04/10/2026
The Berea community northwest of Greenville near Paris Mountain began to be settled in the early–mid 1700s by Scotch-Irish and German families moving down from Pennsylvania.
The Farr family is widely recognized as one of the earliest (late 1700s) settler families in the Berea area of Greenville County, South Carolina, particularly along the Saluda River corridor where Farrs Bridge Road runs today.
Likely First Farr Settler (Pre-1780)
William Farr (c. 1740–early 1800s) probable patriarch. The most plausible first Farr associated with what became Berea. Likely arrived in the 1760s–1770s, when settlers began moving into the backcountry of Greenville District.
Probably part of the Scotch-Irish migration flowing down the Great Wagon Road into the Carolina upcountry. Settled along or near the Saluda River, where later Farr landmarks appear.
Later documented Farrs (like James Madison Farr) had to descend from an earlier, landholding generation active before 1800. The Farr name is already established enough by the early 1800s to give rise to:
• Farr’s Mill
• Farr’s Bridge
That level of local naming usually traces back to a first-generation patriarch (pre-Revolution).
Men from the Farr family likely served in local militia units tied to leaders like Andrew Pickens. Many settlers in this area were:
Either Patriot militia members
Or at least residents during the war (1775–1783)
Even if no direct service record survives for William Farr, the timing and location strongly place him in this generation.
By the 1780s–1810s, we begin to see clearer descendants:
The Farrs were part of the post–Revolutionary War migration into the western edge of old Greenville District. They settled along the Saluda River bottomlands, a prime area for early farms, mills, and river crossings.
By the early 1800s, the family was firmly established—important enough that local landmarks carried their name.
The first Farr in Berea was almost certainly a pre-Revolutionary settler (c. 1760s–1770s).
The strongest candidate is William Farr (c. 1740–1800+), acting as the founding patriarch of the Farr family in the Saluda River/Berea area.
His descendants—especially James Madison Farr—made the family name permanent in the local geography.
James Madison Farr (1789–1862) a documented early resident of the Berea area. Owned or operated a mill on the Saluda River (often called Farr’s Mill). The Farr Family settled in Western Greenville County in the 1700s. James Madison Farr was born in 1789 and died in 1862. Buried at Berea Baptist Church Cemetery.
As an adult Farr purchased Chick’s Mill on the Saluda River. Robert Mills’s 1825 map of the Greenville District, did not show either Chick or Farr’s Mill. There was a Bradley’s Mill close to that location. The earliest reference to the bridge was a brief mention in an 1861 edition of the Keowee Courier. The Board of Commissioners of Roads, Bridges and Ferries authorized a payment of $26.40 to James Farr for the repair of Chick’s Bridge.
By 1867 the bridge was known as Farr’s Bridge and F. M. Marchbanks had taken over maintenance. An 1869 map of Greenville County shows the bridge as named Farr’s Bridge, as well as Farr’s Mill.
Earlier, likely relatives late 1700s generation include:
Thomas Farr – appears in 1873 deed records referencing earlier land use and school trusteeship, indicating the family’s long-standing presence and land ownership. 
The turn of the century saw heavy rains, flooding and damage to many Upstate bridges. Two of the main routes to Pickens were over Farr’s Bridge and Cox Bridge, further downstream. In 1905 both bridges were struck by flooding. Cox Bridge was damaged, but repairable. Farr’s Bridge was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The bridge was rebuilt again in 1926.
The Farrs were not just settlers—they were infrastructure builders:
Operated mills (economic hubs)
Maintained bridges (transport routes)
Donated or managed land tied to early schools and community life
Their name became geographically embedded, which is why it still survives today in:
• Farrs Bridge Road
• Farr’s Bridge crossing
The Farr family arrived in the late 1700s and were among the foundational white settler families of Berea.
By the early 1800s, they were:
• Landowners
• Mill operators
• Community leaders
• Their legacy is still visible in the landscape and place names of Berea.
