Bank Failures are Nothing New

Please note: This post was last updated May 1, 2023.  All information and links were accurate as of this date. Bank failures have been in the news - again - since March 10, 2023 when the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) did not survive a bank run.  It was "the second-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2007–2008 financial crisis. It was one of three March 2023 United States bank failures." And I woke up to the news with the seizure and purchase of the First Republic Bank. Makes one wonder if it is indeed true that "The more things change, the more they stay the same." - Grace Cordial 

We are surrounded by bad financial news. Turn on your television set, listen to Talk or National Public Radio, visit the major news outlets online, (such as CNN) and you will find out plenty about bank failures.

Beaufort District did not have any local financial institution before Gen. Saxton advocated a bank for the newly freed slaves to learn "habits of carefulness and prudence" during the Civil War.

• You can peruse the online version of "New South Newspaper," a part of the University of South Carolina's Digital Collections, to read more about Gen. Saxton's efforts to get a branch of the Freedman's Bank in Beaufort.
• We also hold the New South, Free South, and Palmetto Herald on microfilm for the customer who loves reading old newspapers. [It can take awhile, but oh, it is ever so much fun!]

You can read plenty about Reconstruction era financial difficulties in "Bankless in Beaufort: A Reexamination of the 1873 Failure of the Freedmans Savings Branch at Beaufort, South Carolina," by John Martin Davis, Jr. in the South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 104, January 2003, pp. 25-55. The author is both an attorney as well as an accountant. It takes both skill sets to figure out what really happened!

• If you want to see Freedman's Bank Records, FamilySearch.org allows browsing the records. 
• The DiscoverFreedmen.org website allows you to search for specific people in the records including those of the Freedman's Bank.
• When the Freedman's Bank failed, it left behind some crucial records for anyone doing African-American family research. Although the extent of the information can vary widely, it is one of the best sources of genealogical information to get you ever closer to that key 1870 Census.

For 20th century bank failures, let's visit the year 1926.

Beaufort County had 3 banks at the start of the year. By September, only 2 survived. 7 persons were tried in Federal court for the Bank of Beaufort failure. When W.J. Thomas was appointed Receiver, it took 6 cars to tote the books, records, papers and documents to Columbia for the trial. You can follow what transpired through the back files of the Beaufort Gazette, available in the Beaufort District Collection and at Beaufort Branch Library. Here's an excerpt from the front page of the Beaufort Gazette's January 12, 1928 issue to whet your appetite to learn more:

Some of the defendants are also listed in our Online Obituary File index. The obituary cards are on file in the BDC. You can come read the appropriate cards and make photocopies of them for yourself during your scheduled appointment. 

According to Alexia Helsley in Beaufort: A History (2005), p. 175:

"On 10 July 1926, the Bank of Beaufort closed, never to reopen. Its failure was unexpected with a wide-ranging effect. Individuals’ savings disappeared, as did business accounts and credit opportunities. The bank closing cost several of the Beaufort churches their savings and checking accounts....According to Judge Thomas, the bank failure plunged Beaufort into a depression that lasted until 1939.”

How can you learn more the history of banking or other economic activities in Beaufort County?

• Check out Helsley's book from any of the Library's circulating branches.
  
• Come to the BDC to read the contents of the Banks [BDC Vertical File]. It contains newspaper clippings to give you a quick start to your research.
• You can use the Martin Newspaper Index to locate additional news articles from the Palmetto Post (1882-1906) and the Beaufort Gazette (1903-1936).
• You can read and print articles from the Palmetto Post and Beaufort Gazette in the BDC Research Room. We charge .25 per photocopy of microfilm page or sometimes images of the newspaper microfilm come out well enough as cell phone images.

Reminder for those reading in the year 2023: 

Limited access to the Research Room remains in effect due to a permanent staff shortage since January 2020. Contact us at 843-255-6468 or via bdc@bcgov.net in advance to have the best chance of securing your preferred date and time. The BDC is not open for researchers on Saturdays or Sundays. We are unable to accept drop-ins or same day appointments.