Seven Generations of the Drayton Family

From the Colonial Period to Modern Day

Third Generation: 1820-1844

This c. 1840s sketch of the great hall's second ceiling was completed by Lewis Reeves Gibbes.

Charles Drayton never remarried after his wife Hester died, and his surviving son, Charles Drayton II (1785-1844) inherited the plantation upon his father's death in 1820. Charles II married Mary Middleton Shoolbred, and they had a daughter and five sons. Four sons survived to adulthood.

This was at a time of great change among the planters of South Carolina as the rice economy was in decline in the Lowcountry. Several of Charles II's letters to his son Charles survive, and in one he advises his son to continue his education and advises him to consider a line of work apart from the plantation business.