Will Poet Robert Woodward Barnwell Identify Yourself?

If you've followed the Murdaugh saga of the past few years, you are probably aware that names can run up and down in a particular family. In fact, I found Jason Ryan's explanation of the various "Busters" and "Richards" and "Randolphs" in the "Dramatis Personae" section of Swamp Kings (2024) [audio book, e-book, print book] quite helpful. 

I had a similar situation relating to an author, in this case a poet who penned "Dawn at Daufuskie." And since this is National Poetry Month, I share the poem: 

Dawn at Daufuskie

I saw the fainting stars pass to their death.

I heard the frolic winds pausing for breath.

As the dawn crept upward all was still.

And my heart alone knew motion and thrill.

I saw the silver sea shining as steel.

The silence was pressing its golden heel

On lizard in leaves and bird on bough:

But I heard blood throbbing from heart to brow

I saw the fleecy clouds sink -- every one.

I heard no singing bird welcome the sun.  

As the gold flashed landward glory spread, 

And I heard my heart as its pulses sped.   

For years I attributed the poem to Robert Woodward Barnwell of Beaufort born 1801, died 1882 in Columbia. I did displays for National Poetry Month over the past decade that unintentionally ascribed the poems to the wrong Robert Woodward Barnwell. How did this happen? one asks. The answer is: "It is very easy to get persons with the exact same name mixed up when families perpetually use a name over and over through succeeding generations." 

In the course of unraveling this particular mystery, I discovered that The Story of an American Family by Stephen B. Barnwell, 1969 - considered the go to guide of all things Barnwell - lists a dozen different men named Robert Woodward Barnwell, the first one in 1801, and the last one listed born in 1959, though there probably are a few more RWB's now. In the index he calls the RWB I am most interested in today, "Senator." 

I discovered my mistake on 27 July 2017 as I was updating a Wordpress blog post I created nine years earlier. I was wondering why I could not find any references to poetry writing in all the online sources I found for Robert Woodward Barnwell nor in any of our own BDC resources at hand - except for three items.

Seeing the publication dates on the poetry books, Realities and Imaginations ... a Poem, [1938] and Dawn at Daufuskie and Other Poems (1936) got me to thinking about why the collections were published 50 years or more after RWB's death. I have these two titles on the shelves so I could look at the items in their entirety for clues. Luckily Dawn at Daufuskie had a copyright date of 1936 and a "Preface" written by the author in 1936. Obviously, the author was not my RWB as I had previously thought. The "Preface" also written by the author for Realities and Imaginations ... A Poem two years later indicates that he did not begin writing poetry until 1920 and that he was living in Florence, SC. More proof that I had mixed up men with the same name of Robert Woodward Barnwell.

Researching deeper in The Story of an American Family (whose index BTW only includes personal names, not topical subjects), I finally located the right Robert Woodward Barnwell, an Episcopalian priest by vocation and poet by avocation. 

I used information gleaned from a Florence Morning News obituary posted online to narrow down my options for searching the name index of The Story of An American Family. (When you scroll down about 3/4 of the way you'll find the portion related to the Rev. RWB.) The Florence Morning News obituary stated that he married  his second wife Malinda in 1902. I looked in the index to The Story of An American Family and found her name. I then read several pages both before and after page 354 to see if I could triangulate the proper RBW who wrote Realities and Imaginations ... a Poem and Dawn at Daufuskie and Other Poems. I had at last! 

Stephen B. Barnwell, author of Story of An American Family, writes about this particular Rev. Robert Woodward Barnwell, born 1860, died 1952, his wives, children, and grandchildren from page 352 - 357 including a number of photographs. 

Rev. Robert Woodward Barnwell, author of Realities and Imaginations ... a Poem and Dawn at Daufuskie and Other Poems was the son of another Rev. Robert Woodward Barnwell who died in 23 June 1863. His wife Mary Carter Singleton died a mere two days later thereby leaving three orphaned young sons to the care of relatives. In 1864 his brother Edward died leaving John Singleton Barnwell (1859 - 1932) and Robert Woodward Barnwell (20 November 1860 - 28 June 1952) to the care of their grandmother and aunts in Beaufort. John Singleton Barnwell never married and died without issue.  His brother, minister poet RWB had three children with his first wife Wilhelmina DuBose before her death in 1899. He and second wife Malinda McBee Brunson had six children. Malinda died in 1962 in Florence. All told then, minister poet RWB had 9 children all who survived to adulthood, most of whom married, and some of whom had children themselves. For details, you can come to read The Story of An American Family in our Research Room. 

