In July of 1738, the ship “Two Brothers,” commanded by Capt. William Thomson, embarked for Georgia with many other German servants to help establish the colony of Georgia. On October 7, 1738, the ship arrived at Frederica on St. Simons Island, Georgia. This ship carried 133 passengers aboard. The records say 116 “head” of German servants arrived but children did not count as a whole “head.” All of these 133 Germans were required to indenture themselves as servants to pay for their passage from Europe. Among these Germans was a woman recorded as the Widow Derick, age 26, with a daughter Elizabeth, age 8, a son Malchier(Melchoir), age 7, and a son Jacob, age 5, and a daughter Margaretta, age 1. The Widow Derick(Derrick) and her children settled at Village Bluff, also known as the German Village, St. Simons Island, Georgia, until her bond was paid. It was concluded that the Widow Derrick’s husband became ill on the voyage to America and died at sea. No further records have been found on the Widow Derrick and it is assumed since she was still young and in need of support, that she remarried and lost the identity of the Derrick name in all future records. However it was found that her son John Melchoir moved to an area in Lexington County South Carolina in 1764, between the Broad and Saluda Rivers. This section is commonly known as the “Dutch Fork” area. It is know as the “Dutch Fork” because the German people who settled here in the fork of the Broad and Saluda Rivers were known as Deutsche. Now that Melchoir and his wife Barbary had settled permanently in America, this was the true beginning of the Derrick Family. The Derrick family has lived in the “Dutch Fork” for the last 233 years. On December 12, 1953, my father, Charles Alan Derrick , was born to Charles DuRhea and Helen Mathias Derrick. On November 9, 1980, Charles Alan Derrick and Dorothy Louise Coogler gave birth to their first son, John Charles Derrick. David Alan Derrick, my brother, and I are the descendants of the Derrick family. Hopefully many more generations of the Derrick family will follow us.

The Derrick family is only one of the main branches of my family tree. The other main branch in my family tree is the Coogler branch, which is my Mother’s(Dorothy Louise Coogler) side of the family. Matthew Coogler arrived in Charleston on the ship “Snow Rowand,” on October 2, 1752. He arrived with two children Eva, 8 years old, and Mathias, 4 years old. His wife is not known. She is predicted to either have died on the voyage to America, or had died before Matthew left Europe. Matthew Coogler settled in the “Dutch Fork.” The exact year he settled in the “Dutch Fork” is unknown. The Coogler family has lived in the “Dutch Fork” for about 245 years. In 1953, Dorothy Louise Coogler was born to Howard David Coogler and Margaret Elizabeth Ballentine. In 1976, Dorothy Coogler married Charles Alan Derrick, and four years later in 1980, I, John Charles Derrick was born.

The two family names above, Derrick and Coogler are my main family “branches.” I can trace my family tree back 9 generations, and if only one person had been missing from these 2040 people(my ancestors), then I would have never been born. I can accurately trace birth and death dates back to my Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfathers, Godfrey Derrick and John Uriah Coogler. I can only trace marriage dates back to my Great Grandparents unfortunately. All of this information is given below. The descriptions below start with myself, then my parents, grandparents, etc.


Name: John Charles Derrick
Born: 11/9/80
Where Born: Baptist Hospital
Education: Presently in the 11th grade at Dutch Fork High School, in Irmo, S.C. Planning to go to University of South Carolina, and to Major in Meteorology.
Interesting Facts: Is a Eagle Scout of the Boy Scouts of America. Has traveled to 48 states in the United States. Loves Birds, and Weather.
Profession: None Presently
Most Memorable Experience: “The day we went through Tornado Alley in 1995, and a tornado went through that same night, practically right over us.”

Name: Charles Alan Derrick
Born: 12/12/53
Where Born: Baptist Hospital
When Married: 5/7/76
Where Married: Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Irmo, S.C.
Education: Has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. Charles graduated from the University of South Carolina.
Interesting Facts: Has traveled to 48 states in United States. Owns a cannon ball that was shot from a Union cannon in the Civil War. This cannon ball was found on the State house grounds, and was assumed to have hit the State house. It was given to him by his Granddaddy.
Profession: Works for South Carolina Electric and Gas. (SCE&G)
Most Memorable Experience: The day his Father died.

What they remember the most about school: “ I Didn’t like it. School hasn’t changed that much. All the schools I went to are still being used.”

