In Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Reconstruction ended early in the morning of April 16, 1871. On that day, after months of harassment, Robert Melton and his wife were murdered in their home by a group of Ku Kluxers.
Robert was a small farmer who lived in the northwestern part of the county, near the modern location of Pageland. After the Civil War, he was one of the few white men who actively supported the Republican Party. The party was especially active in the region. The newly elected state senator worked with northern investors to develop the township. They planned to purchase plantations, subdivide them, and sell small plots to farmers. Alongside those efforts, they were going to connect the region to larger towns via a railroad. The outcome, they hoped, would improve the economy and secure the county as a long-term base of Republican support.
Robert was well-positioned to support their efforts. He was one of the few South Carolinians who had supported the Union during the Civil War. When Gen. Sherman's army passed through the area, Robert and his family eagerly provided them with all the provisions they had.
At least in the beginning, Reconstruction uplifted Robert and his family in ways that would have been impossible during antebellum. Because of the development efforts, Robert was able to purchase his own farm, and he was appointed to positions in local government, serving as an election manager and a tax assessor.
Robert's murder by Ku Kluxers brought an abrupt end to all of this. Not only was Robert dead, but the political changes that had empowered him were reversed. Investors abandoned their development plan, and fearing for their lives, Republican politicians fled the county. Chesterfield's wealthy lawyer / planter class regained political power and would govern the county for generations.
The Ku Kluxers killed both Robert and his wife Harriet, but they left behind their children, seven in total. All were young adults, and four of them were still living on the family farm. They witnessed the murder of their parents, and one daughter, Sarah, suffered a serious gunshot wound.
The Melton murder made the national news. The press mentioned that Sarah was hurt so badly that her leg would likely be amputated at the thigh, and she might succumb to the injuries. However, by the next month, the press cycle had moved on, and the Melton children passed out of the public spotlight.
The Melton children did not, however, escape the fallout of their parents' murder. Locally prominent Republican leaders were able to simply abandon Chesterfield County, secure employment elsewhere, and move on with their lives, but the Melton family had far fewer options.
Robert and Harriet's seven children were: (1) Mary Jane, aged thirty-two, (2) Alexander L., aged thirty, (3) William J., aged twenty-eight, (4) Harriet Ann, aged twenty-six, (5) Sarah S., aged twenty-four, (6) Emaline R., aged nineteen, and (7) Robert C., aged seventeen.
At the time of the Ku Klux attack, the oldest son, Alexander, was married and running his own family farm near Chesterfield Courthouse. He does not appear to have been very involved with his parents and siblings during this period. The others, however, were in the thick of things. Mary Jane, Sarah, Emaline, and Robert C. were all living at home, and Mary Jane, Sarah, and Robert C. had even been present during the assault. (Emaline is not mentioned in any accounts. She might have been absent, or she might have been shielded from public scrutiny because of her youth.)
Harriet Ann had married the son of a neighbor, Robert A. Allen, and they were running their own farm. However, they remained near Harriet Ann's parents, and Robert A. was one of the first people at the scene after the attack. Harriet Ann's brother, William J., was also living in the area, although the records of his activities are thin.
One reporter wrote Robert Melton's daughters had "imbibed much of his courage," and both his sons and daughters demonstrated that in the years after their parents’ murders. Although the murderers went unpunished and likely remained in the area, the family was fully unrepentant. The year after the murders, Mary Jane submitted a financial claim to the federal government for compensation for the provisions they had given the Union army. As part of her claim, she had to submit a list of witnesses who would support her claim. She offered a full-throated response: "All of Old Store, Chesterfield Co."
Mary Jane's claim was barred. The reason for the decision was not recorded, but it may have been rejected for technical reasons. She hadn't owned the provisions, they belonged to her deceased parents owned them. In any case, Mary Jane was in dire financial straits, and she had sacrificed much for her loyalty to the Union, so the rejection must have been hard to accept.
Hardship continued to be the lot of the Melton family for the duration of the 1870s. Emaline, Mary Jane, and Sarah all married, but Mary Jane and Sarah each lost their husband within a few years. Mary Jane's husband had a heartbreaking end. He suffered from severe mental health problems, and in March 1879, he committed suicide by jumping down a well.
