By Joan Inabinet
Kershaw County Historical Society Update May 2009
A short distance east off of Flat Rock Road, and about a mile and a half north of the memorial battleground of the Battle of Camden, a granite memorial marks the site of the family burying ground of “James Love of Granny’s Quarter, Revolutionary Soldier.”
Reprinted below is an excerpt of a nineteenth-century biographical sketch of James Love’s grandson, Dr. William Abram Love (later of Atlanta). The account reveals that family experiences during the Revolution in Kershaw County continued to be related for many years thereafter. The account also provides additional glimpses of local interest.
The sketch, published in Dr. Love’s lifetime, is excerpted from Memoirs of Georgia, Vol.I (“Fulton County Sketches”), published in Atlanta by the Southern Historical Association in 1895:
"DR. WILLIAM ABRAM LOVE, one of the oldest and best-known physicians in the state of Georgia, has lived in Atlanta nearly a quarter of a century. With the spirit and the blood of the old English cavaliers coursing through his veins, he has ever been a man of action and decided character, keeping the same even to his old age.
"Dr. Love, the only child of William and Sarah (Childers) Love, was born May 16, 1824, in that historic place, Camden, Kershaw district, S.C. His grandparents and his father were residents of that vicinity in colonial days and suffered much at the hands of the British and the tories during the revolutionary war.
"Indeed, though a mere boy at the time Dr. Love’s father, for the sake of freedom and his loyalty to the colonial cause for which his father fought, carried a withered arm all his after life.
"It was through the cruelty of the tories that he suffered most. The facts are: He was captured one day while riding a very fine horse, when, after being deprived of his mount, he was bound hand and foot to the back of an old, worn-out army mule. The mule was then turned loose to graze in a desolate wood, and here after three days of intense pain, the exhausted, but patriotic boy was found by his friends. Little wonder that to this day Dr. Love despises and scorns the name and memory of tory.
"Notwithstanding the suffering thus endured by the elder William Love, he grew to a noble manhood and because of his affliction was most carefully educated, after which, for the greater part of a long life he held high positions of public trust in his native state.
"By the death of his father, Feb. 17, 1825, and the second marriage of his mother, William Abram Love became the special care of his grandmother Childers. This grandmother, previous to her marriage was Miss Sarah King, a daughter of that sturdy revolutionary soldier on whose property was fought and for whose honor was named that fateful and famous encounter known in history as the battle of King’s mountain. The daughter of this soldier inherited the stern and sturdy characteristics of her revolutionary father, with all his vigilance and high sense of honor and justice.
So the life of her young charge was closely guarded, but the thrilling accounts of his adventures in childhood, which he often relates to his children and grandchildren stamp him as a character of strong individuality, even in early youth.
"In his boyhood Dr. Love attended the schools of Camden and afterward Russell Place academy, but at a very early age he chose his life’s work and when twelve years old, with a view to the study of medicine, he entered the [Camden] drug store of Dr. George Reynolds, continuing his other studies under private tutors. Later, as a regular medical student, he was for four years under the preceptorship of Drs. E.H. Anderson, senior and junior, then of Camden, S.C., the latter now in Kirkwood, Miss.
"In 1844 Dr. Love entered the medical department of the university of Pennsylvania…July, 1846, he came to Georgia...In 1871 he was elected to the chair of physiology in the Atlanta Medical college…He is now (1894) senior professor and president of the faculty…."
Dr. Love’s obituary in the Atlanta Journal Jan. 22, 1898, also includes reference to his family background in the Revolution:
"DR. WM. ABRAM LOVE, 74, prominent physician of state and leading writer of nation on Masonry, died at home, 237 Whitehall St. Atlanta, Jan. 22…Dr. Love was born in Camden, S.C., of Wm. Love, and wife Sarah born of Abraham Childers, Lancaster Co. [Note: Before formation of Kershaw County, the area was part of Lancaster County.] Wm. entered the Revolution while a mere boy, and suffered great cruelties at hands of Tory captors. While Wm. A. was employed in local drugstore, he read medicine under Dr. E.H. Anderson and in 1846 took M.D. at University of Pennsylvania….”