You can see RWB, 1860 - 1952's headstone on the Find-A-Grave website.

For nine years I had been unintentionally sharing bad information. Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. I am sorry. This post is to encourage you to take your time before determining if you have the "right" person with a particular - and repetitive through the generations - name. Weigh all the evidence. Evaluate the documents. Use your finest most honed reasoning skills. When in doubt, explain your reasons why you think this particular person is the correct person for your genealogical chart. Doing so will make it easier for your descendants to evaluate any new evidence or documentation that may come to light in the future.

Learn more about another Robert Woodward Barnwell, 1801 - 1882 in our Wordpress blog.

The Week Ahead, April 15 -20, 2024

BDC staff is pretty busy this week with 2 local history programs, Beaufort County deadlines for required participation in the employee job classification survey, and a community event on Saturday. We hope that you'll be able to join us for one - or all - of our special events.

We’re hosting a reprise of "Snakebit" - an examination of surviving sources of information about one of the most fascinating Englishmen of the colonial period, Henry Woodward. Red Bird and the Devil author Robert E. Lanham will discuss what he found to be true and what remains myth. Join us and the Beaufort History Museum at St. Helena Branch on April 16, 2024 at 2 PM for this educational local history program.

History is full of forgotten, unknown and underappreciated human stories of challenge and triumph. Come hear the courageous life story of Bristow Eddy, an enslaved man who undertook the dangerous trip along the South Carolina coast to fight for freedom in the Union Army in the "Historically Speaking" series lecture on April 18th. This program is part of the BDC and Beaufort County Historical Society's contribution to the ISRE Symposium.

We continue our Outreach efforts on Saturday, April 20th. We'll have a booth at USCB’s Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era Symposium in an effort to inform the public about the range and scope of the materials the BDC shares about the period, both inside the Research Room and online through our BDCBCL: Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog, our digital collections hosted through the Lowcountry Digital Library, and this blog. Feel free to drop by for this free event, say hello, and listen to some presentations on offer in the auditorium. 

As a reminder: The Library will be closed on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 for Staff Development. 

Assistant Librarian Mackenzie, 1861 by Sue Mackenzie Thornton

I am embarrassed to say that this article courtesy of Sue Mackenzie Thornton has been sitting in my computer files for more than a few years. I've been long meaning to share it at an appropriate time - and given that it's Library Week 2024 - I shall do so today. It's an unknown story - and if the 79th Highlanders re-enactors return to the Beaufort History Museum during my remaining tenure, I'll have something "new to us" to highlight. Some of you may quibble about the differences in the source materials when it comes to the man's name. As any experienced family historian can attest, variations in name must be weighed against other sources to decide whether or not Lochlan McKinsey is the same person as Loughlin Mackenzie is the same person as Lachlan Mackenzie. Standardization in the spelling of personal names is more of an 20th century practice than a 19th century one.

Lachlan Mackenzie (1838-1864), Civil War Beaufort Librarian by Sue Mackenzie Thornton, edited by Jake Thornton (2017?) 

Allan Mackenzie, a Scottish immigrant, and his wife Maria Martling had ten children. Four of their sons, and two of their sons-in-law joined the 79th New York Highlanders Infantry during the Civil War. One of these sons, Lachlan would spend some time in the Beaufort Library. 

Following is his roster obtained from The New York Military Museum and Veterans Research Center.

His regimental return for December 1861 contained a puzzle. What was a soldier doing serving as an assistant librarian?

A call to Grace Morris Cordial, manager of the Beaufort Collection at the library helped solve the puzzle. The New York Public Library, Irma and Paul Milstein Division as well as online research provided further pieces for the puzzle.

When the Union occupied Beaufort on November 7, 1861, they took control of everything including the library. The following excerpt from The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens by his Son Hazard Stevens, Volume II, pp. 367-368 provides some details.

Brigadier General Stevens of the 79th Highlanders opened the library to his soldiers and intended to care for it, returning the books to Beaufort after the conclusion of the war. So Lachlan participated in Steven's plan to both protect the books and lend them to the men. But as the rest of the Stevens excerpt indicates, he was overruled and the books were seized. 

A New York City auction of the Beaufort books was met with many negative editorials such as the following in the November 14, 1862 New York Evening Post. The New York Public Library, Milstein Division provided this newspaper article as well as the subsequent one. 

