(left to right) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and
Erskine President Dr. John Carson

Jimmy Carter Chases Family History To Due West Home Of Erskine College President

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, quietly visited the academic village of Due West, S.C., Saturday morning, chasing down family connections at the 160-year-old home of Erskine College President John Carson, and discussing his novel on the Revolutionary War that he hopes to have finished by the end of the year.

Carter met with Carson, Carson’s wife Sarah Ellen, Erskine students Rhett Carson and Kathy Hornby, and local historian Lowry Ware at the Carsons’ Due West home on Abbeville Street, once owned by Civil War Capt. James Pratt for about 20 years until 1879.

Capt. Pratt was Carter’s great-grandfather, and Carter’s grandmother, Nina Pratt Carter, lived in the house until she was 18.

"I don’t have to write all this down, do I?" Carter said to the Carsons.

"No, I’ve got a book for you," said Ware, who gave the President a copy of his book on the history of Due West.

"After I retired (from Erskine, where he was history professor) in 1987, I got into local history and wrote a book," Ware said.

"Did you retire voluntarily?" Carter asked Ware, showing him his famous grin. "Because I retired about six years before you did. But mine wasn’t voluntarily."

Carter asked many questions about his family’s time in Due West, including the associations his family had with Erskine College.

Ware told him that Capt. Pratt’s father had been a member of the Erskine Board of Trustees for 40 years, from 1850 until the time of his death. Capt. Pratt’s father and several other Carter ancestors are buried at Lindsay Cemetery in Due West.

"This is a beautiful home, our grandfather did a great job here" Carter said. "And now it is being beautifully kept."

The Carsons have a photograph of Capt. Pratt on display in their home, and Carter told them, "I have the same picture. I got the national archivist to get it for me when I was in Washington. We used some influence to get it. Well, not me, you ran the White House," joked Carter, speaking to his first cousin, once-removed, Hugh Carter, who was with him on the trip.

Hugh Carter, who ran the business portion of the White House during the Carter administration, and President Carter were joined by another cousin, Don Carter, who asked about an aunt the Carters had in the Due West area who was supposedly known for dipping snuff, and he asked about local ghost stories.

Ware said he had heard ghost stories but didn’t believe any of them, and no one knew of the snuff-dipping Carter aunt.

Carter took a tour of the house, noticing the wooden ceilings upstairs and asking if the plank floors in the house were original. He stopped by a four poster bed to admire the woodwork, discussing his woodworking experiences as a boy in Plains, Ga., detailed in his book, An Hour Before Daylight.

Carter learned that James Lindsay originally built the house in the late 1830s. Lindsay, known as the "father of Due West," was a former magistrate and postmaster in Due West, and worked as the treasurer of the college after it opened in 1839. It is one of the original houses built in Due West.

The Pratts owned the house next and added a second floor. Capt. Pratt led a group of Due West men in Company G, better known as Orr’s Rifles, during the Civil War, and the company suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Gaines Mill. Capt. Pratt was one of only two men to return home from the war uninjured.

During the Civil War, Erskine’s third president, E.L. Patton, lived in the house but did not own it.

The Power family owned the house next and sold it to the Bell family at the beginning of the 20th Century. Lola Bell frequently took in college students, as the Pratts had before her, and more than 300 students are estimated to have lived in the house during her time.

There were cabins outside the homes in Due West prior to that where the Erskine students lived. There were no dormitories at the time, but students would take their meals and say their prayers in the big house with the Due West families.

"Your grandmother probably had many student boarders who lived here when she did," Carson told Carter.

The Bells left the house to the college and it became a rental home for college employees. Carson bought the house while he was a professor at Erskine Seminary in the 1980s.

"How many students does Erskine have now?" Carter asked.

Carson explained the recent enrollment boom at Erskine, and the school’s ties to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

"It is the denomination that Billy Graham grew up in," Carson said.

Conversation then turned to football, and Carson told Carter that Erskine was the only school in the state that has a winning record against Florida State. Erskine’s Flying Fleet played the Seminoles three times before Erskine disbanded its football program in 1952.

Ware told the group that current Washington Redskins Coach Steve Spurrier’s dad, a former minister, attended Erskine.

Carson detailed the uniqueness of the Erskine Literary Societies and their annual debates. He discussed the similarities of the University of Georgia’s literary societies with Hugh Carter.

Later, Jimmy Carter told the group that he is currently working on a novel about the Revolutionary War that he hopes to have finished by the end of the year.

"The novel deals particularly with the Revolutionary War in the South," Carter said. "That’s where the war was decided.

"And by the way," Carter added. "My main character’s last name is Pratt."

The Carters finished their Due West visit by traveling with Carson in the school’s Model A Ford to Lindsay Cemetery to visit their ancestors’ burial sites.

"This was just three guys who wanted to come home," Carson said of the Carters’ visit. "It was just three guys who grew up together having a family outing.

"It meant a great deal to Sarah Ellen and me that President Carter called this ‘his’ house and that he said he appreciates it being loved and cared for," Carson said.

The Carsons, who have a front room in the house dedicated to its rich history, agree that Carter’s visit was a highlight in the home’s existence.

"You begin to see the connections and realize the continuity of life in America," Carson said. "All the lessons that have been learned from the times of fighting Indians to the Civil War, right on up to today, have to do with the development of character, and the continuing development of the American culture.

"And this house has seen most of it," Carson said. "It is rare to have a house that is 160 years old that is still occupied, so we have always embraced the history that is associated with this home.

"This house is a living part of the history of Erskine College and the town of Due West."

Carter was U.S. President from 1977-81, and according to his book, his administration’s accomplishments include the Camp David Accords and peace between Egypt and Israel, the Panama Canal treaties, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, the creation of the departments of Energy and Education, the deregulation of major industries, the Alaska Lands Act, and the establishment of diplomatic relations with China.

Carter’s commitment to human rights inspired freedom movements throughout the world, his book said.

After leaving the White House, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, established the nonprofit Carter Center in Atlanta, and work globally to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

They have monitored more than two dozen elections, brokered peace agreements in North Korea, Haiti, the Sudan, and Bosnia, and led worldwide efforts to eradicate debilitating disease.

(left to right) Hugh Carter, Jimmy Carter, and Don Carter

Carter poses in a group shot outside the Carsons' house