NUMBER 1
The Fundamental Constitution, that body of laws composed by the philosopher John Locke, under which the Lords Proprietors governed-or misgoverned their province of Carolina, established America's only native hereditary nobility. The title of Landgrave and the lesser title of Cacique were awarded, along with enormous tracts of land, to deserving English gentlemen, some of whom actually immigrated to Carolina and remained here. It was necessary, of course, to maintain records of births, deaths, marriages, and genealogies since the titles were inalienable and were intended to exist in perpetuity. This responsibility fell to an officer whose duties were much like those of a member of the English College of Arms. He was to register and grant coat armor in Carolina, he was to maintain genealogical records, and he was called "the Carolina Herald". To distinguish Carolina heraldry from that of England, the shields were centered upon a sunburst, with its straight and wavy rays symbolizing both heat and light.
Time passed, and with it, the Lords Proprietors, the Fundamental Constitution and the Carolina Herald himself. In 1670 Carolinians were much too busy securing their toe-hold on this continent to be concerned with genealogy and hearldry; and so the Carolina Herald was ignored, then forgotten. We of the South Carolina Genealogical Society see ourselves as his successors, in a sense, and so it is in his honor that we have named our publication The Carolina Herald, and have taken as an indentifying symbol a shield, centered upon a sunburst, with a (family) tree displayed upon the shield.
For the first time in its history, the prestigious American Society of Genealogists will venture below the Mason-Dixon line and has chosen the city of Columbia and the week-end of November 10 for its annual meeting. The ASG is composed of some fifty scholars from the U.S. and abroad, all renowned in genealogical circles. Membership is by election and is awarded only to those who have made significant contributions to genealogical studies. About 25 members are expected in Columbia. They will be entertained on Friday, November 10 at a luncheon in the Lace House, and in the evening at a reception hosted by the Department of Archives and History and the S. C. Genealogical Society. After a business meeting on Saturday morning, refreshments will be served at the South Caroliniana Library. Charles Lee, Director of the S. C. Department of Archives and History will address the group at a banquet on Saturday evening.
The SC Genealogical Society was recently accepted as a member of the Confederation of South Carolina Local Historical Societies. The SCGS is the only genealogical group, per se, in the Confederation, which sponsors the annual Landmark Conference. Barney Slawson, Historical Services Coordinator at the Archives, says there is a possibility that a genealogical workshop may be included in the conference agenda next year.
THE CAROLINA HERALD is the quarterly newsletter of the
South Carolina Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 11353, Columbia, S. C. 29211
President: Lawrence R. Fanning
Annual Subscription: $2
Single Copy: 75¢
Free to members of the South Carolina
Genealogical Society
Editor: James L. Haynsworth
Co-editor: Theresa M. Hicks
The South Carolina Genealogical Society, founded in 1971, is composed of nearly a hundred enthusiastic amateurs. Our publication will be produced entirely by volunteer members of the Society and will inevitably reveal our non-professional status; but we will strive for the highest scholarly standards which circumstances will allow.
Each issue will feature the results of one or more projects undertaken by the Society. The first official project is the compilation of unpublished bible records and cemetery inscriptions. These, plus a continuing series on individual S. C. families will be included as inserts. These inserts will help the subscriber build a permanent reference file. Each issue will contain an article by a member on some phase of genealogical study. The first, by Lee Crosland, explores the use of deeds in research. Subsequent articles will explain legal terminology, and will attempt to unravel the mysteries of court house research.
We earnestly solicit from our readers material suitable for publication. We intend to encourage and support the enthusiastic amateur as well as the professional researcher by providing a medium for publishing the results of their efforts.
On June 10 a genealogical workshop was conducted by Mr. Leon S. Hollingsworth of Atlanta at Columbia College, sponsored by SCGS. Eighty-eight persons from SC and out of state attended the all-day session. Mr. Hollingsworth, a professional genealogist and author, explained records used in research and terms encountered in these records. He pointed out the location of various types of records and their use.
Each person attending was asked to give his name, address, and names of ancestors being researched. This information is being compiled and will be made available. Mr. Alfred Rawlinson has presented the Society with a tape recording of the seminar.
The following have recently been added to the collection at the South Caroliniana Library.
Boozer, Mary Elizabeth. The Boozer Family of SC. 360 pages.
Calver, Jesse. History of Jonesville. 39 pages.
Fanning, Lawrence Randolph. Ancestors and Descendants of Charles Preston Williams and Nancy Tisdale Williams. 42 pages.
Floyd, Viola Caston. Caston and Related Families: Descendants of Glass Caston of Lancaster County, SC. 204 pages.
Glover, Elizabeth (Keisler) and E. Bryan Keisler. Shull, John W. And Martha Moak. Descendants. 34 pages.