But the tale of the books took a positive turn. The Beaufort Collection history available on the Beaufort Library website quotes from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly that a letter from New Yorker William H. Fry to President Lincoln was instrumental in having Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase cancel the sale. Newspaper editorials such as this one probably also aided cancellation efforts. 

This November 22, 1862 Cincinnati Commercial Tribune article, a reprint of a November 5th New York Times article, records the escape of Beaufort's books from the auction block. The collection was sent to the Smithsonian Institute for safe storage. 

In February 1865, Harper's Weekly published this January 24, 1865 Alexander Gardner photo which is available at the Smithsonian Archives. 

The photo above illustrates the negative twist that occurred next in the Beaufort Library story, as an incorrectly installed stove on the second floor of The Smithsonian caused a fire which spread to the upper room housing the collection and all the books were burned.  

Lachlan Mackenzie whose military record supplied the puzzle at the beginning of this story, remained with the 79th until the end of his life, dying of Typhoid Fever in a Knoxville, Tennessee hospital on November 27, 1864.  

Lachlan is buried at Knoxville National Cemetery and his gravestone was created in March 1864 by 79th officer Hugh Young and his fellow stone masons.  

I wonder if Lachlan helped compile the auction list for the book sale that never happened. You can see a facsimile of that auction catalog on one of the Behind-the-Scenes tours we're hosting in honor of National Library Week. Check for any remaining slots by calling us: 843-255-6468. 

There is a lot more information about the Mackenzie brothers and their Civil War in the BDC's HISTORY-CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865-PERSONAL NARRATIVES - UNION vertical file. We have accounts from Charles Francis Adams, Clover Adams, Harrison M. Beardsley, James Bell, John Bell, Ephraim Bender, Norris Crossman, Robert Sedgwick Edwards, Harriet Ward Foote, John Frederic Holahan, William H. Johnson, George H. Johnston, Louis Kelsey, Charles Phineas Lord, Laughlin Mackenzie, Dr. Seth Rogers, Calvin Shedd, Stephen Minot Weld, Gottlieb Schahl, and some unknown correspondents.  

It'd be optimal if you make an appointment to come review the contents of the file and the other Civil War related vertical files that we make available inside our small facility: 843-255-6468; bdc@bcgov.net.

Mary Shindler, Native Daughter Poet

Latest update: 1 April 2024 - gmc

Native daughter, Mary Stanley Bunce Palmer Dana Shindler (a.k.a. Mary S. B. Dana) is the perfect person to transition from National Women's History in March into National Poetry Month in April. Given that it's Easter Week 2024, a poem based on a Bible scripture seems fitting. 

Passing Under the Rod 

And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you in to the bond of the covenant." Ezekial, Chapter 20, Verse 37.

I saw the young bride, in her beauty and pride,
  Bedeck'd in her snowy array;
And the bright flush of joy mantled high on her cheek,
  And the future look'd blooming and gay:
And with woman's devotion she laid her fond heart
  At the shrine of idolatrous love,
And she anchor'd her hopes to this perishing earth,
  By the chain which her tenderness wove.
But I saw when those heartstrings were bleeding and torn,
  And the chain had been sever'd in two,
She had changed her white robes for the sables of grief,
  And her bloom for the paleness of wo[e]!
But the Healer was there, pouring balm on her heart,
  And wiping the tears from her eyes,
And he strengthened the chain he had broken in twain,
  And fasten'd it firm to the skies!
There had whisper'd a voice -- 'twas the voice of her God,
"I love thee -- I love thee -- pass under the rod!"

(From the Parted Family collection; the poem was written in Charleston July 6, 1840)

Mary Stanley Bunce Palmer was born February 15, 1810 in Beaufort to Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmer and Mary Stanley Bunce Palmer (Yes, she had the exact same name as her own mother; and matters are further complicated by two Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmers, her father 1781 - 1847 and his nephew, (her cousin) Benjamin Morgan Palmer, 1818-1902  who became a renowned Presbyterian minister).  In 1813, her father moved the family to Charleston, SC where he served as the minister of the Circular Church until 1835.   She was educated in the private school of Dr. Ramsey and his daughters in Charleston and in various seminaries for young ladies in Connecticut and New Jersey.  In 1835, she married Charles E. Dana of New York.  They had one son.  Both her husband and her son died at their home in Bloomington, Iowa during August 1839.