It is hard to imagine how Mary Jane and Sarah survived. They were middle-aged widows living in the community that harbored their parents’ murderers, and they had to provide for themselves and their children despite having no clear means to earn a living. They lived near Emaline, so they may have been supported by her family and her family friends, although in rural South Carolina, nobody would have had much money to spare.
Intriguingly, Mary Jane appears to have remained close to the few Republicans who remained in the area. In 1900, she was boarding with John McCulla. McCulla had served as county treasurer during the beginning of Reconstruction. By the end of Reconstruction, he had become a hated figure and was criminally prosecuted for misuse of his office and for election fraud.
Despite the criminal charges, McCulla had fared better than the Melton family. He owned a great deal of farmland which he rented to Black sharecroppers. His boarding of Mary Jane was likely an act of generosity towards an old friend who had long ago fallen into hard times.
Mary Jane later moved in with the daughter of her sister Sarah. It’s unclear what happened to Sarah herself. She disappears from records after 1880.
The rest of the Melton family followed the path that many in rural South Carolina followed. They and their children eked out a living by farming until the growth of cotton mills and manufacturing work drew them to townlife. Likely in search of better work opportunities, Harriet Ann and her brother Robert C. moved to North Carolina. Harriet Ann's husband found work as a factory hand in Charlotte, while Robert C.'s son worked at a cotton mill in the town of Stanley.
Emaline remained in South Carolina, but her family moved to Lancaster County where her husband found work as a cotton mill laborer. Mill work was unhealthy and physically demanding, yet Emaline's husband was still working in the industry when he was in his sixties.
All in all, the later history of the children of Robert and Harriet is one of quiet but remarkable persistence in the face of financial hardship and bitter political conflict. Robert C. appears to have been the longest lived of the siblings. He died on November 20, 1932 and was buried in a Baptist cemetery in Mount Croghan. His death marked the end of a remarkable family. Although they were poor farmers, the Meltons had stood up against the Confederacy and offered nearly everything they had to the Union army. After the war, the father and mother gave their lives trying to build a new South Carolina, and Robert C. had personally fought the Ku Klux Klan. Despite all this, Robert C.'s death does not seem to have received any public notice. His gravesite, located at a simple county church, remains the sole physical marker of his presence. His tombstone is inscribed with the phrase "Gone but not forgotten," and the story of his family's lives remains to be remembered by those who explore South Carolina's history.
Sources
1) The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M653_1217; Page: 145; Family History Library Film: 805217
TESTIMONY AT INQUEST FOR MARY JANE MELTON'S HUSBAND
Miss Elizabeth S. Hill
Witness is sister to deceased. Witness has noticed for some time that deceased was not right in his mind. Heard him say on yesterday morning that he wished he was dead. Don't think that any person threw him in the well.
Robert Brewer
Witness was to work for Mr. Gathing today. Was going from the barn to where he was to work about eight o'clock this morning and saw deceased's coat and hat hanging on the windlass of the well.
Witness and others let down a pair steelyards, the hooks caught in the clothes of deceased and brought him up.
Witness thinks deceased went into the well voluntarily. There was plenty of water in the well to drown a man.
Robt. Brewer
John Gathings
Witness recognises the body here lying dead to be the corpse of A. M. Hill. Has known deceased intimately for fifteen months.
Witness has heard deceased use expressions which led him to believe that deceased would rather be dead than alive. After seeing deceased's hat and coat on the windlass of the well, witness with others proceed to search for him and found his body in the well.
Witness thinks that deceased went into the well voluntarily. Witness has noticed that deceased has been despondent and in low spirits for some time.
John Gathings
Mrs. Mary J. Hill Sworn
Was married to deceased in April 1878. Have noticed several times that his mind was not right.
He complained of his head hurting him not long ago and said that he wished he was dead. Felt uneasy all the time that deceased might commit suicide. Deceased got up at daylight this morning and walked off.
He seemed quite cheerful last night.
Witness does not think that deceased committed suicide by throwing himself into the well.
Mary J. [her mark] Hill
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