The Riverboat "Ruth" and the Causey House Connection

Riverboat Ruth and the Causey House Connection

"The Little Pee Dee Causeway is raised high above the slow moving dark water as a protection against spring floods which sometimes inundate the section. The bridge takes the place of Gallivant's Ferry, which was used until 1892 when a wooden span was built. On the eastern bank beneath cypress trees in the Ruth, an old river boat, now a rotting hulk of yellow primroses. Little here indicates the busy traffic of former times, when side wheelers and schooners plied between settlements to exchange manufactured goods for cotton and lumber products. Cooter, turtles, and alligators are the busiest inhabitants now, as they flop into the water for food or sun themselves on drifting logs. Occasionally a fisherman in his bateau slides out from the overhung banks." (sourced from Conway Historic Tour information)

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Capt. Coleman S. Causey & Julia E. Skipper Causey

by Ben Burroughs

The old brick mausoleum located in Lakeside Cemetery in Conway is the final resting place of Capt. and Mrs. Coleman S. Causey. Capt. Causey was born about 11 April 1852, the son of W. G. and Margaret W. Causey, and died on 22 August 1924. He was a riverboat captain and later operated a mercantile business and was innkeeper of the Kingston Hotel in downtown Conway . He married Julia E. Skipper on 9 May 1894. Julia was born on 5 Sept 1852 near the Little Pee Dee River in the Galivant's Ferry area and died on 22 Nov 1933. Julia ran a shop in downtown Conway where she made and sold hats. It was located approximately in the area where the Main Street Theater stands in 2006. Julia's parents were Abijah Hollingsworth Skipper (1821-1895) and Sarah Caroline Skipper, formerly Smith (1829-1912). Abijah served as sheriff of Horry County from 1868-1876(?) and her grandfather, Joel B. Skipper (1789-1876) served as Quorum (Justice of the Peace) for 24 years and as State Senator for several terms. The Causey's home is still standing (as of 2006) at 605 Laurel St. in Conway , South Carolina .

http://books.google.com/books?id=-dUfVeiy4yIC&lpg=PA130&ots=iVPbdzF-02&dq=Coleman%20S.%20Causey&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q=Coleman%20S.%20Causey&f=false

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Strange but True. . .
Julia A. Skipper was forty-two years old when she married steamboat
captain Coleman S. Causey. The captain died in 1924 and
was buried in an unmarked mausoleum near the entrance to
Lakeside Cemetery, Conway. His widow wrote specific instructions
regarding her funeral and burial shortly thereafter, which
turned out to be ten years later. The undertaker followed her
instructions to the letter. After the funeral, he placed the casket
in the mausoleum alongside her husband’s. When he was finished,
he threw the keys to the mausoleum inside and then
locked the door. Some old-timers still recall standing outside the
mausoleum looking inside to glimpse the keys.

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