Image courtesy of Cyberhymnal.org

She returned to the home of her parents in Charleston as a childless widow and poured out her grief about her string of recent losses through writing The Parted Family, and Other Poems (1842). Both her parents died in 1847. Her religious poems reflect on themes of comfort in the struggles of life and death. Recognition of her poetry, often infused with religious sentiment, began during this decade. Later she set some of her poems to music, often favoring folk tunes for the melody.  

She married an Episcopalian minister, Robert Doyne Shindler at some point between 1848 and 1851 (sources vary as to the precise date of the nuptials).  They had one child, a son, Robert Conrad Shindler, who was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky in April 1852.  They were living in Tennessee by 1859.  After the Civil War, the family relocated to Nacogdoches and San Augustine, Texas. Rev. Shindler died in Nacogdoches in 1874; she died 9 years later on February 8, 1883.  

Among her famous descendants are the former US Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and actress Mary Tyler Moore.   

Her works include: The Southern Harp, The Northern Harp, and The Western Harp in which her religious poems are set to music, several novels, and religious and spiritualism essays.  In our collection we have copies of her Letters addressed to relatives and friends,: chiefly in reply to arguments in support of the doctrine of the Trinity; The Southern harp: consisting of original sacred and moral songs, adapted to the most popular melodies: for the piano-forte and guitar; The parted family, and other poems: an offering to the afflicted, and a tribute of love to departed friends; A southerner among the spirits: a record of investigations into the spiritual phenomena; and one of her novels, Forecastle Tom or, The landsman turned sailor.  

Her papers are included in the Shindler-Palmer Family Papers at the Ralph W. Steen Library of the Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches.     

We used sources found in our vertical file, Shindler, Mary Stanley Bunce Palmer Dana, (1810 - 1883) to write this entry.  

April 2024 will be very, very busy for the BDC

No foolin', April is going to be busy in the BDC.

I'm talking about Civil War resources in the Research Room at the Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting and registration opens for the three BDC Behind-the-Scenes tours on April 1st. I'm helping Library Director Amanda DIckman and the Beaufort Branch staff with Jason Ryan's book talk about Swamp Kings on April 5th. I hope to watch the eclipse with other library customers on April 8th.

We have Behind-the-Scenes tours scheduled during National Library Week on April 10th, 11th, and 13th. Give us a call to reserve a seat: 843-255-6468.

On April 16th Robert Lanham will discuss Henry Woodward at St. Helena Branch as part of our local history series with the Beaufort History Museum.

On April 18th, Wyatt Erchak will present "Freedom's Eddy" as the BCHS/BDC prelude contribution to the Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era Symposium.

BDC staff will be at the ISRE Symposium on Saturday, April 20th to showcase internet resources we provide about the Civil War and Reconstruction Eras.

Wednesday, April 24th is Staff Work Day so all the libraries will be closed. And we end the month with Preservation Week, April 28 - May 4.

In between April 1 and May 4, we celebrate National Garden Month, National Volunteer Month, National Poetry Month, National Jazz Appreciation Month, National Library Week and National Wildlife Week so expect some Facebook posts about those topics, too.

Learn Local History at Programs in Mid-April

As you will discover, April 2024 is a very busy month for the BDC staff. We're hosting three Behind-the-Scenes tours and two local history programs, plus doing some outreach. If local history lectures are your "thing", we have two coming up in mid-April. One deals with the colonial period; while the other addresses the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. We'll go in chronological order this time. 

Join us at St. Helena Branch Library the day after taxes are due for a reprise of "Snakebit" -  an examination of surviving sources of information about one of the state's most fascinating Englishmen of the colonial period by The Red Bird and the Devil author, Robert E. Lanham.  

"Snakebit: Henry Woodward, South Carolina's First English Settler" with author Robert Lanham | Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | 2 PM | Beaufort History Museum/Beaufort County Library Local History series 7.4 | St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Rd   | Doors open for seating at 1:30 PM

The main focus of Lanham's presentation is how he discovered and made use of historical documents to flesh out the personality and activities of the Palmetto State's first permanent English settler, trying to separate what was "fact" from what is commonly held "fiction" for his novel.  

The title of the lecture comes from an extract of a letter that Henry Woodward wrote to John Locke dated 12 November 1675 in which Woodward shares some of the Native American's beliefs. "Port Royall Indians worship the Sun but the Westos worship the Devil and have his figure carved in wood." He shared that some Indians purport to "have power over the ratle snakes soe farr as to send one over severall over rivers and brooks to bite a particular Indian which has bin don since our being here."

