A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 475 



Tlie report of the vestry in 1863 shows a capital of $14,531, besides 

 the mortgage on the land in Texas. These schools were still in existence, 

 with fifty-six pupils. Part of the fund was invested in Confederate bonds. 

 The Attorney General was ordered by the Legislature to take steps to re- 

 cover this land, but the close of the war put an end to the eifort. After 

 the war, the land was identified. Efforts were made to realize something 

 from the land, the other part of the fund having been swept away. 

 About four thousand acres lie in Coryell county, Texas, which, at last 

 accounts, had been sold to parties for taxes. It is to be hoped that this 

 historic fund will not lapse. 



THE DOWNER INSTITUTE. 



Alexander Downer, an Englishman by birth, who, when a lad, had 

 enjoyed the benefits of an orphan school in Richmond county, Georgia, 

 and had subsequently acquired a handsome estate near Beech island, then 

 in Edgefield district, left the bulk of his estate, by a will made in 1S18, 

 for the founding of an institute at Beech island for the .maintenance and 

 education of orphan children. Nothing was done until 1843, the estate 

 having in the meantime suffered some diminution. In that year an in- 

 stitute was erected on an eligible spot. Exercises were begun on the 

 17th May, 1848, and continued without interruption until the close of 

 the war, excepting a temporary suspension from April, 1858, to January, 

 1859. Fifty orphans had received benefits during that time.. The de- 

 ranged condition of the funds has prevented reopening since 1865. The 

 fund, in 1851, amounted to $15,621, and in 1859, to S20,500. The institute 

 and grounds were valued at $8,000 additional. In 1879 the Legislature 

 appointed a referee, Mr. E. S. Hammond, to investigate the fund. The 

 next year he w^as appointed treasurer of the fund. Three commis- 

 sioners were also appointed. It is believed that the fund will amount 

 to about $6,500 by 1885. Years will be required for it to accumulate so 

 as to carry out the beneficent purposes of Mr. Downer. By a provision 

 of the will, Richmond count}'-, Georgia, is entitled to one-fourth of the 

 benefits of the fund, and " Edgefield district " to the remainder. 



THE WADSWORTH FUND. 



Dr. Thomas Wadsworth, of Charleston, in the year 1808, devised a. 

 considerable quantity of land — some lying in Laurens district, and 

 some in the adjoining districts — to trustees to be elected by the 

 " freemen residing in Laurens district, in the lower battalion of the 

 9th Regiment, and second Brigade of the upper Division of the State, 



