The first member of our direct line who lived in South Carolina was James Fanning and his wife Elizabeth who had lands grants in the back part of South Carolina.
Abraham Fanning was the only son of James who remained in South Carolina and is the progenitor of all the Fannings in this area. It is not known when he moved to the Orangeburgh District, however, he was there before 1790.
When Abraham Fanning first came to the Orangeburgh District the area was still scarcely settled. The first white settler is thought to have been Henry Sterling, an Indian trader, in 1704; however, prior to 1735 there were few white inhabitants.
Those in Orangeburgh District were mostly English, Scottish and Irish.
In 1730, by Royal Authority, townships were laid off in square plots on the sides of the rivers in South Carolina. These plots contained 20,000 acres each. When the population of these areas increased to 100 families they had the right to send two members to the General Assembly.
Prior to 1735 one of these townships was called Edisto, but after the German, Swiss and Dutch came, the name was changed to Orangeburgh, presumably in honor of William of Orange. In 1765 the townships of Amelia and Orangeburgh were erected into St. Matthews Parish.
In 1778 the township of Orangeburgh was erected into a parish called Orange.
When in 1868 all Judicial Districts were made into counties the "h" was dropped from the spelling.
When Abraham moved to the Orangeburgh area, his family consisted of two males over 16, three under 16, one female and two slaves. He received a land grant of 130 acres on February 1, 1791 in the Orangeburgh District on waters of the Edisto River on a creek called Goodland Swamp.
In addition to this grant, he and the next two generations, along with their Corbett relatives, acquired much land in this area. At one time their holdings involved thousands of acres extending from Morgantown to Salley and over to the Dean Swamp.