Robert Lanham is a retired family law attorney and former geologist residing in the South Carolina Lowcountry where Henry Woodward, the protagonist of his book, The Red Bird and the Devil lived 350 years earlier. Lanham moved here from Colorado and fell in love with the Lowcountry and its history. His distant grandfather came to the southern colonies as an indentured servant in the late 1600s, the same time as Henry Woodward, sparking his interest in early colonial history. Using skills developed during 40 years of research, writing, and teaching in science and law, Robert published The Red Bird and the Devil, a fresh look at the origin and first decades of Carolina Colony from the perspective of Henry Woodward. 

On Thursday, April 18th, we will gather for the next "Historically Speaking" series lecture co-sponsored by the Beaufort County Historical Society. This lecture is part of our contribution to the Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era 2nd Annual Symposium, April 19 - 20, 2024. 

"Freedom's Eddy: To Beaufort and Battle by Boat" with Wyatt Erchak | Thursday, April 18, 2024 | 11 AM | "Historically Speaking" series 5.5 | First Presbyterian Church Education Building, 1201 North Street, Beaufort  | Doors open for seating at 10:30 AM

Carnegie Mellon PhD candidate Wyatt Erchak will share a little known story about a daring escape by enslaved people into the Union lines at Port Royal.

On October 26, 1862, nine enslaved people used the Union Navy's presence to escape from Georgetown and join the black regiment being formed in Beaufort. Their goal was to take a direct action against slavery. Wyatt's presentation explores the life of Bristow Eddy. Born enslaved as a forced plantation laborer, when he and eight others made their break for freedom, he became Corporal Eddy. A skilled carpenter and soldier, Bristow was best summed up in the words of a comrade: "he was a little fellow but he was a good deal of a man." Before attaining that reputation, his group made their way to an island where others like them had been gathering for months as the floodgates of slavery broke down and waves of freedom seekers rushed out, often boarding arriving gunboats. "I was taken with others by boat," Bristow remembered, and came to Beaufort, where "I enlisted voluntarily" in November. From there, he entered the maelstrom of war and got to work; after peace returned, he built a new life for his family in the Beaufort area, at Lady's Island and Dixonville. Eddy's odyssey of freedom, represents the most singularly understudied figure of the Civil War era: the formerly enslaved Black soldiers of the Deep South, whose untold stories, once told, significantly transform how we understand that conflict.

Wyatt Erchak was Dr. Edda Fields-Black's research assistant at Carnegie Mellon University as she was preparing her latest book, Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2024). During the Combahee research process, Wyatt became irrevocably entangled with the obscure story of the Union's first-formed black regiment. The story of the First South Carolina Volunteers of African Descent has become the core of his doctoral candidacy.  The University of South Carolina's Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era has asked Wyatt to be a keynote speaker at their pending symposium 19-20 April 2024 at USC-B.  Wyatt lives in upstate New York, is currently a Carnegie Mellon PhD candidate, and will present a version of our talk at the World Congress of Environmental History conference being held in Oulu, Finland in August.  

No need to register. Both local history programs are a first come,
first seated opportunity to learn more about the depth and scope of Beaufort District's history, its people, environment, and events. 

Reminder: The Library will be closed on Friday, March 29, 2024 for Good Friday. The Beaufort District Collection will re-open on Monday, April 1st. BCL units usually open on Saturdays will be open on Saturday, March 30, 2024.

Reprise of BDC Facebook Posts, February 16 - March 19, 2024

Here's a recap of what I posted on Facebook over the past month: 

BLACK HISTORY NOTE WEDNESDAY

February 21 - "Black History Note:" Continuing with the theme "African Americans and the Arts", check out the BDCBCL blog post about folk artist, Sam Doyle.

February 28 - "Black History Note:" Let's end Black History Month with a celebration of one of the area's favorite cooks [Sallie Ann Robinson]. Multiple copies are available of each from the SCLENDS consortium, BCL local history sections, and on Hoopla, the BCL's digital library.

March 6 - "Black History Note in Women's History Month:" Beaufort District has seen a number of amazing women in its past. An unsung heroine who confronted the injustice surrounding her was Susie King Taylor. Taylor served the 33rd USCT [the United States Colored Troops within the Union Army raised locally] as a nurse and a teacher. She did so without payment. She taught and nursed here in Beaufort among the freedmen being treated in the Contraband hospitals.