What they remember the most as a child: “Playing Army, and Riding our bicycles around town.

Name: Dorothy Louise Coogler
Born: 2/23/54
Where Born: Baptist Hospital
When Married: 5/7/76
Where Married: Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Education: Graduated from Irmo High School. Attended University of South Carolina for 2 years. Graduated with an Associate Degree in Accounting. Worked at SCE&G until 1980.
Interesting Facts: Visited 48 states in United States. Remembers traveling as a child in the winter. Knows an old story from her family, and it is listed below:
“Adam Stoudemire was a real, real old man when Sherman’s army came through here. He was upstairs in his house. It was a two story house and he was confined to bed. His daughter and son lived in the house and both were very young. The older daughter lived in the over-seer’s cabin with her three children. When Sherman’s army came through, some soldiers set the big house on fire, and everyone was there pleading with him to haul Adam out because he couldn’t walk. They just laughed at them, and left it burning. So some people ran and got the slaves, who were off in the woods hiding the live-stock to keep the Yankees from having it; and they ran and got Adam out and took him to the over-seer’s house. Later on the house burned down. Later on that day towards the evening, more Yankees came to the over-seer’s house and demanded that they be feed. All the food had been stolen though. Some how, they found a pig somewhere, and they cut it into four different pieces, and had Mahala(Martha A. Stoudemire), my great great great grandmother fix it. What they didn’t eat, they took with them. They took the little girl’s doll, and then at the end, they tried to burn that house too, but it didn’t work and the house was saved. The son-in-law of Adam who was fighting in the war, has been in Columbia helping to defend it. He came back a couple of days later and he stayed and tried to help them get through the winter. The only way they could find food was to follow behind where they Yankees had been and pick up whole corn that the Yankees would feed to their horses, and they would eat that. They would boil it and make something called “Big Hominy.” That is what they lived off of that winter, until they could get the crops in. Newberry people would back the train back down the track every week or so, and bring them milk, or food or whatever to help them survive. That is how they survived through the Winter and the Spring. The Yankees were not very well thought of when they left from around here.”

She hopes that my brother and I will continue to do Genealogy research like my father and mother have.

Profession: Worked for SCE&G. House wife after 1980.

Most Memorable Experience: When her two children were born.
What they remember the most about school: “ When I think of school I think of the old Dutch Fork Elementary School. The whole class was in one grade. I didn’t care for school, except for Science.”

What they remember the most as a child: “Playing with Cookies and Friends. Those were my make believe friends. Cookies were always after us, and our Friends were always for us. Oh, and playing in the sand pile. Dividing that small little sandbox up into four little section, one for each of us kids and making frog houses in the sand pile. I also loved walking in the woods on Saturday and Sunday mornings.”

Name: Charles DuRhea Derrick
Born: 12/24/23
Where Born: Home place
When Married: 5/3/47
Died: 11/16/1974
Where Buried: Elmwood Cemetery. Located in Columbia, S.C.
Education: High School Degree from Irmo High School.
Interesting Facts: Was a World War II veteran.
Profession: He worked as a Senior Engineer for Southern Bell. He also was a Church Deacon.

Name: Helen Elaine Mathias
Born: 6/11/28
Where Born: Baptist Hospital
When Married: 5/3/47
Education: High School Degree. Attended the University of South Carolina for a period of time.
Interesting Facts: When she was in college she was on the deans list every semester. Was on the two honor societies. Met my grandfather(Charles DuRhea Derrick), at Southern Bell, where he worked also.
Profession: Worked for Southern Bell. Was a service order clerk.
Most Memorable Experience: Having my father(Charles Derrick) and her daughter Jan(Jan Conley).

Remember she was at her parent’s home when she first heard about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. She also remembered being at Richland Mall when she first heard that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

I asked her what she remembered about the Great Depression. She said, “Oh, it was a time. We were so poor, but we could go to the store with five dollars and buy enough groceries to feed an army. You could buy a loaf of bread for a nickel. *** We almost never had gas for the car.”

What they remember the most about school: “I remember doing really well in college and grammar school, but I always seemed to have problems in High School. I like Math, and Booking, and stuff like that. My first elementary school I went to was Brookland Grammar, and we were out in a portable that wasn’t attached to the big brick school. The brick building had about... 4 rooms, I would say.”