Clearly, the events of the Revolution were held of great importance to be retold in succeeding generations. A number of local families are kin to or descend from the “fighting Loves” or other area patriots. Readers with information about other Kershaw County area patriots are invited to share with us!
Showing posts with label Camden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camden. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Friday, June 6, 2008
Then and Now: Glimpses in the News
Gathered by Joan and Glen Inabinet
in the writing of the History of Kershaw County
Interest in the 2008 Pegasus Ball at historic Holly Hedge before the Carolina Cup in Camden suggests that readers will be intrigued by a sensational event that occurred at that same residence during the March 28, 1936, running of the popular steeplechase event.
May 1, 1936, The Camden Chronicle claimed an exclusive scoop on the following story, asserting the newspaper had been cooperating to keep the event quiet during police investigation:
“The largest jewelry theft ever to occur in North or South Carolina was perpetuated at Camden March 28 during steeplechase races, when clever crooks invaded Holly Hedge, the spacious winter estate of Mrs. Ernest L. Woodward, socialite and sportswoman, and escaped with valuables worth approximately a quarter of a million dollars…
“Working in absolute secrecy, crack detectives from New York, Miami, and elsewhere were enlisted…
“The burglary…occurred during the Carolina Cup races while Mr. and Mrs. Woodward were absent from their home. The crooks, believed to be nationally known jewel thieves, entered…while only one caretaker was on the premises, and removed the jewelry box from the dresser drawer in a room on the second floor…
“Residents at Camden… positively identified the pictures of several nationally known jewelry thieves…seen there March 28.”
Small references to the incident in later years indicate the theft went unsolved. The city, with press generally cooperating, tried to avoid negative publicity that would reflect unfavorably on the community and possibly turn away wealthy tourists.
…………………………….
The widely attended 2008 charrette to find a vision for the future of Camden suggests a look at efforts in other changing times. The interval between the end of World War II and the mid-century development of industrialization lasted several challenging years. Some of the ways the business district prepared for growth proved counter-productive; others, helpful.
Camden businesses at the time closed by custom each Wednesday afternoon, and by law all day on Sunday. In 1947 the Camden Merchants Association voted to observe Labor Day for the first time, and to do so by closing their businesses for the day. (Some citizens believed it “public spirited” for businesses to close when the town was involved in a community activity, and “money grubbing” to stay open at such times.)
Expecting a growing number of downtown customers, Camden City Council in 1946 tried to plan for parking needs by ordering 400 meters to be installed on Broad Street from Walnut south to York, on DeKalb Street from Lyttleton to Church, and on Rutledge Street from Lyttleton to Church. Enforcement began during the Christmas shopping season, and in the first few days over 50 vehicles were tagged and fined for overtime parking. The public was less than enthusiastic.
Before long Camden had to consider new meters because the current ones often malfunctioned and required “frequent servicing and replacements.” Police Chief Alva Rush sternly warned against stuffing meters with bubble gum or paper wads, but vandalism remained a problem. Within two years, more than 50 percent of the meters were defective. Their condition antagonized the public and made enforcement difficult.
In mid-1948 the city had to crack down on double-parking and parking in the center of the streets. Even delivery trucks were told to “angle park,” like it or not.
By fall citizens who owned vacant lots and space at the rear of buildings had been persuaded to come to the rescue of downtown frustration. In September city workmen prepared parking lots in Camden’s business section for owners who allowed their free use for off-street parking.
…………………………….
Weather extremes in 2008 recall several extremes six decades ago in 1948. In February downtown Camden was blanketed with two inches of snow. Rain, snow, sleet, and ice forced schools throughout the county to close early on a Monday and remain closed through Thursday.
Hailstorms ripped through several sections of the county in June. In Boykin, damages on the State Farm totaled $100,000, with 120 acres of cotton being stripped clean. In the Cassatt area, one farmer lost 100 acres of watermelons, while several suffered serious damage to cotton and tobacco. In Liberty Hill major damage was to cotton.
