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While the lower parts of South Carolina had been settled for
many years, Greenville County remained part of the old
Cherokee hunting grounds and white men were strictly
forbidden to enter the area. The Cherokee ceded these lands
to South Carolina in 1777. The Indians remained in their
mountain homeland for several years after signing their
grant, however, and not many white people ventured into the
beautiful Cherokee country before the Revolution.
The first white settler in present Greenville County was
Richard Pearis, an Irishman, who came from Virginia about
1765 as a trader. He married a Cherokee woman and became so
highly thought of by the Cherokee tribe that tradition
records their repeated gifts to him of land that finally
covered a tract 10 miles square. On part of this estate now
stands the city of Greenville and Paris Mountain, it's name
a corruption of Pearis. The enterprising settler called his
acres "Great Plains.' He built a home, a mill, storehouses,
and a trading post, and lived the life of a prince. He
served with the British forces in the French and Indian War
and had the distinction of being the first Britisher to
enter Fort Dusquesne. When the Revolution began, Pearis's
allegiance was sought by both sides. It is said that he had
promised his help to the Americans, but, disappointed at the
military rank offered him, turned to the King's party. He
was probably more disappointed in how the Cherokee Indians
were being treated. Held prisoner in Charles Town nine
months, he became on his release a captain of the loyalist
militia and attained the rank of colonel after performing
several daring exploits. While he was in prison (1776) his
plantation was captured and destroyed by Colonel John
Thomas's Spartan regiment, on the grounds that it was a
Cherokee and Tory stronghold. Ironically enough, after the
fall of Charles Town, May 1780, Colonel Pearis received the
'submissions' or surrenders of General Andrew Pickens and,
possibly, of Colonel Thomas. After the Revolution, Pearis
settled in the Bahama Islands on a grant from the British
Government.
Greenville County was established in 1784. From this time
thousands of settlers migrated to the area. It's name is
variously said to honor General Nathanael Greene of
Revolutionary fame or to recall Isaac Green, an early
settler. Most evidence points to the last inference.
Our
Neighbors
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