Consider her words from Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S. C. Volunteers:

In this 'land of the free' we are burned, tortured, and denied a fair trial, murdered for any imaginary wrong conceived in the brain of the negro-hating white man. There is no redress for us from a government which promised to protect all under its flag. It seems a mystery to me. They say, 'One flag, one nation, one country indivisible.' Is this true? Can we say this truthfully, when one race is allowed to burn, hang, and inflict the most horrible torture weekly, monthly, on another? No, we cannot sing 'My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty'! It is hollow mockery. The Southland laws are all on the side of the white, and they do just as they like to the negro, whether in the right or not... I do not uphold my race when they do wrong. They ought to be punished, but the innocent are made to suffer as well as the guilty, and I hope the time will hasten when it will be stopped forever ... I hope the day is not far distant when the two races will reside in peace in the Southland, and we will sing with sincere and truthful hearts, 'My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, of thee I sing.

Susie King Taylor was a woman who advocated for equity, diversity and inclusion.

The Library has plenty of options re: copies of her memoir. There's even a version for youth. Hoopla has an audio-book for children entitled the Memoir of Susie King Taylor: Civil War Nurse that you can borrow electronically and download. The Documenting the American South has an electronic version of her document that you can read online as well.

March 13 - "Black History Note in Women's History Month:" In 1863, the Union was unable to adequately fill its black regiments. In an attempt to remedy that, Colonel James Montgomery led a raid up the Combahee River on June 2 to gather recruits and punish the plantations. Aiding him was an expert at freeing slaves--famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The remarkable effort successfully rescued about 750 enslaved men, women and children.

Harriet Tubman was a woman who advocated for equity, diversity and inclusion.

The latest book about the raid, Combee by Edda Fields-Black is now on the shelves in the BDC and local history sections - and on display in the BDC's case.

UNIQUELY BDC: MATERIALS MONDAY

February 26 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday"- The BDC has some Coroner's Inquests Records on microfilm in the Research Room. Some of the testimony about the people who were killed during the Hurricane of 1893 is absolutely heartbreaking. H.J. Middleton's account about what happened to his family that night makes me almost cry every time I share it with others. We'd be happy to set up an appointment for you to come read the 200 or so inquisitions in our Research Room: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6446.

March 4 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" Today's selection checks off two criteria: Women's History and the BDC having the only copy of this particular title inside the SCLENDS consortium. My Work Among the Freedmen: The Civil War and Reconstruction Letters of Harriet M. Buss edited by Jonathan W. White and Lydia J. Davis (2021) has about 50 pages worth of letters and explanatory footnotes about Buss' time in Beaufort and on Hilton Head as a teacher for the former enslaved in 1863 - 1864. She would later serve in Virginia and North Carolina. Most significantly, she instructed Robert Smalls and his children in the rudiments of reading and writing.

March 11 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" Growing up on the Combahee River: An American Story by Charlotte Murray Taylor (Parker, CO: Outskirts Press, 2023) is a very personal memoir of a Black girl who was raised near the river after her young mother died shortly after giving birth. Murray Taylor grew up in the upper reaches of rural Beaufort County on Hobonny and Sugar Hill plantations. She shares reminiscences of her daily life until she went away to college. One of our bookmobiles and the BDC are the only libraries currently holding copies of this self-published work.

March 18 - Today's another "Red Letter Local History" day - and we have three "Uniquely BDC" materials to share with you in honor of the occasion. There are numerous newspaper clippings and articles to be found in our "LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE, 1757-1834" vertical file here in the Research Room. We are the only SCLENDS library to hold the title Lafayette: Prisoner of State by Paul Spalding (2010) about the 5 years he spent incarcerated by a coalition of Austrians and Prussians during the French Revolution. We're also the only SCLENDS library to hold The Story of the Life of Lafayette (1831). PS: If you're nervous about QR codes, you can read more about Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, a.k.a. Marquis de La Fayette in Connections.

PROGRAMS & COMMUNITY OUTREACH

March 5 - Two weeks to the return of the BHM/BCL Lecture Series. Lecture 7.3 will be presented by Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority's own Director of Technology and Innovation, Tricia Kilgore. Tricia will enlighten us with the history of a vital component of local infrastructure. BJWSA is a quasi-governmental entity and a political division of the State of South Carolina that grew out of the Beaufort County Water Authority in 1954 so it's been around long enough for it to "qualify" for a BDC local history program. We'll seat folks at St. Helena Branch Library's big meeting room until we reach the Fire Marshal's room capacity.

