This article was taken in its entirety from:

Greenville Chapter Newsletter - South Carolina Genealogical Society P.O. Box 16236 -Greenville, South Carolina 29606 Volume XII April 1986 No. 4

Feb 23, 1986

Dear Ann,

Am writing with reference to the article on Anne Armstrong in the Feb 1986 Newsletter. The 500A tract of land on the Saluda which her husband purchased is the same 500A my great, great, great, grandfather William Thruston purchased. Wm Thruston purchased this 500A from Anne Armstrong son's William and John Armstrong for five hundred pounds sterling on May 2, 1785. This tract of land is located on the west side of the White Horse Rd. abou 3/4 mile North of Keeler Bridge road junction and extends to the Saluda River to the west. Armstrong Branch runs through the property to the Saluda River. My great, great, great grandfather Wm Thruston lived on the property for years with his family.

Am attatching an article that was in the paper years ago concerning a slave and murder of a Thruston child on the propery. This story is factual as it has been handed down for years.

Hope this is of some interest.

Yours truly,

(signed) Gordon Thruston

(Exerpts from the above mentioned article. The article was written by B.M Gibson.)

SLAVE WOMAN'S WHITE CLAD SPECTER SAID TO ROAM NEAR HERE

"About eight miles from Greenville, on the White Horse road, the traveler passes on the left hand side of the road a spot locally know as "Nell's pond." From this name one would expect to see a body of water, but such is not the case. The spot is a dark patch of timberland at the base of two rather long hills. a luxuriant undergrowth of honey-suckles and briars lends to the place a gloomy and forbidding appearance even at mid-day. At night it is impossible to pass the eerie point, even in an auto, without sensing the uncanny atmosphere so prevalent about it.

About a hundred years ago there lived on the White Horse road about a mile from Nell's Pond and Englishman named William Thruston. He owned many acres of land, was well educated, and owned slaves. His home stood on a commanding eminence at the top of a long hill know today as the "Thruston hill." He had a house slave named Nell, whose duty it was to help her mistress in her household tasks, and help see after the children, one of whom was a three yera old girl.

Thruston and his wife went to church one Sunday, leaving Nell to take care of the child....Nell had already offended her mistress, it is said by breaking dishes a few days previous."

Sometime after her master left, she went to the spring (Abstract) The little girl went with her. She (Nell) tied one end of a rope to a supple sapling nearby, bent it to the ground, and fixed the free end of the rope around the throat of the child, released the sapling, killing the child. (So one version goes.) Another version of what happened is that the slave raised the rail fence near by, inserted the child's head, then let down the rails as to break the girl's neck.

Punishment was swift. No court trial. she was executed at the spot which now bears her name, having been driven to this place on her own coffin. The most prevalent story is that she was hanged although some state that she was burned. Her remains were buried somewhere near the place of execution, where the water sometimes gathers in the course of a rainy season - thus the name Nell's pond.

"The rumor that Nell could be seen around the sombre spot where the Keeler's Bridge road intersects with the White Horse spread rapidly until the belief that Nell's pond was haunted became well-nigh universal."

"It is reported that a certain "Buck" Holcombe once passed the pond and saw old Nell herself attired in white and walking about amid her arboreal haunts....Another native of the region was returning one night on horseback. When he drew abreast of the pond old Nell herself hopped up on the saddle behind him and rode for some miles as his unwelcomed saddle-mate... Another report is that of a man who went possum hunting one night. His dogs were in high spirits and struck a trail leading throught the center of the pond then suddenly turned, and whining piteously, fled homeward, not stopping until they were safely shielded beneath their master's house."

(Editor's Note: after the 500A grant was made to Ann Armstrong on 2 May 1785, and before 29 Mar 1788, Ann married John McElheny and went to live in Spartanburg. On 29 Mar 1788, she and John Leased and Released her grant in Greenville Co to two of her sons, John and William (Sptbg Deed Book B pp. 217-221). John and William Armstrong also lived in Spartanburg at the time. On 6 Dec 1793, they sold the 500A to our Gordon thruston's g,g,g, grandfather William Thruston, who, according to the deed, was already living there. Incedently, William Thruston, Jr. (according to Gordon) moved to Versailles, Mo in early 1830's. Was a founding father of that town. In the early 1840's Ezekial Salmon and his 80 year old mother Elizabeth Young salmon, also of Greenville Co., moved to this same town, which is located right in the very center of the state of Missouri at the foot of the Ozarks. Why to this town? Why these two Greenville families?)

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