Johnston, William Clarkson. The Johnston(e)s of Coastal SC. 67 pages.
Marbut, Laura (Powers) and Sarah Powers Thilbar. David M. Chaney 1809-59. Allied Families and Descendants. 134 pages.
Morse, Sara Hames Scarborough. Morse, Carpenter, Case, Benson. Typewritten.
Wood, Christine (Knox). Woodworks. Documented. More than 1100 descendants of William Wood, Spartanburg District. 2 volumes.
The common law of England, upon which our laws are based, was brought to America with the first settlers and spread throughout the country. One of the most valuable assets a person could own in England and still highly valued in our country is real estate. The court houses of each county contain all the records pertaining to real property. In the Clerk of Court's office are found records as to deeds, mortgages, court actions, and various liens against real estate. Deeds are indexed in the Grantee (Indirect) - Grantor (Direct) Index Book. The Grantee Index lists alphabetically the person who received or bought the property. The Grantor Book lists alphabetically the person who sold the property. Mortgages are likewise indexed as to the mortgage, and the mortgagor, the person who mortgaged the property. From these indexes, the person searching the record will find a deed or mortgage book and page number where the copy of the deed or mortgage is actually located as of record.
There are various types of deeds; for example, the General Warranty Deed, the most common deed, whereby someone sells absolutely and outright his property to another individual. Another deed is known as a Deed of Trust. This is similar to a mortgage in that the legal title to the real property is placed in one or more trustees to insure the payment of money or the performance of a condition. For example, the new owner is given the property on the condition that he support his mother. This was used more extensively in olden days than it is now. Great care should be taken when researching property to make sure from what type of deed you are reading. By this I mean, sometimes in a deed of trust the conditions were not carried out and the property remained in the hands of the original owner. Then later, the owner may sell the property, and it would appear that he had sold it twice.
A good bit of information can sometimes be obtained from the very beginning of the deed. If the property was inherited, you may be referred to the Judge of Probate's Court where estate records are kept.
In South Carolina, there is an interesting institution known as dower rights. Briefly, dower rights are the interest that a wife has in her husband's estate only upon his death. For any deed or mortgage to be complete and acceptable, the wife must renounce dower and all of her dower interest in and to the real estate that the husband is selling or mortgaging. She must renounce this dower out of the presence of her husband or anyone except a notary public. This removes any threat, dread, or compulsion that her husband may be forcing her into signing the dower rights. Dower only comes into effect when the husband dies. If the wife, for some reason, does not elect to receive property under her husband's will, or if the husband dies without a will, she may still make this election. This means that she has a lifetime interest in one third of all of the husband's real estate. Then, upon her death, the property will go to the heirs of the husband. Quite a bit of information can be obtained by closely observing what is written in the renunciation of dower which is usually one of the last statements on a deed or mortgage. For example, if the man was unmarried, there would be a notation. Of course, a wife does not renounce dower in property she owns entirely, but even if she owns property together with her husband, she must renounce dower as to her interest. Also, if dower is renounced, the wife of the husband selling or mortgaging the property would appear there and this would give the searcher of the record some information as to the correct name of the wife.
I mentioned earlier while discussing a deed of trust that it may appear that the property has been sold twice. When the conditions of the deed of trust are not met, then the person owning the property may be free to sell it again. You will often find that one member of the family sold property to another then later that person sold the same property back to the original owner. Then he, in turn, sold it to someone else. The only way to clarify such a situation would be to go through a complete property check. This is quite involved and time-consuming. I would thing, for our purposes, we would mainly be concerned with names and property locations.
(To be continued)
On December 1, 1768 a grant of arms was made to Thomas Heyward, Jr. Of South Carolina who was then a law student at the Middle Temple, and to the descendants of his father, Col. Daniel Heyward, and of his grandfather, Capt. Thomas Heyward. At his request, a tomahawk was incorporated in the crest, commemorating his grandfather's military services against the Indians. Thomas Heyward, Jr. later became a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The original patent for the grant of arms is on display at the Heyward-Washington House in Charleston.
Azure, a chevron per pale or and ermine between 3 garbs of the 2nd. Cr; A dexter arm embowed, habited gules; in the hand proper, a tomahawk.
Many readers of The Carolina Herald will be interested in knowing the requirements for membership in historical organizations. The following lists the basic ancestral requirements of some of these organizations. Others will follow in later publications.
Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Members must be lineally descended in the male line of either parent from an ancestor who settled in any of the Colonies now included in the US prior to May 13, 1657, and one or all of whose intermediate ancestors, in the same line, who lived in the period of the Revolution from 1775 to 1783, adhered as patriots to the cause of the Colonies.