March 14 - Ever wonder about the source of our drinking water? Ever wonder about what happens to all that poop and urine we humans make on a daily basis? Ever wonder about when these basic sanitation and health challenges started being dealt with by local governments? If so, do we have a local history program - intentionally close to World Water Day - for you. Join us for "The History of the Beaufort Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, 1954 - " presented by BJWSA's own Director of Technology and Innovation Tricia Kilgore.

Come learn about the circumstances of water and sewage services before 1954, where your water comes from now, why it comes from there, where it goes when you are done with it, and what it has in common with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

This Beaufort History Museum/ Beaufort County Library local history program will be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 2:00 PM in the St. Helena Branch Library, located at 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road. Space is limited. First come; first seated. Doors will open for seating at 1:30 pm.

March 19 - Later today. Hope to see you at the St. Helena Branch Library. We open the room for seating at 1:30 PM

PS: I posted photos of my trip to the St. Ciara Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Chapter meeting and the of the Friends of Fort Fremont Board group visit to the BDC on March 11. I did the LAOH presentation on March 6 and the FFF visited on March 1.  I also posted some photos about the LAOH outing on March 8. I try to get the photos posted within 7 days of the event. 

JUST BECAUSE POSTS

February 19 - Even while the Library is closed today for Presidents Day, you can still learn local history. Visit the BDC's Connections blog to answer the question shown in the image. Regular hours resume tomorrow, Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

February 20 - The 18th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival opening today honors Gary Sinise and the 30th anniversary of the making of the movie Forrest Gump. Learn some local trivia about the film on the BDCBCL: Lists, Links and Finding Aids blog.

February 23 - Did you know that the National Parks Service offers free walking tours of downtown Beaufort and other associated historic sites?

February 27 - 87 years ago Beaufort's most famous actress to date [ Maude O'Dell] died backstage in a Broadway theater. Learn more in Connections.

March 1 - You can already read the March Monthly Overview.

March 9 - Happy Anniversary, Town of Port Royal. Here's a flyer from your Centennial Celebration in 1974 as discovered in one of our many vertical files.

March 17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day. I re-worked an old post to include some Irish-born Beaufort District and County residents of the past to show how you can use Library resources to research your Irish ancestors.

FINDING AID FRIDAY

March 15 - "Finding Aid Friday:" The League of Women Voters has long been a group advocating equity, diversity and inclusion. Cassi recently completed the Finding Aid to the Northern Beaufort County League of Women Voters archival collection. Read more. [We'll get the permanent box labels done soon.]

Reminder: History of the Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority

 Hope to see you there! 

March 2024: Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Display

Library Assistant Jalen Lugo is the guest author and selector of the items on display. - Grace Cordial

March kicks off with the beginning of Women’s History Month, with the theme being “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.”  From the well-known Harriet Tubman to women lawyers, this month’s display contains a plethora of materials that cover the accomplishments of women throughout history. As such, I have chosen 11 different books to showcase the stellar examples of this month’s Women’s History Month theme. Keep reading to find out what makes each of these books an excellent read and an excellent reason to come to the BDC and discover more. 

Our first book is Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black (2024). This book entails the meticulous planning and cunning that Harriet Tubman played during the Combahee River Raid. For a little bit of a history lesson, the Combahee River Raid was an operation conducted by the Union during the Civil War where the Union’s gunboats sailed up the Combahee River and raided several rice plantations freeing upwards of 700 slaves. I chose this particular book because of Harriet Tubman’s pivotal role that she played in this part of the war. Her efforts to free her people and fight, tooth and nail, for them perfectly fits into the theme of equity and inclusion.  

The next book that is showcased is Letters and diary of Laura M. Towne by Laura M. Towne (2019). Laura M. Towne was a devoted and dedicated woman who lived on St. Helena Island for about 40 years. There, she created one of the first schools for African American people and provided homeopathic care for many African Americans found in and around St. Helena Island. The school she created was named Penn School. This particular book was chosen because of Towne’s daring and courage to create a school for African American people, in a time period when that was frowned upon, to say the very least. Towne fits the theme of equity and inclusion through her constant effort to care for and educate the African Americans that were treated so poorly. 

