Harriet Prudence Patterson Hall was born in 1743 in County Antrim, Ireland and at the age of 12 she and her family boarded ship for America. First landing in Maryland and later moving to Pennsylvania, she was 15 years of age when the family moved to South Carolina. Prudence rode horseback all the way and drove the cows behind the covered wagons.

Prudence married John Hall in 1763 in Charleston, SC and quickly had her first child named Margaret. Prudence went on to have 9 children in all. While raising 9 children, husband John entered into the Revolutionary War and fought for South Carolina. It is here where Prudence became a heroine of her day.

Sometime prior to the Revolution they left Charleston and moved to upper South Carolina and settled in York Dist. near Rock Hill. Here they bought land on Little Allison Creed and built their home among a large grove of fine old trees and a big spring. It is at this very place that was destined to play an important part in the history of the American Revolution. Here a brick store was erected which became the trading post for salt.

While riding one day Prudence was tending to her milk cows, she heard a noise of moaning and groaning of someone in great distress. She quickly rode until she found a man lying in the water after the indians had scalped him and left him for dead. Prudence nursed him back to life and he lived to a ripe old age.

Prudence and three other women rode horseback to Charleston during the Revolution, when the British besieged Charleston under the guise of purchasing medicine. They were held up by the British as spies, but their protest that their mission was to purchase medicine, they were allowed to pass the British ranks. They got their medicine and returned. Not before Prudence had delivered an important message to the American Army, which she carried hidden in her petticoat. She had outwitted them all!

Prudence lived to the ripe old age of 96 and is buried in the Bethel Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Rock Hill, SC. Prudence was my 7th great grandmother.

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