During summer, county residents suffered from “awful heat,” rising over 100 degrees in late August. Higher-than-normal temperatures continued through the winter. That season proved the warmest one since winter 1906, according to the local weather bureau.
Nearly 10 inches of rain fell during the month of November. One deluge that brought the Wateree River out of its banks caused the Seaboard to detour trains for two days when the steel trestle “was moved six and a half inches out of line downstream by raging flood waters.”
…………………………….
Reported sightings of a Lizard Man in 2008 bring to mind other bizarre claims. January 1948 a local man reported he saw a flaming plane go down but no evidence was discovered. The absence of physical evidence led to speculation that the man saw a “flying saucer” since reports of such unidentified objects had been made in many areas of the country, including one in Charlotte. Citizens here saw another strange object in the sky in July. The object, also seen in a number of other places, “might have been a meteor.”
…………………………….
Elections always evoke political interests. In the post-World War II era, most of the sentiment found in the local press was supportive of states’ rights and segregation. Occasionally, a divergent opinion was voiced as evidenced by the following April 17, 1948, letter to the Camden Chronicle signed John Knox Tibbits:
“Your editorial of March 5, advocating a new political party ‘Dedicated to state’s rights, segregation of races, and the preservation of principles which have made this great country what it is today’ calls for comment both by Christians and by true Americans.
“The great story of America is that any man, of whatever race or color, has an opportunity here to make good and to enjoy the full rights of citizenship.
“The basic principles for community living are the Golden Rule and justice, or, in common parlance, kindliness and fair-play.
“We all believe in state’s rights, but we deny the right of any man, or community, to do wrong by interfering with the rights of others.
“It is plain to most of us that to condemn a race as a race to an inferior position involves great wrong to many individuals , and is as un-American as it is un-Christian.”
The writer was a retired Episcopal minister living in Camden.
…………………………….
February celebrations of African American history have a long tradition.
Browning Home/Mather Academy celebrated its 60th anniversary Feb. 16-23, 1947. Amelia Boykin, the first graduate of “the Model Home,” as it was then called, gave the main address to begin the week-long celebration. The festivities gave special honors to parents of the school’s early pupils and displayed memorabilia of its past.
That spring an Allen University choral group sang at a Mather fundraiser for Negro Boy Scouts in Camden and Kershaw County. They hoped to establish a camp in the Central South Carolina Council.
In February 1948, as a climax to their observance of National Negro History Week, Columbia attorney Harold R. Boulware spoke to Mather’s faculty and student body on the topic of civil rights. (Boulware and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall were among the plaintiff’s attorneys in the Briggs v. Elliott case that was part of the landmark Brown case decided in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.)
Mather’s commemoration of Negro History Week in February 1949 consisted of student participation in various contests and several programs at chapel hour. Johnson C. Smith University president H. Liston spoke on race relations.
That spring Mather student Roosevelt Jackson won first place in the Palmetto Scholastic Press Association for his article, “Larry Doby was a Matherite.”
in the writing of the History of Kershaw County
Interest in the 2008 Pegasus Ball at historic Holly Hedge before the Carolina Cup in Camden suggests that readers will be intrigued by a sensational event that occurred at that same residence during the March 28, 1936, running of the popular steeplechase event.
May 1, 1936, The Camden Chronicle claimed an exclusive scoop on the following story, asserting the newspaper had been cooperating to keep the event quiet during police investigation:
“The largest jewelry theft ever to occur in North or South Carolina was perpetuated at Camden March 28 during steeplechase races, when clever crooks invaded Holly Hedge, the spacious winter estate of Mrs. Ernest L. Woodward, socialite and sportswoman, and escaped with valuables worth approximately a quarter of a million dollars…
“Working in absolute secrecy, crack detectives from New York, Miami, and elsewhere were enlisted…
“The burglary…occurred during the Carolina Cup races while Mr. and Mrs. Woodward were absent from their home. The crooks, believed to be nationally known jewel thieves, entered…while only one caretaker was on the premises, and removed the jewelry box from the dresser drawer in a room on the second floor…
“Residents at Camden… positively identified the pictures of several nationally known jewelry thieves…seen there March 28.”