On the second row of the display case you will find The journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké by Charlotte Forten Grimké (1988). Charlotte Forten Grimké was an African American who came down from Philadelphia to Port Royal in 1862. Here she taught other African Americans and even joined Laura M. Towne in teaching at her school, Penn School. Eventually Grimké was forced to move back up north due to her rapidly declining health and died on July 23, 1915. Grimké’s persistence and motivation to teach African Americans in a time where they were looked down upon is a perfect example of fighting for equity and inclusion.  

Next to the Charlotte Forten Grimke book is the The Combahee River Raid: Harriet Tubman & Lowcountry liberation by Jeff Griggs (2014) is a book that is similar to our first book, Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War, but with a strong focus on Harriet Tubman. I chose this book because it provides a more detailed analysis of Harriet Tubman’s contributions to the Combahee River Raid, and how she aided in freeing more than 700 slaves as a result of the successful raid. Harriet Tubman is a shining example of women advocating for inclusion and equity, more so because she did this in a time where women leaders were not the norm, and African Americans were treated horribly.  

Right next to The Combahee River Raid is A woman doctor's Civil War: Esther Hill Hawks' diary by Esther Hill Hawks (1984). Described as “the antithesis of southern womanhood”, Esther Hill Hawks was woman who was a physician, a teacher, a school administrator, a woman’s suffrage advocate, and an abolitionist. This book captures the story of Esther Hill Hawks and how she travelled down south during the Civil War to teach and administer aid as a doctor to all the African Americans she encountered. Hawks is an excellent example as someone who advocated for equity, diversity and inclusion, as she herself went outside of societal norms and became woman that stood out amongst others with the work she accomplished and the person she was. 

The next book stood out to me because the author, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, used a term that is used a lot by the young generation of kids, teenagers, and you adults. This book is called She came to slay: the life and times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar (2019). Capturing the life of Harriet Tubman, who was a suffragist, a leading abolitionist, and the most famous “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, a route that was used to take the enslaved African Americans up north to freedom, Dunbar writes a fascinating story that showcases who Harriet Tubman was. Dunbar’s story and history of Harriet Tubman shows how Harriet Tubman fit this month’s Women’s History Month theme of equity, diversity and inclusion. 

Starting the third row of the display case is The life and letters of Kate Gleason (2010) by Janis F. Gleason. This book captures the story and history of Kate Gleason, a woman who was a mechanical engineer, real estate developer, and 19th century industrialist. Kate Gleason broke all societal norms by working in career’s that, at the time, were exclusive to men. Her ambition and cunning in the 19th and 20th centuries are what makes her an excellent example of equity, diversity and inclusion and why I chose to have this book put into the display case. 

The next book is Carolyn: A Most Remarkable Lady by Buddy Clark (2018). Carolyn Corley Clark was a cartoonist at age 5, became a writer and illustrator at age 8, and a prize winning short-story author at 15. She also designed jewelry for her own jewelry story and later became a tour guide In historic Beaufort, South Carlina. This book captures all of what she accomplished, from heartfelt moments, to falling in love, to her achievements she worked so hard for. This book provides an excellent example of inclusion for Women’s History Month. 

The final book on the third row is Women Leaders in South Carolina: An Oral History by Rock Hill by S.C.: Winthrop College Archives and Special Collections (1984). This book is a collection of memoirs, interviews, and recollections of several women that entail their lives, how they achieved success, and their different perspectives of their achievements. I chose this book because it’s main, and only, focus is women, how they became leaders, and how they view their success and the road that led them there. It provides an insight that you do not normally see, as, normally, when a book is made about someone, it is typically a biography or a recollection of their journey, not an interview or personal account.  

On the bottom row is The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney by Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1997). Eliza Lucas Pinckney pioneered a large-scale cultivation of indigo in South Carolina, and, among other things, managed her father’s large-scale plantation holdings. She also took it upon herself to teach the African Americans that worked on her plantation and cared for their well-being. What makes her stand out to me is she accomplished all of this while widowed, in a time where women in power was no popular and during a time where treating the African Americans as anything other than slaves was widely frowned upon. Eliza Lucas Pinckney is a shining example of diversity and inclusion during Women’s History Month. 

The last book, found on the bottom row is Portia Steps Up to the Bar: The First Women Lawyers of South Carolina by Ruth Williams Cupp (2003). This book is about a group of women that became the first female attorneys of the 20th century, the hardships they encountered, the success they achieved, and the criticism and discrimination they faced. This book earned its spot on the display case because it is a stellar example of fighting for inclusion, equity, and diversity in a field that was dominated by men and in a time where women were expected to be nothing more than a housewife.