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In Samuel Dubose's "The Hugenots of South Caro- 

 lina," under a section entitled the ''Reminiscences of St. 

 Stephen^s Parish, Craven County and Notices of Her 

 Old Homesteads," we find the following: ''About 

 twenty years before the Revolutionary war the belt of 

 land bordering on the Santee River, through the whole 

 extent of the parish of St. Stephen's was the garden 



spot of South Carolina." 



♦ ♦*»**♦*♦** 



The plantation known as "Mexico," at the western 

 extremity of the parish, was the residence of the late 

 Major Samuel Porcher. 



Northwest of Mexico and directly on the river bank 

 was the residence of Thomas Walter, Esq., the botanist, 

 an Englishman by birth. He embellished his seat with 

 a botanical garden, which long commanded the admir- 

 ation of his neighbors. His first wife was Sarah Peyre, 

 by whom he had two daughters; his second wife was 

 Dolly Cooper, whose daughter, Emily, their only child, 

 married Judge Charlton, of Savannah." 



Quoting further from the same work, under a portion 

 entitled "Historical and Social Sketch of Craven 

 County, South Carolina," by Frederick A. Porcher, 

 Esq., and published in the Southern Quarterly Review 

 for April, 1852 : "One citizen of this parish has earned 

 for himself a reputation in the world of letters, and it 

 is strange that Ramsay, who appears to have sought 

 eagerly after Carolinian celebrities, should have en- 

 tirely ignored his existence. Thomas Walter, an Eng- 

 lish gentleman, whose devotion to the cause of science 

 led him to the wilds of Carolina, was attracted by the 

 charms of Miss Peyre, of St. Stephen's, married her and 

 settled there. He devoted himself particularly to the 

 pursuit of botany and the curious are still occasionally 

 rewarded by a visit to his garden, the ruins of which 

 may still be seen near the banks of the Santee Canal. 

 He is the ancestor of one branch of the Porcher family, 

 and of the Charlton family of Georgia." 



