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1 THE EARLY YEARS: West Point and Return to Carolina
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9 1 the early years West Point and Return to Carolina It is my wish and desire for you to be Emminent, and excel in all You undertake , which you cannot do . . . unless the Blessing of God is with you, which I daily pray for through Christ. —Charlotte Ann Allston to son Robert, August 30, 1818 I know you will determine to be a Useful Member of Society and reflect Honour to the Name you bear—which is to keep up the Reputation of two Families. —Charlotte Ann Allston to son Robert, June 24, 1820 It is probable I will not be commissioned, as the army is to be reduced. I dont care much about it but I should like to have one, as tis a kind of Diploma here [West Point]. —Robert F. W. Allston to his aunt, Elizabeth F. Blyth, February 16, 1821 R obert Francis Withers Allston was born on April 21, 1801, at Hagley plantation, a short distance below Waverly, his father’s Waccamaw River plantation in Georgetown District, South Carolina. He was the second son and fifth child of Benjamin Allston Jr. and his wife, Charlotte Ann Allston. Benjamin and Charlotte Ann, who were second cousins, were members of the fourth generation of Allstons to settle in Carolina. The progenitor of the Allston family in America was John, who came to Carolina in 1682 as an indentured servant to a Charles Town merchant. After receiving his freedom in 1689, he became a merchant in his own right. Two of his sons, John and William , ventured north to the future Georgetown District, where they accumulated thousands of acres of land and intermarried with the Belins and 10 the allstons of chicora wood LaBruces. Robert Allston was a descendant of both John and William, for his paternal grandfather, William Allston Jr., who had served as an officer under Francis Marion in the American Revolution, was the son of John, and his maternal grandfather, William Allston Sr., was the son of William. So confusing did the constant repetition of first names become that about 1811 William Allston Sr. dropped one l from his name in order to differentiate himself from all other Allstons. Thereafter, there were two branches of the family, the single-l Alstons and the double-l Allstons. Robert was a member of the latter branch of the family.1 Robert’s father, Benjamin Jr., had two half-brothers, both of whom settled in the North and one of whom was the celebrated painter Washington Allston. Benjamin Jr. apparently inherited from his father the Waccamaw plantation later known as Waverly, and he also owned Matanzas, a plantation on the Pee Dee River, but both were heavily mortgaged. In 1800 he owned 67 slaves in Georgetown District, a number that increased to 105 over the next decade. He apparently lacked a strong work ethic, however, and, judging from his widow’s constant admonitions to her son Robert to avoid strong drink, probably had a problem with alcohol as well. “Your poor Father was an older man at 41 than my Father was at 67,” she wrote on one occasion, “and none of your Fathers Relations ever lived to be more than 45—except Cousin Ben—and Dr Allston, and they have made up their Minds to live regularly and not tast [sic] Brandy or Rum.” In any event, when her husband died in 1809 at age forty-three, he left an estate heavily encumbered in debt.2 Following the death of Benjamin, Jr., Robert’s mother struggled to keep the estate intact until her eldest son, Joseph Waties, who had left South Carolina College as a teenager to serve in both the War of 1812 and the Seminole War, reached his majority in 1819 and assumed primary responsibility for the management of the properties. A year later the number of 1. Devereux, Life and Times, 1–4; Easterby, South Carolina Rice Plantation, 11–12; South Carolina Genealogies: Articles from the South Carolina Historical (and Genealogical) Magazine , 5 vols. (Spartanburg, 1983), 1:2; Pringle, Chronicles of Chicora Wood, 3–4; Allston Miscellaneous Genealogy / Research Files, SCHS. 2. Easterby, South Carolina Rice Plantation, 12–13; Devereux, Life and Times, 3; MS census returns, 1800, 1810, Georgetown District, S.C.; Charlotte Ann Allston to Robert, Sept. 29, Dec. 19 (quotation), 1821; June 24, 1820, in Allston Papers, SCHS. [44.222.212.138] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:24 GMT) the early years 11 Allston slaves in Georgetown under...