Rooted In The Pee Dee: The History Of Poston, South Carolina And Its Founding Family
About this ebook
Before the name Poston appeared on the map, the locality was part of an older river world associated with Ellison, Ellison’s Landing, Allison Landing, and Poston Landing. Its early history was shaped by the Great Pee Dee River, floodplain agriculture, ferry crossings, river commerce, and the movement of people and goods through the Pee Dee region. In the early twentieth century, the arrival of the railroad changed the community’s identity, and Andrew Poston became the central figure associated with the naming of Poston, South Carolina.
This book traces that place-name history alongside the genealogy of the Poston family of South Carolina. Beginning with the family’s earlier roots in Pennsylvania and its southward migration into the Carolina backcountry, the narrative follows the development of the Pee Dee branch through Marion District and later Florence County. It corrects older family traditions, explains the distinction between the senior Poston surname line and the Andrew Poston collateral branch, and identifies the John Henry Poston and Louella Poston marriage as a key genealogical junction linking modern descendants to the broader founder-linked family structure.
Blending local history, genealogy, transportation history, and family memory, Rooted in the Pee Dee presents Poston not as a place created in a single moment, but as a layered South Carolina community shaped by river landings, railroads, kinship, agriculture, and preservation. It is a concise historical account for readers interested in South Carolina genealogy, Pee Dee history, Florence County history, Marion District families, Andrew Poston, the Poston family, and the enduring relationship between land, family, and regional identity.
Short Description
Rooted in the Pee Dee explores the history of Poston, South Carolina, from its older Ellison and Allison Landing river-world origins to its railroad-era naming associated with Andrew Poston. The book also traces the Poston family’s South Carolina genealogy, connecting Pennsylvania origins, Pee Dee migration, Marion District roots, Florence County history, and the modern family line.
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About the author
Eric Chalmers Poston is an American author, attorney, and South Carolina native whose writing focuses on family history, local heritage, and the documentary record of the Pee Dee region. His work examines the Poston family of South Carolina, the history of Poston, South Carolina, and the broader relationship between genealogy, land, memory, and regional identity.
A graduate of Duke University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Poston brings a lawyer’s attention to evidence, chronology, and documentary detail to his historical writing. His books and archival projects are grounded in family records, public documents, newspaper accounts, photographs, and inherited local knowledge, with a particular interest in preserving the stories of South Carolina families and communities whose histories are often scattered across private collections and public archives.
Poston’s historical work is closely connected to The Poston Preserve, a family heritage and conservation property in Manning, South Carolina, and to his ongoing effort to preserve, organize, and publish records relating to the Poston family and the community that bears its name. His author work presents South Carolina family history in a readable public form while preserving the documentary foundation behind the narrative.
