South Carolina Genealogy

SCAR Fellows and friends of the Revolution:

We will hold our next Southern Campaigns Roundtable in Charleston, SC at the beautiful Old Exchange Building “OXB” (http://www.oldexchange.com) in the historic district on Saturday, June 26th. Our hosts are Mike Coker and Doug MacIntyre. This is a public invited event so send this email on to your fiends and colleagues. We will have plenty of space in the upstairs ballroom. Plan on joining us to start promptly at 10:00 am and we should wrap-up by 4:00 pm – we’ll stop at noon for a “Dutch Treat” lunch. Remember our Round Table is a participatory sport; you are invited to bring your research interest, questions, and show and tell for no-more than a 10 minute presentation. Each attendee will pay the normal OXB entrance fee of $8.00.

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The following was forwarded to me last month and I wanted to share it here:

LAWRENCE ALLEN HEAVRIN AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY a two volume book is now available for purchase online. Tom Johnson, PHD, Librarian Emeritus University of South Carolina, Columbia has written the following review.

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One of the fantastic things about combining genealogy and the internet is that resources that may not previously have been easily accessed by large numbers of people can be made accessible. The Hyrne Family Letters is a good example of this. Spanning 1699-1757 this collection of letters from one of South Carolina’s plantation is a unique and wonderful glimpse into colonial South Carolina. From the site: “The story of a family of early plantation settlers of South Carolina – Elizabeth and Edward Hyrne and their sons Burrell and Henry”

The letters were found in the Lincolnshire Archive Office and as you can imagine probably had been viewed by a limited number of people. They have since been transcribed and give a fantastic window into life at Medway Plantation in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

I know, this isn’t strictly South Carolina related, although I suspect a good number of us with South Carolina roots have those roots reaching back to England. For those of us that do…. It’s now possible to search the muster roll, protection and garrison databases for 1369 – 1453. This is actually pretty neat for those of us that can trace ancestry back to those times (and maybe incentive for those that can’t yet trace back to those times to redouble the efforts to find those ancestors that can connect you to this period.)

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It’s unusual that I post verbatim an item on both the North and South Carolina Genealogy sites (google doesn’t like duplication…) But… for this I’m making an exception!

I’m reposting the Declaration of Independence here in celebration of the events of 1776! Also, you might enjoy this reading of the declaration you can find at monticello.org podcasts done by a portrayer of Thomas Jefferson (Bill Barker). (It may also be interesting to hear the rough draft of the declaration.)

Transcription of the Declaration of Independence, plus links to the Declaration at the National Archives.

This document, writted originally by Thomas Jefferson in June of 1776 documents the greivances that the colonists had against King George and asserts our right to be an independent state.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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You might be interested in this history of United States Presidential Elections posted at my North Carolina Genealogy site yesterday.

I thought with the recent arson of the Lancaster County Courthouse, I might take this opportunity to post a summary of my page on Lancaster County, South Carolina and the genealogy resources that we link to.

Lancaster County was formed in 1798 from the old Camden District. Many of the early settlers here were from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. That area was named for the region in England of the same name. This was the same Lancaster with the symbol of the red rose that had opposed the House of York in England in the War of the Roses. Read the rest of this entry »

I know I’ve looked at old mortality schedules and had to scratch my head and go look up what certain terms were. I thought it might be useful to start compiling a list here. (Who knows, this may become a page sometime…) Not a complete list certainly – but it might be a handy reference

Abasia – inability to walk or stand
Abdominal Angina – sudden severe recurring stomach pain in the elderly. Could mean diverticulitis
Ablepsy – Blindness
Abortus Fever – Brucellosis
Affrighted – Frightened to death – likely stress induced stroke or heart attack
Ague – Intermittent fever – commonly associated with Malaria

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Located in present day Columbia, Old Shandon is a National Historic district and has a high concentration of homes dating from the 19th century. The city of Shandon was incorporated in 1904 and then annexed into Columbia in 1913. They’ve recently had their centennial celebration in 2004. The growth that led to the incorporation was spurred by the extension of Columbia’s trolley line out to the the area. The Lot’s were laid out around 1900. Old Shandon was referred to as a trolley car suburb and the later Annex of another area also referred to as Shandon was referred to as an automobile suburb.

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Historic Brattonsville boasts one of the largest living history and restoration sites in the southeast which is fairly remarkable. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and will be recognized as a filming location for “The Patriot”. In total it’s a 775 acre living history site and Revolutionary War battlefield. There are 29 buildings on the premises that give examples of different periods of Piedmont history from the 1750’s through the 1840’s. There are interpreters showing what life was like for African Americans on an ante-bellum plantation. Among other things, they also have a rare breed program which is maintaining rare breeds of farm animals. There are walking, biking, horse-riding trails too.

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