South Carolina Genealogy

Members of the Foothills Civil War Roundtable, the Spartanburg County Historical Association, and other historical organizations are cordially invited to special events commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the war at Wofford this month.

On Tuesday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in Leonard Auditorium in Main Building, an advanced history class on the war taught by Dr. Tracy Revels will present period music and readings from participants – not generals and politicians but letters and journals from soldiers at the front and loved ones at home.

On Monday, April 25 at 4 p.m, Wofford will welcome a guest lecturer, Dr. Joan Waugh of UCLA (a colleague and friend of Dr. Dan Howe, our Lewis P. Jones Visiting Professor of History). She will speak in McMillan Theater in the Campus Life Building on the topic “U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth.” As she has done effectively in her most recent book, she will argue that historians have underestimated Grant, both as a general and as a President.

Admission is free to both events.

You know, it’s always annoyed me when I’ve heard people spout that “only in the last 20 or thirty years have we started to be aware of the fact that we need to recycle and reduce our footprint….” blah blah blah. I remember my great-aunts and great-uncles. They lived through the depression. They saved anything that they could reuse. Milk jugs became water containers, glass and metal jars were reused. Even a barn hinge got reused to fix the car door! Let’s face it our pioneering ancestors may not have called it living green or recycling, but they made do with what they had and made the most of it!

This weekend at the Seay House there’s an event that takes a look at what it meant to reduce/reuse/recycle before it was a popular catch phrase.

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Jack Parker, author of , will present a PowerPoint presentation on Bloody Bill Cunningham entitled “Bloody Scout” on April 7, 2011 at 7 PM for the Greenville Genealogical Society, at First Christian Church, 704 Edwards Road, Greenville, SC – It’s open to the public, so I thought the Spartanburg History Hub would want to know. Mr. Parker spoke to us last year about actions in Spartanburg County.

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Another neat event coming up at Walnut Grove Plantation April 9th… here’s the release I received from them:

Roebuck, SC, March 30, 2011 — In 1771, Charles and Mary Moore of Walnut Grove Plantation happily welcomed Andrew, a baby boy, to their family. At this year’s Childhood on the Plantation, experience Andrew Barry Moore’s life as he grew up on the plantation, attended school at nearby Rocky Spring Academy, lived through a Loyalist attack on his home during the American Revolution, went to Dickenson College in far-off Pennsylvania, and returned home to become Spartanburg County’s first college-educated doctor.

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Spartanburg Methodist College will hold a Folk Festival all-day on April 2, 2011
in CAMAK Auditorium as part of SMC’s Centennial Celebration Events series.

Admission: The event is open to the general public
Times: Doors open at 1PM; Music starts at 2PM.
PARKING: FREE

Performers:
Matthew Knights Williams – 2-2:45 pm
David Ezell – 3-3:45 pm
Freddie Vanderford Band (included with band
Fayssoux Starling McLean) – 4-4:45 pm and 5-5:45 pm
Bryan Bowers – 6-6:45 pm and 7-7:45 pm
Tony Rice – 8-8:45 pm and 9-9:45 pm

Tickets: Advance tickets are available at
www.brownpapertickets.com and cover admission to all concerts that day. Arm Band will be issued on site.
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Walnut Grove Plantation Open for Tours During Spartanburg County Schools’ Spring Break

Roebuck, SC, March 24, 2011 — “Each year in April, as the warm weather returns, Walnut Grove Plantation increases the number of days we’re open,” says Zac Cunningham, director of the historic site located in Roebuck. “This year, the increase occurs the same week as spring break in Spartanburg County schools. Since many families like to have kid-friendly things to do that week, this year we’re offering visitors a chance to visit us and ‘Spring into History.’”

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Spartanburg History Hub & Spartanburg Chautauqua – Thursday, March 24, 2011, 6:30 pm, Barrett Room, Spartanburg Headquarters Library – FREE

The Spartanburg History Hub will be joining Spartanburg Chautauqua at the Barrett Room of the Headquarters Library in downtown Spartanburg to hear President Abraham Lincoln (as brought to life by George Frein). This is a preview of the June Chautauqua event featuring numerous characters from history. We will not follow our usual meeting format, but this is an opportunity we couldn’t pass up!

The Spartanburg History Hub is a network of individuals and organizations committed to Spartanburg County history. It is managed by the Spartanburg County Historical Association and meets one Thursday each odd month except July.

“Singin’ Billy” Walker Shape-Note Singing set for March 19
Event at Wofford College free, open to public

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Shape-note singers from around the Southeast will gather again at Wofford College on Saturday, March 19, for their annual tribute to Spartanburg resident William “Singin’ Billy” Walker (1809-1875), the man who helped bring musical literacy to remote country churches around the South.

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Contact: Zac Cunningham, Director
Walnut Grove Plantation & Historic Price House
Spartanburg County Historical Association
864-576-6546 (o), 864-576-5048 (f)
walnutgrove@spartanburghistory,org

Candlelight Supper at Walnut Grove Plantation to Explore Upstate’s Rich Scots-Irish Heritage

Roebuck, SC, March 2, 2011 — Who were the first European settlers to move into Spartanburg County? Historians have long told us they were Scots-Irish. J.B.O. Landrum, an early chronicler of the county’s history, wrote that several families, “doubtless Scots-Irish,” settled along the Tyger River. Writers creating another county history for the Depression-era Work Progress Administration likewise took note of “Scots-Irish Presbyterian settlers” on the Tyger. The Moore Family of Walnut Grove Plantation was one of these first settler families and was, indeed, Scots-Irish. But just who were the Scots-Irish? Or should it be Scotch-Irish? Were they Scottish or Irish? Were they from Scotland or Ireland?

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The Speaker will be Mr. Dean Campbell, native of Greenville County, SC. His Topic will be “Dark Corner…Elusive To Exclusive!”
(You may see more on website http://squireofdarkcorner.com/)

Time & Place: Thursday, March 10, 7:00pm in Irwin Conference Room at Spartanburg Co. Headquarters Library, Spartanburg, SC

Hope to see you there. As a reminder, the Treasurer will receive your membership dues for 2011.