Small references to the incident in later years indicate the theft went unsolved. The city, with press generally cooperating, tried to avoid negative publicity that would reflect unfavorably on the community and possibly turn away wealthy tourists.
…………………………….
The widely attended 2008 charrette to find a vision for the future of Camden suggests a look at efforts in other changing times. The interval between the end of World War II and the mid-century development of industrialization lasted several challenging years. Some of the ways the business district prepared for growth proved counter-productive; others, helpful.
Camden businesses at the time closed by custom each Wednesday afternoon, and by law all day on Sunday. In 1947 the Camden Merchants Association voted to observe Labor Day for the first time, and to do so by closing their businesses for the day. (Some citizens believed it “public spirited” for businesses to close when the town was involved in a community activity, and “money grubbing” to stay open at such times.)
Expecting a growing number of downtown customers, Camden City Council in 1946 tried to plan for parking needs by ordering 400 meters to be installed on Broad Street from Walnut south to York, on DeKalb Street from Lyttleton to Church, and on Rutledge Street from Lyttleton to Church. Enforcement began during the Christmas shopping season, and in the first few days over 50 vehicles were tagged and fined for overtime parking. The public was less than enthusiastic.
Before long Camden had to consider new meters because the current ones often malfunctioned and required “frequent servicing and replacements.” Police Chief Alva Rush sternly warned against stuffing meters with bubble gum or paper wads, but vandalism remained a problem. Within two years, more than 50 percent of the meters were defective. Their condition antagonized the public and made enforcement difficult.
In mid-1948 the city had to crack down on double-parking and parking in the center of the streets. Even delivery trucks were told to “angle park,” like it or not.
By fall citizens who owned vacant lots and space at the rear of buildings had been persuaded to come to the rescue of downtown frustration. In September city workmen prepared parking lots in Camden’s business section for owners who allowed their free use for off-street parking.
…………………………….
Weather extremes in 2008 recall several extremes six decades ago in 1948. In February downtown Camden was blanketed with two inches of snow. Rain, snow, sleet, and ice forced schools throughout the county to close early on a Monday and remain closed through Thursday.
Hailstorms ripped through several sections of the county in June. In Boykin, damages on the State Farm totaled $100,000, with 120 acres of cotton being stripped clean. In the Cassatt area, one farmer lost 100 acres of watermelons, while several suffered serious damage to cotton and tobacco. In Liberty Hill major damage was to cotton.
During summer, county residents suffered from “awful heat,” rising over 100 degrees in late August. Higher-than-normal temperatures continued through the winter. That season proved the warmest one since winter 1906, according to the local weather bureau.
Nearly 10 inches of rain fell during the month of November. One deluge that brought the Wateree River out of its banks caused the Seaboard to detour trains for two days when the steel trestle “was moved six and a half inches out of line downstream by raging flood waters.”
…………………………….
Reported sightings of a Lizard Man in 2008 bring to mind other bizarre claims. January 1948 a local man reported he saw a flaming plane go down but no evidence was discovered. The absence of physical evidence led to speculation that the man saw a “flying saucer” since reports of such unidentified objects had been made in many areas of the country, including one in Charlotte. Citizens here saw another strange object in the sky in July. The object, also seen in a number of other places, “might have been a meteor.”
…………………………….
Elections always evoke political interests. In the post-World War II era, most of the sentiment found in the local press was supportive of states’ rights and segregation. Occasionally, a divergent opinion was voiced as evidenced by the following April 17, 1948, letter to the Camden Chronicle signed John Knox Tibbits:
“Your editorial of March 5, advocating a new political party ‘Dedicated to state’s rights, segregation of races, and the preservation of principles which have made this great country what it is today’ calls for comment both by Christians and by true Americans.
“The great story of America is that any man, of whatever race or color, has an opportunity here to make good and to enjoy the full rights of citizenship.
