Denah McEwen Witherspoon

(1837-1859)

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At a Glance

Denah McEwen Witherspoon of Camden, Kershaw County attended the Burwell School in the early 1850s, only a few years after her aunt, Mary Nash Witherspoon , completed her education at the Burwell School [1].

Story

Denah McEwen Witherspoon was the daughter of John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.] and Elizabeth McEwen of Camden, Kershaw County. Denah's father was the third child of the Rev. Dr. John Knox Witherspoon, [Sr.], organizer and first pastor of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, and his wife Susan Davis Kollock. John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.] was born in Hillsborough on September 25, 1816, the historic day on which the church was dedicated.

John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.], met Elizabeth McEwen in Camden, Kershaw County during his father's brief pastorate of Bethesda Presbyterian Church on DeKalb Street from 1833-37. The voluminous McDowall Papers describe the Witherspoons' Camden years in detail as well as their succeeding year and a half in Columbia before their return to Camden, Kershaw County. John Knox Witherspoon, [Sr.], returned to Tusculum Farm, south of Hillsborough.

In Camden, Kershaw County, the elder Witherspoons lived in a pleasant house which still stands, with ample grounds at the corner of York and Lyttleton streets. It may be that the John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.], and his new bride continued to live there after their marriage. John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.] spent his entire life in Camden, Kershaw County, became an elder in his father's former church, and operated a telegraph line from Camden, Kershaw County to Columbia.

Denah Witherspoon is known to have been a student at the Burwell School in 1851, when she was fourteen, but she probably entered at least a year earlier. She of necessity would have been a boarding student since the tragic circumstances in her paternal grandparents nearby Tusculum Farm would scarcely have permitted an additional person to join the household. Denah married James Jones of Camden, Kershaw County as his first wife, and the couple lived in the Jones home on Lyttleton street. She died in 1859 at the age of twenty-two [1].

Biographical Data

Important Dates

Denah McEwen Witherspoon was born in 1837. She died in 1859.

Places of Residence

• Camden, SC, in 1837. Denah's father,John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.], met and married her mother, Elizabeth McEwen in Camden, Kershaw County during his father's brief pastorate of Bethesda Presbyterian Church on DeKalb Street from 1833-37 [1].
• Columbia, SC, between 1837 and 1839. The voluminous McDowall Papers describe the Witherspoons' Camden years in detail as well as their succeeding year and a half in Columbia before their return to Camden, Kershaw County [1].
• Camden, SC, between 1839 and 1850. The Witherspoons lived in a pleasant house which still stands, with ample grounds at the corner of York and Lyttleton streets [1].
• Burwell School, from 1850 [1].
• Camden, SC, until 1859. Denah married James Jones of Camden, Kershaw County as his first wife, and the couple lived in the Jones home on Lyttleton street in Camden, Kershaw County. She died in 1859 at the age of twenty-two [1].

Schools Attended

• Burwell School, from 1850. Denah Witherspoon is known to have been a student at the Burwell School, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC, USA in 1851, when she was fourteen, but she probably entered at least a year earlier. She of necessity would have been a boarding student since the tragic circumstances in her paternal grandparents nearby Tusculum Farm, Orange County, NC, USA would scarcely have permitted an additional person to join the household [1].

Relatives

• Parents: John Knox Witherspoon, [Jr.] (b. 1816) [1] and Elizabeth McEwen [1].
• Spouse: James Jones, married until 1859 [1].
• Paternal grandparents: John Knox Witherspoon, [Sr.] (1791-1853) [1] and Susan Davis Kollock (1793-1854) [1].
• Uncle: William G. Bowers [1].
• Aunt: Mary Nash Witherspoon (b. 1827)  [1].

References

1. Mary Claire Engstrom. The Book of Burwell Students: Lives of Educated Women in the Antebellum South. (Hillsborough: Hillsborough Historic Commission, 2007).