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“A” is for Aiken, William, Sr. (1778-1831)

“A” is for Aiken, William, Sr. (1778-1831). Merchant, planter, banker, railroad developer. A native of Ireland, Aiken immigrated with his family to South Carolina in 1789 and settled near Winnsboro in Fairfield County. He was apprenticed to a Charleston cotton merchant and factor. In 1803 he went into business for himself and prospered as a cotton factor and a banker. Aiken served as a director of the Planters’ and Mechanics’ Bank of South Carolina, Bank of South Carolina, and the Charleston branch of the Bank of the United States. He also purchased rice lands in Colleton County. With Charleston losing trade to Savannah, Aiken spearheaded the effort to build a railroad from Charleston to Hamburg. As the largest investor in the enterprise, William Aiken, Sr., was named president of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.