National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America. Members must descend in an unbroken paternal line of either father or mother from an ancestor who settled in any of the Colonies now included in the US between May 13,1607 and May 13, 1687, provided that in this unbroken line is an intermediate ancestor who in a civil or military capacity or by other acts proving loyalty assisted in establishing American Independence during the Revolutionary period.
Location: About 5 mi. From Cheraw off Hwy. 52. Formerly Red Hill Plantation. Now on the property of H. C. Anderson Estate.
*Sacred to the memory of Capt. Thos. Ellerbe who departed this life Sept. 16, 1808, aged 59 years. He was a man of intrinsic worth, and whose urbanity of manners and uniform rectitude throughout life secured him the esteem of all who knew him. This stone is erected by his daughter, Rebecca McFarlane, as a small mark of deep respect which she shall ever entertain for the memory of her departed father.
*To the memory of Dr. W. C. Ellerbe who died in 1831.
*To the love and memory of James Ellerbe, Jr. who departed this life Sept. 2, 1836, in the 33rd year of his age.
*Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Rebecca McFarlane who died Feb., 1835 in the 55th year of her age.
*To the memory of Capt. John C. Ellerbe, son of Wm. E. Ellerbe and Elizabeth Crawford, who was born the 26th of March, 1803. Died Nov. 9, 1842.
To the memory of Mrs. Caroline C. Duvall who died May 1, 1842, aged 26 yrs. and 5 mos.
*Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth C. Ellerbe who was born Dec. 6, 1770. Died Dec. 10, 1810.
In the memory of Obedience Ellerbe died 1866.
In the memory of Z. Ellerbe died June 16, 1864.
In the memory of H. Ellerbe died June 16, 1864.
In the memory of Calhoun C. C. Ellerbe, died Feb. 10, 1861.
*In memory of John Ellerbe died Oct. 28, 1858.
Wm. G. Ellerbe born Dec. 8, 1819. Died Nov. 1, 1856.
*A. J. Ellerbe who was born Dec. 8, 1830. Died Oct. 2, 1850.
J. D. Ellerbe born Feb. 7, 1850. Died Feb. 25, 18
*Mary Jane Ellerbe departed this life July 26, 1898.
Eliza F. Ellerbe, born Jan. 2, 1823. Died Oct. 12, 1880.
Comments: This cemetery was first inventoried about 1920. It was inventoried again in 1965. At that time the only markers remaining where those marked with an asterisk.
Location: Hwy. 125 off US 1 toward Beech Island. Travel approx. 0.5 mi. Turn right on dirt lane. Travel 0.1 mi. Cemetery is on right in clump of trees in middle of field.
Martha Leland Carey wife of Thomas G. Lamar. Born in Virginia Sept. 16, 1781. Died Jan. 14, 1864. This stone erected by her grandsons B. D., J. C., & C. B. Lamar.
William H. Carey. Born 26 June 1797. Died 17 April 1836.
Ann Leavenworth who married first Thomas Lamar and afterwards Melines C. Leavenworth. * Born in VA. 4th Dec. Died 17th Oct. 1837 in the 77th year of her age.
Mrs. Sarah Stark. Born on the 22 of Oct. 1782. Died 9th Dec. 1843. Widow of Alexander B. Stark. Daughter of Thomas and Ann Lamar.
Thomas Carey Lamar. Infant son of Charles Bolivar Lamar and Mary Lamar. Born 30 Dec. 1847. Died 18 Feb. 1849.
Charles Bolivar Lamar. Born 22nd Feb. 1823. Died 30th June 1851. Aged 28. He left a wife and one child.
Thomas G. Lamar. Born 18th April 1788. Departed this life 17th of June 1833.
Melint C. Leavenworth.* Born 4th May 1761 in the town of New Haven, Conn. In 1783 he emigrated to SC and remained a citizen of that state until his death which occurred on the 20th of July 1823.
*Sic.
Comments: All of the marked graves are marble vaults above the ground. There are 5 unmarked adults' graves and 1 unmarked child's grave.
Location: A few miles north of Society Hill on Hwy. 52 at Cash's Depot.
Gen. E. B. C. Cash. Born July 1, 1823. Died March 10, 1888.
Allan Eunice. Born Feb. 25, 1828 Md. Nov. 28, 1848. Died Apr. 19, 1880.
Capt. Wm. Boggan Cash. Born Nov. 19, 1855. Murdered May 15, 1884.
Alliene Eunice wife of Judge R. C. Watts. Born Apr. 4, 1860. Died Jan. 13, 1895.
Courteney Watts Stokes d. of Alliene Cash and Richard Cannon Watts. June 28, 1886. July 12, 1952.
Comments: Gen. Cash fought the last duel in South Carolina.
© 1999 The South Carolina Genealogical Society, Inc.