Pickins, Francis Wilkinson (7 APR 1805 - 25 JAN 1869)
Francis died in Edgefield, SC and is buried in the Edgefield Cemetery, Edgefield, SC. He was the grandson or Andrew Pickens (1739 - 1817) of Revoluntionary War fame.
Ex Gov'r F. W. Pickens, died in Abbeville District on the 22d January 1869. Thus has passed away another of the prominent men of the State. He was Governor when South Carolina seceded from the Union, and was throughout his term of office, prudent, firm, temperate and judicious. After a long career in the Councils of his State and Country, he is removed, from the scenes of degradation, to which South Carolina is reduced, by the Radical legislation of the present Government of the United States. He died, full of years and full of honors.
Governor Francis W. Pickens was not a native of Edgefield, but he lived so many years of his life in Edgefield District that we can well lay claim to him as one of Edgefield's sons. He was born in Pendleton District, in that part which is now Oconee County. His father, Andrew Pickens, moved to Alabama in 1819, and Francis was first sent to Athens College, in Georgia, and afterwards to the South Carolina College, from which institution he graduated with a high reputation for talents, honor, and energy. Mr. John C. Calhoun, who was his relation, regarded him as the most promising young man in the State at that time. He read law at Edgefield, was admitted to the bar, and was soon afterwards elected a member of the Legislature (1832 - 1834). He succeeded Mr. McDuffie in Congress (1834 - 1837?), where he established a high character as a statesman and as a debater. He resigned his seat in Congress and was elected to the State Senate (1837? - 1846), where he served several sessions. He was then appointed by President Buchanan Minister to Russia (1855 - 1860). After his return home he was elected Governor of the State (1860 - 1862), just before Secession and the breaking out of the great Civil War. After the war he was a member of the State Convention, which met in 1865, while B. F. Perry was Provisional Governor. This was his last public service to the State. He was married three times and left children, daughters, by each marriage; but no son to transmit his name to posterity. He was proud of his ancestry, and had reason to be.
REF: Caldwell - History of Edgefield County pg. 129
Glass - Record of Deaths
EMAIL: Nancy Bedell (nbedell@negia.net)