Volume 03 Page 0076

rice-pounding mills on Savannah River at Gowrie, Coleraine, & upper
end of Hutchinson's Island. Getting along in the world Mr McLeran
bought a portion of the Williamson Tract on Argyle Island,
then owned by Mr Marchant, and to this he gave the name of
"Gowrie" constituting Acres, the name being preserved to the
present day. To McLeran are we indebted for the regular manner
in which the squares upon Gowrie are laid out, he also dug the
present canals (on Gowrie proper, except the canal connecting Gowrie to East Hermitage and placed a flood Gate on Middle River.
McLeran is said to have been married in Scotland, but his wife
died not long after his marriage. He left one child, a son James
who died in Charleston So.Ca., and he died himself at Gowrie very
soon after the Gowrie mill was built, the settlement then being on
Middle river in what is now known as Square "No. 2 Gowrie." One of
Mr McLeran's first acts in purchasing his place was to move the
Gowrie settlement to where now it stands on Savannah Back
River in order to obtain there a better drainage for his water
power-rice-pounding Mill than he could otherwise do did he locate
it on Savannah Middle River. Upon McLeran's death Gowrie
was left in the hands of Wallace, & McAlpin as Administrators
until James McLeran should become of age. In 1831 McAlpin
bought Gowrie from the Estate for $20,000 and sold it in 1833
to Charles Manigault (my father) for $25,0000.

McAlpin, Wallace, & Taylor, each commenced life as Overseers on
Savannah River. Besides being (as my father in his plantation notes
remarks in speaking of McAlpin) (1844) "the most experienced planter
he (I) know," Mr McAlpin was a Carpenter & Bricklayer on an
extended scale. McAlpin commenced life poor and died worth
about 400,000.

Wallace, in time bought the portion of the Williamson Tract
now known as "East Hermitage" and belonging to Charles Manigault
afterward sold it to McAlpin, who sold it to my father. Wallace
was never married and (from negro authority) I am informed that he left
by Will East Hermitage to McAlpin, having no descendants of his own.
McAlpin named one of his Sons after Wallace, viz: Wallace McAlpin