“The basic principles for community living are the Golden Rule and justice, or, in common parlance, kindliness and fair-play.
“We all believe in state’s rights, but we deny the right of any man, or community, to do wrong by interfering with the rights of others.
“It is plain to most of us that to condemn a race as a race to an inferior position involves great wrong to many individuals , and is as un-American as it is un-Christian.”
The writer was a retired Episcopal minister living in Camden.
…………………………….
February celebrations of African American history have a long tradition.
Browning Home/Mather Academy celebrated its 60th anniversary Feb. 16-23, 1947. Amelia Boykin, the first graduate of “the Model Home,” as it was then called, gave the main address to begin the week-long celebration. The festivities gave special honors to parents of the school’s early pupils and displayed memorabilia of its past.
That spring an Allen University choral group sang at a Mather fundraiser for Negro Boy Scouts in Camden and Kershaw County. They hoped to establish a camp in the Central South Carolina Council.
In February 1948, as a climax to their observance of National Negro History Week, Columbia attorney Harold R. Boulware spoke to Mather’s faculty and student body on the topic of civil rights. (Boulware and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall were among the plaintiff’s attorneys in the Briggs v. Elliott case that was part of the landmark Brown case decided in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.)
Mather’s commemoration of Negro History Week in February 1949 consisted of student participation in various contests and several programs at chapel hour. Johnson C. Smith University president H. Liston spoke on race relations.
That spring Mather student Roosevelt Jackson won first place in the Palmetto Scholastic Press Association for his article, “Larry Doby was a Matherite.”
Friday, February 1, 2008
Research Help for Non-Native Residents
Sample article from the Society's February 2001 Update newsletter.
Think you can’t find genealogical info here in Camden if you are from somewhere else? “Boy was I wrong!”
By Billie Jones
In 1997, while my mother and I were visiting my sister in Texas, my niece asked my mother, her grandmother, questions about her ancestors – who they were and where they came from. Realizing we had names of several generations but very little other information, my mother and I decided to take on a project of searching for some answers.
The timing was perfect. I had just "retired" and needed something to do so I would have an excuse not to do housework. After discussing the several known lines, we decided to begin on my maternal grandfather’s line. Surely they were not as many Courseys to research as Rabun, Hughes and Smith. [An error in judgment we have since learned]
We began with a piece of paper found in my grandmother’s Bible I received upon her death. She had listed her parents and grandparents and those of my grandfather, Odell Coursey b. April 24, 1892, Johnston, Edgefield Co., SC. His parents and grandparents were listed with a notation that his grandfather, John Franklin Coursey was a Civil War soldier.
Knowing that my grandfather was born in Edgefield County, we traveled to Edgefield to the Thompkins Library. As novices, we began to get our feet wet in the sea of information, finding few facts but learning a little about the how-to’s.
After our trip, which provided us with some other surnames and family lines connected to the Courseys, I decided to visit the State Archives to see what they had. Wanting to find out more, I began looking up census records.
One day, after several trips to Columbia, I decided to visit our local Camden Archives and Museum. I had visited it before with my children to view the exhibits in the Museum, but really had no confidence that I would find any information to help me with my Edgefield County families. After all, this is Kershaw County, and we only arrived here in 1969. BOY WAS I WRONG!
Since that first visit, I have spent hours in the Camden Archives researching. I found that their collections contain much info, not just on Kershaw County, but on other areas of South Carolina, as well as other states that I am researching. And by far, the staff and volunteers are the most helpful of any of the libraries that I have visited.
The first thing my Mother and I did was to read the back issue of every Quill from the Old Edgefield Genealogical Society. The Archives has them on file, as well as issues of other genealogy society newletters.
Not long after I started researching seriously and had visited the State Archives for census records, the Camden Archives received copies of the microfilm of all of the SC counties 1790-1920. They also have index books for 1790-1870. And as a result of a recent contribution by Dallas Phelps, the Camden Archives now has all of the Edgefield Co. Cemetery books.