What they remember the most as a child: “When I was in the first grade, on the first day of school, the teachers took our pencils. Even though my family was so poor, my daddy bought me this pencil, with this BIG ole eraser, and I was so proud of it. The teacher wanted to take them up and hand them back out when we came back; but you would never get the same pencil. I wouldn’t give mine up, so I ran out of the school, and down the road toward home, and teacher was right behind me. She wouldn’t let me keep my pencil. (Laughing) We must have run three or four blocks. I remember it like it was yesterday. I may have been running home, but when I got there mamma would have spanked me(Laughing). I also loved to skate. You could go to the skating ring and skate all day for a quarter. Every once in a while daddy(Walter Mathias) would give us a quarter, and we would go down there and skate all day long.”

Name: Howard David Coogler
Born: 4/18/28
Where Born: Home place
When Married: 3/7/48
Education: High School Degree
Interesting Facts: Remembers the story about when his grandfather(Joseph Pickney Coogler) was killed by lightning. He said, “He was out in the field, and my daddy(Samuel William Coogler) was only twelve years old then; and I wasn’t even thought about. I remember he was getting on the horse, or was already on the horse, when lightning struck the plow behind them, and it killed my granddaddy and the horse.”

He told me about how he remembered farming as a child. He told me how he had to hook the plow up to the mule, and go and plow the field. He said, “I probably plowed more corn than dirt.” Today he can use a tractor and a big plow. A very big difference!!

Profession: Worked for the City Water Department. Columbia, S.C.
Most Memorable Experience: He said it was his 30 years of working with the City Water Department.

Remembered being at his brother’s house on a Sunday, eating Sunday dinner, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Also remembers being at work, when he heard on two-way radio, that John F. Kennedy had been shot. Said he went to tell Margaret about it in the hospital, but she already knew.

What they remember the most about school: “I just hated going. Especially history, I could not understand history. There were always some bullies in school I was scared of. The school had four rooms; a big two story building.

What they remember the most as a child: “When I was going to work in the field, after I got home from school, on my bicycle, and I was carrying two big jugs of water, and I was going down the hill with the water on my back, and my big pet dog got in the way of my bicycle. I hollered at him to get out of the way, but he squatted; scared me; and I hit him with my bicycle. I went over the handle bars like a flying squirrel, down in the road. I loved riding my bicycle; after I got one. I was up to ten/twelve years old before I got one.” “Oh, and I remember the time we plugged up the sink tube that went under the house from the kitchen. Mamma poured the water in the sink, but it didn’t go down, and it spilled all over the kitchen floor. She threw a fit; threatened to “skin” us all. Probably served us right(Laughing).”

Name: Margaret Elizabeth Ballentine
Born: 12/13/24
Where Born: Home place
When Married: 3/7/48
Education: High School Degree
Interesting Facts: Never has personally owned a car. Has traveled to England, and to different places around the United States.
Profession: Previously was a cashier, and a house wife after 1954.
Most Memorable Experience: When she got sick, from taking some of her Granddaddy’s chewing tobacco. “He was chewing it, and it was so good to him, I thought I could do the same; but I was sick as a dog.”

Remembers how much rationing they had to do in the Great Depression. She said, “You couldn’t get sugar or gas.”

She remembers being up in front of her Aunt Mattie Koon’s house when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Also remember being in the hospital when John F. Kennedy was shot.

What they remember the most about school: “Well, I dreaded it at the time, but it wasn’t so bad; I passed! The building was a two story white building, where the administration building is now. It has four classrooms.”

What they remember the most as a child: “Making me a house on the ground with rocks. Drawing off the rooms, and having me a yard; and keeping it clean and swept good. It’s about all we had to do back in those days.”

Name: Walter Harry Derrick
Born: 9/4/1894
Where Born: Home place
When Married: 12/24/21
Died: 8/13/54
Where Buried: St. John’s Lutheran Church in Irmo, S.C.
Interesting Facts: World War I veteran.
Profession: Farmer

Name: Alma Julia Drafts
Born: 2/28/1899
Where Born: Home place
When Married: 12/24/21
Died: 8/13/85
Where Buried: White Rock, S.C.
Interesting Facts: Was a school teacher.
Profession: School teacher.

Name: Walter Quitman Mathias
Born: 5/8/1895
Where Born: Home place
Died: 4/30/81
Where Buried: Columbia, S.C.
Interesting Facts: World War I veteran.

