Wood and Creed Family History – In the early 1870‘s the Wood family moved to West Main Street, having purchased two lots that had formerly belonged to William H. Anderson, father of the late John G. Anderson of Rock Hill. Here Grandpa Wood died in the year 1888.

Uphome, as the house was named, was at the center of the family life for many years. And that life centered around Granny. The house seemed to be elastic, since any number of visitors could be accommodated. Cousin Mattie Kerr Glass from Spartanburg would bring several of her children for a week or so in the summertime. The Woods from Chester, Eunice McConnell from Yorkville, or Cousin Minnie (Johnson) Rudisil from Charlotte came often. The whole family connection loved Granny, and Aunt Rhoda Wood‘s cooking! As Granny grew older, Aunt Rhoda devoted more of her time to waiting on her and reading to her.

Granny was exceedingly fortunate in that she had her four unmarried daughters, ―Bune, ―Pug, ―Nan, and ―Cad, with her to the end. She had her own chair in the corner of her room near the fire. In the summer she wore a white barred muslin dress and occasionally sat on the front porch. She went once a year to spend the day with Aunt Laura Owens. After Aunt Jo Johnson became ill at Cousin Carrie Heath‘s, Aunt Rhoda took Granny to visit her several times in the afternoon with Old Tom hitched to the phaeton. Except for the two visits to Piedmont Springs and an occasional trip to Yorkville or Chester, Granny never left town. The deaths of Aunt Jo[sephine] in 1911 and Uncle Foster in 1912 had their effect upon her spirit and body. She died just before Christmas in 1915, as is buried beside Grandpa Wood in Laurelwood Cemetery.

Basil Whitfield (Jack) Creed, Senior:

Basil Whitfield (Jack) Creed, Senior was the son of Basil Overstreet Creed and Henrietta Sawyer Creed. He was born on the Sawyer Plantation at Jones’s Crossroads in Aiken County, S.C. in 1862, while his father was serving in the Confederate Army, 20th Regiment, Infantry, Company I, from Lexington District.

The first Creed came to Charleston from England shortly after the American Revolution and settled in the Lexington District, where Basil Overstreet Creed was born in 1830.The Sawyer family had lived in the Ninety-Six District since the seventeenth century, when William Sawyer, whose father had come from England to Virginia, settled on Cloud’s Creek in Edgefield County. Great-grandfather George Sawyer owned Sawyer’s Mill, one of the early lumber mills.

Basil Whitfield (Jack) Creed, Sr. came to Rock Hill in October, 1888, to become associated with the Frew Brothers, one of Rock Hill’s first furniture stores and mortuaries. He boarded in the home of Mrs. Overcash who lived in the house, which later became the Episcopal rectory on Caldwell Street.

Jack Creed, Sr. became a life-long citizen of Rock Hill when he married Miss Florence Wood, assistant postmistress, on October 15, 1880. Their five children are still residents of Rock Hill: B. W. (Jack) Creed, Junior, Thomas Foster Creed, Senior, Paulina Kerr Creed, Sawyer Creed, and Henrietta Creed. Tom Creed, Senior, married Edna Osborne of Newport News, Virginia. Their only child, Thomas Foster Creed, Junior, married Catherine McLaughlin of Knoxville, Tennessee. The younger Tom Creed has two children, Caroline Edna Creed and Thomas Foster Creed III. Sawyer Creed married the late O.J. Rock, a native of Farnham, Virginia. Their son, Jack Creed Rock, was in the United States Army, stationed at Fort Custer, Michigan.

For more than a quarter of a century B.W. (Jack) Creed, Sr. had the New Home Sewing Machine agency, and many families, white and colored, bought their first machine from him. Mr. Creed was a charter member of Rock Hill’s famous Poor Richard’s Set-back Club. This impromptu club met any afternoon after work hours in the old Commercial Club rooms or in the law offices of Dunlap and Dunlap (Herbert and Walter). Mr. Creed became a member of Saint John’s Methodist Church after his marriage. He died March 13, 1925, and is buried in Laurelwood Cemetery beside his wife, who survived him eleven years. [Information from: York County Library-submitted by Paulina and Henrietta Creed.]

For additional information on the Wood-Kerr-Creed Family see [Along the Lands Ford Road, Vol., II]

ROCK HILL DEPOT ON THE CHARLOTTE & SOUTH CAROLINA RAILROAD, c. 1858-59 (Near the Creed Home)

Made from the original tintype, the above photograph shows the depot as it looked after being enlarged to accommodate passengers. The first depot on the site (midway between West Main Street and East White Street, where the 20th century freight depot once sat, on the western side of the tracks) was nothing more than a warehouse to store produce and shipped goods. The needs of early passengers were not met by the railroad officials. But in 1858-59 the building was enlarged by the addition of a passenger waiting room. What makes this photograph so valuable is the appearance on the platform of Alexander Templeton Black and his entire family, accompanied by the tenants who lived on the Black farm, all in their best Sunday “go-to-meetin” clothes. This is the first time this photograph has ever appeared in print. Originally owned by the author, who obtained it from the late Misses Paulina and Henrietta Creed, avid students of early Rock Hill history. Alas! They were unable to identify the young girl on horseback. She was doubtless of the Black family clan. For the record, we should state that the structure shown above was destroyed on the evening of April 2, 1884, in a tremendous fire that destroyed the railroad stations – passenger and freight – and many bales of cotton stored on the platform of the freight depot. [Along the Lands Ford Road, Vol. I and HRH]

The Herald reported on Oct. 13, 1897 that A.D. Holler will erect homes for B. W. Creed and Thomas Wood on West main Street.