Yes, William Farr is very strongly associated with the earliest settlement of the Berea community in what is now Greenville County, though the documentation is a mix of tradition, land patterns, and early 19th-century records rather than a single definitive “first settler” document.
What we do know is that most of the early settlers in the Berea/Paris Mountain–Saluda River region were:
Scotch-Irish and German families
Migrants coming from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina
Small farming families seeking inexpensive land in the Piedmont
The Berea area itself developed around early school/church communities in the 1800s. The earliest documented settlement pattern includes:
Families settling along the Saluda River bottomlands
Early landowners in the 1800s tied to what became:
White Horse Road corridor
Farr’s Bridge Road / Franklin Road area (later Berea school district center)
Important clarification
There is no single “first settler of Berea” officially recorded, because Berea was not originally a town—it was a rural farming district that formed over decades.
The earliest identifiable settlers are frontier families arriving in the late 1700s, with stronger community structure forming in the early 1800s (Saluda River valley settlements).
These surnames show up repeatedly in early land deeds, school records, church communities, and 18th–19th century settlement patterns in the Berea / Parris Mountain / Saluda River corridor:
Core early settler and landholding families
Hodges (early Hodges School / Hodges landholding area)
Hunt (appears in early school trustees and land references)
Watkins / Watkins family (trustees and township land references)
Blakely / Blakley
Thompson (Gabe Thompson, Thomas Thompson near White Horse Rd)
Edwards (E. E. Edwards in early deed boundaries)
Watson (S. B. Watson in early school land records)
Cunningham (W. P. Cunningham tied to school land transactions)
Martin (M. G. Jones / F. M. E. Martin school trustees era)
Huff (H. L. Huff—early school district governance)
Hawkins (later but very prominent early 1900s Berea leadership line)
Groce (land referenced in early school road/right-of-way records)
Gibson (associated with later historical land descriptions)
Means (appears in early school site references)
Jones (district trustees and land governance)
Waters (school trustees in 1880s–1900s era)
Hill (trustee / township governance role)
Eubanks (early educator line in Berea schools)
Because Greenville County wasn’t formed until 1786, the “pre-1800” land grants are actually recorded under earlier jurisdictions: Ninety Six District, earlier Cherokee Cession lands (post-1777 surveys), and scattered 1760s–1790s Crown/State grants.
After the Cherokee land cession (Treaty of DeWitt’s Corner, 1777), the west Greenville area opened rapidly:
• Thompson
• Earle
• Hampton
• McBee
• Gist
• Norton
• Fowler
• Anderson
• Duncan
• Reid
• Bolding / Bolding variants
This is when Saluda River crossings and early road corridors begin to form, including areas that later feed into Farr’s Bridge Road settlements.
These are the strongest “settler-era” surnames for the west side of modern Greenville County, especially around White Horse Road / Farr’s Bridge Road / Saluda River valley:
• Hodges (very early Berea anchor family)
• Hunt
• Watkins
• Thompson
• Edwards
• Watson
• Cunningham
• Jones
• Hill
• Martin
• Huff
• Gibson
• Groce
• Means
• Earle / Earles (still present in residual tracts)
These appear heavily in:
• land deeds
• school district land transfers
• church land references
• road/right-of-way petitions
Saluda River / Farr’s Bridge side (earliest occupation)
• Perry
• Earle
• Barton
• Thompson
• McDowell
• Williams
These are the deep frontier / river-bottom landholders.
White Horse Road / Berea ridge expansion (later layering)
• Hodges
• Hunt
• Watson
• Watkins
• Cunningham
• Jones
• Huff
• Martin
• Groce
These represent organized community formation (schools, churches, roads) layered onto older farms.
The west Greenville/Berea area was not settled all at once—it formed in three overlapping waves:
1. Pre-1777 river frontier families (Perry, Earle, Barton type names)
2. Post-Cherokee land rush (1777–1790) (Thompson, Gist, Hampton, McBee)
3. Community-building era (1790–1800+) (Hodges, Hunt, Watkins, Cunningham, etc.)
