476 A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IX SOUTH CAROLINA. 



to be holden l)y them, or tlieir successors in trust, for the purpose of 

 raising a fund for the annual support of a free scliool." The Legislature, 

 about ]810, authorized these trustees, by special Act, to sell these lands 

 for the purpose of establishing a school. Shortly afterwards, sales were 

 made of at least a portion of the land for a period of ninety-nine years, 

 and the proceeds applied, partly to the erection of a school-house, and 

 partly to the support of a teacher. The school was located near a place 

 called Belfast, the home of Col. John Simpson. It was carried on success- 

 fully until the war, doing much good. Poor children Avere taught free, 

 others supplemented the fund. The endowment was lost during the war. 

 The lands leased will revert in about twenty years, and will then be, doubt- 

 less, of considerable value. Some years before the war, Messrs. C. P. Sulli- 

 van and W. D. Simj^son were employed by the trustees to secure possession 

 of certain lands on which the present town of Anderson is situated. The 

 artificial marks were all lost, but by a certain spring, and other natural 

 marks, the land was located. The plat, by survey, was found to corner 

 in one of the streets, and on digging down below the surface, a lightwood 

 knot was found as called for. Owing to lapse of time, the Court pre- 

 sumed a grant from the trustees, and decided against the plaintiffs. 



^Ir. Edward Paslv, of Laurens county, is the sole surviving trustee, and 

 has for vears been treasurer of the fund. In view of the prospect of a 

 renewal of the fund after the expiration of the leases, this board should 

 be tilled at once, especially as leases may have been granted for a shorter 

 term than ninety -nine years. 



THE BEEESFORD BOUNTY. 



In 1721, Richard Beresford. Esq., of St. Thomas' Parish, devised to 

 Colonel Thomas Broughton in trust, certain property to bo devoted, 

 partly to the supjDort of a school-teacher, and partly to the maintenance 

 and education of the poor of the parish. The fund, after some years, 

 amounted to £6,500, Carolina money, of which £1,200 were expended for 

 a plantation, and the rest invested as a fund. The foundation was 

 known as the " Beresford Bounty." Five hundred pounds were added 

 ]jy Mr. Richard Harris in 1731. In 1763, Rev. Mr. Garden reports that- 

 eight children were clothed, boarded and educated from that bounty. 

 In 1777, the fund amounted to £16,013, but a reduction soon occurred 

 from shrinkage in securities. 



Records from 1796 up to the war are lost. The fund, in 1861, reached 

 nearly $70,000. It now amounts to at least $15,000. The vestry of St. 

 Thomas has, in accordance with the original plan, combined the office 

 of rector and teacher, and in this way, keeps open both the church and 



