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Robert Francis Withers Allston
Robert Francis Withers Allston
	R F W Allston, c. 1850
67th Governor of South Carolina
	In office; December 10, 1856 – December 10, 1858
Lieutenant	Gabriel Cannon
Preceded by	James Hopkins Adams
Succeeded by	William Henry Gist
President of the South Carolina Senate
	In office; November 25, 1850 – December 10, 1856; Pro tempore: December 14, 1847 – November 25, 1850
Governor	David Johnson; Whitemarsh B. Seabrook; John Hugh Means; John Lawrence Manning; James Hopkins Adams
Preceded by	Angus Patterson
Succeeded by	James Chesnut, Jr.
Member of the South Carolina Senate from Georgetown District
	In office; December 12, 1834 – December 10, 1856
Preceded by	Himself
Succeeded by	John I. Middleton
	In office; November 25, 1833 – November 24, 1834
Preceded by	John Harleston Read
Succeeded by	Himself
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Georgetown District
	In office; November 21, 1828 – November 26, 1832
Personal details
Born	April 21, 1801; Waccamaw River, South Carolina, US
Died	April 7, 1864 (aged 62); Georgetown County, South Carolina, US
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Adele Petigru
Children	9, including Elizabeth Waties Allston Pringle
Alma mater	United States Military Academy
Profession	Statesman
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1821–1822
Rank	Second lieutenant

Robert Francis Withers Allston (April 21, 1801 – April 7, 1864) was the 67th Governor of South Carolina. He was born in the Waccamaw River in South Carolina.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1821, and briefly served as second lieutenant of artillery before resigning in February 1822.

Career

He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1828, serving in that body through 1831. In 1834, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate, serving in that body until 1856, while there he was appointed Senate President in 1847 and was involved in several disputed elections involving the Prince George Winyah S.C. Senate seat, in large part because of his staunch support of nullification. From 1856 to 1858 he served as Governor of South Carolina.^[1] Following South Carolina's secession, he was a Confederate presidential elector.

Family and background

His family was able to maintain two houses in Georgetown and several plantations, including the Allston ancestral home on the Pee Dee River, Chicora Wood—one of the five plantations Robert Allston owned, with over 9,500 acres and at least 690 enslaved Blacks, making him the eighth largest enslaver in United States history.^{[citation needed]} On his farms he primarily grew rice and published several works on rice planting, including the well-regarded Memoir of the Introduction and Planting of Rice in South-Carolina (1843) and Essay on Sea Coast Crops (1854). Allston's daughter, Elizabeth Waties Allston Pringle, took over the management of Chicora Wood after his death.^[2]

Born in 1801 as a younger son to a Georgetown rice plantation who died when Robert was a child. In 1832, he married Adeline (Adéle) Theresa Petigru (b. 1811 d. 1896.) She was the younger sister of James Louis Petigru, a well-known Charleston SC lawyer. They moved to Chicora Woods and had the following children:^[3]

1. Benjamin b.1833 d.1900 2. Robert b. 1834 d.1839 3. Charlotte Frances b. 1837 d. 1843 4. Adele Petigru Vanderhorst b. 1840 d.1915 5. Louise Gibert b. 1842 d. 1843 6. Elizabeth Waties Pringle b. 1845 d.1876 7. Charles Petigru b. 1848 d.1922 8. Jane Louise Hill b. 1850 d. 1937 9. Unnamed infant son b. 1852

References

^ "Allston, Robert Francis Withers". The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. 1906. p. 95.
^ "Pringle, Elizabeth Waties Allston". South Carolina Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
^ A family of Women: The Carolina Petigrus in Peace and at War, Jayne H. Pease and William H. Pease, c. 1999 University of North Carolina Press/Chapel Hill and London. ISBN 0-8078-2505-0.