I found that the State DAR Library is housed in the Camden Archives, and found information from SCDAR Traveling Library proving relationship in an Edgefield County and Virginia line. Instead of traveling to Columbia or Edgefield, I can review abstracts of deeds in the DAR Collection. A book Edgefield Death Notices and Cemetery Records by Carlee McClendon is also a part of the DAR collection that I have used extensively.
As I was entering data into a computer file at the Archives to share my findings with other researchers, I also made a list of books at the Archives that I want to look into, filling four legal pages front and back. I don’t think I will live so long as to research all of the information found in this library that might lead to information on my many SC families.
So, I have found that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Although I still love to take trips to visit cemeteries, and get full copies of wills, I have found a real treasure right here at home – The Camden Archives and Museum, Camden, SC.
The Camden Archives and Museum, 1314 Broad Street, is open M-F from 8-5 and on the first and third Sundays monthly, 1-5.
The timing was perfect. I had just "retired" and needed something to do so I would have an excuse not to do housework. After discussing the several known lines, we decided to begin on my maternal grandfather’s line. Surely they were not as many Courseys to research as Rabun, Hughes and Smith. [An error in judgment we have since learned]
We began with a piece of paper found in my grandmother’s Bible I received upon her death. She had listed her parents and grandparents and those of my grandfather, Odell Coursey b. April 24, 1892, Johnston, Edgefield Co., SC. His parents and grandparents were listed with a notation that his grandfather, John Franklin Coursey was a Civil War soldier.
Knowing that my grandfather was born in Edgefield County, we traveled to Edgefield to the Thompkins Library. As novices, we began to get our feet wet in the sea of information, finding few facts but learning a little about the how-to’s.
After our trip, which provided us with some other surnames and family lines connected to the Courseys, I decided to visit the State Archives to see what they had. Wanting to find out more, I began looking up census records.
One day, after several trips to Columbia, I decided to visit our local Camden Archives and Museum. I had visited it before with my children to view the exhibits in the Museum, but really had no confidence that I would find any information to help me with my Edgefield County families. After all, this is Kershaw County, and we only arrived here in 1969. BOY WAS I WRONG!
Since that first visit, I have spent hours in the Camden Archives researching. I found that their collections contain much info, not just on Kershaw County, but on other areas of South Carolina, as well as other states that I am researching. And by far, the staff and volunteers are the most helpful of any of the libraries that I have visited.
The first thing my Mother and I did was to read the back issue of every Quill from the Old Edgefield Genealogical Society. The Archives has them on file, as well as issues of other genealogy society newletters.
Not long after I started researching seriously and had visited the State Archives for census records, the Camden Archives received copies of the microfilm of all of the SC counties 1790-1920. They also have index books for 1790-1870. And as a result of a recent contribution by Dallas Phelps, the Camden Archives now has all of the Edgefield Co. Cemetery books.
I found that the State DAR Library is housed in the Camden Archives, and found information from SCDAR Traveling Library proving relationship in an Edgefield County and Virginia line. Instead of traveling to Columbia or Edgefield, I can review abstracts of deeds in the DAR Collection. A book Edgefield Death Notices and Cemetery Records by Carlee McClendon is also a part of the DAR collection that I have used extensively.
As I was entering data into a computer file at the Archives to share my findings with other researchers, I also made a list of books at the Archives that I want to look into, filling four legal pages front and back. I don’t think I will live so long as to research all of the information found in this library that might lead to information on my many SC families.
So, I have found that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Although I still love to take trips to visit cemeteries, and get full copies of wills, I have found a real treasure right here at home – The Camden Archives and Museum, Camden, SC.
The Camden Archives and Museum, 1314 Broad Street, is open M-F from 8-5 and on the first and third Sundays monthly, 1-5.
Where Is the 1925 Movie?
Sample article from the Society's February 2001 Update newsletter.
A Pageant of Local Area History, was filmed in Camden, South Carolina, in 1925 and shown in movie theaters here and elsewhere.
A Pageant of Local Area History, was filmed in Camden, South Carolina, in 1925 and shown in movie theaters here and elsewhere.
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