Name: Beulah Mae Johnson
Born: 4/8/05
Where Born: Home place(most likely)
Died: 8/14/84
Where Buried: Columbia, S.C.
Interesting Facts: She was sent to orphanage, because her daddy died really young, so they had to be sent to the orphanage.

Name: Samuel William Coogler
Born: 8/30/1879
Where Born: Home place
Died: 2/24/61
Where Buried: Irmo, S.C.
Interesting Facts: Farmed all his life.

Name: Cora Inez Graddick
Born: 2/12/1892
Where Born: Home place
Died: 9/9/69
Where Buried: Irmo, S.C.
Interesting Facts: Loved gardening

Name: Malcolm Augustas Ballentine
Born: 2/19/1891
Where Born: Home place
Died: 4/12/43
Interesting Facts:


Name: Mattie Louise Koon
Born: 5/2/1892
Where Born: Home place
Died: 10/26/67
Interesting Facts: Loved to grow lots of flowers

Name: Julius Clarence Derrick
Born: 11/7/1858
Died: 3/11/38
Interesting Facts: Helped in “founding” of St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Name: Martha Elizabeth Kesler
Born: 1/27/1866
Died: 10/31/50


Name: Daniel Charlton Drafts
Born: 8/2/1872
Died: 11/27/57


Name: Ann Eliza Drafts
Born: 1/16/1869
Died: 8/7/52


Name: Walter Jesse Mathias
Born: 9/9/1868
Died: 9/2/43
Interesting Facts:

Name: Plumie Elmina Joanna Shull
Born: 6/23/1867
Died: 4/23/40


Name: George Washington Johnson
Born: June, 1847
Died: 1907

Name: Sarah Julia Skipper
Born: 6/29/1871
Died: 11/17/38


Name: Joseph Pickney Coogler
Born: 6/10/1845
Died: 7/15/1889


Name: Martha (Millie) Ann Ellisor
Born: 3/6/1843
Died: 11/19/29


Name: James David Graddick
Born: 4/1/1866
Died: 3/23/39


Name: Lizzie Ellen Eargle
Born: 3/3/1874
Died: 5/1/54


Name: James Wesley Ballentine
Born: 7/18/1865
Died: 3/14/39


Name: Margaret Carrie Coogler
Born: 7/14/1863
Died: 4/14/36

Name: George Hillard Koon
Born: 6/16/1861
Died: 11/6/40

Name: Mary Elizabeth Alewine
Born: 9/13/1858
Died: 11/12/1895


Above are 5 generations of my Ancestors. I have included as much information as possible about these relatives. I know the names of many more generations past the ones listen above, and they are on my family tree(of names).

I learned a great deal from this project. I saw how much life styles changed from the late 1800’s up to the present date. I learned what life was like for my grandparents in the Great Depression, and in WWII, and what school was like back then. I was suprised to learn that nearly all of my ancestors were of German blood, and were of the Lutheran denomination. I was able to collect many pictures of my ancestors, and that was really interesting also. I remember asking my grandparents what is the biggest change they have seen in this town in the last 65-70 years of their lives, and they said it most certainly had to be all the new people and new businesses popping up everywhere. I remember them telling me about what it was like after electricity had been discovered. It was like a history course I had never taken before, and I definately learned a lot. I believe this project has now brought me closer to my family, because I know so much more about my ancestors than I have ever before. There is a lot to learn about when you study your family history . Each person is a different and unique being. Each limb on the family tree pertains to one person and through their veins runs the history of thousands of years! Basically, your family tree is a “tree of life.”

 

Boukinght, Ivan. “Immigrant List.” The Lexington Genealogical Exchange.
Fall 1982: 72-76.

Coogler Family Bible. Personal reference. 7 September 1997.

Coogler, Howard. Personal Interview. 6 September 1997.

Coogler, Margaret. Personal Interview. 6 September 1997.

Derrick, Charles Alan. The Derrick Family. United States: Charles Alan Derrick, 1991.

Derrick, Charles. Personal Interview. 7 September 1997.

Derrick, Dorothy. Personal Interview. 7 September 1997.

Holcomb, Brent H. Memorialized Records of Lexington District, South Carolina 1814-1825. United States: Rev. Silas Emmett Lucas Jr., 1978.

Mathias, Helen. Telephone Interview. 21 September 1997.

The Lexington County Genealogical Association. Lexington County South Carolina 1850 Census. United States: The Lexington County Genealogical Association, 1985.