut married first. Miss Sarah Cannon, daugh- 

 ter of Dr. John Cannon of Edisto Island, on January 

 26th, 1792, and they had the following children : Mary, 

 John Ramsay, Sarah Cannon and William Harral. He 

 was married second in Charleston, February 7th, 1805, by the 

 Rev. John H. Mellard, to Miss Susanna Ballard, daughter of 

 Jesse Ballard and Elizabeth Skrine, his wife, of Georgetown, 

 S. C, and their five children were as follows : Ann Jackson, 

 Abraham Homespun, John L. E. W., Linneeus Americanus, 

 and Sophronia Lucenia. 



Dr. Shecut died in Charleston, after a brief illness, June 

 1st, 1836, and was buried in Bethel church yard. 



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